Disney News and Interviews From The Mouse Castle: March 2011

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Sunday, March 20, 2011

Sunday Shorts - Tokyo Disneyland Still Closed, Cast Member Dies at Walt Disney World

Odds and Ends From the Week in Disney

Tokyo Disney Resort remains closed in the aftermath of the devastating earthquake and tsunami that struck Japan on March 11. Previous reports suggested the resort could reopen as early as March 22, but a notice on TDR's website gives no projected reopening date.

While Tokyo Disneyland and Tokyo DisneySea sustained minimal damage from the disaster, they are still hampered by power shortages, transportation issues and radiation fears affecting a large part of the nation. Understandably, tourism has dropped off dramatically throughout Japan since the quake.

On Thursday, Disney announced it was suspending all administrative and store operations in Tokyo until further notice. In a statement, the Mouse House said, "Our top priority is the well-being of our employees and their families during this challenging time and we will continue to closely monitor the situation as it develops."

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Not just a box office disappointment, Mars Needs Moms is being called one of Hollywood's biggest bombs. The family-friendly motion-capture sci-fi film took in a paltry $10 million during its first full week of release. That's a small crater compared to its planetary $150 million cost. MNM's poor return is consistent with Disney's decision last year to break ties with Robert Zemeckis's ImageMovers Digital studio, which co-produced the film, and to scuttle Zemeckis's plan to shoot a remake of the Beatles animated classic Yellow Submarine.

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A maintenance worker at Walt Disney World's Animal Kingdom died Monday, a day after being struck in the head by a ride vehicle on the Primeval Whirl attraction. The victim was identified as 52-year-old Russell Sherry Roscoe.

Primeval Whirl is a "wild mouse" style roller coaster ride in Animal Kingdom's DinoLand area. It was closed for scheduled maintenance at the time of the accident.

Our condolences go out to Mr. Roscoe's family, friends and co-workers.

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Four of a kind: Depp, Rush, Cruz and McShane

Disney released four new movie posters for Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides. In this latest adventure in the Pirates saga, Captain Jack Sparrow (Johnny Depp) goes in search of the mythical Fountain of Youth. On his quest, he encounters his old rival Barbossa (Geoffrey Rush), now in service to the British Navy, and meets an old flame (Penelope Cruz) who is none other than the daughter of Blackbeard (Ian McShane), "the pirate all pirates fear."

Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides opens in the U.S. on May 20.

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New artwork also surfaced for the upcoming Disney animated short The Ballad of Nessie. The cartoon will be shown with the new feature Winnie the Pooh when it opens on July 15.

The Ballad of Nessie evokes an animation style reminiscent of Disney in the 1940s and '50s, particularly that of legendary artist Mary Blair. It tells a revisionist story of the Loch Ness Monster, who has a run-in with an evil land developer who wants to take over her home.

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Thursday, March 17, 2011

Royalty Rights to Disney Music Go on the Auction Block

Disney composer Frank Churchill

Have you ever wanted to own a piece of Disney's vast music history? Now's your chance. The song rights auction house SongVest will auction off shares of the royalties from the complete music catalog of Frank Churchill beginning on April 30.

Churchill was the in-house composer for the Walt Disney Studios prior to World War II. He wrote the music for dozens of short cartoons in the 1930s and penned Disney's first bona fide hit Who's Afraid of the Big Bad Wolf? for 1933's The Three Little Pigs. When Disney animation went feature length, it was Churchill who scored Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs, co-writing the classic tunes Whistle While You Work, Heigh-Ho and Someday My Prince Will Come.

Churchill's compositions were nominated for five Academy Awards. With Oliver Wallace he won the award for Best Score for 1941's Dumbo.

The last Disney feature film he worked on was the score for 1942's Bambi, which included the songs Little April Shower and Love is a Song.

Churchill's talent for sweeping scores and bouncy, singable tunes belied his personal demons. Depressed and alcoholic, he committed suicide at his home near Los Angeles in 1942. He was 40.

Disney spotlighted Churchill's work in this bonus feature clip from the recent Diamond Collection home video release of Bambi on Blu-ray and DVD:

Over the years, royalty rights to Churchill's music passed to the family of the husband of Churchill's surviving spouse. Through SongVest they will be auctioned off in 5% and 10% lots. Bids will be accepted from April 30 through May 7, 2011. The minimum bids will be $500 for the 5% shares and $1,000 for the 10% shares. Once obtained, the winning bidders will receive quarterly royalty payments from the licensing of the music library. These are royalty rights only, not ownership of the songs themselves.

