School 'proud' after students perform at Disneyland Paris
Performing arts students from William Howard School performed at the world-renowned Disney theme park on Tuesday, July 8.
This was the culmination of months of hard work, with the students initially starting to rehearse their Disney-themed performance in September 2024 and taking part in a 24-hour dance challenge in April to the raise funds to make the trip possible.
(Image: Supplied) The trip also saw the students enjoy a workshop which was delivered by a specialist Disney vocal coach.
Michelle Serrechia is the head of drama, dance, and performing arts at William Howard School and expressed her pride in seeing the student's hard work pay off in Paris.
(Image: Supplied) She said: "Our students along with myself, Miss Inglesfield and Mrs Cooper travelled to Disneyland on Sunday in preparation for our performance on Tuesday afternoon at the Videopolis Theatre in The Disneyland Park.
"Our performance was a 20 minute production of Disney's Newsies including songs such as 'Carrying the Banner' and 'Seize the Day'.
"Students have been rehearsing since September in preparation for this performance.
(Image: Supplied) "On the Tuesday, students had a workshop with a Disney vocal coach in the morning before heading to the theatre to do a sound and tech run in the space.
"The students were so professional throughout the day and delivered a star quality performance - they should all be so proud of themselves.
(Image: Supplied) "The commitment to rehearsals and hard work definitely paid off and we couldn't be happier."
The students who took part in the trip to the French capital were also keen to share their highlights.
Fraser, 13 said: "[My favourite moment was] going to perform in front of people at Disney to make their day better."
Eliza, 18 said: "I think I really enjoyed being with my friends throughout everything especially the rides and the performance"
(Image: Supplied) Nicole, 18 said: "It was a great way to close the William Howard school experience. It was great to be a part of something so big with a group of individuals that don't normally interact with one another. We formed a lovely Disney family"
Abi, 16 said: "It was an amazing experience, the people were all so welcoming and I felt like I was able to perform well in the supportive environment."
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Yahoo
2 hours ago
- Yahoo
Movies and Entertainment Market Outlook and Company Analysis Report 2025-2033 Featuring Paramount, Sony, Walt Disney, Warner Bros, Comcast, Netflix, Vivendi, The Idea Factory, Amazon, Marcs
The Worldwide Movies and Entertainment Market is on track to soar from $101.33 billion in 2024 to $201.55 billion by 2033, advancing at a CAGR of 7.94%. This growth is fueled by digital consumption, streaming adoption, and tech innovations enhancing global viewer experiences. Major players like Netflix, Disney+, and Amazon Prime drive content accessibility, boosting cross-cultural exchange. Challenges, such as content piracy and saturation, persist amid rapid expansion. Key regions include the US, France, India, Brazil, and Saudi Arabia, each contributing uniquely to market dynamics. Explore industry trends, drivers, and future outlooks shaping global entertainment. Movies and Entertainment Market Dublin, Aug. 14, 2025 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- The "Movies and Entertainment Market - Global Outlook & Forecast 2025-2033" report has been added to Worldwide Movies and Entertainment Market is expected to expand to US$ 201.55 billion in 2033, from US$ 101.33 billion in 2024, at a Compound Annual Growth Rate of 7.94% over the forecast period 2025-2033 The growth is spurred by increasing digital consumption, adoption of streaming services, global proliferation of content, and technological advancements that optimize viewer experiences across multiple platforms, from cinemas to on-demand home watching. The film and entertainment industry entails the creation, production, distribution, and exhibition of motion pictures, television shows, music, and digital content. The industry consists of film studios, streaming services, production houses, cinemas, and broadcasting services. Essentially, the industry aims at entertaining, educating, and inspiring global viewers through