Honor The Brave, Respect The Fallen...

Thank you...









Today, Memorial Day, we honor and pay our respects to those that put on the uniform and place themselves in harm's way so as to protect the freedoms we take for granted.

Thank you from Blue Sky Disney,

Honor

Cloning Available...

And so marches on the ever growing Lucas empire...

Lucasfilm is releasing the DVD/Blu-Ray of "Star Wars: The Clone Wars" Season 2. While it is imperfect and uneven, the series is far better than the prequels that began/disappointed fans a decade ago. It has steadily improved and could offer a new hope that there is a positive future for that galaxy a long, long time ago. I'm sure Decadent Dave and THX-1138 will be first in line.

The Star Wars universe grows and grows...

MARVELous Opportunities...

Lot of Super Hero news coming in...

Wow, it seems the Suits are obsessed with Suits, doesn't it? I mean, so many films that are based on super-hero/comic book properties are in active development right now. You can't walk down a studio walkway without tripping over something/somebody that is involved in some form of these super powered ideas.

First with the Mouse/Marvel:

Twentieth Century Fox casts James McAvoy to play the young Professor Xavier in Matthew Vaughn's "X-Men: First Class."

Brian K. Vaughan's "Runaways," is moving forward with Drew Pearce being hired to pen the first draft of the script for director Peter Sollett.

Then there's casting news from "Captain America," where we finally get some form of semi-confirmation about Tommy Lee Jones playing General Chester Philips, the man responsible for picking Steve Rogers and turning him into Mr. Red, White and Blue.

Then there's the DC News:

A "Green Lantern" animated series is coming to Cartoon Network. This cable channel is essentially becoming the "DC" channel, while DisneyXD is becoming the "Marvel Channel." Again, in my opinion all the more reason that Lucas should move "The Clone Wars" series over to a name it's more associated with.

As well as "Batman 3" coming out in July,20th 2012, there is news that the Suits at Warner want to have Christmas 2012 to be occupied by the "Man of Steel."

Then there is news that a "Flash" film is closer to being greenlit, sadly without the perfect person to play that character, Ryan Reynolds.

Also, projects like "Aquaman" and "Wonder Woman" sound as though they are closer to coming to the silver screen as well.

And other Comics Related News:

It looks like Michael Bay will have his influence on the "Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles," via his Platinum Dunes production shingle.

The signs for more of these films looks like it's going to continue and not turn out to be a fad that slowly disappears. So brace yourself for a big, muscled man to emerge from a phone booth near you soon, somewhere, everywhere.

Up, up and away...

Persian Reviews...

Well, the reviews for Walt Disney Pictures' "Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time" are starting to come out...

"As of this writing, no one has actually made a great video game movie. But now someone has at least made a good one.

It is good old fashioned Jerry Bruckheimer cotton candy entertainment; sure it’s tasty, but it evaporates on your tongue the moment you touch it." - Massawyrm, Ain't It Cool News

"Why is it that at the end of the film, I walked away feeling like I just saw a big trailer with no movie attached?

"Prince Of Persia" works as mindless, forgettable, sit-in-the-air-conditioning entertainment, but it's not built to last, and it offers nothing lasting to an audience." - Drew McWeeny, Motion Captured

"Prince of Persia is a rip-roaring great time at the movies, a summertime treat that "reverses time" to when flicks were just plain fun. Mixing old-fashioned content and state of the art effects, this Jerry Bruckheimer production trades ‘pirates' for ‘princes' to revive the swashbuckling, sword fighting spirit of the sort Douglas Fairbanks or Errol Flynn specialized." - Pete Hammond, Box Office Magazine

"To the credit of director Mike Newell (drawing on his Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire wrangling skills), a conclave of screenwriters who keep the dialogue on the sharp side, and the life's-a-game instincts of producer Jerry Bruckheimer, all that Arabian Nights-like stuff unfolds at a brisk, well-paced clip." - Lisa Schwarzbaum, Entertainment Weekly

"Its restraint might put off thrill-seekers, but if you can endure the wooden dialogue and sloppy exposition, it musters the entertainment quotient of a middle-order Harry Potter." - Ian Nathan, Empire Online

"With apologies to Ben Franklin, the only things certain in life are death, taxes and that a Jerry Bruckheimer film will do its bombastic best to pummel, pound and, now, parkour you into submission. "Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time" is all that — deaths by the thousands and the sort of spectacular spectacle possible with a rumored budget of $150 million and change.

