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The Boys: The Sherman Brothers' Story | Walt & El Grupo | Waking Sleeping Beauty | A Christmas Carol
The Last Song | Oceans | Toy Story 3 | Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time | The Sorcerer's Apprentice
You Again | Secretariat | Tangled | Tron Legacy | Mars Needs Moms! | Prom | Untitled Winnie the Pooh Film | Cars 2 | More...
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Out of Theaters, But Not Yet on DVD
Disney doubtlessly had high hopes for this film. They'd have to look long and hard for a person not at all affected by Dickens' book. Modern audiences might be plenty familiar with the tale, but there hasn't been a major feature film doing a straight adaptation since the 1970 musical starring Albert Finney and Alec Guinness. A quick look at the performances of the director and star's works this decade promised high attendance; though it started sluggish, Polar Express went onto become one of 2004's highest-grossers (and remains the benchmark for pre-Avatar motion capture), while the live-action Grinch easily ranks as the biggest earner in Carrey's robust career. The two films maintain the highest grosses among Christmas-themed movies, a class that rarely fails to turn a profit. Add to this Disney's long string of success with heavily-promoted November openings, and it seemed a colossal worldwide blockbuster was inevitable. And yet, while no slouch, A Christmas Carol ended up with $325 million in worldwide earnings, needing solid foreign returns to clear the film's staggering reported $200 M budget. And those numbers included the premium prices of Disney Digital 3-D and IMAX engagements. Shortly after the results were in, Disney announced they were closing down Zemeckis' ImageMovers Digital company after work was wrapped on Mom Needs Mars.
A Christmas Carol will come to DVD ($29.99 SRP) and Blu-ray ($39.99 SRP) in single-disc releases on November 16th alongside a 4-disc combo pack ($49.99 SRP) supplying a 3-D Blu-ray with the exclusive 3-D short "Mr. Scrooge's Wild Ride", a 2-D Blu-ray, the DVD, and a digital copy disc.
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If it remains true to the video game, Sands of Time follows Persian Prince Dastan (Jake Gyllenhaal, Zodiac), his father King Sharaman, and the Maharajah's daughter Princess Originally pegged for a late 2008 release and then briefly summer 2009, this film -- directed by Mike Newell (Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire) -- opened on May 28, 2010, supplanting the Disney-departed third Narnia film and narrowly preceding the colossally-expected Toy Story 3. Prince of Persia was slapped with a PG-13 rating, something only the three Pirates films have previously received while remaining under the Disney banner. One of the year's biggest flops, Sands of Time still hasn't crossed the $90 million mark domestically, even with Disney doing some overt number-fudging, counting some of Toy Story 3's behemoth earnings towards it. That means the film earned less than half of its production budget stateside, making it one of the summer's biggest duds and ensuring there will be no sequel. Intending to get better mileage out of the failed theatrical campaign, Disney has scheduled a faster than usual home video debut for September 14th. Read the press release. Preorder from Amazon.com: DVD, Blu-ray, Blu-ray + DVD + Digital Copy Combo.
The film's teaser trailer, featuring two attempts to create a title logo, appeared before 3-D screenings of Up. In anticipation of TS3, Toy Story and Toy Story 2 were released as a 3-D double feature theatrical engagement in October of 2009, preceded by TS3's first full trailer. Toy Story and Toy Story 2 came to Blu-ray on March 23rd, with new 1-disc DVDs following eight weeks later.
Early synopses centered on a frustrated witch who brought two romantically-challenged teenagers from the real world into that of the story, casting them as Rapunzel and her prince. Updated ones claim this will lose that angle and remain truer to the original fairy tale. Now comes this sequel, which takes place in the present day. The original film's programmer protagonist Kevin Flynn (Jeff Bridges) now has a 27-year-old son named Sam (Garrett Hedlund). While investigating his father's disappearance, Sam gets pulled into the same world of program combat and challenges. There, father, son, and son's love interest (Olivia Wilde, "House") unite and together journey across the trying cyber universe.
A source of rumors since the original's fancy 20th Anniversary Edition DVD gave way to 2003's Tron 2.0, a first person shooter computer game, this sequel is finally becoming a reality, having started shooting in Vancouver in April 2009. Hoping for holiday business, Disney has scheduled the release for December 17, 2010, with many engagements to be in Disney Digital 3-D.
Tron 2.0 failed to meet sales expectations and it's no great leap to suspect this movie (whose working titles include TR2N) will too, especially positioned to do big Avatar-like holiday season business, despite
some clever viral marketing and the affection for the source that the early '80s children making this hold. Bruce Boxleitner returns from the original film and his new co-stars will include Beau Garrett (Fantastic Four: Rise of the Silver Surfer). The screenplay is currently attributed to "Lost" writers/producers Adam Horowitz and Edward Kitsis, horror scribe Richard Jefferies (Cold Creek Manor, Disney's Man of the House), and Tron director Steven Lisberger. Lisberger, who will also produce, is working on film for the first time since 1989. Commercial director Joseph Kosinski makes his feature debut. Electronic music duo Daft Punk has composed 24 tracks for the film's score.
