This week’s episode is by far the busiest and the darkest episode to date. There were five storylines to follow, which may have been too much, with each one crossing paths with the others throughout. Coulson, Skye, Tripp and Fitz begin their search for the… Read More »Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. recap: S2E8 The Things We Bury
In a move meant to solidify the recent success of both studios, Ed Catmull, President, Walt Disney and Pixar Animation Studios, announced today that Walt Disney Animation Studios’ Andrew Millstein and Pixar Animation Studios’ Jim Morris have been promoted to President of their respective units.… Read More »Disney Animation and Pixar Get New Presidents
In 2009, a lot of people were upset about Disney purchasing Marvel. They were afraid that their favorite characters were going to become watered down versions of themselves. Five years later, all of those naysayers are the same ones that helped make a movie about a talking raccoon and his best friend the walking tree the highest grossing film of the year.
So, with Big Hero 6 out in theaters (and doing well) and the Avengers Half-Marathon last weekend, I thought it would be interesting to look back and see what Disney has done with Marvel, specifically outside of the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU), in the past five years.
One of the first things they did was create a new Avengers cartoon for The Disney Channel. Avengers: Earth’s Mightiest Heroes lasted two seasons before being scrapped for a different Avengers cartoon: Avengers Assemble! Disney wanted to create its own animated version of the MCU with all of the Marvel cartoons interconnected like their movie counterparts. Unfortunately for EMH, it had already built its own animated Marvel universe (which was awesome) so they had to cancel it in order to start over.
Now they have Ultimate Spider-Man, Avengers Assemble! and Hulk and the Agents of S.M.A.S.H. with a Guardians of the Galaxy cartoon on the way. To me, this is the closest that Disney has come to making those fans’ fears a reality. With the exception of EMH, these shows are all pretty dull and sacrifice compelling storytelling for a “lesson of the week.”
A notable exception to this is the Phineas and Ferb crossover episode that they did with The Avengers which was hilarious. This is also the second time that Disney has done a crossover with Marvel.
Prep & Landing: Mansion Impossible was the first Disney/Marvel crossover. A back up story in three of Marvel’s main titles, this story featured Wayne and Lanny, the main characters from the vastly underrated Prep & Landing Christmas specials, as they attempt the get the Avengers Mansion ready for a visit from “the Big Guy.” It wasn’t heavy on action or complex plot, but the you can imagine the fun of watching the two elves wander through the mansion.Read More »Marvel and Disney 5 years on
When Disney Springs opens next year, a new sign will light up the night on top of what will soon be Morimoto Asia. The “Springs Bottling Co.” marquee was recently installed. Meant to inspire memories of Florida’s waterfront towns from the turn-of-the-century (last century, not… Read More »Disney Springs gets more opening dates and new sign
The cast of Disney’s Aladdin on Broadway recently took to Reddit for an AMA (ask me anything) session. Adam Jacobs (Aladdin), James Monroe Iglehart (Genie), and Jonathan Freeman (Jafar) responded to fans questions. The whole interview is worth reading, but here are some of the highlights:
When was the last time they let their heart decide? James responded with a story from his recent trip to Walt Disney World:
I let my heart decide whether to go on Space Mountain or the new Seven Dwarves Mine Ride and Fantasy Land? I went on Seven Dwarves, because that was the coolest roller coaster I’ve been on in a LONG time. It shouldn’t be cool, and you expect because it’s Snow White it’ll be all kiddie and stuff, and the minute you go down, it’s not a regular thing – it was a good hard decision.
Where James’ take on The Genie comes from:
the AMAZING, Late Great Howard Ashman – he is the mind, the brain, behind Aladdin, the idea of it to be a Disney film. His original idea for the Genie was to be more like Cab Calloway and Fats Waller – and so because I’m such a huge fan of Robin Williams, and he’s such a legend, I didn’t want to touch his material. No one can be Robin. Only Robin. So when they told me about Howard’s original idea, I didn’t feel so afraid to make it my own, because that world – Cab Calloway, Fats Waller – that swing music – I know that world. And also, our wonderful director Casey Nicholaw, he told me to find my own Genie. So I started doing all the silly things I think are funny. What you see onstage is me with the volume onstage turned up to about 30. So I got to be as silly as I want to be, while still paying homage to the film. I saw the film when I was 17, in 1992, and i’m a HUGE fan, so I wanted to give play to that.
Jonathan Freeman (who also voiced Jafar in the movie) on stealing form the movie for Jafar:
Good point. I do try to steal a little bit of Jafar’s physicality from the film, since i’m not that much like him physically, I do try to steal what I can – because I think that was really a huge part of it.
I can’t get enough of Disney’s Aladdin. I hope to get up to NYC soon to take in a show for myself. But in the meantime, I’m happy that ABC7 in NYC has shared this backstage look at the musical.Read More »A backstage pass to Disney’s Aladdin on Broadway
In October, we reported that Pixar’s animated feature “The Good Dinosaur” had been moving forward with a new director – Peter Sohn. Sohn even hand drew a little teaser video. After replacing the previous director, a not uncommon occurrence at Pixar (it’s happened in 4… Read More »Pixar’s The Good Dinosaur reportedly back on track
Disney is doing some last minute casting for the upcoming Frozen Christmas Celebration that will air on ABC. They are seeking deserving families who want to reunite with their loved one(s) for an inspirational holiday special. Have life’s circumstances and finances made it extremely difficult… Read More »Disney Casting Opportunity – Separated Families
While Christmas decorations won’t officially be complete until November 21st at the Walt Disney World Resorts, there is a new Gingerbread castle already installed at the Contemporary Resort. Yes, you’ve guessed it — it’s Frozen themed. We stopped by for quick visit over the weekend.… Read More »Gingerbread Castle at Contemporary Resort Combines it’s a small world and Frozen