According to SongVest's website, this is the first time the royalties from any Disney song have ever become available to the public. It won't make you rich--5% increments have an estimated value of $346 annually--but, for a Disney fan, the bragging rights would be priceless.

For auction details and information on how to register, visit http://unbouncepages.com/disney/.

UPDATE 4/30/11: Songvest has postponed the Frank Churchill auction. According to their website, the auction will resurface at a later date at the new Royalty Exchange website.

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Sunday, March 13, 2011

Sunday Shorts - Japan Earthquake, Annette Funicello

Odds and Ends From the Week in Disney

As Japan struggles to recover from Friday's devastating earthquake and tsunami, Disneyland Tokyo and Tokyo DisneySea remain closed for at least ten days. Neither theme park currently lists any operating hours on their website until March 22. According to the Disney Parks Blog, the Tokyo parks sustained minimal property damage and there were only reports of minor injuries. Thousands of guests were stranded in the parks overnight following the 8.9-magnitude quake when Japanese transportation services failed.

Nationwide, the death toll could exceed 10,000 from the biggest quake to hit Japan since records began being kept in the late 1800s.

Related Story: Disaster at Tokyo Disneyland's Doorstep

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Mouseketeer Annette in 1957

Original Mouseketeer Annette Funicello was listed in good condition after suffering smoke inhalation from a house fire on Thursday. Her husband and nurse were also injured in the blaze, but not seriously. The fire badly damaged Funicello's Encino, California home. The 68-year-old Disney Legend has multiple sclerosis and has been wheelchair-bound for over 20 years. We wish her well.

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Earth didn't need Mars Needs Moms this weekend. The motion-capture animated sci-fi film starring Seth Green and Joan Cusack opened to mediocre reviews and dismal box office, taking in only $1.7 million on Friday. Mars Needs Moms was beaten handily by the alien-invasion epic Battle: Los Angeles and Johnny Depp's animated lizard flick Rango. Mars Needs Moms was produced by Walt Disney Pictures and Robert Zemeckis's Image Mover Digital studios and is based on the book by Bloom County creator Berkeley Breathed.

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In the more-anticipated movie category, a new Cars 2 trailer came out this week. The Pixar film follows Lightning McQueen on a worldwide race where he and his travelling buddy Mater somehow get mistaken for international spies.

Director John Lasseter says, "This is not a parody of a spy movie. This is a spy movie."

He says a lot more stuff about Cars 2 here:

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Disney Interactive Studios will release Cars 2: The Video Game this summer. This week, they gave us a sneak peek at how players will race and go to spy school:

Cars 2: The Video Game will be available on all major video game platforms.

Related Story: A 'Cars 2' Toy Story

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Disney/ABC stirred the ire of the Parents Television Council with their current production of a pilot for Good Christian Bitches, a proposed TV series based on the book of the same name. Calling the title "an affront to women," the Council accused ABC of tarnishing the Disney brand. It also felt the title was an attack to the Christian faith.

Responding to the pressure, ABC has changed the working title of the show to GCB.

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Baseball Hall of Famer Cal Ripken, Jr. has moved from the diamond to the world of children's sports fiction. His new book Hothead was published this month by Disney/Hyperion. It tells the story of Connor Sullivan, a talented young ball player with a bad attitude. Disney is giving readers a chance to win autographed Cal Ripken, Jr. swag on their website. Enter at http://disney.go.com/official-sites/ripken/index.

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Walt Disney World announced this week that after more than 30 years of hosting Grad Nite parties at the resort, they will discontinue the high school tradition after this year. On the Disney Parks Blog, they cited increased springtime attendance by leisure visitors as the major factor in the decision (Read: We can get more money from tourists than from locals).

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Friday, March 11, 2011

Disaster at Tokyo Disneyland's Doorstep

Tokyo Disneyland guests
stranded following the earthquake

Like many of you today, I followed intently the news of the devastating earthquake in Japan. At once, it was a fascinating observation of the unforgiving power of nature and a somber reminder of the frailty of humankind and the preciousness of life. As a Disney blogger, the disaster had added resonance because of the close proximity of the Tokyo Disney Resort to the epicenter. During the day, I passed along news bits here and there via Facebook and Twitter of the status of the Tokyo parks, the guests who were stranded there, and the likelihood of the parks reopening soon. I'm grateful to the entire Disney blog and news community for their generosity in sharing information.

