A TV spot has been released for Disney’s upcoming “Beauty And The Beast”. It seems like more of a condensed version of the first trailer with one additional scene (above):
Disney has released the first official image (above) of the title character for the upcoming Pixar movie, “Coco”.
From Entertainment Weekly:
At the center of Pixar’s next original film, Coco, is a 12-year-old boy who’s breaking all the rules — or at least his family’s.
Miguel, voiced by newcomer Anthony Gonzalez, is a member of the shoemaking Riveras, your average Mexican family that’s completely banned music for generations. So, maybe not so average. Ever since his great-great-grandmother Imelda was left alone by her husband (who abandoned his family to pursue a life hitting high notes), there’s been a strict no-music ban in the Rivera household, upheld primarily by Miguel’s Abuela (Renee Victor).
That won’t stop Miguel from pursuing his passion, having grown up idolizing the music and advice of the late singer Ernesto de la Cruz (Benjamin Bratt). In fact, it’s his worship of De La Cruz—and a shocking discovery about him—that’s brought Miguel to the singer’s grave…and you, reader, to EW’s exclusive new first look at Coco.
In the shot above, you’re catching Miguel in a beautiful, pivotal moment: He’s just committed a literal grave act and borrowed — just borrowed! — the guitar hanging in De La Cruz’s tomb. Unfortunately, it’s Dia de Muertos, and Miguel’s well-intentioned deed of grave robbery is badly-timed, and he’s about to be inadvertently sent to the Land of the Dead, where he’ll come face to face with the same great-great-relatives who banned music in his family. Just guess how happy they’ll be when they find out how he got there.
Still, don’t call Coco Pixar’s first musical. Director Lee Unkrich (Toy Story 3) says the film isn’t “a break-out-into-song musical,†but rather, one “set against the backdrop of musical performance.†Moreover, it’s not even Unkrich’s first time choreographing at the musical rodeo: “At the end of Toy Story 3, we had this moment where Jessie turns on the boom-box and the Gipsy Kings do a Spanish language version of ‘You’ve Got a Friend in Me.’ Which, it turned out, ended up being a real precursor to this movie.â€
The result is that Unkrich secured an all-Latino voice cast (including Gael Garcia Bernal as a skeleton named Hector who helps Miguel on his journey in the Land of the Dead) and sought authenticity via numerous story consultants, key crew members and filmmakers (like co-director Adrian Molina), and musical talent culled from artists down in Mexico. Unkrich, Molina, and producer Darla K. Anderson made frequent trips south of the border (in fact, Lasseter approved the film just three weeks before one Dia de Muertos fell, spurring a first-time scramble to not miss out) and soon sent his story artists, production designers, and even sound crew down to take the aesthetic pulse of villages.
Of interesting note is that in Unkrich’s efforts for cultural authenticity, an unfortunate misstep plagued the earliest announcements of Coco (which is titled after Miguel’s grand-grandmother). In 2013, Disney filed an application to trademark “Dia de Los Muertos,†back when Coco did not have its title, and the studio was harshly criticized for its attempt to co-opt the national holiday. As Unkrich explains, “There was never any conscious effort to try to trademark a holiday because that’s crazy, and we would never try to do that. But it happened, and we regret it, and we’re so sorry for it. And I know for all of us, it affected us really deeply. It was devastating, because we knew what we were trying to do and we had taken on this responsibility of trying to do everything right, and so it really was painful to know that the first public perception of our film had to do with that.â€
But, he says, good came out of it: “It reinforced our desire to make sure that we reached out to as many experts as we could and to involve as many people in telling this story accurately. This is a story we want to share with the world, but it’s also been particularly important to us that when the Latino community sees the film, that it resonates and it feels like we got it right, and that’s what we’re really trying to do. We all feel the gravity.â€
During this morning’s Disney Parks Magical Christmas Celebration, an extended look inside of Pandora: The World of AVATAR at Disney’s Animal Kingdom was presented.
The segment was even introduced by Disney CEO Bob Iger.
Joe Rohde and James Cameron appeared int he segment to talk about the project.
A short video from on-board the Navi River Journey attraction was shared.
Most interesting was our first look inside at the Soarin’-esque ride system for Flight of Passage, where guests will feel like they are riding on a Banshee around Pandora.