But it should be more." - Betsy Sharkey, Los Angeles Times

"Aimed squarely at youngsters and families, "Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time," which had its world premiere in London on Sunday, is a handsome, fast-paced and innocuous adventure that's easy to take but lacks epic scale." - Ray Bennett, The Hollywood Reporter

"For twenty years, audiences have been noticing the similarity between big action and fantasy movies and video games, but “Prince of Persia” goes beyond similarity; it actually feels like a video game." - David Denby, The New Yorker

"Another video game to movie disaster? Doubtful. Bruckheimer knows what the audience is looking for and Prince of Persia, if it makes tons of dough, is going to be the eventual replacement for the Pirates franchise.

Prince of Persia is a lighthearted but troubled movie. Troubled in that the plot makes no damn sense and the movie is too long." - George 'El Guapo' Roush

"Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time, is still no more or less than an all-out Jerry Bruckheimer adventure. His fondness for regular beats of action, idiosyncratic comic relief and a love-hate relationship between the lead couple are all present and accounted for, and at times you'd be forgiven for thinking you'd wandered into Pirates 4.

And that's no bad thing, because what Bruckheimer does best is deliver entertaining summer adventure for the multiplex masses, even if it does follow a tried and true formula. If it ain't broke, as they say, don't fix it" - Joe Utichi, Cinematical

Bit of a mixed bag, with some dealing light praise while others damning it with faint criticism.

Well see after Sunday if the Mouse has a successor to Pirates franchise...

Playhouse Junior...

Baby, baby, baby...





Da, da, goo, goo...


More expansion of the Disney brand...

Anne Sweeney, president of the Disney/ABC Television Group announced today that SOAPnet would be replaced with "Disney Junior, a 24 hour cable network designed to appeal to preschool kids in 2012.

The new Disney channel will feature 200 new episodes annually of new television series, the likes of which will be "Jake and the Never Land Pirates;" currently running shows like Mickey "Mouse Clubhouse," "Handy Manny," "Special Agent Oso," "Imagination Movers" and "Jungle Junction," as well as Disney live-action and animated features, including "101 Dalmatians," "Aladdin" and "The Little Mermaid. The "Disney Junior" brand will first be rolled out on Disney Channel's daily programming block for preschoolers, where it will take the place of the Playhouse Disney brand.

I'm not sorry to see SOAPnet go because I've never been a big soap watcher, then again, I've never been a big Playhouse Disney watcher either. This type of programming is meant to appeal to those little crumb crunchers that haven't yet made it to kindergarten. But hey, this line-up looks better to me than the current Disney Channel line-up, but not as good as Disney XD's current and upcoming collection of shows. In fact, that channel is the one I'd be watching. It's going to look quite a bit different by the time the Avengers film comes out.

Junior joining the family could certainly help Iger and Co. get those little tykes while they're young...

Big Apple...

Wow, a decade ago I would have never imagined this...

If you haven't heard, Apple, Inc. today passed Micro$oft to become the number two company in the world (behind Exxon Mobile). And the number one technology company in the world. I wonder if Bill Gates thought that this moment would happen when he agreed to invest a little cash into Steve Jobs' Little Fruit Company to build investor/customer confidence? Could we mark this day as a passing of the guard?

Time will tell...

Disney Sees The Light...

It's going to be interesting seeing how the opening of the Mouse's new film does this week...

Why you may ask? Well, it may have something to do with how fast this project gets going. But being as how the company paid such a high price for the script, and in this hostile market, it may have strong enough legs to get out of the gate despite any soft opening of Walt Disney Pictures' "Prince of Persia: Sands of Time" box office. Now, don't read that I'm thinking it'll be a bomb or anything, I'm just saying that success, failure or disappointment will have some weight in how much breathing room Bruckheimer will have with pushing this film into production. Granted, it's Jerry and he has a great deal of wiggle room.

For those that want to know what I'm ranting about, Walt Disney Pictures and Jerry Bruckheimer Films have bought Terry Rossio and Bill Marsilii's epic space adventure script, "Lightspeed."

The Mouse and the Bruck put down $3.5 million bucks for said script. This is an astronomical amount, and the fragile state of the economy only multiplies the significance of this purchase. Rossio and Marsilii were responsible for the Touchstone Pictures film, "Deja Vu" that came out a couple years ago. Rossio, of course, is one half of the team responsible for the "Pirates of the Caribbean" series, the Disney classic, "Aladdin" and the upcoming western epic from the Mouse, "The Lone Ranger." Marsilii is also known for the early drafts of McG's "Captain Nemo" reboot/prequel that Ross canned late last year.

