Saturday May, 26 2007

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Here in Los Angeles, Captain Jack Sparrow is a regular fixture in front of Grauman's Chinese Theater, where aspiring actors woo tourists every day dressed as Darth Vader, Spider-Man and, of course, Johnny Depp's popular "Pirates of the Caribbean" character.

But beginning at noon on May 24, the real costume contest went down across the street at the Disney-owned El Capitan Theater, where 1,000 "Pirates" fans gathered for a 10-hour back-to-back-to-back marathon of the full trilogy. Any way you slice it, that's a lot of "Pirates" — or, as far as this crowd was concerned, not nearly enough. The most enthusiastic among them had also reserved seats for the midnight show and turned right back around to see "Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End" again as soon as they got out.

Me, I half-expected the ushers to hand out buttons commending our stamina when the marathon finally ended, but these fans certainly don't think of themselves as survivors. For them, the event was a privilege, not only to revisit the original two movies on the big screen but also to be among the first audiences to see the third. At $100 per ticket, they'd paid for the right to be first (the event sold out within five days of being announced), but then Buena Vista went and decided to open the movie at 8 p.m., giving New York auds a 100-minute jump on this crowd.

Needless to say, these were not casual fans, and someone like me, who half-hoped there might be someone to crack wise with through the duration, was the oddball here. At least one in five patrons came dressed in pirate attire — sporting everything from the generic bandana-and-eyepatch look to a handmade "Beware the Kraken" T-shirt — and of those in costume, at least one in five had specifically patterned his look after Johnny Depp's character.

"Pirate attire is encouraged," said the letter that accompanied the ticket in the mail. "However, any real weapons will need to be checked at the door." The last thing Disney needs is some amateur swashbuckler accidentally putting a kid's eye out during intermission, so ushers stood guard at the entrance to collect pistols, cutlasses and other potentially dangerous accessories. (Did the six-movie "Star Wars" marathon, which began a day earlier at the Los Angeles Convention Center, have the same problem with light sabers, I wonder?)

If prizes had been given out, Richard Maldonado would have surely made the final cut. I did a double take when I first spotted him during the lunch break, thinking that he might in fact be Johnny Depp. From his beaded dreadlocks to the custom boots (made by a man in Texas who'd been hired to outfit the extras in the sequels, he said), Maldonado had captured not only Captain Jack's look, but also the character's rum-drunk swagger.

"I knew as soon as I saw the first movie in 2003 that's what I wanted to be for Halloween," he told me, pointing to his tricorner hat. "This was the first thing I learned to make." After seeing a similar replica listed on eBay for $800, he went down to the library, checked out some books and taught himself how to make authentic-looking pirate hats. Now, he sells them on eBay, too. "It's still a sideline, but I made more than my regular job last year."

Nearby, a woman wore a Maldonado original, a "designer" version silk-screened with a pattern of gold skull-and-crossbones and Louis Vuitton logos. Maldonado was clearly no stranger to this circle, and friends who recognized him from other Pirate fests (like the one coming up next weekend in Corona) stopped to admire the latest additions to his costume.

Not so far away, another impersonator posed for pictures with a gaggle of young ladies dressed as wenches. Unlike Maldonado, the man wore a false beard, but the costume was otherwise convincing. Deflecting my questions without breaking character, he said, "I don't really understand the concept, but there are many people dressed up as me," before staggered off as only Jack Sparrow can.

For years, pirates were a neglected subset of the Renaissance fair crowd, one enthusiast explained. "Now, they're a dime a dozen." Jerry Bruckheimer's trilogy has brought new meaning into their lives. I could find only two young men inspired by Orlando Bloom's character, William Turner. Everyone else wanted to be Jack Sparrow, including a handful queuing up to use the ladies' room.

James Ramsey traveled all the way from Abilene, Texas, to attend the event. He, too, makes his own Captain Jack attire, originally developing the character for Halloween. "The first year, I looked more like Captain Turner," he said. "The next year, I found a pattern at Wal-Mart and did the jacket. I've been working on it ever since." Now, he runs his own lawn business, but does parties on weekends.

