Disney profits up 21% in 2nd quarter
May 6, 2008
Strong growth in the movie studio propelled Disney to a strong second quarter, with operating profit up 21% and revenue gaining 10% over the year-ago period. Studio entertainment profit soared 61% to $377 million due to the marketing and distribution expenses for March 2007 release “Meet the Robinsons” as well as the surprise B.O. showing for the studio’s “Hannah Montana” pic. - From Variety
Updated with photos: Miley with Mickey, Minnie in Orlando. (Miley Cyrus to skip scheduled Disney red carpet event)
May 2, 2008
Miley Cyrus made an appearance at Disney World, but won’t be sticking around long enough for the media to join her.
Cyrus will not be attending Friday’s red carpet event at the resort as planned, Walt Disney World spokesman Gary Buchanan said Thursday. It would have been her first public event since Vanity Fair published photos this week that have thrown her status as a role model for young girls into question.
Via Yahoo
Forget Miley, Disney’s Kiddie Lingerie Billboard
May 1, 2008
Disney spokeswoman Patti McTeague told the New York Times that “a situation was created to deliberately manipulate a 15-year-old in order to sell magazines.”
Reading McTeague’s comment over coffee yesterday morning, I couldn’t help but think of an advertisement I’d seen a few months ago while on a reporting trip to China. I was walking from my Beijing bed-and-breakfast to a nearby subway station when I was stopped in my tracks by a billboard that made the controversial 1990s Calvin Klein underwear ads look artistic by comparison. Staring down at the throngs of shoppers on Beijing’s Xinjiekou Nandajie Avenue, a busy commercial thoroughfare about a mile west of the Forbidden City, was a white girl who looked all of 12, reclining in a matching bra-and-panties set adorned with Disney’s signature mouse-ear design. In a particularly creepy detail, the pigtailed child was playing with a pair of Minnie Mouse hand puppets. In the upper left-hand corner was the familiar script of the Disney logo.
Via Slate
Animatronic WALL-E robots coming to Disney parks
April 28, 2008
Screamscape sources have confirmed that we will see a Wall-E mobile animatronic character running around just in time for the movie’s release. Wall-E is said to be quite cute and stands about 3 feet tall. From the sound of things Disney has elected to build a Wall-E for each coast.
Via Screamscape
Hannah Montana, semi-topless and wrapped in what appears to be a satin bedsheet in the June issue of Vanity Fair.
April 27, 2008
Fifteen years old, topless and wrapped in what appears to be a satin bedsheet in the June issue of Vanity Fair. Did Miley Cyrus, with the help of a controversy-courting magazine, just deliver a blow to the Walt Disney Company’s billion-dollar “Hannah Montana” franchise? Some parents reacted with outrage over the weekend when the television program “Entertainment Tonight” began showing commercials promoting a scoop: Ms. Cyrus, the star of the wholesome Disney Channel blockbuster “Hannah Montana,” had posed topless, albeit with her chest covered, for the Vanity Fair photographer, Annie Leibovitz.
Screen grabs of the photo quickly popped up online, sparking a blogosphere debate. “Bonfire anyone?” wrote Lin Burress on her marriage and parenting blog, Telling It Like It Is, referring to the mountain of Hannah Montana retail items — makeup, shoes, clothes — in the marketplace. “Parents should be extremely concerned,” Ms. Burress said in an interview. “Very young girls look up to Miley Cyrus as a role model.”
Via NYTimes
Pics and news on Disney’s Bolt, Rapunzel and more from Pixar…
April 17, 2008
We got a lot to talk about in this report. For the first half I focused on the Pixar side of the presentation. Since then Disney has released a ton of images… mostly just title fonts, but there are a few pieces of art from the actual movies. I’m going to pepper the Disney Animation art throughout and then, at the end, I’ll throw in all the Pixar pics, which includes looks at UP, NEWT and the CARS 2 title logo.
Read more at AICN
New Wall-E Featurette
April 16, 2008
The Last of the Nine Old Men goes… Ollie Johnston is no longer with us…
April 15, 2008
Hey folks, Harry here… Pretty much, my entire life… I’ve known the name of Ollie Johnston. One of the most beloved animators of all time - he is credited to giving Disney’s characters a lot of the warmth we love about them. Before Ollie - Disney characters rarely touched unless they were slapping each other or kicking one another in the ass. Ollie brought the more human relationship to bare focusing on the warm connections that we humans have… the act of holding hands, putting an arm around one another. - Harry Knowles via AICN
Upcoming Disney/Pixar Movies
April 8, 2008
The first Disney digital 3-D movie for release is “Bolt,” the story of a dog of the same name who thinks he has superhero powers. John Travolta gives voice to Bolt while hit teen singer/actress Miley Cyrus is voicing Bolt’s owner Penny in the movie, due to open on November 26. “Up,” the story of an unlikely 78-year-old adventurer and his 8-year-old sidekick, is due to be released on May 29, 2009. “Toy Story” and “Toy Story 2″ are due to be re-released in digital 3-D on October 2, 2009 and February 12, 2010 respectively, while “Toy Story 3″ is due to hit screens on June 18, 2010.
