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Sometime today, Disney's "Tangled" will blow through the $100-million-in-domestic-ticket-sales threshold . Which is the fastest that a Walt Disney Animation Studios release has reached this particular milestone since " The Lion King " back in 1994. So -- in honor of this auspicious...

Did you see where Walt Disney Studios put Tim Burton 's " Alice in Wonderland " back in theaters last week ? Not all over the country, mind you. But just in the LA area. With the hope that this limited engagement might then make Academy members remember this 3D blockbuster when awards season...

As Halloween 2010 draws near, it's normal to expect to hear the sound of leathery wings flapping ominously in the night. But this year, those wings might belong to a dragon rather than a bat. Perhaps a Monstrous Nightmare...or maybe a Hideous Zippleback...or possibly the intelligent and incredibly...

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."...

Now let me say from the very start of today's photo essay that the Security Hosts who patrol the grounds of the Disneyland Resort actively discourage people from bringing knives on property (That's why they do those bag checks at Disneyland Plaza, after all). But that said, this time of year...

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...

I have been writing professionally about The Walt Disney Company for over 25 years now. Which is why I can tell you what it felt like to be in a theater on November 17, 1989. Which was the night that " The Little Mermaid " was first released to theaters. As the credits rolled, I remember turning...

It is arguably the best-loved film of that trio of fairy tales that Walt Disney Animation Studios produced during its Second Golden Age. The first hand-drawn animated feature ever to be nominated for Best Picture, " Beauty and the Beast " has been discussed, dissected and written about so often...

I know, I know. For the past week or so, JHM has been running a lot of Comic-Con- related stories . Talking about the various celebrities who made a special trip down to San Diego this year. Well, as it turns out, Anaheim had its own star-studded affair earlier this month. Jennifer Cody (i.e. the winner...

Good Lord?! Is it really just 10 days ‘til Comic-Con officially gets underway? The folks at Comic-Con International have finally posted all four days of programming for this year’s event. And given the huge number of Disney-related panels that are being presented this year … Well, San Diego is the place...

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...

With “Toy Story 3” earning over $365 million worldwide since this Lee Unkrich film was released on June 18 th (More importantly, with the “Toy Story” franchise having produced over $8 billion in global retail sales to date), it is sometime hard to remember that – just 15 years ago – there weren’t a whole...

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...

Do you hear that loud beep-beep-beep noise coming from Burbank? That’s The Walt Disney Company backing up. Rapidly retreating from its earlier attempts to make the Winnie the Pooh characters seem hip, fashionable and contemporary. “Coming off of ‘ My Friends Tigger and Pooh ,’ we did a lot of research...

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...

DonkeyBoy writes with a question related to Wednesday’s “ The Art of Shrek Forever After ” review . He wants to know about … … that image of teenage Shrek you included with your article. You mentioned that this was a storyline that Mike Mitchell and his team developed for this Dreamworks film and then...

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...

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...