I don't believe Mad Libs have anything to do with Mad Magazine.

Funny.. that's the exact same thing that jumped out at me as well... <grin>

Mad Magazine is a cartoonish humor magazine.  Mad Libs is a fill-in-the-word "game" (for lack of a better term).

opening weekend better take in more than $300mill - anything less will be a disappointment, especially after all the hype

<<So -- based on one quick read of this script -- you then file a report, saying (in essence) that "... there's no way that the Walt Disney Company will ever be able to convince a major manufacturer to produce a line of toys based on Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl.' ">>

Yeah, but didn't anyone read the title? "Pirates of the Caribbean"? Their most popular theme park ride? That should have told them something.

After "The Country Bears" and "The Haunted Mansion" came out, I can't exactly blame 'em for being a little leery.

"But it was a Bruckheimer film!" I hear you say.  How could they not see the potential?"  Three words: "Days of Thunder."

Anyway, I think it's pretty cool that Disney Publishing's finally getting a deent selection of books out for a movie. Now, if DCP can light a fire under some of their people and get the non-movie-related books and DVDs they've been promising us like "Legends of Imagineering"  and the Disneyland 50th Anniversary DVD...

Actually PotC:CotBP came out a year after Country Bears and a year before Haunted Mansion--
It was partly a Pressler idea ("Why would they go on the rides if it wasn't based on a Movie?"), but the obnoxiously "Home Improvement"-like Bears had sunk without a trace, Disney was already proclaiming their three-picture deal a flop before the other two pictures had come out, and it looked like Pressler had another Folly to notch on his belt.
If "Pearl" hadn't been so darn good and unexpected, they probably wouldn't have released "Mansion" with the hopeful opening foo-farah that it got.

(And as for the books, I've seen obscurer films that got just as much Barnes & Noble marketing--
However, when we get Ameri-Manga versions, just to officially canvas all bookstore genres...THAT'S desperate.  -_-  )

Jim -- I'm so glad you brought this up!

As a footnote to your story, several of us fans of the first movie contacted Disney after the release of POTC:COBP because we couldn't find any merchandise associated with the first film.

We were told by the Disney people that their policy was "they don't make merchandise for live action films." We kept calling and telling them what a missed opportunity it was.

Jack Sparrow, as one of Disney's best trickster characters, deserved to be elevated to the same status as Disney's other beloved characters.

Finally, in about November 2003, we realized Disney had was listening to us because they released a small number of items through non-Disney outlets, such as the gothic chain, Hot Topic, which has experience and success marketing Tim Burton's characters from The Nightmare Before Christmas.

This clearly demarcates Disney's first foray into a new merchandising effort -- after testing the waters cautiously, they finally realized we were right all along -- that the POTC trilogy could support a Disney-sized merchandising effort for a live-action film, because the characters were so compelling.

I know many people (including some of my best pirate mates!) are not as thrilled as I am about this effort.

But then again, not everyone has a shrine in their home office to this fabulous film!

Wishing you warm winds and smooth sailing!

Bootstrap Beck
www.myspace.com/bootstrap_beck

I'm not the least bit surprised or turned off by POTC having a cine-manga. Any one of those non-anime properties (Invader Zim, Harry Potter, LOTR, POTC, NBXmas) sold at Hot Topic tend to have fans among the anime crowd. I certainly know some of these even have Japanese followings due to my doujinshi/fanbook collection.

Sure, DerekJ, ruin a perfectly good argument with a silly little thing like the facts. :) I guess my memory's slipping - thanks for the correction!

BootstrapBEck said:
"We were told by the Disney people that their policy was 'they don't make merchandise for live action films.'"
---
(...Er, yeah, that "Dick Tracy" really came out under the ol' merchandising radar, didn't it?)  ;)

&lt;i&gt;Jim Hill explains why it's going to be a rather nervous Fourth of July for Dick Cook and Nina Jacobson. As these two Mouse House honchos hope &amp; pray that their $450 million (and counting) investment in back-to-back &quot;Pirates of the Caribbean&quot;

Jim Hill explains why it's going to be a rather nervous Fourth of July for Dick Cook and Nina Jacobson. As these two Mouse House honchos hope & pray that their $450 million (and counting) investment in back-to-back "Pirates of the Caribbean" sequels eventually