Adapted from Bloom County cartoonist Berkeley Breathed's 2007 picture book, Mars Needs Moms! tells the story of aliens who invade Earth in search of mothers, to a protagonist boy's confusion. Zemeckis is only producing this film; Balto's Simon Wells, who adapted the story with his wife Wendy, will direct. Seth Green will voice the boy, Milo, while Joan Cusack lends her vocals to Milo's Mom. Other cast actors include "Adventures in Wonderland" star Elisabeth Harnois as Ki, Dan Fogler as Gribble, and Mindy Sterling as "The Supervisor." Just days before the IMD closure was announced, Disney scheduled a March 11, 2011 theatrical release for this motion-capture animated film, with most exhibitions to be in (yawn) 3D.
The ostensible leads of the trilogy, Orlando Bloom and Keira Knightley have both moved on, meaning we won't see any more of Will Turner and Elizabeth Swann. Add director Gore Verbinski to the "that ship has sailed" category; he is directing Depp in the animated Nickelodeon film Rango but isn't returning for this fourth Pirates movie. Musical guy Rob Marshall (Nine, Chicago) has filled the vacancy. Joining Depp and Rush in the cast are Penélope Cruz as Angelica and Ian McShane as the famed pirate Blackbeard. After some jockeying for position with Bruckheimer and Depp's Lone Ranger, the film was announced for a May 20, 2011 debut. Shooting began June 2010 in 3D, of course.
War Horse will be the second DreamWorks-produced film that Disney will release to theaters when it opens on August 10, 2011. This drama is adapted from the children's novel of the same name by British author Michael Morpurgo. It was published in 1982 (the same year that Spielberg's E.T. was released to unprecedented popularity). In 2007, the book was adapted into a play on London's South Bank and eventually coming to the city's famed West End, where it continues to run while plans formulate for a Broadway run. DreamWorks purchased the film rights in 2009, before partnering up with Disney. Late last year, Spielberg wrapped shooting on his 3D motion capture Paramount/Sony film The Adventures of Tintin: Secret of the Unicorn, his first movie since 2008's Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull. It is presently in post-production and isn't scheduled to open in theaters until two days before Christmas 2011. That means this smaller Disney release will open first.
War Horse tells the story of an English boy named Albert who is separated from his horse near the beginning of World War I. The horse, named Joey, is sold to the cavalry and shipped to France. In response, a determined Albert embarks on a mission to find his foal friend and bring him home. The first World War has not been a popular subject or period for Hollywood filmmakers, who have chosen far more often to revisit World War II. Spielberg himself has dealt with WWII on two HBO miniseries and films including Saving Private Ryan, Schindler's List, and 1941. The mid-August release date doesn't smack of confidence; nearly every one of Spielberg's previous directorial efforts has opened either right before Christmas or at the May-June height of the summer season. In recent years, Disney has steered clear of the month altogether, save for the reduced runs of Valiant and Ponyo. Disney has planned to release DreamWorks' films under the Touchstone Pictures banner; it is unknown if the studio could or even would give this Disney branding should it meet one's expectations for PG-rated family entertainment. The film is being written by Love Actually's Richard Curtis and Billy Elliott's Lee Hall.
Attempted adaptation of the series dates back to Burroughs' lifetime, when in the 1930s Looney Tunes director Bob Clampett experimented with rotoscope on what would have become America's first animated feature film. It never came to be, nor did other planned productions with John McTieran and Tom Cruise in the 1980s, and Robert Rodriguez and Jon Favreau in the 2000s.
Stanton's script, which he penned with Pixar story man Mark Andrews, aims for a PG-13 rating. Walt Disney Pictures will distribute, with Pixar not handling the special effects. Stanton has said he is opting for a straight, realistic rendering of the story. Despite him professing no desire to shoot in 3-D, he rightfully suspected that the studio would push him to reconsider. Filming ran from January to July 2010 and theatrical release has been set for June 8, 2012 with expectations of a summer blockbuster.
The Boys: The Sherman Brothers' Story - Ever since Disney got serious about DVD, the Sherman Brothers have featured prominently in the bonus material of many a beloved animated classic. As they should, for Richard and Robert Sherman are behind the music of such films as Mary Poppins, The Jungle Book, The Aristocats, Bedknobs and Broomsticks, and The Many Adventures of Winnie the Pooh, among many others. Now the songwriting siblings have gotten the feature documentary treatment in this 100-minute film co-directed by their sons Jeffrey and Gregory. More than a celebration of their fathers' talents, the film looks at the discord that kept their families apart. Among the interview subjects are famous fans Julie Andrews, John Lasseter, Angela Lansbury, Hayley Mills, Kenny Loggins, Dick Van Dyke, Debbie Reynolds, John Williams, Lesley Ann Warren, and Ben Stiller (who executive-produced this film). This documentary opened May 22, 2009 in New York, Los Angeles, and San Francisco. The Boys is one of three Disney documentaries now slated to come to DVD on November 30, 2010. It will include a Sherman Brothers jukebox, Hollywood testimonials, and featurettes on the artwork of Robert Sherman and Mouseketeer Roy Williams, the casting of Mary Poppins, 1960s Disney, and the Shermans' theme parks creations. Preorder from Amazon.com.