The plot of tale is about a young pilot who qualifies for something known as the Earth Interstellar Racing Team and then takes his star ship on a dangerous journey through a galaxy that is on the brink of war. The film will be live action and most likely in 3D. Sounds like Star Wars meets Speed Racer.

Developing...

The Beginning Of THE END...

Twenty-seven years ago today, George Lucas ended when "Star Wars" series with "Episode VI: Return of the Jedi" came out...
Ewoks? Really? Really???



Nuff said...

A Long, Long, Not So Long Time Ago...

Da, da, da, da, da, da, da, da, da...


The Big Daddy of them all celebrates turning thirty-three today...

George Lucas, the wunderkind behind that endearing little film, "American Graffiti" came out with his third film on this day. He wanted to make a film for kids like the innocent serials the young boy remembered as a child in those small town theaters he would go to on weekends. Believing Star Wars wouldn't make much money, Lucas decided to hedge his bets and merchandise it. Bringing in a little scratch to make up for what he thought wouldn't be that successful of a film, the film maker changed cinema as we know it.

And the rest is history.

Episode IV as it would later be called, truly was the first film to blow my mind from that opening image of an immense Star Destroyer moving above us, to the last image of the heroes standing, waiting to get a medal from a princess. After that, Star Wars was born and kids everywhere would be saying that now familiar phrase, "May the Force be with you."

Happy Birthday, "A New Hope" and let's pray that phrase rings true over the coming years...

Mass Hysteria...

It's dead, I tell ya...



Dead, dead, dead...
Drama is dead...

That's a phrase you would have heard over and over by many producers and studio suits if you had been in Cannes this year. With today's audience and the current state of technology there is little desire to do an old fashioned, slow paced romance. Big, loud and bombastic are the new coins of trade. As I've said in earlier post, right now if you plan on pitching something it had better be 3D or involve someone with powers a normal human being wouldn't have.

Such is the case with all the Marvel/DC films that are being made. All the films from Disney and other studios that are being released in the third dimension, not counting all the films that are being converted into that format. Let's face it, no one wants to deal with a normal story anymore. Not that it's permanent, but the current times, like the Thirties, have people looking for escapism. No one wants to pay money to see a realistic war film that shows a realistic enemy. The world wants a vacation from the reality of our fears and films are supplying that. Why watch a drama like "Ghandi" when you can have a "Clash of the Titans" instead? Or who needs a serious tale of love of cars and women, growing up and innocence lost like "American Grafitti" when you can have "Alvin and the Chipmunks" as an alternative?

What Hollywood is looking for, for better or worse, is a sure thing. A marketable idea that can apply to mass appeal across many demographics. And even though they have yet to make one that is a smash hit, video games tend to fit into this niche just like guys wearing underwear and capes. If you remember, last year I had a post called "Game On/Over" about what video games would/could make great or at least interesting adaptations. Well, some of those games are already now in heavy development. But now comes news about a game that I've never played (hard to believe, I know) that is wildly popular which may be the next project studios try and turn into a franchise...

Mass Effect.

Legendary Pictures ("The Dark Knight," "Superman Returns," "Clash of the Titans") has secured the rights to the BioWare title. Now, normally I'd brush this off as another attempt to get an incredibly difficult/expensive production of something like Halo. We all know how that movie turned out, don't we? But then I read who they are negotiating with to write the script and my interest immediately went from zero to sixty.

Mark Protosevich.

If you've read my post, "Unfinished Business" then you know he's written a couple things that I absolutely love. Sadly, both of these projects will never reach the light of day. The first he did was one of my two favorite scripts, "I Am Legend," which is not the mediocre film you went and saw with Will Smith. That was a pedestrian version of script that would have been amazing. The second is "Thor" which you won't see because it has already been rewritten to figure into the modern world so that the God of Thunder can interact with Earth's Mightiest Mortals. Sometimes the best work stays on the page, not the stage, I'm afraid. Let's hope this doesn't happen with the adaptation of this game. If Protosevich is working on it there could be a huge, awesome piece of cinema waiting to be filmed. Now, unfortunately, if it turns out great or not will depend on the whims of some, faceless development suit.

Because drama is dead and action killed him...

The Many, Many Seas...

Even after three years I still get a great deal of questions about DisneySEA/Port Disney...

I've done many articles that profess my love of Tokyo DisneySEA and have talked for quite of few on the glory that could have been Port Disney. From time to time, I consistently get asked things about them. Most of those questions could simply be answered by checking old blog posts. So I thought I'd do a little of the heavy lifting for you.

