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| MickeyXtreme's News Archive August 2004 | |
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Tuesday August
31,
2004
________________________________________________________________________________________________ "The Lion King
2" Movie & Sountrack Released Today A YOUNGSTER who has never enjoyed an overseas holiday is set to go to EuroDisney - thanks to big-hearted pub regulars. Jonny Holland and Micheal Caffidy have raised around £1,500 between them to send eight-year-old Megan Bunten, of Blackburn, on a holiday of a lifetime. As she suffers from Down's Syndrome, she is unable to travel in an aeroplane - but thanks to the duo's charity drive she'll head to Mickey Mouse's European home via the Eurostar rail service. Both Michael and Jonny work for Room Maintenance Services, in Lower Audley, Blackburn, and Michael said: "It started when I decided to lose some weight and thought I could raise some cash for charity. "I asked around for a good cause and someone suggested Megan. "I raised about £500 and then Jonny decided to do something, and went for having his legs, chest and back waxed. To be honest, he needed it." The waxing took place in front of amused punters in the British Rail Club, in Freckleton Street. Michael added:
"Overall we've raised about £1,500 and are well
chuffed Megan can have a holiday now." Kindom
Hearts II and Kingdom Hearts: Chains of Memories Updates
Disney discounts
tickets to 'Beauty'
Disney on Ice is discounting some ticket prices to benefit the Ronald McDonald House of Mobile when its production of Beauty and the Beast comes to the Mobile Civic Center Sept. 8-12. For a limited time, a four-pack of tickets to the Sept. 9 evening performance will be available for $24. Of that, $4 will be donated to the Ronald McDonald House. Normal ticket price, according to Brian Hartzell, executive director of the Mobile Ronald McDonald House, is $19 apiece. This offer is valid only for tickets purchased from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Wednesday and Thursday at the Civic Center box office and excludes VIP seats. Mention the Ronald McDonald House when purchasing tickets. Located at 1626 Spring Hill Ave., the Ronald McDonald House provides a temporary home for families whose children are receiving treatment for serious illnesses or injuries at any Mobile area hospital. ________________________________________________________________________________________________ NASCAR, Disney
team up for 'Herbie' The announcement was made Monday by NASCAR Vice President Dick Glover, NASCAR Digital Entertainment Director of Film, Television and Music Entertainment Sarah Nettinga, Buena Vista Motion Pictures Group Senior Vice President, Production Karen Glass, Producer Bob Simonds and Executive Producers Charles Hirschhorn, Tracey Trench and Michael Fottrell. NASCAR fans at California Speedway in Fontana will get a chance to see firsthand movie magic being made as the A-list cast and crew of Herbie: Fully Loaded roll off the soundstage and into the NASCAR garages, pits and onto the track at both the NASCAR Nextel Cup Series and NASCAR Busch Series races Labor Day weekend. Making his NASCAR debut, Herbie and NASCAR's biggest names will shift into action on the pace lap, alongside his pit crew production team and the film's stars. In the NASCAR tradition, Herbie will be customized in sponsor-laden NASCAR gear and customized with his lucky No. 53. Herbie: Fully Loaded stars Lindsay Lohan, Justin Long, Breckin Meyer, Matt Dillon and Michael Keaton. Along with the cast, NASCAR Nextel Cup Series drivers Dale Earnhardt Jr., Jamie McMurray, Casey Mears, Kevin Harvick and Rusty Wallace will have cameos in the film. The film is scheduled for release in the Summer of 2005. "Herbie and Walt Disney are brands that fit perfectly with NASCAR. The movie represents another opportunity expand our sport to a mainstream, loyal, family fan base," said Glover. "This is an excellent opportunity for NASCAR to increase the exposure of our drivers, teams, tracks and sponsors in the wildly popular and well-known Herbie franchise. It is sure to be good and light fun for fans of all ages." "The excitement of a NASCAR race can not be beaten, but adding the always popular Herbie and the all-star cast to our competition activities at the Labor Day weekend race should give our fans a never before seen look at Hollywood movie magic up close," said Nettinga. "Those same fans, plus the 75 million others in the 'NASCAR Nation' along with the cheers from our multi-media and marketing partners should help make Herbie feel more like the 'love bug' than ever before." Glass added, "We're thrilled to have Disney's greatest four-wheeled star participating in the NASCAR Nextel Cup Series over the Labor Day Weekend, and to be associated with this fantastic American event. Herbie is fully loaded and ready to go through the paces as he rolls into action for his most exciting movie role ever. We think the fans are going to get a kick out of seeing this legendary bug along with the cast of his great new starring 'vehicle'." Simonds went on to say, "We're grateful to the NASCAR organization for their enthusiastic support and cooperation with the filming of Herbie: Fully Loaded. The NASCAR Nextel Cup Series race provides a great backdrop to our film as well as a wonderful opportunity for fans at the California Speedway to see one of cinema's all-time greatest car champions. We're all revved up about this weekend and looking forward to working closely with everyone connected wit this great American pastime." Herbie director Angela Robinson and the producers attended the NASCAR Nextel Cup event at the California Speedway May 2, 2004; to experience the impact of NASCAR and learn how to integrate Herbie into the No. 2-rated sport in America. NASCAR and the production team collaborated to finalize a vision to shoot multiple scenes Sept. 3-5 at California Speedway during the NASCAR events. The production will return to the Speedway several times in September and October 2004, to complete all the physical and visual effects shots, allowing Herbie to be added into racing action scenes in a playful but realistic way never before seen.
Actor Jimmy Smits will return to ABC to star in his own series and produce other shows after his term as a congressman on NBC's "West Wing" is over, ABC said Monday. Smits previously starred in the ABC cop drama "NYPD Blue" from 1994 to 1998. "Jimmy's a one-of-a-kind star and we feel fortunate that he's decided to once again be part of the family," said Stephen McPherson, president of ABC Primetime Entertainment. Through his El Sendero Productions, Smits will serve as executive producer of the shows that could air on ABC or other outlets owned by The Walt Disney Co. NBC announced last week that Smits will play a a three-term congressman from Houston, with "presidential aspirations" in the upcoming season of the political drama. ________________________________________________________________________________________________ 'King Arthur' Passes $100 Million
Overseas The weekend gold medal went to M. Night Shyamalan's "The Village," which took in $10.2 million from 13 countries, marked by No. 1 openings in Belgium, the Netherlands, Sweden, Norway and Thailand, as well as by second-weekend holdovers in the United Kingdom and France, for respective market hauls of $10.6 million and $12.4 million. The foreign haul for the thriller stands at $30.8 million. "Garfield" was the surprise silver-medal winner, seizing $9.7 million from 42 territories and lifting its foreign total to $65 million. Solid openings in Russia ($932,000), Hungary ($440,000) and Norway ($418,000) and sound second weeks in France and Germany contributed to the family film's showing. The bronze went to "The Bourne Supremacy," an $8 million performer from 11 countries. It went to the top in Australia with $3.5 million, 77% ahead of its 2002 predecessor, "The Bourne Identity." The spy thriller has racked up $25 million to date overseas. "Arthur's" rise to the $100 million ranks after a $7.8 million weekend came wholly from holdovers, which included the No. 1 position in Germany for two weeks in a row for a market total of $7.3 million. Spain has supplied $9.5 million after three weekends; France, $5.4 million after four; and Russia, $4.5 million after three. Two sci-fi contenders, "I, Robot" and "The Chronicles of Riddick," came in at $6.2 million each for the weekend, with "Robot's" take from 35 markets moving it up to $140.3 million and "Riddick's" tally from 35 taking it to $33 million. "Dodgeball" seized the No. 1 position in the United Kingdom with $3.9 million. "Anacondas: The Hunt for the Blood Orchid," going day-and-date with North America, hunted down $2.6 million from five overseas markets, including a hot $1 million in India and $1.1 million in Mexico. "Starsky & Hutch," in its final overseas date, came in first in Italy with $3.1 million, hoisting its foreign total to $75 million. More weekend tallies: "Catwoman," $2.3 million from 21 countries; "The Terminal," $2.1 million from South Korea; "Alien vs. Predator," $1.8 million from six; "Collateral," $1.8 million from 14; and "13 Going on 30," $1.6 million from 31. ________________________________________________________________________________________________ American Heritage Gallery opening
early September ________________________________________________________________________________________________ New Disney Cookbook, Cooking With Mickey and the Disney Chefs The most-requested recipes from Walt
Disney World Resort, Disneyland Resort and Disney Cruise
Line are featured in the new Cooking With Mickey and the
Disney Chefs, the first-ever cookbook to include recipes
from all three Disney venues. ________________________________________________________________________________________________ Disney’s Swim with the Stars America's first-ever eight-time medalist
Michael Phelps and his gold medalist teammates Lenny
Krayzelburg and Ian Crocker, in their first public
appearances in the United States since winning in Greece,
will meet and swim with young American swimming stars of
tomorrow in 12 cities across the country during
“Disney’s Swim with the Stars” tour. The nationwide
tour begins August 31 at Walt Disney World Resort in Florida
and ends at Disneyland Resort in California.
Disney Pictures Post New Site
Disney.com offers a view of the new Disney
Pictures site.
http://disney.go.com/disneypictures/beta/index.html ________________________________________________________________________________________________ Disney Motion Features Studio
Backlot ABC Wants Raven in Primetime According to The Hollywood Reporter, ABC is hoping to have a project ready for Symone for the spring development season, launching next fall. Her deal with the network is believed to be in the high-six-figure range, an impressive figure for an actress who won't turn 19 until December. Raven-Symone was only three when she joined the cast of NBC's long-running "The Cosby Show." She appeared on the show from 1989 to 1992. She's in her third season of staring in the Disney Channel's "That's So Raven," which has become the cable network's highest rated series. Disney has ordered 13 more episodes of "That's So Raven," which will bring its run to 78 episodes.
While Symone is interested in doing either
half-hour or hour projects, ABC is reportedly looking into
updating "That's So Raven" for a slightly older
sensibility and to reflect the actress' age. The show
focuses on a teenager who can see into the near future.
This past development season ABC attempted to turn a similar trick with Hilary Duff's "Lizzie McGuire," but transferring the show's concept to a high school setting was unsuccessful. The actresses other credits include
multiple appearances on "My Wife and Kids" as well
as roles in the "Dr. Doolittle" features and the
current sequel "The Princess Diaries 2: Royal
Engagement." DISNEY SNAP WATCHES http://www.talariaenterprises.com/product_lists/disney.html Victoria's Secret Releases Mickey
Mouse Sleepwear Collection Disney Home Custom Window Coverings
by 3 Day Blinds ________________________________________________________________________________________________ Wayne Brady and Christy Carlson
Romano Host "Broadway on Broadway" Concert, Sept. 12 The free outdoor event presented by Macy's and produced by the Times Square Alliance and the League of American Theatres and Producers, Inc. The show — to feature almost all musicals on Broadway and some upcoming ones — will begin at 11:30 AM. WNBC-4 will air a one-hour version of the annual concert to air on Sept. 14 at 7 PM (ET). Fans will see appearances and performances from Avenue Q, Beauty and the Beast, Bombay Dreams, Chicago, Forever Tango, Golda's Balcony, Hairspray, Mamma Mia!, Rent, The Lion King, The Phantom of the Opera, The Producers, Wicked and Wonderful Town. This season's new shows Brooklyn The Musical, Dracula The Musical, La Cage Aux Folles, Little Women and Pacific Overtures will also take part. All artists and performances are subject to change. "'Broadway on Broadway' is a great way to kick-off the new season with the best of Broadway performing live on a giant stage in the heart of Times Square," stated League of American Theatres and Producers President Jed Bernstein. "Every fall, this is a unique opportunity where thousands gather for a live sneak preview of the hottest Broadway shows on the coolest street in town. New Yorkers and tourists alike will enjoy this free Sunday concert." Brady — known for his television work on "The Wayne Brady Show" and "Whose Line Is It Anyway?" — will make his Broadway debut in Chicago Sept. 9 starring as Billy Flynn. Star of "Even Stevens" and the voice for "Kim Possible," Romano currently plays Belle on Broadway in Beauty and the Beast. For information on "Broadway on
Broadway," call (888)-BROADWAY or visit http://www.broadwayonbroadway.com/. ED WOOD DRESSED AND READY
Shepherd, Touchstone TV ink deal
________________________________________________________________________________________________ Thanksgiving Dinners at Walt Disney World Listed here are those with Thanksgiving Offerings Other Restaurants May Have Thanksgiving Menu Items but are not listed here. A credit card guarantee is required on all holiday bookings for each priority seating. 48 hour cancellation policy and $10 per person charge if you cancel within 48 hours. For more information or Priority Seatings call WDW-DINE (407) 939-3463) ALL INFO SUBJECT TO CHANGE Magic Kingdom
Epcot
Downtown Disney
Animal Kingdom Lodge
Beach Club
BoardWalk
Caribbean Beach
Contemporary
Fort Wilderness
Grand Floridian
Old Key West
Polynesian
Port Orleans Riverside
WDW Swan and Dolphin Resorts Fresh Mediterranean Market Wilderness Lodge
Yacht Club ________________________________________________________________________________________________ Why do cartoons draw us in?
WHEN Walt Disney first sketched
a friendly little mouse who whistled his way through Steamboat
Willie he had, of course, no idea what he was starting.
His cartoon character was Mickey Mouse - a jittery, hand-sketched black and white cartoon critter who came complete with sound. It was an entertainment format that captured the imagination and hearts of cinema audiences, enough to ensure Mickey - and cartoons - would be around to stay. It was 1928 and the start of the animation revolution. But now, nearly eight decades on, it appears that revolution is about to enter a new phase. In a fortnight’s time, the next big animated movie will hit the big screen, bringing with it a host of top Hollywood names, who would never previously have bothered to get out of bed for a mere "cartoon". Indeed, not so long ago, cartoon voice-overs were left to the actors who couldn’t get a job in front of the camera. Yet Shark Tale promises to be yet another animation blockbuster, a slick, colourful computer-generated cross between Finding Nemo and The Godfather - an underwater, underworld tale of fishy mobsters where the big fish generally eat the little fish. What really makes it stand out from the pack is the decidedly "adult movie" cast. Action movie star Will Smith is the good fish; Robert de Niro the baddie. There’s Angelina Jolie, Oscar-winner Renée Zellweger, School of Rock star Jack Black and even the legendary Martin Scorsese, voices instantly recognisable as they trade fishy puns and wisecracks. The all-star cast is perhaps the strongest indication yet that the animated movie has moved out of the doldrums of films like Disney’s The Black Cauldron, which flopped at the box office in 1985, to meet the public’s new and insatiable appetite for "super cartoons". Soon we’ll have The Incredibles - an everyday tale about a family of ineffectual superheroes - and Robots to add to the ever-increasing list. Indeed, so certain is Mickey’s parent company, Disney, that the future no longer lies in hand-drawn animation, that it is selling up - ironically to Pixar, arguably the masters of the computer generated movie. But just why have these "supertoons" suddenly become the films everyone wants to see? Why are movie-makers increasingly turning to computerised animation? And why do we all seem to love a good cartoon? "It’s fantasyland for adults," Glasgow Caledonian University psychologist Cynthia McVey says. "It takes you back to your childhood and allows you to indulge in fantasy, fairies and magic perhaps more than a normal film can - there’s more scope in a cartoon for underwater stuff, flying, fairy castles. "There’s also a sense of morality about these cartoons. People triumph, and it’s the right people who triumph. Nobody really gets hurt even when there’s a bad event. You get the feeling that these characters don’t really die or get harmed: broken toys get mended, and so on. It’s sheer escapism and it has a moral theme." Adults love them every bit as much as kids, she says. "They appreciate what is great humour, great graphics and they can admire the talent that has gone into making the film. Cartoons are a safe, fantasy world which adults can enjoy - even though they may say they are only there because of the kids or because they want to see the graphics. They allow adults to be children again - don’t we all remember going to the cinema to see cartoons as children, whether it was 101 Dalmatians or Bambi? "Sometimes you want to be taken out of the humdrum of the daily grind to a place where anything can happen. And while it might be fine to see an action movie, not everyone wants to go to the cinema to see people being blown apart or to be terrified." Big-name actors also attract the adults. And for the actors, there’s a status attached to having been in a successful animated movie. "It’s no longer something you do when your career is going nowhere," McVey adds. The origins of this craze can be seen emerging back in the 1990s. Disney’s 1991 movie Beauty and Beast was the first film of its kind to be nominated for a Best Picture Oscar - but it was also the first to use the Computer Assisted Production System, which created fully rendered computer backgrounds. But with its traditional plot and Disney style, it was aimed squarely at the children’s market - and there were no famous voices. The next step forward was the hugely successful Lion King. Disney’s 1994 blockbuster might have been a bit schmaltzy and sentimental for many adults, but children adored it. But the film was significant because it included a starry line-up - the cast included Matthew Broderick, Jeremy Irons, Whoopi Goldberg and James Earl Jones. All these factors were brought together in 1995 for the ground-breaking Toy Story. The world’s first completely computer-generated film brought a form of artwork to the screen which was much more alive, slick and three-dimensional - and, boasted the vocal talents of Oscar-winner Tom Hanks. It had one other extra - its witty, clever script appealed as much to adults as it did to children. Produced on computers at a cost of $30 million (£16.7m), Toy Story grossed more than $190m (£106m) at the American box office alone - just the tip of the iceberg when video, DVD and merchandise is taken into account. For there, the phenomenon began to grow - and by 1998, the two giants in the world of computer-generated cartoons, Pixar and DreamWorks, were going head-to-head with A Bug’s Life, starring Kevin Spacey, and Antz, with Woody Allen. The first Shrek came out three years later, with the smash hit Finding Nemo two years after that. It was all a long way from the first feature-length animated film: Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs, released in 1937 at a cost of $1.4m (£800,000) and dubbed "Disney’s folly" by sceptical industry colleagues who couldn’t believe such a labour-intensive production could ever produce profits or box office success. Disney needed an army of animators to fulfil his dream: for every second of film, 24 separate drawings were required to ensure seamless movement. But audiences loved it. There followed a series of classics: Bambi, Dumbo, Pinocchio and Fantasia. There was The Jungle Book, The Aristocats, Lady and The Tramp and 101 Dalmatians. But while animation enjoyed a purple patch, the cost of the labour-intensive production, plus the march of technology and the public’s demand for better quality and more lifelike images, meant changes were inevitable. And, naturally, there has been an incentive for the movie industry to move with the times too. Colin Rawling, regional executive for 20th Century Fox, explains: "The production costs are much less than for a movie with live actors, on location with lots of crew members. "Voices are much cheaper. It costs less to hire someone for just a couple of days to do voices rather than book them on set for months on end. The voices on Pixar’s A Bug’s Life, for example, are said to have only taken five days. A live action film would have taken months." But while the voice-work is fast, the animation still takes a lot of time, he adds. "Toy Story took seven and a half years to draw, Finding Nemo took six. The time-scale is coming down but it’s still a lengthy process." But it’s worth it. Shark Tale, which will premiere at the traditionally rather arty Venice Film Festival on September 10, when the Piazza San Marco will close for the first time to accommodate it - is the latest offering from the people behind the most successful animated movie of all time, Shrek. Shrek 2, meanwhile, has taken some $435m at the US box office so far, yet cost a mere $75m to produce - around half of which paid the wages for its three main stars, Mike Myers, Eddie Murphy and Cameron Diaz. Compare that to the other big summer movie, Troy, starring Brad Pitt and Orlando Bloom. With its massive cast and on location filming, it cost a whopping $185m to produce while American box office receipts so far are just $46m. So with such a handsome money-spinner in the bag, it’s little wonder Dreamworks are already working on Shrek 3 and 4, with rumours of Shrek 6 in the pipeline. But perhaps the biggest winners are the actors, hints Nikki Baughn, deputy editor of the monthly Film Review, Britain’s longest-running film magazine. "It’s a lot of money for not very much work. While there is the publicity to do, they don’t have to be on set. They can see their characters do amazing things without having to get up off their chairs. "It gives them a chance to be something they can’t be in real life." Biggest draws SNOW WHITE AND THE SEVEN DWARFS (Disney 1937). Not the first animated feature film - The Adventures of Prince Achmed got there first in 1926 - but the Technicolor tale of good versus evil took cinemas by storm. Cost: $1.4m (£800,000). US box office earnings: $184m (£103m) DUMBO (Disney 1941) One of a clutch of classics Disney produced in a five-year-spell which include Fantasia, Pinocchio and Bambi. Cost: $950,000 (£530,000). Earnings: $2.5m (£1.4m) during original release. 101 DALMATIANS (Disney 1961). Costs of creating large-scale movies prompted art director Ken Anderson to invent a process which cut the need for the laborious inking animators’ sketches. Original sketches could then be photocopied directly on to the cell - a system used for the next 20 years. Cost: $4m (£2.2m). US box office: $143m (£80m) TRON (Disney, 1982). A tale of a computer hacker who finds himself inside one of his games. It is hardly top of most people’s movie top ten - nor is it strictly speaking a cartoon. However, the use of computers led the way for the future of animation. Poor box office takings turned Disney and other studios off computer animation. Cost: $17m (£9.5m). US box office: $33m (£18.5m) BEAUTY AND THE BEAST (Disney 1991) The first film of its kind to be nominated for a Best Picture Oscar but also the first to use the Computer Assisted Production System which created fully rendered computer backgrounds. Cost: Figure unavailable. US box office: $25m (£14m) TOY STORY (Pixar 1995) The world’s first computer generated movie and the start of a new generation of animation. Cost: $30m (£16.7m). US box office: $191m (£106m) TARZAN (Disney 1999) New technology enabled cameras to travel deeper into the background - and turn corners. The result, Deep Canvas, enabled computers to forge 3D backgrounds in which illustrators could paint. Cost: $150m (£84). US box office: $171m (£95.5m) SHREK (Dreamworks 2001) The story of the smelly green ogre burst on to cinema screens with its combination of childish humour, story with a moral and gags for the adults. Cost: $60m (£33.5m). US box office: $267m (£150m) FINDING NEMO (Pixar 2003) Took cinema-goers underwater on the trail of a missing fish. Cost $94m (£52.5). US box office: $702m (£392m) ________________________________________________________________________________________________ |
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Monday August
30,
2004
________________________________________________________________________________________________ Disney's 'Hero' Opens as Top Weekend Film With $17.8 Million Walt Disney Co.'s "Hero," a martial- arts film starring Jet Li, opened as the top film in the U.S. and Canada with $17.8 million in ticket sales over the weekend. Sony Corp.'s "Anacondas: The Hunt for the Blood Orchid," a horror film about scientists and snakes in the jungles of Borneo, opened in second with $13.2 million. Viacom Inc.'s comedy "Without a Paddle" fell to third with $8.7 million in sales, according to box-office tracker Exhibitor Relations Co. "Hero" is only the third film from Disney studios to open at No. 1 this year, following its Buena Vista unit's "The Village," released in July, and Miramax Film's "Kill Bill, Vol. 2" in April. Disney, which led all owners of Hollywood studios last year with $2.22 billion in domestic box-office sales, ranks fourth this year through last Sunday with $794.8 million, according to Nielsen EDI. "Hero," set in ancient China, tells the story of an aggressive emperor and a nameless warrior who wants revenge for the massacre of his people. It's being distributed by Miramax. In "Anacondas," scientists journey down a jungle river in search of an orchid that produces a youth-preserving serum. They discover that within the jungle lies a deadly predator which keeps the orchids safe. "Without a Paddle" follows a trio of young men on a wilderness canoe trip disrupted by encounters with farmers, girls and a mountain man played by Burt Reynolds. 'Princess Diaries 2' Disney's romantic comedy, "Princess
Diaries 2," dropped to fourth from third with $8.07
million. The movie stars Anne Hathaway as a young princess who
must deal with the revelation that she will soon be crowned
queen and faces an arranged marriage.  Nike
