Persia Pushed...

The Mouse and producer Jerry Bruckheimer have decided to release "Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time" in 2010 instead of 2009...

Delaying the film by almost a year(Memorial Day weekend 2010 instead of June 19, 2009), Disney hopes to allow director Mike Newell more time for the elaborate special effects that have to be done in post. Of note, this takes "Prince" out of competition with "Transformers 2," which was to open a week after it.

The film started lensing last week in Morocco filming exteriors and then heads to London for the remainder of the shoot.

Bob Iger and Dick Cook very much want POP to turn into another franchise that they can use throughout the Disney Empire. If it's a success can you see them building that Prince of Persia attraction in the Arabian Coast Port of Tokyo DisneySEA?

Middle "Kingdom" Management...

The Walt Disney Company is working on refinancing the $300 million in dept that it owes on Hong Kong Disneyland...

This is part of an aggressive move by the Mouse to set the table for the coming expansion that is needed to make the Middle Kingdom's(China's nickname for the geographically illiterate) Magic Kingdom more of a Disney Kingdom...

Hopefully this matter will be settled by the end of the year. I'm really wanting to see that swanky new HM get built... errr.

Never mind, you didn't hear that.

Mouse Knows It's A-B-C's...

Thirteen years ago today, the Walt Disney Company bought Capital Cities/ABC(the parent company of the ABC Network).

Eisner had been trying to buy a network for years, even flirting with the idea of CBS which thankfully didn't happen as ABC Network was more of a fit for the Mouse.

Funny, I don't remember near as many people critical of the $19 billion dollar purchase as they were of the Pixar acquisition. Today, it really is a very faint afterthought.

Perhaps after "Bolt", "Princess and the Frog" and "Rapunzel", the deal for the Lamp will be as well...

Transplanted From Sony To The Mouse...

Sam Raimi is teaming up with the Mouse...

Walt Disney Studios has purchased "The Transplants", an action-adventure pitch from screenwriters Adam Jay Epstein and Andrew Jacobson for Raimi to produce through his Stars Road Entertainment shingle. The deal is in the mid to high six figure range.

The story is being kept very hush-hush, but it has been described as a four-quadrant ensemble superhero story with a comedic bent. I have no idea what the heck that means.

This is Disney's first pairing with Raimi, but hopefully not the last... I could see several projects the studio working on with his fingerprints on them.

Up Characters Up...

The Pixar Blog has several character stills that were shown at Comicon from Pixar's "Up".

Check 'em out while they're online...

Keeping The Mouse House Finances In Order...

The Walt Disney Company released its financials for the third quarter(Q3) today...

- A 9 percent rise in net income for the third quarter based on the strength of Cable Networks.

- Net income of $1.284 billion or $0.66 per share, up from $1.178 billion or $0.57 per share the same quarter last year.

- Revenues in the latest quarter increased 2.1% to $9.24 billion from $9.05 billion in the previous year quarter. Beating most Wall Street analysts projections of $9.14 billion.

- Sequentially net income rose from $1.133 billion or $0.58 per share on revenues of $8.71 billion recorded in the second quarter of fiscal 2008.

- The Mouse announced that it bought back 93 million shares for $3.0 billion during the first nine-months period.

- Walt Disney's Media Networks grew 8% to $4.12 billion from $3.83 billion, while operating income increased 9% to $1.47 billion from $1.36 billion in the year-ago quarter.

- Income from cable networks grew 12% to $2.59 billion from $2.31 billion, income from broadcasting were $1.531 billion versus $1.524 billion in the corresponding period last year.

- Broadcasting divisions(read: ABC, ect.) witnessed 11% fall in operating income to $260 million from $293 million due to increased production cost for programs in syndication, lower advertising sales Disney owned television stations and costs for new scripted programming for the ABC Television network.

- The Parks and Resorts division contributed revenues of $3.0 billion, up 5% from $2.9 billion and operating income increased 3% to $641 million from $621 million in the year-ago quarter.

- Disney said that revenue growth at Disneyland Resort Paris was a bright spot mainly due to favorable currency translation and increased guest spending and attendance.

- The Walt Disney Company disclosed its higher operating income was achieved as a result of improved performances at its Walt Disney World Resort and the Disneyland Resort Paris, which partly offset by a fall in income at the Disneyland Resort.

- Walt Disney Studio generated a revenue of $1.43 billion, 19% lower than $1.78 billion in the previous year, 2007. Operating income plummeted 49% to $97 million from $190 million in the prior year quarter. This was due to the drop in worldwide theatrical distribution(read: number of films as well as successful films).

- Disney Consumer Products reported revenues of $642 million, up 20% from $537 million, but operating income slipped 4% to $113 million from $118 million a year earlier quarter.

- For the year-to-date period, Walt Disney reported net income of $3.67 billion, down from $3.81 billion but earnings per share rose to $1.87 from $1.81 in the year earlier period.

- Revenues increased to $28.4 billion from $26.6 billion in the corresponding period from last year.

Not bad. Disney seems to have weathered the economic slowdown quite well... let's just hope the economy continues to grow higher. This quarter's GDP was almost twice that of last quarter. No signs of a recession yet, so hopefully we've weathered the worst of it. Remember, the expansion and growth of Disney theme parks is based on a growing and thriving American economy and the world's as well..

The Beginning Of Disney Magic...

Ten years ago today, the Disney Cruise Line launched it's first ship...

Although the initial plan was to have a cruise line of up to ten ships, the plan is parred down to two. The Magic and the Wonder.

Magic set sail today...

It and the Wonder will be joined by two sister ships in 2011 and 2012(There goes those years again!).

The Princess And The Frog Website Goes LIVE!!!

Holy crap! I didn't even notice that WDAS has opened the official site...

Take a look at GLORIOUS HAND DRAWN ANIMATION! I'm sooooooo in love. This film I'm looking forward to even more than "Bolt".

Give it a looksie...

Tron. Two. Point. Oh?

BACK ON THE GAME GRID.

Greetings Programs!

Last week at Comic Con International, Disney unveiled test footage for the sequel to their revolutionary 1982 sci-fi computer animation film Tron ending years of speculation and rumors of an eventual follow-up marking the 26th anniversary of the original release. No, I’m not talking about the low-rent video game sequel Tron 2.0 released in 2003.

It is with great pride that I say that Tron is one of my favorite films ever. No matter how old I get, I am always in awe each time I watch it by its unique visual style and artistic design conceptualized by artists Syd Mead (who designed Blade Runner the same year) and Heavy Metal magazine’s evocative futurist illustrator Jean Giraud “Moebius”. No film before or after Tron can ever compare to it, mostly because of the laborious film techniques and limitations of the computer technology available at the time which gave the film its hyper-surreal atmosphere of a sort of Kubrickian abstract. The computer animation sequences under the supervision of Harrison Ellenshaw who worked previously on Disney’s The Black Hole, were rendered on antiquated computers the size of refrigerators by three different commercial animation companies which took months to render out seconds of shots and married to the film using a tedious process of rotoscoping them with 65mm monochrome live-action sequences and backlit animation plates which were painstakingly done frame-by-frame onto blown-up film cells called Kodaliths by hand in order to achieve advanced optical image compositing, something that can be done digitally today on any home computer with relative ease. Tron had achieved a distinct landmark visual style as visually groundbreaking as Fritz Lang’s Metropolis 60 years before it and would revolutionize the special effects and computer animation industry forever (for better AND for worse) the way that Star Wars did to traditional visual effects a mere 5 years before it. A couple years later, Universal’s The Last Starfighter about a high-scoring video game player who is recruited by the Star League and whisked away to fight an interstellar alien war, followed Tron’s precedent by showcasing live-action and computer animation sequences. It would be the end of the decade, however, until James Cameron’s The Abyss in 1989 and T2 in 1991 before the film industry would fully embrace computer animation and begin to abandon practical stop-motion and scaled model visual effects and would be retired into obsolescence a decade following Tron with the groundbreaking photo-realism of Jurassic Park. But Tron remained a major inspiration to Disney animator John Lasseter who would go on to make commercially successful computer animation films at Pixar with Apple co-founder Steve Jobs.

It is then with some excitement, ambivalence and apprehension that I reflect upon the test footage for the sequel tentatively known as TR2N, for I have seen so many of my beloved film franchises ultimately tarnished by highly commercialized sequels, re-makes and reboots that have tried in vain to re-invent the wheel and ultimately missed the point of the original source material. The test footage showed an “upgraded” and elaborately more sophisticated and rendered version of the original lightcycle sequence which (by today’s standards) may look somewhat dated in comparison to advances in state-of-the-art computer graphics, yet somehow maintains the elegant simplicity and aesthetic of its predecessor. It’s relatively easy now to make a film like Tron on a few home PC’s and there’s nothing groundbreaking about it at all. However it would be impossible to go back and make the film using similar techniques employed in 1982 which pushed the envelope of crude computer animation and industrial photography of the time and is the fundamental reason why Tron will historically remain a uniquely distinctive visual film in that regard.

In 1982, Tron narratively struggled to define its ambiguous electronic world of “cyberspace” which, ironically, would be coined afterward by William Gibson in his groundbreaking cyberpunk novel Neuromancer and to which the enormously successful films of The Matrix all owe a debt of gratitude. And while Tron may have also struggled to find an audience that grappled to comprehend its complex technological rubric it managed to indelibly create an allegorical mythology of fantastical electronic cultural lore that was as prophetic as it was nearly two decades ahead of its time. Audiences and civilization have caught up to Tron and understand the nomenclature of its syntax of terminology like Users, Programs, and Digitizing which have since entered the cultural lexicon. Tron presented many complex idiosyncratic ideas of a pseudo-religious themes where programs profess a heretical believe in their real-world creators and wish to commune with them through input/output temples to help them liberate their captivity by an oppressive system of corporate e-commerce not (by Microsoft] but rather the Encom Corporation’s MCP – Master Control Program – who takes a perverse pleasure in watching such non-conformist subprograms systematically destroyed in gladiatorial video game arenas. Tron was definitely a product of the period of video game subculture of the late 70’s and early 80’s and the conjunction of Bally/Midway’s enormously successful Tron arcade game at its peak was the perfect complimentary promotional vehicle for the film, the first of its kind, which had incorporated a soundtrack of cues from Wendy Carlos’ appropriately synthesized electronic score that have since transcended the film to become more familiarly associated with the sounds of the game.

Jeff Bridges returns to reprise his role of Kevin Flynn, super-hacker and computer genius who last vindicated himself and became Encom’s CEO following the ousting of David Warner’s nefarious Ed Dillinger who fraudulently stole his proprietary video game designs to become Encom’s senior exec. In the footage, Bridges again plays a double role as his younger electronic counterpart program named Clu as well as his now much older and bearded self. This was achieved through a process of digitally mapping photorealistic images of the actor onto fully 3-D animated models, a process impossible to achieve for the original Tron but relatively common to video game designers nowadays. Lacking to appear in the demo is the title character of Tron himself who was played by Babylon 5’s Bruce Boxleitner and, like Bridges, would appear much older now. The question remains, if Tron himself would appear in the film and if the likeness of Boxleitner would be rendered to appear as he did in the original film using the same techniques that were given to Bridges’ Clu as demonstrated in the test footage or, as we have seen in the original film, some programs appear as mirror avatars of their aging real-world counterparts such as Barnard Hughes’ priestly electronic gatekeeper Dumont. Of all of the visual possibilities demonstrated by the footage, this seemed to resonate as the most fascinating of potential concepts for the direction of the new film under Joseph Kosinski who is well versed in directing photo-realistic computer graphics in commercials for companies such as Apple and Microsoft. Could TR2N continue to evolve the style and mythology established by its now-antiquated predecessor without looking like just another trumped-up computer effects spectacle that has plagued the blockbusters of today in lieu of an interesting story, especially one that was as narratively incoherent as the original Tron? For that we will have to wait and see but for animation fans and fans of the original Tron, this could be a very exciting time to see the state of computer visual effects pushed once again into groundbreaking new territory of the electronic frontier.

