Narnia: The Lion, The Witch, and the Wardrobe (official site) is set for release on December 9th 2005. It’s a Walden Media film, but Disney is distributing, so expect a big push to start any time now. NarniaFans.com is a great place to start if you’re looking for more information on the film. It’s very much like TheOneRing.net was for Lord of The Rings. Keeping NarniaFans on their toes is NarniaWeb.com, which takes a very close second place. NarniaWeb is organizing ‘Lion Parties‘ for Narnia fans who want to camp out for the premier a la Star Wars.

Based on the movie trailer I’ve seen and my childhood reading of the books, I’m very much looking forward to these movies. Not quite at the level of Lord of the Rings, I actually went back and reread those books before the movies came out, but I’m still pretty excited. What’s your general feeling? The comments are open.

[ttags:disney, walden, narnia, tltwatw, film, movie, movies]

From Cartoon Brew comes two more interesting articles on Disney’s presence at SIGGRAPH L.A. (Next year in Boston!).

First up is the long rambling, but oh so informative, trip report of one Bill, CG Student at RIT.

I was very interested in what Ian Gooding and Dan Cooper
had to say about Art Direction in CG. They took a lot of inspiration from Mary Blair when working on Chicken Little, which you know seems kinda like it would be hard to do in 3d, but they pulled it off. (These guys are incredible…they art directed on Tarzan, Aladdin, Mulan, etc.)

Bill has lots of insight for a student and is like kid in a candy store with all these Disney animators around.

Second up was a link to an apologetic Jim Hill, could it really be? Jim takes back what he said about Glen Keane and his turn to CG from Pencil Drawn art. Must say I agree with Jim. Keane’s stuff looks amazing.

I repeat, is it too soon to claim a much anticipated rebirth of a leadership role in Animation over there in Burbank? Please guys, don’t make me eat my words.

[ttags:disney, animation, art, keane, glenkeane, siggraph, jimhill, walt+disney, waltdisney, wdfa]

Although it is not law in the state of California, it is industry practice to consult with a roller coaster’s manufacturer before making changes to the attraction. The OC Register is reporting that Disney made changes to some brake zones on California Screamin’ three months ago and didn’t tell Intamin, the ride’s manufacturer.

"If you need heart surgery, I would say you go to a heart surgeon,"
said Sandor Kernacs, Intamin’s president. "Knott’s Berry Farm would
never modify a ride without calling us and getting approval. In the
state of New Jersey, you cannot modify a ride without the
manufacturer’s approval."

Perhaps coincidentally it was one of those same brake zones that failed and led to the accident on July 31st. Now, in Disney’s defense, although the ride was originally from Intamin, Imagineering made plenty of changes to the software, installing similar controls to the ones used on most Disney roller coasters, and the hardware before opening it to the public.

[ttags:disney, disneyland, screamin, californiaadventure, dca, dlr, accident, injury, safety, themepark, theme+park ]

Over at TheIndyExperience.com there are two recent posts that make me think we might just see a fourth Indiana Jones film in theatres before 2008. First was a link to story on Ain’t It Cool News that claims to have insider knowledge of George Lucas’ preproduction for the film. They were told to do research that would point to some timing around the ‘Young Indiana Jones’ TV series age. This could mean any number of things, but when taken together with this next post might point to another Young Indiana segment in film 4.

The second post quotes a reliable anonymous source who says that a script for the 4th episode has been well received by all parties and is nearing its final stages. After that pre-production will begin with Speilberg clearning his schedule to begin filming next year.

This also seems to imply that there is a sense of urgency to get this done. I really think the window for making this film is closing fast. Sean Connery and Harrison Ford certainly aren’t getting any younger. There also appears to be a convergence in availability by all parties involved. So that’s another good sign.

What does this mean for Disney? How about an updating of the Indiana Jones Stunt Show at the MGM Studios? It could happen.

[ttags: lucas, speilberg, ford, connery, indianajones, indiana+jones, film, movie, fun ]

The LaughingPlace Store has just added two new fan created DVDs to their stock. Not sure how long one of them will be available however.

The first is the excellent Adventure Through Inner Space Virtual Ride-Through DVD, a CGI Recreation of the original attraction. I give this DVD high marks and it’s a must have in the library of any fan of old-skool Disneyland or Imagineering. Like all good DVDs it comes with special features including a Commentary and Blooper real.

The second fan-created DVD is the new Disneyland – 50 Years of Magic DVD. It features:

a) Block Party Bash (from DCA) shot from the Monsters Inc float stop.
b) Walt Disney’s Parade of Dreams (from Disneyland)
c) Remember… Dreams Come True (from the hub)
d) Remember… Dreams Come True (from Main St.)
e) Remember… Dreams come True (Both shows edited together)
f) Various shots of the other 50th offerings (i.e. gold ride vehicles and some of the "Happiest Faces" Mosaics)
g) Very cool memorabilia from Disneyland’s first 50 years
exhibit at the Lincoln Theater

I haven’t seen the DVD so I can’t say anything about the quality, but the LaughingPlace Store wouldn’t be selling it if they thought it was crap. These are the kinds of videos that fans want but Disney seldom provides.

Of cource, Disney may not look too fondly on their trademark and copyrights being used in this manner. So buy now before it gets pulled.

[ ttags: disney, disneyland, dvd, atis, imagineer, imagineering, laughingplace, disneyblog, disneyana, fanart, fandom, parade, show, vacation ]

More evidence of Hand Drawn Animation’s continuation as an art form is appearing at the studio of former Disney animator Sergio Pablos. Greg tracks down the trailer for Pablos first release Giacomo’s Secret. Yes, it’s in Spanish. But it looks great!

"We were stopped for about 60 seconds. We had never stopped that long," Bromagen said. "I could hear the other car coming. We couldn’t do anything but get ready to be hit. We couldn’t move and we couldn’t see it coming."

Then, he said, he "heard a tremendous smack and then people screaming,"

The LA Times adds a few more details and reports the California Screamin’ Roller Coaster at Disneyland’s California Adventure themepark remains closed today and for the forseeable future.

The OC Register has a listing of most of the major injuries and deaths that have occured at Disneyland since 1990. (Registration Req’d)