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First up, Danny writes in to ask: Jim, Any reason that you know of why Pixar started skimping on their DVD packages? Up to and including " The Incredibles ," no company did the medium justice better than Pixar. But the discs for " Cars " and " Rataouille " (which I have an advanced copy of) are pathetic...

Well, here we are in Week 2 of the Walt Disney Company dealing with its Undressa Hudgens situation. And based on what I've been hearing, Mickey has finally decided that it will in fact stand behind this " High School Musical " star. Mind you, it's not like the Mouse ever really had the option of distancing...

By late Friday night, the headlines read " Disney Stands by High School Musical Star ." Which meant that -- in spite of what a Mouse House spokesperson called " ... obviously a lapse in judgment" -- the Walt Disney Company wasn't going to distance itself from Vanessa Hudgens. Punish this tween favorite...

Let's start with the news that may confuse some of you. In that there are folks at Walt Disney Animation Studios who are downright giddy that " The Simpsons Movie " has done as well as it has over the past 10 days. "And why would WDAS employees be excited by the success of a 20th Century Fox film ?,...

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...

As a direct result of some of the "Ratatouille" -related pieces that I've posted on JHM over the past few weeks, I have received a number of ... er ... colorful messages from Pixar fans recently. Here's one of the more family-friendly examples. Which came from Patty T. of Haines City, FL : Why must you...

Okay. I admit it. Maybe -- just maybe -- the folks at Walt Disney Studios actually do know what they are doing. Case in point: " Ratatouille ." When this Brad Bird film only sold $47 million worth of tickets over its opening weekend (Which was at least 20% less than the $60 million that industry experts...

First up, Kevin writes in to say: I was just wondering, how do Disney executives feel about the Wiggles joining up with Six Flags for the " Wiggles World " theme areas in their parks? Is this a sign that the Wiggles and Disney may be parting company soon? Kevin Dear Kevin -- Nope. You have to understand...

Over the past six months, JHM has featured a number of stories that talked about the Walt Disney Company's concerns about " Ratatouille ." How the marketing department at the studio has been struggling to find just the right way to promote this new Brad Bird film. (Don't believe me? Then check out these...

You know what's really striking about Andreas Deja ? Not that he's such an accomplished animator, the talent behind such memorable Disney characters as Gaston in " Beauty & the Beast ," Jafar in " Aladdin ," Scar in " The Lion King ," the title character in " Hercules " as well as one of the title...

Steve T. writes in to say: My family and I caught a sneak preview of " Nancy Drew " this past weekend. And I was surprised to see Pat Carroll do a cameo in that movie. She's always been one of my favorites, even before she did her memorable turn in Disney's " The Little Mermaid ." But I've also heard...

Good God. Has it really been less than a year and a half since " High School Musical " originally debuted on the Disney Channel ? Copyright 2006 Disney Enterprises, Inc. All Rights Reserved Back in January of 2006, Mouse House execs were just hoping that they hadn't wasted any of their promotional money...

Okay. Given that " Pirates of the Caribbean : At World's End " sold more than $114 million worth of tickets over its opening weekend, it only stands to reason that this Gore Verbinski film would see some sort of drop-off in business over its second weekend in domestic release, right ? That said, no one...

Look, if you're a regular reader of JHM, I'm just going to assume that you already know what this is a picture of. Copyright Disney Enterprises, Inc. All Rights Reserved Yep, that's Johnny Depp. Making his memorable entrance as Captain Jack Sparrow in the very first film of Disney's " Pirates of the...

Christian P. writes in today to say: I'm a huge Pirates of the Caribbean fan and I'm literally counting down the hours now until the third movie opens next week. Do you have any new stories that you can tell about these great great movies that might distract me for a while? Prevent me from spending so...

Back in the old days, when an animator had trouble visualizing what a particular prop and/or problematic character looked like from a certain angle ... Well, the usual solution to this problem was that that artist then had to construct a model. So that they could then literally see things from a different...