Of course, glimpses of the incredible plant life and floating mountains were shared.
The logo for Pandora: The World of AVATAR was finally shared, promoting that the land will finally open in the Summer of 2017.
We are sad to have learned that Disney Legend Charlie Ridgeway has passed away.
Here is Charlie’s official Disney Legend bio:
Journalist-turned-publicist Charlie Ridgway didn’t consider himself a salesman when he joined Disneyland’s publicity office in 1963. He did, however, know what made good news and, as a result, ably promoted Disney theme parks by assisting with the planning and logistics of more than 150 major press events. Among the most memorable moments of his career, Charlie recalled a 1964 dinner hosted by Walt Disney at Disneyland for the United States Olympic Team. It was attended by press and celebrities alike, including comedian Bob Hope.
According to Charlie, “We had a stage set up and Walt made a short speech and got a lot of good laughs. Then he sat down, and Bob Hope walked up to the microphone, when one of the whistles on the nearby train went ‘toot, toot.’ Hope didn’t miss a beat and said, ‘Walt, your waffles are ready.’ He brought the whole house down.”
Born July 20, 1923, in Chicago, Illinois, Charlie graduated from high school in Shelbina, Missouri, in 1941. Shortly thereafter, during World War II, he enlisted with the United States Army and served in the field artillery unit of the 13th Armored Division.
After the war, Charlie earned his bachelor’s degree in journalism from the University of Missouri and, in 1947, began his career writing and editing news for radio and newspapers. Early jobs included WDZ in Tuscola, Illinois; WERC in Erie, Pennsylvania; and the Erie Dispatch. In 1952, he moved to Los Angeles, where he joined the staff of the Los Angeles Mirror-News, followed by the Long Beach Press Telegram in 1962.
Even before he was hired as a cast member, Charlie promoted Disneyland as a news reporter. During 1954-55, while the Park was under construction, he authored some of the first articles about Disneyland to appear in any of the major metropolitan newspapers. He also covered Disneyland’s grand opening celebration on July 17, 1955. Eight years later, he joined the Park’s publicity staff.
He once said, “Disneyland was the one public relations job I thought I would enjoy, and I was right. And my radio and newspaper background helped me to understand what the reporters needed and how best to work with them.”
As a result, Charlie was promoted to Disneyland’s publicity supervisor in 1966. In 1969 he was bumped up to publicity manager and, later, director of press and publicity for the then under construction Walt Disney World. He helped launch the opening of Walt Disney World in 1971 and Epcot Center in 1982. He also helped launch Disneyland Paris in 1992, as well as special projects for celebrations such as Donald Duck’s 50th birthday.
After more than 30 years with Disney, Charlie Ridgway retired in 1994. He would go on to consult on special projects, including the launch of Disney’s Animal Kingdom and the Disney Cruise Line. He published his memoir, “Spinning Disney’s World,” in 2007.
UPDATE: Carrie Fisher’s brother has told the AP that Carrie is out of emergency and is in stabilized condition at an LA hospital.
Actress Carrie Fisher had a massive heart attack on a flight from London to LAX.
According to TMZ:
Our sources say Carrie was on a flight from London to LAX when she went into cardiac arrest. People on board were administering CPR.
We’re told the emergency occurred 15 minutes before the plane landed in L.A. A flight attendant asked if there were any medical personnel on board and an EMT who was sitting in the back of the plane came up to first class and administered life-saving measures.
The plane landed just after noon in L.A. and paramedics rushed her to a nearby hospital.
Fisher, who became famous, of course, as Princess Leia from ‘Star Wars,’ has been on a book tour.
When the Epcot International Festival of the Arts begins January 13, you’ll find performing arts celebrating all styles and genres of music – with the Disney twist – all around Epcot.
Disney Theatrical Productions will bring an exciting new showcase of music and Broadway talent to the America Gardens Theatre stage. Throughout the six weekends of the festival, different pairings of Broadway artists will perform songs from some of Disney on Broadway’s award winning shows.