Thousands of people were forced to remain at the parks overnight because of train service cancellations following the earthquake. By all accounts, Disney cast members did everything they could to keep guests as comfortable as possible during the chilly, rainy evening. Rain jackets, plastic bags and hand warmers were given out to help protect people from the elements. A statement from Disney via the Disney Parks Blog noted that there were only minor injuries reported and that the parks sustained minimal damage. It went on to say the "safety of our guests and cast members is always our first concern." As damage assessments continue, Tokyo Disneyland and Tokyo DisneySea will remain closed at least through Saturday.

In the grand scheme of things, though, that all seems so trivial.

A guest at Tokyo Disneyland shot this video during the earthquake as people awaited the beginning of the Jubilation! parade:

The calmness of the crowd, cast members and videographer belies the destruction that was being unleashed 250 miles to the north. Entire towns and neighborhoods were being flattened by an 8.9 magnitude quake, then swamped by an epically powerful tsunami. The most unforgettable video news footage I saw was of burning houses, ripped from their foundations, being washed out to sea still ablaze. As of this post, over 400 people are confirmed dead from the disaster and that number could reach the thousands. There are further fears that a nuclear reactor at the Fukushima Daiichi power plant, about 160 miles north of Tokyo, could suffer a meltdown.

Suddenly, Disneyland being closed this weekend isn't so important.

Our hearts are with the people of Japan.

Help support recovery efforts by visiting http://american.redcross.org/Earthquake.

News sources:
www.msnbc.msn.com/id/42023385/ns/world_news-asiapacific
www.msnbc.msn.com/id/42025882/ns/world_news-asiapacific
http://mousepad.mouseplanet.com/blog.php?b=829

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Sunday, March 6, 2011

Sunday Shorts, March 6, 2011

Odds and Ends From the Week in Disney

On Tuesday, Toy Story 3 director Lee Unkrich brought the hardware home to the Pixar studios in Emeryville, where he showed off his bright, shiny, new Oscar for Best Animated Feature. He shared these pics with his followers on Twitter:

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Toy Story alums Tom Hanks and Tim Allen are expected to sign on for Disney's latest theme park ride movie, "Jungle Cruise." The film is rumored to also have also piqued the interest of John Lasseter, since he, himself, was once a Jungle Cruise skipper at Disneyland.

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Disney Parks released the latest ads by celebrity photographer Annie Leibovitz for the Disney Dream Portrait campaign. The series casts well-known celebrities as classic Disney animated characters.

Penelope Cruz and Jeff Bridges as Beauty and the Beast

Queen Latifah as Ursula from The Little Mermaid

Olivia Wilde and Alec Baldwin as the Wicked Queen and the Magic Mirror
from Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs

The ads will run as special inserts in the April issues of O – The Oprah Magazine, People En Español, Real Simple, Essence, and InStyle, and in the March 28 issue of People.

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Demi Lovato, Disney Channel's Sonny With a Chance star has emerged from rehab and promises a video message to her fans on Monday.

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Toy Story Hawaiian Vacation, a new Pixar short cartoon featuring the return of Woody, Buzz and their friends, will debut in theaters on June 24 as an accessory to Cars 2. I posted stills from the movie a couple of weeks ago and this week Disney/Pixar released the first clip. In it, Barbie and Ken believe they've stowed away with Bonnie on a family trip to Hawaii only to discover they've been sadly mistaken.

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The first Spanish-language version of Disney's theatrical musical The Lion King will premiere in Madrid in October.

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Disney acquired Finnish video game developer Rocket Pack for a price tag estimated between $10 million and $20 million. This gives Disney access to Rocket Packs versatile HTML5 gaming engine and a broader platform with which to develop online games.

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Back in the day when Miley Cyrus was still speaking to her father, they appeared together in a little trifle on the Disney Channel called Hannah Montana. Over a hundred episodes and millions of starstruck tweens later, the series wrapped in January. On Tuesday, the final season of Hannah Montana Forever will be available on home video in a 2-DVD set that will include a series retrospective and an alternate ending to the final episode. Also available on DVD Tuesday are the Studio Ghibli releases Tales From Earthsea and Nausicaä of the Valley of The Wind.

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