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Disney Buys Lucasfilm, Now Owns Star Wars

This is probably the hugest and craziest Disney news story I’ve ever heard, and possibly ever will, I can’t think of anything bigger: this week, Walt Disney Company announced that it is buying Lucasfilm for about $4 billion dollars. That’s right: Disney will own Star Wars. The news is entirely shocking. In the past year George Lucas has announced his intention to retire from film making, or at least big-budget film making, instead focusing on smaller projects. But no one expected him to sell his company (Lucas is the sole owner), and certainly not to Disney. When one thinks about … Continue reading →

The Disney Blog Week in Review June 24 – 29

What a great week it’s been for Disney with Walt being honored as an inspiration to another generation and the launching of Disney/Pixar’s Ratatouille in theaters nationwide yesterday. So let’s do a quick run down of the articles for this week: Saturday, June 24 Disney Announces Prince Caspian Fan Art Contest and there’s a few days left until the deadline on July 6th, so if you’re an artist, digital artist or graphic artist – here’s a chance to strut your stuff for Disney. Sunday, June 25 Walt Disney World Agrees to 3-Year Contract With Union which is good news for … Continue reading →

No More Direct To Video Sequels

Is it the end of an era? It looks like it. Despite billions in revenue, Disney Toon Studios President, Sharon Morrill is stepping down this week. With Morrill stepping down, so could the time of producing direct to DVD movies that were cheaply made, yet generated large profits for Disney. John Lasseter, who stepped into the role of Chief Creative Officer for Walt Disney Animation Studios in 2006, was not a huge fan of the direct to DVD films. It seems he felt they lessened the impact of the main feature and I have to say – when you look … Continue reading →

Disney Movies on Home Release This Spring

Disney fans take note: the company has released the list of movies due out on home release this spring.  It’s a combination of films out of the vault, first time home releases, and TV on DVD.  First up, coming out last week, is “Peter Pan.”  In honor of the film’s 60th anniversary, this is Disney’s first Diamond Edition and Blu-Ray release of the classic.  Another famous Peter also hit the shelves this week: Peter Parker, in “Ultimate Spider-Man: Avenging Spider-Man.”  It’s one of the Marvel cartoons Disney’s currently producing. This week, in anticipation of its prequel’s June release, “Monster’s Inc.” … Continue reading →

Low Budget Halloween Flicks that Hit Big

I tired of reading about movies that costs hundreds of millions of dollars to make then don’t even break even at the box office. They usually feature some big name actor or actress that gets at least $15 to $20 million for the film. Yet, there are four low budget horror flicks that did the opposite. All four of the films I am going to talk about in this blog were filmed for less than a million total – $837,000 to be exact. Yet, the worldwide take has been more than $300 million combined for these films and that doesn’t … Continue reading →

Tinker Bell Has a New Voice! Again!

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I’m not sure whether to be worried or exhilarated by the thinking and rethinking that Tinker Bell the Movie has received. The project has been tooled, retooled and then retooled again. It started with the poor quality of the original animation. The project was scrapped and restarted. Then John Lasseter came aboard during the Disney Pixar merger. Lasseter is a huge fan of Tinker Bell and he ordered another overhaul of the project. Now, there’s another change. Tinker Bell Has a New Voice Brittany Murphy was originally given the part of the voice of Tinker Bell. It would have been … Continue reading →

5 Terrible Disney Movies

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I’ve talked about the great animated Disney films and the great non-animated Disney films. That list wouldn’t complete if I didn’t discuss some of the great stinkers presented by Disney over the years. While there are several out there, I’ve narrowed this list down to the 5 worst offenders. If you haven’t seen them, count yourself lucky. The Haunted Mansion The success of Pirates of the Caribbean notwithstanding, making a movie that is simply based on the premise of an attraction in the parks is not a safe bet. The movie was a success commercially, but the plot was flimsy, … Continue reading →

The Vault Opens: Mowgli Returns to DVD

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In 1894, Rudyard Kipling began publishing The Jungle Book based on his experiences in India and the tales that he heard there. The tales follow a boy named Mowgli through a lush and colorful world where animals are anthropomorphic manner to give moral lessons. The popularity of these stories have inspired many movies over the year, the most well known – of course – being the 1967 Disney animated film: the Jungle Book While many cite the liberties that Disney took with the story, the animated film does inspire others to discover the original tales by Rudyard Kipling – I … Continue reading →