Interesting article in the new Vanity Fair about Disney's old ink and paint department: "Coloring the Kingdom".

Labels: animation, Disney, Vanity Fair

Genius! Disney's making a little kid show about pirates, Jake and the Never Land Pirates, for their Playhouse Disney channel.

Fantastic idea. Everyone loves pirates!!


Check out: "Playhouse Disney sails with 'Jake'".

Labels: Disney, Pirates, Playhouse Disney

I love me some Muppets.

And I'm one of those rare Muppet fans who think that Disney purchasing them wasn't a bad idea.

Granted, I'm pretty pro-Disney, but I think that they can house a stable of evergreen characters better than the next mega-conglomerate.

However, since the 2004 announcement the integration of the Muppets into the Disney stable has been slow. What have we had, one special? A theme park advertising campaign?

But now we have this:


Disney is working on a new theatrical Muppet movie, tentatively titled The Cheapest Muppet Movie Ever Made!, and now we get this news story: "Flight of the Conchords Co-Creator May Direct the New Muppet Movie".

If you haven't seen Flight of the Conchords you might be missing out on something terribly clever. I can imagine some people might not like it, but I think it's a riot.

But best of all, it's perfectly suited for the Muppets. The show has a dry sensibility, as well as the odd (and I do mean "odd") musical number.

This is fantastic news. Fantastic.

Labels: Disney, Flight of the Conchords, movie, Muppets

Two stories coming out of Hawaii today, both having to do with Disney.

First we have an official name for the new non-theme park resort Disney is building in Ko Olina - it's now "Aulani, a Disney Resort and Spa".

"Disney Names Ko Olina Resort 'Aulani'".


Aulani is obviously a Hawaiian word - in English it means "the place that speaks for the great ones" or "the place that speaks with deep messages".

The resort opens in the fall of 2011.

Next we have more news about Pirates 4 - apparently it'll shoot in Hawaii this summer for a May 2011 release date: "'Pirates of the Caribbean' to shoot in Hawaii".

Wonder if they'll use any locations from ABC's Lost? Jack Sparrow in the Hatch? Creepy.

Although the Black Rock would make some sense ...

Labels: 2011, Aulani, Disney, Hawaii, Lost, Pirates

You've probably all seen this Spanish promo for Lost - I try to stay away from spoiler stuff on the internet but this one was labelled spoiler free so I had to watch.

No new footage (obviously) but damn is it elaborate for a foreign promo.

Labels: Disney, Lost

In case you missed it on Wednesday night, Disney announced a release date for Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides - clear your calendar on May 20, 2011.

Labels: 2011, Disney, Pirates

Apparently this photo was in Us Weekly recently:


So Locke is Jebus?

Sayid is Judas?

What does it mean?!

What does it mean?!?

Labels: Disney, Lost, religion

Nothing much new to note in this New York Times article: "Iger’s Pay at Disney Slips by 28%" except the term "golden coffin".

Wha?!

The Disney board has also decided to end a perk allowing for posthumous payments to the heirs of top executives should they die on the job, a controversial benefit known in financial circles as a "golden coffin." Disney will not renew the benefit when current contracts expire, according to the filing. The move follows investor complaints.

I assume this would most recently apply to Frank Wells.

I wonder if we can find a list somewhere of all of the "golden coffin" payees?

Saldy I don't think Roy O. Disney would count - he retired just before his death on December 20, 1971.

Labels: Disney, NY Times

I wanted to write a few words about the passing of Roy E. Disney the other day. While working at what was then known as Walt Disney Feature Animation I had many encounters with Walt's nephew, at screenings or meetings for the new movies. In fact, my last desk at the company was right around the corner from his ceremonial office, located in the rotunda of the Sorcerer's Apprentice hat.

The Feature Animation Building in 1995 (Photo: Peter Aaron / Esto).
I guess could tell you how this multi-billionaire, who will go down in history as the savior of the Disney empire in both the 1980s and the 2000s (read Storming the Magic Kingdom and DisneyWar and you'll see what I mean) would always be early for meetings. How he'd wander around the halls an hour before his meeting, just chatting to the artists. I could tell you how he was genuinely interested in the proceedings of the movies, while so many of the "creative" executives would rush about with no regard to the artists who come up with and draw the movies we were all there to make. And how they were always late to meetings. Always.

No, instead I want to tell you about the first time I ever saw Roy E. Disney in real life.

It was in 1990 (or perhaps 1992). My family was at Walt Disney World in Florida at what then was the Disney-MGM Studios theme park. The brand-new Disney-MGM Studios theme park, back when there were real animators for Feature Animation in the Magic of Disney Animation attraction.

Needless to say my brother and I loved that tour from the very first minute we stepped in the building. We were just a pane of glass away from real Disney animators!


My brother (left) and me (right) back in 1990 (Photo: My Mom).
As we walked through the tour spying down into the fishbowl of animation desks the host said, "And in the back there you'll see Roy O. Disney, Walt Disney's brother".

"Oh my G-- wait ... what?"

Now, as we all know, Roy O. Disney was Walt Disney's brother, but he passed away on December 20, 1971, mere months after Walt Disney World in Florida opened to the public.

And we also all know that he was Walt's older brother, so by February of 1990 he'd have been pushing 97 years old.

But the man in the fishbowl did not look a hundred years old.

Or dead.

So I did what any meek thirteen year old kid from Maine would have done in my shoes ... I walked right up to the host with the microphone and told him, no, you're wrong. That is Walt's nephew Roy E. Disney, Walt Disney's brother passed away on December 20, 1971 mere months after Walt Disney World in Florida opened to the public and were he alive today Roy O. Disney would have been pushing 97 years old.

The host wasn't impressed.

But looking back I think that was the first time that I realized I have a ridiculous knowledge of all things Disney, more so than even Disney theme park hosts.

And we're not just talking the guy loading kiddies onto the Mad Tea Party tea cups ride or the one selling freeze-pops in Fantastyland - this guy worked in air conditioning. This guy had a tie and blazer. He must have been somebody.

I always wanted to tell Roy that. I almost wrote him a card when he started the Save Disney campaign, but I never did.

Sure, I had more personal interactions with Disney once I worked at animation - but that day in 1990 will always stick in my mind as a pivotal point in my Disney career, before I even had a Disney career.

Labels: animation, death, Disney, Roy E. Disney

Awwww crap: "Roy E. Disney, a Power at His Uncle Walt’s Studio, Dies at 79".

More on this tonight.

Crap.

Labels: death, Disney, Roy E. Disney

For real this time.

My friends Stevie and Kevin directed it, and my buddy Chris came up with the idea. It's going to be funny.

Prep & Landing.

ABC.

8:30.

Labels: ABC, animation, Disney, Prep and Landing

So you probably already knew this, but President Obama's televised speech on Tuesday bumped all of the regularly scheduled television shows, such as the new Christmas special Prep & Landing, which I guess is technically called Lanny and Wayne the Christmas Elves in Prep & Landing.

It now will premiere next Tuesday at 8:30 pm on ABC.

Labels: ABC, animation, Disney, Prep and Landing

Hey! That new Christmas special from Walt Disney Animation Studios, Prep & Landing, airs on ABC this Tuesday!


A bunch of people I worked with at Disney had a hand in making it - Chris Williams, Kevin Deters and Stevie Wermers-Skelton.

You should check it out, I bet it'll be pretty awesome ...

Labels: ABC, animation, Disney, Prep and Landing