If you have an interest in seeing or knowing more about the most expensive, most elaborate theme park that Disney or anyone else has built, then click here for all of Blue Sky Disney's articles on Tokyo DisneySEA.

If you would like to find out what was going to be built in Long Beach by a very ambitious Walt Disney Company back in the early 90's that would have redefined what a theme park is, then click here for all of Blue Sky Disney's articles on Port Disney.

Also for your perusal, if you'd like to see what could be the largest collection of pictures, beautifully taken and professionally put on the web, then click here for Chris' Tokyo Disney Resort website/then here for specifically Chris' DisneySEA website.

And if you'd like one of the most comprehensive collections of information about the Tokyo Disneyland Resort/Tokyo DisneySEA, then click here for Joe in Japan's JTE website/then here for Joe's YouTube channel.

There's enough material there to keep you dreaming till the next wish comes along...

Building An Empire...

Who knew that after such a success like "Star Wars" that George Lucas would come up with a sequel that was better than the original...

On this day thirty years ago, "The Empire Strikes Back" was released in theaters. And it was beyond good, it was great. It was filled with the kind of pulp-serial love that pop culture geeks and the mass audiences could both find appealing. The film made box office records. It made a small boy in a small town dream big. It was a great time when George could do absolutely no wrong. This sequel pointed to an even greater ending to this saga (at least we hoped). He was the greatest film maker of all time, everything he touched turned to gold and at the time he was filming the Greatest Movie of All Time. But that's a story for next year.

Happy Birthday, Episode Five...

Size Matters...

If you remember a few months back, there was some art released about 100 Pixar Characters by Juan Pablo Bravo that was pretty cool...

Now, it appears that Bravo is back with something equally cool: 250 Walt Disney Characters that he's done for size comparison. It's a really amazing piece of artwork that I highly recommend you take a glance at.

Now, let's hope he goes on and does one for Hanna Barbera now...

Brave New World...

As the release date of Walt Disney Pictures' "Tron Legacy" gets closer, so does news related to it...

Like the video game prequel, "Tron Evolution." Gamespot's Richardo Torres has an interview with Darren Hedges, Game Director of Propaganda Studios about some of the features that the game, which from the talk appears to be very mulit-layered and expands the Tron Universe beyond the films, will have. Interesting 411.

Coming your way on 360 and PS3 this fall...

Hat Tip to Ain't It Cool News.

Disney To Make Live-Action Incredibles...

It had to happen with all the live-action remakes that Disney has been doing...

But it won't be in theaters. It'll be on television. On ABC, to be exact. And it looks pretty good. It's called "No Ordinary Family" and it certainly has a very talented cast led by Michael Chiklis. He's played superheroes before in the extremely flawed "Fantastic Four" and its sequel. I don't blame Chiklis because he was perfectly cast as Ben Grimm/The Thing. But his choice of not doing it CG made him look like a man in a suit. And a clunky script and the wrong director didn't help either.

But this could be interesting. If you've seen my post about the coming fall season on the networks you'll notice that I had very little from ABC on there. Not much interested me. NBC for the most part, and Fox have the shows that interest me when it comes to filling my valuable time with a boob tube. I had heard of this show, but didn't add it to that post because I wanted to wait and see what it was exactly. It could turn out to be great or incredibly cheesy. Well they've released the trailer for the series that will appear on the Alphabet Network this fall and it looks like it lands closer to the great side.

I'll have my remote/Hulu ready for watching...

Company Men...

Men in tights are all the rage in Tinsel Town right now...

There's a nice article in the Los Angeles Times about Marvel Studios and the new relationship with the Walt Disney Company now that the Mouse owns them. Interesting read.

Give it a glance...

Other Kingdoms...

There are a lot of fans out there that love the Kingdom Hearts game series...

It's a strange world where Disney characters interact with non-Disney characters that has developed a very loyal following. So, for those that are looking for more, Square-Enix and Disney Interactive are here with a gift:

The trailer for the next game in the series: "Kingdom Hearts-Birth By Sleep."

Take a look and prepare to battle...

Reporting History...

This just in...

Nikke Finke over at Deadline Hollywood is reporting that "Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides" will be in 3D!!!

TOLDJA! Amazing! Unbelievable! A revelation! I am stunned that this has happened! Nowhere on the web have I...

Ever...

Heard...

This...

Before...

85 Million Reasons To Watch Fox...

So, they've released some concept art from "Avatar" of Pandora...

Wait. I mean, concept art from prehistoric Earth from "Terra Nova," the new sci-fi series produced by Steven Spielberg for Fox. I know people will say it looks like that James Cameron film, but seriously, what do you expect dinoland to look like? If you've watched any of those History Channels specials or something on Discovery it looks about the same. It's pretty and I'm quite sure there won't be any ten foot tall blue cats walking around either.