veteran helps boost Disney sales"Never underestimate the power of a free T-shirt," Andrew P. Mooney, the chairman of the Walt Disney Co.'s consumer products division, joked as bikini-clad sunbathers dove into a pool at the Standard hotel here last week. Mooney was quoting Philip H. Knight, the charismatic founder of Nike, with whom Mooney worked for 20 years. But he was referring specifically to a promotion he spearheaded in 2001, hoping to get celebrities like Jennifer Garner and Sarah Jessica Parker to wear Mickey Mouse T-shirts and give the character a more contemporary appeal. It was a hit. Retail sales of the retro T-shirts have doubled annually since their introduction, and Dolce & Gabbana has designed a $1,400 sequined Minnie Mouse T-shirt, to be in stores this fall. Mooney shook his head and laughed. "Who would have thought?" he said. It was the kind of out-of-the-ordinary thinking Disney needed, he said, to revive its consumer products division, which had been eroding since its peak in 1997. The consumer products division provides only a small part of Disney's overall revenue, about 9 percent. But toys, costumes and backpacks have a life far beyond the movie theater. And Mooney hopes to turn Mickey and company into the Martha Stewart of bedding, books and apparel for children, trading as much on Disney's reputation for quality (a draw for parents) as on its characters' appeal. In effect, analysts said, he is trying to do for Disney's consumer products business what Knight did for Nike: turn the Disney name into a lifestyle brand. Since 1999, when Mooney joined Disney, the company's publishing group has inaugurated its first original comic book series, W.i.t.c.h., a collection of stories about teenage girls with supernatural powers. The series sells well worldwide and is being developed as a television show for Disney's cable networks. Mooney and his team made being a princess both hip and profitable: The Disney Princess line of costumes and accessories will earn $2 billion this year in retail sales and spawned a series of princess-related events at Disney's theme parks. "For the first time there seems like there is a coherent plan," said Tom Wolzien, a media analyst at Sanford C. Bernstein & Co. "We'll see how it works, but so far the results under his tenure are good." Not every new idea is a hit, of course. A few years ago, Disney tried to market, under the Always Fresh label, women's nightshirts and T-shirts, including one depicting a suggestively posed Snow White and the phrase "Attracts Strange Little Men." Reminded of the unsuccessful venture, Mooney groaned. "We were young," he said, adding, "You have to undergo a degree of chance if you want to succeed." And Mooney admits he has a long way to go to turn around the division. In its heyday in 1997, the consumer products division had $893 million in operating income and more than 4,200 licensees who sold products related largely to Winnie the Pooh and Mickey Mouse, as well as the company's popular animated movies, like "Snow White" and "The Lion King." The company had 749 Disney Stores worldwide. ________________________________________________________________________________________________ Disney's consumer prince awakens a
sleeper Mooney was quoting Philip Knight, the founder of Nike, with whom Mooney worked for 20 years. But he was referring specifically to a promotion he spearheaded in 2001, hoping to get celebrities like Jennifer Garner and Sarah Jessica Parker to wear Mickey Mouse T-shirts and give the character a more contemporary appeal. It was a hit. Retail sales of the retro T-shirts have doubled annually since they were introduced that year, and the designers Dolce Gabbana have designed a $1,400 sequined Minnie Mouse T-shirt to be in stores this fall. Mooney shook his head and laughed. "Who would have thought?" he said. It was the kind of "out of the ordinary" thinking that Disney needed to revive its moribund consumer products division, which had been steadily eroding since its peak in 1997, he said. The consumer products division provides only about 9 percent of Disney's overall revenue, but toys, costumes and backpacks have a life far beyond the movie theater door. And Mooney hopes to turn Mickey and company into the Martha Stewart of bed, books and apparel for kids. In effect, analysts said, he is trying to do for Disney's consumer products business what Knight did for Nike: make the Disney name into a lifestyle brand. Since 1999, when Mooney joined, Disney has published its first original book series - W.I.T.C.H., a collection of stories about teenage girls with supernatural powers. The series sells well worldwide, and is being developed as a television show for Disney's cable networks. Mooney and his team made being a princess both hip and profitable: the Disney Princess line of costumes and accessories will earn $2 billion this year in retail sales and has spawned a series of princess-related events at Disney's theme parks. "For the first time there seems like there is a coherent plan," said Tom Wolzien, a media industry analyst at Sanford C. Bernstein. "The division has been beaten up for so many years it looks like he's breathing new life into it." Not every new idea is a hit, of course. A few years ago, Disney tried to market, under the Always Fresh label, women's nightshirts and T-shirts, including one depicting a seductive Snow White and the phrase, "Attracts Strange Little Men." Reminded of the unsuccessful venture, Mooney groaned. "We were young," Mooney said. "You have to undergo a degree of chance if you want to succeed." Mooney acknowledges that he has a long way to go to match the division's best performances. In its heyday in 1997, the consumer products division had $893 million in operating income drawn from 749 Disney stores worldwide and more than 4,200 licensees, selling products related largely to Winnie the Pooh and Mickey Mouse, as well as popular animated movies like "Snow White" and "The Lion King." But when the retail market declined, so did profits. Disney stores expanded into second- and third-tier malls, and those stores quickly showed losses as the economy sputtered. The quality of Disney-branded products was suffering as well; the Disney name could be found on almost anything. By 2000, operating income for the division had dwindled to $386 million and even Mickey Mouse's popularity was showing signs of wear. Mooney, 49, had his work cut out for him. First, he halved the number of licensees. Then he began actively pursuing companies Disney wanted to work with, rather than waiting for them to call, as his predecessors had done. He also began selling Disney's underperforming stores and seeking high-end retailers like Fred Segal in Los Angeles to sell specialty products. Most important, he strengthened Disney's relationship with large retailers; the division opened its first 15-person sales office in Bentonville, Arkansas, home of Wal-Mart, the country's biggest and most influential mass retailer. Now, four years later, the consumer products division earned $388 million in operating income in the first three quarters of 2004, which already puts it ahead of 2003. Industry analysts predict that operating income could reach $511 million for the fiscal year. While some of the increase in operating income is a result of the sale of some Disney stores, analysts also attribute some growth to the popularity of new products. Further, Disney has signed a nonbinding letter of intent to sell its more than 300 stores in the United States to The Children's Place retail chain. One of Mooney's major initiatives is to expand into clothing and household goods like bed linens that will rely on the Disney reputation, but not Disney characters. Next spring, the company plans to introduce, under the Disney Denim brand, pants and jean jackets that have whimsical elements like pocket fabric inspired by Disney cartoon strips, or an unobtrusive "D" stitched onto a back pocket. Parents who do not want to dress their children in head-to-toe Mickey Mouse can mix and match, Mooney said. Retailers get a break, too, paying a royalty fee of 5 percent on Disney Denim instead of the 10 percent they usually pay to sell apparel with Disney characters (although they can sell the Disney-branded clothes at a premium to other private labels). Mooney hopes to expand the offering into linens and other household products. But lifestyle products with an untraditional touch are what seem to excite Mooney most. At Fred Segal in Los Angeles, Disney recently tested Snap watches, which have interchangeable faces and wristbands and are based on Disney characters but with a hipper, more urban appeal. That appeal comes at a price, however: $35 a watch. In his interview at the hotel, Mooney held up a pink T-shirt from the Disney Cuties line for young girls and teenagers, introduced 15 months ago. The shirt was printed with a blue and white Eeyore outlined in thick black lines, more anime-style than conventional Disney animation. "This is Japanese anime meets the library," Mooney said. "We started in T-shirts and now we're making pillows and cellphone cases. We are always looking for sustainable ideas that cross all lines of business." He said the consumer products business was growing faster outside the United States, and new products were being introduced in Japan or Europe well before they hit American shores. That was the case with Disney's new W.I.T.C.H. books, which chronicle the lives of five teenage girls who spend their days worrying about boys and their nights fighting evil-doers. (The initials stand for their first names.) The comic books were introduced in Italy in 2001 and now sell a million copies worldwide each month. The first W.I.T.C.H. graphic novel was introduced in the United States in June this year. It has already sold 650,000 copies, Mooney said. And next year, Disney plans to broadcast a W.I.T.C.H. animated television show both in Europe and in the United States on the company's cable stations. ________________________________________________________________________________________________ Holiday lights will return ________________________________________________________________________________________________ Home on the Range: Coming to DVD
September 14th "Since I was a kid, I've dreamed of winning the gold medal and shouting 'I'm going to Disney World,"' said Phelps, who won six Olympic gold medals and two bronzes in Athens. "Now I'm really doing it -- and going to Disneyland too." Disney officials announced Sunday that Phelps and fellow U.S. Olympic gold medalists Lenny Krayzelburg and Ian Crocker are launching a 12-city "Swim With the Stars" tour. It begins Tuesday with a parade in their honor at Florida's Walt Disney World and ends on Oct. 5 at the Disneyland Resort in Anaheim. Each stop will feature a two-hour swimming show, as well as personal appearances by the swimmers. Other cities on the tour are: Atlanta, New York, Baltimore, Chicago, Dallas, Denver, Las Vegas, Salt Lake City, Seattle and San Francisco. ________________________________________________________________________________________________ Top movies at the
North American box office 2 (*) Anacondas .......... $13.2 million 3 (2) Without a Paddle ... $ 8.7 million 4 (3) The Princess Diaries 2 ............ $ 8.1 million 5 (1) Exorcist: The Beginning ........... $ 6.7 million 6 (6) Collateral ......... $ 6.3 million 7 (5) Open Water ......... $ 5.0 million 8 (4) Alien vs. Predator . $ 4.8 million 9 (7) The Bourne Supremacy .............. $ 4.6 million 10 (*) Suspect Zero ....... $ 3.4 million |
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Sunday August 29, 2004 ________________________________________________________________________________________________ Film festival coming to AMC Pleasure
Island 24 Theatres ________________________________________________________________________________________________
ABC.com has launched ABC On Demand, new
broadband programming that includes segments from popular ABC
Television Network programs. ABC On Demand is available on an
exclusive basis to subscribers of RealNetworks, Inc. SuperPass.
ABC On Demand features "Soap 411," a daily recap of General Hospital, One Life to Live, and All My Children; celebrity and lifestyle segments from The View; clips from Jimmy Kimmel Live highlighting stunts, pranks, celebrity interviews, and produced sketches; behind-the-scenes insights into Extreme Makeover; and, extended footage and commentary from Extreme Makeover: Home Edition. "The widespread acceptance of broadband in homes presents a great opportunity for ABC to offer its fans new access to their favorite shows and celebrities," said Harry Lin, Vice President of ABC.com. "This content will do three things: it provides an additional promotional platform for our shows, it offers more of the shows our fans can't get enough of, and it provides on-demand access to highlights of programs viewers may have missed on air. We've witnessed the success ABC News content has had with SuperPass, and we know this is a great home for our broadband entertainment content." ABC News and RealNetworks have collaborated for nearly a decade. ABC News content, such as World News Tonight, Nightline, and Good Morning America, has been available for SuperPassTM subscribers since 2002 and is among the most accessed programming on that service. ABC News is also the largest content provider for Real's mobile data service. "RealNetworks is the leader in offering consumers access to music, movies and games online," said Richard Wolpert, Chief Strategy Officer RealNetworks, Inc. "Entertainment content is a key driver of video content on the web, and we are excited to expand our relationship with ABC to offer exclusive entertainment to our SuperPass subscribers." The consumer experience is changing as the world shifts from dial-up to high-speed, and RealNetworks continues to provide innovative technologies that give consumers the benefits of a high-quality digital entertainment lifestyle experience. SuperPass is available to RealPlayer users and offers consumers on-demand access to news, entertainment, and sports programming. As of the second quarter, RealNetworks has more than 1.4 million subscribers to its subscription services, including SuperPass. About ABC.com About ABC News Digital Media Group About RealNetworks ________________________________________________________________________________________________ Ninth Annual ABC Super Soap Weekend Returns to Disney-MGM Studios Nov. 13-14 Susan Lucci ("All My Children") will headline a star-studded lineup of more than 30 actors and actresses from the ABC Daytime dramas Nov. 13-14, 2004, at the ninth annual ABC Super Soap Weekend at Disney-MGM Studios in Lake Buena Vista, Fla. The announcement was made by Brian Frons, president of ABC Daytime. Annually, ABC Super Soap Weekend is the largest soap fan event held anywhere in the country. ABC Daytime once again will partner with Colgate Total toothpaste as its presenting sponsor of the event that will be held at Disney-MGM Studios at Walt Disney World Resort. During Super Soap Weekend, fans will have the opportunity to meet favorite stars from "All My Children," "One Life to Live" and "General Hospital." Other event festivities include celebrity motorcades, autograph sessions, star conversations, talk shows, a special soap opera edition of the "Who Wants To Be A Millionaire-Play It!" game show attraction and the chance to purchase one-of-a-kind memorabilia from each of the shows. The elaborate star-studded event also features live musical performances by cast members in the Colgate Total Street Jam concert. ABC Super Soap Weekend is included with theme park admission to Disney-MGM Studios -- where guests of all ages are caught up in the glitz, glamour and excitement of show business. For future updates and more information about ABC Super Soap Weekend, guests may call the Super Soap Hotline at 407/397-6808. ________________________________________________________________________________________________ ABC's Digital Convention Scam ABC, like other broadcast networks, will cover the forthcoming GOP convention precisely as it covered the Democratic event--by largely ignoring it. After all, nothing must get in the way of the multibillion-dollar revenues from prime-time commercials. CBS, NBC and ABC will air a measly three
hours of the GOP convention, the same short shrift they gave
the Democrats. (Fox Broadcasting doesn't show any convention
coverage at all!) Although the four big broadcast networks'
fortunes are predicated on free use of the public airwaves, no
major politician will publicly chastise them for their greed
and disregard of the public interest. In our hyper commercial
media culture, even presidential candidates know that civic
discourse doesn't bring premium prime-time ad rates. Despite this lack of broadcast time, ABC is even boasting of its "comprehensive" coverage. Through its new, purportedly ground-breaking ABC News Now digital service, the network promises "a more comprehensive look at what this election and these conventions mean." Using a combination of broadband streaming (via AOL and others), Sprint "Vision" phones and a handful of digital TV channels, ABC's "FAQ" sheet crows that "no other network is offering that kind of comprehensive coverage across multiple platforms." Yet very few people are likely to watch Jennings and company digitally. Despite all the hype about tens of millions of potential viewers, only about 500,000 may have access to News Now, admits ABC. That's out of 108 million US TV households and the 68 million US adults who have high-speed Internet service. As for its digital TV channel, one must either have an over-the-air digital tuner (which very few have at present) or pay extra for premium cable service. If you live in Kansas, Maine, Missouri, New Mexico or several other states, the channel is simply not available at all. And if you live in other states where it is available, you still need to know about it, which most people don't. ABC News president David Westin didn't mention any of this in a recent Washington Post op-ed criticizing anyone concerned about the networks' failure to broadcast the conventions as hopelessly "out of date." Cable and the Internet have now created a "media democracy," and "time and technology are passing the critics by." What the big networks do is largely irrelevant today, he claimed. (We have to wonder if his colleagues tell the same story to ABC's advertisers.) But while Westin was offering journalistic gloss to cover up the network's unwillingness to expend much prime-time programming on public service, Disney's president, Robert Iger, spoke more candidly when he addressed investment analysts earlier this month. If the FCC or Congress passes the new rules that Disney and other broadcasters are lobbying for, new digital news channels like ABC News Now will flourish. In other words, ABC's new political programming offerings are a digital "Trojan horse" to help the company achieve a billion-dollar bounty of new corporate welfare. Disney paid more than $5 billion for a single cable channel (Fox Family) back in 2001 and has remained extremely profitable. Imagine how the bottom-lines of the broadcast industry will prosper from a policy which gives each broadcaster multiple cable channels for free. Disney/ABC, GE/NBC and the National Association of Broadcasters say they can offer the public more channels as their TV stations broadcast digitally. All US broadcasters are converting to digital transmission. Each local TV station will soon be able to transmit as many as six distinct channels in the place of the one they have today. Some readers may recall the notorious giveaway of new public airwaves to broadcasters by Congress in 1996. It was worth $70 billion then. Under the policy sought by Disney and others, cable systems would have to show all these new channels. That would likely bring broadcasters tremendous new revenues, all because of government largesse. But Disney/ABC and other broadcast companies want this new policy without any public-interest strings attached. They oppose even a modest requirement that they would actually have to provide additional news and public affairs programming as a condition for such a policy. It is likely that once the government approves the cable "must carry" policy sought by Disney, such vaunted efforts as ABC News Now would be quickly replaced by entertainment, sports and other ratings-proven fare. So while Peter Jennings and company appear on tiny cell-phone screens, Disney lobbyists are promising lawmakers that--with the right help from government--they can vastly improve the quality of political news coverage. No mention, of course, that all networks (thanks to Congress and FCC deregulation) are now part of larger media conglomerates rolling in dough. This year, broadcasters are also reaping historic profits from the sale of ad time to candidates, likely to approach $1.6 billion this year. But don't expect to see coverage on network news--even ABC News Now--about how the networks are working on a scam of their own while they shortchange the public. Even with the expanded reach of digital, that's one story they won't broadcast--even to a cell phone. |
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________________________________________________________________________________________________ Saturday August 28, 2004 ________________________________________________________________________________________________ Disney allowed
to reopen ride that injured five The July 9 closure was prompted after two
trains collided in the loading station, causing minor injuries
to five people. It was the third accident in less than a year
for Big Thunder, which reopened Friday night. Nearly a year ago,
Marcelo Torres of Gardena was killed and 10 others were hurt
when the train smashed into another car. Among them: Disney was told to retrain the ride operator who did not follow a procedure for removing a train from service. Tower operator James Nerrie, 22, had apparently failed to follow the procedure when he didn't properly divert a train away from the loading area. Another worker tried to stop the train before it collided with a second car by using an override function, which failed, the state report said. That function is now fixed. It was Nerrie's third day working the controls for the ride, according to the report. Nerrie's father, James, told the Register late Friday that his son has worked at Disneyland off and on since he was 15. ________________________________________________________________________________________________
Gospel according to Disney films only
recently has included faith
In 1940, if you were a woodcarver in a Disney animated film who needed to bring life to a puppet named Pinocchio, you would look to the heavens and wish upon a star where dreams, not prayers, come true. But, if it's 2002 and you're a little
Hawaiian girl named Lilo who needs a friend, you might kneel
by your bedside and actually pray for an angel "the
nicest angel you have." His new book (Westminster John Knox Press, $14.95) chronicles two sides of the same story: an unchanging message of "faith, trust and pixie dust" at the heart of the Disney gospel and an evolving treatment of overt religion that has matured over time. From the magic spells of "Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs" to the vaguely Hindu- and Buddhist-inspired theology of "The Lion King" in 1994, it is almost as if Mickey Mouse has left Fantasyland for a meeting of the "Parliament of the World's Religions." Pinsky found one thing that remains constant throughout the films, an ideology he calls "secular 'toonism," a "gospel without God" that helps to shape moral sensibilities in children through quasi-religious values. "Good is always rewarded; evil is always punished," Pinsky writes. "Faith is an essential element faith in yourself and, even more, faith in something greater than yourself, some higher power. Optimism and hard work complete the basic canon." Pinsky is quick to note that Disney's gospel (unlike the Simpsons') is not an explicitly religious one. Indeed, in more than 35 animated Disney films, Pinsky found "scarcely a mention of God as conceived in the Christian and Jewish faiths." Mostly that is because Walt Disney saw overt religion as "box-office poison" that would not appeal to wide audiences, Pinsky said. Disney himself was ambivalent toward organized religion after a strict fundamentalist childhood. Pinsky notes that the one building you won't see on Main Street USA at Disney World is a church. The Disney gospel in the early Disney films is fairly easy to spot: lessons of conscience in "Pinocchio," tolerance and acceptance in "Dumbo" and truth and consequences in "Alice in Wonderland." Peter Pan is the chief apostle of Disney's gospel when he tells the Darling children that "all it takes is faith and trust, but the thing that's a positive must is a little bit of pixie dust." Preaching the Disney gospel and living it out were not always in sync. Pinsky faults "Peter Pan" for dragging out "almost every demeaning cliche about Native Americans," and later, "Aladdin" for its stereotypical portrayal of Arabs. Along the way, Disney films embodied a distinctive social message that helped shape young minds. Disney films portrayed environmental protection in "Bambi," Christian caring for the poor in "Robin Hood" and put a suspicious eye on class distinctions in "Lady and the Tramp." After Walt Disney died in 1966, Disney's animated films went into "the wilderness period," as Pinsky put it. Most of the films were lackluster, both in style and substance. Take "The Black Cauldron" from 1985, which was bubbling over with sorcery and the occult. "That movie's a mess," Pinsky said in an interview. The Disney franchise was resurrected and reinvigorated in the late 1980s under Michael Eisner and Jeffrey Katzenberg. What followed were a string of blockbuster hits "The Little Mermaid," "The Lion King," "Beauty and the Beast" and "Mulan." In 1996, Disney put religious faith center stage with "The Hunchback of Notre Dame," a film set in a cathedral. Its most poignant lyrics are "God Help the Outcasts." The most striking feature of the later Disney films is the strong female lead characters certainly not ladies who will wait for Prince Charming to wake them from their beauty rest. The self-reliance and strong will embodied by Ariel, Belle and Mulan reflect central tenets of the Disney gospel. Pinsky chose not to look at Disney's computer-animated films, such as "Toy Story" or "Finding Nemo," because those films are co-produced by Pixar. Pinsky said the wildly popular films are almost like Disney stepchildren with a new kind of Disney DNA. He also excluded "super lightweight" films such as "The Rescuers" and "Aristocats" that were mostly fluff. In recent years, Disney also has woven more overt and diverse expressions of faith into its films: Islam in "Aladdin," animism in "Pocahontas," Buddhism and Hinduism in "The Lion King" and shamanism in "Brother Bear." "As the country's attitudes toward religion, values and culture have shifted," wrote Pinsky, "Disney's animated features its historic corporate center of gravity have shifted to accommodate them." Pinsky also examines the Southern Baptist-led boycott of Disney over its gay-friendly policies, which was really one skirmish in a larger cultural battle. "Singling out Disney for blame was like blaming one brand of thermometer for causing a raging fever," he said. Pinsky said he's had "zero reaction" from Disney headquarters, and company officials declined to talk as the book was written. Calls to a Disney spokeswoman were not returned. While the Disney gospel remains at the core of all the films, Pinsky wonders what Walt Disney would make of the new films and their open, diverse embrace of religious faith. "I think he would be more resistant to explicit representations of religion in any form," Pinsky said. "But at the same time, I think he would applaud and accept the representation of other cultures in a more authentic way." ________________________________________________________________________________________________ Dead ringers for Mickey at Disney
World He put his daughter in charge of making all the arrangements. They arrived at the airport at 2 p.m., were in their motel on the Disney World grounds by 3 and out on the rides at 3:30. At 9 they had their first "Character Dinner," which is a dinner with Mickey, Minnie, Goofy and the other characters. The kidlinks loved it; not gramps. "At my age 9 is too late for dinner," gramps grumped. There was no sleeping in the next morning. At 6:30, they had to be at the tram stop because they had a Character Breakfast at 7. Tuesday was sort of an off day; normal touring and such. Gramps remembers Tuesday with fondness. Wednesday it was up early again at the tram stop for a 6:30 Character Breakfast. The day ended with (A) a 9 p.m. Character Dinner and (B) a 10 p.m. party with Mickey. Then it was back up early Thursday for a 7 a.m. Character Breakfast. "Can't we go to a later one?" pleaded gramps. "No, we have reservations," said the daughter. The day ended with a 9 p.m. Character Dinner. Now, back home, gramps has finally figured out what they did to him. "It wasn't the real Mickey at all those breakfasts and dinners," he disclosed. Here I was, up early, staying up late, running from breakfast to dinner and back to breakfast and getting tuckered out. Mickey was fresh as a daisy because it wasn't the real Mickey. "OK, so maybe the first one was real. But after that, they were throwing in ringers." It is a sad life when you can't even trust Mickey. ________________________________________________________________________________________________
A few details have come in about November
2nd's re-release of Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of
the Black Pearl. The 3-disc Gift Set will include the
existing 2-disc Collector's Edition plus "The Lost
Disc", a third disc featuring 8 never-before-seen bonus
features running a total of 69 minutes. Carrying the same
$29.99 Suggested Retail Price that the 2-disc set did, the new
DVD sounds enticing to those few people who haven't already
bought the film on DVD.
