New Walt Disney Studios President Rich Ross is already making big waves by canceling production of the 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea remake. Obviously, this either upsets or excites you depending on your feelings about the film. I definitely thing it had the potential to become a 3 or 4 film franchise like Pirates, but I am also happy that the original will remain as Disney’s classic take on the story.

What Disney attraction would you like to see get the Pirates Of the Caribbean movie treatment next? I still think they could do a better job with Haunted Mansion (perhaps a series of Halloween time PG13 scare flicks) and I’m dying to see a film based on Space Mountain.

Every year at the beginning of the Holiday season my family went to see the Radio City Christmas Spectacular in New York City. When I attended in the early and mid-nineties the show included a version of “A Christmas Carol”, which to this day I still remember vividly and brings me back to the wonder of the holiday season in New York. Needless to say I entered with high expectations and hopes that Disney’s A Christmas Carol could return that sense of child-like wonderment.

As always The El Capitan was an assault on the senses. The garlands strung across the red suede draped interior wall between the lobby and the theater are the first evidence of Christmas cheer. As you head to your seats the huge garlands strung across the sides of the theater lovingly usher you into the holidays. Rob Richards’ fabulous renditions of Christmas songs on The “Mighty Wurlitzer” are the final touch completely enveloping you in the holiday spirit.

At the El Capitan, Disney often likes to create pre-shows for their movies which usually involve the featured characters appearing and dancing to a musical number. This is fun and the children love it. While marketed as “Disney’s Holiday Spectacular”, I expected something similar. I was wrong. The Disney Holiday Spectacular is a large production with five characters and 10 singers and dancers, not to mention multiple sets and numbers. I was completely blown away by what Disney put on; all of the classic Christmas carols are included. The show goes out with a bang, which I wouldn’t want to spoil, but let’s just say it involves high-kicks that rival the Rockettes and a little white Christmas. Usually the pre-shows at the El Capitan are mostly for the kids, but by the last number I doubt there was anyone who wasn’t singing along.

Robert Zemeckis has created a movie, which is not only a wonderful and fitting adaptation of the Charles Dickens novel, but one that also manages to do so while appealing to the whole family. Some have questioned whether it is appropriate for children and while there are some frightening scenes all the kids in my screening handled it very well. This latest rendition of A Christmas Carol breathes life into a story so prevalent it has descended into cliché and manages to imbue the Christmas spirit in each viewer.

I’ve often questioned the use of motion capture technology and 3D as they seemed to be a gimmicks not necessary to enhance the plot, A Christmas Carol has given me at least one example where this is not true. These technologies as well as the ability of director Robert Zemeckis help you fly through London and into Ebenezer Scrooge’s past, without even getting dizzy. This film made me glad that Disney had not attempted this earlier, because I can’t imagine a better film. As soon as I left the theater I wanted to see it again, I hoping I can wait to go with my family, on Christmas day.

If you live in the Los Angeles area I highly recommend you check this out at the El Capitan, where it is playing until January 3rd, including Thanksgiving, Christmas, and New Years. Even if you don’t live in Los Angeles it’s worth checking out in the theaters, as Robert Zemeckis’ use of 3D is by far the best I’ve seen.

Disney’s ‘art house’ studio Miramax will be a small shell of it’s former self by January. Its president will be gone and just 20 employees will be left to shepherd any future projects. They’ll also move the studio from New York to Los Angeles.

Much of this reduction began even while the studio’s founders, the Weinstein brothers, were in charge. After their ouster, the studio continued to struggle to produce hits. And now, with Dick Cook gone, the comes another hit. Some of this has to be chalked up to the much more complex market for art house films than when Miramax was at it’s peak.

While I may not have loved all of the films that Miramax produced for Disney, I liked enough of them to see the value for Disney Studios. I hope they’re able to find a niche for these sort of specialty films in the Disney stable.

Via the NY Times.

Editor’s Note: Please welcome guest author Matt Feige to The Disney Blog.

Last night was opening night for The Nightmare Before Christmas 3D at the El Capitan. The El Capitan runs The Nightmare Before Christmas for Halloween as part of an annual tradition. The line outside the theater was an eclectic mix of fans, not usually seen at Disney’s films, but a given for this film, now a too popular to call a cult classic.

As you file in, passing an authentic box office and beautifully decorated ceiling, you enter a completely different era, the golden age of Hollywood. The beautifully painted and sculpted interior is almost as welcoming as Rob Richards’ wonderful organ playing. Rob, who recently won the American Theater Organ Society’s Organist of the Year award, began with selections from Danny Elfman’s stunning Nightmare before Christmas score before moving on to more classic Disney fare and then finished with Hooray for Hollywood.

For opening night, we started with a panel discussion.

Don Hahn, a Disney figure in his own right, interviewed Director Henry Selick for about 15 minutes about the making of The Nightmare Before Christmas, the difficulty of making stop-motion films, and the exclusive use of in-camera effects. When Hahn referred to stop-motion as “painfully” built, Selick quickly interjected “Wonderfully.”

While explaining the subtle adjustments the animators make in order to make a character seem fluid and real Selick said the to be a great stop-animator must “Feel that Character in your whole body.”