Here's Fox's official press release for the show:

An epic family adventure 85 million years in the making, is the new event drama slated for midseason from executive producers Steven Spielberg (“Jurassic Park,” “The Pacific”), Peter Chernin, Brannon Braga (24, “Star Trek: Enterprise”) and David Fury (24, “Lost”). The action-adventure series follows an ordinary family on an extraordinary journey back in time to prehistoric Earth as a part of a massive expedition to save the human race.

I hear that it's a family from a future where the Earth is dying and the only hope for humanity is to go back in time before the meteor came and whipped out all life as we know it. So this family apparently goes into the past to save their future. Not every human, just this family... cause family is important. I know, because I've watched "The Godfather," like a hundred times. This is supposed to be a mid-season replacement show, but it's a very expensive (so expensive Fox had to agree to full series, not just a pilot; sets too expensive to tear down and rebuilt if approved) and time consuming production so the Fox Suits don't know if it'll make the line-up. And they won't rush it because they want it to be an event series and a new staple to the Fox line-up. I'll be reporting on this one quite a bit since I happen to descend from a long line of dinosaur hunters.

I'm looking for ward to seeing the trailer for this one...

Reliving The Fifties...

I always wondered what it was like to see a Disney film in the 50's...

It looks like I'm getting that shot. With a remake of the 1951's "Alice in Wonderland," the reinterpretation of 1959's "Sleeping Beauty," a reboot/revision of 1954's "20,000 Leagues Under The Sea" and now Deadline Hollywood breaks a story about the Mouse making a live-action remake of 1950's "Cinderella" I'm most definitely getting that Fifties vibe. I wonder why they won't change the name because of fear of having young males avoiding it? Hmmm.

Not that I'm against remakes as long as they're good and particularly if they find another angle to the story, but there are plenty of tales to tell. Story isn't dead and I hope that Hollywood in general and Disney in particular understands this. These classic tales are great so long as they give us more original concepts and not make the majority of their content nothing more than continual looping of an art form.

Cautiously wondering aloud...

20K 2.0...

At first, I was looking at the calendar thinking this was an awfully late April Fool's joke...

Holy crap! It appears the Mouse has been quietly working behind the scenes on a reboot of their reboot of the "20,000 Leagues Under The Sea" project. Gone is McG as the director. Gone are the drafts by Bill Marsilli, Justin Marks and Randall Wallace. All their versions are to be swept away and given to someone totally unexpected.

According to The Hollywood Reporter's Heat Vision blog, David Fincher is in talks to helm the remake/re-imagined take on the tale of Captain Nemo. Scott Z. Burns, who's written "The Bourne Ultimatum," "Contagion," and "The Informant!" is working on the screenplay which will be in the vein of "Star Wars" or "The Empire Strikes Back." Consider me interested, I had no problem with the original screenwriters who worked on this, particularly Randall Wallace, but I have no faith in McG touching something like this. He's a poor man's Michael Bay, and coming from me, that ain't saying something complimentary. But I'm now going to be watching this project with much more enthusiasm.

Now, please don't let Will Smith's name become associated with this...

Deviant Disney...

What?

Angelina wants to play me? That girl doesn't have the balls...



Artwork by J. Scott Campbell.

We've all seen Tim Burton's interpretation of "Alice in Wonder," but he's not the only one that has taken Disney's Princesses in strange, new and interesting directions...

Comic book artist J. Scott Campbell, whom co-created the comic "Danger Girl" that we mentioned a while back in a post, has also created some very naughty examples of what he thinks of these characters. Very beautiful, but very adult. Curious? Take a look here.

I don't think we'll be seeing these versions inside the Disney parks...

J. Scott Campbell's official website is here.

Hat Tip to The Disney Blog.

Reschedules & Reboots...

Wouldn't you know that just after I post an article about WDAS for clarity, they come out with more clarity...

Yesterday, the Mouse released a revised schedule of their upcoming animated features over the next few years. In my post last week I reminded everyone that even though "Tangled" would be out this holiday season, the next film after that would already be out this time next year (Oh, and from what I hear, "Rapunzel's Little Film" is coming together quite well. Nice tunes, stunning imagery and story. Remember that? Story.).

And then they (the Mouse) changed the schedule.