Walt & El Grupo - Ted Thomas, son of legendary Disney animator Frank Thomas, and wife Kuniko Okubo directed this 2007 documentary about Walt and his animators' 1941 research/goodwill trip to South America. Unearthed 16mm color footage of the ten-week tour, which gave birth to the features Saludos Amigos & The Three Caballeros, is supplemented by eyewitness recollections, readings of "El Grupo" (The Group) journals, and visits to the region today. Having been shown at film festivals in Palm Springs and San Francisco, the film received limited theatrical release on September 9, 2009. In one of the funniest MPAA ratings decisions to date, the film has been branded "PG for historical smoking." Walt & El Grupo is one of three Disney documentaries expected on DVD November 30, 2010. It will be joined by the full 42-minute Saludos, trailers for it and Three Caballeros, an audio commentary, three cut sequences, and the featurette "Photos in Motion." Preorder from Amazon.com.
Waking Sleeping Beauty - Directed by legendary producer Don Hahn (Beauty and the Beast), this documentary looks at an era of Disney animation celebrated by fans but not yet immortalized by historians. The film covers the talent behind the movies of the 1980s and '90s, charting the success of such filmmakers as John Lasseter, Brad Bird, John Musker, Ron Clements, Glen Keane, Henry Selick, Tim Burton, and Don Bluth from their time at CalArts in the '70s through the early '90s boom that culminated with Hahn's record-setting hit, The Lion King. To tell this story, Hahn and co-producer (former Disney chairman) Peter Schneider got Disney's bigwigs during the period -- Michael Eisner, Jeffrey Katzenberg, and the late Roy E. Disney -- to go on record. They are just three of more than 100 subjects interviewed by veteran journalist Patrick Pacheco. Instead of putting talking heads on screen, though, the sound bites are laid over behind-the-scenes footage shot from 1984 to 1994. Originally pegged for a September 2009 theatrical release, Waking Sleeping Beauty received limited release on March 26, 2010. It runs 86 minutes and is rated PG. A DVD-only release has been scheduled for November 30, 2010. Its bonus features will include deleted scenes, four studio tours, 3 webisodes, a photo and art gallery, a tribute to the period's deceased key players (Roy E. Disney, Howard Ashman, Joe Ranft, and Frank Wells), a reunion of directors Rob Minkoff and Kirk Wise, and a piece comparing the '80s/'90s Disney to the Disney of Walt's time. Preorder from Amazon.com.
A Christmas Carol - From musicals and Mr. Magoo to Mickey Mouse and the Muppets, it seems like Charles Dickens' immortal 1843 novella has been adapted ad nauseam. But many of the film versions of A Christmas Carol have either been made for television (like the Patrick Stewart-headlined 1999 TNT production) or offered a twist on the subject (like the brilliant Scrooged's translocation to a contemporary New York TV network). Walt Disney Pictures' newest version, released on November 6, 2009, doesn't do either of those things. It is a straight, surprisingly faithful retelling of the ghostly holiday tale, done by director Robert Zemeckis (Back to the Future, Forrest Gump) and the motion capture technique he used on The Polar Express and Beowulf that converts and elaborates on live-action performances with three-dimensional computer animation.
Comedian Jim Carrey plays seven roles, simultaneously calling to mind his over-the-top work in Ron Howard's sour 2000 How the Grinch Stole Christmas, his assorted disguises in Lemony Snicket's A Series of Unfortunate Events, and Tom Hanks' various personas in Polar Express. Joining him in the voice/motion capture cast are Bob Hoskins (star of Zemeckis' first mixed-medium blockbuster Who Framed Roger Rabbit) as party-throwing boss Mr. Fezziwig, Colin Firth (Bridget Jones' Diary) as Scrooge's nephew Fred, and British chameleon Gary Oldman as Bob Crachit, Marley, and Tiny Tim. The Princess Bride's Cary Elwes and Robin Wright Penn also hold supporting roles.
January 8 April 2 March 31, 2010. Despite ice cold reviews, the film has grossed over $60 million in North America, more than three times the meager budget and not far from the earnings of Cyrus' two theatrical Hannah Montana releases. The film will be released to DVD and Blu-ray + DVD on August 17th.