After Ken Page, the voice of Oogie Boogie, appeared in a clip Don brought out Ken Page to perform “Oogie Boogie’s Song.” His onstage performance made clear the energy he brought to the role.

After Selick and Page left the stage Kahn acted as if the movie were about to begin, but the stage began to fill with fog and a candelabra floated across the stage. The Disneyland Dapper Dans then launched into a stirring rendition of “Grim Grinning Ghosts.”

While the performances and appearances were amazing and set the stage for this wonderful film, as always Disney’s details sold the show. It was the Christmas wreaths and pine garlands strung on the walls of the theater that got me in the mood to experience a film that has achieved Disney Classic Status. I highly recommend that you check out The Nightmare Before Christmas 3D at the El Capitan before November 1st when it is gone for another year.

When not busy turning Christmas into Halloween, Matt Feige can be found chattering on twitter.

It’s Pixar week at The House Next Door, a blog which features writing about the art of movie craft from some of the industries leading artists and critics. The week kicked off with a masterpiece article by Todd VanDerWerff that attempts to weave the cinematic threads linking each Pixar animated feature into a tapestry of beauty unmatched by any modern movie studio.

The whole week of essays is being collected here.  A much deserved focus of attention for Pixar Studios which has a real chance at winning a Best Oscar picture for ‘UP’ this year.

Time Warner has been one of Disney’s largest rivals, which in today’s world of media and communications means they have both competed against each other and helped each other. Their films compete with each other at the box office, and their broadcast and cable television networks compete with each other for viewers, yet each company produces content that is distributed by the other. Just think of how many times you have noticed a Harry Potter movie (Time Warner) appearing on ABC Family (a Disney-owned cable channel), and how many of you watch The Disney Channel on Time Warner Cable.

After growing larger and larger in the last couple of decades, in part through mergers/acquisitions, Time Warner has been shrinking through spin-offs and sales, and now in the news is talk of the “Time” portion of the corporation being jettisoned (see this Reuters story by Jessica Wohl.) The same source talks about the corporation making more acquisitions in “core” businesses, but publishing used to be one of those!

Time Inc’s magazines include popular titles such as People and Sports Illustrated. In the second quarter, revenue at Time Inc publishing, the largest U.S. magazine publisher, fell 22 percent to $915 million due to a 26 percent decline in advertising revenue.

While Crawford did not name specific acquisition targets, he did say there would be a “winnowing process” during which weaker companies in the sector would be gobbled up.

I mentioned Time Warner Cable – that was spun already spun off in March of this year. Warner Music Group was sold in March 2004.  The Time Warner Book Group was sold in March 2006.

Warner Communications, Inc. and Time Inc. merged in 1990. The company acquired Turner Broadcasting System in 1996, and then was purchased by AOL in 2001, to become AOL Time Warner, although the “AOL” portion of the company name was later dropped, and, if the parties had only waited a little while, Time Warner could have bought AOL instead. There has been talk of spinning off AOL for a while now.

The corporation currently owns a wide range of brands and media companies, including New Line Cinema, HBO, The CW Television Network (with CBS), Cartoon Network, CNN, and DC Comics.

I could see Disney, owner of ESPN, being interested in acquiring Sports Illustrated.

Walt Disney Studios chair Richard (Dick) Cook has announced that he will be resigning his post. As chair of the studios cook over saw all live action and animated films released by the Walt Disney Company. Unfortunately there has been a fair amount of pressure for the studios to improve their offerings the last few years and many felt that Cook would eventually resign or be fired if things did not improve.

Cook was liked by most Disney fans, not just because he rose through the company from the bottom ranks of a front line attractions cast member at Disneyland, but also for his involvement in the fan community, such as his participation in the Carolwood Society. I’m sad to see him go and hope he stays involved in the Disney community.

Nikki Finke is reporting that Dick Cook was actually fired. But I guess in the higher levels of Hollywood, they call that a resignation.

(via the LA Times)

Follow below the jump for his official bio:

[Read more →]

Attention all Johnny Depp, Tim Burton, Alice in Wonderland, and general fans of the Disney order; now is your chance to be the first to see the debut of the Alice in Wonderland Teaser Trailer.

The Loyal Subjects of the Red Queen, the Loyal Subjects of the White Queen, and the Disloyal Subjects of the Mad Hatter are all building armies on Facebook. The fan page with the biggest army at 4PM PDT on Thursday, July 23 will get to see an exclusive new trailer from Disney’s Alice in Wonderland before anyone else. So be sure to log onto Facebook and choose a side.

The Loyal Subjects of the Red Queen: Facebook.com/RedQueenSubjects

The Loyal Subjects of the White Queen: Facebook.com/WhiteQueenSubjects

The Disloyal Subjects of the Mad Hatter: Facebook.com/MadHatterSubjects

There is also a general Alice in Wonderland fan page that can be found here: Facebook.com/AliceInWonderland

My personal strategy is to have my wife fan one group and I’ll fan another. Then we at least have a 2/3rds chance.

Btw, you can also join The Disney Blog’s Facebook Fan Page. It’s still a work in progress, but keep an eye on it.