Darn you, Hat Building! Hehe... no, seriously, it makes sense to put it more into summer and space out the releases. So now, instead of a late March/early April kind of release, the Pooh picture will come out on July 15, 2011. A few months later and a date on which it can build a better, more thought out marketing campaign. And that leaves almost two years before the next announced animated feature, "Reboot Ralph" scheduled for March 22, 2013. I got a lot of people asking if this was the formerly titled: "Joe Jump," and it is/was.

It has been known internally as the "Rich Moore" project. If you've noticed, I referred to it as "what used to be known as Joe Jump." It's been known for a while that the film would get a new title since the story bares little resemblance to what Joe actually was. Moore's take on the project is something that Lasseter liked and thought that having an outsider (like Brad Bird) come in and take over this project would provide some fresh perspective. With the announcement that it's on the schedule, I think Ed and John are displaying the kind of confidence in this story that will push it along. Also, so you know, the film is CG for those that were curious. And I believe Nikke Finke stated that it was a musical, which I believe, it is not.

Now as I said, this is a good gap between productions. There are several stories being worked on and one could get slotted in to fill the space, but as of right now that doesn't appear to be the plan. One of the things that is being discussed is the inclusion of another couple of specials for television. Progress is moving on another "Prep & Landing" program and work continues on the Shorts Program. From what I hear, a couple projects have been pitched as hand-drawn, but those, if they were approved wouldn't see theaters until 2014 most likely.

But work continues on turning Walt Disney Animation Studios into a creative and productive culture. Despite some setbacks and marketing people trying to hold on to John's ear a little too much, there is progress. Slowly we will see it develop as the next year or so progresses. What happens in the Hat Building over that time should prove to be very interesting.

I just wonder what will become of the actual Roy E. Disney Building in a few years...

Persian Press...

Open Sesame Street...




With Walt Disney Pictures' "Prince of Persia: Sands of Time" coming out in a couple weeks there is going to be all kinds of press for the future franchise...

So the creator of the original gaming franchise, Jordan Mechner has been doing press interviews. The guys over at IESB have got an interesting discussion with the video game designer about the film, the game and all those little details that you tend to find in between.

Give it a read...

Birth Of The Jedi...

A Long, Long Time Ago...



A Loooooooooooooooooooooong time ago...

Sixty-six years ago today in a small town up in Northern California...

George Walton Lucas Jr. was born. A near-death car crash right before his high school graduation forced him to consider another career path(he wanted to be a race car driver) and made him focus on something different at the local community college. He developed an interest in making films... Modern cinema would never be the same. He gave my childhood a constant wonder and my adulthood a continual pain. But I'm so very happy he decided to do that little takeoff on Saturday matinee serials. I owe him greatly for that.

Happy Birthday to the Father of the Force...

Kung Fu Writer...

It appears that Katzenberg has got a big gun to come in and do a polish on the KFP sequel...

Charlie Kaufman, the brilliant screenwriter of "Confessions of a Dangerous Mind," "Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind" and "Adaptation" among many others has came in to tighten the story of "Kung Fu Panda: The Kaboom of Doom."

This sounds like great news. I happen to be a big fan of Charlie's work. I have high expectations for this sequel and anybody who read my review knows how much I love KFP. It's the high watermark that all films from DreamWorks Animation have to measure themselves by. I don't know if this will be as good as the first, but the quality of the story definitely got elevated. Well, at least we have that Kung Fu Panda holiday special to look forward to until the sequel.

Here's to hoping there's no doom in boom...

Hat Tip to The Hollywood Reporter's HeatVision blog.

More Echos Of Future Pasts...

Fury, he's a bad mutha...


Well, Drew McWeeny over at Hitflix's movie blog, Motion Captured has some interesting news...

He's reported that Samuel L. Jackson has mentioned something about a S.H.I.E.L.D. movie after the "Avengers" film in 2012. Hmmm... I've heard that before, but where? Oh, that's right. Here, almost two months ago. Now, I didn't have Sammy quoted as saying it, but I had my Bothans verifying it. Which is why I reported it. I'm kinda offended Drew, I check out your site quite a bit. You clearly don't return the favor. Boo-hoo.

Seriously, I want to thank Drew for validating what my sources reported to me back in March. Now, if everything goes well we'll see that film sometime in 2013.

Looks like G.I. Joe has some competition...

UPDATE: Boy, my massive ego is slowly deflating... now Russ from /Film is reporting the same thing. Now, that website I can't excuse since I sent Peter a link to the story back in March. Wow, now I know what those girls felt like when I lied and told them I was too busy and couldn't go out drinking... Sigh.

Small Change...

When it's all said and done later this year, "Iron Man 2" will put somewhere between 200 - 300 million dollars in the Mouse's vault...

