A terrific collection of photos from around Disneyland on November 6th and 7th can be found over on LaughingPlace.com. The park was playing host to a Hollywood movie production for “Saving Mr. Banks” complete with mega stars and set design meant to recapture the early… Read More »Disneyland goes Retro for Saving Mr. Banks
If you were too drunk from the Presidential Debate drinking game or not watching one of the three main networks last night, then chances are you missed the new extended trailer for Steven Spielberg’s Lincoln. It starts off with the words of Abraham Lincoln in… Read More »New Extended Lincoln Trailer
(RtoL) Julie Andrews, Walt Disney and P.L. Travers
We’re still waiting for our Walt Disney bio-pic, but production has finally begun on a movie that focuses on one of the most interesting chapters in Walt’s life, his 20-year courting of P.L. Travers in order to secure the movie rights to her popular novels and the character Mary Poppins, and the testy partnership the upbeat filmmaker develops with the uptight author during the project’s pre-production in 1961. Walt knew he had a good thing there and the success of Mary Poppins allowed the Walt Disney Company to make many more innovations, including financing most of the 1967 expansion at Disneyland and transportation at WDW. This will be the first time Walt Disney has been portrayed in a dramatic movie production.
Two-time Academy Award-winner Tom Hanks (“Philadelphia,” “Forrest Gump”) will portray the legendary Disney alongside fellow double Oscar-winner Emma Thompson (“Howard’s End,” “Sense and Sensibility”) in the role of the prickly novelist. Before actually signing away the book’s rights, Travers’ demands for contractual script and character control circumvent not only Disney’s vision for the film adaptation, but also those of the creative team of screenwriter Don DaGradi and sibling composers Richard and Robert Sherman, whose original score and song (Chim-Chim-Cher-ee) would go on to win Oscars at the 1965 ceremonies (the film won five awards of its thirteen nominations).
“Saving Mr. Banks” will film entirely in the Los Angeles area, with key locations to include Disneyland in Anaheim and the Disney Studios in Burbank. Filming will conclude around Thanksgiving, 2012, with no specific 2013 release date yet set.
When Travers travels from London to Hollywood in 1961 to finally discuss Disney’s desire to bring her beloved character to the motion picture screen (a quest he began in the 1940s as a promise to his two daughters), Disney meets a prim, uncompromising sexagenarian not only suspect of the impresario’s concept for the film, but a woman struggling with her own past. During her stay in California, Travers’ reflects back on her childhood in 1906 Australia, a trying time for her family which not only molded her aspirations to write, but one that also inspired the characters in her 1934 book.
Read More »Production Begins on “Saving Mr. Banks” starring Tom Hanks as Walt Disney
We are getting more details today on the soundtrack for Walt Disney Animation Studios’ Wreck-it Ralph. Also, as of today, it’s available for pre-order from Amazon.com. From the trailers we’ve seen so far, the movie is going to tap into the collective love of retro arcade games. These games themselves are tied to a very specific musical landscape, I can’t wait to hear how it all plays out.
Wreck-it Ralph follows the journey of an arcade-game bad buy who embarks on a quest to prove he’s really a good guy. Along the way he travels through wildly diverse arcade-game worlds, including the ’80s-era, 8-bit video-game world of Fix-It Felix, Jr., the ultra-modern first-person shooter game Hero’s Duty and the candy-coated cart-racing game Sugar Rush. Helping to differentiate these worlds from one another are unique cinematography, animation, effects and music. “Music is another way to set the stage and make these worlds completely different,” said producer Clark Spencer.
But not just any music. Filmmakers tapped diverse and unexpected artists to help tell the story. Composer Henry Jackman created the film’s score, which is complemented by original songs and music from Skrillex, AKB48, Owl City and Buckner & Garcia. Directed by Rich Moore, produced by Spencer and featuring the voices of John C. Reilly, Sarah Silverman, Jack McBrayer and Jane Lynch, “Wreck-It Ralph” crashes into theatres on Nov. 2, 2012. The film’s soundtrack from Walt Disney Records will be available Oct. 30, 2012.
Snuck in at the bottom of a blog post on the Disney Parks Blog is a huge piece of news. When the Beauty and the Beast themed Be Out Guest restaurant opens as part of the New Fantasyland expansion it will serve beer and wine as part of its dinner menu. Outside of private parties, this will be the first time alcohol has been served at the Magic Kingdom, breaking a tradition that goes back to an edict from Walt Disney himself.
Walt did not want adult beverages served at Disneyland. He didn’t think it belonged in a family theme park. He did allow beer at the Holidayland corporate party pavilion, but it was outside the berm. Even then, the park had repeated issues with guests leaving for lunch and then re-entering a few sheets to the wind. Before Walt died, he did approve alcohol sales at Club 33, but went pretty far to make it a private club where the day guest would not be able to get served a drink.
We know that Walt was still against general sales of alcohol in his parks because of his attempt to build a second theme park. After Disneyland was a success, Walt looked east for a great place to build another park. After a lot of research, Walt settled on St. Louis, but when city founders insisted that Walt allow Annheuser Busch to sell beer in the park, Walt declined to build there. Instead he headed south for a little crossroads he remembered from an earlier trip to Florida – Orlando.
Read More »Magic Kingdom to Serve Adult Drinks Starting This Fall
When the folks at Disney Interactive Studios released “Epic Mickey 2: The Power of Two” at the E3 conference earlier this summer, there was a lot of noise generated in the Disney fan community. Unfortunately for Disney Interactive, that noise was about the promotional merchandise… Read More »Oswald The Lucky Rabbit Ears Coming to Disneyland & Walt Disney World
Last year a British film archive discovered a print of an 1928 Oswald The Lucky Rabbit short that had previously been thought lost. “Hungry Hobos” was the 20th out of 26 Oswald films worked on by Walt Disney and his team of animators before he… Read More »Lost Oswald Short Restored and Shown at Film Festival
It’s political season in the USA and many households are tempted to put that presidential autograph up on eBay to make a few bucks. Turns out, they would do much better if they they had a verified signature from Walt Disney. In fact, right now… Read More »Walt Disney’s Autograph More Valuable Than Former Presidents?