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New and a bit alarming Who 'd have ever thought that this could be? Well, " Beauty and the Beast " co-director Kirk Wise doesn't seem all that surprised that this Academy Award-winning film (which was the first animated feature to ever be nominated for Best Picture) got selected for...

It is the film that - when Andrew Mooney of Disney Consumer Products revealed that this project was in the works back in June of 2009 at the Licensing International Expo in Las Vegas - made a lot of people go "Huh?" By that I mean: A hand-drawn, feature-length Winnie the Pooh . Which was something...

I know, I know. For the past week or so, JHM has been running a lot of Comic-Con- related stories . Talking about the various celebrities who made a special trip down to San Diego this year. Well, as it turns out, Anaheim had its own star-studded affair earlier this month. Jennifer Cody (i.e. the winner...

If you feel a slight breeze coming from the West Coast today, that’s that huge sigh of relief coming from all of the artists & animators who worked on “ The Princess & the Frog .” Given the estimated $25 million that this new John Musker & Ron Clements movie pulled in over its first weekend...

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...

If you're a Disney trivia buff, I'm sure that you can already name the father & mother dog in " 101 Dalmatians ." But can you name all 15 of the puppies that Perdita had? Copyright 2008 Disney. All Rights Reserved Okay. I know. That's kind of a trick question. Given that -- in the original 1961 film...

How many of you know the story of the blind men and the elephant ? I bring up this ancient Indian fable because ... Well ... I have to admit that I was highly amused by what happened last Wednesday. When the on-line animation community went completely bananas over those "Bolt" pre-release images . Copyright...

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...

As part of their classic comedy routine, " The 2000 Year Old Man ," Carl Reiner asked Mel Brooks what he attributed his amazing longevity to. To which Mel replied: "I never, ever touch fried food. And I never run for a bus. There'll always be another." I bring up Brooks' bus joke for a reason. In that...

If you've been reading JHM for a while now, you already know that I'm a very big fan of Didier Ghez 's "Walt's People" books . So -- that said -- is it really all that big a surprise that I enjoyed reading " Volume 5 " of this ongoing series. Mind you, at 443 pages in length, this paperback is the heftiest...

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...

If you go strictly by the numbers, there aren't really a whole lot of reasons to be happy with the way " Ratatouille " performed this past weekend. Were you to compare how this new Brad Bird film opened versus how other earlier Pixar movies did over their opening weekends ... Title of Movie Year Released...

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...

Here's the official party line for the Walt Disney Company nowadays : That everyone who works in Burbank is just thrilled that John Lasseter & Ed Catmull now exert so much control over the corporation. More importantly, that all Mouse House employees have been eager to embrace Pixar 's "Quality is...

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...

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...