Read more
Disney animation going 3-D
April 8, 2008
The Walt Disney Co. said Tuesday it will jump on the 3-D bandwagon, vowing to release every animated movie in the format beginning with “Up” next year.
Chief Creative Officer John Lasseter made the announcement in New York at a presentation of Disney’s upcoming lineup of animated movies from its Pixar and Disney studios.
The lineup includes “Rapunzel,” a retelling of a fairy tale set for release for Christmas 2010, and “King of the Elves,” set for release for Christmas 2012.
Via LATimes
Excelsior! Stan Lee’s Disney Projects…
April 1, 2008
Walt Disney Pictures and Stan Lee have set three projects that will be executive produced by Lee and Gill Champion and their POW! Entertainment. The troika of projects will each be based on a story by Lee:
“Nick Ratchet” will be written and directed by Richard LaGravenese. Larry Jacobson and Sonny Grosso are in talks to produce.
“Blaze” will be written by Gary Goldman.
“Tigress” will be written by Zoe Green. State Street Pictures’ Robert Teitel and George Tillman will produce.
Via Variety
More details on Kristen Bell’s When in Rome
March 28, 2008
Expert scene stealer Will Arnett has packed his bags for “When in Rome,” a romantic comedy starring Kristen Bell that Mark Steven Johnson is directing for Disney. Arnett joins Josh Duhamel, Jon Heder, Anjelica Huston and Dax Shepard in the story centering on a love-starved New York curator (Bell) who steals magical coins from the Trevi Fountain in Rome but soon finds herself in a bizarre situation when she is pursued back to New York by a band of aggressive suitors whose coins she took. Arnett will play an Italian artist who becomes one of the suitors, following Bell to New York.
Via HR
‘Lone Ranger’ remake on the way from Disney
March 28, 2008
Writers Ted Elliott and Terry Rossio are going from “shiver me timbers!” to “Hi-yo Silver!” The writing duo, best known for their work on the “Pirates of the Caribbean” films, are in final negotiations to write a live-action big-screen adaptation of “The Lone Ranger” for Disney and producer Jerry Bruckheimer. The project will be made by Disney and Jerry Bruckheimer Films in association with Entertainment Rights. “Ranger,” owned by Classic Media, began life as a 1930s radio show. Its popularity led to movie serials, TV shows, comic strips and comic books, toys, novels and more.
Disney confirms additions to Disneyland’s Small World ride
March 27, 2008
Disneyland plans to incorporate stylized Disney characters into It’s a Small World in keeping with attraction creator Mary Blair’s original designs and color palette, Walt Disney Imagineering officials confirmed. An “Alice in Wonderland” doll wearing a blue dress and a white rabbit in a playing card tunic based on illustrations created by Blair while working on the 1951 animated movie will be added to the England segment of the classic boat ride, officials said. The Alice and rabbit characters will be added near a chessboard and red rose tree already existing in the Small World attraction. Officials confirmed that Alice is one of several Disney characters that will be added to Disneyland’s Small World in a controversial plan that has infuriated some purists. Officials have insisted that Mickey Mouse and Minnie Mouse will not appear in the Anaheim attraction.
Via LATimes
Janitor’s Closet?!
March 20, 2008
You may find this hard to believe, I do, but 250 pieces of artwork from a 1960 touring exhibit of Disney Animation Art to promote the Sleeping Beauty movie were ‘found’ in a Janitor’s Closet in Japan. If “Janitor’s Closet” is a euphemism for Private Collection, then I understand.
Via Disney Blog
Help Save “It’s a Small World Ride”
March 20, 2008
Dear Disney Executives,
It has recently been brought to my attention that the Walt Disney Company including WDI has proposed changes to the “It’s a Small World Ride” at the Disneyland Park in Anaheim. As I understand the changes include the addition of the Disney Characters (Mickey, Minnie, Lilo & Stitch, etc.) to the ride in select areas, and the replacement of the “Rainforest” section with Mickey Mouse in a tribute entitled “Up with America”. I also understand that the boats and trough they ride in will be expanded for the safety and comfort of the parks modern day guests.
