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First the good news: The rumors that you've hearing are true. Johnny Depp actually has told the folk at Walt Disney Studios that he'd be willing to reprise the role of Capt. Jack Sparrow. Which is why the Mouse has already tentatively made plans to shoot "Pirates 4" in 2009. With the hope that this film...

Karl T. of Watertown, MA. writes in to say: I just discovered your " Making Fun of the Mouse " series from last year. And I really enjoyed reading through that trio of stories. I was wondering : Do you have any plans to continue that series? Because I am sure that there are lots of other cartoons and...

William Shakespeare once said : "What's in a name? That which we call a rose By any other word would smell as sweet." Well, I don't know Bob Iger would agree with the Bard. The way Disney's new CEO supposedly sees things, the proper answer to that "What's in a name?" question should probably be: "Brand...

Barry S. of Stowe, VT writes in to say: Dear Jim - Since you're such a fan of visual effects , I was wondering if you've seen Christina Aguilera 's new video, " Candyman ". Didn't the effect artists who worked on this production do a great job ? The digital doubling of Christina looks seamless to me...

To hear Roy Disney tell the tale, he basically owes his entire career in animation to his mother needing a babysitter. "When my Mother needed to go shopping, she'd drop me off with my Dad's office," Roy explained. "And my Dad would eventually say 'Get out of my office and find someone else to play with...

I've been getting a lot of e-mail lately about Michael Barrier 's new book, " The Animated Man: A Life of Walt Disney " (University of California Press, April 2007). Particularly from Disneyana fans who just purchased Neal Gabler 's " Walt Disney: The Triumph of the American Imagination " and are now...

There is this rather brutal business-related saying. Which -- at various different times -- has been attributed to Gore Vidal , Genegis Khan , Larry Ellison , David Merrick and Attila the Hun . "It is not enough that I succeed. My enemies must fail." Now, given that I know that several executives at...

Judging by many of the comments that have been posted on various Disneyland discussion boards around the Web, " Pirates of the Caribbean " fans are obviously looking forward to lining up along the red carpet on May 19th . Just so that they can then catch a glimpse of Johnny Depp & Co. as they stroll...

Karen M. writes in to ask a special favor: Dear Jim -- I just want to send you a quick e-mail to thank you for writing about Charlie Ridgway 's new book, " Spinning Disney's World ." On your recommendation , I picked up a copy and found that Mr. Ridgway's biography was just as you said it would be: Loaded...

For the past decade, the Sonoma Valley Film Festival has heard the refrains of "You've Got A Friend In Me" from John Lasseter , the creative force behind Pixar . Now the festival is turning the tables and planning quite a bash April 11-15 in recognition not only of its 10th anniversary but in tribute...

In a little more than three months time, Pixar 's next big release, " Ratatouille " will be rolling into theaters. And -- to date -- Walt Disney Pictures ' promotional department has done everything that they can in order to get the word out about this Brad Bird film. This includes creating a teaser...

This past Sunday, Pirates fans from all over New England made their way to the Loews Boston Common 19 . Photo by Jeff Lange Why For? To finally get a glimpse of the long-awaited trailer for "Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End ." Photo by Jeff Lange In spite of the freakishly cold weather that day...

On behalf of the Walt Disney Company and its stockholders, I'd like to apologize to the city of New Orleans. I mean, hasn't this beautiful city suffered enough? After having been blown about by Hurricane Katrina , was it really necessary to then expose the Big Easy to yet another long-winded female,...

I can't remember the production number of any Disney or Pixar movie I've ever worked on -- except one. "Sleeping Beauty's production number was 2082. I've never forgotten that number and probably never will. It was a number I had to write on every production slip, folder and drawing. And you better believe...

Okay. Let's be honest here, folks. If you're a JHM reader, you're already a great big honking Disney dweeb. Which means that you probably bought the Special Edition of "Peter Pan" when that DVD went on sale back in February of 2002. Not to mention the Limited Issue disc of this same Disney classic, which...

By now, you've probably seen pictures of " WALL E " 's title character. Maybe you've even caught a glimpse of this film's unique-looking logo. But what do you actually know about Pixar 's 2008 release? Very little, I'll bet. Which is standard operating procedure for this Emeryville-based animation studio...

What exactly is a Disney film? That's the question that Oren Aviv (I.E. The new president of production of Walt Disney Pictures) and Dick Cook (I.E. The longtime chairman of Walt Disney Studios) have supposedly struggled with these past seven months. As these two execs have tried to define what makes...

BelleFan227 writes in to ask about her favorite film: Dear Jim, As you might have already guessed by my screen name, I'm a huge fan of Disney's " Beast & the Beast ." So I was wondering if you had any stories that you could share about the production of this animated feature? Dear BellFan, Well,...

Disney dweebs the world over are still chattering about the bombshell that Al Lutz dropped over on Miceage on Tuesday morning. About how Walt Disney Pictures is reportedly toying with the idea of producing a second trio of "Pirates of the Caribbean" films. With the first installment of this next trilogy...

I don't know how Didier Ghez does it. I mean, the guy holds down a full-time job at Warner Bros. He also travels the world (Didier & his wife just got back from a trip to Africa). In addition to running his snazzy Disney History website (If you haven't already bookmarked this great little site, do...