Not bad for something they had zero to do with. But since they now own Marvel, they own the profits in the end run/long run. Even though Paramount Pictures is the distributor, they only get a distribution fee. The bulk of the profits fall back to Mighty Marvel and therefore, Disney. And this is all before DVD/Blu-Ray/Pay-Per-View/Cable/iTunes.

The same is true of next year's "Thor" and "Captain America" and 2012's "Avengers" and the as yet, undecided project. That one will be the last one distributed by Paramount and all other sequels of these franchise and anything else Marvel does will go under Walt Disney Pictures or Touchstone Pictures. That distribution fee won't exist or be needed.

Of course, then there's the other Marvel films that various studios are producing:

Spider-Man 4 over at Sony (Columbia/TriStar).

Ghost Rider 2 over at Sony (Columbia/TriStar).

Fantastic Four 3 over at Fox.

X-Men 4 over at Fox.

Wolverine 2 over at Fox.

Deadpool over at Fox.

A lot of Marvel aka: Disney projects not handled by Disney, eh? The funny thing to think about is how many other studios have films that are in production based on something owned by another studio? There are two or three other studios that are making films based on Disney characters (yes, Marvel characters are now Disney characters). And Disney will make some cash from each of these productions. Now it won't be as much as if they were making the films in house, but it's still cash. And make no mistake in thinking that Disney isn't watching what the other studios are doing with their properties. They will be making sure they follow those contracts to the letter. The L-E-T-T-E-R. Any deviation that causes them to be in violation would be pounced on before you could even think about it. Disney will make sure that this happens as I'm sure they're salivating at the idea of producing their own Spider-Man film. This is probably why you've seen Columbia Pictures work at getting a "Ghost Rider" film into production by September (because that's when the rights will revert back to Marvel/Disney).

By the end of this year there will be at least one or two films in pre-production on the Burbank Lot that will be Disney's first Marvel productions. Now, they've gone through the library of characters and narrowed down the prospects of what they want to do over the next few years of filming. But as of 2013 you should expect at least two films a year from Disney Studios featuring Marvel characters. It'll be part of their summer/holiday tentpole strategy. Just as Warner Bros. plans on releasing DC characters as their tentpole films as a replacement for the Harry Potter franchise.

So expect a lot of films over the next few years about guys wearing underwear on the outside of their clothes from the Mouse...

Monkey Business...

You know there are many things that have little or nothing to do with the Mouse that I really enjoy...

If you've followed the blog, then you know that I have several interest that are tangentially related to the Mouse or are just musings about the entertainment industry in general. I love genre movies for example. If you've read much of my commentary/ranting then you'd know I love science fiction, pulp, detective-noir and pretty much any good action film. With that in mind, I love to seeing blending of these type of films, like horror-comedy or sci-fi-horror and so on. So I follow the entertainment biz pretty close and I've seen some projects that have sparked my interest.

Here is one that's been on my radar that I've found out about from overseas Bothans in Cannes...

It's called "War Monkeys." Now that's a catchy name, huh? When I was a kid, I loved anything to do with "Planet of the Apes." I had cards, mask and remember watching the movies and even the television series. So all things simian are kinda interesting to me. Now this looks like something fun, monkeys with machine guns. Not talking monkeys, but really mean, real life ones that apparently have learned to do naughty things.

It's the story of two losers trapped in an underground military lab where a horde of combat-trained, genetically altered monkeys are set free. The writer of it describes it as a remake of "Gremlins" if Quentin Tarantino had directed it. David Ellis is directing it from a script by Cleve Nettles, from a story by Chris Patton. Nettles and Patton will produce through Death Ray Films and Intandem Films for a 2011 release. Apparently they're casting as we speak/write.

Death Ray Films are the ones that are doing that "I, Frankenstein" project that sounds like it's a really twisted take on the classic monster mythos combined with film noir. Monkey's sound like it also could be this crazy kind of fun.

Reminds me a lot like those 80's movies I used to love so much as a kid...

Powerful...

It appears that Haim Saban has bought back the "Mighty Morphing Power Rangers" from the Walt Disney Company...

Good riddance.

Let me make this clear, I HATE the Power Rangers. I've never enjoyed or understood the love for them since the early Nineties. Yes, I know that they're not made for me, but neither was "Phineas and Ferb," but I find that show quite a fun experience. And it's not the Anime look that the series has. I love "Gatchaman" (Battle of the Planets), but am ambivalent on "Voltron." It's always been just a cheap, badly acted, badly written, badly produced show. Not anything that I would equate with the Disney name. And Disney didn't go out of it's way to get PR either. It simply acquired them in the purchase of the "Fox Family Channel," which became the "ABC Family Channel." I wish Saban well with them, but I'm glad they're not part of the Disney stable.