________________________________________________________________________________________________ Another
Dynasty ________________________________________________________________________________________________ Disabled Can Ride at DisneyThe Walt Disney World Resort has been honored for using its imagination to provide better services for disabled guests. The New Freedom Foundation awarded the resort its Best New Ability Product or Technology Award for innovative ride accessibility. Engineers designed a special wheelchair lift for the Jungle Cruise attraction at Magic Kingdom Park and a fold out, load and unload wheelchair ramp for the Journey into Imagination with Figment attraction at Epcot. ________________________________________________________________________________________________ Annual Passportholder? We don't
care! ________________________________________________________________________________________________
Plastics exhibit open at Innoventions
Epcot - Fantastic Plastics, sponsored by the
Society of Plastic Engineers, has opened at Innovetions. It
is in section 8, on the East side.
________________________________________________________________________________________________
Disney Is
Again Faulted in Coaster Accident
An inexperienced worker's error is called a factor in Big Thunder Mountain's 3rd crash in a year. State investigators said Friday that mistakes by an inexperienced ride operator and a software glitch contributed to an accident last month — the third in less than a year — on Disneyland's Big Thunder Mountain Railroad. The report from the state Division of Occupational Safety and Health concluded that the unnamed ride operator had been on the job just three days when he performed procedures out of sequence July 8, causing two trains to collide as one returned to the station. Five people suffered minor injuries. The first accident occurred last September when a car derailed, killing one person and injuring 10 others; the second was in April when two empty cars crashed during a test run. In all three cases, the state faulted the park and ordered retraining. Friday's report did not address the question of whether the coaster has an ongoing problem. But Susan Gard, a spokeswoman for the state agency, said investigators considered the ride's recent history. Unlike in the fatal accident, the employee this time was properly trained and the procedures were proper, she said. In the amusement park business, as in any other, "there is always going to be the possibility that a mistake can be made," Gard said. Disneyland officials said they agree with the report and have taken the action required by the state, which included retraining the operator at fault and fixing the software problem. "We remain committed to driving continuous improvement and upholding the high standards that keep us at the forefront of ride safety," said Greg Hale, chief safety officer of Walt Disney Parks and Resorts. One independent expert on Disneyland, "Mouse Tales" author David Koenig, said the run of accidents may be a terrible case of bad luck. But, at a minimum, it creates a perception problem for the park, undercutting Disneyland contentions that such accidents are extremely rare, he said. "Disney has run out of its 'one-in-a-million' excuse," Koenig said. And more than that, some fans who once supported Disney almost unequivocally have lost faith — at least in Big Thunder Mountain, he said. "This was the first time, in observing decades of accidents at Disneyland, that I heard a large number of otherwise calm, collected, sane people, say, 'I'm never riding that ride again.' " The latest accident occurred when one train arriving at the station bumped into another. Both were carrying passengers, though only a handful of riders complained of minor aches. Despite the human error, the computer operating system should have prevented the collision, Gard said. "It was a small window of opportunity for the error to happen. If he [the operator] would have pressed the button out of sequence at any other place, the accident wouldn't have occurred," she said. Waiting for Big Thunder Mountain to reopen Friday, many tourists said they have few qualms about getting aboard the ride. "Disneyland has been around for a really long time, and there have been very few accidents," said Brad Macy, 44, visiting from Walnut Creek with his two children. "I'm not a big fan of roller coasters, but I think they are fairly safe," he said. His son, Leor, 12, was more guarded. "It scares me a little," he said. "But I'm going to go on it anyway."
________________________________________________________________________________________________
Disneyland's Big Thunder Mountain
Accident Report Released
At 4pm PT on Friday, DOSH released their report on the recent accident on Dinsneyland's Big Thunder Mountain. This findings state that the accident was the result of a combination of human error and software failure. The cast member responsible failed to follow proper procedure. The ride control system failed to prevent the accident, as it should have. In the interest of confidentiality, MousePlanet has removed the first two pages of the report, which contained names, ages, and contact information for several injured guests and witnesses. We also blocked out the last names of two injured guests found in the body of the report. Otherwise, the report is complete and the final official product. Plan now for Epcot Food & Wine Fest Many special events sell out ahead of opening Look out — the Epcot International Food and Wine Festival is coming up a lot sooner than you think The annual event, which attracts more than a million people to the theme park, begins two weeks earlier this year, Oct. 1, and it is also two weeks longer. It all adds up to eight weeks of one of the largest festivals of its kind in the world. Chances are, if you have been to the Epcot fest, it already has become an annual event to mark on the calendar. If you haven’t made the trip over to the Disney resort, maybe this is the year you should since there are now several more days to enjoy it. There is plenty of food and wine and beer to be sampled on a daily basis and don’t worry — while some of the lines may be long, they never run out. But there are some special events that take place throughout the festival, such as the wine and dinner pairings, the Party for the Senses and other dining experiences that sell out quickly. A quick look at the special events: Daily wine and dinner pairings at seven locations throughout the theme park hosted by a VIP wine expert. Tickets are $35. The opening day festival featuring the Fess Parker Winery. Bordeaux Wine School USA, Napa Valley Wine School, Banfi Italian Wine School and Australian Wine School are respected one-day wine education programs with lunch and certification; the cost is $125 for each program. Signature Dinner Series features themed evenings reflecting the world’s great wines and food. The five-course dinner with Walt Disney World chefs, with wines paired by vintners’ selected wineries is $125. Hosted at premier Disney resort restaurants 6-9 p.m. Oct. 10, 17 and Nov. 14. More information on the special event dining events can be found at www.disneyworld.com/foodandwine. For reservations call 407/ WDW-FEST. But even if you don’t go to the special events, every day is a festival at the Epcot event. “The festival is our opportunity to showcase not only all the culinary and wine-related talent at Walt Disney World Resort, but also to introduce great celebrity chefs and wine connoisseurs in the industry,” said Nora Carey, festival manager. “We strive to provide various levels of experiences that reflect the diverse interests of our guests, from simple marketplace tastings and seminars to extravagant dinners.” The event features wine from more than 100 wineries as well as cuisine from more than 20 international marketplaces. Taste portions range from $1 to $4.50. There are also free tastings at more than 1,200 wine and beer seminars held throughout the festival. New festival marketplaces this year are Peru and India, and there are also new cultural experiences including Valencia, Spain and The New England Fair. Returning this year is Eat to the Beat!
Concerts performed each evening at the America Gardens Theatre.
Headliners include Three Dog Night, Kool and the Gang, Beach
Boys, Chubby Checker and Eddie Money. Walt Disney World Food Drive Efforts
to Include Night of Joy 2004 Throughout the year, Walt Disney World is the largest food bank provider in Central Florida through the Disney Harvest Plan, a program that takes un- served food from Walt Disney World Resort hotels and distributes it to Second Harvest and other food banks in the area. More than 500,000 pounds of food are distributed annually through the program. Collection stations will be located at the Walt Disney World Ticket and Transportation Center and the main gate of Magic Kingdom Sept. 9-11 during the Night of Joy event. About Night of Joy at Walt Disney World Resort Night of Joy at Walt Disney World Resort will showcase the biggest, most- decorated lineup of contemporary Christian music talent in the event's 22-year history. The marquee includes 24 acts spread across three consecutive evenings Sept. 9-11 -- including a first-ever Thursday evening Night of Joy. The expansion to a third night follows early sellouts in recent years. The result is 24 acts that have amassed 174 Gospel Music Association Dove Awards and 21 Grammy Awards. The star-studded lineup features: * Michael W. Smith, Jars of Clay, Avalon, Point of Grace, FFH, Mark Schultz, 4Him, and Across the Sky on Thursday, Sept. 9. * Third Day, Steven Curtis Chapman, Rebecca St. James, Warren Barfield, SONICFLOOd, Skillet, Stryper, and downhere on Friday, Sept. 10. * Kirk Franklin, Jaci Velasquez, CeCe Winans, Jeremy Camp, Salvador, Jump5, Joy Williams, and 12 Stones on Saturday, Sept. 11. About Walt Disney World and The Walt Disney Company Hurricane Relief To assist Central Florida families and Cast Members adversely impacted by Hurricane Charley, the Walt Disney Company and Walt Disney World Resort have initiated an array of relief efforts. "Our Disney family always steps up in times of crisis to assist those in need," said Al Weiss, president of Walt Disney World Resort. "We are joining with other caring corporate citizens to provide much needed help and compassion in the community and within our own company." This support will be ongoing, but current
efforts include: * Financial Support - DisneyHand, worldwide
outreach for The Walt Disney Company, quickly made a $100,000
donation to the American Red Cross and Heart of Florida United
Way. Two Cast Member relief programs, Disney Operation Care and
the Cast Member Hurricane Relief Fund, have been established and
have distributed more than $2 million in payments up to $5,000
each to date. * Helping Hands - Cast Members have pitched in to
distribute 120,000 pounds of free ice, hot meals, and manpower
to fellow Cast Members in need of assistance. * Comforts of Home
- For Cast Members whose homes were destroyed or uninhabitable,
we provided more than 430 complimentary rooms at Walt Disney
World Resort hotels. We also offered discounted rooms to another
1,700 Cast Members who lost power or other utilities. Shower and
laundry facilities have also been offered. * Food Supplies -
Walt Disney World Co. is conducting a property-wide food drive
for the Second Harvest Food Bank. In addition, 600 meals were
delivered last week to crews working on relief efforts
throughout the community. * Community Help - Teams of workers
armed with chain saws spent last week in various communities
clearing debris. These crews were on loan from Buena Vista
Construction Company and Walt Disney World Co. and were
dispatched to remove trees blocking roadways. Their work allowed
the City of Orlando and Orange County to get traffic flowing in
several areas. * Childcare Solutions - Walt Disney World day
care centers usually reserved for guests were opened to Cast
Members last week as schools across the area were closed due to
storm damage. Several hundred Walt Disney World Cast Member
children spent last week at one of the day care centers located
inside the resort properties. The new Central Florida YMCA
Family Centers at Walt Disney World also proved to be a great
resource. The center, which opened on Aug. 1 to serve the needs
of the cast, went into overdrive providing back-up care for
working parents who were unable to find last minute care options
for their children.
Animatronic
reindeer replace living variety in Narnia film
Steam vents from her flaring nostrils and she looks convincingly agitated, but any DNA replicating within this reindeer has more in common with a pop-up toaster than the real thing. Holly is one of four animatronic reindeer working on Andrew Adamson's The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe after the living variety struck problems with Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry regulations. The movie's producers withdrew an application to import 14 reindeer after MAF officers raised concerns over the possibility of introducing the potentially-deadly Q fever, which is present among American herds. Their eerily realistic replacements were built in six months by Mark Rappaport and his Los Angeles-based Creature Effects team from fibreglass, servo motors and synthetic materials. Each is controlled by up to five puppeteers who control all movements of their heads, neck, hips, nostrils, ears, eyes and tail as well as simulating breathing by expelling vapour from their nostrils. A movie spokesman declined to disclose how much they cost to manufacture. The team will stand in for close up, stationary shots and will wear white synthetic pelts when pulling the evil White Witch's sleigh and brown when with Father Christmas. Any scenes showing moving reindeer will be computer generated. Mr Rappaport said his creations will go into storage once shooting is completed, but was hopeful they would be needed again if Disney decides to film further novels from CS Lewis' Narnia series. The scenes with Father Christmas, played by Braveheart's James Cosmo, were shot over the past week. Mr Cosmo was present on the West Auckland sets for only two days to complete his part in the project. The only live animals to appear in the Disney-Walden Media production will be horses and wolves, which were yesterday working on sets near Henderson. All other creatures will be computer generated by American companies Sony Imageworks and Rhythm & Hues. Casting decisions are still awaited for six major roles: Aslan the lion, Maugrim, the White Witch's wolf henchman, and the four children - Lucy, Edmund, Susan and Peter - as adults. |
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________________________________________________________________________________________________ Friday August 27, 2004 ________________________________________________________________________________________________ Restored
'Bambi' to be released on DVD in March The studio has announced that the 1942 classic
about an orphaned deer, "Bambi," will be released as a
two-disc special edition March 1. A studio release says the film
will feature an all-new digitally restored print created with
new technology that employed "detailed frame-by-frame work
with touchups by hand." In addition, the soundtrack has
been updated to Dolby Digital 5.1 surround sound.
Extra features will include never-before-seen
sequences and "Walt's Annotated Bambi," a
behind-the-scenes look at the creation of the film. ________________________________________________________________________________________________ Lakeland firm to pay
$16,300 for inquiry into industrial land contamination. Nearly three years after hazardous waste was
found at Maclan Corp. in Lakeland, the president of the company
has signed an agreement to pay $16,300 to the Department of
Environmental Protection for investigative costs. ________________________________________________________________________________________________ Currently being offered for the fans of Walt
Disney Cartoons from the early 1930s is a selection of early
production drawings and storyboards from Walts Disney first full
length theatrical film, "Snow White and the Seven
Dwarfs," which was released in 1937 to much acclaim. Also
as a rare treat for fans of the studio;a great selection of
Drawings from Mickey Mouse Shorts of the 1930s will be
available. These shorts include such classics as, "Canine
Caddy," "Micky's Birthday Surprise," "The
Brave Little Tailor," "Touch Down Mickey,"
"Mickey's Circus," "Clock Cleaners," and
many many others. ________________________________________________________________________________________________ She's big, and about to get bigger:
Genny C is pregnant The long due date didn't take away from the
excitement expressed at Thursday's news conference. And the news was greeted with excitement by
zoo visitors who are looking forward to watching the 8,700-pound
Genny C become a mother for the first time.
"I've never seen a baby elephant
before," said Kevin Ebner, 33, of Rochester. The successful artificial insemination took
place in May. Two previous attempts failed. Zoo officials had expressed concern that Genny
C's "biological clock is ticking away." In all of North America there are only 211
female and 31 male African elephants, said Dr. Jeff Wyatt, the
zoo's director of health and conservation.
Elephant experts have projected that, without
breeding, there would be just 13 females left in about 40 years,
and only four would still be young enough to reproduce.
The first baby elephant born by artificial
insemination weighed 378 pounds. Its mother was impregnated in
Dickerson Park Zoo in Springfield, Mo., in January 1998 and the
elephant was born in November 1999, said Dr. Dennis Schmitt,
professor of animal science at Southwest Missouri State
University in Springfield, Mo. Nine more elephants have been
born by artificial insemination in North America since then. ________________________________________________________________________________________________ For these two cartoon actresses,
Disney fairy tales do come true
It's a fairy-tale flashback. The
fairest-of-them-all, Marge Champion, and famous fairy Margaret
Kerry were live-action cartoon models for Disney classics,
although the studio hushed up their roles so they wouldn't grab
glory from the legendary animators of the House of Mouse. On this night, the bubbly golden girls are
star attractions at a gallery's Disney animation art show,
complete with a Hollywood-style opening that sometimes screams
surreal.
Looking lovely in a lime-green ensemble,
Champion, who worked on the 1937 "Snow White and the Seven
Dwarfs," dances with a young model-actor dressed as Prince
Charming, converses with a chirpy costumed Snow White formerly
of Tokyo Disneyland, and declares "Off to work we go!"
as she's surrounded by the dwarves. Mighty Mike Murga, a
4-foot-4 bodybuilder, moonlights as Sneezy.
"You're still Tinker Bell!" fans
gush at Kerry, who pre-Tink won the title of "Most
Beautiful Legs in Hollywood." It was her exaggerated
expressions and curvy chassis – not Marilyn Monroe's, as has
been reported in some books and documentaries – that lent life
to the hotheaded sprite of 1953's "Peter Pan." Artists sketching cinema's first full-length
animated feature were having trouble creating realistic-moving
humans, so for 1½ years – occasionally with live-action
models for the prince and witch but mostly alone – Champion
reenacted storyboards on 16mm film. At the Oscar-winning movie's 1937 premiere,
though, Snow White's alter ego was stuck in the balcony and told
not to talk about her part.
"They felt that people would think that
they traced me – which they did," says Champion, who
became known for song-and-dance with husband Gower. "Every
movement is my movement to this day – every turn of the
head."
She looks over her shoulder at a tagged
$12,500 production cel of Snow White holding the poison apple
and remembers cradling the same prop. When it came to the scene
where Snow White flees through the forest, Champion pushed
through cords and clothesline hung from the ceiling to simulate
menacing branches.
Since Snow White's head was larger than her
bod, Champion briefly modeled in a football helmet punctured for
ventilation and painted with a hairline. "It was so
impossible to be free with that big head that they finally got
rid of it. Also it was so hot I nearly fainted," she says.
She was also a movement model in two 1940
Disney animated pics. Champion was the pretty blue fairy in
"Pinocchio" and twirled as the hippo ballerina (posing
in tutu or a bathing suit) for "Fantasia." Clap your hands if you believe in fairies.
"I became known as Two-Take Tink,"
enthuses Kerry, who is penning a memoir, "Tink Talks!"
When the director of "Peter Pan" told her what he
wanted – for example, act jealous about Peter – she came up
with the pout, the hip swiveling and other dramatic antics.
For a scene where Tinker Bell tumbles inside a
slammed drawer and ends up with a thimble over her head, Kerry
somersaulted on a mattress that was too thin.
"I almost killed myself," she says.
She was 22 and had been acting all her life
– as a child she was in "Our Gang" comedies – when
her agent found out Disney needed a nimble model for Peter Pan's
petulant pixie.
"I'm thinking how do you interview for
the part of a 3½-inch-tall sprite who doesn't talk?" At
the audition, she performed an original pantomime to music about
making breakfast, which had her juggling eggs and slamming the
fridge with her foot.
But it was her interpretation of Tinker Bell
landing on a hand mirror and measuring her hips that won the
part. "She was very unhappy and stomps her feet."
With her hair piled atop her head, wearing an
aqua swimsuit, Kerry worked on an empty Burbank soundstage that
was heavily backlit so her cute figure stood out on film. Like
Snow White and other live-action models (including dancer Roland
Dupree who gracefully flew as Peter Pan), Kerry was rotoscoped,
a process where animators hand-traced footage before they began
altering and tweaking characters.
Kerry says Tinker Bell creator and renowned
animator Marc Davis rendered the blond, winged babe based on
everything she did.
"It's not that I look like her – she
looks like me," Kerry notes.
Sometimes Kerry used props, such as
15-foot-tall scissors or a giant keyhole to look through. Other
times, she pretended to peek out from a drawer or under a
mattress. "I did eyebrow acting," she says, referring
to her theatrical facial gestures.
Kerry, too, recognizes herself on celluloid.
So did her late husband, Jack Wilcox, when she took him to a
screening of "Peter Pan."
"He said, 'I would recognize those thighs
anywhere,' " she laughs. Productions today often use "motion
capture," where human moves are recorded by computer, says
animation historian Jerry Beck, a guest at this opening night
benefit at the Great American Ink Animation Fine Art Gallery.
Electrodes wired to a live-action model's body feed 3D data to a
computer animation system.
Back when Disney began the $1.4 million
"Snow White," animators were searching for a way to
draw a realistic character that audiences could relate to, Beck
says. Champion recalls when she started posing, the film's pure
heroine had Betty Boop-type eyes with large lashes and a teensy
waist. Storyboards soon showed her with Champion's almond-shaped
eyes and a normal midline.
Champion went on to a successful acting and
dance career, appearing as recently as 2001 on Broadway in
"Follies." Kerry, who had a weekly show on a L.A.
Christian talk radio station where she now does community
outreach, was a voice-over artist on scores of cartoons
including "Clutch Cargo" and "The New Three
Stooges." Tink might've talked with a bell, but Kerry does
21 dialects and 40 character voices.
Sleepy looks sleepy as the night winds down.
The actor-personal trainer playing Bashful removes his scratchy
beard. A few dwarfs adjourn to the gallery's wine cellar.