Oceans - Disney proclaimed a return to its True-Life Adventure roots with the launch of the Disneynature banner. Although such fare has long maintained a niche market outside of IMAX theaters, the studio gave 2009's Earth a heavy promotional push. Earning $31 M domestically, the reworking of a BBC television series handily became the third highest-grossing documentary of all-time, behind bona fide phenomenons Fahrenheit 9/11 and March of the Penguins. Unwilling to tinker with that kind of success, the branch's second American release, Oceans, bowed on Earth Day 2010 (April 22). This one turns our attention to aquatic creatures, care of Winged Migration directors Jacques Perrin and Jacques Cluzaud. Given less promotion and more narrow release, Oceans has performed modestly in North America, quickly becoming the third highest-grossing nature documentary of standard theaters but on pace to make about half of what Earth did. Oceans performed much better in France and Japan, where it opened in January 2010. Oceans will come to DVD and Blu-ray + DVD combo on October 19th, alongside Disneynature's The Crimson Wing: Mystery of the Flamingos
Farah Tamina (Gemma Arterton) in a trek across India to Azad. Along their way, their potent, newly-acquired possesions (a giant hourglass full of sand and a mysterious dagger) make them the targets of a dying Vizier (Oscar-winning Gandhi portrayer Ben Kingsley) and his staff. Romantic relationships, time warps, and twisted allegiances all figure into what unravels and most of that is sure to translate to the type of sweeping, spectacle cinema that Bruckheimer has repeatedly relied on with success.
an achievement only Beauty and the Beast previously earned among animated fare.
When the Walt Disney Company purchased Pixar in 2006, they put this project back in the hands of the people who created the 1995 masterpiece and its blockbuster 1999 sequel. Disney had earlier announced plans (i.e., threatened) to move forth with a Toy Story 3 using its newly-formed Circle 7 Animation division, a script by Meet the Fockers writer James Herzfeld, and director Darrell Rooney (who helmed Lady and the Tramp, The Lion King, and Mulan...sequels). After the acquisition, Pixar executive John Lasseter, given new power at Disney Feature Animation, saw to it that Circle 7 was closed and the ball was back in the creators' court. Though many assumed the busy Lasseter would step back into the director's chair he claimed on the first two Toy Story films, in February 2007, it was announced that longtime Pixar editor and Toy Story 2 co-director Lee Unkrich would single-handedly be helming the film, from a script by Michael Arndt (Little Miss Sunshine).
The film is set in the summer that for the toys' owner Andy (voiced again by John Morris) represents the transition from senior year of high school to college freshman. The toys fear they're being outgrown. Those fears seem warranted when they wind up at Sunnyside, a day care center full of rowdy tots.
Longtime Disney regular Tim Allen reprises his role of once-deluded space ranger action figure Buzz Lightyear alongside Oscar winner Tom Hanks as pullstring cowboy Woody. Other returning cast members include Joan Cusack as the energetic cowgirl Jessie, John Ratzenberger as know-it-all piggy bank Hamm, Wallace Shawn as nervous dinosaur Rex, Don Rickles and Estelle Harris as Mr. and Mrs. Potato Head, R. Lee Ermey as the authoritative Sarge, and Laurie Metcalfe as Andy's Mom.
A number of new cast members are entering the fray (several of them voicers of past Pixar characters). Cars' antagonist Michael Keaton is voicing the ascot-wearing Ken to Jodi (The Little Mermaid) Benson's Barbie, returning from Toy Story 2. Ned Beatty voices Lots-o'-Huggin' Bear, a pink strawberry-scented teddy bear from the 1980s who has been the subject of some of the most shockingly convincing viral video YouTube has ever seen (see below). Other newcomers include Whoopi Goldberg as purple wall-sticking octopus Stretch, Kristen Schaal ("Flight of the Conchords") as teal triceratops Trixie (seemingly cut from the same cloth as Rex), WALL-E captain Jeff Garlin as cuddly unicorn Buttercup, funnyman Richard Kind as bespectacled flashlight-wielding Bookworm, Bonnie Hunt as rag doll Dolly, and Timothy Dalton as German plush hedgehog Mr. Pricklepants.
Oddly, Annie Potts will not be back as porcelain lamp figurine Bo Peep, who was added to old home movie scenes but will not be heard from or seen in the film's present-day. The same is true of Wheezy, the squeaky penguin formerly voiced by late story man Joe Ranft and Robert Goulet. Meanwhile, Slinky Dog, formerly voiced by the late Jim Varney, has been recast with Blake Clark, a friend of Varney's known for stints on '90s ABC sitcoms ("Boy Meets World", "Home Improvement") and more recent appearances in Adam Sandler movies.
While Pixar's usual four-year-production period could have been shortened due with all existing characters already modeled and in the computers, the studio found ways to add detail to their creations utilizing technological advances without betraying the universe. The movie opened on June 18, 2010, less than a month after DreamWorks' sequel Shrek Forever After, which turned out to be less potent a box office presence than anticipated.
With a domestic gross of $400 million guaranteed and a $1 billion worldwide highly likely, Toy Story 3 will come to DVD and Blu-ray on November 2nd. Preorder from Amazon.com: single-disc DVD ($29.99 SRP), a 2-disc Blu-ray ($39.99 SRP), and a 4-disc Blu-ray + DVD + Digital Copy combo ($45.99 SRP).