Not everyone was so enthusiastic. One father, flanked by his teen daughter and young son, offered a status report to the outside world by cell phone between movies. "We were all yawning through the first movie," he said. "I don't know if we're going to make it."

But defections, if any, were rare. No one bought a ticket who didn't intend to stay for the third movie. And "Pirates" fans are a rowdy bunch — not in the "rape, pillage and plunder" mold of their screen idols, necessarily, but more like teen girls at an 'N Sync concert. And the event's perky hosts, no doubt ported over from Disneyland for the day, knew just how to push their buttons.

An innocuous "Who's ready to see 'Curse of the Black Pearl?'" was met with a shrieking more terrifying than the Kraken, a frenzied noise repeated during the onscreen entrances of Keira Knightley, Orlando Bloom and Depp — in every movie.

The day was rumored to have its share of "special guests," and the crowd clearly anticipated that at least one of those three would show. Instead, the good folks at Disney produced Martin Klebba, who plays the dwarf pirate Marty, and wenches Vanessa Branch and Lauren Maher.

The guests improved between each movie, with Jack Davenport (Admiral Norrington) trotted out before "Dead Man's Chest." That gave the fans reason to suspect someone big might introduce the latest installment — but they would have to settle for Naomie Harris, the voodoo priestess whose part grows significantly in the third movie.

That third movie is still a blur for me. Yes, I sat through all 168 minutes of it, all the way to the "10 years later" episode buried at credits' end, but there comes a moment when any reasonable human can stand only so much of a good thing — and that, dear friends, occurs about 90 minutes into the original film when Sparrow and Turner first visit the Isla de Muerta. After that, things have a way of repeating themselves.

Even the ushers seemed impressed. "They've been here all day," mused one, whose shift began at 5:30 (just as the second film was entering the final stretch). But the crowd didn't seem to mind. A stunt conceived as an act of cinemasochism on my part was anything but for these fans. And a Disneyland fixture that had become a mere movie for me had never ceased to be a theme-park attraction in their eyes. And now, exiting their theater, it was clear: They wanted to ride the whole thing over again.

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New York film company Cabin Creek Films has been contracted by Disney to film a documentary about the making of the two schools' co-production of the wildly popular title in June, Disney spokesperson Patti McTeague confirmed Thursday.

Film crews will document the auditions, rehearsals and the June 27-30 performances in Western Hills' auditorium. The as-yet-untitled film will air in the fall on the Disney Channel, after the sequel to High School Musical premieres in August.

The director is Barbara Kopple, who has won two Oscars for her documentary features -- 1976's Harlan County U.S.A. and 1990's American Dream -- and was the co-director of the 2006 documentary about the fallout of the Dixie Chicks' infamous anti-Bush comments, Shut Up & Sing. Her other credits include Wild Man Blues, about the European tour of Woody Allen's jazz band, and TV episodes of Oz and Homicide: Life on the Street.

The documentary will also look into the lives of the actors and people involved with the production.

"We are looking to do a film that gets into the whole experience of the show," producer David Cassidy said. "We'll be living in the Fort Worth area and be part of the Fort Worth experience, spending time with the educators and parents."

Julia Worthington, theater arts director at Western Hills, said the schools' production was among six national high schools considered because they had already scheduled summer productions of High School Musical.

Interviews and a site visit resulted in the Fort Worth schools' selection.

This co-production is the fourth year the two schools have combined forces for a summer musical, a collaboration they call H20, or Heights-Hills Operation. Worthington and Arlington Heights' theater director Ann Hunter will co-direct the musical.

"The kids in my program are very excited," Worthington said, "and I've even heard from kids I haven't seen anywhere before.

"We're pleased because we'll be able to show regular kids who work their guts out on these shows."

Disney's 'High School Musical'

7 p.m. June 27-29, 2 and 7 p.m. June 30

Western Hills High School, 3600 Boston Ave., Fort Worth

$8 (tickets go on sale June 11)

817-560-5689

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"I've always wanted to be the guy where if you like a shirt, you buy three," he says in a recent phone interview. "Or if you find some socks that really suit you, you buy six pairs. I do do that kind of thing."