Champion smiles for the final photo ops with the prince and the
Snow White who rents out for children's parties.
But Kerry can't escape from Neverland.
For hours, the septuagenarian sprite has been
glued to a table signing autographed photos for fans.
"Faith Trust and Pixie Dust!" she cheerily scrawls one
more time. ________________________________________________________________________________________________ HK Disneyland to open next year The price for the tickets is
being discussed by the local government and the Disney Company,
China Radio International reported Thusday. The local transportation
department is in full swing getting ready to receive the
expected influx of visitors. The Hong Kong Tourism Bureau
estimates that over five million visitors from around the world
will visit the new Disney Land in its first year. Shot in a series of acrobatic sword battles
across lakes, deserts and courtyards, it's a martial-arts ballet
featuring the melancholic music of Tan Dun (with Itzhak Perlman
violin solos) and the luscious cinematography of Wong Kar-wai's
favourite director of photography, Christopher Doyle. Zhang ( Raise the Red Lantern, Ju
Dou, Shanghai Triad) conceived of the film long
before Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon made Chinese
martial-arts epics mainstream. After the success of Crouching
Tiger, Miramax approached Zhang with a reported budget of
$30-million to $35-million to make the film. With its all-star
lineup, cast of thousands and sumptuous set-piece battles, the
movie was a record-breaking blockbuster in China. Then Miramax sat on the North American release
for two years, threatening to release a shorter version. Quentin
Tarantino convinced them to keep it at full length, and
eventually Disney, anxious to keep on good terms with Chinese
officials (a new Chinese Disney theme park is in the works),
paid for Hero's release in its original form. Enough time
has passed that Zhang has already completed his next movie in
the genre, House of Flying Daggers, which is to be shown
at the Toronto International Film Festival. The story of the king, and an attempt to
assassinate him, has been told before, most notably in Chen
Kaige's opulent 1999 historical drama, The Emperor and the
Assassin. Zhang's interest is less in the detail of history
than the abstraction of legend, and his spare sets seem more
like Middle-Earth than ancient China. The story is told largely in flashback by a
nameless small-town official (Jet Li, who has great martial-arts
skills and minimal acting range). He has been brought to the
court by the third-century-BC king of Qin, who went on to become
unified China's first emperor. After 10 years, we learn, no one
has been able to find three legendary assassins — Sky (Donnie
Yen), Broken Arrow (Tony Leung Chiu-Wai) and a woman, Flying
Snow (Maggie Cheung) — who want to kill the king (Chen Daoming). Then the nameless storyteller announces that
he has killed all three. While the king sits on his throne behind a
bank of guttering candles, the visitor stands at a distance and
tells his story in flashbacks. The first battle takes place in
the courtyard of a teahouse, in which the chess-playing assassin
demolishes a series of attackers in various geometric formations
in the rain, before Nameless brings him down. This is merely the prelude to the second
round, when the screen fills with colour. This time the
opponents are Broken Arrow and Flying Snow, lovers who are
secreted in a rural school, where they have developed a precise
martial-arts style based on calligraphy. Nameless arrives at a
moment of crisis, when a massive, colour co-ordinated Qin army
is ready to destroy the village. The sky turns black with the Qin army's arrows
while the students inside remain seated, working away at their
characters while bodies drop around them. Finally, the two
assassins, Broken Arrow, using his sword, and Flying Snow, using
the folds of her robe, leap out in front of the school and repel
the arrows. At night, Nameless manages to plant a seed of
jealousy between the two lovers and a young servant girl, Moon
(Zhang Ziyi), who loves Broken Sword. The two women have a
showdown in a forest, where swirls of flying autumn leaves
become integral to the action, and the entire screen is tinged
in red. Back we go to the palace, where the wily king
expresses some doubts about the story, and so it is told again.
In all, the tale of Nameless and the three assassins gets told
four times, each time with variations, adding new elements and
interpretations. The structure becomes the one sluggish element
in this high-flying movie. At least there are visual rewards: With each Rashomon
variation, the colours alter, moving from black to red to
blue, to green and white. The sword fights are less about
expressions of character than in conventional martial-arts
movies. Here they are designed for their dynamic beauty: The
characters skip across a shimmering blue lake; they hang upside
down in mid-battle; they fall in a bone-white desert; a single
drop of water flies through the air and hangs on a dead woman's
face. At times, the effect is absurdly giddy: Two assassins,
dressed in mint-green robes, skip through a river of grey
soldiers at the palace gates and, once inside, discover that the
drapes exactly match their robes. Though the film's grand martial displays have
drawn comparisons to Leni Riefenstahl's Triumph of the Will,
the comparisons don't entirely hold up: Too much of Hero depends
on firefly delicacy, and the core story is really a chamber
opera for six characters: three assassins, a maid, Nameless and
the king. The movie's weakness is its gorgeous
two-dimensionality. The characters' secret motives, noble
sacrifices and heartbreaks are less interesting than their skin
tone and posture. You can think of the title Hero as a
handy place-filler: Amazing Landscape, Costumes and Stunt Work
just wouldn't have fit on the marquee. ________________________________________________________________________________________________ Synergy is BACK as Two-Way-Street ________________________________________________________________________________________________ Videopolis Changes
Coming ________________________________________________________________________________________________ Disneyland: offer: "Happiest
Faces..." mini-photo album for Passholders
Muppets' Flick to Include Tarantino
Blood-and-guts director Quentin Tarantino may
be going soft. The "Kill Bill" and "Pulp
Fiction" director will make a cameo appearance in a new
ABC-TV movie featuring the Muppets and based on the classic
tale "The Wizard of Oz," ABC announced Thursday.
The film, with the working title "The Muppets' Wonderful Wizard of Oz," is set to begin production in Vancouver, British Columbia, next month and air in the coming TV season on "The Wonderful World of Disney." Tarantino's role as himself is likely to be overshadowed by pop star Ashanti, starring as Dorothy, and Miss Piggy. The muppet will play three wicked witches and Glinda, Good Witch of the South. Among other muppets, Kermit the Frog is the Scarecrow, the Great Gonzo is the Tin Man and Fozzie Bear is the Lion. Besides Ashanti, the film features actress-singer Queen Latifah playing Auntie Em. Described by the network as a "madcap adventure," the project is based on Frank L. Baum's "The Wonderful Wizard of Oz." Judy Garland played Dorothy in the famed 1939 film version, while Diana Ross starred in 1978's "The Wiz." ________________________________________________________________________________________________ Monsters scare up crowds at the Erwin CenterAustin's Frank Erwin Center has been invaded by monsters. You can catch all the characters from Monsters, Inc., along with cool special effects, in the Disney on Ice version of the show. “They’re going to see a lot
of monsters. They’re going to see a lot of scaring. They’re
also going to see a lot of laughing, a lot of color and hear a
lot of great music too,” performer Allison Harack said.
“There’s a lot of dancing in the show, a lot of skating, a
lot of choreography.” ________________________________________________________________________________________________ Disney names Hema
Govindan India marketing head The release quotes Jain as saying, "Hema Govindan's knowledge and insights of Disney and the Indian television industry will help us lay the foundations for the company's continued growth and success in this country." Prior to joining Disney, Hema was vice president of marketing and Public Relations at Turner Entertainment Networks Asia with regional oversight of the Cartoon Network and Turner Classic Movies brands. ________________________________________________________________________________________________ Disney magic fills Livermore shop Comfort
comes from enchanting characters, collectibles Many of those same customers come back to experience something even more magical -- shop owner Cindy Russell of Livermore, who believes nothing is more healing than the joy evoked by those familiar characters. "Everybody needs a little fairy tale and magic in their life," Russell said, "In this world there's a lot of sadness; a lot of people are struggling and alone. "But I've managed to put this (store) together, and it's somehow taken on a life of its own." Life is something Russell doesn't take for granted. The mother of two adult sons, she's living with cancer, and determined to make the most of her time. Russell became ill in the late 90s, and recalls finding comfort watching Winnie the Pooh cartoons. The cartoons and the classic Disney stories provided inspiration as surgeries and illness overshadowed her life. "When you get sick, you're really out there alone," Russell said. I didn't know what to do; I didn't have control over anything I was not eating and waiting to die. Then I began my Disney, and there I found peace." No longer able to work in technological development at Intel, Russell instead turned her remaining energy to what she loved best. Today, her store offers Disney fans a treasure trove of collectibles, including Lenox and Dept. 56 figures; Bradford plates, animation art, collector pins, watches, scrapbook goods, and plush characters. She also hosts special events, such as appearances of Disney artists and personalities. On Oct. 9, the store will host a signing event with Disney artist Ron Lee, who creates Disney character figurines. For more information, call (925) 294-8152. Customers such as Lourdes Tuck of Livermore stop by regularly to soak up a little atmosphere, browse new merchandise and chat with Russell. "I've been coming here since it opened. The store is just wonderful. You come in here and just smile," she said. "I grew up with Disney, and Cindy is really inspirational having gone through everything she's had to go through. In spite of it all she's very positive, very uplifting; she wants to make you smile. All this stuff just makes us feel like kids again. I can come here and just get happy." ________________________________________________________________________________________________ Rookie
Camp At Disney ICE Game Schedule And Ticket Information
Announced Equity,
Disney World Open Talks ________________________________________________________________________________________________ Tips
on avoiding the biggest crowds at Walt Disney World Here's some information that might make waiting on line for the Dumbo ride a little less painful. According to the 2004 edition of Walt Disney World: Expert Advice from the Inside Source, the theme park's official guide, the least crowded times of year are: -the second week of January through the first week of February. -the week after Labour Day until U.S. Thanksgiving. -the week after Thanksgiving through the week before Christmas. The most crowded times at Disney are, of course, when school is out: June through Labour Day; Christmas through New Year's Day; President's Day week in February; and the third week of March through the third week of April, as kids young and old roll through their spring breaks. Understanding daily trends can also reduce your stress. Downtown Disney and Disney's water parks are most crowded on weekends. Golfers should note that weekend tee times are most in demand, while Monday and Tuesday tee times are easiest to come by. When the weather is steamy, as it tends to be in late August, the water parks tend to reach capacity soon after the gates open, so get an early start if you're headed to Blizzard Beach or Typhoon Lagoon. Days that are kicked off with "Extra Magic Hour" tend to be more crowded than others at their respective theme parks. And weekends and Mondays are generally the busiest days at the theme parks during the summer and other peak periods. Don't forget FastPass, a free timed ticketing system that allows you to return and wait just a few minutes rather than up to several hours for some of the most popular attractions. Despite its efficiency, the system tends to be underused by visitors.
ABC News Now Looks to Extend Term
ABC News executives expressed guarded optimism
that the fledgling ABC News Now digital channel will remain on
the air beyond its 14-week experimental run, scheduled to end
after Election Day, Nov. 2.
In a conference call with reporters Wednesday, executives said no final decision had been made and that they were trying to develop a business plan to allow ABC News Now to continue beyond the election. "I think the chances are very good," ABC News senior vp Paul Slavin said. "I know that at ABC News, we have worked vigorously to try and find a way to do this that is affordable and works within the ABC News DNA, and we're confident that we can do that." The service grew out of ABC News' broadband video offering to include not only the Internet but also some ABC stations' digital stream, a temporary channel on the upper tier of some cable systems and wireless. Every ABC owned-and-operated station and a number of affiliates broadcast ABC News Now. But because it's on a little-known digital channel -- and isn't rated by Nielsen Media Research -- it's hard to tell just how many people are watching. ABC executives readily admit that it's difficult to find out how many people are tuned in. But they say that data from Web partner AOL and anecdotal information from affiliates have found there's an audience for ABC News Now. When Hurricane Charley hit Florida, for instance, 400,000 streams of video were accessed via AOL between 4 and 7 p.m. And a Chicago station's request for viewers to contact them if they were watching ABC News Now led to a torrent of e-mails, said John Rouse, SVP of affiliate relations for ABC. Even if the plug is pulled on ABC News Now, a part of it will remain because the broadband service will continue. Slavin said that the digital channel may end up being taken off for a period of time while it's reworked and while deals are made with cable systems to carry it, since it's temporarily using another channel. "It's still very much a work-in-progress. We're learning a lot, our affiliates are learning a lot and we're very optimistic that this will be a success," Slavin said. _____________________________________________________________________________________ The Incredibles Progress Report ________________________________________________________________________________________________ |
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Disney Tour Bus Catches Fire
A Disney Cruise Line tour bus caught fire
on state Road 528 Thursday afternoon.
The bus caught fire near Dallas in east Orange County. Eastbound lanes of the Beeline Expressway were closed as fire crews extinguished the fire.
The bus was smoking as the bus driver pulled the vehicle
off on the right-hand side of the roadway. The driver
and all the passengers, about 40 to 50 people, got off
the bus and were moved a safe distance away before the
bus erupted in flames. No injuries have been reported.
        
The bus is owned by Mears Transportation. Other Disney buses, which were heading westbound after dropping other cruise passengers off, stopped when they saw the fire and picked up the passengers from the burned-out bus. The passengers are now on their way to the Disney Cruise Line terminal at Port Canaveral.
Most of the luggage for cruise passengers had already been
sent ahead to the port. There were only a few pieces of
luggage and some small personal items on the bus with the
passengers that was lost when the bus caught fire,
according to a representative of Disney Cruises.
The fire was started by a flat tire, and no other cars
were involved in the incident.
________________________________________________________________________________________________
ABC TV to Start Test Transmission
Soon
All is now set for ABC TV to start test transmission in Freetown and its environs soon, the company's Managing Director Allieu Shaw intimated Concord Times past Friday. Shaw who speaking at his Siaka Stevens Street office said all the equipment to enable his company commence transmission have been shipped into the country. "The station will be on air 24 hours with news, sports, music, drama and local programming", he said and disclosed that there is a need for people to open up to a variety of channels in order to make informed opinion. The ABC TV Managing Director said he has signed contracts with 16 TV stations from Australia to Africa to relay their programmes here. Shaw explained that the objective of establishing the TV station in the country was to keep children and youths off drugs. "People do not need any garget or pay subscription fees to view ABC TV. All they need is a TV set to watch our programmes", he said and described ABC TV as the station with one of the best broadcasting signals in the world. ________________________________________________________________________________________________ Students invited to perform at Downtown Disney The world is a stage for a group of young entertainers from the Royal Palm School. Make that a small, small world. Twenty-one students with disabilities at the suburban Lantana school have been invited to perform their musical show, 100 Years of Broadway, at Orlando's Downtown Disney on Oct. 29. They'll also spend the following day at a Walt Disney World theme park. The troupe caught the eye of Disney officials after music instructor Andrea Hanan submitted a videotape of the students' performance of the musical from this past school year. That show, held Feb. 20, was a fund-raiser to help the students take a field trip to Broadway. Instead, the money for the Broadway trip, about $2,300, now will help pay the students' way to Disney. There, they'll perform show tunes as part of Disney's Magic Music Days. The Magic Music Days program allows a select group of school bands, choirs, orchestras, dance ensembles, drill teams and other performing groups to experience show biz firsthand. However, the group needs about $2,000 more to cover the remaining costs of hotel rooms, meals and transportation, Hanan said. Also, if they are able to raise an additional $20 per person, the students hope to have lunch with some of the Disney characters the day of the performance. The students, many of whom performed in the musical last year, began rehearsing for the big show shortly after the school year began. "We haven't really done it in eight months," Hanan said. One returning cast member is Ashley Miller, 15, who said she is looking forward to her first trip to Disney World. Ashley said one of her favorite songs in the show is Hello, Dolly! "The show is really good," she said. The show had to be condensed to about 25 minutes to fit in the allotted time, Hanan said. The performance features songs from A Chorus Line, Oklahoma!, Annie Get Your Gun, The Sound of Music, South Pacific, Guys and Dolls and others. To make a donation, call the school at 649-6850. ________________________________________________________________________________________________ Verizon, Disney Publishing
Worldwide, First Book Delivering 100,000 Books to
Washington, D.C., Area Kids During a celebration-of-reading event today held at the U.S. Department of Education, books donated by Disney Publishing were distributed to recipient groups from the district, Maryland and Virginia. Taking part in this effort were Verizon volunteers, Disney Publishing Worldwide, and First Book, a national nonprofit agency dedicated to providing children from low-income families with new books. The collaborative relationship emphasizes the importance of reading, brings greater attention to the literacy challenges facing America, and enhances the language and reading comprehension skills of children. The Verizon Foundation, the philanthropic arm of Verizon Communications, provided a $200,000 grant to fund a key element of this initiative -- the online technology used by the First Book National Book Bank. At http://www.nationalbookbank.org, organizations can register to receive books, individuals can volunteer to put books in the hands of children, and publishers can donate books. Verizon, which has an active volunteer presence in the Washington area and is one of the largest private employers in the district, stored the books at its local warehouse in Landover, Md. Members of Verizon's Consortium of Information and Telecommunications Executives (CITE), a nonprofit organization of African-American and other minority employees, worked with First Book representatives to sort, package and deliver the books. CITE members also have been tutoring and mentoring children and adults in community programs that First Book supports. "Placing a book into the hands of a child, then helping a young girl or boy learn to appreciate the power and magic of reading, is inspirational," said Kathryn C. Brown, senior vice president -- public policy development and corporate social responsibility for Verizon. "The company deeply values the importance of improving literacy in order to nurture and build strong communities. We are on a long-term mission to motivate youth to develop strong verbal and reading skills because those abilities build self-esteem and confidence and shape the framework for success in life." In conjunction with the start of the book distribution, Grammy Award- winning jazz musician and Verizon Literacy Champion Al Jarreau read "Duke Ellington" to 30 children from the Project Northstar: Homeless Children's Tutorial Project Inc., which provides educational and emotional support to homeless and formerly homeless children through one-on-one tutoring. Through the Verizon Literacy Champion program, Verizon partners with celebrities like Jarreau and actor Sean Astin who donate their image and time to help raise awareness about low literacy in the U.S. and to raise funds. The president of First Book, Kyle Zimmer, said: "Verizon's support of the First Book National Book Bank through employee volunteers and the underwriting of online access is simply fabulous. Thanks to this partnership, we can connect nonprofits with publishers like Disney Publishing Worldwide, which has donated more than 7 million books to the First Book National Book Bank." "We believe that reading with children is one of the most precious and valuable ways families can spend time together," said Deborah Dugan, president, Disney Publishing Worldwide. "We are pleased to further our commitment to First Book and bring the joy of reading to the children of metropolitan Washington and surrounding communities with this donation." Preston Padden, executive vice president, government affairs for the Walt Disney Company, joined the reading celebration and affirmed Disney's commitment to children and reading. Today's event builds upon the Verizon's national campaign to increase literacy levels. The company works to increase community and corporate awareness, raise funds, encourage collaboration among literacy providers, and engage employees in supporting literacy programs. For more information on Verizon Reads, visit http://www.verizonreads.net. Verizon Communications, a Dow 30 company, is one of the world's leading providers of communications services, with approximately $68 billion in annual revenues. Verizon companies are the largest providers of wireline and wireless communications in the United States. Verizon is also the largest directory publisher in the world, as measured by directory titles and circulation. Verizon's international presence includes wireline and wireless communications operations and investments, primarily in the Americas and Europe. For more information, visit http://www.verizon.com. DisneyHand, the worldwide outreach program for The Walt Disney Company, is dedicated to making the dreams of families and children a reality through public service initiatives, community outreach and volunteerism in the areas of learning, compassion, the arts and the environment. The Walt Disney Company, together with its subsidiaries and affiliates, is a diversified, international family entertainment and media enterprise which includes Walt Disney Parks and Resorts, The Walt Disney Studios, ABC, Inc., ESPN, Disney Channel, Disney Stores, television and radio stations and Internet web sites. For more information on Disney's corporate public service efforts, please visit our Web site at http://www.disneyhand.com. First Book, http://www.firstbook.org, is a national nonprofit organization that provides children from low-income families with the chance to read and own their first new books. A major component of First Book's work is accomplished through the First Book National Book Bank, a centralized donation and distribution agent that enables publishers to donate books and related products to established, community-based programs. This distribution is a continuation of the partnership between the CITE-Verizon Employee Resource Group and First Book to bring books to children in need. ________________________________________________________________________________________________ Fenton to
score animated Disney film
Taking a
Ride on Disney's Dark Side
Here's a question:
Is Walt Disney Co. a marvelous Southern California economic
engine or … the Spawn of Satan? I spent a week in August
grappling with just this question, on vacation with my wife,
my three boys and my brother and his family at Disneyland.
Even the biggest fan of the Happiest Place on Earth has to admit that there is something slightly unnatural about the "Disney Experience." For me, it began with the reservation. My phone call was answered by a "cast member" named Cathy. All Disneyland employees are "cast members," so when you think you're talking to a reservations clerk you're actually talking to someone who is playing a reservations clerk. No matter what I asked her, the answer was always a delighted, robotic "I am glad you asked that question." Had I asked "Is Michael Eisner the Dark Prince and are you one of his evil minions?" she would have responded, "I am glad you asked that question, no, Mr. Eisner is not the Dark Prince but the CEO of Disney Co. and I am cast member Cathy." Even when I inquired about an overcharge of a few hundred bucks, Cathy happily said, "I am glad you asked that question, yes, you have been overcharged." But it wasn't Cathy's preternatural cheer or even spending $250 a night for a Disneyland hotel room that sent me to the Bible for a quick refresher on Satan. It was standing before the giant gates of the Magic Kingdom with the kids, waiting to get my hand stamped. Revelations 13 became reality: "And [the Antichrist] causeth all … to receive a mark in their right hand, or in their foreheads: And that no man might buy or sell, save he that had the mark…." We observed one man attempting to make a sale without the mark. He was dressed as Captain Hook and offering to pose for pictures. He disappeared "backstage" in a sea of cheerful Disney security men. Once marked ourselves and inside the gate, things only got creepier. Ben, 6, Jack, 4, and Aidan, 2, as if compelled by some inexorable hidden force, pulled me gently and effortlessly toward insolvency. Is it a coincidence, I wondered, that Disney, Mickey and Eisner all have six letters? Back to Revelations: "Let him that hath understanding count the number of the beast … [666]." There were other portents. Who but the biblical Beast would sell bottled water in August in Anaheim for $2.75 each? And the surveillance — I've heard there are more security cameras at Disneyland than at the Pentagon. When my wife accidentally spilled a drop of milk in the lobby of our hotel, I bent down to wipe it up only to suddenly see the feet of a maid. She had a towel at the ready. We slowly backed away. John Ashcroft might want a lifetime Disneyland pass: thousands of people under constant watch, rapid disappearances of troublemakers "backstage" and mandated smiling from all employees. On his last day, my brother, Chris, a thoroughly logical architect from Chicago, went to the front desk to note that he had been mistakenly charged $18 for six bottles of water from the refrigerator in his room. The cast member behind the counter calmly assured him that the charge was correct because the bottles had been moved; a sensor on each bottle immediately registered the shift on Disneyland's computer system. (It turns out that a leftover pizza, pushed into the fridge, was the culprit.) "I guess it must be a lot of trouble keeping track of things in hundreds of rooms," Chris said. "No, it is no trouble at all," came the reply. For the Disney Co. and for Eisner, Disneyland and its clones are a cash machine. They yielded a hefty profit this year, with every bottled water sale offsetting the hundreds of millions of dollars that a shareholder lawsuit led by Roy E. Disney, Walt's nephew, accuses Eisner of wasting. The suit, however, steers clear of the possibility that Eisner's reign is not just financially wasteful but biblically evil. When the day finally arrived for our departure, my wife and I packed up a roomful of Disney products into bulging bags. We then realized that we had no money to give the bellhop. Gathering every quarter and dime we could find, we put together a $4.85 tip. When I handed over the small change, I explained that this was all that was left — Big Mouse had literally taken my last nickel. The bellhop smiled knowingly and released us back into the world. But as we drove away, Jack piped up from the rear seat: "When," he asked, "are we coming back to Disneyland?" Evil, pure evil.
