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Toon fans and film historians just don't know what to make of Walt Disney Animation Studios ' " Get a Horse! " There's a real air of mystery surrounding this animated short. The fact that it's done in black-and-white, features rubber-hose, pie-eyed versions of classic Disney...

If you listen carefully today, you can hear thousands of people around the country quietly cursing. "And why are these people cursing?," you ask. Well, that's because these folks are just now realizing it's February 13th. Which means that tomorrow is Valentine's Day. That day when...

For three weeks now, photos of a mysterious bankers box have been making the rounds on the Web. Brad Bird and Damon Lindelof reportedly deliberately put these images out there to help whet people's appetites for " Tomorrowland ," the sci-fi -themed project that these two wrote which is...

The full-length animated features that Walt Disney Animation Studios has produced over the past 75 years can mostly be sorted into two distinctly different piles: Those films that Walt personally had a hand in and those movies which were produced after Disney passed away. Please note that I said "mostly...

Last Monday afternoon, I was at the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library & Museum and overheard a pretty funny exchange between two of the docents who'd been assigned to work the " D23 presents Treasures of the Walt Disney Archives " exhibit. Photo by Alice Hill It seems that one of these...

As I sat at my drawing board wildly sketching away on a new feature film idea, I suddenly glanced up to see two visitors in the room. It seems they were scrutinizing the sketches, models and story boards in my cluttered office. The two older gentleman were wearing the pastel colored garb usually sported...

The old adage is "April Showers bring May Flowers." Image courtesy of S/R Laboratories. All rights reserved Well, Nancy and I are down in Orlando right now. And this year, April Showers seems to be bringing May Downpours. Which suggests that June might be a really good time to go shopping for...

Today's the day that the 2012 Newport Beach Film Festival officially gets underway. And given that -- for the past four years now -- this annual event has been a lot of animation fans' radar thanks to those "Evenings of Disney Rarities" screenings that Oscar-nominated producer Don Hahn...

The other evening, a pal who works for an animation studio that shall remain nameless was telling me about the project he was developing. It was great news to hear he had garnered the attention of the studio bosses and was moving into development on his new movie. But I couldn't but think how things...

As a longtime fan of hand-drawn animation, it did my heart good this past weekend to see Disney's "The Lion King" once again wind up on top of the box office heap. To have the 3D version of this 1994 Academy Award-winner gross $30.1 million (which is more than twice what the No. 2 film...

They're the films that The Walt Disney Company was actually founded on. Those animated shorts which wowed moviegoers back in the 1930s & 1940s that then paved the way for the Studio's success in feature-length cartoons. But with the rise of television in the 1950s, America's movie-going...

Here's an interesting bit of trivia for you film history buff out there. Grim Natwick - the animation legend who many in the industry credit with making the title character in Disney's " Snow White " seem so lifelike ... Snow White and Forest Animals Special Set-up from "Snow White...

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."...

I’ve often been asked this goofy question. “How would you run an animation studio if you were in charge?” Questions like this come from young people who assume I have answers. The truth is, I’m not in that position, and I don’t expect to be. However, I once ran my own business...

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...

Why are all these people racing through the streets of New Orleans? * Photo by Nancy Stadler Because “ Dreams Come True: Art of the Classic Fairy Tales from Walt Disney Studios ” is closing on March 14 th . Which means that you now only have six short days to catch this acclaimed exhibition. Photo by...

I don’t know who came up with the bright idea, but it was a darn good one. What about spending our noon hour with the Vice Chairman of Walt Disney Feature Animation ? Would Roy Edward Disney accept our invitation, we wondered? The only way to find out was to simply ask. The early 1980s proved to...

It’s always been one of the great what-ifs of Disney history. What if … All of the Studio’s overseas markets hadn’t been cut off by the start of World War II? It’s well known that – as of the late 1930s -- Walt was well into development of full-length animated versions of “ Alice in Wonderland ,” “ Peter...

Okay. I know. JHM has already done a number of stories on “ Disney Prep and Landing ,” that new holiday special that Walt Disney Animation Studios produced exclusively for ABC (which – FYI – wound up being the highest rated Christmas special of the 2009 – 2010 season ). Copyright 2009 Disney Enterprises...

Nancy and I got the news yesterday afternoon as we were driving down to NYC. We’d stopped to gas up the car in Tolland, CT when Angela called on the cell to say that Roy E. Disney had died . This was obviously sad news. But -- to be honest -- not exactly unexpected. Ever since word leaked back in June...