- Alain over at Disney and More has posted three photos of what must have been quite a fireworks display at Disneyland Paris for Bastille Day celebrations.
- The soon to open remodeled restaurants in the Japan pavilion at Epcot officially have names now. Three restaurants have been combined into two. Teppan Edo, which we assume will still feature teppanyaki-style cooking, and Tokyo Dining, which will feature a variety of dishes (and presumably sushi).
- In movie news, there is talk going around that a script is being written to remake the Walt Disney classic live action version of Jules Verne’s "20,000 Leagues Under the Seas". The hope being that it can fill the vacancy left by Pirates in Disney’s summer blockbuster spot. There is even a possibility that a certain captain from the Pirates franchise may snare the ‘Captain Nemo’ role in the film. Sounds good to me.
- The Animation Guild blog has a though provoking piece up on how sometimes being fired from a job is the best thing for a struggling animation artist. In this case Tim Burton. Don’t miss the comments either.
- A key figure in the battle over licensing rights to the Winnie-the-Pooh characters died Thursday. Shirley Slesinger Lasswell, licensed rights to the Winnie the Pooh characters to Walt Disney in 1961, then later sued the company over disputed royalties. The case was dismissed in 2004
- GigaOM opines about the chances for success of Disney’s DGamer social network for the Nintendo DS. It won’t open until May 2008 (or later based on Disney Interactive’s track record with website launches).
- ABC’s hit reality game show "Dancing With The Stars" now has a spinoff. "Dance X" will feature the ‘Stars’ judges Bruno Tonioli and Carrie Ann Inaba, this time acting as choreographers and coach to teams of competitors who must learn to become a song and dance troupe and beat out the other team. The show will debut after the next ‘Stars’ series ends.
I’m not so sure a remake of 20K is really what’s needed. The original is just too good. In addition, the remakes of Disney family movies like Parent Trap and Freaky Friday, have more become ABC Family and Disney Channel filler than actual real hits in their own rights. Some have done ok because of their stars (Robin Williams, Tim Allen), but beyond being a vehicle for that?
Quite personally, I see the remake-a-thon of the last decade being just another symptom of missing imagination that the animation sequelitus exemplified. Better I think to go looking for a hidden gem, a “diamond in the rough” that hasn’t been filmed in the last 50 years, if ever, and create something new. That was a secret behind the success of Master and Commander and the Hornblower series on A&E…
Meanwhile, Disney has the Narnia property (Dawntreader is set for May 2009, making it that year’s summer blockbuster). Plus, Disney apparently is, according to another blog I read (or was it this one), in negotiations for any new Stan Lee Marvel project, though I’d like to see independent confirmation of that, and if its true, I think its a waste. Again, I’d rather see Disney work to create something new rather than rehash what other studios have already done.
By “a certain captain,” I’m hoping you mean Geoffrey Rush. He’d be a great Nemo! I like the original, and it’s got an outstanding cast, but I wouldn’t mind seeing 20KL remade as a more serious adventure movie. Hey, you know what? It’d be a great tie-in with a theme-park ride! Maybe a submarine voyage of some kind….oh, that’s right.
Why did that suddenly put the image in my head of a disney ride where Barbossa yells out “Put your backs into it lads! We’ve got to find Nemo!”
:)
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