Browse by Tags

I was on the phone with Simon Wells last Friday morning as those first post-quake / tsunami images were coming in from Japan . And as the director of Disney's "Mars Needs Moms" put it: "Here in Hollywood, everyone seems obsessed with how much your movie cost to make or how much your...

Are you looking forward to " Rango " ? Copyright 2010 Paramount Pictures. All rights reserved I know that I am. And not just because this project reunites Johnny Depp with his " Pirates of the Caribbean " director, Gore Verbinski . Or because this Paramount Pictures will be ILM 's...

Okay. I know. JHM has already done a number of stories on “ Disney Prep and Landing ,” that new holiday special that Walt Disney Animation Studios produced exclusively for ABC (which – FYI – wound up being the highest rated Christmas special of the 2009 – 2010 season ). Copyright 2009 Disney Enterprises...

If you keep an eye on DisneyAuditions.com , you’ll see that Casting is constantly looking for people to play the Characters . New hirers who’d be willing to climb inside one of those often hot walk-around suits and then go out & entertain Guests on a Disney cruise ship and/or in one of the theme...

Those of you who were so quick to dismiss Robert Zemeckis ’ “ A Christmas Carol ” as a cinematic lump of coal in Disney’s corporate stocking may want to take another look at the grosses for this performance capture picture. As Bob Iger admitted during last week’s quarterly earnings conference call :...

You’re going to read a lot of stories this morning about how Disney’s “A Christmas Carol” had a bad opening weekend. How – because this new Robert Zemeckis movie didn’t make $35 - $40 million during its first three days in domestic release – this rather expensive ImageMovers Digital production is now...

The Philadelphia Inquirer said that it “ … succeeded in generating more warmth and sentiment than have flesh-and-blood actors in several previous … ‘Christmas Carols’ “ The Chicago Daily News that “ … it really was a remarkable job.” More importantly that this production “ … undoubtedly will become one...

Disney's A Christmas Carol Train Tour is now in the home stretch. After today's stop in the Amtrak Station in Jacksonville, FL. , this rolling promotion for Walt Disney Pictures' next Digital 3D release has only three cities left on its 40-city intinerary: Charleston, SC (October 23 - 25), Philadelphia...

Over the years, I have heard a lot of stories from Disney insiders that I’ve been lucky enough to interview. Like how Alice Davis once told me that she knew that Mary Blair must be dealing with some horrific personal problems. Given that – in the early 1970s – this Disney Legend’s acclaimed sense of...

Do you want a true demonstration of the awesome power of Disney's "High School Musical" franchise? Well, never mind about the record-breaking advance ticket sales for " High School Musical 3 : Senior Year ." Or the fact that Salt Lake 's East High (i.e. the actual school where all three of the "HSM"...

It was the super-secret holiday movie that you weren't supposed to know about. Until Bob Hoskins -- in a July 4th interview with EmpireOnline -- revealed that ... "... ( Robert Zemeckis ) is going to make A Christmas Carol with Jim Carrey . He wants me to play Mr Fezziwig. He's doing in...

I have to tell you that " Bah, Humduck ! A Looney Tunes Christmas " caused a considerable rift in the Hill household this holiday season. Copyright 2006 Warner Home Entertainment My daughter Alice just hated this Christmas special. After catching "Bah, Humduck !" after it originally...

First of all, don't let the title fool you. " A Sesame Street Christmas Carol " really doesn't have a whole lot to do with Charles Dickens. Copyright 2006 Sony Wonder Oh, sure. This 2006 Sony Wonder release does borrow a few key concepts from that classic holiday tale. In that -- on...

Over the past 37 installments of JHM's " Scrooge U " series, we've shown that "A Christmas Carol" is a surprisingly flexible property. That even when you change Ebenezer Scrooge's race , sex & nationality or shift this holiday tale's setting from 1840s London to...

"Tell the truth. You're getting kind of tired of writing about ' A Christmas Carol ,' aren't you?" No, this wasn't an e-mail that some disgruntled JHM reader sent me. But -- rather -- the ever-wise & patient Nancy (Who -- FYI -- has been formatting each & every one...

Does the name " GoodTimes Home Video " sound familiar to you? If you're an animation fan, it probably should. Given that this is the infamous production company that churned out all of those cheap Disney knock-offs. With the hope that consumers might then get confused and accidentally buy...

Are you a fan of William Shatner 's Emmy Award-winning work on ABC 's " Boston Legal "? If so, then you should be aware that one of the main reasons that William was cast as daffy Denny Crane was because " The Practice " creator David E. Kelley supposedly caught Shatner's...

You know, if things had just gone a little bit differently, all us Disney dweebs would have had something truly spectacular to celebrate this holiday season. You see, 2006 was supposed to be the year that Walt Disney Home Entertainment finally released " Song of the South " on DVD. This limited...

Belle has always been one of the more intriguing characters in Charles Dickens' classic holiday tale. The woman who gave Ebenezer Scrooge back his engagement ring because she was the first to see how hard his heart was becoming. Whatever became of Belle after she walked out of Ebenezer's life...

You know, sometimes the very best presents are the ones that you weren't expecting. Those tiny little surprises that you sometimes find tucked under the tree. That's sort of what happened with " Maxine's Christmas Carol ." This animated holiday special wasn't originally on the...