Trontastic...

Building a better Grid, bit by bit...









Disney has released a new, longer trailer for "Tron: Uprising" which premieres in June...

It really gives you a much better look at the world of the animated series. And it appears quite impressive. The animation is very good (some parts, gorgeous even) and the style is unique with subtle influences of Japanime. Take a look and see what you think.

The Grid is going to be very active this summer...

Graveyard Of Ideas...

Hopefully, some other ideas are dug up as well...







Now this is a perfect project for the Mouse to adapt...

Walt Disney Pictures has optioned the film rights to Neil Gaiman's "The Graveyard Book" for director Henry Selick. Released in 2008, the Newbery Award-winning novel is very much like Rudyard Kipling's "The Jungle Book." While that story follows a human raised in the wild by a group of animals, Gaiman's book follows a boy raised by ghosts in a graveyard after his family were murdered. It's a wonderfully charming, albeit slightly dark tale.

There is no indication that it will be live-action, and since it's Selick, it's likely going to be stop-motion, but this kind of story would be the kind of property that could be slotted into the live-action division of Walt Disney Pictures. The live-action division hasn't been too robust, and even the hits that it has had were modest (with the Pirates franchise being the one exception). The project will be the next one the director does after finishing up his current film which will also be distributed by Disney (and consulted on by the Pixar Brain Trust).

Selick's personality and talent are perfect for this project. Only Guillermo del Toro could handle this story with the care needed to bring it to the screen.

Now, if only Disney would get the rights to "The Thief of Always" for a live-action film...

A Case For Cloning...

More Johns please...









There's a lot of buzz going on about who Bob Iger will pick to replace Rich Ross...

Both reasonable and rationale. And there's even some fantasy propositions as well. The usual suspects like Stacey Snider (DreamWorks Studios) and Kevin Feign (Marvel Studios) are in there, along with slight chance that Bob will pick Sean Bailey to run the division (my pick, actually). But I've seen a couple sources that are speculating it is a chance for John Lasseter himself to take hold of the studio and make all that comes under the Disney banner under his control. While it's a nice dream, it's most likely not going to happen. John is about the busiest exec at the studio as is right now. Between his duties as head of Pixar Animation Studios, Walt Disney Animation Studios, DisneyToon Studios and the head creative consultant/executive at WDI, he's pretty much got his hands full.

And heading the Walt Disney Studio would involve a long list of things he wouldn't likely want to deal with. From soothing the egos of the many producers that make films there, to managing fights between Suits and exhibitors on release dates. Not that having Lasseter in charge wouldn't raise the quality level on most projects, but he's already burning the candle at both ends and the middle. If he could be cloned then I'd be for that as the best example of how to get more out of him.

But until that science is perfected we'll have to expect Iger to be looking in other directions...

Experiment's End...

Sorry, but we have something else in mind...



In case you didn't see it, Rich Ross has resigned as head of Walt Disney Pictures...

“I believe in our strong slate of films and our ability to make and market them better than anyone else, but, I no longer believe the chairman role is the right professional fit for me. For that reason, I have made the very difficult decision to step down as Chairman of The Walt Disney Studios, effective today.”

After less than two and a half years in the role, Ross has stepped down from his position. Word is that Iger has been less than happy with the way the film division has been run and has been negotiating an exit with Ross for the past month.

Even though the slate of box office disappointments weren't green lit by Ross, his management of those films and lack of a strong development slate may have played a factor in his decision to resign.

No replacement has been made, but insiders believe the most likely candidates Iger would want to take the position are someone like Marvel Studios' Kevin Feige or DreamWorks Studios' Stacey Snider. Sean Bailey will stay on as president of production, but new management tends to appoint their own people, so his future is not guaranteed. I like Bailey actually. If none of the other candidates take the position I hope that Iger will offer the division to him. He's a smart producer that knows the inner workings of Hollywood, and has far more film experience than Ross did.

Developing...

More Uprisings...

The Grid is good, the programs...








No sooner has a teaser commercial came out, the Mouse has now released something better...

Actually, a couple of things have been released. First is an actual trailer. It shows a lot more of the world we'll come to know when it debuts this summer. Second, that poster up above was released as well. Don't see many posters being released for television shows, do you? Well, it's nice to see the Grid getting so much attention. Hopefully that will bode well for T3RN.

Till June...

8-Bit Love...

Game on...






The teaser poster for Walt Disney Animation Studios "Wreck-It Ralph" is out...

It's minimalistic, but then so were the games of the time and the story seems to reflect it. I know some people were wanting more, but this isn't a bad representation of a film about an 8-bit video game.

Of course, it'll be nice when the trailer finally arrives...

Fifteen Seconds On The Grid...

Weekly on the Grid...







A new teaser has been released for the Tron animated series...

Disney XD has a very short, fifteen second glance at what is coming in the new "Tron: Uprising" animated series. The series premieres in June and is part of the Mouse's effort to expand the Tron Universe.

Suits will be watching to see how the ratings match up with their plans for "TR3N" to be green lit. Let's hope that it's good (word is, it is), and that the ratings are as well.