Related Reviews: Toy Story: Special Edition Blu-ray + DVD • Toy Story 2: Special Edition Blu-ray + DVD
The Sorcerer's Apprentice - Originally the producer who gave Touchstone and Hollywood Pictures high-voltage guy-oriented action flicks, Jerry Bruckheimer has come to be a major player in Disney-branded family films without really changing the way he operates. On the heels of the lucrative Pirates of the Caribbean and National Treasure franchises (a class that the video game-spawned Prince of Persia is expected to join), Bruckheimer and Disney are also moving forward with another edgy family adventure, this one with less sequel potential. A live-action feature filming adapted from Mickey Mouse's memorable Fantasia segment (in turn inspired by Goethe's 1797 poem and Paul Dukas' 1897 musical composition), The Sorcerer's Apprentice reteams Treasure director Jon Turteltaub and star Nicolas Cage before they film that series' third installment. Jay Baruchel (the lead of Judd Apatow's short-lived sitcom "Undeclared" and a supporting player in films like Tropic Thunder and Knocked Up) holds the title role, playing Dave, a college student in contemporary New York who is recruited by magician Balthazar Blake (Cage). The cast also includes Bedtime Stories' Teresa Palmer as a love interest, Spider-Man 2 baddie Alfred Molina as evil sorcerer Horvath, and The Passion of The Christ's Monica Bellucci as sorceress Veronica (Cage's long-lost love). Bedtime's Matt Lopez rewrote the script, originally credited to Mighty Joe Young team Lawrence Konner and Mark Rosenthal. Cameras began rolling in the spring of 2009. The film opened on July 16, 2010, making Sorcerer the summer's third hopeful tentpole for Disney, following Persia and Toy Story 3. It performed a lot closer to Bruckheimer kin Persia than to Pixar's blockbuster, grossing a disastrous $60 million domestically and also abroad on a colossal $150 million budget. That underperformance could push up the movie's anticipated December DVD and Blu-ray debut.
Tales from Earthsea - This animated film comes from Japan and a director named Miyazaki, but that's Gor? Miyazaki, the son of the legendary Hayao Miyazaki. Taking this Studio Ghibli project with no previous experience created a rift between Goro and Hayao. Although their estrangement was evidently patched up at the film's first completed screening, the movie did not live up to Ghibli's high reputation when released in 2006. Earthsea ended the year as Japan's fourth highest-grossing movie, but won "Worst Movie" and "Worst Director" honors at Japan's Raspberry Awards. Delayed by an issue with SyFy Channel's adaptation of the same Ursula Kroeber Le Guin books, PG-13-rated Tales from Earthsea finally opened in just five American theaters on August 13, 2010, with Disney heavily scaling back distribution from Ponyo's $15 million-grossing, 927-theater run a year earlier. A late 2010 or early 2011 video debut is expected.
You Again - Does Andy Fickman hold some incriminating photographs of Disney's top executives? That would certainly explain why the director is getting another job at the studio after directing the atrocious Game Plan and the disappointing Race to Witch Mountain. This one, which began shooting August 2009, centers on Marni (Kristen Bell), a young woman who hopes to expose the true colors of her brother's fiancée (Cloverfield's Odette Yustman), her old high school tormenter. A host of famous names hold supporting roles here, including Sigourney Weaver, Jamie Lee Curtis, Victor Garber, Kristin Chenoweth, Betty White, and Patrick Duffy. As something of a "Step by Step" reunion, Duffy's television daughter Christine Lakin (the director's girlfriend) also holds a role. Fickman's Disney-based Oops Doughnuts company is producing the comedy, which marks the feature writing debut of former production assistant Moe Jelline. Though the Disney name was reportedly attached and a PG rating earned, this will now carry the seemingly more apt Touchstone Pictures banner (like Bell's first and previous star vehicle, When in Rome) when it's released to theaters September 24, 2010.
Secretariat - Oscar-nominated for Braveheart and Razzie-nominated for Pearl Harbor, screenwriter Randall Wallace directs this historical drama about Secretariat, the racehorse that famously won the Triple Crown in 1973. Mike Rich (Finding Forrester, The Rookie, Radio, The Navity Story) wrote the screenplay that focuses on the life of the thoroughbred; its owner, "first lady of racing" Penny Tweedy Chenery (played by Diane Lane), and its eccentric trainer Lucien Laurin (John Malkovich). Housewife/mother Chenery inherited her ailing father's Virginia farm knowing little and facing significant inheritance taxes. The film is produced by Mark Ciardi and Gordon Gray, veterans of the inspirational underdog sports drama who have previously produced Miracle, Invincible, and The Rookie for Disney. Shooting began September 2009 with October 8, 2010 set as the goal release date. The film has been rated PG for "brief mild language."
Tangled (formerly Rapunzel) - Certain films attract buzz from an early stage. Often these projects hold a best-selling book as a source or carry a world famous superhero in the title. This computer-animated project doesn't quite fit either of those requirements, but Disney fans have been excited by it for years, while it has been repeatedly bumped and always off in the distance. Longtime A-list Disney animator Glen Keane (supervising animator of such protagonists as Ariel, Beast, Aladdin, Pocahontas, and Tarzan) was to simulatenously make his directorial and CGI debuts in this new take on the classic fairy tale of a long-haired princess and her valiant prince. Instead, in 2008, Keane and his assigned co-director stepped down, turning the reins over to Bolt co-director Byron Howard and writer/story artist Nathan Greno.