Here is the lineup for this brand new series:
Jan. 13-16 and 20-23: Ashley Brown and Josh Strickland performing songs from: Disney’s Beauty and the Beast, Tarzan, Mary Poppins and The Little Mermaid
Jan. 27-30 and Feb. 3-6: Kerry Butler and Kevin Massey performing songs from Disney’s Beauty and the Beast, Tarzan, Newsies and Aladdin
Feb. 10-13 and 17-20: Kissy Simmons and Alton Fitzgerald White performing songs from Disney’s The Lion King, Aida, Aladdin and The Little Mermaid
Performances will be 5:30 p.m., 6:45 p.m. and 8 p.m. Friday through Monday of each festival weekend.
Future World Plaza will also be filled with a variety of other visual and live performances including Epcot Living Statues, performances by Central Florida high schools and acclaimed university and college talent appearing through a partnership with Disney Performing Arts. Plus, Epcot’s American Music Machine will perform on the Future World Fountain Stage.
The festival runs Fridays through Mondays from Jan. 13 – Feb. 20.
Initially presented as the evening highlight of the 50th anniversary of Disneyland Resort in 2005, “Remember… Dreams Come True” features Tinker Bell’s flight, brilliant fireworks, soaring music, dazzling special effects and an amazing journey through the various lands of Disneyland with archival audio tracks, favorite songs and familiar phrases from some of the park’s most popular attractions, past and present. From the flame effects erupting from Sleeping Beauty Castle during the Indiana Jones Adventure sequence, to the feeling of being in a virtual stretching room as fireworks launch straight into the sky to welcome the Haunted Mansion’s “Grim, Grinning Ghosts,” Remember is sure to please any fan of the park.
You’ll have a chance to relive all those moments and more, when “Remember… Dreams Come True” once again begins regular weekend performances on Feb. 3.
Now, many counter service locations at other parks do not have large cups because the establishments feature self-serve soda fountains where guests are able to get refills on their own. The Electric Umbrella, Sunshine Seasons, Restaurantosaurus, and Backlot Express are examples of these types of counter service locations. Almost all counter service locations at resorts have these self-serve fountains as well, most sporting the Rapid Fill technology which limited the time and amount of refills the cups can be used for.
We have been unable to confirm why this is happening and if the trend will continue, but there are several possibilities here. The first is that Disney is trying to up-sell guests on souvenir cups. Westward Ho and Pecos Bill’s offer a fairly large souvenir cup shared like a jug, but even the souvenir mugs at Casey’s Corner and Cosmic Ray’s are much smaller than a large fountain beverage. That being said, Sleepy Hollow does not currently sell a souvenir cup.
From my personal collection: as you can see, the Country Bears jug is quite large, but the other souvenir cups are considerably smaller.
The second is that it is a cost cutting measure since most locations don’t even need to stock the large cups since they use a self-serve drink fountain. In addition, guests could be ordering just one large fountain drink for $3.69 and sharing it rather than buying one drink for each guest in their party. Disney could make a lot more money at $3.29 a drink if everyone in the group buys one.
With the busy holiday crowds, it could also be a way of streamlining service at some of the resort’s busiest eateries.
For those hoping self serve fountains or Coke Freestyle machines will be added, I wouldn’t hold your breath. Most of the locations mentioned above are far to small for either of these things to be installed.
Whatever the reason, we will have to keep our eyes peeled to see if the large cups return to these locations or begin to vanish from more around Walt Disney World.
It looks like the unreleased Peter Pan figure for Disney Infinity 3.0 was closer to mass production than most thought.
Just a few weeks ago, a pre-release production figure of Peter Pan was sold on eBay for $995! The seller’s description reads:
Final Stage Production Sample, new in the box, received from a former Disney Infinity Employee.
Part of a very limited production run to ensure final quality standards before mass manufacture.
Please note, because the content patch for this character was never released, this figure will not work when placed on the Disney Infinity base.
It appears that the figure was just about ready for market, and a handful of these figures are probably still out in the wild. Of course, as noted in the above description, the figure won’t work in the game, because like many 3.0 figures, it would require a update to support it. The bottom left of the box even has a tag that notes a update is needed in order to use the figure.
For a more in-depth look at the figure, check out the latest video from YouTuber Infiniteer Adventures.
It is sad to see a figure that was so highly anticipated and close to mass production was canceled. Especially when the Finding Dory and Alice Through the Looking Glass content was still released even after cancellation.