Public transportation is now a thing of the past, too.

"When I see a cab come by, my arm automatically goes up in the air."

And who could blame him for a little indulgence?

Nighy, 57, toiled in TV, movies and theater long enough to be noticed but not secure. He would wake some mornings thinking he should retire from show business. Then he played a middle-aged rocker who sings a Christmastime hit in the 2003 romance "Love Actually," and the part mirrored his own renaissance.

"Without question that raised my profile more than anything else at the time," he says. "More people saw me in 'Love Actually' than had ever seen me in the whole of my career."

Then his ship came in: the role of Davy Jones, a damned pirate captain who roams the seas -- and would make a fine sliced calamari -- pining for the sea nymph Calypso. "Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest" and the third in the series, "At World's End" -- opening today in wide release -- have quelled the voice inside that told Nighy he wasn't established enough.

"I used to think of it as an honorable thing to think little of yourself, as if it were in good taste," he says. "It's exacerbated by being English. And I think it is a sort of national trait. I do tend to take it to extremes, which I don't think is really healthy. I'm working on it, but on a bad day, I do run myself like a fascist state, and I am a very severe critic."

"At World's End" finds his barnacle-pocked alter-ego in his own sea of doubt. Davy Jones is now in service to the East India Trading Co. and Lord Cutler Beckett. It is an unaccustomed position for the free-sailing apparition, and he's ticked.

Jones' stunning countenance more than makes up for how silly Nighy actually looks on the set. He had white dots on his face for the computer tracking of the digital makeup, and he wore pajamas and a skullcap with bubbles on them so the camera picks up his movement.

Jones has become a favorite of children, and Nighy does concede the temptation at times to let the wee ones know that he is the bloke behind the squid.

Nighy fancies himself the underdog. He once dreamed of being a novelist, but a trip to Paris produced only a title page. He quit school to set out for the Persian Gulf and made it as far as the south of France.

Then he tried to impress a girl by auditioning at Guildford School of Dance and Drama and impressed the administrators with his portrayal of "My Fair Lady's" Eliza Doolittle. Acting was an odd avenue, given his terminal self-consciousness. But Nighy says many of his notable colleagues -- no names -- are afflicted even worse.

Nighy has no jobs lined up but seems OK with it. He basked in over-the-top notices this spring for the father-son love triangle drama (with Julianne Moore) "Vertical Hour" on Broadway. Last year, he submitted another lauded turn as a cuckold to his student-chasing teacher wife (Cate Blanchett) in the movie "Notes on a Scandal." It is one of his few characters who come close to his essence.

"I got to play somebody who was reasonably happy until the terrible things happen, and a reasonably decent man," he says.

His relationship with actress Diana Quick has lasted more than 26 years, about 25 years and six months more than the Hollywood average.

His secret?

"The glib answer," he says, "is to arrange to be apart for long periods, which I think is almost partly true, if you ask my wife."

Nighy is keeping busy with narrations of classic books that can be downloaded onto iPods. It's his way of spreading culture at low cost, says the actor, who is finally famous enough to make a difference on his name alone.

"If there is any kind of lesson," he says, "it's hang in there."

Bill Nighy is the respected British actor behind the tentacles as Davy Jones in 'Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End,' opening in wide release today.

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The Gremlins is a lost Walt Disney film project, shelved by the man himself in the 40's. The film would have depicted the adventures of tiny imps that bedevil British RAF airplanes with an assortment of pesky mechanical problems during WWII. For a variety of reasons, explains Leonard Maltin in the book's intro, the effort was abandoned, and pretty much all we have left is a children's book published in advance of a film that was never made. 

After a 63-year interim, Dark Horse has re-released the book, and it's not just the charming Disney painted art that makes it worth a look - it's the chance to pore over a very early project penned by a not-yet-famous Roald Dahl.