Rapunzel and her prince were to be voiced by Broadway veterans Kristin Chenoweth and Dan Fogler, but the parts have since been recast. Singer/actress Mandy Moore will now play Rapunzel, while Zachary Levi (star of NBC's "Chuck") will play her love interest. Although estimated releases have changed with the years, the film has now been firmly pegged to open on 2010's long, lucrative Thanksgiving weekend (November 24). Like Princess and the Frog, the nationwide debut will be preceded by two weeks of premium exhibitions in New York and Los Angeles. After The Princess and the Frog failed to meet the studio's high expectations, it was announced that Rapunzel would be called Tangled instead.
The Chronicles of Narnia: The Voyage of the Dawn Treader - After the second Narnia film, Prince Caspian, fell way short of financial expectations in 2008, Disney jumped ship on C.S. Lewis's beloved series of best-selling fantasy novels. Walden Media intends to move forward, following the published order with new partner 20th Century Fox. This third book, first printed in 1952, comes fifth chronologically and sees the two youngest Pevensie children, Lucy (Georgie Henley) and Edmund (Skandar Keynes) joining nerdy cousin Eustace Scrubb (Will Poulter, Son of Rambow) for a holiday. The three of them are pulled into Narnia through a painting, ending up on the ship Dawn Treader with Lucy and Edmund's royal pal Caspian (Ben Barnes). The four of them embark on a series of adventures in travelling to a number of Narnian islands. Michael Apted (Gorillas in the Mist, The World is Not Enough, and television's renowned "Up" documentaries) will direct, taking over from Andrew Adamson, who will stay on as a producer. William Moseley and Anna Popplewell won't return as the two elder Pevensie children, who do not appear in the Voyage book. Shooting is scheduled to begin in Australia July 2009. At Disney, the film was scheduled to open in May of 2010, but Prince Caspian's underperformance has wisely prompted Fox to reconsider. They now intend to bow this on December 10, 2010, five years after The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe's potent opening.
Tron: Legacy - Amidst the experimental, often edgy, and usually quite good live-action fare Disney produced in the years leading up to the creation of Touchstone Pictures, one movie has stood out as more than a little-known gem. Saturn Award winner and two-time Oscar nominee, 1982's Tron boasted computer animation and themes that were ahead of its time. While the passing of years have rendered the sci-fi flick a bit dull and less than stunning visually, Disney and fans have decided it's worth celebrating. And really, it wouldn't be right to overlook the movie that inspired John Lasseter to pursue CGI.
I Am Number Four - Disney's distribution deal with DreamWorks begins with this teen-friendly alien film, produced by Michael Bay and Steven Spielberg. Based on an unpublished young adult sci-fi novel by James Frey (yes, the same James Frey whose A Million Little Pieces embellishments raised the wrath of Oprah Winfrey in 2006) and Jobie Hughes, I Am Number Four is brought to the screen by veteran writing team of Alfred Gough and Miles Millar (whose past collaborations include Shanghai Noon, "Smallville", and Herbie Fully Loaded). D.J. Caruso (Disturbia, Eagle Eye) will direct the film, which centers on one of nine aliens hiding out as high school students. A rival species, the one that annihilated the aliens' home planet, comes to Earth looking for him. Alex Pettyfer, Vanessa Hudgens' co-star in Beastly, the upcoming teen-oriented modern "Beauty and the Beast" retelling, will star as the titular alien. Joining him in the cast are "Glee" actress Dianna Agron as Four's human confidant and love interest, The Sorcerer's Apprentice's Teresa Palmer as Number Six, and District 9's Sharlto Copley as Number Four's mentor fellow alien. Expect a PG-13 rating on this film, which was filmed May through August 2010, and is being fast-tracked for release on February 18, 2011.
Mars Need Moms! - In February 2007, having recently acquired Pixar Animation Studios (and only having Chicken Little to represent the studio's own feature CGI animation), Disney formed ImageMovers Digital with Robert Zemeckis and his ImageMovers partners/producers Jack Rapke and Steve Starkey. Disney described the company as "a new state of the art studio devoted exclusively to the production of performance capture projects." That field has become a passion for Zemeckis, once an Oscar-winning director of live-action films like Forrest Gump, Cast Away, and the Back to the Future trilogy. The first Disney-IMD collaboration, A Christmas Carol, was designed to do even bigger business than Zemeckis' previous 3-D holiday mo-cap fantasy, The Polar Express did. Starring Jim Carrey in four leading roles, Carol did decent business by most standards, earning $137 million domestically (about $25 M less than Polar's initial run) and $323 M worldwide (about $40 M more than Polar's first run). But the numbers weren't all that impressive after the film's $200 M budget and heavy promotional campaign (including a nationwide train tour) were considered. On March 12, 2010, Disney announced that while they hoped to continue to work with Zemeckis on future projects (including the Yellow Submarine remake he's now developing), ImageMovers Digital would be closed and its staff of 450 employees out of work. The official studio comment "IMD no longer fits into our business model" seems to refer to Disney's new franchise-driven filmmaking philosophies. The closing won't officially happen until January 2011, at which point work will be complete on this final IMD-branded picture.