narratives, music, drama, comedy, and special have many roles outside entertainment - movies are powerful tools for cultural expression, education, and social commentary. Documentaries educate about global concerns, while feature films provide emotional release and distraction. Television shows and music offer relaxation, inspiration, and identification with other around the globe, the entertainment industry has experienced rapid growth in popularity due to speeding digitalization, smartphone adoption, and widespread internet like Netflix, Disney+, and Amazon Prime have changed the way content is viewed by the audience, offering convenience and a variety of options. Content from around the world is now more accessible to audiences, thereby allowing for more cross-cultural exchange. Blockbusters, music festivals, and international film awards still attract gigantic viewership numbers. With the evolution of virtual reality, AI, and immersive media, the fame and popularity of the movies and entertainment sector are bound to touch even higher levels across borders and for Growth in the Global Movies and Entertainment Sector Extended Growth of Digital MediaThe growth of streaming media such as Netflix, Amazon Prime Video, and Disney+ has radically transformed the consumption of content. On-demand is now the consumer's preferred option, which has enabled global audiences to watch a variety of media at any given time and from anywhere. This shift has opened up avenues of original content creation, localization, and global distribution that have made digital a significant source of revenue for the entertainment industry. September 2024: Ultra Media & Entertainment Group unveiled advanced OTT platforms, Ultra Play and Ultra Gaane, dedicated to preserving Hindi cinema and music heritage. The sites offer fans something unique by presenting a vast collection of classic Bollywood films and eternal Hindi tracks in their archives, including refurbished movie classics and hit in Smartphone & Internet PenetrationIncreased internet access and mobile phone adoption - especially in growth markets - are powering a surge in content consumption. People are able to listen to music, watch movies, or consume social media content while moving around in real-time, thus increasing aggregate media consumption and demand for new types of content such as short-form video and mobile-first content. 5.65 billion people worldwide were using the internet at the start of July 2025, equivalent to 68.7 percent of the international Advancements & Immersive ExperiencesTechnologies like Virtual Reality (VR), Augmented Reality (AR), and AI are transforming entertainment. Immersive technologies are expanding user engagement and offering personalized viewing experiences. Platforms and studios are incorporating these technologies to make inroads into tech-savvy viewers and provide higher quality content. January 2023, Sony introduced the LME-FR7, an interchangeable lens camera with pan/tilt/zoom (PTZ) capabilities built into the camera and full-frame image in the Worldwide Movies and Entertainment Industry Increased Content PiracyDigital piracy remains a scourge of the industry, shrinking revenues and intellectual property rights. Pirated material is readily duplicated and shared with rapid internet and file-sharing sites. This damages legitimate distribution channels, discourages investment in original material, and creates astronomical economic losses across the whole Competition and Saturation of ContentWith the content flood on all platforms, it has become ever harder to keep viewers' interest. From blockbusters to indie productions and internet series, viewers are being swamped with choices. This saturation raises content production costs and marketing pushes, and compels platforms to continuously innovate to remain viable and Movies MarketThe global movie market is strong on the back of box office hits, international co-productions, and continued investments in domestic cinema. Theater releases continue to dominate the revenue generation in areas like India and China. Online ticketing, online marketing, and cinema technology (such as IMAX and 4DX) enhance movie experience and engagement Music MarketThe music sector is experiencing strong growth because of hit streaming platforms such as Spotify, Apple