END OF LINE.

A Mad World...

Ok, as much as I am a skeptic of the remake of Disney's "Alice in Wonderland"...

This would be awesome news.

Johnny Depp is rumored to be playing the Mad Hatter... Now that would be inspired casting I have to say! If it pans out he would join Mia Wasikowska who will play the role of Alice.

Developing...

Will Wall-E Clean Up Overseas?

Andrew Stanton's "Wall-E" should top 200 million by this coming weekend in domestic box office, but what about overseas? The international market tends to be much bigger than here at home. Bob Iger and his marketing gurus know this and are working on a staggered release for the little fella.

Will the little robot do better than Remy in "Ratatouille"?

Wall-E's Domestic take: $195,308,076
Wall-E's Foreign take: $3,159,079

With a worldwide take: $198,467,155

The little garbage droid has a lot of dates still left to open...

Algeria July 30, 2008
France July 30, 2008
Monaco July 30, 2008
Morocco July 30, 2008
Netherlands July 30, 2008
Tunisia July 30, 2008
Denmark August 29, 2008
Norway August 29, 2008
Taiwan August 1, 2008
Czech Republic August 8, 2008
Slovakia August 8, 2008
Bulgaria September 5, 2008
Romania September 5, 2008
Australia September 9, 2008
Germany September 25, 2008
Japan December 2008

and on and on...

Time will tell.

Sark Program Coded Today...

In 1941 on this date, the Master Control Program is created...

Uhm... I mean Sark is created in Manchester, England. Or at least the actor who portrayed him was born today.

David Warner is 67 as of day. Happy Birthday you nasty computer program!

Seems as if there's a lot of Tron buzz going on right now I thought it was appropriate to mention that...

Number Five Is Alive...

Nooooooooooooooooo!

After the mediocrity that was "Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull", the Times Online has an interview with George Lucas where he actually discusses the idea of a fifth film in the series.

I waited nineteen years for a movie that would make up for the weak attempt that was Last Crusade only to have a sequel that was worse than that film. So am I and other Indy fans to wait another two decades to make up for the last two films?

Please, George...

Just let him pass into pop-culture history. Either that, or pass the baton... you can't be trusted with something this valuable anymore. As much as I looked forward to the fourth Jones film, I don't look forward to a fifth one.

The fans deserved better and got worse...

Put down the pencil and yellow paper pad, Mr. Lucas. It's time to go film those "little" esoteric films you talked about doing once Star Wars was over. It's over. And sadly, so is Indiana Jones...


Hat Tip to Ain't It Cool News.

More Of What The Docter Ordered...

Movieweb has posted a video interview with Pete Docter that you might find interesting...

Clonewar Is Hell...

Four minutes of action scene footage from the new Clone Wars movie is up on Yahoo Movies...

I have no idea what's going on in the film other than that it's a battle and it's the Clone Wars. Check it out, judge for yourself...

Through The Looking Glass...

Fifty-seven years ago today, Walt Disney's "Alice in Wonderland" is released by RKO Radio Pictures in America...

It's Walt's thirteenth animated film and another Disney classic. Could Tim Burton, genius that he is, actually do any better?

Just What The Docter Ordered...

Mr. Beaks, over at Ain't It Cool News has a great interview with "Up" director Pete Docter.

I'm jealous. Lucky bastard...

The Nuts And Bolts Of Bolt And Up...

First, from the outset...

John Lasseter is amazing, awesome and Bob Iger was brilliant to buy Pixar IMO... The price was a bargain. I guess this tells you pretty much where this post is going? Well, the panel from Disney happened yesterday and it was a good one. There was lots of info, many clips, particularly "Bolt" since it's closer to release and an interesting discussion with the nerds, uhm... I mean fans. Yeah, fans...

Disney had a panel at Comic-Con on Friday that focused on "Race To Witch Mountain" that was quickly overshadowed by the last three minutes of the panel when they showed the test footage for "Tron 2"...

Saturday's panel was to focus on Walt Disney Animation Studios "Bolt" and Pixar Animation Studios "Up" in that order.

First up was Bolt...

Those of you that have had any doubts about Lasseter and worried that this film is going to tank can rest easy... it won't. I'll assure you of that. Many people in the audience had no idea what to expect and once it was over they were genuinely looking forward to this film come November.

You could clearly tell from the discussion with the directors that having Lasseter there has given the whole department a great, positive boost for the better. The atmosphere and direction are much sharper and clearer. With his focus, he's been able to drive the animators and story people to work harder at creating something better. Something we expect from Disney that previous management lost somewhere along the way...

Not everything they showed was finished but a good portion of it was. There was twenty minutes of footage from Bolt and it started off with scenes from the show that he stars on. Really impressive action here. There is a depth to these clips that has been clearly missing from recent Disney flicks. The scenes they showed of Bolt out in the real world having to confront the reality of who he is and what he needs to become are great and I believe this film will connect with audiences in a way Disney animation hasn't for a long time. It really does appear that good. There were some technical stuff as well, like the fact that they've got the software where it's able to actually generate brushstrokes like hand drawn painting(more on this in a future article, btw). This is supported by the comments going around after the first couple images from the film were released where people were saying that it looked like pre-production art. It wasn't.

This film has a ton of humor in it as well. And we're not talking the stupid, cheap kind... there's a very clever story here. And the clear scene stealer of this pic will be Rhino the Hamster. He's cute and adorable, but he's hilarious and charming as well... and it turns out he's the unrealized conscience in Bolt's ear. Trust me, you'll just have to wait till November to see.

Thankfully, Walt Disney Animation is back. I can't wait till next year when we should, hopefully get a look at "The Princess and the Frog"... and if we're lucky, maybe a wee bit of "Rapunzel". Maybe.

The Mouse is on the right track after a long drought, guys...

But what about the Lamp?

Pixar's presentation of "Up" was next.

Director Pete Docter was a very nice man. He seems to fit the Pixar mold of talented, smart and approachable...

Most of the scenes that were presented in this panel were unfinished since the film is almost a year away. This might explain why some of the people didn't really come away with a better impression of the film. I believe it'll become clearer when the trailer starts to come out around... I don't know, November? But from what was shown, this film demonstrates how Pixar refuses to be boxed in and categorized. Not playing it safe has become the standard up in Emeryville as we've seen with films like "Ratatouille" and "Wall-E". "Up" is clearly in that direction. While it has a lot of emotional range in the clips that were shown, it definitely feels different... in a good way, though. It has a slight bittersweet quality to the scenes which involve an older gentleman named, Carl. Carl owns a house in this area that is supposed to be redeveloped and he's the lone holdout. He won't sell. There was a scene that showed some people that were coming to take him to a retirement home. He asks them to wait, goes inside and thousands of balloons sprout out of the chimney sending his house rising into the air and headed...

It's actually travelling to South America to go on adventures he promised his wife many years ago, but never actually fulfilled. There's a touching scene with him looking at a photo that is sad and sweet all at once. It almost feels like Pixar's trying to make a character piece that feels like an independent film. Carl is accompanied on his travels by a boy scout that has all gotten all his metals , save one... he hasn't helped the elderly. There were some very funny and sweet clips here, but the story isn't demonstrated much since so much of the work still has to be done. I believe that is why when the footage was over a good deal of the audience got up and left. Those of you that have never been to Comicon shouldn't take too much from this... it happens here quite a bit as there are a ton of panels and once people have gotten what they came for they tend to move on to what else they were planning. That's ComicCon 101.

All in all, a very good panel discussion and some great stuff from Disney that builds my confidence in it's future. If you don't believe me, you only have four more months to wait and then you can judge for yourself.

Now if you'll excuse me, I have another panel to attend...

It's Just An Honor To Be Nominated...

The ASIFA-Hollywood announced the recipients of the Winsor McCay Awards the other day at Comic-Con...

These awards, which are given for a lifetime of achievement in animation went to John Lasseter, Mike Judge, and Nick Park. They'll be honored with the statue at the 2009 Annie Awards.

Blue Sky Disney wishes to congratulate all the winners...

Up Website Goes Live...

Pixar Animation Studios official site for "Up" is now open...








And if you'd like to see the entire scene without having to go to the site, click here.

Blue Sky Disney Review: X-Files: I Want To Believe...

I've been a huge "E-Files" fan since the first episode. I watched almost every episode and hated seeing the series crash and burn the final few seasons. I thought the first X-Files film was really good, not great, but a good way to start what could have been a franchise series of films to compliment the television series. Unfortunately as the show seemed to twist in the wind the last few seasons and that awful final episode that left a bad taste in my mouth, I began to doubt Chris Carter could continue with more films. It seemed he had ran out of ideas and was coasting on the success of the show. When year after year unfolded with rumors or scant news about a new movie I figured it was done. Over.

Then last year they announced there would be a new film. A new X-Files film, I mean... It was shooting before you knew it and I was curious to see what kind of tale Carter and the cast had in store for us.

After seeing the film, I can tell you one thing for sure...

We've seen the last of the X-Files. It's over. It's buried. Was it really that bad? Actually, no. I had heard a lot of negative vibes about this film and went in dreading Carter was going to do to Mulder and Scully what Spielberg and Lucas did to Indy... But he didn't. He also didn't deliver what he needed to for this series to continue on as a film franchise, though.

I could basically sum it up to say that I paid to see the final episode of the TV show. It was well written. It was well acted(although Scully was a little stiff). It was well directed(except for a lazy shot during the credits that bugged me). But it wasn't what fans of the show were or should expect after waiting so long for a new film. It would have been nice to have had the show end kind of like this because it would have been a much better ending that what we got on the show, but as a film it's rather lacking.

I know some people are saying it's a "Monster of the Week" type film, but it's not. It's more of a serial-killer detective movie with almost no sci-fi element to it. That is going to be a big problem for the fans going in right there. It's almost like Carters said, the X-Files are over and now Fox and Dana are going to just do normal investigations. I know the show had some horror episodes, but even they were pretty deep into the geeky culture of paranormal. Not in this film. There is a small scientific element to it that could be considered in this vein, but it's a major stretch.

MILD SPOILERS AHEAD...

The story involves a missing female FBI agent and a disgraced priest that happens to have visions of her. Even though the bureau tried to discredit Mulder, an agent has him brought in to validate if the priest is genuine or a fraud. Mulder gets hooked in as Scully is trying to focus on their lives outside the FBI.

There are a series of missing people and the hunt is more like that for a serial-killer than a scary monster... it's not a bad film. It actually would've made a good episode. Just not one of the best episodes. Think of this as a "Silence of the Lambs/Dr. Frankenstein-lite story. It did serve as a much more fulfilling ending than the actual finale, but truthfully... what wouldn't?

It's a character piece. There's some interesting scenes with Mulder and the rest... there's even a cameo by one of the original cast members that I thought they were going to leave out. But there are no set pieces. No big action/dramatic scenes like you would expect in a big motion picture released in the summer. If you're going to take a really good show and transfer it from television to film you have to take the story into a higher plane, otherwise what is the purpose? There are truly a great deal of episodes from the show that would have made a great film...

