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• "Kung Fu Panda" 's opening weekend grosses really kicked butt ... but here comes "WALL-E"

  Jim Hill shares what he's heard about this new Andrew Stanton film. Which looks ready to reverse the domestic box office trends that tripped up Pixar's last three pictures Read More... Posted Monday, June 09, 2008 12:00 AM | 21 Comments Filed under: Disney, DreamWorks, CG, Walt Disney Pictures, "Cars", "Ratatouille", "Shrek the Third", DreamWorks Animation, "The Incredibles", "Finding Nemo", Labor Day, "Toy Story", "Toy Story 2", "Shrek 2", "The Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian", box office, 2008, Disney / Pixar, animated feature, opening weekend grosses, opening weekend, TV show, franchise, Andrew Stanton, "Cloverfield", animated features, animated series , CG feature, "Hannah Montana and Miley Cyrus: Best of Both World Concert" , "Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull", "Kung Fu Panda", John Stevenson , Mark Osborne , "WALL-E" , "Iron Man", "Kung Fu Panda" TV series, "Kung Fu Panda" animated series, "Sex and the City", "Dr. Seuss' Horton Hears a Who", "You Don't Mess with the Zohan", "Madagascar", "Madagascar: Escape 2 Africa", "Ice Age: The Meltdown" , "Ice Age" , box office projections, box office estimates, research, "10, 2004, Summer

• Disney Consumer Products isn't getting its hopes up for "Up"

  Jim Hill takes a close look at the retail side of the Mouse House. In particular why Disney Consumer Products is now taking a much more pragmatic approach toward the licensing of Pixar's next few pictures Read More... Posted Tuesday, April 01, 2008 12:00 AM | 21 Comments Filed under: Disney, Pixar, toys, Disney Consumer Products, John Lasseter, Disney's California Adventure, "Cars", "Ratatouille", Brad Bird, Disney Store, Pixar Animation Studios, The Walt Disney Company, WDI, "WALL * E", DCA, 2008, 2009, Disney / Pixar, animated feature, Carsland, Pete Docter, 2006, retail chain , 2010, "Up"

• Why For springs back into action, then ends with a bang

  JHM's Q & A column returns after a long winter nap with answers to your questions about the Muppets, "Beauty and the Beast," the Disney Stores as well as revealing where a Dick Cheney joke can be found in "Ratatouille" Read More... Posted Friday, March 21, 2008 12:00 AM | 12 Comments Filed under: Disney, Muppets, "High School Musical", "Beauty & the Beast", "Ratatouille", Walt Disney Studios Home Entertainment, Disney Store, "Hannah Montana", "Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs", "Sleeping Beauty", "Fantasia", Walt Disney Home Entertainment, WDSHE, Blu-Ray, DVD, LaughingPlace, Disney / Pixar, in-joke, Hi-def

• As Disney begins to get nervous about "Narnia," Pixar now sets its sights on "Mars"

  Jim Hill brings you the latest buzz from Burbank. Which suggests that -- unless "Prince Caspian" does huge business when it's released to theaters in May -- Disney may opt to pull the plug on the "Narnia" series. Replacing that film franchise with a trio of Pixar-produced "John Carter of Mars" movies Read More... Posted Monday, March 17, 2008 12:00 AM | 87 Comments Filed under: Disney, Pixar, Walt Disney Pictures, promotion, "Ratatouille", Brad Bird, "The Incredibles", Mark Andrews, Pixar Animation Studios, marketing, "WALL * E", "John Carter of Mars", Edgar Rice Burroughs, Great San Francisco Earthquake of 1906, "1906", Walden Media, "The Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian", film, movie, 2008, Disney / Pixar, film franchises, Andrew Stanton, nomination , nominee, Oscar, 2011, 2010, Jim Morris

• Tons of Toontown's secrets revealed in "Animation Magazine: 20 Year Collection"

  Jim Hill reviews this new coffee table table that commemorates the 20th anniversary of this very popular publication. Which includes some great behind-the-scenes stories from animation industry vets Read More... Posted Wednesday, January 09, 2008 12:00 AM | 2 Comments Filed under: animation, book, Disney, Walt Disney, John Lasseter, "Ratatouille", Walt Disney Animation Studios, coffee table book

• Animation fans prematurely shoot off their mouths about "Bolt"

