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Category: Disney, Movies
From darkhorizons.com:
“Pirates of the Caribbean” co-scribe Terry Rossio has denied the various rumors currently circling about a fourth ‘Pirates’ film.
On his official blog, he says: “For the record, none of the recent Pirates 4 rumors have any truth, including the so-called record 50 million dollar payday for Depp.
Some pretty funny stuff, though. Sacha Cohen? Tim Burton? Studios are way too protective of their franchises for that sort of thing.”
At present, the sole confirmed fact is that Johnny Depp will return as Captain Jack Sparrow in the fourth film.
Link
Posted by Dr. Disney on October 15, 2008 at 6:30 pm · Permalink
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Category: Movies
From cnet.com:
We knew it was coming, but Wednesday Netflix made it official–starting in November, those who rent Blu-ray movies will be charged an extra dollar, in addition to standard subscription fees. The move is hardly a surprise, considering Netflix’s CEO mentioned that a surcharge was coming in April, but home theater fans may still be taken aback since the company has never charged more for Blu-ray Discs before.
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Posted by Dr. Disney on October 10, 2008 at 12:33 pm · Permalink
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Category: Disney, Movies
From independent.co.uk:
When historians of the future study the rise and fall of a 21st-century social elite known as “film stars”, they may well pore over a glamorous event organised last week by the Walt Disney Company. In what was described as a “showcase”, the studio presented its slate of upcoming films to an audience of insiders and big hitters at the Kodak Theatre in Hollywood. Somehow, I also got a ticket.
Quite the corporate power trip it was, too. Johnny Depp appeared on stage. So did John Travolta, Robin Williams, Sandra Bullock, and Nicolas Cage. Miley Cyrus performed. Zac Efron smiled sweetly. Lunch was fantastic.
But these events are really about trend-spotting. And that’s where Disney’s “showcase” got really interesting – not least for the stars who turned out so loyally to perform.
First, the studio revealed that 16 of its future films will be 3D animations – a genre that relies on slick computer programmers, rather than overpaid celebrities. Then Disney unveiled a futuristic system by which it can now shoot animations using real-life actors clad in jumpsuits, who are then rendered in cartoon form.
Due to debut in 2009, with a remake of A Christmas Carol starring Jim Carrey, it effectively represents the creation of “virtual” acting and could very well change the face of the film industry.
As insiders and big hitters noted over lunch, it effectively represents the creation of “virtual” acting. And if – in the hi-tech world of the future – you can achieve such a thing as a “virtual” performance, will there be there any point in actually having “real” film stars?
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Posted by Dr. Disney on October 3, 2008 at 11:39 am · Permalink
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Category: Disney, Movies
From bloggingstocks.com:
I was disappointed with the performance of Disney’s (NYSE: DIS) Miracle at St. Anna. The Spike Lee war feature only grabbed about $3.5 million. It placed in spot number nine and even though it wasn’t in as many theaters as some of the biggies of the weekend, thus making its per-theater average heftier than some of the higher-ranking movies, I thought Miracle could have done a lot better considering its compelling marketing campaign. Would have been nice for Disney shareholders to have seen a big hit with this project.
Perhaps the long running time of 2 hrs. 46 min. affected its chances for success. I always say that execs should insist on movies with shorter run-times. That’s more shareholder-friendly to me. I don’t really care if an artist believes he needs a ton of time to tell a tale. Realistically, shorter movies reduce the risk of failure and can maximize the total return from the box office.
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Posted by Dr. Disney on September 29, 2008 at 12:14 pm · Permalink
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Category: Movies
From comingsoon.net:
Last week, when Disney announced rather vaguely that Johnny Depp would be playing the role of Tonto in their big screen reinvention of The Lone Ranger, based on the popular ’50s television of the same name, it took the entertainment world by surprise.
Maybe people were just shocked that a superstar like Johnny Depp might play a sidekick in any movie he appeared in, not to mention the whole fact that traditionally, Tonto was a Native American who barely ever used prepositions. The real question was who would play Tonto’s better half and the title character in the movie that’s yet to name a director.
Well, now England’s semi-tabloid newspaper The Sun is claiming that Tonto’s Kemosabe will be played by none other than George Clooney! Read the rest of this entry »
Posted by Dr. Disney on September 28, 2008 at 10:44 am · Permalink
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Category: Movies
From washingtonpost.com:
Paul Newman, 83, the actor and sex symbol who surged to stardom by playing loners as well as criminal and moral outlaws — anything to downplay his astonishing looks — died of cancer Friday at his farmhouse near Westport, Conn.
Newman was an Academy Award-winning actor and acclaimed director, and he used his fame to propel his political activism, race car driving and philanthropy. He donated all the profits from his Newman’s Own food company — more than $250 million — to charities and social welfare organizations.Brooding and sinewy, with luminous blue eyes and a husky voice, Newman resembled a preppy Greek God in his earliest screen roles. He quickly rebelled against conventional casting that tried to turn him into a pretty-boy alternative to Marlon Brando and James Dean. He became known as an introspective and nonconformist performer — a perfect anti-hero idol for the socially rebellious 1960s and 1970s. Read the rest of this entry »
Posted by Dr. Disney on September 28, 2008 at 9:25 am · Permalink
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Category: Disney, Movies
From cinemablend.com:
The nation’s economy may be in a recession, but it’s good times over at the Walt Disney Company. They’ve got more moneymaking franchises than they can shake a stick at. They’ve got more Pirates movies coming, Narnia is still in the picture, they’ve got Tim Burton cranking out another creepy kids movie in Alice in Wonderland, they’re squeezing Johnny Depp into a Tonto costume, and now they own a little company called Pixar… which they plan to milk for all its worth.