This one deserves to be on the tube. I have a feeling that I've seen the last episode of the X-Files and sadly I don't want to. But the film makers gave us a pedestrian story and expecting us to shell out our hard earned dollars for it. That works for something like "The Dark Knight", which I've seen more times than I want to admit... it doesn't work for a movie like this. The reason we love these characters is that they're great characters, but they also live in such rich, compelling stories that we keep coming back to see more. I kept waiting for the commercials to start running...

That didn't happen when I watched the original show and that's one of the problems here. I know we've all wanted and waited to see another X-Files film, but is this what Chris Carter waited so long to do?

This is a mystery to me... perhaps we should call in Mulder and Scully to solve it?

Bolt Website Goes Live...

Walt Disney Animation Studios official website for "Bolt" has gone live...









Not much there yet, but after Comicon there is going to be a lot of people clicking to the site...

Check it out.

"The Man" Continues His Relationship With "The Mouse"...

The Walt Disney Company and comic book legend Stan "The Man" Lee's POW! Entertainment have reupped their first look pact. The new two-year deal covers everything from film, television, books, games, online and mobile entertainment.

Part of the deal including Disney greenlighting "Time Jumper", a digital comicbook series that Walt Disney Studios Home Entertainment will produce and distribute across multiple platforms. Disney Interactive Media Group's Disney Online and Disney Publishing Worldwide are working to create content for Lee's new properties as well.

This marks the fourth project for the Mouse and Lee, the other three being "Nick Ratchet", "Blaze" and "Tigress".

Journeys...

I heard about this earlier but wasn't able to post anything until now...

Randy Pausch, a computer science professor and one-time Imagineer, whose "Last Lecture" was at a seminar series hosted by Carnegie Mellon University called "Journeys" became a YouTube sensation, passed away this morning from pancreatic cancer. He was 47.

If you want to know what all the fuss is over, here's Randy's Last Lecture...

Also, if you would like to purchase the inspirational book he wrote then click here.

He was an inspiration to all who value life and love living. He'll be missed dearly by his friends and deeply by his family.

May you find comfort on your journey, Randy...

The Long List Of Shorts...

The Mouse has made a lot of animated shorts since it's went from humble beginnings as the Disney Brother's Studios to Walt Disney Productions to the Walt Disney Company.

A LOT of shorts...

Little Red Riding Hood 1922
The Four Musicians of Bremen 1922
Jack and the Beanstalk 1922
Goldie Locks and the Three Bears 1922
Puss in Boots 1922
Cinderella 1922
Alice's Wonderland 1923
Martha 1923
Alice's Day at the Sea 1924
Alice's Spooky Adventure 1924
Alice's Wild West Show 1924
Alice's Fishy Story 1924
Alice and the Dog Catcher 1924
Alice the Peacemaker 1924
Alice Gets in Dutch 1924
Alice Hunting in Africa 1924
Alice and the Three Bears 1924
Alice the Piper 1924
Alice Cans the Cannibals 1925
Alice the Toreador 1925
Alice Gets Stung 1925
Alice Solves the Puzzle 1925
Alice's Egg Plant 1925
Alice Loses Out 1925
Alice Is Stage Struck 1925
Alice Wins the Derby 1925
Alice Picks the Champ 1925
Alice's Tin Pony 1925
Alice Chops the Suey 1925
Alice the Jail Bird 1925
Alice Plays Cupid 1925
Alice Rattled by Rats 1925
Alice in the Jungle1925
Alice's Balloon Race 1926
Alice's Mysterious Mystery 1926
Alice in the Wooly West 1926
Alice the Whaler 1927
Trolley Troubles 1927
Oh Teacher 1927
The Mechanical Cow 1927
Great Guns 1927
All Wet 1927
The Ocean Hop 1927
Clara Cleans Her Teeth 1927
Rival Romeos 1928
Bright Lights 1928
Sagebrush Sadie 1928
Ozzie of the Mounted 1928
Plane Crazy 1928
Oh What a Knight 1928
The Fox Chase 1928
Tall Timber 1928
Sky Scrappers 1928
The Barn Dance 1928
Steamboat Willie 1928
The Gallopin' Gaucho 1928
The Opry House 1929
When the Cat's Away 1929
The Barnyard Battle 1929
The Plow Boy 1929
The Karnival Kid 1929
Mickey's Choo-Choo 1929
Mickey's Follies 1929
The Jazz Fool 1929
The Haunted House 1929
Wild Waves 1929
The Skeleton Dance 1929
El Terrible Toreador 1929
Springtime 1929
Hell's Bells 1929
Jungle Rhythm 1929
The Merry Dwarfs 1929
Summer 1930
Autumn 1930
The Barnyard Concert 1930
Cannibal Capers 1930
Just Mickey 1930
The Cactus Kid 1930
Frolicking Fish 1930
Arctic Antics 1930
A Midnight in a Toy Shop 1930
The Shindig 1930
Night 1930
The Fire Fighters 1930
The Chain Gang 1930
Monkey Melodies 1930
The Gorilla Mystery 1930
Winter 1930
The Picnic 1930
Pioneer Days 1930
Playful Pan 1930
Minnie's Yoo Hoo 1930
The Birthday Party 1931
Birds of a Feather 1931
Traffic Troubles 1931
The Castaway 1931
Mother Goose Melodies 1931
The Moose Hunt 1931
The China Plate 1931
The Delivery Boy 1931
Mickey Steps Out 1931
The Busy Beavers 1931
The Cat's Out 1931
Blue Rhythm 1931
Egyptian Melodies 1931
Fishin' Around 1931
The Clock Store 1931
The Spider and the Fly 1931
The Barnyard Broadcast 1931
The Beach Party 1931
The Fox Hunt 1931
Mickey Cuts Up 1931
Mickey's Orphans 1931
The Ugly Duckling 1931
The Bird Store 1932
The Duck Hunt 1932
The Grocery Boy 1932
The Mad Dog 1932
Barnyard Olympics 1932
Mickey's Revue 1932
Musical Farmer 1932
The Bears and the Bees 1932
Mickey in Arabia 1932
Just Dogs 1932
Flowers and Trees 1932
Mickey's Nightmare 1932
Trader Mickey 1932
King Neptune 1932
The Whoopee Party 1932
Bugs in Love 1932
Touchdown Mickey 1932
The Klondike Kid 1932
The Wayward Canary 1932
Babes in the Wood 1932
Santa's Workshop 1932
Mickey's Good Deed 1932
Parade of the Award Nominees 1932
Building a Building 1933
The Mad Doctor 1933
Mickey's Pal Pluto 1933
Birds in the Spring1933
Mickey's Mellerdrammer 1933
Ye Olden Days 1933
Father Noah's Ark 1933
The Three Little Pigs 1933
Old King Cole May 29, 1933
The Mail Pilot June 13, 1933
Mickey's Mechanical Man 1933
Mickey's Gala Premier 1933
Lullaby land 1933
Puppy Love 1933
The Pied Piper 1933
The Steeplechase 1933
The Pet Store 1933
Giantland 1933
The Night Before Christmas 1933
The China Shop 1934
Shanghaied 1934
The Grasshopper and the Ants 1934
Camping Out 1934
Playful Pluto 1934
Funny Little Bunnies 1934
The Big Bad Wolf 1934
Gulliver Mickey 1934
The Wise Little Hen 1934
Mickey's Steamroller 1934
The Flying Mouse 1934
Orphan's Benefit 1934
Peculiar Penguins 1934
Mickey Plays Papa 1934
The Goddess of Spring 1934
The Dognapper 1934
Two-Gun Mickey 1934
The Tortoise and the Hare 1935
Mickey's Man Friday 1935
The Band Concert 1935
Mickey's Service Station 1935
The Golden Touch 1935
The Robber Kitten 1935
Mickey's Kangaroo 1935
Water Babies 1935
The Cookie Carnival 1935
Who Killed Cock Robin? 1935
Mickey's Garden 1935
Mickey's Fire Brigade 1935
Pluto's Judgement Day 1935
On Ice September 28, 1935
Music Land 1935
Three Orphan Kittens 1935
Cock o' the Walk 1935
Broken Toys 1935
Mickey's Polo Team 1936
Orphans' Picnic 1936
Mickey's Grand Opera 1936
Elmer Elephant 1936
Three Little Wolves 1936
Thru the Mirror 1936
Mickey's Rival 1936
Moving Day 1936
Alpine Climbers 1936
Mickey's Circus 1936
Toby Tortoise Returns 1936
Donald and Pluto 1936
Three Blind Mousketeers 1936
Mickey's Elephant 1936
The Country Cousin 1936
Mother Pluto 1936
More Kittens 1936
The Worm Turns 1937
Don Donald 1937
Magician Mickey 1937
Moose Hunters 1937
Woodland Café 1937
Mickey's Amateurs 1937
Little Hiawatha 1937
Modern Inventions 1937
Hawaiian Holiday 1937
Clock Cleaners 1937
The Old Mill 1937
Pluto's Quin-puplets 1934
Donald's Ostrich 1937
Lonesome Ghosts 1937
Self Control 1938
Boat Builders 1938
Donald's Better Self 1938
The Moth and the Flame 1938
Donald's Nephews 1938
Mickey's Trailer1938
Wynken, Blynken, and Nod 1938
Polar Trappers 1938
Good Scouts 1938
The Fox Hunt 1938
The Whalers 1938
Mickey's Parrot 1938
Brave Little Tailor 1938
Farmyard Symphony 1938
Donald's Golf Game 1938
Ferdinand the Bull 1938
Merbabies 1938
Mother Goose Goes Hollywood 1938
Donald's Lucky Day 1939
Society Dog Show 1939
Mickey's Surprise Party 1939
The Practical Pig 1939
Goofy and Wilbur 1939
The Ugly Duckling
The Hockey Champ 1939
Donald's Cousin Gus 1939
Beach Picnic 1939
Sea Scouts 1939
Donald's Penguin 1939
The Autograph Hound 1939
Officer Duck 1939
The Standard Parade 1939
The Riveter 1940
Donald's Dog Laundry 1940
Tugboat Mickey 1940
Billposters 1940
Mr. Duck Steps Out 1940
Bone Trouble 1940
Put-Put Troubles 1940
Donald's Vacation 1940
Pluto's Dream House 1940
The Volunteer Worker 1940
Window Cleaners 1940
Mr. Mouse Takes a Trip 1940
Goofy's Glider 1940
Fire Chief 1940
Pantry Pirate 1946
Timber 1941
Pluto's Playmate 1941
The Little Whirlwind 1941
Golden Eggs 1941
A Gentleman's Gentleman 1941
Baggage Buster 1941
A Good Time for a Dime 1941
Canine Caddy 1941
The Nifty Nineties 1941
Early to Bed 1941
Truant Officer Donald 1941
Orphans' Benefit 1941
Old MacDonald Duck 1941
Lend a Paw 1941
Donald's Camera 1941
The Art of Skiing 1941
Chef Donald 1941
The Art of Self Defense 1941
Donald's Decision 1942
Der Fuehrer's Face 1942
All Together 1942
The Village Smithy 1942
The New Spirit 1942
Mickey's Birthday Party 1942
Pluto Junior 1942
Symphony Hour 1942
Donald's Snow Fight 1942
Donald Gets Drafted 1942
The Army Mascot 1942
Donald's Garden 1942
The Sleepwalker 1942
Food Will Win the War 1942
Donald's Gold Mine 1942
Out of the Frying Pan Into the Firing Line 1942
T-Bone for Two 1942
How to Play Baseball 1942
The Vanishing Private 1942
The Olympic Champ 1942
How to Swim 1942
Sky Trooper 1942
Pluto at the Zoo 1942
How to Fish 1942
Bellboy Donald 1942
Four Methods of Flush Riveting 1942
Stop That Tank! 1942
The Grain That Built a Hemisphere 1943
The Spirit of '43 1943
Education for Death 1943
Donald's Tire Trouble 1943
El Gaucho Goofy 1943
Pluto and the Armadillo 1943
The Flying Jalopy 1943
Private Pluto 1943
Fall Out-Fall in 1943
Victory Vehicles 1943
Reason and Emotion 1943
Figaro and Cleo 1943
The Old Army Game 1943
The Winged Scourge 1943
Home Defense 1943
Chicken Little 1943
Defense Against Invasion 1943
The Pelican and the Snipe 1944
How to Be a Sailor 1944
Trombone Trouble 1944
How to Play Golf 1944
Donald Duck and the Gorilla 1944
Contrary Condor 1944
Commando Duck 1944
Springtime for Pluto 1944
The Plastics Inventor 1944
How to Play Football 1944
First Aiders 1944
Donald's Off Day 1944
Tiger Trouble 1945
The Clock Watcher 1945
Dog Watch 1945
The Eyes Have It 1945
African Diary 1945
Donald's Crime 1945
Health for the Americas: Cleanliness Brings Health 1945
Californy'er Bust 1945
Canine Casanova 1945
Duck Pimples 1945
The Legend of Coyote Rock 1945
No Sail 1945
Hockey Homicide 1945
Cured Duck 1945
Canine Patrol 1945
Old Sequoia 1945
A Knight for a Day 1946
Pluto's Kid Brother 1946
In Dutch 1946
Squatter's Right 1946
Donald's Double Trouble 1946
The Purloined Pup 1946
Wet Paint 1946
Dumb Bell of the Yukon 1946
Lighthouse Keeping 1946
Bath Day 1946
Frank Duck Brings 'em Back Alive 1946
Double Dribble 1946
What Is Disease? 1946
Planning For Good Eating 1946
Pluto's Housewarming 1947
Rescue Dog 1947
Straight Shooters 1947
Sleepy Time Donald 1947
Figaro and Frankie 1947
Clown of the Jungle 1947
Donald's Dilemma 1947
Crazy with the Heat 1947
Bootle Beetle 1947
Wide Open Spaces 1947
Mickey and the Beanstalk 1947
Mickey's Delayed Date 1947
Foul Hunting 1947
Mail Dog 1947
Chip 'n' Dale 1947
Pluto's Blue Note 1947
They’re Off 1948
The Big Wash 194
Drip Dippy Donald 1948
Mickey Down Under 1948
Daddy Duck 1948
Bone Bandit 1948
Donald's Dream Voice 1948
Pluto's Purchase 1948
The Trial of Donald Duck 1948
Cat Nap Pluto 1948
Inferior Decorator 1948
Pluto's Fledgling 1948
Soup's On 1948
Three for Breakfast 1948
Mickey and the Seal 1948
Tea for Two Hundred 1948
Pueblo Pluto 1949
Donald's Happy Birthday 1949
Winter Storage 1949
Bubble Bee 1949
Pluto's Surprise Package 1949
Sea Salts 1949
Pluto's Sweater 1949
Honey Harvester 1949
Tennis Racquet 1949
All in a Nutshell 1949
Goofy Gymnastics 1949
The Greener Yard 1949
Sheep Dog 1949
Slide Donald Slide 1949
Toy Tinkers 1949
Pluto's Heart Throb 1950
Lion Around 1950
Pluto and the Gopher 1950
How to Ride a Horse 1950
The Brave Engineer 1950
Crazy Over Daisy 1950
Wonder Dog 1950
Trailer Horn 1950
Primitive Pluto 1950
Puss Cafe 1950
Motor Mania 1950
Pests of the West 1950
Food for Feudin' 1950
Hook, Lion and Sinker 1950
Camp Dog 1950
Bee at the Beach 1950
Hold That Pose 1950
Morris the Midget Moose 1950
Out on a Limb 1950
Lion Down 1951
Chicken in the Rough 1951
Cold Storage 1951
Home Made Home 1951
Corn Chips 1951
Cold War 1951
Plutopia 1951
Test Pilot Donald 1951
Tomorrow We Diet! 1951
How to Catch a Cold 1951
R'coon Dawg 1951
Get Rich Quick 1951
Cold Turkey 1951
Fathers Are People 1951
Out of Scale 1951
No Smoking 1951
Father's Lion 1952
Donald’s Applecore 1952
Lambert the Sheepish Lion 1952
Hello, Aloha 1952
Man’s Best Friend 1952
Two Chips and a Miss 1952
Two-Gun Goofy 1952
Susie the Little Blue Coupe,1952
Teachers Are People 1952
The Little House 1952
Pluto's Party 1952
Two Weeks Vacation 1952
Pluto's Christmas Tree 1952
How to Be a Detective 1952
Father's Day Off 1953
The Simple Things 1953
For Whom the Bulls Toil 1953
Adventures in Music: Melody 1953
Father's Weekend 1953
How to Dance 1953
Football Now and Then 1953
Toot, Whistle, Plunk and Boom 1953
Ben and Me 1953
Working for Peanuts 1953
How to Sleep 1953
The Lone Chipmunks 1954
Pigs Is Pigs 1954
Casey Bats Again 1954
Dragon Around 1954
Social Lion 1954
Up a Tree 1954
Chips Ahoy 1956
Hooked Bear 1956
Jack and Old Mac 1956
In the Bag 1956
A Cowboy Needs a Horse 1956
How to Have an Accident in the House 1956
The Story of Anyburg U.S.A. 1957
The Truth About Mother Goose 1957
Paul Bunyan 1958
Noah's Ark 1959
Donald in Mathmagic Land 1959
How to Have an Accident at Work 1959
Goliath II 1960
Donald and the Wheel 1961
The Litterbug 1961
Aquamania 1961
The Saga of Windwagon Smith 1962
A Symposium On Popular Songs 1962
Freewayphobia #1 1965
Winnie the Pooh and the Honey Tree 1966
Goofy's Freeway Trouble 1965
Scrooge McDuck and Money 1967
Winnie the Pooh and the Blustery Day 1968
It's Tough to Be a Bird 1969
Winnie the Pooh and Tigger Too 1974
The Small One 1978
Mickey Mouse Disco 1980
Once Upon a Mouse 1982
Fun with Mr. Future 1982
Vincent 1982
Winnie the Pooh and a Day For Eeyore 1983
Mickey's Christmas Carol 1983
Oilspot and Lipstick 1986
Sport Goofy in Soccermania 1986
Tummy Trouble 1989
Roller Coaster Rabbit 1990
The Prince and the Pauper 1990
Petal to the Metal 1992
Off His Rockers 1992
Trail Mix-Up 1993
Runaway Brain 1995
Stand by Me 1995
Redux Riding Hood 1998
Three Little Pigs 1998
John Henry 2000
Destino 2003
Lorenzo 2004
One By One 2004
The Little Matchgirl 2006
How to Hook Up Your Home Theater 2007
Glago's Guest 2008
The Ballad of Nessie 2008

