The Walt Disney Company announced today that it will continue to deliver joy to children’s hospitals across the globe in 2023 by expanding access to innovative programs specially designed for children’s hospitals such as mobile movie theaters, complimentary content access, additional character-themed hospital wear, special deliveries, and in-hospital installations for about 750 children’s hospitals and pediatric places of care around the globe. These efforts are part of Disney’s $100 million global commitment from 2018 to help reimagine the patient experience in children’s hospitals in hopes of delivering joy and comfort to children and their families, as well as the Company’s continued collaboration with Starlight Children’s Foundation to bring the positive power of Disney stories to children’s hospitals.
“Teams from across Disney, including our world-renowned Walt Disney Imagineers, worked with a global network of experts to identify unique experiences we could provide to ease the anxiety of a hospital stay for children around the world,” said Jennifer Cohen, executive vice president, corporate social responsibility for The Walt Disney Company. “Delivering joy builds on a legacy that started with Walt Disney himself, who brought animators and characters to visit hospitalized children.”
Mobile Movie Theaters and Complimentary Content Access
This year, Disney is expanding access to its uplifting and engaging content to help ease the fear and anxiety of a hospital stay by broadening its mobile movie theater program, as well as its Disney+ and Disney Movie Moments initiatives, globally.
Beginning in January, Disney expanded its mobile movie theater program to children’s hospitals around the world. Inspired by the cinema on Main Street, U.S.A., at Disneyland Resort in California, mobile movie theaters offer patients and their families places to gather and create memories while in the hospital, where they can enjoy the latest Disney storytelling through complimentary Disney+ access and first-run movies through Disney Movie Moments, both provided to child life professionals.
Mobile movie theaters are proven to be versatile and straightforward to implement in hospitals, and, unlike stationary displays or full-scale theaters, they can move across the hospital to provide flexible entertainment and engagement opportunities, or can be stored away to maximize utility and hospitals’ limited space. Disney will deliver mobile movie theaters to hospitals in Australia, Hong Kong, Japan, New Zealand, Singapore, Taiwan, and the United States, as well as throughout China and Europe, in the first half of 2023. The theaters will complement the specially designed Disney interactive murals installed at select hospitals, to draw the patients into the enchanting world of Disney.
Building on a successful United States-based pilot program, in 2022 Disney began the global rollout of Disney+ into children’s hospitals in over 30 countries. Now, one year since this expansion kicked off, over 430 children’s hospitals in 17 countries have access to this service. This year, Disney is continuing work toward its 30-country goal, focusing next on locations such as Greece, Mexico, and Japan.
“We are so grateful for the opportunity to work with Starlight Children’s Foundation in the U.S. and other wonderful organizations abroad to deliver joy when it’s needed most through beloved Disney stories,” said Alisa Bowen, President of Disney+ and Vice Chair, Board of Directors, Starlight Children’s Foundation. “Through access to Disney+ in children’s hospitals, we’re seeing the power of storytelling in action, creating a more positive experience for young patients and their families around the world.”
In the United States, and launching in Australia this year, the Disney Movie Moments Program also brings special screenings of newly released Disney movies to the mobile movie theaters, offering opportunities for families to create happy memories, even in the hospital.