Because they’re so eager to scrape everything they can out of the Pixar piggybank, Disney has decided they need another Cars movie sooner rather than later. Variety says they’ve bumped the release of Cars 2 up a year. They now plan to release the continuing adventures of Lightning McQueen in the summer of 2011. But wait, there’s more.
Disney has even more plans to earn more of that sweet Cars cash. They’ll be deluging you with a series of animated short film starring the character of Mater, as soon as automotively possible. The shorts will show up on TV, and in front of Disney movies. I’ve long been in favor of showing short films in front of movies, especially Disney movies. If you saw the hilarious Goofy short that played in front of National Treasure 2 then you know how awesome those little pre-movie warm-ups can be. I’m sure the Cars skits will be enjoyable but… this is Disney. If you’re going to make shorts, how about giving us more with Mickey, Donald, and Goofy. Pixar’s movies are great and all, but your corporate mascots could use a little fresh air every now and then.
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Posted by Dr. Disney on September 26, 2008 at 12:16 pm · Permalink
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Category: Disney, Movies
I have been saying for years that Frontierland is the next area of Disney’s theme parks to need a major motion picture to reinvigorate life in it in the way it once was while Davy Crockett was popular when Disneyland first opened in the ’50s. Now, that major motion picture has been announced in the form of The Lone Ranger, with Johnny Depp taking on the Native American role of Tonto, the Lone Ranger’s sidekick. If the film is popular, I suppose we’ll see more Depp-alikes running around Frontierland.
It was also officially announced that Depp would be taking on the role of the Mad Hatter in Tim Burton’s upcoming 3D/motion-capture version of Alice in Wonderland, potentially bringing Depp into Fantasyland as well.
The fourth Pirates of the Caribbean film was also announced to be in the works, with Depp reprising his role as Captain Jack Sparrow.
It has also been reported that Depp will be working on “an additional role” in another movie that hasn’t yet been announced. So, can we expect to see a turn-of-the-century Johnny Depp in a Main Street-based film? Or perhaps he’ll join Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson in the rumored-to-be-upcoming Tomorrowland movie? Maybe the parks needs to be called Deppland instead of Disneyland?
Link to more information about the new films.
Posted by Ricky on September 25, 2008 at 3:54 pm · Permalink
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Category: Disney, Movies, Travel, Theme Parks
From attractionsmagazine.com:
Among two hours of talks delivered to the media this morning in a “Business Behind the Magic” presentation by Disney, two gems of information emerged.
First, Disney revealed some concept art surrounding their recently announced 2009 promotion called, “What Will You Celebrate?” The year-long tribute to celebrations will feature plenty of in-park decorations.
As you can see, the park will be decked out in brightly-colored streamers and balloons everywhere with the phrase, “Celebrate today!” bringing it all together. I don’t remember seeing this much color added to the Magic Kingdom since the park’s infamous 25th anniversary wherein Disney covered Cinderella Castle with faux icing and toppings, turning it into a giant pink cake of sorts.
At the end of today’s presentation, Francois Leroix, vice president at Walt Disney World Entertainment, described the new meet-and-greet opportunity coming to Toontown in the form of Pixie Hollow, where Tinker Bell and four of her fairy friends will reside. Fawn, Iridessa, Rosetta, Silvermist, and Tink herself then emerged to wave to the crowd, but not talk, as they can’t speak outside of Pixie Hollow. Guests, however, will be able to have a conversation with the fairies inside the park when the new experience opens on October 24, just four days before the October 28 release of the new Tinker Bell movie on DVD and Blu-ray.
A video of the Disney Fairies will be online soon.
Link to full post with more pictures
Posted by Ricky on September 24, 2008 at 3:37 pm · Permalink
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Category: Disney, Movies, Universal Studios
From bloggingstocks.com:
Since General Electric (NYSE: GE) is reeling from the financial crisis that’s currently gripping Wall Street, there’s no doubt that a little Hollywood magic might be in order, something to take its corporate mind off reality for at least a little while.
Well, according to The Hollywood Reporter, that might happen. Steven Spielberg needs to move his DreamWorks company over to a new studio, and it looks like NBC Universal is at the front of the pack in the race to secure his business.
The pairing of Spielberg and Universal would be logically sound. He certainly had a better time over at that lot than he did at Viacom’s (NYSE: VIA) Paramount. There is, however, one other studio that is in the running. The article seems to imply that Disney (NYSE: DIS) has a shot with Spielberg as well, although the way I read it, the Mouse is a distant second in the contest. Disney wouldn’t be a good fit. As much as CEO Bob Iger would love to hold meetings with the most famous director in Hollywood (and the world, for that matter), a DreamWorks distribution deal just doesn’t make sense since the company is really into getting a lot of bang for its capital buck. Read the rest of this entry »
Posted by Dr. Disney on September 23, 2008 at 5:02 pm · Permalink
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