Patrick Stoner welcomes your questions about movies and the men and women who make them. Send your questions to pstoner@whyy.org.

Here's the current question and answer...

Which studio is the most powerful?

ANSWER: Disney. Each year, the entertainment industry lists the box office returns, and every year Disney (which includes Buena Vista, Hollywood Pictures, Miramax, and others) tops the list. The other studios go up and down, depending on whether they have had a blockbuster, but Walt Disney has the diversity and depth of product to dominate the industry.

Of course, they have also had a surefire blockbuster animated feature every year for the past several years. Even when the product is relatively disappointing, like POCAHONTAS, it's still one of the year's biggest hits. There are a lot of children, parents, and grandparents in the world, and you're bound to find yourself at the annual Disney offering if you're connected to a small person.

It's not hard to understand why: Disney is strongly associated with families. We all grew up loving their animated features. The quality of the work is never less than good and sometimes better than that. AND, they know how to promote a film.

Take THE HUNCHBACK OF NOTRE DAME. Thursday night, I attended the world premiere in the New Orleans SuperDome. Now, premieres are a Hollywood staple, but Disney knows how to elevate a premiere to a news event. This was a tour de force.

Consider a few facts about the HUNCHBACK screening:

Even as the last wisps of smoke reached the top of the SuperDome, Disney already had HUNCHBACK "action figures" in Burger Kings and stores across the country. The airwaves filled with commercials, and the publicity generated by all of the premiere events filled the media. Unless you were hiding under your bed with your fingers in your ears and your eyes squeezed shut, you had to know about the HUNCHBACK's opening.

Of course, Disney also has far-flung tangential enterprises, including the most successful theme parks in the world. Their TV and radio stations, real estate, and other activities would make them a powerhouse even if they didn't make movies any longer, but the prestige side of their empire is the filmmaking. That is the image off of which all of the rest draws its strength.

This bothers some people, but I'm not one of them. America has very few industries that dominate the world these days. Of those few, the most successful, the most admired, and the most powerful is the movie industry. As a film person and an American covering -- and loving -- films, I'm grateful and, yes, proud of that.

But, don't forget what they say in Hollywood: "The Mouse rules!"

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