Mousekingdom Blog

You can’t say Oscars without thinking about the Razzie Awards. While Disney/Pixar with UP is going for the big one at the Oscars, the Jonas brothers will have to defend their honors at the Razzies. Although they might be less happy with the nominations. The Razzies celebrate the worst of 2009 movie year and the Jonas Brothers are nominated in two of the categories. All three Jonas brothers are nominated for Worst Actor of 2009 and “Any Two (or More)” are also nominated for Worst Screen Couple of 2009. Both nominations are for The Jonas Brothers 3-D Concert Experience. In the second category they are up against Shia LaBeouf and Megan Fox OR Any Transformer. Talking about major competition…

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The OSCAR nominations have been made public and “UP” is going for the big one. “UP” has been, as was rumored before, nominated for the Best Picture award. This time the competition is even more fierce as the years before as for the first time since 1943 10 movies will have to battle it out to win the prestigious movie award. The other nominees are “Avatar”, “The Blind Side”, “District 9″, “An Education”, “The Hurt Locker”, “Inglourious Bastards”, “Precious”, “A Serious Man” and “Up in the Air”. It will not be an easy task for “UP” with a powerful list like this.

The more obvious nomination for “UP” is in the “Best Animated Feature” category. Here it is up against “Caroline”, “Fantastic Mr. Fox”, Disney’s “The Princess and the Frog” and “The Secret of Kells”.

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Once Disney bought Marvel it was to be expected Universal would be used in the same article more than once. It’s even possible to open it with the three names in the first sentence. They will be linked with each other from now one, something not everybody might like, but unavoidable. Unsurprisingly the three names in one article will refer to the difficulties the new deal of Disney buying Marvel will be for the Universal theme Park. The question of what will happen to Marvel Super Hero Island was one of the first to pop up on many forums. No worries there, as most people already know, Marvel and Universal had signed a contract about 15 years ago where Universal had the sole right to use the characters in a theme Park. This contract has now been inherited by Disney when they bought Marvel and can’t be change. And if it could be change, would they want to? (at this time). The royalties that need to be paid for the use of the licensed characters is a nice bonus for the Walt Disney Company.

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Disney’s love for Hawaii is no big secret. They just announced the name of their latest Disney Resort; Aulani a Disney Resort and Spa. The resort will include hotel rooms, Disney Vacation Club Villas, meeting rooms and wedding facilities. Aulani translates as “the place that speaks for the great ones” or “the place that speaks with deep messages.”

Captain Jack Sparrow might not be staying at the resort, but he will be in Hawaii where the fourth movie of the Pirates of the Caribbean will be shot.

“We’ve always sought out the most extraordinary and exotic locations … Hawaii provides an amazing range of both land and seascapes, and we’re delighted to return for ‘On Stranger Tides,’” Bruckheimer said in a statement.  (Seattle Times)

Will the Hawaiian scenery will have something to do with it and will provide beautiful backgrounds there is another reason why to location has been picked.

… what made the difference was the combination of Hawaii’s tax incentive, as well as support from the film and travel industries. (Seattle Times)

Picture Copyrights Disney

Jay Rasulo has been the big man for Disney’s park and resort business for the last seven years and can look back on a successful run. He has been leading the park devision into boosting sales with the new Magic you Way tickets and the Magical Express, expanding the Cruise Line with two more ships and can end his span in a high note with the Shanghai park deal. Not everything when as smooth as he might have hoped for, Hong Kong Disneyland for instance could not get the guests in Disney wanted, but overall Rasulo can look back and pass the torch to his successor with pride.

Rasulo said his approach was “based on making our existing destinations the strong ambassadors of the parks-and-resorts brand that they could be, whether through investment, pricing strategy, marketing strategy.” (Orlando Sentinel, the Daily Disney)

Disney’s $4.2 billion bet to take over Marvel is coming to its completion. The acquisition should be finalized this week. Disney will have access to 5000 Marvel character they’ll be able to use in movies and other project. Unfortunately some famous Marvel character have already long term deals with other movie companies, Disney is a master in turning the unknown in a success giving those “lesser” know characters the chance to shine in their spotlight.

As a long time Marvel and comic fanatic I looked at the top 10 character or team possibilities to be turned into a Disney Marvel project. I tried to avoid those characters already having a movie or that have been announced, but that was more difficult as I thought. There is a big list to choose from and it’s not been easy to pick my personal 10, but have a look and see what you think or let us know what you would put in the list.

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Disney has show interest in the TV subscription plan from apple. If rumors are correct apple wants to reinvent the television as we know it with offering TV subscription via their iTunes platform. It’s no surprise Disney has shown interest in this as they where the first to come on board when iTunes offered movie and TV content.

Apple would like to offer a $30 per month iTunes TV subscription where costumers would get the chance to see a collection of TV channels. Others interested in the online TV serve is CBS. This would be a new step for iTunes who normally offers individual shows for a flat fee.

