Unique celebrations of two motion picture icons will be on view beginning Saturday (Nov. 17), exclusively at the Disney Animation attraction in Disney's California Adventure park at the Disneyland Resort.
The Cartoon Art Museum is proud to present The Art and Flair of Mary Blair, a retrospective exhibition of the work of famed animation designer Mary Blair (1911-1978). One of the first women to work as a concept artist for Disney, Blair was responsible for the look of some of the key Disney films of the 1940s and 1950s, including CINDERELLA and PETER PAN. Her colorful, charming geometric designs, synonymous with 1950s style, appeared in advertisements and children's books.
Playhouse Disney, the new multiplex channel from Family Channel launching November 30, 2007, today announced its programming lineup for the fall 2007 and winter 2008 seasons. The channel will offer exclusive, first-run programs from Disney together with celebrated Canadian series to create an environment of fun and learning for younger children.
The Walt Disney Co. unveiled a significant multi-year expansion plan for the Disneyland Resort in Anaheim, including an overhaul of Disney's California Adventure with major family-oriented attractions such as an entirely new CARS Land inspired by Disney/Pixar's CARS. The announcement was made by Disney President and CEO Bob Iger and Parks and Resorts Chairman Jay Rasulo at a press conference at Walt Disney Imagineering's Glendale headquarters.
The holiday tradition continues this Halloween when Tim Burton's THE NIGHTMARE BEFORE CHRISTMAS returns to theaters in Disney Digital 3-D on Oct. 19-Nov. 18, including the El Capitan Theatre in Hollywood. Industrial Light & Magic worked on the 3-D transfer in collaboration with In-Three Inc. The film will be in three times as many theaters as last year -- around 600 nationwide.
Disney-ABC International Television Latin America has inked a number of deals involving both traditional and web-based operators, reports C21 MEDIA.
Disney Channel will debut the third season of CHARLIE AND LOLA, the preschool series about a pair of supportive siblings, on Saturday, Oct. 13 (11:30 am, ET/PT) during the learning-focused Playhouse Disney programming block. The new season consists of 14 episodes in which considerate seven-year-old big brother Charlie patiently helps his feisty yet endearing four-year-old sister Lola through preschool-age challenges, such as school, coping with change, fear of thunder, first sleepovers and going to the eye doctor.
Disney Channel has begun production on a new Playhouse Disney preschool series entitled SPECIAL AGENT OSO, starring Academy Award-nominated actor Sean Astin as the voice of Oso, an endearing, bumbling teddy bear who enlists the help of viewers at home to complete his missions.
Last night, a dozen new Disney Legends were honored at the 20th annual Walt Disney Co. event at the Burbank studio, including animators Floyd Norman (SLEEPING BEAUTY, JUNGLE BOOK, TOY STORY 2, MONSTERS, INC.); Art Babbitt (The Wicked Queen in SNOW WHITE AND THE SEVEN DWARFS, Geppetto in PINOCCHIO and Dancing Mushrooms in FANTASIA), whose firing in 1941 led to the Disney animators' strike; and Dick Huemer (Baby Weems from THE RELUCTANT DRAGON, DUMBO, SALUDOS AMIGOS, MAKE MINE MUSIC, ALICE IN WONDERLAND and SILLY SYMPHONIES shorts).
Disney has struck its first ever subscription video-on-demand deal with Singapore's Singtel, reports C21 Media. Also, in a separate move, the company has signed its first Russian digital media agreement with Sistema VOD.
Canadian animation production company guru studio has appointed former Disney exec Mary Bredin as head of development and acquisitions. Bredin will be responsible for developing new properties for film, TV and the Internet, as well as managing acquisitions. Most recently, Bredin headed up the acquisitions team for Sweden's Viasat and, before that, she handled programming and acquisitions for the international Disney Channels.
In the 16-year court battle over WINNIE THE POOH royalties, Disney came out ahead again as a California appellate court upheld the dismissal of the case on grounds of misconduct, VARIETY reports. A three-judge panel ruled that L.A. Superior Court Judge Charles McCoy's 2004 decision to throw out the case was justified after the plaintiffs, the Slesinger family, altered and destroyed documents.