Untitled Winnie the Pooh Film - After a couple of years of computer animation edutainment in the vein of "Mickey Mouse Clubhouse", Disney returns Winnie the Pooh and his neighbors in the Hundred Acre Wood to their best-known medium: 2-D animation. The profitably-merchandised franchise has enjoyed three big screen outings starting with 2000's The Tigger Movie. No news regarding a title or plot has been released, but a July 15, 2011 opening has been scheduled, pitting Pooh and friends against the Hogwarts gang as counter-programming to series-closer Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part II.
Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides - Like nearly every set of major motion pictures shot back-to-back, third Pirates installment At World's End left a sour taste in the mouths of many excited fans. But that 2007 film still grossed almost $1 billion worldwide, which is more than all but just five films (including 2006's better-attended Dead Man's Chest). Although the third movie carried an air of finality (even reflected in its title), the saga continues. The storyline being bandied around involves Johnny Depp's offbeat Captain Jack Sparrow meeting up with once-nemesis Captain Barbossa (Geoffrey Rush) in newly-founded New Orleans to plan and execute a journey to the Fountain of Youth.
This is scheduled to reach theaters on June 24, 2011. Leading up to then, Pixar has been producing a series of animated shorts starring Mater and friends, for Disney Channel airings and pre-feature theatrical screenings. Upon the passing of Paul Newman, it was revealed that the screen legend hadn't recorded dialogue for this sequel, leaving the presence of Doc Hudson in question. Domain names registered in the summer of 2009 seemed to confirm the subtitle World Grand Prix corresponding to the vague synopses we've thus far gotten. Though the original Cars got comparably lukewarm reviews and became only the second eligible Pixar film to lose the Best Animated Feature Oscar, the $244 million-grossing film has yielded tie-in merchandise sales of over $5 billion, a Pixar record that has kept the universe a retail fixture in the years since.
War Horse - You can't really find a current film director more famous than Steven Spielberg. In the nearly forty years that he has been directing films, Spielberg has seemingly done it all: Oscar-winning epic dramas, widely embraced blockbusters, exciting adventures set in the past, present, and future. One thing the filmmaker has never done before is direct a Disney film; the closest he's come is producing Who Framed Roger Rabbit and spin-off shorts. But that is about to change now that DreamWorks Pictures, which Spielberg founded in the 1990s with David Geffen and former Disney chairman Jeffrey Katzenberg, has agreed to let the Walt Disney Company distribute its upcoming films.
John Carter of Mars - Andrew Stanton, the writer and director of Pixar's Finding Nemo and WALL•E journeys to a new world -- live-action -- for this feature film adapted from the novelized Barsoom serials written from 1912 to 1943 by Tarzan creator Edgar Rice Burroughs. Based on Burroughs' first work in the series, 1912's A Princess of Mars, the film will center on John Carter, an American Civil War veteran who has moved to Barsoom (Mars), where oceans are evaporating and the inhabitants are growing more barbaric. After rescuing humanoid Martian princess Dejah Thoris, Carter enlists her impressed captors (four-armed green Martians) to win a civil war and save the dying planet. Already cast in this long haul production are Taylor Kitsch (TV's "Friday Night Lights", Gambit in X-Men Origins: Wolverine) in the title role, Lynn Collins (Kayla Silverfox in Wolverine) as the princess, Willem Dafoe as fierce green Martian warrior and ally Tars Tarkas, Samantha Morton as his daughter Sola, Oscar-nominated actor Thomas Haden Church as Thark warrior Hajus, Mark Strong as Thern ruler Matai Shang, Bryan Cranston as a Civil War colonel, Ciarán Hinds as someone called Tardos Mors, and Daryl Sabara as the author, Edgar Rice Burroughs.
Monsters, Inc. 2 - Has Pixar, Hollywood's longtime leader in originality and innovation, gone sequel-crazy? The question arises as this long-rumored project was recently confirmed to become the studio's third sequel in a stretch of just two years. Although outgrossed by Shrek, which also took the first Best Animated Feature Oscar from it, Monsters, Inc. was a blockbuster by any standard. And its popularity has clearly endured, as evidenced by the Disney park attractions that cropped up years after its release. Between the film's extremely satisfying ending and the fact its story felt like a once-in-a-lifetime occurrence in its industrial world, a creative, fulfilling sequel seems like a bit of a stretch. Along with the official confirmation in spring 2010 came a release date: November 16, 2012. It has since changed to November 2, 2012 to avoid a Twilight movie, putting this exactly eleven years to the day after the original's debut. Pete Docter, who made his feature directing debut on the original 2001 film, has stated he won't be directing this follow-up, but Disney and Pixar haven't yet announced who will be. They have declared 3D showings will be offered (assuming audiences haven't completely tired with the pricey gimmick by then). It seemed a given, but both John Goodman and Billy Crystal have been confirmed to reprise the roles as best buds James P. "Sulley" Sullivan and Mike Wazowski.
