Welcome back to where showbiz takes center stage… Hollywood Studios, of course! It’s time for your 2nd DHS History Lesson. For those just joining us, let me tell you a little bit about myself, I LOVE the movies! (Guess the ride below!) We are doing… Read More »DHS History Lesson: Automobiles are a Big Deal!
Do you know what May 1st is? The 25th Anniversary of Disney-MGM Studios…er, Disney’s Hollywood Studios, of course! I did it for DCA’s reopening, then for Animal Kingdom’s 15th Anniversary, so it is only right to keep the tradition alive. Thus begins the first article… Read More »DHS History Lesson: Sounds…bad. Really bad.
Walt Disney Animation Studios (WDAS) carries a heavy load when it comes to the legacy of Walt Disney, his brother, and the early pioneers of feature animation. After Walt died the studios has experienced a few ups and downs both artistically (The Black Cauldron) and… Read More »Ice & Snow Never Tasted So Sweet at Walt Disney Animation Studios
I was recently asked why if Disney Oz The Great and Powerful isn’t performing up to Disney Studios expectations have they already started working on a sequel? First off, working on a sequel and going into production are two different things. But secondly, Disney does have some amazing expectations for the Oz franchise. Heck Imagineering has already built a model of the Emerald City with expectations of adding it as a whole new land to a certain theme park.
According to BoxOfficeMojo, at $453 million so far, Oz is performing well versus other films released at the same time and versus previous years, but it’s disappointing when compared to the success of Tim Burton’s billion dollar box office hit Alice in Wonderland. Alice’s numbers were the stretch goal (aka best possible scenario) for Oz. I think Disney would have been happy to have reached 70 or 80 percent of Alice, but right now, it’s on trajectory for just over 50 percent.
Read More »Why is there talk of an Oz The Great and Powerful Sequel?
You may recall that I took a trip to Pixar Studios to learn more about the upcoming film Brave, and you may also recall that the experience was awesome. In addition to learning about bagpipes, archery, and kilts, our wandering group of press and bloggers spent some quality time with the creative team behind the film. Emphasis on creative.
Louis Gonzales is a Story Artist at Pixar and was part of the team that traveled to Scotland for research (it’s all relative, they had to travel to the dump for Toy Story 3). It sounded amazing. He told this great story about a small, simple dinner they had one night while in Scotland, and how a woman had started singing a haunting, beautiful song that really touched him. He was so inspired that he created a scene with a similar song. His version wound up being a lullaby sang to Merida by her mother. There was a whole process that he had to go through in order to have the scene added to the film. It involved his having to sing falsetto in front of the Pixar bigwigs, and from the sample he played us it’s lucky he has such a fantastic day job:Read More »Behind Brave: The Pixar Process
Disney has released a teaser poster for the November 23rd release of “The Muppets.” I love this poster. But then I love almost everything about the Muppets. Can’t wait for the relaunch, how about you?
Both eyes if I can spare them. Well, things are beginning to slot into place for the growing relationship between Marvel and Disney that began in 2009. The movie contracts are beginning to play out with the end result building strong new franchises for the… Read More »An Eye on Marvel
Update: boy I was off my game this morning. Missed two more nominees: “Day & Night”: Teddy Newton from Pixar for Best Animated Short and “The Tempest” – Sandy Powell for Costume Design. That makes it 14 total nominations. Apologies to Teddy and Sandy. Congrats… Read More »Disney Oscar Nominees