Prep and Landing 2009*

If you want to see Walt Disney's entire listing of films, animated, live-action and shorts, then see the post "Opus Disney"...

* This project was to be originally supposed to be a short but is now planned as an ABC Christmas special.

In Memorium: Harriet Burns (1928-2008)

One of the true pioneers when it came to women in WDI and the first hired into the creative arena of that division, Harriet Burns(seated) passed away today. Our thoughts and prayers go out to her friends and family...

Scott Wolf's Mouse Clubhouse has a nice article about Harriet you might be interested in reading.

TR2N...

Ok guys, sorry but I've been running around alot today...

Greetings from Nerdvana 2008. I knew something was up. I've heard rumors, but I didn't know exactly what was to be sprung on us...

Now I do. Now you do.

They showed the audience a three minute clip from a film test for "TRON 2.0" and it got the geeks howling... it was truly a great thing. We don't know if the film has been greenlit yet. We'll have to wait for the trailer before we actually get to see the film.

Reboot? Or Re-imagined?

Developing...

Truth In Advertising Is "Up" In San Diego...

/Film has posted an article showing an elevator creatively used to promote Pixar's upcoming film "Up"...

Creative.

Funny.

Totally Pixar.


Hat Tip to Animated News.

Riddling Rumors...

Just a note that is only tangentially Disney related, but specifically "The Dark Knight" related...

I've heard some people in the industry who have talked about what villain was/should be in the sequel to the humongous hit that is the latest Batman film. Many have talked about the Riddler, Penguin and the Catwoman as primary villains for Christian Bale's Batman/Bruce Wayne to battle.

If you're in the know in the industry out here, you'll remember that for a while it was rumored that Philip Seymour Hoffman was rumored to be playing the Penguin(great idea, btw). It never panned out, of course. Lately some casting people are talking about the obvious choice of Angelina Jolie to play the feline felon in a possible third film, but now comes the juiciest rumor of all...

Johnny Depp as the Riddler.

Now that's a battle I'd love to see... John Connor versus Jack Sparrow? Count me in... can't you just picture Depp in that green suit and bowler cap?

Riddle me, hoping this rumor comes true...

Disney Unleashes Boom...

Disney Publishing Worldwide and BOOM! Studios today announced a joint venture that would feature many of Pixar's famous characters staring in stories in the comic book medium. Everything from Toy Story, Finding Nemo to Wall-E would be used in the creations...

The one that sounds of interest to me is the comic book staring "The Incredibles", writen by BOOM! Editor-In-Chief Mark Waid with cover illustrations by Darwyn Cooke(perfect selection, IMO).

The comics are clearly aimed at kids and younger audiences. If you've read comics in the last couple of decades you would notice that most stories are aimed at late teens to early twenties... which is why I'm sure some parents are a little stunned walking out of "The Dark Knight".

Developing...

Alice Anew...

It appears that director Tim Burton and Walt Disney Pictures have found the Alice they wanted for their new live-action/motion-cam film that the Mouse plans on shooting soon...

Aussie Mia Wasikowska is in final negotiations to play the title character from Lewis Carroll's classic novel.

Disney Buys India...

Ok, well maybe not the entire nation, but...

In another example of Iger's grand plan involving global markets(particularly Asia), the Walt Disney Company has acquired the rights in North America, the U.K. and Australia Aamir Khan's "Taare zameen par," from UTV Motion Pictures.

The story is about the relationship between a rebellious teacher that tries unconventional techniques to get to his students and an 8-year-old boy who escapes the confines of his surroundings by constructing an imaginary world of his own.

Expect many more deals like this over the coming years...

Terror Opens...

Fourteen years ago today "The Twilight Zone Tower of Terror" opens up on Sunset Boulevard in Walt Disney World's Disney-MGM Studios. Themed in the old Spanish Revival style(which is the same style DCA's new front entrance will be, btw), it offers a thrilling experience of a haunted hotel where you are trapped in an elevator that becomes stuck between dimensions. Never ridden it before?

Drop in sometime...

Let It Begin...

It's almost that time of year again...

Get ready for a great deal of activity as DCA becomes "Disney's Wall-land Adventure". Well, maybe they won't call it that, but they should with all the construction that's supposed to begin in the Fall.

Prep work will be going on by the middle of August and by the first half of September the construction will begin. Now this will be great news to those that keep asking when it will begin, but it's going to be a bit of a pain to entertainment and operations...

Also when you watch a parade after August you are in for quite an experience. The parades will still start in Sunshine Plaza but they won't end down near the Orange Stinger. Instead they'll end about halfway through where they normally go as the parade cuts a hard left and heads through the doors near the tortilla factory. A remarkably short route for people who want to watch the festivities. But to correct the mistakes of "He Who Should Not Be Named" sacrifices must be made. Imagine if the Suits had had brains back then? We'd be getting a second wave of shows and E-Tickets instead of mopping up after the mess he made. Sigh... may he never, ever work again.