Summer on the Grid will be very, very interesting...

Hat Tip to Geek Tyrant.

Of King & Kingdom...

A whole new world...










It's amazing what a couple of years and a blockbuster can do to a studio...

The Hat Building is flying on all cylinders and things are a buzzing. But not everything is going well in the Happiest Studio in Burbank.

Later this year, "Wreck-It Ralph" will debut and show audiences that "Tangled" wasn't a fluke. From the stories I've gotten, it sounds like they really have a heart filled tale that will have everyone seeing this film over and over again. What "Toy Story" did for toys, this does for video games. And the nostalgia for those that grew up on 8-bit games as well as those that love the 90's games are going to be in love with this film. And boys, will eat this up. Get that? "Boys," the marketing demo that the Suits seem to be worried about.

After that, next year we go back to classic fairy tales. Minus the names that tell you they're royalty, of course. But one tale that won't be happening anytime soon is about Elves. That's right, "King of the Elves" was racing with "Frozen" to be the 2013 release and it still has too many story structure problems to make it across the finish line. So many in fact, that Chris Williams is now off the project and going back to work on other projects (not as a director, but story boarder). It seems the script for Snow Queen aka: "Frozen" is in much better shape and it got the release date for next year, while KOTE got put on the shelve. Again.

Ron & John's new project is going through story development and could wind up being the 2014/15 slot, but it's still deep in the early stage so time will tell what happens. A lot of people have commented that this will be the duo's first computer animated film. As of now, there are development test going on for traditional, hybrid and computer examples, and no decision has been made. This decision won't be made for quite a while. Just like Pixar, the focus is on story, story, story. Not, the medium it's presented in.

The projects competing for 2014/2015 are the uber-secret film from Don Hall, which will be a marvelously unexpected project if it ever gets the green light, and Nathan Greno and Byron Howard's films which are deep in development. These are projects that are busy working out the story elements so that the films live up to John Lasseter's high Pixar standards. The one that gets the release slot will be the one whose story is deemed ready to actually animate. Not a bad concept, right?

There are a couple other projects in concept form and many more animators are lining up for pitch sessions with John for a chance to develop their ideas. Slowly the culture has changed over the past half-decade to the point where many animators and artist actually are having fun again. And many are hoping that they will be part of the Third Golden Age of Disney Animation. That is a very good thing.

Those of you that are fans of "Prep & Landing" will be interested in knowing that the ratings for last Christmas' "Naughty Versus Nice" special weren't where ABC/Disney wanted them to go, and any plans for a third special have been put into a holding pattern as the Suits figure out what/where or even when/if it should go forward. It's possible that the advertising schedule didn't exactly set the mark for giving people the information for when it would be broadcast. So Burbank is factoring in merchandise, ratings and other elements to see if there is any viability in creating another special. I certainly hope so, because there was talk of taking all of them and combining the into a film with original footage along the lines of "Winnie the Pooh."

And when talking about animation, if you follow WDAS then you know there was talk of moving down toward Glendale a while ago to be next to WDI. Those plans were canned and plans moved to trying to find a place on the lot to build a new animation building. Well, now the goal is to take the existing animation building and rework it, kind of the way Disney California Adventure had an extreme makeover done to it. And just like DCA was kept open as guests went about their way, so would be the same for artists in the Hat Building. It's nice to know that in addition to screwing up Disneyland's Second Gate, Eisner was capable of screwing up the animation building as well. But thankfully, it's all getting fixed.

But it's great to see the majority of news coming out of the Hat Building to be positive...

Expanded Universe...

Marvel more and more...








Later today, Disney XD takes a big step in becoming that Marvel Channel we were talking about...

Tonight is the premiere of "Ultimate Spider-Man" and "Avengers" as well as several other shorts, intros and clips. It's the beginning of a block of Marvel and other Disney content that is supposed to try to attract a more consistent young boy audience for the channel. Hopefully that "S.H.I.E.L.D" animated project will get approved soon.

And of course, this summer there will be the "Tron: Uprising" animated series that the Mouse will be using to justify green lighting another film sequel...

Marvelous DisneySEA...

It's April Fool, you fools...








Atlantis is coming to Tokyo DisneySEA...

No, not the one from the Disney animated film, but the one from Marvel Comics. The one ruled by Namor. If fact, at the Walt Disney Parks and Resorts press conference this morning that was co hosted by WDP&R Chairman Tom Staggs and Toshio Kagami - Chairman and CEO of the OLC, he made a guest appearance. Well, at least an actor portraying him did.

Come 2015, Tokyo's Second Gate will have an eigth port: "Marvel's Atlantis." The area will be located next to the Lost River Delta port and will comprise at least three attractions, restaurants and shops featuring Marvel merchandise. Details about exactly what those rides will be is limited as WDI plans out the designs over the next year and a half. But from what we know of the Oriental Land Company, it'll be a very elaborate expansion.

So we now know where Disney's first expansion of its Marvel properties will go. Now when will we find out about where/when they'll be in Anaheim and Orlando? Soon, from what I hear.

But until then, just imagine what it'll be like traveling to Namor's kingdom in Japan...