Dahl was a 26-year-old RAF pilot ruled unfit to return to the war after an injurious crash in the Sahara. Long before he would give us Charlie and the Chocolate Factory and his dozens of other books for kids (and the superannuated kids amusingly referred to as "adults"), he journeyed to California to confab with Walt Disney about "gremlins." For years, the British pilots had shared jokes about the imaginary, inch-high goblins that were blamed for mechanical failures. 

Disney, Maltin explains, jumped into the war effort in the ‘40s with training films and propaganda cartoons (a 1942 Donald Duck short, "Der Fuehrer's Face," even won an Oscar). The Gremlins was to be a feature-length effort that blended live footage and animation in an irresistible mix of rallying for the fight, sympathy for the beleaguered Brits and an army of adorable, toe-high monsters. 

The book preserves the voice of Dahl, tender and weird. His sweet-natured descriptions of gremlins revealing themselves to doubting pilots by tipping over their beers and giving them the ol' "hotfoot" are easily imagined as animations. And the drawings of gremlins boring holes in airplanes with hand drills, in the middle of thrilling dogfights, evoke a sense of peril.

(Nobody dies in The Gremlins, though, thanks to the ejector seat. Dahl would eventually raise the stakes in his children's stories. Bullies kill their victim in The Wonderful Story of Henry Sugar and Six More; Everyone except Charlie is trundled off to an uncertain fate in Chocolate Factory. In 1943, though, the author had yet to transmute the early death of his father and his horrific boarding-school experiences into macabre children's stories. That would come soon enough.)

Children ages 4-8, for whom the book is intended, will enjoy the huge-nosed, cute-as-can-be gremlins, waddling around in soft flight caps, goggles, tiny flight suits and boots with suction cups on the bottom (for clinging to airplanes, of course). They have the same big-eyed charm as Jiminy Cricket. Adults will enjoy reading the story to their kids as well.

I am fortunate to own a copy of the Roald Dahl audio book Danny the Champion of the World. To hear a Dahl story, in which adult peril is never far from the lives of children, read in the crackling, tobacco-deepened voice of the elderly author himself, is a treat. To imagine The Gremlins read in that same voice, as surely, at some point, it must have been, is to relish an early signature of Dahl's greatness, and to imagine what might have been had Disney finished the film of this wartime fable.

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Now that facets of old Tom Sawyer Island have gotten the heave-ho, the attraction reopens today with a redesigned "Pirates of the Caribbean" theme meant to boost the aging interactive playground and capitalize on the success of the movie franchise.

Disney timed the opening of Pirate's Lair on Tom Sawyer Island, as it's now called, with the release of "Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End" to theaters. This new take boasts features that are more pirate-specific, while keeping the classic Mark Twain novel in mind.

So what would Walt Disney, who personally designed the original attraction, make of Tom Sawyer Island version 2.0?

"It's still very much in line with Walt's original vision," said Glenn Kelman, senior show director of Disney Entertainment Productions. "We had seen a picture of the original raft design for the island that had a pirate flag on it. Tom and Huck spend a portion of the book pretending to be pirates and we thought, if they live in that fantasy, why not bring it to life here?"

Facing what Kelman calls an "aggressive schedule," crews worked for less than four months to revamp the 51-year-old attraction.

Visitors to Frontierland will now find a pirate greeting them at the dock to Tom Sawyer Island. He'll give guests pirate names, teach them pirate etiquette and request that any loot found be conveniently split with him, Kelman said.

The attraction itself has been loaded with special effects, live pirates skulking about and activity areas for visitors to discover hidden treasure. In one cove, guests can maneuver pumps that reveal a sunken ship and skeletal pirates still clinging to what lies beneath.

Other new aspects include a "bone cage," taken from the "Pirates of the Caribbean" movie, in which guests can appear as if they're suspended under water; a treasure room dutifully protected by Capt. Jack Sparrow, the movie's hero; and a live action show featuring Sparrow as a swashbuckler.

When word was leaked on the Internet late last year that Tom Sawyer Island would be made over with a pirate theme, forums lit up with some Disney traditionalists balking:

"Fix Tom Sawyers and stop destroying the original magic that is left in Disneyland," read one post on the Disney news site MiceAge.com.