But the good news is that this park is finally on the road to recovery and will one day be a shining example of what a Disney theme park can be. If only common sense had prevailed in that Aspen Get-together many years ago all this wouldn't have been necessary.

If only...

One Small Step For Man...

Thirty-nine years ago on this day, Neil Armstrong became the first human to walk upon the surface of the moon with the success of the Apollo 11 mission.

The historic event is broadcast in Tomorrowland... It was a perfect example of the optimism Walt saw when thinking about man's future. It is a case of doing something right. Something positive. It was American progress on display for the world to see...

That's what was/is great about Walt and what was/could again be great about Tomorrowland. it represented the best of what man could do and never focused on what he could not...

A Beautiful "Walkthrough" History...

I know many of you saw the news the other day...

When the Walt Disney Company announced that they were going to be bringing back an old classic attraction to go with an old classic movie.

This fall the "Sleeping Beauty Castle Walkthrough" will return to the castle at Disneyland...

The original was open from 1959 to 1978, followed by an updated version that closed in 2002. It was great having the experience at the castle. I've always hated it being just a giant structure with a couple shops in it. Having the walkthrough was a way to make it an attraction and have it actually have some connection to the film. This is one case where the marketers and the Imagineers working together have come up with something very nice indeed. It also helps that Lasseter has been a great encourager on this project. He knows the value this is to the Disney company and its many fans...

Over at the Laughing Place website they've got some great shots of the presentation that was held during the NFFC 2008 convention at Disneyland's Opera House. What's best of all is that the article has several videos with interviews from Imagineers Tony Baxter, Chris Merritt and John Gritz. Great stuff. It's also funny to watch because in this element, these guys are rock stars... and it shows.

Check it out.

Bastards No Mouse...

It appears all the buzz about Quentin Tarantino's new script "Inglorious Bastards" being acquired by Miramax turned out to be not true... The Weinstein Company appears to have gotten the cash necessary to make the film without having to kneel before the Mouse for funding...

Oh well, such is life... Such is Hollywood... Such is Harvey...

Shanghai Secrets, Shanghai Surprise...

Six years ago on this day, the Walt Disney Company and the city of Shanghai, China sign a deal intended to bring a third Disney theme park to Asia...

A lot has happened since then. Management has changed for the better... Imagineers feel more free to work on interesting concepts... Designs are being drawn up... Agreements are being finalized...

Something.

Interesting.

Is.

Coming...

Blue Sky Review: The Dark Knight...

I know, you're thinking what does this have to do with the Mouse? Well, what is a bat but a mouse with wings?

Seriously though, when I mentioned my top ten movies for summer in my "The Endless Summer" post, "The Dark Knight" was my number two movie that I wanted to see. Indy was my number one and I've said all I intend to say about Harrison, Steven and George's fourth outing to tear apart my childhood hero... sigh.

But what about the Batman? Uhm... "The Dark Knight", I should say.

Oh.

My.

God.

I could leave it there and not say another word and it would be a perfect enough statement for my feelings after seeing Christopher Nolan's latest work of genius.

The follow up to "Batman Begins", arguably the best Batman film so far lives up to the staggering amount of positive hype. That in itself is hard to believe. This is without a doubt, the best comic book movie ever filmed. I've always loved "Superman the movie", but it has flaws. "Spiderman 2" comes very close to beating Superman for me, "X-Men 2" almost reaches it... "Batman Begins" was great, but it didn't come close to being the best adaption of a comic book. "The Dark Knight" shatters the presence of all those films. It really is that great.

And it's not just a comic book movie. It's a great crime drama. When all the comparisons were made to "Heat" or "The Departed" I was skeptical, because not only were those great movies, they just happened to have been my favorite movies the years they came out. This is a film that someone who has no interest in men wearing tights could sit down and enjoy... and completely forget that it's a super-hero movie. This movie is intense and bleak... do not bring your kids to it. You should know that before going in. I'm convinced the only way this film didn't get an "R" rating is because of the lack of showing blood, otherwise it couldn't have excaped the MPAA's decision to do go with a PG-13.

Christian Bale is amazing at his second outing as Bruce Wayne/Batman. His haunted portrayal of a man whose existence is devoted to a lifetime of interactive therapy, involving beating his own demons by beating the crap out of the criminals that represent what was taken from him at childhood. Heath Ledger isn't a reinterpretation of the Joker, he's a revelation. Something not quite human, a being that thrives on chaos. He creates one of the most disturbing, chilling and interesting screen villains in screen history. Some people thought that all the buzz about his performance was because of the tragic death that happened earlier this year. It's not... he's going to get an Oscar nomination from this, not because of sympathy but because he deserves it... and he deserves to win. Aaron Eckhart's portrayal of Harvey Dent presents a contrast White Knight to Batman's Dark Knight in that he's the legitimate representation of good in Gotham city. Eckhart makes you believe in Dent and want him to succeed just as Bruce Wayne does. In a world lacking in bold heroes, Dent is a shining example of what we need and aspire to be. This makes him all the more a compelling character when the fates deal him a very bad hand and he winds up being turned into Two-Face. This is the way his character was meant to be played, not the goofy Cesar Romero-Joker ripoff that Tommy Lee Jones tried years ago in "Batman Forever".

All the supporting cast are equally good with Gary Oldman returning as Jim Gordon... he's great as the one person in the Gotham Police Department that Batman is able to trust. His humanity is portrayed with earnest compassion. Michael Caine takes his portrayal to another level as Alfred, the butler and surrogate father figure that Wayne needs as the echoing voice of conscious in his ear. Lucius Fox portrayed by Morgan Freeman is the perfect person to run Wayne Enterprises in Bruce Wayne and his father's absence. Maggie Gyllenhaal's Rachel is actually a much better character in this film to the paper-thin role she was in the last movie. All in all, it's a fantastic cast with everyone getting what seems like equal screen time. It almost doesn't feel like a Batman movie, it's an ensemble movie with many great performances.

Nolan's direction is great, but the script by his brother(Jonathan Nolan) and he is even better. The story is so good, so fleshed out you just can't believe you're watching a piece of pop-culture. It rises so high above anything that's come before it. The story you watch is so emotionally gripping. The city is held hostage by one man with no regard for rules and no fear of repurcusion and it shows you what someone like that is capable of doing with very little else. This film exudes in exploring the humanity of our nature and almost every scene exudes the moral complexity we have to deal with when confronted with such dark, stark situations...

This film goes into much murkier and more challenging territory that the last film. You would think that a movie that clocks in at two and a half hours would drag, but I never looked down at my watch, I never felt like I wanted the scene to move on... in fact it was the opposite. I wanted more. Like life there is no conclusion at the end of this tale, there is resolution, but no finale, only the end of another chapter. This movie sets a tone that moves down a more somber path which makes you wonder how another film can be made(much less get a PG-13 rating). It sets up for another film, but for Nolan and others to make a film that can equal this one seems like a herculean task. Without a doubt this movie is my favorite Batman film, my favorite super-hero film and my favorite film to date this year... I don't know if there's another film that could come close to providing the experience you get from watching such an almost perfect reason to go to the movies...

But when it's all over, "The Dark Knight" isn't perfect. Sadly, it has one fatal flaw...

It had to end.

Mr. Positive...

No, I'm not talking about me...

I know some of you accuse me of that from time to time, but I'm talking about John Lasseter of course. One has only to meet him to know that his positive attitude is infectious and it's very difficult to not like the guy.

Over at Ain't It Cool News, Quint was lucky enough to shadow Lasseter around Walt Disney Animation Studios as the Mousetro did his daily routine. He was able to write about it in his latest post... a very good read indeed.

Supermax: Blue Sky Script Review...

Since a major movie about a DC Comics super-hero comes out today, I think this is an appropriate post...

So I'm coming back from a nice jog along the shore and smelling the salty air as I walk up to Blue Sky Headquarters when I start to open the door and notice a package lying on the front step with the bold letter: "TOP SECRET" on it. Well, it really didn't have those letters on it, but I thought it sounded better than just a plain brown envelope... so I open it up and low and behold...

A FEW HOURS LATER...

Ok guys, everyone seemed to enjoy my "The 5 Best Scripts Hollywood Never Made" so I thought I'd let you guys in on another hot property out there...

"Supermax"

Those of you that are in the know in Tinsel Town will know what that is. Fellow Comic Book Geeks will raise an eyebrow when I say that name as well. It's not a film that is going to be made by the Mouse. It's not even a film yet... it is a hotly talked about spec script that David Goyer(Batman Begins) came up with the idea for. He then got screenwriter Justin Marks to pen the script. Many people have been after it for a while now...

Blue Sky Disney has it.

All right, Honor. What is it? In a nutshell, it could be described as a story in which Green Arrow is put into a maximum security prison with a rouge's gallery of criminals. Those of you that don't know GA, well he's a mid-level Super Hero at DC Comics... not as popular or dark as the Dark Knight, not as universally known or as light as the Man of Steel. Essentially where Batman is a darker, right-wing vigilante millionaire that fights crime, Green Arrow is a lighter, left-wing vigilante millionaire that fights crime. Some will disagree, but that's a very quick analogy to get those that are clueless up to speed on SUPERHERO 101.

I've always collected comics and I'm an endless example of being raised on pop culture... when it comes to comics, I love them all, but those that fight the wars will understand I'm a DC guy, not a Marvel guy. Not that I don't like Marvel. I do, but my heart will always belong to the absolutes of Batman and Superman. I watched the old 60's show in syndication as a kid and have read everything I can remember about the caped crusader. I love how Bruce Timm showed how relevant the DC Universe is to today's stories... for a while it looked like Marvel would dominate the world of super heroes with its much better campaign of adaptions. That is of course, before Ari Avad began screwing up the adaptions and went from a comic book geek's Super-Hero to Super-Villain in a matter of years causing Marvel to start its own production company to retain more control of their properties. Marvel's first two at bats were out of the park. Now DC is trying to get many of their list of underwear-clad crime fighters up on the silver screen. Green Arrow is not the most known, but he is one of their rather interesting heroes. So it would be interesting to see how they portrayed him. How he entered the world of live action films...

Now, onto the script...

First off, the full title is "Green Arrow: Escape From Supermax" and second of all THERE WILL BE SPOILERS... read at your own peril.

The story starts with several military figures being assassinated on a night by a mysterious figure that looks remarkably like Green Arrow... but the difference is GA doesn't kill. Across town(Star City) Oliver Queen(Green Arrow) is at a gala dinner to receive an award when he gets wind of what's happening. He excuses himself and dawns his green outfit. Arriving at the scene of the crime he finds a dead general with a green arrow protruding from him. Realizing he's been set up he makes a run from the police. He doesn't get far and before you know it he's sent to trial. Queen figures he's been set up by a corrupt businessman named Cross, who has been trying to get hold of Queen's company. All this happens in the first fifteen or so pages. It all happens so quickly you feel that it's somewhat forced. I know the point is to get him in prison, but I would have preferred a few more pages of set-up. A rigged trial soon follows and Queen is sent to a maximum security prison he has no reason being sent to... unless of course, it was set up so that he could be taken out. Get the picture?