________________________________________________________________________________________________
Clay Aiken recording the "Proud of Your Boy" Disney has released three photos of the effervescent Clay Aiken recording the "Proud of Your Boy" music video under the supervision of Aladdin filmmakers Alan Menken, Ron Clements, and John Musker. The music video will appear on the 2-disc Aladdin Platinum Edition DVD.   
Clay Aiken performs the music video for
"Proud of Your Boy", a song that was deleted from
Aladdin.
________________________________________________________________________________________________
Walt Disney World Resort Announces October-December
Room Discounts
Disney has released resort specials for Annual
Passholders and Room-only discounts. Room-only rates are
available for travelers vacationing at Walt Disney World
between 9/30/04-12/25/04 - excluding 11/10/04-11/13/04
and 11/23/04-11/27. Rates range from $55+ per night for
Value Resorts, $85+ per night for Moderate Resorts and $149+
per night for Deluxe Resorts. Ask for code BAT. Reservations
must be made by 10/10/04. Annual Passholder discounts
are also available for the same travel dates at a
slightly deeper discount. Rooms are subject to
availability. For details on these and other vacation
specials visit the official Disney Website at www.disney.com
________________________________________________________________________________________________ Disney Animated Classics Inspire
Fantasyland Fantasyland is inspired by the wonders of Disney animated classics. Of magical pirate ships and big-eared elephants that can fly. Of spinning cups at a Wonderland tea party. Of the hunny pot and the wicked witch. Of Disney characters jumping off the screen. Fantasyland was built to look somewhat like a medieval fair -- an expansive courtyard to Cinderella Castle. And it has been developed with fare for the whole family: There are neither height restrictions nor alerts about "physical considerations" on any of the attractions. Here's a glimpse of the fun in store in that courtyard for Walt Disney World guests . . .
Attractions
"Mickey's PhilharMagic" Disney magic meets Disney music in a new 3-D film spectacular. "Mickey's PhilharMagic," presented by Kodak, stars Mickey Mouse, Donald Duck and other favorite Disney characters animated in a way they've never before been seen: grand, glorious, in-your-face, three-dimension -- with the added fourth dimension of astonishing in-theater effects. "Mickey's PhilharMagic" is also the first attraction to feature classic Disney characters in computer-generated animation. The cast includes Mickey and Donald, as well as Ariel from "The Little Mermaid," Aladdin and Jasmine from "Aladdin," Peter Pan and Tinker Bell from "Peter Pan" and Simba from "The Lion King." Set in Fantasyland Concert Hall, the eye-popping musical experience unfolds on the largest seamless screen ever created for a three-dimensional film, a 150-foot-wide canvas. Complete with in-theater effects, the attraction immerses guests in the richly animated world of the Disney characters. Cinderella's Golden Carrousel While the Disney Imagineers are famous for meticulously replicating things of antiquity, this 90-horse carousel required restoration and preservation. It was built in 1917 as "Liberty." Its amusement park life began in Detroit, Mich. It was refurbished during the latter 1920s and added spinning fun to Olympic Park in Maplewood, N.J., for 39 years -- until 1967 when it became available and was purchased by Disney. The restoration included a new look celebrating the story of Cinderella in 18 hand-painted scenes on the canopy. The hard-maple horses are in five sizes -- the largest on the outside of the five rows. The band organ that adds music to the ride is part of the antique masterpiece. The carousel restoration was completed in time for the opening of Magic Kingdom on Oct. 1, 1971. Dumbo the Flying Elephant Simply one of the most popular kiddie rides in Magic Kingdom, this Fantasyland landmark features a whole squadron of flying, two-seater Dumbos -- 16 large-eared pachyderms each with a lever that allows riders to control the altitude of their spinning flight. The popularity of this attraction means that guests frequently arrive early to avoid "flight delays." Dumbo the Flying Elephant, inspired by the 1941 film classic "Dumbo," is one of the original Magic Kingdom attractions. It's a Small World Originally created for the 1964 World's Fair in New York as an exhibit to benefit UNICEF (United Nations International Children's Emergency Fund), this is a boat ride through a Lilliputian land populated by colorfully dressed Audio-Animatronics® dolls representing children from many regions of the world. There are a total of 289 dolls who "sing" the familiar song, "it's a small world," in five languages (English, Italian, Japanese, Spanish and Swedish). Academy Award-winning composers Richard M. Sherman and Robert B. Sherman created the song for the attraction, another of the original Magic Kingdom attractions from 1971. Mad Tea Party Guests help celebrate the Mad Hatter's un-birthday by whirling and twirling across the dance floor in 18 colorful teacups each big enough for up to four people. Inspired by a scene in the 1951 Disney movie production of Lewis Carroll's "Alice in Wonderland," Mad Tea Party is one of the original Magic Kingdom attractions. Birnbaum's Walt Disney World--The Official Guide recommends guests "skip this ride if you suffer from motion sickness or if you've recently enjoyed a snack" -- which makes it a Fantasyland favorite of "tweens" to "twenties." The Many Adventures of Winnie the Pooh Guests climb into oversized hunny pots for a ride into the storybook realm of the Hundred Acre Wood. Along the way, they encounter Owl's toppling house, bounce along with Tigger, appear in Pooh's dream of Heffalumps and Woozles, save Piglet from the rising water in a Floody Place and, finally, arrive at one honey of a party with the whole gang. Inspired by the 1977 animated film of the same name, this is the newest ride-attraction in Fantasyland, having opened in 1999. Disney's FASTPASS is offered. Peter Pan's Flight -- You can fly! -- thanks to some Imagineering that lifts you above moonlit London in a make-believe pirate galleon and whisks you away to Never Land. Led throughout the flight by Tinker Bell, the ship cruises over such memorable scenes as Old London Town, around Big Ben, over Never Land, and down in to Skull Rock for a confrontation with Captain Hook and his amiable sidekick, Mr. Smee. Based on Disney's 1953 film, Peter Pan's Flight opened with Magic Kingdom in October 1971. It's one of the popular attractions offering Disney's FASTPASS. Snow White's Scary Adventures -- Inspired by the landmark 1937 Disney film "Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs" -- the first animated feature film -- the attraction opened with Magic Kingdom in 1971 . . . and then received extensive renovations in 1994 to put the character of Snow White into the ride for the first time. It's a ride through the famous fairy tale that includes several encounters with the fearsome wicked witch -- which Birnbaum's Walt Disney World--The Official Guide notes may startle some youngsters.
Live Character Fun
There's live fun involving characters happening throughout the day in Fantasyland -- from a special show, to storytime, to meet-and-greet sessions. Guests should check a Times Guide & New Information flyer when they are visiting for a schedule of events. Here's what's currently included: Ariel's Grotto A colorful grotto out beyond the band organ music of Cinderella's Golden Carrousel includes an opportunity for guests to meet the mermaid heroine of "The Little Mermaid" throughout the day. "Cinderella's Surprise Celebration" Everybody's invited to attend the party in the Cinderella Castle forecourt -- a show featuring singing, dancing, lots of Disney characters and a message about gifts . . . plus a meet-and-greet following the show. There are generally several performances throughout the day. Fairytale Garden Belle from "Beauty and the Beast" stops by to read a story and mingle with guests several times throughout the day. Fantasyland Character Festival Across the promenade from Snow White's Scary Adventures, favorite Disney villains congregate for photos and autographs throughout the day. Sword in the Stone With a little Disney magic, Merlin discovers just the perfect lad or lassie -- full of honor and courage -- to pull the sword from the stone during shows several times most days at Cinderella's Golden Carrousel. After the Mad Tea Party
Characters from "Alice in Wonderland" greet guests
throughout the day near the attraction. ________________________________________________________________________________________________
The lucky folks who create Disney Motion for
Disney.com got to do exactly that, and you'll be seeing the
results in the new Disney Motion series "The Gears Behind
the Ears." The Disney Insider was privileged to tag along
for one frantic but fun day of video shoots.
"The Gears Behind the Ears" aims to
bring you the story behind the magic – a look at how the
people who work at Disney bring their wildest ideas from
concept to reality. So starting the series with Disney
Archivist Dave Smith was a logical move, because no one knows
more about how Walt's dreams were realized. Dave founded the
Disney Archives way back in 1970, and ever since he's been THE
authority on all things Disney. For "Gears," he
opened up on camera about everything from movie treasures that
have found their way to the Archives, to the backstory of how
Julie Andrews captured the role of "Mary Poppins."
He even showed us pictures he took himself in the '70s,
documenting the former grandeur of the Disney Studios backlot.
Some of the treasures Dave showed us – and
the cameras - included the original Victorian mechanical
singing bird that inspired Walt to create a new form of
entertainment; a bit of cursed pirate treasure from
"Pirates of the Caribbean"; and the last surviving
glass background plate from the multiplane camera sequence
of "The Old Mill." But the real treasure was Dave
himself, with his storehouse of knowledge about Disney past
and present. We especially enjoyed learning how (and by
whom!) Mickey Mouse's official birthday was established.
Most of the segments were created inside the Disney Archives themselves – keep an eye out for all kinds of Disneyana surrounding Dave in the background! But the camera crew also roved the Disney lot for a few segments – you'll see Disney Legends Plaza in the background as Dave discusses Julie Andrews, and as he strolls down a street of false fronts for a look at the Disney backlot past and present. Dave was patient, professional, and full of surprises. See for yourself when Disney's archivist appears in the debut series of "Gears Behind the Ears," in Disney Motion. And this won't be the Insider's last trip to the Disney lot – get ready for more trips to Disney Studios, and other locations where the magic comes to life.
More on Dave visit http://disney.go.com/vault/read/dave_smith.html
________________________________________________________________________________________________
Bambi on DVD in 2005 (Rumor)
We've heard from a number of inside sources now with great news for you classic animation fans. Word is Disney's Bambi is going to be arriving on DVD in 2005 as a Platinum Edition title, complete with an amazing restoration similar to the one the studio did recently on Snow White. Our information is that it might street as early as March, while Cinderella will be a late 2005 title. The release news was also leaked at the Hollywood Bowl this past weekend. During an annual presentation of classic Disney soundtrack music, the conductor reportedly told the crowd that Bambi would arrive on DVD next year.
________________________________________________________________________________________________
La Nouba Coming to DVD Cirque du Soleil: La Nouba which is currently performed at Walt Disney World will be released on DVD in November according to Digital Bits at this time this should be taken as a rumor. ________________________________________________________________________________________________
Suit threatens Disney trademarks
The trademarks could be sold in South Africa if a
songwriter's heirs win a suit over a `Lion King' song.
SOUTH AFRICA -- Disney Enterprises Inc. filed an urgent court application Tuesday to prevent its trademarks from being sold off in South Africa if a poor family that says it lost millions in royalties from the hit song "The Lion Sleeps Tonight" wins its lawsuit against the entertainment giant. Lawyers acting for the family of the late musician Solomon Linda, who penned the original song "Mbube" in 1939, obtained a court order in July attaching more than 240 trademarks registered here to their $1.6 million suit in order to establish local jurisdiction. The trademarks, which include well-known images such as Mickey Mouse and Donald Duck, could be sold locally to pay Linda's heirs if they win their lawsuit. Lawyers for Disney asked the Pretoria High Court to set aside the attachment order, arguing that the executor of Linda's estate had not been appointed properly, making everything he did on its behalf null and void. They also said the case should have been brought against Walt Disney Pictures and Television, the subsidiary that produced the film The Lion King, the South African Press Association reported. Lawyers for the family denied their arguments, saying the executor was correctly appointed and that Disney Enterprises Inc. was the right party to sue as it has overall control. Judge Hekkie Daniels reserved judgment in the matter after a three-hour hearing. Disney's Africa manager, Christine Service, would not comment, saying: "We won't be engaging in public discussions on ongoing legal matters." Linda died penniless in 1962, having sold the rights to his original song to a South African publisher. It went on to generate an estimated $15 million in royalties after it was adapted by other artists, including the American songwriter George Weiss, whose version is featured in The Lion King. The song has been covered by at least 150 artists, including The Tokens, George Michael, Miriam Makeba and The Spinners. Linda's three surviving daughters and 10 grandchildren, living in poverty in the Johannesburg township of Soweto, have received only a one-time payment of $15,000, according to their lawyers. The action is based on laws in force in Commonwealth nations at the time the song was first recorded. Under its provisions, the rights to a song revert to the composer's heirs 25 years after his death. ________________________________________________________________________________________________ Barrett Cernis lands Disney ABC1 TV channel launch The Walt Disney Company has appointed Barrett Cernis to handle the launch of its new entertainment channel ABC1. The channel launches on September 27 and will be broadcast on Freeview, initially between 6am and 6pm. In the longer term, Disney hopes to broadcast on cable and Sky Digital and to extend to a 24-hour operation. The channel will be supported by an above-the-line advertising campaign using television and outdoor. Media buying and planning will be handled by Disney's media agency in the UK, Carat. ABC1 is the company's first non-Disney branded channel to launch outside the US. Unlike Disney's other channels in the UK, ABC1 will not be a premium subscription channel and will instead rely on advertising and sponsorship for income. Disney has yet to appoint an advertising sales house for the channel, which will not take advertising immediately. John Hardie, senior vice-president and managing director of Walt Disney branded television for Europe, Middle East and Africa, has pledged to make the channel "the most advertiser-friendly environment in the country". The schedule includes UK premieres of US soap General Hospital and sitcom Sports Night.
Disney's "The Lion King"
- Shea's Performing Arts February 24th - April 3rd, 2005
Experience the phenomenon of Disney's THE
LION KING. Audiences will marvel at the breathtaking
spectacle of animals brought to life by award-winning
Director Julie Taymor and will thrill to the pulsating
rhythms of the African Pridelands. THE LION KING
features an unforgettable score including Elton John and
Tim Rice's Oscar winning song, "Can You Feel The
Love Tonight" and "Circle of Life."
Let your imagination run wild at the Tony Award-Winning Broadway sensation Newsweek calls "a landmark event in entertainment." Buffalo's most eagerly-awaited stage production will leap onto Shea's Performing Arts Center's stage next February 2005 for five weeks only! Disney's "THE LION KING" September 24th - April 3rd, 2005 Shea's Performing Arts Center Downtown Buffalo Tickets: $20 - $67.50 Call (716) 847-1410 for more information
________________________________________________________________________________________________
North Shore Finds Its Aida and
Radames for Regional Aida Production
Initial casting has been announced for the upcoming mounting of Aida at the North Shore Music Theatre. The North Shore — located in Beverly, MA — is one of the first regional theatres granted the rights to produce the Disney hit, which will end its run at Broadway's Palace Theatre Sept. 5. Directed by Stafford Arima, Aida will be a "completely original production of the current Broadway show." A spokesperson for the theatre confirmed that the title role will be played by Montego Glover, recently seen as Lorrell in the Pittsburgh Civic Light Opera's production of Dreamgirls. Her love interest, the ill-fated captain Radames, will be portrayed by Brad Anderson, who is the current understudy for Hugh Jackman in The Boy From Oz. Aida, featuring choreography by Patricia Wilcox, will play the North Shore Oct. 26-Nov. 21. Montego Glover recently appeared in the CLO's production of Dreamgirls; she also took part in the all-star 20th anniversary concert of that musical in New York. Glover's other theatrical credits include Putting It Together, Oklahoma!, Ain't Misbehavin', Antigone and Into the Woods. Brad Anderson is currently seen as Mark Herron in Broadway's The Boy From Oz. His other Broadway credits include Kiss Me, Kate; Fosse; and Anything Goes. His national tour and regional credits include productions of South Pacific, Smokey Joe's Cafe, Damn Yankees, Starlight Express and Hot Mikado. Aida features a score by Elton John and Tim Rice and a book by Linda Woolverton, Robert Falls and David Henry Hwang. The North Shore Music Theatre is located in Beverly, MA at 62 Dunham Road. Call (978) 232-7200 for more information or visit the theatre on line at http://www.nsmt.org/. ________________________________________________________________________________________________ Disney coaster named 'Best of the Best' Rock 'n' Roller Coaster Starring
Aerosmith at the Disney-MGM Studios recently earned a
Golden Ticket Award in the Best Indoor Roller Coaster
category from Amusement Today Magazine during a ceremony
held at Cedar Point Amusement Park in Sandusky, Ohio. ________________________________________________________________________________________________ Gargoyles & Pirates Released This Holiday Season Disney has announced
details of the "Gargoyles: Season One" boxed
set. And some interesting news popping up about
"The Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the
Black Pearl." ________________________________________________________________________________________________ |
|
|
Wednesday August
25,
2004 ________________________________________________________________________________________________
Disneyland Paris Eyes $180 Mln 'Tower
of Terror'
Euro Disney wants to use part of a planned
rights issue to build a gut-wrenching new "Tower of
Terror" ride that could cost some 150 million euros
($182.2 million), sources familiar with the situation said.
The attraction, to be built at its second Paris theme park, would be similar to the Hollywood Tower Hotel attraction at Walt Disney World in Orlando, Florida. The French theme park operator is up against a Sept. 30 deadline to restructure its debt and its chairman, Andre Lacroix, has said he hopes to use part of the planned 250 million euro rights issue to fund "exciting new rides and attractions." Building a Tower of Terror, a heart-stopping vertical drop in an elevator from the top of a tower, would be consistent with that strategy, sources told Reuters. "It will either be the Tower of Terror or three smaller attractions," one source, who declined to be named, said on Tuesday. A second source said that of the two options, the tower was the most likely. Euro Disney, the most visited tourist attraction in Europe, has to add novelties to its existing parks roughly once every three years, analysts say, to maintain interest and encourage its fans to return. To that end it opened a second theme park, The Walt Disney Studios, next to the Magic Kingdom at its east-of-Paris site in spring 2002. But the new park has failed to draw in the crowds. Instead, it has increased operating costs at a time when tourism has slumped following the Sept. 11, 2001 attacks, driving Euro Disney to the brink of bankruptcy. Euro Disney's 39 percent shareholder, the Walt Disney Co., has agreed to extend it fresh credit lines and waivers on some of the royalty payments it owes for use of the Mickey Mouse characters. Euro Disney, surviving on temporary debt waivers from its banks, is counting on new attractions to revive its flagging fortunes. Visitors to the second theme park, which has only 10 attractions against 47 at the first, have complained that the new park lacks thrills. Euro Disney was able to revitalize attendance at The Magic Kingdom with the construction of its Space Mountain ride, though shareholders still blanche at the 100 million euros it cost the company to construct it. When Space Mountain was opened, former Chairman Philippe Bourguignon said that each new attraction drew about half a million more visitors, but that was in Euro Disney's early days. With numbers now stabilizing at about 12.2 million a year, some analysts say bringing increasing the number of visitors will be a much tougher challenge. Shares in Euro Disney, which have been grazing record lows amid debt talks that have been going on for a year, were trading on Tuesday at 0.24 euros. ($1=.8231 Euro) ________________________________________________________________________________________________ The Wiggles bring the giggles to children There are two kinds of people, those who've never heard of the Wiggles and those who know all the words to "Fruit Salad." There's a word for those in the latter group: parents. The Australian children's group, long enormously successful at home, is increasingly ubiquitous in the United States. Even if you've never seen the band's top-rated show on the Disney Channel, chances are you've run across its DVDs, CDs, books or toys. The four guys in the primary-color turtlenecks? That's them. The Wiggles are a classic four-piece pop combo — except for the fact that their infectious, upbeat songs are about things like teddy bears, ponies and looking both ways before you cross the street. Now in their 13th year, the band is the most successful children's act in Australian history — the Wiggles are the country's fifth-highest-paid entertainers (Nicole Kidman tops the list). Their live performances are a hot commodity: Last fall they played 12 sold-out shows at Madison Square Garden, besting a record held by Bruce Springsteen. For those who think of the Wiggles — Greg Page, Murray Cook, Anthony Field and Jeff Fatt — as four grown men who are known to share the mike with a polka-dot dinosaur, the band's rock 'n' roll credibility can come as a surprise. Both Field and Fatt played in the Cockroaches, a moderately successful '80s band that scored Top 10 hits in Australia and toured with quirky Aussie rockers Mental as Anything. Field, speaking by telephone from Sydney with his infant daughter, Lucia, cooing in the background, recalls those days. "We played all around the coast of Australia, the surf clubs and things like that," he says. "We had a great time." After the group disbanded, Field enrolled in Sydney's Macquarie University to study early childhood education. It was there that he embarked on a portentous class project with fellow students Page and Cook. Later, as the class project — writing and performing songs for children — morphed into a professional concern, Field recruited former band mate Fatt to join the group. (All four members play instruments and have a hand in writing the group's material.) Their first CD, "The Wiggles," came out in 1991. "We were going 'round Australia selling cassettes and CDs out of a suitcase backstage, which is how we started at first, then we started selling videos," Field says. As for performing, Field says it isn't substantively different than the job he trained for at university. "Three of us are early childhood teachers, preschool teachers, and as soon as you become a preschool teacher, any self-consciousness you had just goes out the door because you're educating, but basically you're also entertaining a class of 30 3-year-olds." Does he feel silly when called upon to, say, walk like an emu? "It's funny — you don't," he replies. "You never get self-conscious making funny faces. It's like doing different voices for your own child. You've got to be a little larger than life and a little happier than you would be talking to one of your peers. It would be a bit strange if you were bouncing around saying, 'Hey!' " The group's transition from moonlighting preschool teachers to touring band to multimedia entity was not instantaneous. Fields says the group spent five or six years on the road before it broke through to a wider audience. (The band tours heavily, averaging 500 concerts a year.) "It was really strange because we were playing little places, and then we did a show in Australia called 'The Midday Show' ... it's like 'Oprah,' I suppose. After that, people started recognizing us as the Wiggles in the street, and it sort of changed things. "The good thing about doing what we do
also is that when people recognize you they're very nice because
their children are happy and you've contributed to it a little
— for 10 minutes or half an hour."