Music, and YouTube. Artists are able to engage directly with listeners globally, determining global cross-cultural music trends. Digital music revenue exceeds sales of physical copies, while international collaborations continue to rise. Pop, K-pop, hip-hop, and electronic music are ruling charts globally, driving industry Videos MarketThe video entertainment platform, including sites like YouTube and TikTok, and short-form content sites, has expanded exponentially. User-generated content, like video diaries, tutorials, and live streaming, attracts billions of views daily. Video advertising is also a significant revenue stream, as brands dish out hefty amounts for influencers and content creators for specific Movies and Entertainment Digital Media MarketOne of the strongest pillars of the entertainment industry is digital media, which consists of apps, OTT platforms, and social media. Ease of viewing on mobile and customization recommendations are driving digital media consumption. Subscription services, freemium offerings, and advertising-based services strike a chord with various consumers, thereby making digital media one of the major growth segments Movies and Entertainment Streaming Media MarketOver-the-top streaming media services deliver a seamless content experience on a device. Netflix, Hulu, and local OTT platforms have revolutionized distribution models successfully. Viewers are anticipating original, diverse, and binge-worthy content. Increasing investments in streaming infrastructure and content production are constantly reshaping viewing habits around the world and consumer loyalty. Key Players Analysis (Overviews, Key Persons, Recent Developments, SWOT Analysis, Revenue Analysis) Paramount Sony Pictures Digital Productions Inc. The Walt Disney Company Warner Bros. Entertainment Inc. Comcast Netflix Vivendi The Idea Factory Inc. The Marcs Studios Key Attributes: Report Attribute Details No. of Pages 200 Forecast Period 2024 - 2033 Estimated Market Value (USD) in 2024 $101.33 Billion Forecasted Market Value (USD) by 2033 $201.55 Billion Compound Annual Growth Rate 7.9% Regions Covered Global Key Topics Covered: 1. Introduction2. Research & Methodology2.1 Data Source2.1.1 Primary Sources2.1.2 Secondary Sources2.2 Research Approach2.2.1 Top-Down Approach2.2.2 Bottom-Up Approach2.3 Forecast Projection Methodology3. Executive Summary4. Market Dynamics4.1 Growth Drivers4.2 Challenges5. Global Movies and Entertainment Market5.1 Historical Market Trends5.2 Market Forecast6. Market Share Analysis6.1 By Product6.2 By Type6.3 By Countries7. Product7.1 Movies7.2 Music7.3 Videos7.4 Others8. Type8.1 Print Media (Newspaper, Magazines)8.2 Digital Media (Television, Radio, Podcasts)8.3 Streaming Media (OTT, Live)9. Countries9.1 North America9.1.1 United States9.1.2 Canada9.2 Europe9.2.1 France9.2.2 Germany9.2.3 Italy9.2.4 Spain9.2.5 United Kingdom9.2.6 Belgium9.2.7 Netherlands9.2.8 Turkey9.3 Asia-Pacific9.3.1 China9.3.2 Japan9.3.3 India9.3.4 South Korea9.3.5 Thailand9.3.6 Malaysia9.3.7 Indonesia9.3.8 Australia9.3.9 New Zealand9.4 Latin America9.4.1 Brazil9.4.2 Mexico9.4.3 Argentina9.5 Middle East & Africa9.5.1 Saudi Arabia9.5.2 UAE9.5.3 South Africa10. Value Chain Analysis11. Porter's Five Forces Analysis11.1 Bargaining Power of Buyers11.2 Bargaining Power of Suppliers11.3 Degree of Competition11.4 Threat of New Entrants11.5 Threat of Substitutes12. SWOT Analysis12.1 Strength12.2 Weakness12.3 Opportunity12.4 Threats13. Pricing Benchmark Analysis13.1 Paramount13.2 Sony Pictures Digital Productions Inc.13.3 The Walt Disney Company13.4 Warner Bros. Entertainment Inc.13.5 Comcast13.6 Netflix13.7 Vivendi13.8 The Idea Factory13.9 Inc.13.10 The Marcs Studios14. Key Players Analysis For more information about this report visit About is the world's leading source for international market research reports and market data. We provide you with the latest data on international and regional markets, key industries, the top companies, new products and the latest trends. Attachment Movies and Entertainment Market CONTACT: CONTACT: Laura Wood,Senior Press Manager press@ For E.S.T Office Hours Call 1-917-300-0470 For U.S./ CAN Toll Free Call 1-800-526-8630 For GMT Office Hours Call +353-1-416-8900Error in retrieving data Sign in to access your portfolio Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data