  Jim Hill points out the parallels between what WDAS's next release is now going through and "Beauty & the Beast" & "The Lion King" 's troubled productions Read More... Posted Wednesday, January 02, 2008 12:00 AM | 18 Comments Filed under: animation, Disney, movies, Pixar, DreamWorks, computer animation, John Lasseter, "Shrek", Walt Disney Pictures, "Beauty & the Beast", John Musker, "The Little Mermaid", "Ratatouille", Alan Menken, Howard Ashman, DreamWorks Animation, "Aladdin", Walt Disney Animation Studios, Pixar Animation Studios, Jeffrey Katzenberg, "Toy Story", WDAS, "The Lion King", "Who Framed Roger Rabbit", WDI, Ed Catmull, Walt Disney Imagineering, Walt Disney Studios, "Bolt", Academy Award, film, movie, 2008, animated feature, Richard Purdum , "Cranium Command", Kirk Wise, Gary Trousdale, award, Walt Disney Feature Animation, Disney Feature Animation, "Mulan", "The Emperor's New Groove", "Kingdom of the Sun", "Kiskaloo", blind men and the elephant, Indian fable, pre-release image, teaser poster, November 2008, Bolt the dog, Mittens the cat, Rhino the hamster, Chris Williams, "American Dog", Chris Sanders, quirkiness, Jan Pinkava, George Scribner, Rob Minkoff, Roger Allers, S Gross, lemons into lemonade, November 28

• A special "Where's WALL-E" edition of Why For?

  Jim Hill's back with even more answers to your Disney-related questions. This time around, Jim tries to put together a definitive list of where the in-jokes & self references in Pixar's feature films & shorts are located Read More... Posted Sunday, December 09, 2007 12:00 AM | 26 Comments Filed under: animation, Disney, Pixar, CG, John Lasseter, "Ratatouille", Brad Bird, "The Incredibles", "Finding Nemo", Pixar Animation Studios, Emeryville, "A Bug's Life", "Toy Story", "Toy Story 2", "Monsters Inc.", "WALL * E", DVD, film, movie, Disney / Pixar, animated feature, "The Adventures of Andre & Wally B", animated short, short, Andrew Stanton, Pete Docter, "Your Friend the Rat", "Plan B", "Luxo Jr", "Red's Dream", "For the Birds", "Boundin' ", "Lifted", "Jack-Jack Attack", "Geri's Game"

• "To Infinity and Beyond!" is an entertaining look back at Pixar's first two decades

  Jim Hill reviews Karen Paik's inspired (more importantly, inspiring) new history of Pixar Animation Studios. Which offers a lot of insight about how John Lasseter became the Big Kahuna of the CG world Read More... Posted Thursday, November 29, 2007 12:00 AM | 4 Comments Filed under: animation, book, Disney, movies, Pixar, computer animation, CG, John Lasseter, John Musker, "The Little Mermaid", "Cars", "Ratatouille", Leslie Iwerks, Brad Bird, "Aladdin", Walt Disney Animation Studios, Pixar Animation Studios, Ron Miller, "Toy Story", "Toy Story 2", WDAS, featurette, "Monsters Inc.", "The Pixar Story", "To Infinity and Beyond: The Story of Pixar Animation Studios", Karen Paik, Ed Catmull, Steve Jobs, Walt Disney Studios, film, movie, Mouse, Disney / Pixar, 2007, "Tis the season" , feature film , Chronicle Books, "The Art of Animation", Bob Thomas, cartoons, epiphany, coffee table book, hardcover, church, pew, gourd, sermon, pencil, pencil time, award, The Headless Horseman, "The Adventures of Ichabod & Mr Toad", station wagon, Casper the Friendly Ghost, California Institute of the Arts, CalArts, character animation, Walt Disney Feature Animation, Disney Feature Animation, calcified, middle management, "The Fox and the Hound", old guard, Tom Wilhite, Maurice Sendak, picture book, "Where the Wild Things Are", Thomas M Disch, "The Brave Little Toaster", Marin, Lucasfilm, "The Adventures of Andre & Wally B", SIGGRAPH, animated short, short, character comedy, cutting-edge technology, money pit, Jane Eisner, Roald Dahl, "James and the Giant Peach", human costs, keyboard, repetitive-stress injury, "The Art of Ratatouille", aspiring animator, holiday shopping list

• Could you please have the Rat whip me up some crow?

  Here (finally) is the JHM column that Pixar fans have been waiting for. Where Jim Hill talks about how well "Ratatouille" has been doing overseas ... as well as other Disney-related matters Read More... Posted Friday, November 23, 2007 12:00 AM | 31 Comments Filed under: Disney, movies, TV, Visual Effects, Gore Verbinski, Walt Disney Pictures, "Ratatouille", Brad Bird, Walt Disney Studios Home Entertainment, Pixar Animation Studios, "Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End", television, "The Game Plan", Hollywood, WDSHE, DVD, box office, film, movie, Thanksgiving, leftovers, crow, international, worldwide box office, Disney / Pixar, animated feature, production costs, release date, stateside, exhibitors, ticket sales, top selling, FX, effects, The Michael Eisner building, Michael Eisner building, character-based merchandise, 2007, "Wild Hogs", "Wild Hogs 2", titles, floss, promotional costs, "The Best Reviewed Film of the Year", domestic performance, The Ivy, opening weekend grosses, opening weekend, Hollywood Reporter, Variety, strip-mining, wild-assed guess, Magic 8 Ball, television program, TV show, television programs, TV shows, The Hollywood Reporter, The Nielsen ratings, Nielsen ratings, domestic box office numbers, entertainment industry, initial domestic run, evergreen title, franchise, film franchise, film franchises, merch, nuturing, long term profit potential, long term profitability