Read more
Antin to write, direct Disney project, Sanders producing untitled music-driven film
March 17, 2008
Walt Disney Pictures has set Steven Antin to write and direct an untitled music-driven project that Scott Sanders will produce under his first-look deal at the studio.
Via Variety
Disney and Pixar going to Mars
March 17, 2008
Pixar Animation Studios is getting ready to put its first really-for-real live action project into production. Don’t believe me? Okay. Then check out the batch of domain names that the Walt Disney Company registered this past Friday:
* JOHNCARTERANDTHEGODSOFMARS.COM etc
… suggest that what Andrew Stanton supposedly told the staff at Edgar Rice Burroughs, Inc. back in October of last year is true. That Disney / Pixar definitely is gearing up to do a trilogy of films based on the “John Carter of Mars” books.
Via Jim Hill
Miramax, Rudin drink up ‘Lush Life’
March 17, 2008
Miramax Films and producer Scott Rudin have acquired screen rights to Richard Price’s novel “Lush Life,” just published by Farrar, Straus & Giroux. “Lush Life” is set up as a police procedural in which a restaurant manager and his bartender set out to walk a drunken friend home on Gotham’s Lower East Side. One of the men winds up on the wrong end of a bullet, and a murder investigation reveals much about the city and the characters involved in a mugging gone wrong.
Via Variety
Toy Star Mania Sneak Peek
March 16, 2008
What happens when Toy Story meets Disney Hollywood Studios? See below to watch a MSNBC video as they go behind the scenes on the new Pixar Florida attraction.
Creepy Jason Segel to Stalk The Muppets Next
March 13, 2008
Disney has enlisted scribe-thesp Jason Segel and helmer Nick Stoller to create the next Muppet movie for the studio. In “Sarah Marshall” Segel’s character writes a “Dracula” musical performed by puppets. Those cloth creatures were custom-made by the Henson puppeteers, and the experience emboldened Segel to pitch his concept for a Muppets movie when he was invited in for a general meeting with exec Kristin Burr. Segel got a deal in the room and enlisted Stoller to co-write and direct the project.
Via Variety
‘Member that $7.4 billion deal? Yeah, it’s payin’ off… Promise…
March 13, 2008
Walt Disney Co. chief exec Robert Iger has no regrets about buying Pixar, doesn’t want to go after Yahoo and doesn’t think the Mouse House will be dinged too badly by the economic slowdown. Iger called himself lucky to have an adviser like Apple chief Steve Jobs on Disney’s board as the Mouse continues to seek new ways for its content to reach consumers — something, he said, that Apple’s sleek, user-friendly designs have done brilliantly. “Steve is very honest. He speaks his piece,” Iger said.
Via Variety
Secrets of Pixar’s inner circle
March 12, 2008
For all the success, however, there’s very little room atop Pixar’s food chain. While live-action movie studios might crank out more than a dozen movies annually, the digital animation company built by Apple’s Steve Jobs barely makes a film a year — and had no features at all in 2005 or 2002. What’s more, all Pixar movies so far have been directed by an inner circle of animation all-stars: John Lasseter (”Toy Story,” “A Bug’s Life,” “Toy Story 2″ and “Cars”), Brad Bird (”The Incredibles” and “Ratatouille”), Andrew Stanton (”Finding Nemo” and summer’s forthcoming “Wall-E”) and Pete Docter (”Monsters, Inc.” and 2009’s “Up”).
Some of Pixar’s limited future directing slots already have been claimed. Longtime company editor Lee Unkrich is making 2010’s “Toy Story 3.” Sound designer Gary Rydstrom, who directed the Pixar short “Lifted,” and Brenda Chapman, a Disney and DreamWorks alumna who had a writing credit on “Cars,” also are developing Pixar movies.
In other words, Pixar director slots are few and far between. Which brings us to the 36-year-old Hayward, who departed Pixar’s Emeryville, Calif., campus in late 2002 and is making his directorial debut on “Horton,” a co-production of 20th Century Fox Animation and Blue Sky Studios.
Via LAtimes
Disney: 4 Million iTunes Movies Sold, $123 Million Since 2006
March 12, 2008
The upside for Disney is that this is all incremental revenue, with zero marketing costs. So they’d rather have it than not. But another reminder that digital sales aren’t going to do much for Disney or any other the other large media congolomerates’ top and bottom lines for quite some time.
Via Silicon
Final Trailer for Pixar/Disney’s Wall-E
March 11, 2008