Now that Iger has gotten rid of a group of characters that don't belong in the Disney world, perhaps he'll purchase some characters that are perfect for it...

Fairy Tale StorE...

When you dream upon some cash...



Makes no difference where you stash...
Over the last few years, an experience at a Disney Store hasn't been any more memorable than walking into any other store...

That's supposed to change soon.

Remember that re-imagining of the Disney Stores that Bob Iger has planned for the chain? Well, it's going to be opening it's first new vision of the retail outlet next month at The Shops at Montebello in Montebello, CA. Over the next seven years the plan will be to change the atmosphere at each of the approximately 200+ stores of the chain (about 20 will open this year in America and Europe). When the Mouse sold the chain there were near five hundred stores, but the brand became diluted and the service became less memorable.

Here's to the new shops getting a little more of that Disney magic...

Episode 3...

Wow, those folks up north at Lucasfilm really aren't wasting any time...

With the second season of the Clone Wars just ended, they've already got a teaser trailer out for the next season of the series (the Third Season if you haven't been counting). That's working fast and using great marketing. In this ADD world, keeping people interested in what is waiting ahead is very important. Even for something as world renowned as Star Wars.

Nice Jedi mind trick...

More Pooh, Sooner Than You Think...

Walt Disney Animation Studios' next film is only six months away...

But most people don't realize is that the next one after that, is less than a year away. That's right, the next film after "Tangled" will already have been released this time next year. And it'll be hand-drawn. And it won't be the last one that is hand-drawn despite all the people proclaiming doom and gloom for the future of pen and ink. That said, the next hand drawn after that one probably won't be for at least a couple years.

So this time next year you'll have likely seen the new adventures of "Winnie the Pooh." Or maybe we should call them the other adventures of Pooh since they're based on original tales by A. A. Milne that weren't/haven't been animated yet. And from what I hear, the animators are taking a very classic look and feel to this story. And it's very deep into production now and will be close to being finished when Rapunzel gets her hair and relationship tangled on screen this November. I'm hearing that the artists and Suits, Ed and John included are liking what they see and hope the audience will as well.

So where does that put WDAS after 2011? What's up for 2012 other than the end of the world, I mean? Well, to be quite honest I don't know and neither do most artists/animators. See, John and Ed haven't decided what will be the next animated feature from the Mouse. Not that they don't have a list of projects. They've listened to quite a few pitches. A few of them have even been for hand-drawn films... but still, no decision has been made. One thing we do know it that the next film after the silly ole' bear, is going to be CG. And likely the next one too. But there are several projects that are being looked at for 2012. None have been given the green light. Some have been pitches that are waiting to get the go ahead to develop while others have story board artists drawing away for that all important day when the Creatives give it a harsh look over.

There is that project that Rich Moore is working on that had it's seed planted in what used to be known as "Joe Jump." Chris Buck has an original project that he's trying to get signed off on. Chris Williams' new film is one of these that is getting another pass. Some of the Suits, Cough, Ross, Cough, Ross, think it plays too young, so changes have been/are being made. And the old lions of Disney animation, Musker and Clements, have pitched a couple things to John and the Story Trust with plans to move forward into story as quickly as possible. And then there are several other projects, at least three or four other tales that are waiting for that magic word from John.

We should be hearing about a decision on projects by the fall. A couple of these films will have to move further down the pipeline so that production can begin in time for a 2012 release. The clock is ticking and it'll be interesting to see what winds up on the slate for Disney a couple years from now and beyond.

One thing I can guarantee is that it won't have anything to do with princesses...

The Bruck...

A week from today there's going to an AFI series of screenings in Hollywood for one of Tinsel Town's most successful producers...

Jerry Bruckheimer, currently a member of the Mouse's stable of producers will have several of his films shown at the Mann Chinese 6 and the El Capitan.

Each film will be introduced by one of the stars of that particular film:

Armageddon introduced by Bruce Willis.
Beverly Hills Cop introduced by Eddie Murphy.
National Treasure introduced by Nicolas Cage, Jon Voight, Justin Bartha and director Jon Turteltaub.
Pirates of the Caribbean: COTBP introduced by Orlando Bloom.
Top Gun introduced by Tom Skerritt and director Tony Scott.

I wonder if anything will be said about a certain film that goes into production days after this event happens...