• A special "Toon Much of a Good Thing" edition of Why For

  Jim Hill's back with even more answers to your Disney-related questions. This time around, Jim talks about why Walt Disney Home Entertainment stopped producing 2-disc versions of those new Disney / Pixar DVDs as well as revealing that Walt Disney Animation Studios may already have a second traditionally animated feature in the works Read More... Posted Friday, November 02, 2007 12:00 AM | 30 Comments Filed under: animation, Disney, DVD / Video, theme park, Pixar, traditional animation, computer animation, CG, John Lasseter, Walt Disney Pictures, Disney-MGM Studios theme park, Robert Zemeckis, Ron Clements, John Musker, "The Princess and the Frog", "Cars", "Ratatouille", Brad Bird, "Enchanted", Disney's Hollywood Studios, Disney's Hollywood , Walt Disney Studios Home Entertainment, Walt Disney Animation Studios, "The Incredibles", Pixar Animation Studios, Russia, WDAS, Burbank, "WALL * E", WDW, Walt Disney Studios, Walt Disney Home Entertainment, WDSHE, WDHE, Disney Blu-Ray, Blu-Ray, "The Magic of Disney Animation", Walt Disney Feature Animation Florida, "How to Hook-Up Your Home Theater", "Prep and Landing", "The Ballad of Nessie", Loch Ness, "Glago's Guest", close encounter of the third kind, Walden Media, "A Conversation with Disney's Mark Zoradi", Heartland Film Festival, Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures Group, Mark Zoradi, "Bolt", Glen Keane, "Rapunzel", "A Christmas Carol", Dean Wellins, ImageMoversDigital, "The Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian", DVD

• Monday Mouse Watch: Will live action productions really help Pixar deal with its brand fatigue problem?

  Jim Hill asks: What's it going to take to make the domestic release of a new Pixar film seem like a special event again? Will live action projects like "John Carter of Mars" & "1906" really be enough to re-energize this animation studio's U.S. fanbase? Read More... Posted Monday, October 15, 2007 12:00 AM | 51 Comments Filed under: Disney, Pixar, John Lasseter, Bob Iger, promotion, "Cars", "Ratatouille", Leslie Iwerks, Brad Bird, Walt Disney Animation Studios, "The Incredibles", Pixar Animation Studios, Emeryville, marketing, "Toy Story 2", "20000 Leagues Under the Sea", WDAS, "The Lion King", Burbank, Mars, brand fatigue, "Song of the South", Herald Sun, "Monsters Inc.", Wally Hammond, Time Out, Time Out London, "The Pixar Story", "To Infinity and Beyond: The Story of Pixar Animation Studios", Karen Paik, Ed Catmull, Steve Jobs, "WALL * E", IMAX 3D, "John Carter of Mars", Barsoom, Edgar Rice Burroughs, Great San Francisco Earthquake of 1906, San Francisco

• Toon Tuesday: Why "Ratatouille" 's good-but-not-great box office numbers are now causing problems for Disney's marketing department

  Jim Hill talks about all of the finger-pointing that's going on in Burbank & Emeryville, as execs try to find someone to blame for this Pixar picture's perceived under-performance Read More... Posted Tuesday, September 04, 2007 12:00 AM | 105 Comments Filed under: Disney, movies, Pixar, computer animation, Walt Disney Pictures, promotion, "Cars", "Ratatouille", "The Simpsons Movie", Brad Bird, "Enchanted", WALL E, "The Incredibles", "Finding Nemo", Pixar Animation Studios, "A Bug's Life", marketing, "Toy Story", "Toy Story 2", "The Bourne Ultimatum"

• Toon Tuesday : Want to help chart Pixar's future? Then be sure and take that animation studio's online survey

  Jim Hill directs your attention to several interesting new spots that have recently popped up on the Web: The Buy n Large homepage as well as an online survey that asks for your opinion on what the most important aspects of Pixar Animation Studios are Read More... Posted Tuesday, August 07, 2007 12:00 AM | 38 Comments Filed under: animation, Disney, movies, Pixar, traditional animation, computer animation, CG, Walt Disney Pictures, promotion, The Lion King, Disney-MGM Studios theme park, "Beauty & the Beast", "Cars", "Ratatouille", "Aladdin", Buy n Large, WALL E