Disney TV crime series changes name after Italian court order

Rome: A Disney TV crime series whose release was suspended last week by an Italian court will change its name to overcome judicial obstacles, the global entertainment giant said on Tuesday.

Avetrana - This is not Hollywood, a fictionalised account of the 2010 murder of a 15-year-old girl by her family members and of the media frenzy that surrounded the case, will instead be called "This is not Hollywood", a statement said.

It will be available from Wednesday on the Disney+ platform, it added.

The mayor of Avetrana, the small town in southern Italy where the crime occurred, took legal action against the series on the grounds its name gave the municipality a bad name.

The Italian-language series was due to be launched on Oct. 25, but a court in Taranto accepted the mayor's appeal and provisionally halted it, ahead of a Nov. 5 hearing in which it was due to adjudicate more fully.

Film and TV industry representatives criticised the court decision to halt the series, with the head of the Italian producers' association APA Chiara Sbarigia calling it "a serious violation of the principle of freedom of expression". (Reporting by Alvise Armellini; editing by Barbara Lewis)