"It's just a fad and when this fad is gone, Disney will be sorry!" another fan wrote.

But few could dispute the attraction was losing its potency, said Dave Koenig, author of "Mouse Tales: A Behind-The-Ears Look at Disneyland," adding that Tom Sawyer Island's separation from the rest of the park lent itself to neglect.

What initially made the attraction unique, Koenig said, was that children were not spoon-fed a storyline there.

"It was one place where kids could break from their parents and go crazy," said Koenig, 44, who used to explore the attraction in his youth. "It's a playground of imagination."

Disney officials are confident the redesigned island and its newest inhabitants will get a warm reception.

"We'll watch and see how people react," said Xiomara Wiley, Disney's vice president of marketing. "We expect a lot of people will be very interested."

Tom Sawyer Island

1956: The island opens as an interactive playground featuring Tom and Huck's tree house and Injun Joe's cave.

1992: The southern part of the island is used to accommodate the nighttime "Fantasmic!" light and water show.

2001: A 6-year-old girl loses part of a finger on a toy rifle in the island's play fort. The guns are removed.

Feb. 5, 2007: The island and "Fantasmic!" are shut down as crews begin work on a redesigned attraction.

May 25, 2007: Pirate's Lair on Tom Sawyer Island opens.

June 15, 2007: "Fantasmic!" is set to return.

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The authorized Disney Fine Art Gallery will be exhibiting over 20 new Disney Fine Art pieces along with original paintings starring some of your favorite Disney Characters. Sanders CC will also be launching a new website www.sanderscc.com which will be hosting over 200 Disney Fine Art pieces available for purchase. The new website showcases all of your favorite Disney Classic Film moments such as Cinderella, Alice in Wonderland, The Many Adventures of Winnie the Pooh, Peter Pan, Mickey Mouse, and Pirates of the Caribbean staring Captain Jack Sparrow. Limited editions range in size.

Ogden, Utah (PRWEB) May 26, 2007 -- Classic Disney moments have been captured on canvas and can now be found in Disney Fine Art available for the first time in Northern Utah. Sanders CC in Washington Terrace, Utah is announcing the Grand Opening of their new Sanders Art Studio.

The authorized Disney Fine Art Gallery will be exhibiting over 20 new Disney Fine Art pieces along with original paintings starring some of your favorite Disney Characters. Sanders CC will also be launching a new website www.sanderscc.com which will be hosting over 200 Disney Fine Art pieces available for purchase. The new website showcases all of your favorite Disney Classic Film moments such as Cinderella, Alice in Wonderland, The Many Adventures of Winnie the Pooh, Peter Pan, Mickey Mouse, and Pirates of the Caribbean staring Captain Jack Sparrow. Limited editions range in size.

The Managing Director of Sanders Art Studio is KC Sanders; KC has a long history working for the Walt Disney Company. He worked in the Disney Specialized Businesses area for over five years, creating Disney Fine Art Exhibitions at the Disneyland Resort, Walt Disney World Resort, and Disneyland Paris Resort. He is bringing his knowledge, expertise and passion back to Utah to showcase the magic of Disney for the community.

As an authorized Disney Fine Art Gallery, Sanders CC has the opportunity to work with Disney Artists to host Special Events and Fundraising Activities.

Sanders CC - established in 1960, is Northern Utah's leader in Numismatic Coins and Collectibles. They carry a wide selection of US Coins, including the US Presidential Coin program, and World Coins.

Please contact The Sanders Art Studio for more information.

Press Contact:
Please contact KC Sanders
Telephone: 801-393-9419

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Friday May, 25 2007

The third film in the popular "Pirates" franchise racked up the biggest early premiere numbers ever, said Paul Dergarabedian, president of box-office tracker Media By Numbers.

It also set a record with the largest number of debut screens, at 4,362.

It remains to be seen whether the film, from The Walt Disney Co., can break other records, including best Memorial Day weekend.

Disney made a last-minute decision to premiere the film domestically on Thursday evening instead of the traditional Friday opening.

