Happy Birthday, Uncle John...

And on a lighter note...

John Alan Lasseter was born on this date in 1957. If you don't know who he is... you... really... are... on... the... wrong... blog. Really.

Lasseter, head of Walt Disney Animation Studios, Pixar Animation Studios, Principal Creative Advisor for Walt Disney Imagineering, Head of development for Toon Disney Studios, advisor to Disney Consumer Products and wine maker, wasn't in town today. Believe it, or not. Can you imagine how busy this guy is with all these titles? It's a wonder he has time to tie his shoes. Well, let me just say, from everyone here at Blue Sky Disney, happy birthday Uncle John. Or Mr. Lasseter, which ever you want your highness. Hehe. Yes, say it if you want. I'm a lemming. But if you do, you'll realize that you don't have a sense of humor and you need one.

One of the great things about Lasseter is his passion and belief in a project. He also has the ability to inspire those around him to do better than what they expected or even believed they could do. And another sign of his authenticity came at the D23 Expo. When everyone came out, from Iger, Rasulo and even Cook, there was a giant teleprompter set up that had their exact script. All of their words were just calculated and prepared beforehand. Not John. If you would have looked at the monitor during his keynote you would have seen this:

Talk about Tinkerbell film.

Talk about new Winnie the Pooh film.

Talk about Princess and the Frog.

ect.

See? He just put bullet points up to remind him about stuff so that he wouldn't forget anything. His entire speech was ad-libbed and from his heart. What he said, he believed. That is something that is very hard to come by in life, and even harder in Hollywood. That's something of true value there folks.

Have fun blowing out those candles, sir...

Mouse House Shuffle/Tussle...

And so the deck of cards changes even more...

Truthfully, I was surprised when he wasn't let go when Dick Cook was fired. If you haven't heard the news, Oren Aviv, the President of Walt Disney Studios Motion Picture Production has been fired. Or resigned if you believe that Dick Cook did the same.

Much of the slate for this anointed marketing wundkind hasn't exactly panned out. He was one of Dick Cook's chief suits and was believed to be the one to succeed him should he step down. Aviv was the one primarily responsible for "National Treasure" and had guided much of the production as well as development over the past two years. Many of the projects he approved were disappointing in their box office returns, others like the "Jungle Cruise" adaption have failed to materialize. Here is his announcement:

Today, Oren Aviv announced that he is resigning his post of president, Walt Disney Studios Motion Picture Production.

Avis said, “As of today, I'm stepping down from my position as president of Production, Walt Disney Studios. I have loved every day that I have been at the studio and feel incredibly privileged to have been part of a team that enriched my life for 20 years.

I will miss all the amazing filmmakers, the many talented actors and most importantly the lifelong friends I've been so lucky to work with throughout my Disney career.

I'm proud of the hundreds of movies I've helped to make and market, especially the studio's upcoming films, from Alice in Wonderland and Prince of Persia to The Sorcerer's Apprentice and Tron. All have been extremely rewarding creative and personal endeavors for me, and have allowed me to work with the best group of executives and staff in the business.

I wish Disney, Bob Iger, Rich Ross and their new teams great success for many years to come.“

Rich Ross, chairman, The Walt Disney Studios stated, “Oren’s significant contributions to The Walt Disney Studios are well-documented and countless movie-goers have been entertained by his diverse portfolio of films,” said The Walt Disney Studios Chairman, Rich Ross. “We appreciate his work and wish him all the best in his future endeavors.”

A successor will be named at an appropriate time.

Expect more fallout as the Studio shakes off the last remnants of the Cook regime and moves forward with Ross' vision. As the NY Times artile mentions; expect a shake up in the home entertainment division soon, as well. And then there are "other" evolving situations.

Developing much more than you would know...

Toon In Tonight...

Toon in tonight... errr, I mean tune in tonight to "Toon Disney" a few minutes before seven(6:56 pm exactly) to see the first of three new Pixar shorts known as "Car Toons". They're making a collection of three shorts right now, more are scheduled to debut next year as the Mouse makes sure you don't forget those characters from Radiator Springs till 2011 when "Cars 2" premieres and 2012 when "Cars Land" opens up.

So turn over and tune in tonight...

(Re)Branding...

The Mouse is rebooting/rebranding it's cable channel "Toon Disney"...

Starting in February, the channel will be known as Disney XD and try to do with boys(9-14) what the Disney Channel has done with girls(9-14).

Which is, get them to watch... so far they haven't been able to do that. The line-up will include original new shows along with established animated series as well. Time will tell if Disney can come up with something more than just a male equivalent of Hannah Montana for young boys to watch... I can't believe I just said that.

There better be a lot of explosions, car chases and general all-around action with good versus evil in these new shows is all I'm gonna say. It's not brain surgery to figure out what boys want, it may be hard to execute it, but it ain't hard to figure out...

Toon Disney Makes Monsters...

Toon Disney has picked up the CGI animated series: "Monster Buster Club" from France's Marathon production house for broadcast next season on the cable channel.


The plot of the animated series follows a group of four 10 year olds Kathy, Sam, Danny and Chris who are battling an alien invasion of their small town.



Hat Tip to AWN