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Were you surprised by the rather generic-sounding new name that the Walt Disney Company saddled Disney-MGM with last week? Well, you weren't the only one. Many of the Mouse House managers that I spoke with over this past weekend were really taken aback by the studio theme park's new moniker. As one Disney...

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...

For over 50 years now, the Walt Disney Company has been going to the dogs. Particularly when Mickey was looking for strong story material to build new motion pictures around. Think about it. Ever since " Lady and the Tramp " first bounded into theaters back in June of 1955, the Mouse Factory has turned...

You'd think that -- when the very first edition of " Leonard Maltin 's Movie Guide" was published back in 1969 -- that this then-18-year-old film historian would have been terribly proud of his first published work. Well, think again. "To be honest, I was embarassed by the book," Maltin admitted in a...

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...

Anneliese van der Pol is not the first actress to play Belle in Broadway's version of "Beauty & the Beast" (That honor went to stage veteran Susan Egan . Who -- these days -- is probably best known to Disneyana fans as the voice of Megara in " Hercules ") ... Copyright Disney Enterprises, Inc. All...

You want to be able to look into the future? Particularly the Walt Disney Company's future? Okay, then. What you need to start doing then is staying home on Saturday nights and watching ABC 's " The Wonderful World of Disney " movie anthology series. During which you should pay particularly close attention...

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...

It's the word that every Disney executive dreads: Recall. Officials at the Mouse House still shudder when they think back on the " Rescuers " recall of 1999. When 3.4 million copies of that newly released video had to be pulled off store shelves. All because -- in just two frames out of the 110,000 that...

Do you still need supplies for tomorrow's big picnic. Not to worry. I know just the place to go ... To the Kwik-E-Mart ! Photo by Max Power What's that you say? That's just a fictitious convenience store from "The Simpsons" TV series . Not anymore, pal. As part of the promotion for " The Simpsons Movie...

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...

It is one of the more intriguing aspects of the production history of Pixar 's latest, " Ratatouille ." The fact that this animated feature started off with one director (I.E. Jan Pinkava , who helmed this animation studio's Academy Award-winning short , " Geri's Game ") yet wound up being completed...

By now, I'm sure that you've heard that the Broadway musical version of "Tarzan" will be shuttering on July 8th after only 486 performances and 35 previews. To be honest, this news took a lot of theater insiders by surprise. By that I mean: Everyone in the industry was aware that -- since this Disney...

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...

Earlier this week, Perry T. sent me the following e-mail : Jim, Are you as sick as I am about how the Imagineers keep forcing characters into older attractions at the Disney theme parks? Just in the past six months, we've had that new " Monsters, Inc. Laugh Floor " show replace the Magic Kingdom 's old...

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...

Shades of Sesame Street ! Is Mickey really looking to put Kermit & Co. back in the educational television business ? That's the rumor that's currently making the rounds. Thanks -- in large part -- to a new online survey that was initially mentioned last Monday on the message boards over at " American...

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...