The Lone Ranger - There is no end in sight for Disney's long, fruitful partnership with Jerry Bruckheimer Films. Besides extending established franchises and inventing potential new ones, the two companies are also tapping this long-respected universe familiar from radio, film serials, and most of all, TV. Pirates of the Caribbean scribes Ted Elliott and Terry Rossio are working on a script fitting the Silver-riding masked Old West lawman. Johnny Depp has already signed on to play Native American sidekick Tonto. On his way to becoming another fixture in the Disney/Bruckheimer universe, Prince of Persia: Sands of Time director Mike Newell is reportedly in negotiations to helm this as well. Expected to reach theaters in 2012, this movie should help guarantee Disney one Johnny Depp film per year until 2013 at the earliest.
Disney Films in Apparent Limbo
newt - Pixar's fourteenth feature film was to have centered on pampered Newt and streetwise Brooke, the last two blue-footed newts on Earth. They're supposed to save the species for science, but they can't stand each other. The romantic comedy's premise does sound one-note, which was true but forgivable of writer-director Gary Rydstrom's debut, the 2006 short Lifted. Voice actors weren't ever announced for the pampered Newt and streetwise Brooke, but the film was to in the summer of 2012, having swapped years with Cars 2. Reports arose in 2010 declaring this film dead and it disappeared from Disney's schedule soon after.
King of the Elves - Based on a fantastical short story by late sci-fi icon Phillip K. Dick, this CG Disney Feature Animation film was to center on an average man in the Mississippi Delta whose reluctant help leads a desperate band of elves to name him king. The man and his elf compadres attempt to elude an evil, menacing troll. Aaron Blaise and Robert Walker, the co-directors of Brother Bear, were in the helm for this movie, which was scheduled for a holiday 2012 release. Shortly before Christmas 2009, news broke that this production was halted. Perhaps having another African American protagonist and southern US setting made this too close, too soon to the modestly-performing Princess and the Frog?
Swiss Family Robinson (remake) - Mandeville Films had hoped to start shooting this new adaptation of Johann Wyss's classic book early in 2006 after wrapping production on The Shaggy Dog remake. Then, hired director Jonathan Mostow (Terminator 3, U-571) pushed things back for Hancock, a superhero mid-life crisis movie starring Will Smith. Mostow has since left that Sony project, giving Swiss the go-ahead to proceed. While attempts were made to modernize the story (perhaps like the Wonderful World of Disney's 1998 telemovie Beverly Hills Family Robinson?), the script by Greg Poirier ultimately kept the 19th century period setting as it was employed for Disney's popular 1960 filming of the same text. Mostow is also to rework Poirier's script with writing partner Sam Montgomery. No casting has been announced, but news in July 2005 stated that Lindsay Lohan was reportedly in talks to unite with Disney for a sixth time presumably to play "Bertie", the cute castaway who catches the eyes of two Robinson brothers. That seems pretty certain not to happen at the present. A release date has yet to be set and filming schedules have been repeatedly pushed back, leaving this in production limbo.
Jungle Cruise - On the heels of big screen adventures Pirates of the Caribbean and The Haunted Mansion comes this latest film inspired by a Disneyland attraction. Described as a family version of Joseph Conrad's Heart of Darkness, this comedy/adventure will follow a group which travels upriver to find a cure. Originally said to have a screenplay written by Josh Goldstein and John Norville (Tin Cup), this Disney/Mandeville production is now reportedly going forth with a script commissioned of Al Gough and Miles Millar, the executive producers of TV's "Smallville". The only plot specific released is that the film will be set sometime in the 20th century. Originally slated to start shooting early in 2006, this has since been delayed again and again.
Kiki's Delivery Service - A live action English language adaptation of Eiko Kadani's book series, which was previously brought to the screen in Hayao Miyazaki's popular late-'80s anime film of the same name. Jeff Stockwell (Bridge to Terabithia, The Dangerous Lives of Altar Boys) is said to be developing a screenplay, but news has been sparse.
The Banshee and Fin Magee (Originally titled The Banshee) - Dean DeBlois, co-writer and co-director of Lilo & Stitch, tries his hand at live action with this period ghost story set in Ireland. In writer-director-producer DeBlois's own words, "It's the story of a little boy who is ignored by the world and pretends to be a ghost, who (then) comes into contact with a real ghost." DeBlois claims this "story of friendship, love and loss" is aimed at the Harry Potter audience; he hopes older kids will enjoy this supernatural mystery. Production was supposed to begin spring 2005, but as of now, nothing has been shot and there is no firm release date yet set. In February 2006, it was reported that Robert Nelson Jacobs had been hired to rewrite DeBlois' script. Jacobs was Oscar-nominated for his Chocolat screenplay, but got fewer raves for his work on Dinosaur, Out to Sea, and The Shipping News.
The Boys: The Sherman Brothers' Story | Walt & El Grupo | Waking Sleeping Beauty | A Christmas Carol
The Last Song | Oceans | Toy Story 3 | Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time | The Sorcerer's Apprentice
You Again | Secretariat | Tangled | Tron Legacy | Mars Needs Moms! | Prom | Untitled Winnie the Pooh Film | Cars 2 | More...
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