Queen is sent to Supermax, a maximum security prison(think, Alcatraz for Super-Villains) ran by an organization known as CHECKMATE, a sort of quasi-big brother corporate/governmental organization. The majority of the prisoners inside this facility are super powered criminals known as "Metahumans"... what we'd refer to as "Mutants" in the Marvel Universe. When Queen arrives he's greeted, stripped of everything, put into a colored jumpsuit and assigned a cell and number to be referred to. The Warden of the facility, a tough minded African-American woman named Waller sets the rules for him and others. It essentially all plays out kind of like "Shawshank Redemption", but doesn't have the emotional appeal of that film. Along the way he meets up with several inmates that he is able to get along with(SPLIT, a teleporter) and several others you know he's going to have run-ins with(Blockbuster, a behemoth).

Like any other prison break film, Queen has his spirit broken, since he's a rebel and the warden wants to make an example of him. Being as he's a pretty good escape artist they punish him with solitary confinement. While there he meets a man named Hartley... how does he meet him in solitary confinement? Well, Hartley is a man that has the ability to control lesser beings minds. So when he greets Queen he communicates through ants. Ants craw into his cell and spell out the words Hartley wants to say. Together he and Queen plot a way out of the prison. Not only so that Queen can get justice and clear his name, but so that the world can see the abuses that go on inside this seemingly inescapable prison out in some unknown sea.

Along the way, Hartley and Queen get the help of a character named Djinn that has the ability to transfer himself into an electronic virus, Gemini, a shape-shifter very much like Mystique in the X-Men. All while this is going on, a new inmate is brought to Supermax. Merlyn, a sort of rival archer to the Green Arrow that has really been sent in to kill Queen so that he's no longer a problem to Cross and others in the outside world. Merlyn really is there for a very short time and doesn't add as much to the story as he should have. About the most compelling thing about Merlyn is his desire to be the number one archer... even if it's being a bad guy that's the number one archer. We find that Merlyn was the one dressed as Green Arrow earlier framing Queen.

To make a long story short, they escape. Some of them don't make it, others wind up going that weren't expected(Blockbuster). They find out that the super-prison out by the sea isn't really what it appeared and isn't anywhere they expected. A chase ensues with Checkmate combat soldiers rolling across icy tundra in snow tanks, cycles and other vehicles after Queen and the escapees. Most don't survive the assault and eventually Queen, Gemini and a character known as Mahkent, who is essentially an Ice-Man type villain, escape in a cargo hold back to Star City.

Once back the script plays the "Fugitive" angle with Queen being a marked man on the run, looking for ways to find out how Cross framed him. Eventually, Queen realizes that Cross isn't the only person responsible for him being framed. It turns out someone close to him was responsible for the set-up. A final confrontation occurs when Queen confronts the real culprit responsible for his imprisonment in a penthouse apartment that leads to a battle on the rooftop with police helicopters swirling around and shots peppered all across the rooftop. The story tends to go by the book from then on. A couple smaller twists unfold as we head for the finale which brings Cross, Waller and the person close to Queen to justice...

Supermax isn't really a super-hero movie masquerading as a prison break, but instead a prison break movie masquerading as a super-hero movie. The script is well written, there's really no "Six Sense" style twist at the end. It is good, but it doesn't seem too high above the ordinary. If it were to get the right director and casting attached it could rise above average to something memorable. Some choices for directors would be Paul Greengrass(highly unlikely) to Timur Bekmambetov(who would be perfect for a vehicle like this). This script kind of reminds me of something along the lines of Marvel's "Blade"(but still not as good) which was a cool, fun comic book actioner featuring an interesting character that most people not into comics wouldn't know about. I just don't feel we got to know Oliver Queen as much as we should. To care for someone you have to be invested in them emotionally and although I liked him... I didn't love him. And I wanted to.

I've heard that this script is stuck in development hell at the moment... perhaps Goyer should take that time to polish it up. Not to make a bad script good, but to make a good one better. My biggest complaint is that it follows the traditional formula for this type of film and doesn't offer anything we haven't seen before. Perhaps more of a focus on what happens inside the prison and the characters Queen comes in contact with could change this normal script into one that is super...

A Battle Between Chance And Fate...

Variety has an interesting article up about the chances of Disney-Pixar's "Wall-E" actually having a shot at the best picture Oscar.

Give Anne Thompson's take on the subject a looksie...

The Birth Of A Magical Kingdom...

Fifty-three years ago today, Walt Disney opened his version of what a theme park should look like...

And in doing so he reinvented it. It was the first, the original and unheard of at the time. Disneyland became the park that all others would emulate. Doesn't look too bad for being born in 1955, does it?

Through most of his life Walt struggled to get money for his projects, from shorts to films... after Disneyland opened he never again had trouble getting financial backing for anything.

Anything...

Happy Birthday, Disneyland!

Williams' Guest 2...

The Animation World Magazine has an interesting article talking about Chris Williams' new short "Glago's Guest" and a brief scene from the actual short.

Click over and take a look at what the future holds...

Hat Tip to Animated News.

Speaking of Clones...

Two new posters for George Lucas' "Clone Wars" animated feature distributed by Warner Bros.(August) have been released.

Here's the first...



Here's the second...

Deeper Into The Sanctuary...

No sooner than I put all that work into a pictorial of Pixar's Emeryville Campus than those guys over at Rotten Tomatoes go and publish the photos from their exclusive visit earlier this year.

Talk a looksie...

Hat Tip to Disney and More.

Disney Buys Bob Two More Funnybones...

Screenwriters Lowell Ganz and Babaloo Mandel("A League of Their Own","City Slickers") have been signed by the Mouse to do a rewrite on Touchstone Pictures comedy "Bob: The Musical." Mark Waters("The Ghosts of Girlfriends Past") will direct.

"Bob" is about a thirtysomething man that hates musicals and wakes up one day to find his life has turned into one. I actually could understand this... believe it or not, with the exception of a few classic films, the only musicals I enjoy are Disney animated musicals... otherwise, it drives me nuts when people break out into songs in the middle of a scene.

Look for this to be one of Touchstone's major releases next year...

Leo Is A Nazi, Pitt A Nazi-Hating Bastard...

Or they very likely could be...

Variety is reporting that Leonardo DiCaprio is in negotiations with Quentin Tarantino to play the villainous Nazi, Hans Landa. He would join Brad Pitt along with several other high profile stars the director is now courting...

Miramax will be handling domestic rights, while The Weinstein Company is negotiating with the major studios for international rights to Tarantino's WW II set "Men on a Mission" movie.

I'll have my own views on this script in a couple weeks...

Blue Sky Buzz (Orlando): It's Just A Fantasy...

Well summer is in full bloom right now and it's time for a little bit of buzz about that little plot of land in Florida Disney owns...

Now, I've known about this for a few weeks, but I sent out some secret messages to the Bothans and have been waiting patiently for the last couple weeks to hear back for confirmation...

Over the weekend my Blue Sky decoder ring started glowing and I've received enough confirmation to let you in on some of it...

Remember when we talked about the Magic Kingdom and my ranting of the cloning that was being done to DCA's "Little Mermaid" attraction? I know, I know, a lot of you gave me grief about that. You know, it appears that Lasseter's influence has caused the Imagineers to work on all kinds of blue sky projects with the hope that Iger will open the pockets of the Mouse if he's confident that John Lasseter has faith in it... cause for the most part, Iger has a lot of faith in him.

Now remember these proposals are "blue sky" just like the name of this blog and anyone or all could change. The economy and several other factors could squash this dream, but if not, there's a whole lot of fun headed down to the Reedy Creek Improvement District.

Specifically, Fantasyland.

I remember mentioning that the Little Mermaid wasn't the only project, but I didn't know what else was in the cards for that land. I was actually quite conservative and didn't want to imagine anything big because of Mr. Rasulo's dumbing down of the abilities of the Creatives, something I wish I could discuss(but can't).

Imagine that Little Mermaid attraction we talked about before... it's basically going to be the ride we have here, although it might be a bit smaller and the exterior should be envisioned differently, but all around Fantasyland you'll notice a great deal of detail and a great deal of difference in a bout four or five years if it all comes to pass.

How would you like to get through with your adventures with Ariel and Sebastian and walk out looking around the Florida sunshine basking in that new roller coaster that's been put in for Disney Fans/Geeks to ride. A roller coaster? What are you talking about? The one themed to the Seven Dwarfs, that one. Lavishly made up with details that are closer to something you'd see in Tokyo that stateside, but it's there...

Now what about the other areas of the land that are proposed to have a radical makeover? I mean, there is that Pixie Hallow that looks like you've wandered into the forest in Neverland, there's a meet and greet for Tinkerbell, but the details of this little area are going to make little princess run screaming through this area and really bring a smile on the face of every Disney fan.

There's a new area for a meet-and-greet with the Princess that's quite nice as well.

Oh and remember I talked a while back about there being very few attractions based on the Animated films of the Second Golden Age? I specifically talked about none for my favorite Disney animated film... well, if this comes to pass that will no longer be true. That's right, there is a very nice "Beauty and the Beast" attraction planned for this area as well. I only hope that take some of the great ideas that were proposed for the "B and B" attraction that was to be built in Paris over a decade or so ago.

The plans are still being fleshed out, but these proposals are very extravagant and will leave the Magic Kingdom's Fantasyland looking unlike it's Disneyland sister or any other Disney theme park in the world... and that's a good thing. We need more originality, more reasons to spend money at each of these stops. The budgeting for this expansion is a lot too, not as much as DCA's, but you'd be surprised at how close it is. And this expansion will take up a good portion of Fantasyland, transforming it from an area that has had very little improvement in decades into one of the most different versions of arguably Walt's most famous "land". Now, by the early part of next decade we can possibly look forward to a reason to walk around Fantasyland other than just to compare how much more we like the California version. We can only pray that Rasulo doesn't intend on cloning every one of these concepts for every other park... that would be a way for him to squeeze the fun out of this ambitious proposal. He's like a physic vampire with the ability to suck creativity out of the soul of WDI. I hope Lasseter plays like Van Helsing and puts a stack through his corporate meddling...

Cause if what I've described makes it to completion, you guys are going to be booking your tickets to Orlando rather earlier than you planned. There's a reason to go to WDW that is totally unique for a change.


And that's a change for the positive...

Walt's Dream Becomes Disney's Prototype...

Thirty-three years ago today Walt Disney Productions announces its plan to build the "Experimental Prototype Community of Tomorrow aka: EPCOT... Walt's last dream.

It will not be exactly what he envisioned, but truthfully, even Walt wasn't completely sure of what it would be. He had several ideas but it wasn't fleshed out completely or exactly what it was to be which is why Imagineers had such a difficulty coming up with a workable design...

It will come to fruition sixteen years after his passing. The Mouse's commitment on completing his final wish reassures fans across the world that the magic of Disney(the company and the man) will go on... even after his life had ended.

With This Ring...

Walter Elias Disney and Lillian Marie Bounds said "I do" today...

Well, not today, but on this date eighty-three years ago.

Who says office romances don't turn out good?

Walt Disney left a lasting impression on family life here in America and throughout the world with the classic films and attractions he would create. Unlike others, Walt believed that life, that fun even, shouldn't be experienced by children alone... but by the entire family. Everyone.

We honor the ole' Maestro for what he did to make such a magical experience for families everywhere. And it all started today...

Well, not today, but on this date eighty-three years ago.

Be The First To See The Graduation...

Wanna see the trailer to "High School Musical 3: Senior Year"? Well tune in to The Disney Channel tomorrow night at 7:55PM PT/ET and 6:55PM CT to get your fix. Be there, or be square.

Me? I'll be square...

Disney Adopts Bastard...