The big problem for Apple would be convincing other companies to join in on this new venture. Mayor networks might have difficulties setting up another platform for their programs without angering the traditional cable providers. Those might not want to give away some of their costumers through this new platform.

Roy Edward Disney, the nephew of Walt Disney, has died after loosing his battle against cancer. He died this morning. Roy has been a protector of the Disney brand, first helping his brother Walt to build the company and later in revolting against the powers  of two of the company’s chief executives from the Disney company. Roy has fought hard for the Disney values set by his brother over the years. Some of these battles brought great and wonderful results for the Disney company and himself. He has been the driving force to convince the company to invest in new technology for their animation department. He work on the new Fantasia movie and devoted 20 years of his life on making nature movies.

He will be truly missed, but remembered by many. Thank you Roy, for looking after the Disney magic.

Tron: Evolution is the new Tron game  in the making from Disney and will act as a prequel to the upcoming 3D movie Tron: Legacy. The game was revealed during the Spike Video Game Awards this weekend. It’s developed by Propaganda Games and will be released in the 2010. The game will be available on PC, PS3 and the Xbox 360.

GameTrailers has a fantastic preview trailer online where you can see 2 Tron Characters battling with the discs and a short light cycle sweetener. I predict my PS3 to run hot on this game for months! While I can easily put my controller to the side on any game I am not so sure if I will be able to do the same once I get my hands on this game.

I’ve always been a fan of the old Tron arcade game and left lots of change in the machine! I hope this new game will do the old one justice. Of course I am not talking about the graphic as they already look incredible on the preview.

The project has been approved  and the plans for the first phase are ready. This first phase will have a feisty price tag of $3.6 billion. You might think this could buy you a lot, but it will not get you a “big” first gate. The first gate will only be 116 hectares big, this is 10 hectares smaller than the Hong Kong Park. This will make the Shanghai park the smallest of all Disney parks yet. Remember the trouble the Hong Kong park went true in the beginning; to small, not enough rides, only a half day park…

Hong Kong has proven that a small Disney park doesn’t work and will only give the company trouble. People will leave the small park wanting more, but will not return because they where disappointed the first time. Unfortunately I think history will repeat itself if Disney doesn’t change their plans by learning from the Hong Kong parks. The park needs to be big and full of Disney attractions to get the people into it. Have a look at Tokyo and its DisneySea. Quality brings in people and brings in the needed cash to make it a success. I am worried that making yet another “small” park, Disney will yet again loose on their investment. (I just hope I’m wrong)

In a rumor we posted not to long ago we already mentioned the possible return of Michael Jackson’s Captain EO. Another rumor floating on the web says that the returning experience would be a limited run at Disneyland and not a long term return of this Disney Park classic. (via Screamscape)

Let’s hope that the limited run doesn’t stop to early. It would be a shame for the fans if they had to miss out on the opportunity to see this again because the time frame is to narrow.

High School Musical is ready for a remake. But this time it will be in Chinese!

The Walt Disney Company announced they would work together with their partners Shanghai Media Group and the Huayi Media Corporation to make a Chinese version of the 2006 Emmy award winning High School Musical. The movie is expected to have a cinematic release in the summer of 2010.

Picture copyrights Disney

A couple of months ago Disney had a private showing of the Captain EO movie for some of their executive and the Jackson family. Fans around the globe hoping this would indicate a return of the classic Disney attraction.

According to the Hollywood Reporter those hopes might come true as guests at Disneyland might get to see it again as of January.

This would be a fantastic tribute to Micheal Jackson and to this fantastic classic attraction which deserves a premium spot in the Disney theme parks. Obviously, from a business point of view, it’s the right time to revise this classic and to jump on the success wagon of the “This is It” production.

Good guest attendance at Anaheim’s Disneyland and Disney’s California Adventure, even with the economic downturn it’s 15% up compared to the numbers from the same last quarter of the previous fiscal year. Unfortunately it’s not all good news for the company as guest spend a lot less on merchandise. 10% less is bought by the visitors, a big drop for the company. Walt Disney World lost about 3% in visitors during the same time period.

The hotels are also seeing a drop, loosing 4% compared to last year. This translates in 84% occupancy for the Disneyland hotels in Anaheim, the same number as the Disney hotels in Florida.

Disney parks and resorts revenues has gone down by 7% to a total of $10.7 billion in the recent fiscal year compared to the prior year.

The new Disney Theme Park for Shanghai has been approved by China’s planning agency. With the approval China and Disney can now start working on the final details of the new project for the city’s eastern Pudang district.

“China is one of the most dynamic, exciting and important countries in the world, and this approval marks a very significant milestone for The Walt Disney Company in mainland China,” Robert A. Iger, president and CEO of The Walt Disney Company, said in a statement.

The first phase of the project will include a Magic Kingdom style park but with characteristic tailored to the Shanghai region and China. There is no time frame set to when the park will open its gates but the investment is set for $3,6 billion for the 4 square mile park. However a Shanghai based Disney executive said that the deal is not final yet and final negotiations could last several months. But Disney says that the approval will allow both sides to move forwards to a final agreement.