Corus Entertainment's 24/7 preschool channel Treehouse will no longer be the only network of its kind in Canada when Astral Media's Family Channel launches Playhouse Disney at the end of November. The channel will feature programming from Disney, together with such original Canadian content as FRANNY'S FEET, THE SECRET WORLD OF BENJAMIN BEAR and KING.
Citing problems in getting access to spectrum on the Freeview platform, Walt Disney Television is closing down entertainment channel ABC1 in the U.K. after three years on air, reports C21 MEDIA. A decision has yet to be made on whether Disney will sell the spectrum or whether it will substitute another of its channels.
There was a lovely and lively JUNGLE BOOK reunion at the El Capitan in Hollywood last night (Sept. 6), kicking off an 18-day engagement in honor of the 40th Anniversary Platinum Edition DVD coming Oct. 2 from Walt Disney Home Ent.
Imagi International Holdings Limited has announced the appointment of veteran animator and teacher Frank Gladstone to provide advanced training for Imagi's 400+ artists and animators. Gladstone will teach university-level courses, to be offered on a quarterly basis, in film history, cinematography, storytelling and visual language.
Walt Disney Co. is being sued by comedy writer Buddy Sheffield, who alleges he was never paid for coming up with the idea for the teen TV series, HANNAH MONTANA, reports VARIETY. In a suit filed in Los Angeles Superior Court on Aug. 23, 2007, Sheffield is claiming breach of contract, breach of confidence, unfair competition and unjust enrichment.
When Disney-Pixar's RATATOUILLE arrives Nov. 6 on DVD ($29.99) and Blu-ray Disc ($34.99) from Walt Disney Studios Home Ent., it will feature the all-new animated short, YOUR FRIEND THE RAT, with a new adventure starring Remy and Emile.
Other DVD bonus features include:
* Deleted Scenes - With introductions by screenwriter/director Brad Bird.
The Egyptian Theater is hosting a 7:30 pm screening of 20,000 LEAGUES UNDER THE SEA (1954, Disney, 127 min.). Director Richard Fleischer's most beloved film captures both the childlike sense of awe and the more sober nature of Jules Verne's classic novel: James Mason is the perfect Captain Nemo, an idealistic intellectual, but fanatical anti-war crusader using his futuristic submarine to sink the battleships of every nation.
Disney Press will publish a new edition of CINDERELLA featuring artwork by long-time Disney designer Mary Blair, PUBLISHER'S WEEKLY reports. The book, with new text by Cynthia Rylant and illustrations based on Blair's design work from the 1940s, is due out this month. Disney Press ordered a first print run of 50,000.
Walt Disney Studios Home Ent. (WDSHE) announced more innovations in the Blu-ray format with the studio's first ever Platinum Blu-ray release, the first BD-Live title and full motion picture-in-picture Blu-ray bonus features coming in 2008.
In this month's column, Martin "Dr. Toon" Goodman tackles two hot topics -- the Hamas-produced Mickey Mouse look-alike and the dawn of the iSeries, aka Ben 10.
Coming out of Comic-Con, Walt Disney Pictures has snatched up the film rights to Scott Christian Sava's graphic novel, PET ROBOTS. Benderspink's Chris Bender and J.C. Spink are developing the project with producers Jake Weiner and Jon Silk.
After visiting the Rooty Tooty Toy Company, four kids are followed by four military robots.
The Walt Disney Co. has acquired Club Penguin, one of the fastest-growing online virtual worlds for kids. Since its launch in October 2005, award-winning Club Penguin has grown to more than 700,000 paid subscribers, achieving this subscriber and user growth with very limited marketing efforts, relying mostly on strong product and word-of-mouth awareness among kids. The site has more than 12 million activated users, primarily in the U.S. and Canada
Russell Bekins caught up with Alexandre Petrov and talked with the filmmaker about his new film, My Love, as well as his career and his love of animation.