It appears that Harvey Weinstein can't get away from Miramax even after the very public divorce he had with the Mouse a few years ago. When his company, The Weinstein Company failed to secure financing for Quentin Tarantino's latest script, "Inglorious Bastards", the scribe sent out the script to several studios for financing and the winner was...

Miramax.

Weinstein's old home will distribute both films(yes it will be two films, ala: Kill Bill) domestically and Harvey will produce. Interesting how fate can play you a very funny hand sometimes, eh?

BTW, I'll have a review of "Inglorious Bastards" up in the coming weeks as I'm just about half-way through reading it...

Blue Sky Review: Hellboy II...

Guillermo del Toro is a very good film maker... a talented director that is able to transform a story into a personal vision with his own look and style. I'm more and more confident about him directing the film adaption of "The Hobbit" as each day passes. He's a Geek's Geek... and moreover he's into a lot of things Disney. Like the fact he has two really cool models of the Nautilus in his home. He also is a huge collector of all things "Chernabog"... Now that that's said, I'll get on with this review of one of the ten most interesting films I was looking forward to seeing this summer.

The first "Hellboy" was a fun film. I really liked it, didn't love it, but enjoyed it enough to read the comics which I had never done before. Really liked them too. They had a very pulp-like edge to them and when I read the issue with Lobster Johnson I was a bit giddy. I also own the 3 disc DVD set of the film so I guess you could say I'm a good fan of it now. About the only movie that I'm not that fond of that Guillermo directed is "Blade 2"... not so much as it's a bad film, but I had the pleasure of reading the script long before he came aboard and had a different vision of what it would be. It didn't measure up to what was in my head, but nothing really does...

MILD SPOILERS AHEAD...

All the reviews I've seen of "Hellboy 2" have said that it's a better movie than the first. That if you hated the first, you'll hate the second and if you love the first you'll like it even more. With that I went in to watch Big Red kick some more monster but. And you know what? I didn't really think it was better than the first. Well, at least not by much if it was better. But it was good, it was well crafted and it was funny. Very funny in that self-deprecating way that del Toro's personality is.

The movie takes place after some time has passed between the first film and this one. Hellboy and Liz are now a couple with all that that entales including fights. Big, dangerous fights...

Unlike the first film there is no human character like John Myers from the original that goes with us as we are introduced to the world Hellboy lives in. We get a small crawl near the beginning and then we're off and expected to keep up. I always thought that Myers was the creation of some Suit that said we needed someone to be our eyes when we meet these creatures or they're never going to get it. I don't know if that's the case, but that was my guess. The story is rich in detail about fables and myth and Guillermo wraps it all up in a beautiful, dark fairy tale that is filled with humor. There is a great deal of design work in this world that he's put us in. We get to see the familiar characters we first met in the original film, but we travel forward, not backward in the lives of this cast. Ron Perlman brings a lot of depth to this character and that can't be easy under all that make-up. We can tell watching this film that Hellboy is a lovable lug, but he has a deep desire to be liked and that is one of his most human traits... and faults.

Luke Goss does a great job as Prince Nuada, the long exiled prince of the fairies that thirst for war with the humans. Doug Jones is back as Abe Sapien and this time provides the voice work, while Seth MacFarlane(Family Guy) give a hysterical sounding Prussian commander to the new commander of the Bureau of Paranormal Research and Defense(B.P.R.D.), Johann Krauss.

The plot revolves around Nuada breaking the truce his father made with humanity thousands of years ago and his search to find the missing pieces of the crown which provides control over an army of golden robotic warriors known appropriately as the Golden Army... duh! With this army he plans to lay waste to humanity and claim the earth once again for his kind and those creatures of the world that lies just outside our own.

Hellboy and crew come into the middle of this battle while following the wreckage of Prince Nuada's path and get thrown into a battle for the survival of the world. All without the world knowing this of course. It's not brain surgery to understand where it's going and the film doesn't offer any revolutionary way of explaining how things happen but it does a good job of moving you forward and never letting you get board. The relationship between HB and Liz goes further into the conflicts that each has about their strange, inter-species relationship, while we finally get to see Abe take an interest in another beautiful creation, Nuada's twin sister, Nuala.

I know del Toro loves monsters and relishes entering these mad worlds. There are some amazingly wild creatures including the most bizarre version I've ever seen of a tooth fairy. In the hands of some directors this material could all turn out to be really bleak, but Guillermo's always been an optimist that seems to press upon the audience that no matter how dark the tale gets, there's always be a bit of light at the end of the tunnel to provide hope.

This hope should serve him well on his next journey with a little fella named Bilbo...

The Force In The East From The Past...

Nineteen years ago today "Star Tours" opens in Tokyo Disneyland. It becomes only the second ST to open, Anaheim being the first(later Disney-MGM Studios will get one as well). For almost two decades now the Force has been with the Rising Sun...

I wonder if that Star Wars 2.0 is being designed for TDL as well? Ooops... disregard that. You didn't see any droids... there are no droids here.

The Sanctuary...

Up in the Bay Area(no, not the one in DCA) across the way from San Francisco, literally just down the street from Oakland lies the small, bustling town of Emeryville. Ok, as small towns go it's pretty big, but there is an intimacy there that distinguishes it from the larger surrounding cities. Now, nestled in a nice, quaint little spot of earth is the headquarters of Pixar Animation Studios.



When Steve Jobs wanted to build a new building for his growing little animation company he wanted to build a place where they could grow. A place that was full of possibilities and a place that would have room for expansion should the creativity continue to be successful. There wasn't room in the town of Richmond, California which Pixar was now located in so he scouted locations and found a nice plot of land in Emeryville that suited his purpose. Of course, he needed to demolish what was there and start over. He is a perfectionist. Once he got permission and succeeded in doing just that, he contracted an architecture firm to design this new haven, this sactuary for Creatives. One of the early things he wanted for his hundreds of employees was to have only one bathroom.

Only one. You can imagine what the architects thought, but those that know Steve know he's always been quite egalitarian about things. Over a period of time they were able to persuade him to change his mind on this. Instead of putting that bathroom out around the center area of the building like he wanted, they proposed putting a series of other things there that would draw the animators and artist together. For what may have been a rare occasion they actually got him to change his mind. He worked on the design for months until he was satisfied and then the construction started.



When the dust settled, what remained was a large two-story brick building occupying 220,000 square feet that looked like a piece of the past(1920's) that had been propped up and restored with 21st century technology. The place would be an animator's dream. And a kid's dream too... there are hiding places, a store that has every kind of cereal known to man for free, a mail office, screening theaters and even a secret bar hidden behind an animator's room. The outside has a pool, tennis court, soccer field and lush green areas for relaxing and reflecting. And there's room for an expansion that Pixar has planned over the next two decades to add two new buildings(bye, bye soccer field!) and a new parking structure as the Lamp grows.

The animators are encouraged to decorate their offices and cubicles to reflect their personalities, which can lead to some interesting places inside this den of creativity. This building, this whole campus is designed as a sanctuary, both physically and mentally from the outside world. Since we've been admiring architecture lately with the opening of the Tokyo Disneyland Hotel, I thought we'd take a moment to admire some photos* of another building whose beautiful architecture belongs to the Mouse...







































I can't wait to see when they've finished building the new Walt Disney Animation Studio in Glendale a few years from now... Lasseter and Co. are working to create a place for the animators here in southern California that's as equally appealing as their brothers up north. Now if "Bolt" performs rather well, it might make the Suits a little less nervous about some of the ambitious plans John and his buddies want to do. I know you're like me in wanting to see this new place...

Patience.

* All photos are copyright their respective owners.

Gee, 3G? Part Two Today...

Today is the day that Apple, Inc. released their second version of the iPhone. This one should quite those that were complaining about the speed with 3G service. Also the Apps Store that opened the other day has hundreds of interesting applications you can purchase or even download for free. I wonder what "interesting" apps the Mouse is developing for this ultra-cool phone? Macworld 2009 could prove interesting...

Mouse Meet Lamp, Lamp Meet Mouse...

Seventeen years ago today, Disney enters into a deal with a little known computer graphics company known as Pixar... And the rest as they say, is history.

I wonder what Michael Eisner would have thought were he to have known that a decade and a half later the people he signed a deal with would be essentially running Disney's entire animation department and influencing a good deal of the rest of the company...

Disney And Rudin Get Synchronized...

Walt Disney Studios and Scott Rudin are working on a film project known as "Synchronicity" according to the Hollywood Reporter, which will be a comedy about the world of synchronized swimming(think Will Ferrell).

Scribes Marty Scott and Toni Kotite are writing the script which is being described as in the vein of "Dodgeball" or "Blades of Glory". The project has been at Disney for some while, but has been in standstill until Rudin came aboard.

From The Mouse Comes A Fox...

Twenty-seven years ago today, the Mouse released the first film by a new generation of artists that were just cutting their teeth in animation, "The Fox and the Hound". It wouldn't be a great hit and it wasn't the best example of storytelling, but it was a start for many of the animators that would go on to hone their skills on "The Great Mouse Detective" and then perfect them in "The Little Mermaid"...

The finale with the bear is a great piece of animation. If you haven't seen this film in a while, take another look at it. It's worth it for the history alone, but there are some great moments throughout that give pause and reflection over where Disney was and how far it's come.

A New Era...

Twenty-six years ago today, Walt Disney Production's "Tron" premieres. It is the first film to use computer animation in story telling... it will go on to inspire a young animator working on "Mickey's Christmas Carol" that this is the future and the next big thing. A few years later the animator leaves Disney and joins a small computer company soon to be known as Pixar. Almost twenty years later, that animator will return to Disney to save it as the head of Walt Disney Feature Animation(now Walt Disney Animation Studios)...

John Lasseter saw the future, although not as far out or the exact direction it would send him. Unfortunately "Tron" was not the box office success that the Mouse expected or wanted it to be...

But without it we wouldn't have Pixar, the many companies that have emulated it or even a revived Walt Disney animation department. For that alone we owe it a great dept of gratitude.

Disney Villains/Pixar Bad Guys...

I know with all the coverage of the Tokyo Disney Resort it must seem like the site could now be known as "Blue Sky Tokyo Disney", so I thought we'd take a look at animation...

From Blue Sky's perspective, of course.

A villain is a villain, right? We all know that a Disney Villain is a special thing, but have you ever thought about how different the nemesis in a Pixar film is? See, they're really, really quite the opposite. At least looking at them from the core of what makes them up...

When it comes to Disney Villains, like the classic Maleficent or Chernabog, they are absolutes. They are evil. Living, breathing examples of it. There are no faults, no frailties, no hidden meanings, no shades of gray... they exist for the purpose of symbolizing evil in its most pure form.

Now a Pixar Villain, or Bad Guy as I refer to them is... misunderstood. He or she has many complexities in terms of what motivates them. They are not evil. Their actions may result in bad things, but it's not the villain's goal, it is the results that determine that.

Al from "Toy Story 2" isn't evil, he's greedy. Even Zurg is simply a distraught father acting out his aggression. The characters that make up the foil of each picture the Lamp comes out with didn't start off on the wrong side of the tracks, but Disney Villains are born to be what they are.

Another comparison could be in relation to Marvel Comics versus DC Comics. While DC's rouges gallery is made up of heroes of absolutes like Superman and Batman, the literal light and dark of comics... Marvel's characters are infused with human foibles that we see in everyone of us. Traits that make us look at them from a closer perspective. That's the contrast between the Mouse and the Lamp's animated antagonists. Just as we would have trouble relating to a god that flies around in blue tights wanting to be human, so to would we have trouble relating to the ruler of the Underworld. Such is the a Disney Villain. Now, who hasn't seen a kid like Sid Phillips? One that's a bully, perhaps the product of a broken childhood? Someone that you're sure didn't start off to be what he's become. Pixar tends to look at the human condition for what it can cause and what it is capable of... while Disney tends to start out with the ideal and work its way back...

