J.J. Abrams has big plans for Star Wars. Very big plans, reaching beyond a new trilogy of films focusing on the multi-billion-dollar franchise. We’re talking TV shows, spin-offs, online components, theme park rides, you name it. It’s a plan Abrams had several years ago for another property, Star Trek. He wasn’t able to make it work with the Enterprise crew, because the rights to Star Trek are split between Paramount, which controls the movies, and CBS, which controls the TV shows and product licensing.
The Wrap has a fascinating article detailing these issues. The core idea is that CBS’ and Paramount’s differing viewpoints on the franchise might have frustrated Abrams to a point where, when Star Wars became available, he decided to shift his allegiance and master plan over to the dark side at Disney. Read More »
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Threadless has teamed again with Disney to produce a new line of t-shirts based on the winning submissions of an art contest. This time around the subject isn’t Disney villains, Toy Story, Iron Man or The Muppets, its another Pixar property — Monsters Inc. The 16 winning t-shirts are n ow on sale on the Threadless website. See them below.
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With each and every movie he releases, Brad Bird raises his own bar. He went from small amazing animation in The Iron Giant, to big amazing animation in The Incredibles. That was followed by transcendent animation in Ratatouille, then live action blockbuster in Mission: Impossible Ghost Protocol. That resume puts a ton of pressure on the director not only for his next movie, the Disney themed-Tomorrowland starring George Clooney, but anything he does next.
Two projects Bird has discussed as follow-ups are a sequel to The Incredibles, something fans have been begging for since 2004, and a new Star Wars movie. The director talked about both in an interview with The Hollywood Reporter, confirming he’s constantly thinking about The Incredibles 2, would like to do that, and that Kathleen Kennedy ask him if he wanted to direct Star Wars Episode VII. Read More »
Director Rob Marshall has just cast two princes for his Disney musical Into The Woods. Star Trek‘s Chris Pine and Brokeback Mountain‘s Jake Gyllenhaal are in talks to join an increasingly star-studded cast set for the fairy-tale blending musical. Meryl Streep and Johnny Depp are already attached as the film’s main witch and a sultry wolf, while Pine and Gyllenhall would be Cinderella and Rapunzel’s princes. It’ll mark the first time either has sung on screen. Read More »
Is Pixar making Toy Story 4? It’s possible. But we now know they’re at least making a fourth Toy Story Toon, following in the steps of Hawaiian Vacation, Small Fry and Partysaurus Rex. The short is called Toy Story of Terror and will premiere on ABC this Halloween, making it Pixar’s first TV special. Check out the first image and read about the film below. Read More »
The Magic Kingdom at Walt Disney World in Orlando, Florida rolled out the red carpet this weekend as they coronated Merida, the star of Pixar’s Brave, as the 11th official Disney princess. It was a lavish occasion and video of the event is now online.
While this universal acceptance into the Disney’s canon should be reason to celebrate, the character’s creator isn’t happy. Brenda Chapman, Oscar-winning co-director of Brave and the film’s original creator, has slammed Disney’s redesign of the character, saying it enforces stereotypes Merida was created to break. Read her quotes below. Read More »
At any given time, the gang at Pixar has roughly half a dozen films in various stages of development, many of which the public is unaware of. Currently we know they have Monsters University out next month, Bob Peterson’s The Good Dinosaur out next Summer, Pete Docter’s Inside Out set for release Summer 2015 and Andrew Stanton’s Finding Dory, the sequel to Finding Nemo, out November 2015. Lee Unkrich is also making a still-untitled Día de los Muertos film which’ll be released somewhere in that time period. But, obviously, more is on the way.
Last week, Disney CEO Bob Iger did a conference call with shareholders and one small piece of information he mentioned has yet to be discussed. Iger said that, over the next five years, Pixar has “fantastic original stories as well as some great sequels to their previous hits.” That’s “sequels,” plural, meaning there must be at least one more beyond Finding Dory. Read the full quote and speculate below. Read More »
I don’t think there was much doubt that the TV show Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. would be ordered to series at ABC, but here’s your confirmation. The show exec produced by Joss Whedon (who also directed the pilot) will air on the Disney-owned network, and extend part of the story of The Avengers into a more everyday thriller territory on television.
That’s the first official cast photo above, and the first look at footage from Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. will air this weekend, Sunday, May 12, at 8 p.m. before of the season finale of Once Upon a Time. Read More »
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