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For the past three days, the story that's been dominating entertainment news is Rich Ross' removal as Chairman of Walt Disney Studios . Now most of these articles seem to lay the blame for Ross' exit on " John Carter " 's box office . And while it's true that this Andrew...

Dave dropped me a note last night which reads: Jim, We saw " The Muppets " over the weekend (fun film, by the way), and noticed that the familiar castle logo at the beginning of the film now just says "Disney," instead of " Walt Disney Pictures ." We also noticed this for...

For the past six days or so, TRON fans around the world have been dissecting those 23 minutes of footage that they saw last Thursday on TRON Night . As they try to determine whether this Joseph Kosinski film will actually be a worthy follow-up to the 1982 original. But me? I prefer to get my info straight...

Nancy and I were just watching "The Purdum Reel." Which is this Special Feature on the Blu-ray version of the Diamond Edition of Disney's " Beauty and the Beast ." Which hits store shelves yesterday. Concept art from the Richard Purdum version of "Beauty and the Beast."...

To hear Robby Benson tell the tale, the only reason that this " Ice Castles " star wound up doing the voice of the Beast in Disney's acclaimed animated feature was because Robby knew his way around a Walkman. "This is a story that I always tell the students in my acting classes. How...

Like the very best bits of magic, “ The Sorcerer’s Apprentice ” employs a certain amount of misdirection. Jay Baruchel in Disney's "The Sorcerer's Apprentice." Copyright 2009 Disney Enterprises, Inc. and Jerry Bruckheimer, Inc. All rights reserved Take – for...

The tale of the Sorcerer's Apprentice and The Walt Disney Company have been intertwined ever since Walt Disney invited famed conductor Leopold Stokowski to come join him for dinner at Chasen's . Which is where the old Mousetro supposedly asked the Maestro if he'd be interested in working with Disney...

Greetings from the Universal Orlando Resort . Where I’m now in my final day of covering the grand opening of The Wizarding World of Harry Potter . Photo by Jim Hill It has been an absolutely amazing couple of days. And I’m heading back to New Hampshire tonight with all sorts of stories to share about...

Have you seen Toy Story 3 yet? I confess I haven’t. But as I write this article, the movie’s opening date is still nearly a week away, so I’ve got a good excuse. Yet with all the excitement surrounding the movie’s debut, it felt like an appropriate time to take a spin aboard Toy...

Welcome to Las Vegas. Where the 2010 Licensing International Expo is just winding down. Just like last year, before attendees could enter the Mandalay Bay Convention Center , they first had to walk through this gauntlet of colorful banners which trumpeted all of The Walt Disney Company’s key brands and...

First up, Mark K. writes to ask about WDW ’s Night Kingdom / Jungle Trek project: There was considerable talk several years back about a potential 5th park opening but I have heard no mention of it recently. Did the recession and the decision to remake fantasy land doom this project? Dear Mark K. – There...

All’s well that ends well. Or so says William Shakespeare and/or John Heywood . But it’s not Heywood that we’re talking about today. But – rather – Hollywood. And after having watched Disney’s “ Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time ,” I’m now wondering if it’s actually okay to overlook the first 100 minutes...

When discussing a new summer blockbuster like Disney’s “ Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time ,” it’s hard not to get caught up in all the details. Like those 1,200 visual effects shots that you’ll find in this Jerry Bruckheimer production. Or the action sequences that Mike Newell chose to stage 8,200...

Did you see where the purchase price of DreamWorks Animation shares dropped 6% yesterday because some investment analyst said that “ Shrek Forever After ” was projected to only make $315 million during its initial domestic run? Care to guess how many movies released last year sold more than $300 million...

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...

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...

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...

When he was in the press room at Comic Con last July, Tim Burton talked about how “ Alice in Wonderland ” wasn’t actually the first film that he’d used green screen on (2007’s “ Sweeney Todd - The Demon Barber of Fleet Street ” was). But because so many scenes for this Walt Disney Pictures release were...

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...

In response to last month’s “ Is Disney / Pixar finally getting serious about ‘Monsters, Inc. 2’ “ article, PapaMelrose wrote in to say: Sometimes The Walt Disney Company registers domain names not because they ever intend on actually using them. But because they don’t want some other company or individual...