New York Times
3 hours ago
- New York Times
‘Suspended Time' Review: A Nostalgic Detour
Olivier Assayas's wistful, lightly off-kilter 'Suspended Time' takes place in the spring of 2020, an interlude that few would want to revisit. The setting is a retreat in the Chevreuse Valley, a pastoral region about an hour's drive from Paris and an even shorter distance from the Palace of Versailles. Here, amid vivid green hills and smatterings of largely unseen neighbors, two middle-aged brothers have fled the pandemic with both their respective neuroses and their girlfriends to a serenely beautiful country house. The brothers grew up in this refuge, which remains crowded with art, books and ghosts, so many ghosts. The story is modestly scaled and largely centers on the brothers Paul (Vincent Macaigne) and Etienne (Micha Lescot) as well as their less-consequential partners, Morgane (Nine d'Urso) and Carole (Nora Hamzawi). A music journalist with an opulent silver mane and darkly tinted glasses that he wears no matter the hour, Etienne has a slender frame and a habit of needling his brother. He's the kind of guy who wouldn't bother to meet your gaze at a party. The shambolic Paul, a filmmaker whose beard offsets his receding hairline, has worried eyes and the open neediness of someone you'd avoid at that same party. Like some siblings, the brothers don't look like each other and scarcely make any sense when they're together, which slowly feeds the comedy and the pathos of their gently antagonistic relationship. Assayas sketches in that connection with precision and economy, prying open each man's sensibility — and his attitude toward the other — through their everyday, simple (and less so) actions and freighted talks. Shortly after the movie opens, a box from Amazon arrives for Paul. With cumbersome gloves and flamboyant caution, Paul handles the package as if it were radioactive (a very familiar image for some of us) as his brother watches him with barely contained incredulity. Then Etienne criticizes Paul for ordering from Amazon. Assayas isn't interested in idealized types, and he doesn't overtly take sides here. Instead, he nudges you back and forth between the brothers; it's not for nothing that some of the characters play tennis. Watching other people fumble, comically or otherwise, in a global catastrophe isn't inherently inviting. And the beauty and comfort of this refuge can almost feel like a provocation. There are nods to other people's suffering, true, and at one point Etienne names some musicians who have died during the pandemic, including the singer-songwriter John Prine. In the main, though, this lockdown has the quality of an idyll rather than a grim escape. Birdsong fills the air rather than the distant whine of plane engines. It's bittersweet. The most appealing character in 'Suspended Time' is Assayas, a hovering offscreen presence who delivers the confessional, gracefully digressive narration. The house is the one that he grew up in — a desk in the movie belonged to his father, an elegant bedroom was his mother's — and like many childhood homes, it is now a personal museum of sorts. In one soaring interlude, roughly midway through, Assayas begins speaking about himself over images of Paul running in the countryside, an outing that sends the filmmaker down memory lane, as it were. 'Young, I couldn't run,' Assayas says, explaining that he couldn't properly breathe. 'I've come to like it,' he says of running. 'I've found my bearings.' (He did, at least artistically.) As Paul continues his run, Assayas, in voice-over, maps the circuit he himself now takes during his runs by ticking off specific mileposts — a swing set, a tennis court, a pond — that he repeatedly passes, grounding himself. Soon after, the director cuts to black-and-white shots of a young man running in the same area on the same circuit, which in turn inspires more remembrances. Assayas then toggles between the young runner and a series of still images, speaks about the library where he worked on his master's thesis, the thinkers he studied, a filmmaker who inspired him, a woman he loved. He speaks about running before driving into Paris and recalls the frost and his breath in the air, moments in time that are gone yet not lost. Want all of The Times? Subscribe.