As it happens, Jeff's sleepiness is no accident. "Jeff is not early childhood trained," Field says. "When we first started to do shows, he came out of the Cockroaches with me, and he had no idea what to say to a preschool audience. We put our heads together and thought, 'If you really want to be popular with the children, you've got to give them power over you.' And he is the most popular because they get to wake him up." Like their lyrics and their look, the Wiggles' live show is uncomplicated. "The sets are really simple, what we say is really simple. If we put too much in, we might scare the kids," Field says. "We have the lights up in the audience a little higher than you would at an adult show, so they aren't scared of the dark or anything like that. We think if we put in too many pyrotechnics you're going to startle some kids, and it'll be their first experience of a show. "It's a concert, but mainly we hope children move their bodies, have a laugh and join in the fun." The big special effect being unveiled on the band's current tour is: trampolines. "It'll be lots of laughs," Field promises. Parents may be gratified to hear that Field sometimes finds the Wiggles' material as maddeningly catchy as they do. "When we first wrote 'Fruit Salad,' I couldn't go past fruit salad without that song going in my head," Field says. "Sometimes it still does, 12 years later." That may be part of the reason it's arguably the band's most popular song and a showstopper in concert. "I think it's a fun song," he says. "It's a great world we enter into on that stage. I think it's a good place — where people can get excited about a song about fruit salad. With all the trouble in the world, why not?" ________________________________________________________________________________________________ Lisa's Disney dream comes true
THANKS to the hard work and big heart of
family, friends and well-wishers, a terminally-ill girl's
dream has come true.
Brave Lisa Taylor, six, has just returned from
a trip to Disneyland Paris with her family – probably her last
holiday abroad before her brain cancer finally claims her life. ________________________________________________________________________________________________ Tower Rumor Gone Mainstream &
Sunset Blvd. coming?
Comical superheroes
Disney and Pixar's coming attraction, the animated The Incredibles, creates a super-buzz. Let's say that Spider-Man is fighting Doctor Octopus and he slams the villain so hard against a building that a bunch of bricks fall on some innocent bystander. Would the poor guy sue Spidey? This sort of question is the basic idea behind The Incredibles, a feature-length animated cartoon that's coming Nov. 5 to a theater near you. "The superheroes are basically forced into retirement -- forced underground as a community -- by a trend of litigation that happens against them," explains Mark Andrews, story supervisor for The Incredibles. "The government, to protect these heroes, so that there won't be an more frivolous lawsuits, starts the Hero Relocation Program and, basically, gives them new identities." For the past 15 years, the super-strong Mr. Incredible (voiced by Craig T. Nelson) has worked as an insurance-claims adjuster. Also leading the nonheroic life is his wife, who was once known as Elastigirl (Holly Hunter) for her fantastic stretching ability. Two of their three children have superpowers, too. Dash (Spencer Fox) is super-fast and Violet (Sarah Vowell) can turn invisible. The baby of the family doesn't appear to have special powers, although a family friend known as Frozone (Samuel L. Jackson) has the power of super-freezing. Then there's the villain of the piece, a super-fiend named Syndrome (Jason Lee). "The bad guy's on the rise," says Andrews. "Mr. Incredible stumbles upon this and then has to take action. He doesn't tell his wife because he doesn't want her to worry. Then, eventually, the whole family gets involved." If you've never heard of the Incredibles, don't doubt your knowledge of superhero trivia. Most superheroes have gotten their start in comic books. But the Incredibles were created and developed specifically for this movie by director Brad Bird and the team at Pixar. The Incredibles is the latest feature from the charmed Pixar-Disney partnership that has produced such "3-D" animation hits as Finding Nemo; Monsters, Inc. and the Toy Story movies. Partly because that partnership has never missed, the buzz on The Incredibles is, well, incredible. It's also worth noting that The Incredibles will probably be the penultimate Pixar production to be distributed by Disney. After Cars, which is due out next year, the companies are planning to go their separate ways. According to Andrews, there will be plenty of superhero action in The Incredibles. In fact, he says that, because of the action, the film will be rated PG, instead of the customary G for Pixar films. Still, much of the film will attempt to be funny, which you could probably guess from a glance at drawings of the comical-looking characters. "The tone of the story dictates the level of caricature," says Tony Fucile, the film's supervising animator. "It's not a full-blown comedy because there's some very dramatic elements to it. But it has some satirical elements." Fucile adds that the human characters in some Disney cartoons of the 1950s and '60s -- notably 101 Dalmatians -- helped to determine the look of the characters in The Incredibles. Unlike many cartoons, The Incredibles deals with themes that have an obvious appeal to adults. Retirement, lawsuits and the struggle of balancing work and family aren't ordinarily thought of as kiddie fare. "The adults who have to take their children are responding more to these elements," says Andrews. "Animation is on a trend where it's not just for kids anymore." ________________________________________________________________________________________________
World of Disney Loaded With Get-Wet
Action
Water fun is everywhere at Walt Disney World
Resort. A ferry excursion across Seven Seas Lagoon. A
Norwegian river adventure at Epcot. An encounter with a
flash flood at Disney-MGM Studios. A white-water raft ride
at Disney's Animal Kingdom. A plunge down a mountainside in
a hollowed-out log in Magic Kingdom.
But that's just the beginning! Guests who really want to plunge into the water fun of America's most popular vacation destination resort discover they can surf, snorkel, water ski and scuba dive at Walt Disney World Resort. And once they've decided to come up for air, they can captain a variety of rental craft. And go on a private bass fishing excursion. And even parasail. And that's not to mention the two water parks that make Walt Disney World Resort the "water park capital of the world." Plus 20 resort hotels featuring elaborate pools -- some of which have the aura of mini-water parks. For those who want to get more than their toes wet, here's what the "waterful world" of Walt Disney World Resort has to offer. Surfing Adventurous guests can catch a wave and feel like they're sitting on top of the world at Disney's Typhoon Lagoon water park. Its 2.75-million-gallon wave pool provides consistent waves every 90 seconds that can range from three to six feet high -- and no sharks! Craig Carroll's Cocoa Beach Surf School invites guests to learn from professional surfers how to cut, carve and "hang 10." The program is available for an extra charge on selected mornings from 6:30-9 a.m. (prior to regular park hours). Guests may call 407/WDW-PLAY for more information. Scuba Diving Certified divers can slip into dive gear for an unforgettable encounter with creatures of the deep. Imagine browsing a salt-water world of coral teeming with marine life without ever entering the sea. Walt Disney World guests can do just that at The Living Seas pavilion at Epcot. One of the world's largest aquariums (6 million gallons) is home to thousands of creatures -- from angelfish to 300-pound sea turtles. Disney's twice-daily DiveQuest program welcomes certified divers on expert-led tours. Rates include equipment, so guests don't have to bring dive gear from home. Guests may call 407/WDW-TOUR for more information. For more info. Click Here Scuba-Assisted Snorkeling Guests without scuba certification can experience the wonder of The Living Seas at Epcot by means of the new Epcot Seas Aqua Tour. This is get-wet action at its most exciting -- an up-close experience with the species of the deep that make The Living Seas their home. Participants use scuba-assisted snorkeling equipment. For more information, guests may call 407/939-8687. For more info. Click Here Snorkeling Imagine floating above leopard and nurse sharks, rays, rainbows of tropical fish and an upside-down sunken ship without venturing into the ocean. Shark Reef at Disney's Typhoon Lagoon water park offers guests the opportunity to explore in snorkel gear, included with admission to Typhoon Lagoon. A supplied-air (scuba assisted) snorkeling program (available for an additional charge) offers young guests their own look at Shark Reef. For more information guests may call 407/824-4321. In the Boat Guests have a new way to skim across Walt Disney World Resort waterways aboard a personal Sea Raycer watercraft. These modern-looking mini-powerboats, created exclusively for Walt Disney World Resort, make waves as they cut through open water and are environmentally sound. These crafts meet new federal laws requiring small engines to meet pollution control and fuel efficiency standards. Sea Raycers by Sea Ray are available at Magic Kingdom resort area marinas. They will be available at other resort marina locations starting April of 2004. Guests can experience water adventures with a WaterMouse, sailboat, pontoon boat, canopy boat, pedal boat, rowboat or canoe at select Walt Disney World marinas. Guests are also welcome to come aboard on two luxurious fireworks cruises offered at Walt Disney World Resort. These specialty cruises feature the Grand 1, a striking 48-foot Sea Ray yacht, and Breathless, a 24-foot reproduction of a 1930s mahogany runabout. For more information, including prices, guests may call 407/WDW-PLAY. For more information and pricing on the Grand 1 cruise, guests may call the Grand Floridian Marina at 407/824-2439. For more info. Click Here Behind the Boat The recipe for adventure at Disney's Contemporary Resort includes skis and speed at Sammy Duvall's Water Sports Centre. "Air time in no time" is the motto when guests slalom, kneeboard and wakeboard on Disney waterways. Guests can book tournament-level ski boats and ride the waters of Bay Lake near Magic Kingdom on skis, boards or tubes with guidance from a professional instructor. Hour-long sessions can be reserved by calling 407/939-0754 or 407/WDW-PLAY. For more info. Click Here Bass Fishing Even sport fishermen's dreams really do come true at Walt Disney World Resort, where trophy-sized largemouth bass in the 14-pound range sometimes lurk in lakes and canals almost within casting distance of Cinderella Castle. But this fish story gets even better: "Wannabe" sports fishermen's dreams also come true. On fishing excursions led by expert bass guides, guests with lots of experience -- or with little or no fishing experience -- can all enjoy the exhilarating thrill of a feisty largemouth "striking." The two-hour excursions are for a party of up to five people and are on a boat stocked for the excursion with rods, reels and other fishing gear, cold drinks, and a camera to prove you're not telling "fish stories." Information and reservations are available by calling 407/WDW-PLAY. For more info. Click Here Parasailing The sky is the limit when guests take a parasailing adventure high above Bay Lake. Single and tandem fliers can have a bird's-eye view of Magic Kingdom at altitudes nearing 600 feet for 8 to 10 minutes. Instead of the traditional water approach, the uniquely designed boat enables a "dry" take-off and landing from the back of the boat. For "flight" times guests may call 407/939-0754. For more info. Click Here Pools Unique theming at each Walt Disney World resort offers guests many different options for pool adventures -- such as a three-acre, 750,000-gallon mini-water park with pirate shipwreck and sand-bottom pools at Disney's Yacht Club Resort and Disney's Beach Club Resort, or a cascading five-story waterfall on the side of a Mayan pyramid at Disney's Coronado Springs Resort. For more information, guests may call 407/824-4321. Water Parks Slides, sunshine, shrieks, screams, surf, splashes. Water fun is a main event at the birthplace of the water park. With the opening of River Country in 1976, America had its first official water park. Now Walt Disney World Resort has two water parks, Blizzard Beach and Typhoon Lagoon. Information about water park hours is available by calling Walt Disney World guest information (407/824-4321) or by visiting www.disneyworld.com. Blizzard Beach Typhoon Lagoon ________________________________________________________________________________________________ |
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Tuesday August
24,
2004
________________________________________________________________________________________________ Disney refuses to let sleeping lions lie US entertainment giant Walt Disney Corporation
went before a South African court on Tuesday to challenge a
lawsuit filed by a local Zulu family for royalties from the hit
song "The Lion Sleeps Tonight".
But Cedric Puckrin, counsel for the executor of Linda's estate, maintained that it was correct to sue Walt Disney Corporation "as the mother company which controls everything and pulls all of the strings". Puckrin appealed to the judge to maintain the order, saying that in "a court of law and not Disney World", the case would be over because then a South African court would no longer have jurisdiction over the case. Judge Hekkie Daniels reserved judgement. Linda, who died with less than $25 in his bank account in 1962, was a Zulu migrant worker and entertainer who composed the song "Mbube" (lion) in Johannesburg in 1939 and recorded it with a singing group called the Evening Birds. "Mbube" was an instant hit and would later become one of the most famous melodies from Africa. Folk singer Pete Seeger came across the song in New York in 1949, and in his autobiography relates how he transcribed it "note for note" and called it "Wimoweh", from the Zulu "uyiMbube", which means "He is a lion". In 1961, the Tokens recorded the song and added the English lyrics starting with "In the jungle, the mighty jungle". Since then, the song has been recorded by more than 150 different artists and features in at least 15 movies and stage musicals. It has been translated into several languages including French, Japanese, Danish and Spanish. ________________________________________________________________ Up for grabs are broadcast rights for all matches organised by the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) over four years starting in October, a bigger share of the expanding TV advertising pie and more subscriptions in the world's third-largest cable TV market. Zee Telefilms Ltd, India's third-ranked network, emerged as the surprise highest bidder with an offer of 260 million dollars. Its shares have gained more than 15 per cent since the bids were made public last week. But ESPN-Star Sports, a joint venture of Walt Disney Inc. and News Corp. that offered 230 million dollars, has opposed Zee's bid on the grounds that the company did not have the required experience in broadcasting live cricket. Zee disputes that. "General entertainment networks are looking to use cricket to drive the ratings and advertising on their other channels," said RC Venkateish, managing director of ESPN Software India Pvt. Ltd, which provides programming to ESPN-Star Sports. "But we are a sports channel -- this is our bread and butter." Bids from Sony Corp., Dubai-based Ten Sports and state-owned Prasar Bharati were much lower. The BCCI is expected to award the broadcasting rights later this month. ________________________________________________________________________________________________ 'Switch The Question'
Added as New Lifeline on 'Who Wants To Be A Millionaire'
"Who Wants To Be A Millionaire" with
Meredith Vieira continues to break new ground as it enters its
third year of syndication on September 13, 2004. The show that
experienced ratings growth across demographics and time
periods during the 2003-2004 season gives viewers even more
reason to watch. "Millionaire" is adding a new
fourth lifeline called "Switch the Question." The
lifeline will be available to contestants who have
successfully answered the 10th question. After reaching this
threshold, if a contestant receives a question and they don't
know the answer, they can use the new "Switch The
Question" lifeline one time and have the question
replaced by a randomly selected question at the same dollar
value. "We added an extra lifeline to give contestants
further incentive to go for the higher dollar values on the
show, ensuring more dramatic, high-stakes moments in the
game," says Executive Producer, Michael Davies.
In addition, "Millionaire" is making TV history by becoming the first syndicated show where viewers can interact with the show during production tapings. Buena Vista Television (BVT), and America Online, Inc., the world's leading interactive services company, are partnering on a groundbreaking initiative that will allow the tens of millions of AOL® members, AOL® Instant Messenger(TM) (AIM®) users and fans of "Who Wants To Be A Millionaire" to participate in the show's "Ask The Audience" polling. Available now, those who add the "MillionaireIM" screen name to their Buddy List® feature will be ready to receive actual game questions via instant message (IM) and give their answer when any contestant selects the "Ask The Audience" lifeline during the taping of a show. Contestants will see the responses of both the studio audience as well as those participating via IM. To participate, AOL members and AIM users need only to add "MillionaireIM" to their Buddy Lists. Visitors to www.millionairetv.com who are not already AOL members or AIM users will receive instruction on how to participate by downloading AIM for free. Registration is currently open, as of August 16th. "Millionaire's" third season will tape from September 1, 2004 through January 16, 2005, during which time registered "Millionaire Buddies" will receive multiple-choice questions via AIM®. "The lifeline changes we've introduced for contestants in season three have been designed to further engage viewers and enhance their experience," said Janice Marinelli, President of Buena Vista Television. "Through this new partnership with America Online we are creating a new facet that will provide contestants access to the combined knowledge of tens of millions of online users, and the additional lifeline will help more players become 'Millionaire' success stories." Entering Season Three: Feeling Like A Million "Who Wants To Be A Millionaire" with Meredith Vieira continued its extraordinary run in syndication for a second consecutive season, winning both critical acclaim and a ringing endorsement from national audiences. When it launched, "Millionaire" rapidly assumed the position of highest-rated new game/reality strip of the 2002-2003 season, and the show's success only grew during the 2003-2004 season. The continuing growth trend led MediaWeek's Marc Berman to write, "Growth from both the lead-in and year-ago time period averages makes Buena Vista's 'Who Wants To Be A Millionaire' one of the most underrated hits in syndication." "Millionaire" also won the Daytime Emmy for Outstanding Directing in a Game/Audience Participation Show, while also receiving 2004 Daytime Emmy Award nominations for Best Game/Audience Participation Show and Outstanding Game Show host. * "Millionaire" tops the list of syndicated shows that experienced
growth from May 2003 to May 2004 with 31% national growth (1.3 to 1.7)
in the key W25-54 demographic. "Millionaire" also posted 16% gains in
households and 18% growth in the key W18-49 demographic. May 2004
also featured "Millionaire" among the weekly list of Top 10 nationally
rated syndicated strips in households.
* Also in May 2004, "Millionaire" continued to show time period growth
locally, with a 25% increase (2.0 to 2.5) in 'Daytime' viewership and
an 8% increase in 'Early Fringe' (2.6 to 2.8), while 'Access'
maintained a strong 4.7. This is in addition to the impressive time
period gains posted during the 2004 February sweep which saw
"Millionaire" deliver more growth than ALL returning first-run
syndicated strips.
'Life-Changing' Money on "Millionaire" "Millionaire's" ratings success is due not only to the dramatic and engaging game format, but also to the life changing money it continues to award its contestants. "Millionaire" maintains the most aggressive prizing structure and budget on television. On any given day, contestants have the opportunity to correctly answer 15 questions and walk away with $1 million dollars. Since debuting in syndication, two extraordinary contestants have walked away with the top prize and more than $21 million dollars has been awarded. Now with the addition of a fourth lifeline, "Switch The Question," contestants will have even more opportunity to walk away with the big bucks. In conjunction with the added lifeline, the mid-level prize money categories have been slightly modified for season three, with cash now being awarded past the $16,000 question in the following increments -- $25,000*, $50,000*, $100,000*, $250,000, $500,000 and $1 million. (*indicates new amounts). "These minor adjustments were made to compensate for the increased winning potential that comes with the addition of a fourth lifeline," added Executive Producer, Michael Davies. Meredith Vieira and the "Millionaire" Team Meredith Vieira, host of the half-hour program, is fresh off of her 2004 Daytime Emmy nomination. A critically-acclaimed broadcaster and moderator of ABC's "The View," Vieira has brought her unique style to the game show. TV Guide has dubbed her "the thinking person's game-show host," and raved "Vieira has made the show her own, with daily doses of intelligence, wit and that million-dollar smile. "Who Wants To Be A Millionaire" is produced by the same Emmy Award-winning team, Valleycrest Productions, which brought the original "Millionaire" to ABC in 1999. Michael Davies, Paul Smith and Leigh Hampton are executive producers; Vincent Rubino is co-executive producer. ________________________________________________________________________________________________ Muppets Invade Oz Singer-actress Ashanti is set and Queen Latifah is in final talks to star in ABC's original movie tentatively titled The Muppets' Wizard of Oz, according to The Hollywood Reporter. Also set to appear in the Muppet take on the classic L. Frank Baum novel is Quentin Tarantino, who will play himself, the trade paper reported. Kirk R. Thatcher, who directed NBC's successful It's a Very Merry Muppet Christmas Movie in 2002, is on board to helm the family film, which will air as part of the Wonderful World of Disney franchise, the trade paper reported. The Muppets' Oz centers on aspiring performer Dorothy Gale (Ashanti), who works at the diner of her Auntie Em (Latifah) in a small Kansas town while dreaming of hitting the big time. One day, a tornado sweeps up the trailer where Dorothy lives, and she finds herself in a Muppet version of Oz, the trade paper reported. Oz will feature several music numbers, but will not be a musical. It is produced by the Jim Henson Co., in association with the Muppets Holding Co. and Touchstone TV, the trade paper reported. Lisa Henson and Brian Henson, co-chairmen and co-chief executives of the Jim Henson Co., are executive producing. ________________________________________________________________________________________________ Pooh makes it
a perfect day for kids The fabled Hundred Acre Wood – where the Pooh is said to spend his days – came to life in a dazzling display of music and lighting. "It was fantastic, the whole thing was really well done," said Toni Rosen, who attended with her daughter and granddaughters. As far as her granddaughter Jessica Bartlett was concerned, there was no debate about which character stole the limelight – Tigger won hands down. "I love him, he's the best," she said. Another pint-sized theatre fan, Shakira Greasley, couldn't agree more. "I want to go and sing with Tigger," she declared. Mitch Matsunaga, company manager for Disney Live! Winnie the Pooh and the Perfect Day, said the elaborate production was all about making children smile. Live productions also were a great way to break through the passivity of movies and books. "By making it three-dimensional and real-life, the children feel more involved with the story rather than just watching it," he said. "The kids' faces are the best thing, the way they light up like that." The show continues today at 10am and twice every day from tomorrow until Saturday at 10am and 1pm. Tickets can be booked through Ticketek on
131 931 and cost $30.50, with a small discount for family
bookings. Ariel Grotto rehab scheduled
Walt Disney
Records Proudly Announces The Lion King II: Simba's Pride
Soundtrack EP Set for Release August 31, 2004 This captivating soundtrack EP includes such powerful tracks as "He Lives in You" performed by Lebo M; "We Are One" performed by Cam Clarke (Simba), Charity Sanoy (Kiara), Ladysmith Black Mambazo & Chorus; "Updendi" performed by Robert Guillaume (Rafiki), Liz Callaway (Kiara), Gene Miller (Kovu) & Ladysmith Black Mambazo; "One of Us" performed by Chorus; "My Lullaby" performed by Suzanne Pleshette (Zira), Crysta Macalush (Vitani), Andy Dick (Nuka) and Chorus; "Love Will Find a Way" performed by Liz Callaway (Kiara), Gene Miller (Kovu) & Chorus. The soundtrack also includes alternate versions of "We Are One" by Angelique Kidjo and "Love Will Find a Way (End Title)" performed by Kenny Lattimore & Heather Headley. The Lion King II: Simba's Pride soundtrack EP
will be released on August 31, 2004 for a suggested CD retail
price of $9.98. All Walt Disney Records audio products also can
be ordered by visiting DisneyRecords.com. Walt Disney
Records Cordially Invites You to an All-New ``Lizzie McGuire
Total Party!'' Available August 31, 2004 The hit series "Lizzie McGuire" serves up the comic foibles of 14-year-old Lizzie McGuire (Hilary Duff) as she tries to survive seventh grade with her dignity -- and maybe a little popularity -- intact. Catch "Lizzie McGuire" in syndication on ABC kids Saturday morning at 9:00 PT/10:00 ET and on Disney Channel. "Lizzie McGuire Total Party!" track listing: 1. "Theme to Lizzie McGuire (Extended Supa Mix)" 2. "Perfect Day (Sunshine Mix)" - Hoku 3. "Crush'n" - Jesse McCartney 4. "Get the Party Started (Radio Disney Edit)" - Pink 5. "Dancing Queen" - A* Teens 6. "No More (Baby I'ma Do Right)" - 3LW 7. "Ladies Night" - Atomic Kitten (featuring Kool and The Gang) 8. "1-2-3" - Nikki Cleary 9. "That's What Girls Do" - No Secrets 10. "Hey Now (Girls Just Wanna Have Fun)" - Triple Image 11. "Smile" - Vitamin C 12. "Absolutely (Story of a Girl)" - Nine Days 13. "Us Against the World" - Play 14. "C'est La Vie" - B* witched Bonus Karaoke Instrumentals (CD&G): 15. "I Can't Wait" 16. "Hey Now (Girls Just Wanna Have Fun)" 17. "Get the Party Started (Radio Disney Edit)" "Lizzie McGuire Total Party!" will
be available August 31, 2004 for a suggested CD retail price of
$18.98. All Walt Disney Records audio products can be ordered by
visiting DisneyRecords.com. More Space Mountain
Rumors The Electrical Water Pageant resumed normal operation Monday, August 23rd
WDW - These are the scheduled
show times:
Polynesian Resort 9 p.m. Grand Floridian 9:15 p.m. Wilderness Lodge 9:35 p.m. Fort Wilderness 9:45 p.m. Contemporary Resort 10:05 p.m. Magic Kingdom 10:20 p.m. (only during extended MK park hours) ________________________________________________________________________________________________ 'Millionaire' interacts with AOL buddies "Who Wants to Be a Millionaire" will
soon be the only syndicated TV series to add a real-time
interactive element during production tapings.
