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Are you looking forward to " Rango " ? Copyright 2010 Paramount Pictures. All rights reserved I know that I am. And not just because this project reunites Johnny Depp with his " Pirates of the Caribbean " director, Gore Verbinski . Or because this Paramount Pictures will be ILM 's...

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 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...

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...

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...

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...

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...

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...

It was late summer 1958 and things had been going well. The mad rush to wrap the animated feature film, “ Sleeping Beauty ” was finally succeeding, and the film was well on its way to completion. Taking a break from the drawing board, I headed up to the second floor of the Animation Building...

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...

You probably already know the story. A group of young guys move into the establishment and begin to shake things up. The old guard naturally has issues with the young punks, and they begin to push back. It’s a story we’ve all heard before, and I find it amazing that it remains a story that never really...

Do you have a Disney fanatic in your family? Then this must be the time of year that you dread most. When you’re expected to come up with a suitable holiday gift for this problematic family member. Not to worry, though. Jim Hill Media is here to help. Over the first four Wednesdays in December, we’ll...

A group of young guys and gals gathered in the office of a Disney veteran on the third floor of the Animation Building. “Boy, you missed it,” the old timer rhapsodized as he spoke about the good old days of the late 1930s and early 1940s. “This used to be a great place to work, but the strike ended all...

I’ve been spending a fair amount of time in Disney’s old Animation Building recently. A visit to the second floor always provokes a flood of memories. The structure has been renovated, and yet things look pretty much the same. At least enough remains to remind this Disney veteran of a time long gone...

" ... and then there were none." For over three decades now, animation fans have been quietly counting down. As first John Lounsbury , and then Les Clark slipped away. Followed by Woolie Reitherman , Milt Kahl and Eric Larsen . Then Marc Davis , Ward Kimball and Frank Thomas . And today word came out...