CNN
7 hours ago
- CNN
Trump announces Kennedy Center honorees as he tries to put his stamp on DC
President Donald Trump visited the Kennedy Center on Wednesday to unveil the next recipients of its hallmark honors — and announce that he would personally host the institution's awards show in December. The appearance at the iconic performing arts complex came as Trump seeks greater authority over Washington, DC, and its most prominent cultural institutions in an aggressive bid to put his stamp on the Democratic-led city. Trump seized control of the institution's board earlier this year, telling reporters Wednesday he would oversee a sweeping revamp of the center and its programming. 'We ended the woke political programming, and we're restoring the Kennedy Center as the premier venue for performing arts anywhere in the country, anywhere in the world,' Trump said. 'We have some unbelievable plans.' Trump, who said he was '98% involved' in picking the center's next slate of honorees, announced that the awards would be given to singer and songwriter George Strait; actors Michael Crawford and Sylvester Stallone; singer Gloria Gaynor; and the rock band KISS. While insisting that he did not push to be part of the award presentations, Trump nevertheless appeared to relish the prospect of hosting a television show again, years after rising to national prominence as the face of the reality TV show 'The Apprentice.' 'I think it will be quite successful,' Trump said. 'It's been a long time. I used to host the 'Apprentice' finales, and we did rather well with that.' The visit marks the president's third Kennedy Center appearance since returning to the White House, underscoring his personal interest in the activities of the performing arts center. At Trump's behest, congressional Republicans set aside $250 million in July for renovations to the center as part of their tax and spending bill. Those funds will go toward an expansive overhaul of the Kennedy Center, Trump said, arguing that it was badly in need of repairs when he took control of its operations. 'I'm determined to make Washington, DC, safe, clean and beautiful again,' he said. 'A big part of that is going to include the Kennedy Center.' In addition to assuming oversight of the performing arts center, Trump has pressured DC's museums, memorials and other historic sites to recast American history in a more favorable light, criticizing what he called in a March executive order a 'revisionist movement' meant to 'undermine the remarkable achievements of the United States.' On Tuesday, the White House ordered a review of Smithsonian museums and exhibits to ensure alignment with that directive. The president has also embarked on wide-ranging renovation of the White House. And in an unprecedented move this week fueled by his personal frustration with incidents of crime and homelessness in DC, Trump federalized the city's police force. The sprawling effort to exert federal influence across DC is an escalation from his first term, during which he remained largely disengaged from the cultural institutions of a city that had overwhelmingly rejected him at the ballot box. Trump notably declined to attend the Kennedy Center Honors all four years after some of the honorees in 2017 said they would boycott a traditional White House pre-reception. Yet since returning to office, he has prioritized bending key elements of DC to his will, as part of what officials have framed as an effort to beautify the city and its key institutions and drive out what Trump has long criticized as 'woke' elements that don't conform to his worldview. The Kennedy Center has served as an early focal point of that project, drawing an institution that had traditionally remained above the fray of partisan politics directly into the center of the nation's culture wars. Trump in February dismissed a slew of Democratic appointees from the center's board of trustees, replacing them with aides and allies that included chief of staff Susie Wiles and second lady Usha Vance. Trump was subsequently elected chairman, with longtime confidant Ric Grenell installed as the Kennedy Center's new president. The takeover prompted sharp criticism from Democrats and angered artists connected to the Kennedy Center — including the producer of the hit musical 'Hamilton,' who cancelled an upcoming run of the show that was supposed to go through 2026. A series of other prominent artists, including director Shonda Rhimes and musician Ben Folds, resigned from their positions at the center. Since then, Trump has taken a hands-on approach to overhauling programming and drawing up plans for renovating the complex. Asked about his involvement in picking the center's next honorees, Trump said he personally sifted through the candidates, rejecting some he felt were too 'woke.' He added that while he anticipated blowback for politicizing the Kennedy Center Honors, the controversy might drive up ratings for the awards show 'if we make it our kind of political.' On Monday, the Kennedy Center said it would host the premier of a film produced by the Christian Broadcasting Network that 'showcases the remarkable resurgence of faith among the youth in America.' It's an early sign of how programming may shift under the Trump-appointed leadership. The movie includes an appearance by Ben Carson, Trump's former secretary of Housing and Urban Development. That premier follows an earlier run of 'Les Misérables' — a favorite musical of Trump's — that the president attended in June. The appearance drew a mixed reaction, with some attendees booing Trump and four drag queens sitting below the presidential box in protest of his prior vows to rid the Kennedy Center of drag shows. Yet within the GOP, the Kennedy Center has become another rallying point for demonstrating loyalty to Trump. In July, House Republicans added a measure to a spending bill that would rename the center's opera house after first lady Melania Trump. Soon after, Rep. Bob Onder of Missouri introduced the Make Entertainment Great Again Act, which would go a step further and strip former President John F. Kennedy's name from the complex in favor of making it the 'Donald J. Trump Center for Performing Arts.' But ahead of Trump's visit on Wednesday, that proposal had yet to gain steam; so far, Onder's legislation has not attracted a single co-sponsor. This headline and story have been updated with additional developments.