Look at the villain of "Monster's Inc.", Mr. Waternoose. He's a guy trying to save his company and in so doing he does horrible things that make him the obsticle in the film. A very, very bad obsticle. Now compare him to Jafar from "Aladdin", a creature of absolute, dark persona in quest of total power. This isn't to say you can't find bad guys in Disney films or villains in Pixar films... but the primary focus is what I'm refering to. One example of the way Pixar takes care of this is the Zurg character in the second Toy Story film. See how he's portrayed in the video game? The unreal world of that film is where Zurg is a pure villain, but when seen in the real environment that "Toy Story 2" takes place in, he's a more human, more flawed creation. One that we identify with more. Could you ever see Cruella De Vil holding a puppy lovingly as a child? Or Madame Mim every in her entire hag life doing anything altruistic? Professor Ratigan? The Queen of Hearts? Shere Khan?

This isn't to say that one is better than the other, only that they approach that which is evil or bad from opposite ends of the spectrum. Any story has to have conflict to be interesting. A film without conflict or something for the hero/heroine to fight against is a boring film. Without struggle there life like film looses it's meaning by it's very definition. One hopes that Lasseter hasn't blurred the lines in the new films he's greenlit(from what I've heard about "Princess" and "Rapunzel" he seems to be on the right track). Disney Villains are what they are... Pixar Bad Guys are who they are...

And that's not so bad, is it?

More Disney At Disney And More...

The "Disneyland and More" blog has got some great hi-res photos of the "Tokyo Disneyland Hotel"... another stunning example of Disney Imagineers ability to create masterpieces and another glaring example of what we do without here in California.

Know Reservation Required...

It's open...

Hope you haven't tried to get a room at the new Tokyo Disneyland Hotel for the next few weeks, months even.

Nine stories tall, 705 rooms, mostly suites designed around families, elegant dining all in the largest "Disney-branded" hotel in the Tokyo Disney Resort.

It's going to be booked pretty solid. When Imagineers design something of this caliber people are going to flock to it. Hear that TeamDisney Burank? Perhaps you should let the folks at WDI create something amazing? Like a few of those lovely concepts they've got ready to use if you would only let them...

Hmmm? Sounds like a great idea to me. What do you say, Mr. Rasulo? Sir? Sir, could you please quit humming that annoying tune and take your finger out of your butt?

Sigh... never mind.

There Is A Light That Will Never Go Out...

Twenty-seven years ago today, Ub Iwerks passes away in Burbank, California. With the exception of Walt Disney, he was the one person most responsible for the creation of Mickey Mouse. Iwerks was a legendary animation pioneer and helped Walt turn the animation medium into the art form it is today. Animation fans in general and Disney fans in particular, truly owe this great man a world of gratitude. Animation and Disney itself would look very different without his fingerprints...

Everything Has A Beginning...

Eight years ago today, the Oriental Land Company opens up "The Disney Ambassador Hotel" on what is becoming The Tokyo Disney Resort. Up until now it has mainly been a park with several licensed hotels. This will be the first "Disney" hotel on the property.

Distinguishing Between Illusion And Magic

"Pay no attention to that man behind the curtain."

- The Wizard of Oz

They can't hide what lies right in front of you...

Being as Japan lies on the other side of the world, it's already July 8, 2008... So be there before it opens to see it open.

Behold the Magic.*

Who would have thought the Internet would be a time machine?

* There are several videos there so check them all out.

The Midas Touch...

It appears the winning streak of John Lasseter and the Lamp continues...

Pixar has an unparalleled string of successes since it's first film "Toy Story" way back in 1995. Saying that makes me feel so old... sigh.

But the fact of the matter is that John Lasseter still remains on top of the mountain of success waiting for someone to unthrone him. And we know that there are many that wish to do so. Not just to stake their own claim as the new champion, but also to diminish the methodology that Pixar has used to get where it's at. Many Suits, most around Hollywood, but a few inside the Mouse as well that can't wait for a failure so they can finally say what they've always known:

"John Lasseter is human".

Well, that would come as news to those of us that believe he walks on water. Or at least that's how you're perceived if you have faith in what Lasseter and Catmull have been working at achieving for the last few years. To not recognize all the warts and all is to raise him to some higher plain that he doesn't belong. For me it's simply a matter of valuing the positive over the negative. It's a matter of priorities and I find it far too easy to be negative towards everything these days. I know that someday a movie greenlit by John and Ed will fail. It may be an all out bomb or it may just "disappoint" at the box office, but it will happen. It's the law of averages. Nothing last forever... including the Lamp's winning streak.

Now that that's out of the way, let's move on to a more interesting take on the subject of Lasseter. The intense amount of scrutiny and pressure he has been under since Pixar was adopted by Disney. No longer just someone spending the night, Pixar is now a full fledged part of the Disney family. Everyone expects everything that he touches will turn to gold. They expect it.

There is a pressure, an expectation that John can and will deliver "Pixar-Quality" animated films as well as "Pixar-Sized" profits over the next few years. Will it happen... maybe. One never knows, but the truth is the product will be better. The stories will be better. The conception from beginning to end will be better. Now, will it have "Finding Nemo" type box office? I'm not quite sure of that. It will be a better collection of films than the last few that were conceived in a committee of Suits and Creatives. Not that there won't still be tons of notes... they just will be coming from people that actually know how to tell a story, not how to read a budget sheet.

One might wonder if Bob Iger and his team may be placing their expectations way too high for John. He is after all only human, right? From what I know Bob has his head on straight and isn't looking for "Bolt" to make a billion dollars. He realizes that there are preconceptions people have and he doesn't appear to be falling under the notion that the next Walt Disney animated film will be the box office champ of the year. Most people working on the film will tell you that the Mouse will be very happy if the film does well. Not great, but well. This first film from the new regime is going to cost a pretty penny with all the start-stop, replacing of directors, in development, story changes. A lot. A WHOLE lot... more than I can tell you, but if the film stops the slide at the box office and begins to eliminate the perception of Disney films being inferior to Pixar films then "Bolt" will have done its job and it will be well worth it.

And it'll only have set the plate for "The Princess and the Frog" which is getting good vibes inside Burbank walls. And that film will establish the fact that Disney is back in animation and "Bolt" was only the beginning... this also says nothing about "Rapunzel" which has white-hot buzz about it from people I've spoken with.

So by the end of the decade Walt Disney Animation Studios could be a world, a galaxy even, away from the world that Walt Disney Feature Animation occupied only a few years earlier. That's what happens when you can create box office gold...

You create the standard.

Disney Better Than Disney...

If you want to see some more of what a fabulous hotel the Tokyo Disneyland Hotel is, then follow the link. There are tons of photos by a guy/girl that actually was able to be there over the last few days...

Click here to be jealous.

Disney Stirs Up A Storm...

Twenty years ago today, the "Maelstrom" attraction opens up at the Norway Pavilion of EPCOT in Walt Disney World...

America Celebrates Her Birthday!

Happy 4th of July! Go out and see a movie(ahem, Wall-e?), go to Disneyland(be one of the first to ride the new Monorail Red!), enjoy a Bar-B-Que or watch some fireworks and be thankful for the liberty we are blessed to have in America. Celebrate the founding of our nation on this day in 1776.

A very special day on which our second President(John Adams) and third President(Thomas Jefferson) both died... in the same year, 1826... which just happened to be the 50th anniversary of America! Coincidence?

Sounds like providence to me...

Tokyo's 25th...

As long as I've been mentioning Tokyo DisneySEA so much lately, I might as well focus on its anniversary. This year the Tokyo Disney Resort is celebrating its twenty-fifth year as the first Disney theme park outside the America.

Hard to believe, but a quarter of a century ago if you wanted to experience a Disney theme park you had to come to the U.S.A. to see it...

The guys over at Laughing Place have got a great article with a bunch of photos from the celebration. Go over and have a glance at some of the elaborate floats and things that the OLC has got available for this special year.

Elementary, My Dear Disney Fan...

Twenty-two years ago today, Walt Disney Feature Animation put out what would be the subtle beginning of the Second Golden Age of Disney Animation...

"The Great Mouse Detective", based on Eve Titus book, "Basil of Baker Street" was released in America. It was directed by four great animators, Ron Clements, Burny Mattinson, Dave Michener and John Musker. Clements and Musker would go on to define the films that this animation Renaissance would be recognized as over the next decade. Their new film, "The Princess and the Frog", ironically the second of Lasseter's regime, comes out next year...

Let's cross our fingers that their magical touch works wonders on the Mouse House yet again.

The Couture War...

Disney is expanding its "Disney Couture" line across the pond. The clothing line which appeals to the uber-rich with money to burn goes global.

Now the uppercrust of Europe can have a taste of the high-end designer wear that major American celebrities pay big bucks to have.

I'm sure Walt would be proud...

Pixar's Side Show...

We all know that Pixar films are known for their stories...

The characters that populate them have universal appeal, but one of the things that goes overlooked is how interesting some of the minor characters are. Several of the secondary roles in their films are as interesting if not more so than the main characters. So let's look at what I believe are the most interesting minor actors in the entire Pixar collection of films...


Wall-E: Mo

The little cleaning robot in "Wall-E" has more personality that most lead characters in live-action films. Without being able to say a word you can tell what this cute little fella is trying to say.



Ratatouille: Emile

My favorite character from "Ratatouille" wasn't Remy, but his sweet, naive brother. The one he took along with him when he knew he was doing something he shouldn't. The only one he trusted with his secret. Emile was an adorable light brown (large)hairball.


Cars: Guido

The quiet and shy helper of Luigi was a sweet example of how a character can convey emotion without words pre-Wall-E.


Incredibles: Edna Mode

My favorite character in "The Incredibles" wasn't the family or the villain, but this pint-sized powerhouse designer voiced by Brad Bird himself. I wish they'd make a short staring her... now that would be interesting.


Finding Nemo: Fish School

John Ratzenberg got more than a cameo in "Finding Nemo" with this role... like a thousand times more roles than he probably expected. Funny and totally enjoyable watching how the animators added personality to these fish.



Monster's Inc.: The Abominable Snowman

Another Ratzenber contribution. Who would have thought the Snowman could be so nice?


Toy Story 2: Wheezy

Played so well by the voice of the Joe Ranft, this penguin could belt out a toon, eh? I wonder if he'll be returning in "Toy Story 3"? Without Joe's voice I don't know if I wanna see him. I was tempted to say Emperor Zurg, but he's more of a primary character in the story.


A Bug's Life: P.T. Flea

John Ratzenberg made this carnival barker all the more interesting with his portrayal of the leader of a motley crew of circus performers.


Toy Story: Rex

Perhaps the greatest contribution to the script by Joss Whedon, this toy Tyrannosaur Rex is anything but frightening. He's a dinosaur that is a hypochondriac and shows you why they went extinct.

What If X Never Met Y?

The TAG Blog that represents the animator's union has an interesting article talking about the repercussions of the Disney strike back in 1941...

Give it a looksie.

One Week From Wonder...

A week from today the Tokyo Disneyland Hotel opens...

Every Disney theme park will have a Disneyland Hotel then. I know, WDW doesn't have one by name, but the Grand Floridian is essentially the moniker hotel of the resort. As well as every resort having a DL Hotel, they're all beautiful Victorian representations of architecture to be proud of...

Except the original here in Anaheim. It's three big, soulless concrete blocks with sparkly trinkets on them. They need to approve the plans to remedy this soon...