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So how’s your summer shaping up so far? Are you like so many of us these days? In that you’re really feeling the call of the open road and yet unable to get away in June, July and August because there are things to do and bills to pay. Well, given that it’s unlikely that you’ll...

With “Toy Story 3” earning over $365 million worldwide since this Lee Unkrich film was released on June 18 th (More importantly, with the “Toy Story” franchise having produced over $8 billion in global retail sales to date), it is sometime hard to remember that – just 15 years ago – there weren’t a whole...

My apologies for JHM getting a late start today. But Nancy and I really do have a very good excuse for not posting ‘til just now. You see, we were invited down NYC yesterday for Disney’s holiday showcase. Which means that we spent 5 hours going from room-to-room-to-room, seeing virtually everything that...

Do you hear that loud beep-beep-beep noise coming from Burbank? That’s The Walt Disney Company backing up. Rapidly retreating from its earlier attempts to make the Winnie the Pooh characters seem hip, fashionable and contemporary. “Coming off of ‘ My Friends Tigger and Pooh ,’ we did a lot of research...

DonkeyBoy writes with a question related to Wednesday’s “ The Art of Shrek Forever After ” review . He wants to know about … … that image of teenage Shrek you included with your article. You mentioned that this was a storyline that Mike Mitchell and his team developed for this Dreamworks film and then...

Given that we now live in the age of DreamWorks 3.0 , with Walt Disney Studios distributing the films that Steven Spielberg and Stacey Snider will soon be producing, it’s kind of hard to remember the bad old days. When Jeffery Katzenberg was … … out to deplete Disney’s talent pool. He flattered Disney...

Let’s start with the obvious question: Is Lee Unkrich concerned that he’s going to be the guy who breaks Pixar’s now-10-pictures-long winning streak? When I got to talk with the director of “ Toy Story 3 ” as part of a roundtable session at Comic-Con last year, Lee admitted that – with each new hit that...

Let’s say that you had this great idea for a theme park ride. So you write your idea down and then ship it off to The Walt Disney World Resort . Care to guess what happens once your new ride proposal arrives in Orlando? As soon as the cast member who works in Guest Relations (they’re the department at...

ShoWest is traditionally this forward-looking event. Where all the Studios come to hype the movies they’ll be releasing later this summer and/or next year. But this time around, John Lasseter and Jerry Bruckheimer took forward-looking to a whole new level. With Bruckheimer using his Lifetime Achievement...

You’ve probably seen a lot of Joe Ranft -related material popping up around the Web over the past few days. John Musker ’s excellent story reel-based tribute to his old pal (who was tragically killed in an automobile accident back on August 16, 2005 ). No to mention the first installment of Leo Holzer...

To hear Lella Smith , Creative Director of the Animation Research Library , tell this particular once-upon-a-time, it was John Lasseter who actually came up with the concept for this one-of-a-kind celebration of Disney fairy tale art. (L to R) John Lasseter, chief creative officer of Pixar & Walt...

With its turn-of-the-century architecture, Gotham Hall has long prided itself on being that spot in New York City “ … where style meets sophistication.” Well, yesterday morning, all of that style & sophistication gave way to silliness. As Disney Consumer Products turned this seven-story-tall gilded...

You know what they say in Hollywood. That your movie is only as good as your villain. Well, one of the main reasons that Disney’s “ The Princess and the Frog ” was so highly praised (Richard Corliss of “Time” Magazine flat-out called Disney’s return to hand-drawn animation “… the best film of the year...

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...

For 35 years now, “ Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer ” has been leading the way. At least when it comes to Christmas specials. Ever since this Rankin/Bass production first premiered on NBC in December of 1964, year after year, “Rudolph” has consistently occupied the top spot. Ratings-wise, that is. But...

When you really think about it, it’s entirely appropriate that “ Disney Prep & Landing ” – ABC ’s new holiday special which is built around an elite group of elves – started out life as a short. Elves. Short. Get it? … Never mind. Copyright 2009 Disney. All Rights Reserved Anyway … As veteran producer...

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...

This wasn’t what Klay Hall signed on for when he initially signed up with DisneyToon Studios . By that I mean: This CalArts graduate is probably best known for directing smart-ass animated sitcoms like “ The Simpsons ” and “ King of the Hill .” In fact, it was Hall’s work on DreamWorks Animation ’s ...

It’s been quite a month for the Mouse, don’t you think? Inside of one single 30 day span, The Walt Disney Company has: Revealed that it would be spending $4 billion to acquire Marvel Entertainment, Inc. and its library of 5000 characters At the D23 EXPO , the Studios announced a new production label...

According to John Lasseter, the folks at Pixar Animation Studios have been dying to make “Toy Story 3” for years now. But – that said – that doesn’t mean that it’s been all that easy to come up with a storyline that was a worthy follow-up to the much-beloved “Toy Story” & “Toy Story 2.” As John recalled...