"Who Wants to Be a Millionaire,"
hosted by Meredith Vieira, returns to the air for its third
season Sept. 13.
________________________________________________________________________________________________ Tesco uses Disney promotion to encourage fruit consumption UK supermarket giant Tesco is using a Disney promotion to encourage consumption of its children’s packets of fruit. The promotion, which includes Disney stickers and offers of a chance to win instant prizes, will be carried on selection packs of ‘fun size’ apples, pears and bananas, and seedless grapes, reported The Grocer. The initiative, which runs until mid-September, follows criticism that many big names in the food industry are not doing enough to fight rising obesity levels. ________________________________________________________________________________________________ ESPN is moving forward on "Tilt," a new scripted drama set against the backdrop of the World Series of Poker. The series, which follows in the footsteps of ESPN's football expose "Playmakers," will premiere on Thursday, Jan. 13, 2005. Set in Las Vegas, "Tilt" tracks the events leading up to a World Series of Poker showdown, looking at the sometimes glamorous and sometimes dangerous lives of some of the players. The action will take place at the tables and in the hotels and backrooms. "Tilt" comes from Brian Koppelman and David Levien who will executive produce as well as writing and directing the pilot. Koppelman and Levien know the poker terrain, having written the Matt Damon vehicle "Rounders." They wrote and directed "Knockaround Guys" which starred Barry Pepper and Vin Diesel. "The launch of our next drama underscores ESPN's commitment to scripted entertainment," says Mark Shapiro, ESPN executive vice president, programming and production. "Capitalizing on the incredible popularity of the World Series of Poker and 'Playmakers,' 'Tilt' promises to put the audience at the table and into the lives of the characters."Given the importance of competitive poker to ESPN's schedule, the network could run into the same problems that plagued "Playmakers." Although that series earned solid ratings and respectable reviews, ESPN didn't pick up a second season, admitting that the NFL pressured the network to dump the controversial football drama. The World Series of Poker, while powerful,
is unlikely to exert the same kind of influence. The 2004
World Series of Poker has averaged a 1.5 rating for 14
episodes on ESPN, below the 1.9 rating for the 11 original
episodes of "Playmakers" last fall. 'Fever' Director Goes 'Blind' for ABC ABC has enlisted "Saturday Night Fever" director John Badham to serve as executive producer and showrunner on the midseason drama "Blind Justice.""Blind Justice" is set to join ABC's Tuesday night schedule when "NYPD Blue" completes its final season this spring. The series stars Ron Eldard ("Men Behaving Badly") as a blind police detective fighting crime and gunning for acceptance in his precinct. Marisol Nichols, Rena Sofer and Reno Wilson co-star. According to The Hollywood Reporter, Badham will join an executive producing team that also includes co-creatures Steven Bochco, Matt Olmstead and Nicholas Wootton, in addition to Bill Clark, a former New York police detective. As a feature director, Badham's credits
include the John Travolta disco classic as well as "Short
Circuit" and "WarGames." A two-time Emmy
nominee for his television work, Badham most recently directed
the telefilms "Evel Knievel" for TNT and CBS'
"Footsteps." There will be familiar faces among the lucky ladies, a high profile musical guest and, in the biggest twist of all, the show will begin with not one, but two Bachelors. In the very first episode, the 25 Bachelorettes will take the upper hand. The ladies, who range in age from 26 to 39, will get to present the first rose as they select between two different possible Bachelors on the first night. Byron Velvick is a 40-year-old professional bass fisherman. The two-time US Open fishing champion, Byron was once an English major at the University of California at Irvine, but the outdoorsman decided to follow a different dream. He has been married once before, but for now the only woman in his life is his dog Sabrina.Vying with Byron for the ladies' attention is 40-year-old Jay Overbye, a New Jersey native who spent time in publicity, advertising and modeling before his current gig selling residential real estate. Fans of the show will notice that these are the two oldest Bachelors yet, though perhaps that greater level of maturity will help Byron or Jay break the relationship curse that has plagued the former Bachelors. After the women select the Bachelor, the winning man will turn around and immediately eliminate 10 Bachelorettes. However, because of the structure of the two rose ceremonies, the male won't know which ladies voted for him to stay in the game. In an added twist, two All-Star former Bachelorettes will return for another shot at finding love. But don't look for those familiar faces in that first episode because their return will come in a yet-to-be-revealed manner. This season, for the first time, the Bachelor will move right into the Ladies' Villa making for much more contact and, presumably, intimacy than ever before. Also mixing things up, singer Brandy is set to make a guest appearance on the season's second episode. Given all of these desperate attempts to
keep the show's premise fresh it's little wonder that ABC
waited so long to announce the stars of the latest
"Bachelor." The network has already revealed that
Jen Schefft will return as the new "Bachelorette"
starting in January of 2005.
Visit the Official Website for the
Disney Channel's, Brandy & Mr. Whiskers
Play games, enjoy a variety of downloads
including wallpaper and messenger icons or send an ecard
featuring the characters from the Disney Channel's Brandy
and Mr. Whiskers.
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Monday August
23,
2004
________________________________________________________________________________________________ Harvey Could Be a Free Man This Fall Eisner's right-hand man, Peter Murphy, was ordered to put the squeeze on Miramax. Hollywood's favorite obsession of late has been speculating about the future of the movie world's odd couple: Harvey Weinstein and Michael Eisner. Everyone knows that the Miramax chief, like Pixar's Steve Jobs, is unhappy with the constraints put on his studio by the Disney boss. But unlike Pixar, where negotiations are on hold, it looks as if Eisner and Weinstein could reach an agreement that makes Harvey a free man by October. In preparation for that day, Miramax in mid-August trimmed its workforce by 15%. Says Miramax spokesperson Matthew Hiltzig: "The layoffs have nothing to do with any negotiations with Disney." Ah, but they do. They lower overhead, making Miramax more attractive to outside investors—which Harvey will need whether he succeeds in buying back the Miramax name or he's forced to start a new studio. For those who haven't followed every twist and turn of this drama, Miramax has been part of Walt Disney Co. since 1993, when co-founders Harvey and Bob Weinstein sold their art-house production firm for $75 million. Disney gave Miramax marketing muscle and as much as $700 million a year to make movies. Miramax gave Disney some 50 Oscars and, most recently, about $200 million in annual operating profits. The bulk of that came from Bob Weinstein's unit, Dimension Films—which produces moderate-budget hits such as Spy Kids and Scary Movie. The freewheeling Harvey, however, strayed from his low-budget roots, developing expensive box-office duds such as The Gangs of New York and Cold Mountain. "These films do not make money for Disney shareholders," said David Miller, an analyst with Sanders Morris & Harris. Disney CEO Michael Eisner tried to rein in Harvey's growing ambitions, while Harvey chafed under the control of Eisner and Disney's fiscal managers. Back in the mid-1980s, Disney built Hollywood's first strategic-planning department by luring top MBA graduates, including eBay's Meg Whitman; Richard Nanula, the CFO at Amgen; and Peter Murphy, now Disney's senior executive vice president—and Eisner's right-hand man. When relations between Eisner and Harvey soured last year, it was Murphy who stepped in to manage the maverick producer. Murphy delivered Disney orders to parse budgets, meet double-digit growth projections, and shrink compensation packages. By spring Miramax executives were grousing that they wished the strategy planners "would just leave us alone." As one Miramax manager said, "They squeeze people and don't reward them for jobs well done." There were also discussions about renewing
the Weinsteins' employment contract, which expires in
September 2005. But things turned hostile in May after Eisner
declined to reconsider his refusal to allow Miramax to release
the documentary Fahrenheit 9/11. Miramax made a distribution
deal with Lions Gate and IFC Films, the $6 million film went
on to gross $115 million (so far), and Weinstein was ready to
walk. What will probably happen is that Disney
will keep Dimension Films and give Bob Weinstein about $350
million to make six or so films a year. Harvey wants to leave
Disney, take key members of his staff, and continue producing
his own movies under the name Miramax, which Disney now owns.
He and Disney are likely to reach some sort of deal whereby
Disney gets the first look at his projects in exchange for
some financial support. That just leaves Disney's favorite
sticking point—money. The expansive Harvey is hoping for a
multimillion-dollar payoff to buy out the last year of his
contract; Disney wants to pay him as little as possible. If
they do reach an agreement, Harvey's next task will be to
round up private investors to help underwrite his big-screen
ambitions. The irony? The Disney-mandated cost-cutting could
end up making any deal far easier for Harvey to sell. More Comic Elements in "Pirates of the Caribbean 2 & 3" Thanks to Johnny Depp, TV
comic Johnny Vegas could be joinging the crew of the Black
Pearl. New images for "The Incredibles" Three new images have
surfaced from the November movie by Pixar.    ________________________________________________________________________________________________
Art
for "Mulan 2" and News on "Mulan 3"
Ming Na, the voice of Mulan, reveals a little information about "Mulan 3," and 2 very different covers for "Mulan 2" surface. DisneyDatabase.com has revealed two very different versions of the cover art for "Mulan 2." Both could be fake, but were worth mentioning. To view the 2 versions, click on the links below.   While talking about the upcoming "Mulan: Special Edition" and "Mulan 2," Ming Na says she has not been informed about "Mulan 3." Originally, it was believed that "Mulan 2" and "Mulan 3" were both being made at the same time and that the final chapter in the trilogy would be released in 2006. But if Ming Na hasn't been informed about anything, then a 2006 release date seems unlikely. It doesn't mean that part 3 has been cancelled, but it sure suggests that. ________________________________________________________________________________________________
Aladdin
DVD Revives 'Proud'
Alan Menken, the Oscar-winning composer of Disney's animated movie Aladdin, told reporters that the upcoming DVD will feature a brand-new song he composed with the late Howard Ashman. The song, "Proud of Your Boy," was written for a scene in which Aladdin attempts to reassure his mother that he'll turn out all right. The song was scrapped when the character of Aladdin's mother was deleted from the movie, Menken said at a press preview for the two-disc DVD set. "'Proud of Your Boy' ... was really special to Howard and me," Menken told reporters. "It was, I think, one of the best ballads we'd ever written. It was a song that Aladdin sings to his mom about how he's going to make good. And we thought that was going to be the single." The DVD will feature a music video of the
song, performed by original Aladdin musicians and sung
by American Idol's Clay Aiken. The video is one of
several special features on the DVD set, which hits store
shelves on Oct. 5.
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ATTENDANCES
at Euro Disney’s two French theme parks are between five and
ten per cent below target for the summer season, unions have
claimed.
Union sources said average daily attendances in July and August will not reach the 40,000 targeted for the original Magic Kingdom park nor the 10,000 target for the Walt Disney Studios park. Despite the claims Disney has refused to release attendance figures. ________________________________________________________________________________________________
Charley
hurts Disney workers
Walt
Disney World escaped serious storm damage from Hurricane
Charley last weekend, but many central Florida residents,
including employees of the Magic Kingdom and other Orlando
theme parks, weren't so lucky.
While surrounding neighborhoods dealt with power outages and heavy storm debris, Disney was able to open most of its rides and attractions on Aug. 14, only a day after it had closed early due to the storm's approach. However, staff shortages contributed to the delay in reopening Disney's Animal Kingdom, back in business last Sunday, and its Typhoon Lagoon water park, in service on Monday. Disney announced Monday it had set up a special $50,000 relief fund for affected "cast members," as park employees are called, and would increase on-site child care. Disney also offered free hotel rooms to workers affected by "catastrophic" hardships from the storm, or with unique medical needs, and half-price rooms to those experiencing "discomfort" at home, such as loss of electricity. Since the hurricane hit
during the peak summer season, Disney is anxious to get
employees back on their feet. But it hasn't ignored neighbors:
The company said it will also provide work crews to assist the
area's recovery and conduct a food drive to benefit a central
Florida food bank. Its charitable outreach program, DisneyHand,
has contributed $100,000 to American Red Cross and the local
United Way for their relief efforts. Avoid the Disney masses Have you been putting off that trip to Disney World out of a justifiable fear of crowds? Here's some information that might make waiting in line for the Dumbo ride a little less painful. According to the 2004 edition of Walt Disney World: Expert Advice From the Inside Source, the theme park's official guide, the least crowded times of year at the Lake Buena Vista, Fla., parks are: • the second week of January through the first week of February • the week after Labor Day until Thanksgiving • the week after Thanksgiving through the week before Christmas Expect average attendance the first week of January, the second week of February through the beginning of Presidents Day week; the last week of April through May; and Thanksgiving week. The most crowded times at Disney are, of course, when school is out: June through Labor Day; Christmas through New Year's Day; Presidents Day week; and the third week of March through the third week of April, as kids young and old roll through their spring breaks. Understanding daily trends can also reduce your stress. Downtown Disney and Disney's water parks are most crowded on weekends. Golfers should note that weekend tee times are most in demand, while Monday and Tuesday tee times are easiest to come by. When the weather is steamy, as it tends to be in late August, the water parks tend to reach capacity soon after the gates open, so get an early start if you're headed to Blizzard Beach or Typhoon Lagoon. Days that are kicked off with “Extra Magic Hour” tend to be more crowded than others at their respective theme parks. And weekends and Mondays are generally the busiest days at the theme parks during the summer and other peak periods. Don't forget FastPass, a free timed ticketing system that allows you to return and wait just a few minutes rather than up to several hours for some of the most popular attractions. Despite its efficiency, the system tends to be underused by visitors. ________________________________________________________________________________________________ Beach Boys, Chubby Checker and Eddie Money Headline Disney's Eat to the Beat! Concert Series Food and wine aficionados can celebrate good times with a musical lineup that kicks off with Kool & the Gang and includes a total of eleven acts during the ninth annual Epcot International Food and Wine Festival, Oct. 1-Nov. 14 at Walt Disney World Resort. The six-week-long Eat to the Beat! concert series features a diverse musical lineup of rock, pop, country, r&b and soul with three half-hour concerts daily (5:45, 7 and 8:15 p.m.) on the America Gardens Theatre stage: Oct. 1-5 - Kool and the Gang Throughout World Showcase, food and wine marketplaces will serve up food and wine samplings from $1-$4.50 while performers from many countries weave music, dance, acrobatics and other acts into the festivities. Ongoing entertainment includes :
In Epcot Future World, the popular JAMMitors will perform their own comedic brand of "clean-up" percussive artistry. The music, light and fireworks finale, "IllumiNations: Reflections of Earth," will cap each festival evening. ________________________________________________________________________________________________ Will ABC Sack 'Monday Night Football'? The struggling Disney-owned network must decide whether the benefits of airing the program outweigh the financial losses. Is Walt Disney
Co. running out the clock on "Monday Night Football"
on ABC? ALIAS SEASON 3 Alias Season 3 is due out
September 7 ________________________________________________________________________________________________ BOY MEETS WORLD SEASON 1 Boy Meets World Season 1 due
out tomorrow August 24th THE LADYKILLERS Academy Award winner Tom Hanks (Best Actor, “Forest Gump” 1994, “Philadelphia” 1993) teams up for the first time with Academy Award-winning filmmakers Joel and Ethan Coen (Best Screenplay, “Fargo” 1997) for THE LADYKILLERS, available on DVD and VHS on September 7. THE LADYKILLERS is a laugh-out-loud comedy about small-time criminals who attempt the heist of the century, and a feisty old lady who stands in their way. THE LADYKILLERS DVD has hilarious bonus features to die for including “The Slap Reel” outtakes, “Gospel of The Ladykillers” deleted music scenes, “Danny Ferrington: The Man Behind the Band,” and “The Ladykillers Script Scanner” an enhanced computer feature (ROM). In THE LADYKILLERS Tom Hanks stars as Goldthwait Higginson Dorr III, Ph.D., a charlatan professor who’s assembled a gang of “experts” for the heist of the century. Their base of operations: the root cellar of an unsuspecting, church-going little old lady named Mrs. Munson (Irma P. Hall, “Bad Company,” “Soul Food”). The ruse: the men need a place to practice church music, while they plot their heist. The problem: Dorr’s men aren’t the brightest thieves in the world. When Mrs. Munson stumbles onto their plot, they decide to do her in… but the ‘ladykillers’ hilariously underestimate their host upstairs. The talented cast of THE LADYKILLERS includes Marlon Wayans (“Scary Movie,” “Scary Movie 2”), J.K. Simmons (“Spider-Man,” TV’s “Law And Order”), Tzi Ma (“The Quiet American”) and Ryan Hurst (“Remember The Titans,” TV’s “Taken”). Produced by Ethan Coen & Joel Coen, Tom Jacobson, Barry Sonnenfeld and Barry Josephson. Written for the screen and directed by Joel Coen and Ethan Coen. THE LADYKILLERS is priced at $29.99 (DVD) and $24.99 VHS, from Touchstone Home Entertainment. STREET DATE: SEPTEMBER 7, 2004 Direct Prebook: July 13, 2004 Distributor Prebook: July 27, 2004 Suggested retail price: $29.99 (DVD). $24.99 VHS. Feature running time: Approximately 104 minutes Rated: “R” For Language Including Sexual References Bonus DVD material unrated and subject to change. DVD aspect ratio: 1.85:1, formatted for 16x9 screens Sound: Dolby Digital 5.1 Surround Sound French language track: Available on DVD French subtitles: Available on DVD Spanish subtitles: Available on DVD ________________________________________________________________________________________________ |
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Sunday August 22, 2004 ________________________________________________________________________________________________ Young Athletes and the Pros They Idolize Share Fields of Dreams At Disney’s Wide World of Sports Complex
Imagine a place
where young athletes and the pros they idolize share the
same state-of-the-art facilities to train and compete.
They sprint to the finish line at the same track, leap for
rebounds in the same fieldhouse, and score runs and goals
on the same perfectly manicured fields of dreams. Only
this is not a fantasy. Rather, it is an everyday reality
at Disney’s Wide World of Sports Complex.
Just a line-drive’s distance from the theme parks of Walt Disney World Resort, a 200-acre multi-sport facility annually hosts 150 events in more than 30 sports. From aerobics to wrestling and all the "balls" in between, sports enthusiasts never know what or whom they will see. It is the ultimate destination for competitors and fans alike -- something for everyone who loves the exhilaration of sports. Imagine seeing All Pro linebacker Derrick Brooks lead the Tampa Bay Buccaneers in wind sprints during the team’s NFL training camp. On another field, 15-year-olds from Argentina compete in an international cricket exhibition. Inside The Milk House, 100 girls basketball teams compete in an Amateur Athletic Union (AAU) National Championship. Meanwhile, softball squads from across the country compete on multiple fields for a national fastpitch title. The complex resembles an Olympic Village. It’s buzzing with activity -- a normal day at the world’s premier sports destination. "Sports represents one of the most exhilarating elements of our society, and we celebrate that passion for athletics every day at Disney's Wide World of Sports Complex," says Reggie Williams, the former Cincinnati Bengals linebacker and current vice president of Disney Sports Attractions. "Thousands of athletes train and compete at our world-class facilities each year, from the professional and world-class elite to youth-sport athletes who emulate their heroes in recreational competitions. Disney’s Wide World of Sports provides opportunities to athletes of all ages and abilities who are driven to participate." Disney's Wide World of Sports has made an indelible mark on the world's sports landscape since its first pitch on March 28, 1997. Hundreds of thousands of athletes, ages four to 99, have traveled from around the world for a chance to make their mark on these fields of dreams. The sports complex design boasts tall towers and seemingly endless archways. The stunning "Florida Picturesque" style, designed by Washington, D.C.-based architect David Schwarz, includes a pair of signature facilities -- Cracker Jack Stadium, a two-tiered 7,500-seat retro baseball ballpark, and The Milk House, a 5,500-seat old-style indoor fieldhouse that is adorned by banners and inspiring images of got milk? campaign sports celebrities. Other sports complex venues include: the baseball quadraplex, the track and field complex, the softball quadraplex and softball annex, the 11-court tennis facility (with center court stadium), and four sports fields (all sized for international soccer). Amateur Athletic Union championships, the Pop Warner Super Bowl, Atlanta Braves spring training and Tampa Bay Buccaneers training camp are just a handful of the annual events at Disney’s Wide World of Sports. In addition to more than 30 AAU championships and the annual Pop Warner Little Scholars Super Bowl and Cheer & Dance National Championships, the sports complex has played host to numerous top amateur competitions including the USA Wrestling National Championships, the Snickers US Youth Soccer National Championships, and the U.S. Taekwondo Open. The schedule has also included top collegiate events involving the Atlantic Coast Conference and the Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference, the Honda Elite 4 Holiday Classic for top Division I women’s basketball teams, and Disney’s Division II Men’s and Women’s Tip Off Classic basketball tournaments. While amateur athletes and weekend warriors have competed at these first-rate facilities, countless professionals have also gained a competitive advantage thanks to Disney’s Wide World of Sports. Most notably, the NFL’s Tampa Bay Buccaneers began their Super Bowl Championship season with training camp at Walt Disney World in 2002. Men’s professional tennis players have competed in the U.S. Men’s Clay Court Championships, and Major League Soccer hosted its league-wide spring training and all-star weekend festivities at Disney’s 200-acre sports complex. The Atlanta Braves continue to sell out one game after another during their annual spring training schedule at Cracker Jack Stadium. Elite athletes such as All-Star Tracy McGrady of the NBA’s Orlando Magic, quarterback Daunte Culpepper of the NFL’s Minnesota Vikings, and women’s track and field speedster Gail Devers also continue to train at the 3,000-square-foot weight room and other world-class facilities at the sports complex. Internationally, the sports complex has welcomed British Olympic Association (BOA) athletes for warm-weather training, Scotland’s famed Celtic Football Club for mid-season training, and countless others for everything from cricket to inline skating races. Because Disney’s Wide World of Sports is only minutes from the world famous Walt Disney World Resort theme parks, every athlete and spectator who enters the gates can declare, "I’m going to Disney World!" Fans Get into the Action… Away from the stands, guests can keep the adrenaline pumping at the Sports Experience, a multi-sport interactive playground that gives all fans who visit the complex the chance to test their speed and agility in football, soccer, baseball and basketball. After competing (or cheering), guests can race over to All Star Cafe, which graces the entrance to Disney’s Wide World of Sports. The famous sports-themed restaurant features a delicious menu and a main dining room lined with baseball mitt-shaped booths and huge video screens where guests can watch sports highlights and live action games. Fans may tour the sports complex, test their athletic ability at the Sports Experience or attend most sports events at Disney’s Wide World of Sports Complex for the general admission price of $10.50 (adults) and $7.75 (children, ages 3-9). Tickets for all events are available through Ticketmaster outlets or by visiting the box office at the entrance to the sports complex. Fans can get updated information and schedules by calling the Disney’s Wide World of Sports Information Line at 407/828-FANS (3267) or by visiting http://www.disneyworldsports.com/. ________________________________________________________________________________________________ Moonlighting - Disney/BV has removed this from their schedule
Last April, we were
pleased to pass on a report from Bruce Willis at his website
that Disney would release Moonlighting on DVD this
November. A bit over a month later, we passed along another
report about November DVDs. This one was from a fan-based
website, and they mentioned Moonlighting in the same
breath as Home Improvement, Golden Girls, and the
second season of Boy Meets World.