About 3,000 or so theaters had 8 p.m. showings, with many opening additional theaters to accommodate the crowds, according to Chuck Viane, head of distribution for Disney.

"We are truly pleased by the reaction," Viane said.

The $17 million included about $3 million that came from midnight showings in many theaters, Viane said.

Overseas, the film grossed $12.1 million in 13 countries on Wednesday and brought in an additional $29 million from Thursday showings in a total of 39 countries.

"This number tells us that people have a tremendous interest in this movie, regardless of the running time, regardless of any reviews," Dergarabedian said.

"Pirates," which stars Johnny Depp, Orlando Bloom and Keira Knightley, clocks in at nearly three hours, making it a challenge to pack in a lot of showings.

It also has been getting generally poor reviews, putting it in the same boat as another summer sequel, "Spider-Man 3."

That movie shattered the record for best opening weekend, pulling in $151.1 million when it opened earlier this month.

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The film, starring Johnny Depp as the woozy pirate Captain Jack Sparrow, nearly sold out late-night showings at U.S. theaters on Thursday night for a total of $17 million.

Overseas, Wednesday and Thursday night showings scored $41.1 million, Disney said.

The film was released in 52 countries and territories in addition to the United States and that release widened to 102 countries on Friday.

"At World's End" will be opening in a record 4,362 North American theaters, about 110 more than "Spider-Man 3" and about 200 more than DreamWorks Animation SKG Inc.'s "Shrek the Third," which set an opening-weekend record last week for an animated film at $122 million. The figures come from Media by Numbers, a box office tracking firm.

Mark Zoradi, president of Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures marketing and Distribution, said U.S. exit surveys "gave the film among the highest numbers in Disney's history and placed it well above comparable scores" for the first two "Pirates" films.

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Over 62% of the "Spider-Man 3" grosses -- now at $750 million -- have come from outside the United States; more than 60% of "Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest" worldwide total of $1.07 billion was generated internationally. Japan's box office on "Pirates 2" topped $84 million, second only to the $98 million cume in the U.K. Disney's turned on its worldwide promo machine full blast for "Pirates."Johnny Depp's been able to tubthump extensively in the U.K., for example, as he's been in Britain recently for feature version of "Sweeney Todd."

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Despite modifications to the deal in November, the transaction appears set to close as Disney expected in the first half of 2007.

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Thursday May, 24 2007

`Pirates' Opens to Record Theater Count
At Trilogy's End -- Writing the World of "Pirates"
Third 'Pirates' sets sail for Memorial Day record
Orlando Bloom Sails Onto New Seas
"Pirates of the Caribbean" Fever Spreads Beyond The Film and Attraction
Scripps Bee finals to be broadcast on ABC
Disney’s digital magic kingdom
Iger says affordable housing is good, just not near Disneyland
Romney: ABC Story Puts Lives at Risk
Disney goes tech to attract kids
Build-A-Bear Workshop and Disney Send Winnie the Pooh On A Starlight Starbright
Disney Buys 'Groundhog Day, But With Teenagers' Pitch
A Rose for Disney
Disney Scores Japanese Deal on Criminal Minds
Disney-ABC International Television Renews Studio 23 Deal
Disney VC arm leads funding round for Greystripe

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"We weren't going to rail against the theft of our intellectual property; that seemed to be absurd in light of the message," Iger said. "We simply made the decision that we would not either create or prolong a public discourse on the subject by making a loud public statement."

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Romney had called him early Tuesday to give him a heads-up that he was making the accusations, Westin said.

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Notably, The Princess and the Frog will feature the first African-American character to enter the pantheon of Disney princesses, the heavily-marketed octet consisting of Snow White, Cinderella, Aurora, Ariel, Belle, Jasmine, Mulan, and Pocahontas.

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This agreement will also make available a range of current and library features from Walt Disney Pictures, Touchstone Pictures and Miramax Films. Titles include Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man’s Chest, The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe and National Treasure.

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Burbank's Steamboat Ventures is the venture capital arm of the Walt Disney Co. (NYSE: DIS).

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