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This past Sunday was the 20 th anniversary of Jim Henson ’s passing. And if you look around the Web, you’ll find a number of articles out there that talk about all the great TV shows & movies we missed out on because this gentle genius passed away at the far-too-young age of 53 . But the part of...

IronManFan236 sent in a question that was short & sweet: Did Marvel Studios deliberately make Howard Stark look like Walt in “ Iron Man 2 ” as a tribute / tip-of-the-hat to the Disney acquisition deal? Iron Man 2, the Movie: Copyright 2010 MVL Film Finance LLC. Iron Man, the character: TM & Copyright...

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...

I know, I know. It’s just the first week of May. But as far as Hollywood is concerned, Summer blockbuster season starts tomorrow with the release of “ Iron Man 2 .” But before the Web goes wild with predictions of how much this “ Iron Man ” sequel will earn over its opening weekend, I thought it might...

Good God. Are we really already be up to Volume 9 in the “Walt’s People” series? I can recall when Disney Historian Didier Ghez initially proposed these books (which – if I’m remembering correctly – was sometime back during the Pleistocene Epoch) that would collect & then reprint the very best Mouse...

David Kracov remembers the night that he decided to quit working in animation. “A bunch of my friends took me out to Astroburger . And while we were eating, Brad Bird tried to talk me out of quitting. Brad said that he wanted me to come work with him on this new movie he wanted to make. Which was about...

Trina P. wrote in to say: Thanks for sharing those pictures from the Tim Burton exhibition at the MoMA . I’m a huge Burton fan and had wanted to get down to NYC while that exhibit was there, but never found the time. I noticed that you had a lot of pictures from Tim Burton movies that never got made...

Did you hear about the play test that WDI ran at The Magic Kingdom last month? Where the Imagineers used Guests who were waiting in line for a character meet-n-greet right outside of Pooh’s Playful Spot to try out a new entertainment-based queuing system? Though the Imagineers are being pretty close...

If you’re a fan of The Walt Disney Company’s theatrical productions , then you should probably make a point of setting your TiVo to record Friday’s “ Live with Regis & Kelly ” (when the Las Vegas company of “ The Lion King ” will be making an appearance on that syndicated morning talk show) as well...

You'll find all sorts of tributes to the late John Hughes around the Web today. Stories where people talk about their favorite lines and/or sequences from " Sixteen Candles ," " Pretty in Pink " and " Ferris Bueller's Day Off ." But I wonder how many of these articles will bother to mention the role...

The TV commercials claim that “ This is not your father’s Star Trek .” Which made me wonder: What audience is this new J.J. Abrams movie actually aimed at? Copyright 2009 Pararmount Pictures. All Rights Reserved So – to get a sense of who’d embrace this Star Trek reboot – I assembled a rather unique...

Do you recall that shindig that Walt Disney Studios held at the Kodak Theatre back in September. Where the 26 movies that the Mouse House now has in the works -- among them highly anticipated sequels like " Pirates of the Caribbean 4 ," " Toy Story 3 ," " National Treasure 3 " and " Tron 2 " -- were...

By now, I'm sure that you're heard that Glen Keane is no longer the co-director of "Rapunzel." That he and Dean Wellins will be turning the reins over to Byron Howard & Nathan Greno , who were the co-director and head of story on " Bolt " respectively. To be honest, this change couldn't have come...

This is not how Walt Disney Studios Home Entertainment thought this particular retail fairy tale would play out. Back in January when the Mouse announced that " Sleeping Beauty " would be the first Disney Platinum Edition title to be released on Blu-ray , executives in that division of the Walt Disney...

As far as Universal Studios Hollywood is considered, this was the Summer of the Simpsons. " The Simpsons Ride ," to be exact. Photo by Shelly Smith But now Autumn's on its way. Which typically means that this is the start of the slow season for Southern California's theme parks. A time when you push...

I wonder if you've ever had an experience like this: The other day, I was feeling blue. Alice had just gone home after spending almost the entire summer up here in New Hampshire. And I was missing my daughter something fierce. Which is why I decided that I'd try & cheer myself up by watching...

As Summer gives way to Fall, Disney executives are now reviewing the revenues that the Studio's films produced over the past few months. And to be honest, the sharp pencil boys aren't all that happy. Everywhere you look, there are disappointments. Be they big (" The Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian...

It's one of the main reasons that people just can't stop talking about " WALL-E ." And -- no -- I'm not talking about the opening weekend grosses for this new Andrew Stanton movie (Though -- now that we've broached this subject -- while "WALL-E" didn't earn the $70-million-plus that Mouse House officials...

Peter S. writes in to say: Jim I caught the midnight show of " Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull " last night. And for the most part, I agree with your review of this film. "Crystal Skull" wasn't nearly as good as " Raiders of the Lost Ark " was. But it wasn't as bad as " Temple of Doom...