So when the latter three titles were formally announced recently by Disney's Buena Vista Home Entertainment arm, and no mention of Moonlighting, we made a call and asked what was what. Buena Vista told us that yes indeed, this set was originally supposed to be part of the offerings for the November 23rd street date, along with the other three. However, Buena Vista has removed Moonlighting from their schedule. There's no new ETA on the title, and no reason was given for the change. We'll keep a close eye on this, though, and we'll update you as soon as we have anything we can tell you.
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Music
Concerts
________________________________________________________________________________________________PSYCHEDELIC FURS: 8 p.m. Thursday; House of Blues, Downtown Disney, 1490 Buena Vista Drive, Lake Buena Vista; $17.50 advance, $19.50 day of show; 407-934-2583 HEART, with Lennon: 8:30 p.m. Friday; House of Blues, 1490 Buena Vista Drive, Lake Buena Vista; $45 advance, $47.50 day of show; 407-934-2583 HANSON, with Ingram Hill and Michael Tolcher: 7:30 p.m. Sept. 2; House of Blues, Downtown Disney, 1490 Buena Vista Drive, Lake Buena Vista; $19.50 advance, $22.50 day of show; 407-934-2583 WEIRD AL YANKOVIC: 7 p.m. Sept. 5; House of Blues, 1490 Buena Vista Drive, Downtown Disney, Lake Buena Vista; $27.50 advance, $29.50 day of show; 407-934-2583 UNITED BEATS OF PEACE, featuring BT (Live) & Particle with guests Dan the Automator, Chris Beney & Pangea and DJ Peas: doors at 8 p.m. Sept. 9; House of Blues, 1490 Buena Vista Drive, Lake Buena Vista; $19.50 advance, $22.50 day of show (go on sale Saturday); 407-934-2583 Night of Joy, with Michael W. Smith, Jars of Clay, Avalon, Steven Curtis Chapman, Third Day, Rebecca St. James, Kirk Franklin, Jaci Velasquez, CeCe Winans and more: Sept. 9-11; Walt Disney World Magic Kingdom, southwest of Orlando on Interstate 4; $36.95 plus tax advance one night, $59.95 plus tax advance two nights, $79.95 plus tax advance all three; 407-934-7639 or disneyworld.com/nightofjoy ANI DIFRANCO, 8:30 p.m. Sept. 15; House of Blues, Downtown Disney 1490 Buena Vista Drive, Lake Buena Vista; $33.50; 407-934-2583 FLOGGING MOLLY, with Street Dogs and the Briggs: 8 p.m. Sept. 22; House of Blues, Downtown Disney, 1490 Buena Vista Drive, Lake Buena Vista; $15 advance, $17.50 day of show; 407-934-2583 SOULFLY, with Ill Nino, Twisted Method and Twelve Tribes: 7:30 p.m. Sept. 23; House of Blues, Downtown Disney, 1490 Buena Vista Drive, Lake Buena Vista; $17.50 advance, $19.50 day of show; 407-934-2583 THE CRAMPS, with Hank Williams III: doors at 6 p.m. Oct. 3; House of Blues, 1490 Buena Vista Drive, Downtown Disney, Lake Buena Vista; $18.50 advance, $20 day of show (go on sale Aug. 14); 407-934-2583 SENSES FAIL, with Underoath and the Bled: doors at 6:30 p.m. Oct. 15; House of Blues, 1490 Buena Vista Drive, Downtown Disney, Lake Buena Vista; $12.50 advance, $15 day of show; 407-934-2583 Scenes from kiddie class struggle on Disney Way back in 1975, in a galaxy far, far away, when Americans still went to see foreign movies with subtitles, Italian director Lina Wertmuller's ''Swept Away'' became a most-talked-about experience. Was this tale of a brutish sailor and spoiled rich girl shipwrecked on a desert island a metaphor for the class struggle? Was it an attack on feminism? In 2002, ''Swept Away'' even inspired a remake starring Madonna, of all people. Now we have ''Brandy & Mr. Whiskers'' (Disney Channel at 8), a goofy, animated ''Swept Away'' for the ''SpongeBob'' set. Brandy (the voice of Kaley Cuoco, ''8 Simple Rules'') is a petulant pooch, accustomed to spas, pedicures and shopping sprees. A castoff from a greyhound track, Mr. Whiskers (Charlie Adler) is a scruffy, delusional bunny rabbit, given to ''Ren & Stimpy''-like explosions of affection and enthusiasm. Needless to say, they don't get along. But that hardly matters, because after a contrived accident easily explained in the show's bouncy theme song, they're stranded together in the Brazilian rainforest. Colorful creatures with strange sounding accents and carnivorous appetites quickly make their acquaintance. Even friendly neighbors, like Lola Boa (Alanna Ubach), a slithering Latina stereotype of the Carmen Miranda school, has the odd habit of swallowing and disgorging her new friends. Twin birds Cheryl and Meryl (both voiced by Sherri Shepherd) bicker continually with a ''you-go-girl'' urban accent and attitude. Gaspar (Andre Sogliuzzo) is a Gallic gecko. As a French stereotype, he not only thinks he's superior, but he's always trying to fit Mr. Whiskers into his gastronomic schemes. Like ''Kim Possible'' and ''Raven,'' Brandy is clearly intended to appeal to the Disney Channel's audience of tween girl consumers. But Mr. Whiskers' harebrained schemes give this cartoon an anarchic energy that should appeal to boys of all ages.
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Digging for
the Deeper Meaning in Disney Movies
Author scrutinizes the
popular animated films, developing a guide to understanding
what some call the Gospel According to Walt.
Ever since Walt Disney
began turning out feature-length animated films, scholars,
theologians and journalists have plumbed the depths of the
simple morality tales for deeper religious meanings and
messages.
Was Snow White's eating of the poison apple an allusion to the Fall in the Garden of Eden? When the puppet maker Geppetto was swallowed by a whale, was that a veiled reference to Jonah in Hebrew Scriptures? Were Jiminy Cricket's initials in "Pinocchio" a hidden reference to Jesus Christ?
While we're at it,
have the Disney films morphed under the corporate leadership
of Michael Eisner from an early reflection of Judeo-Christian
religious sensibilities during Disney's life to embrace a
wider pantheon of non-Western and pagan beliefs and gods? How
do the stories accommodate changing cultural perceptions about
race, sexual orientation and gender roles?
There has been no end of fascination with what some have called the Gospel According to Walt, and it's little wonder. The Disney gospel is among a child's earliest tutors, offering insights into acceptable human behavior and relationships through the dilemmas, triumphs and failures of its cartoon characters. The scrutiny has been heightened by the fact that, unlike previous generations, more children are watching the films over and over, thanks to videotapes and DVDs. How are the stories playing — and replaying — on young, impressionable minds? Among the latest to ask such questions is journalist Mark I. Pinsky, religion writer for Florida's Orlando Sentinel. A father of two, Pinsky set out to decode the parables and found, as others did before him, a common thread running through Disney features from "Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs," released in 1937, to "Brother Bear," released in 2003. His findings are in his latest book, "The Gospel According to Disney: Faith, Trust, and Pixie Dust" (Westminster John Knox Press). "The Disney canon is fairly simple," Pinsky said in an interview. "Good is always rewarded. Evil is always punished. Faith is paramount — faith in yourself and, equally, faith in something greater than yourself. It doesn't matter what it is that's greater than yourself." But don't look for overt references to God. Pinsky calls his book a guidebook for parents and grandparents. Much of it is a short retelling of the Disney narratives, with a chapter devoted to most of the stories. Pinsky brings his own rendering of the story lines, seasoned with a religion writer's familiarity with belief systems, and the sensitivity that comes with being a father himself. It is essentially a work of journalism rather than blazing paths into entirely new insights, which should not be surprising in view of Pinsky's training as a reporter. (He formerly worked at The Times.) His task was complicated by the Disney company's refusal to grant him a single interview, whether with a corporate executive or an animator. Pinsky was forced to rely in part on the works of other scholars and authors, who are richly quoted and credited. The new book is not Pinsky's first look at spirituality in American pop culture. His best-selling 2001 book, "The Gospel According to The Simpsons," looked at that television show's many major and minor religious allusions. The Simpsons book, a review by The Times in 2001 said, showed the author's appreciation for the "surprisingly rich spiritual life of the Simpsons and their Springfield neighbors." Although Disney was by all accounts deeply respectful of institutional religion, he was not much of a churchgoer in his adult life. Biographers have said that he wanted to convey simple morality tales that taught right and wrong in a universally accepted idiom to children the world over. To do that, Disney resorted not to a sectarian creed, but to magic, which bridged cultures and belief systems. Magic, not the Holy Spirit, was repeatedly employed as the instrument of hope and intervention on behalf of goodness and justice, as with Cinderella's Fairy Godmother and Pinocchio's Blue Fairy. It was also a smart marketing strategy that appealed to a larger audience of many and of no religious persuasions, Pinsky said. Fairy godmothers and other heavenly manifestations, in turn, reinforced the efficacy of good works, love and faith on the part of Disney's cartoon protagonists. In other words, goodness and hard work have their own reward even when the odds seem stacked against you, including an evil stepmother or a reprobate fox leading a wooden boy astray. So what about the bite Snow White took out of that apple and Geppetto's rescue by Pinocchio from the belly of the whale, or Jiminy Cricket's initials? Parables have a way of speaking differently to people. Christians, Pinsky said, have alternately applauded and railed at the things they saw in the films. The important thing, he said, is that the films convey overarching values of faith, hard work, optimism, love and just being good. That is not to say that the Disney films didn't stumble along the way, at least when viewed with the benefit of hindsight. Early films reflected the prevalent culture of their times. But by today's standards, some could be seen as racist. Even the theatrical version of relatively recent Aladdin, released in 1992, cast Muslims in a bad light. (This was changed in the videotape and DVD versions). There have also been recent mixed messages on gays. For that reason, Pinsky suggests that parents view the films with their children and either offer explanations or commentary about possible problematic scenes, or fast forward through them. Among them is the black crows sequence in "Dumbo." While there is nothing overtly malicious in the scene, Pinsky reports, there is "an inescapable context." He said that among the crows was a preacher and a jazz musician "written and drawn by white people" in the manner of the old "Amos and Andy" radio shows of the 1920s through the 1940s. The crows speak in what the writers then saw as a black dialect replete with bad grammar: "Ax dem what dey want," one crow says to another. Disney films began to reach beyond the old Disney canon in 1984 when Eisner and Jeffrey Katzenberg took the helm, Pinsky said. Their pictures included a sympathetic portrayal of Hinduism in "The Lion King," and Confucianism in "Mulan." There was animism in "Pocahontas" and shamanism in "Brother Bear." Female characters became more assertive. At the same time, in 1996 the Disney studios released "The Hunchback of Notre Dame," which has an explicitly Christian — and more specifically Roman Catholic — religious theme. "Disney is an indicator of value shifts in America," Pinsky added. "They don't trail. And they don't get too far ahead." Despite the studio's widening diversity of cultural and religious expressions, Pinsky said the values communicated are the same: "We respect differences. We don't hurt feelings of others, and there's always a happy ending that usually embodies upward mobility." |
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_______________________________________________________________________________ Saturday August 20, 2004 __________________________________________________________________ Pooh's Heffalump Movie  Disney's films centered around characters from A.A. Milne's books continues to flourish nearly fifty years after their creator's death. Next February, the gang returns to the big screen for the third time this decade in Pooh's Heffalump Movie. 
This film won't be centered around a character the way the last two cinematic outings have. Instead, we'll see how the Hundred Acre Woods characters respond to the mysterious and frightening Heffalumps! Jim Cummings will once again voice Winnie the Pooh and Tigger, while David Ogden Stiers returns as the unseen, omniscient narrator. Plans are already in motion for a spin-off featuring a new Heffalump character as the Pooh franchise remains as strong and popular as ever. In Theaters February 2005 __________________________________________________________________________________________________Ringgold band raising money for Disney trip CARROLL TOWNSHIP - With a little hard work, the Ringgold High School marching band will be performing in Disney World. And, in this case, "a little hard work" means more than just practicing with their musical instruments. The 110-member band is busy trying to raise more than $89,000 to pay for the trip, which has become somewhat of a rite over the years. "It's something we do on a four-year rotation," said Hilary Brown, band director. "Every four years we go to Disney World. The other three, we go somewhere else. This year, it's our turn to go back to Disney." Brown said Ringgold is scheduled to go April 16-23 and will march at one of three parades at Magic Kingdom, Universal Studios or Disney-MGM. However, there is a little matter of raising the required funds. "Each student needs to raise between $600 and $800 for the trip," Brown said. "To go, we need quite a lot of money, over $89,000. That's a lot of money." One way the band hopes to raise the money is through its first-ever flea market. The flea market will be held Sept. 11 in the high school cafeteria and in the outdoor area near the cafe. "Right now, we're looking at holding the flea market from noon to 6 p.m., but those hours could be changed," Brown said. The flea market is open to the public and Brown said the band is selling table space to anyone who wishes to participate. "We've already sold some tables, but we have room for plenty more," she said. "People have until Sept. 3 to contact us at (724) 258-2200 (ext. 129) to reserve a table." Brown says she has no idea how much money this particular fund-raiser will bring in. "We haven't put a number on it because we've never had a flea market before." But she added that the band members have been busy each month with one form of fund-raising or another. "Most of the students already have about $200 in their accounts," she said. "We have fund-raisers each month for them to participate in. The money they raise goes right into their account. Students also have the option of just putting money into their accounts." Brown realizes the total cost of the trip is high, but she added, "We go there for an entire week and we do fly there." Plus, it is a great experience. "This is good for the kids," she said. "They get to have a great experience to remember and they work to earn it." |
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Friday August 20, 2004 _________________________________________________________________ Wynn: Disneyland casino reports overblown Steve Wynn said Thursday that media reports linking him to plans to develop a tribal casino near Disneyland in Orange County, Calif., are exaggerated. The Los Angeles Times reported earlier this week that a small San Diego County Indian band and Garden Grove, Calif., city officials talked with Wynn about developing a megaresort on city-controlled land about a mile-and-a-half away from Disneyland. Wynn said the Orange County government officials and representatives of the Mesa Grande Band of Mission Indians visited Las Vegas about two months ago to gauge his interest in developing a destination resort with casino gambling in Garden Grove. But no agreements were made, and Wynn said he will not get involved in trying to persuade California government officials to allow the Indian tribe to swap its remote San Diego county land for the parcel in Garden Grove. Federal law allows tribes to make such swaps only if their existing turf is economically unproductive, and Wynn said the tribe's isolated land, accessible by dirt road, arguably would qualify. He said the lobbying effort must be made by the tribe and local government officials. "I will not get involved in trying to persuade governments to allow land-swaps," Wynn said. "This business in trying to finagle Indian tribes is vexing. I don't want to be involved in it." Wynn said he believes California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger -- a personal friend -- would approve a suburban Orange County casino site only if local communities and business interests signed off on the arrangement. Wynn said he wasn't sure whether local government officials would support a project so close to Disneyland, but said he'd understand why the Walt Disney Co., owner of the theme park, wouldn't want a destination resort just blocks away. Wynn said the Garden Grove officials asked him to persuade Disney Chairman Michael Eisner to support the plan. "I know Michael Eisner, and they asked me to call him," Wynn said. "I won't call him. Keep me out of it. I come in at the end." Wynn said he'd be interested in developing a casino in a demographic sweet spot like Orange County, one of the country's wealthiest and most populous counties, but wouldn't want to operate it after it was built. __________________________________________________________________________________________________ Brooke Tansley Is Beauty's Next Belle, Sept. 14 Brooke Tansley
will be Beauty and the Beast's new Belle. She is
set to begin performances in the hit Disney show on
September 14. Tansley is best known for playing Penny Pingleton in Hairspray for two months earlier this year. Tansley was a swing in the original company of Hairspray and also eventually understudied Penny, Amber Von Tussle, Prudy Pingleton and The Dynamites. Her regional theater credits include Smokey Joe's Cafe, Peter Pan, The Sound of Music and The Nutcracker. After leaving Hairspray, Tansley participated in the International Dance Festival at The Duke on 42nd Street. "I was with my parents over the weekend [before I knew if I got Belle]," Tansley said. "My mother was wearing blue and yellow the whole time for good luck, because those are the colors Belle wears. When I got the call on Monday, we just all started screaming." Current Belle, Disney small screen star Christy Carlson Romano, will play her final performance on September 12. __________________________________________________________________________________________________ Judy Kuhn, Alan Menken and Jodi Benson Salute Disney Music Aug. 20 and 21 The Hollywood Bowl will offer The Great American Concert with Fireworks—Walt Disney: 75 Years of Music Aug. 20 and 21. Part of the Bowl's "Weekend Spectaculars" series, the concerts will feature the vocal talents of Judy Kuhn, Jodi Benson, Paige O'Hara, Lisa Vroman and Stuart Ambrose. Tony-winning composer Alan Menken will also be part of the evenings, which feature Mary Costa as narrator and special guest Dick Van Dyke. John Mauceri will conduct the Hollywood Bowl Orchestra, and the Disney salute will also boast the Cal State Fullerton University Singers under the direction of John Alexander. Show time is 8:30 PM. According to the Bowl's official website, the concerts will "pay tribute to a true Great American icon — the inimitable Walt Disney. This weekend celebrates his commitment to orchestral music, from the beginnings with 'Steamboat Willie' to the drama of 'Fantasia' to the mega-smash 'The Lion King.' From old favorites to new hits to classic songs, there truly will be something for everyone at this first-time event that ends as only a Great American concert could — with fireworks." The concerts are produced in cooperation with The Walt Disney Company. __________________________________________________________________________________________________ Black
Cauldron Composer Bernstein Dies _________________________________________________________________
Lion King 2 Simbas Pride, Boy Meets World First Season
September
Davy Crockett Two Movie Set , One Little Indian, Hans Brinker, Third Man on the Mountain, The Island at the Top of the World, The Last Flight of Noah's Ark, The Christmas Star, Tex, Never Cry Wolf, Sing Along Songs "Disney Pricess Once Upon a Time", Princess Stories Volume One, Princess Party, Squanto "A Warriors Tale", Home on the Range  
October
Aladdin (Platinum Edition), Mulan (Special Edition)  
November
Around the World in 80 Days, Mickey's Twice Upon a Christmas  
December
The Complete Pluto (Walt Disney Treasures), Mickey Mouse in balck and white Volume 2 (Walt Disney Treasures), The Mickey Mouse Club (Walt Disney Treasures), Mary Poppins 40 Edition, Young Black Stallion  
 
 _________________________________________________________________ Disney 3rd-Qtr Net Rises 20%; Parks, Cable Sales Jump Walt Disney Co., the second-biggest U.S. media company, said third-quarter profit climbed 20 percent because more tourists visited parks such as Walt Disney World and advertisers spent more on its cable-television channels. Net income rose to $604 million, or 29 cents a share, from $502 million, or 24 cents, a year earlier, the Burbank, California- based company said in a statement. Sales for the quarter ended June 30 increased 17 percent to $7.47 billion. Disney Chief Executive Michael Eisner is luring more visitors to theme parks after the introduction of new attractions such as ``Mission: Space'' at Walt Disney World in Florida. Advertising rates climbed at some of Disney's cable channels, including the ESPN sports network. ``Every ride that they can add, it helps,'' said Vic Hawley, a fund manager at Los Angeles-based Reed, Conner & Birdwell Inc., which owns 1.26 million Disney shares among its $2.9 billion in assets. ``There are more people working this year than a year ago, and foreign travel is starting to pick back up.'' Operating income at Disney's studio unit, which includes Walt Disney Studios and Miramax Films, fell 61 percent to $28 million. Revenue rose 19 percent to $1.71 billion. ``The box office hurt this year,'' Hawley said. ``DVD sales rates are going to suffer because of the lack of hits.'' Film Ranking Disney's film studios together rank third this year in domestic box-office market share with $710.1 million through Aug. 8. Last year they were No. 1, with sales of $2.22 billion. Disney was forecast to earn 27 cents a share, the average estimate of 24 analysts polled by Thomson Financial. Sales were forecast to rise to $7.15 billion, the average estimate of 16 analysts. Year-earlier profit was $102 million more than reported in 2003 because of a change in accounting. Disney said sales and profit at the parks unit was boosted by higher attendance and hotel occupancy from both U.S. and international visitors to Walt Disney World in Orlando, Florida. The compa |
