Mousekingdom Blog

That’s been the question on my mind when I was in Paris this weekend. We had a trip planned to Paris without a visit to Disneyland. Going to the top of the Eiffel Tower was big priority, also a visit on top of the Arce du Triomphe was on the list. A visit to  Montmartre, a walk next to the river Seine and a stroll down Champs-Élysées was also on the program. I could even visit a couple of comic book stores at the Latin Quarter. But I couldn’t help myself, Disneyland Paris was so close and it was on my mind. Toy Story Playland just opened and I would not go and visit it? How could I do this… Well, it looks like I couldn’t. Come Sunday I was on the RER and hopped over to visit my beloved park.

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Make sure to visit our Disneyland Resort Paris project DLP.Info to see what is going on behind the blue fences of the new Toy Story Playland in the Walt Disney Studios in Paris. You’re invited to see the finished work of the area and the new rides. All the info and a lot of great pictures of the area and the attractions. (Thanks to Dirk and the great work on the reports).

Do you play those competitions you find in the paper or online and hope to be lucky enough to win something? Well, my son did. There was a competition related to the new Toy Story 3 movie. All he had to do was send a text message and pick the prize he wanted the mosts. Today, about 1 month later when we opened the post box there was an envelope with his name on it. What could it be? Who is it from?… Only when he opened the envelope he remembered the competition from a month ago. He had picked the new Wii Toy Story 3 game and that’s what he found in the postbox.

Thought it was fun to share! Now if you’ll excuse me, I am going to go and play a game of Toy Story 3.

Don’t own the game yet? How about ordering it on Amazon via this link!

OK, Avengers will not be distributed via a Disney company but via the Paramount company, but as Avenger is a part of Marvel Entertainment Company and Disney owns the Marvel Entertainment Company I have enough reason to do a little happy dance and write about it here on the blog after hearing the news that Joss Whedon confirmed his role as Director for the Avengers movie during his appearance at the San Diego Comic Con. I have always been a big fan of Buffy, love his Serenity movie and now can’t wait to see his Avengers movie.

This is not the first time Joss Whedon is involved in the comic industry. He wrote the Buffy Series 8 for Dark Horse, but also had a 24 part Astonishing X-Men series written for Marvel. For this run he was nominated for multiple Eisner Awards including Best Serialized Story, Best New Series, Best Writer and winning the Best Continuing Series award in 2006. Let’s hope this is enough to Joss Whedon bring the Avengers to the screen as they should be. We don’t want to see a repeat of Marvel’s the Fantastic Four 2, a disaster of a movie. But I have high hopes with Whedon in the director’s chair.

Did you know that Joss Whedon was one of the script writers of Toy Story. There! Another link with Disney, another reason to write about it on the Mousekingdom blog!

It’s almost that time of the year again; The San Diego Comic Con. As usual there is a big list of exclusives that will only be sold at the convention (until they start to pop up on eBay). Here you’ll find a full list of everything exclusive Disney related.

Let’s start with Boom Studios. They are the people who bring you Pixar and Disney comics on a montly basis. Especially for the convention they added some real gems to their collection. They will have 3 blank cover comic books. These books can be used to have artist at the convention drawn something on it. Those books and the art on it makes them one of a kind. There will be a Toy Story #5 Get-A-Sketch, Cars #7 Get-A-Sketch and a The Muppet Show #7 Get-A-Sketch comic book. These three books will have a limited production run of only 500 copies each and will be sold for $20 a piece. This is without the artists drawings on it. Those that would like a drawing will need to queue with one of the artist and might have to pay another premium to get the art on the book.

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It’s no big surprise for this weekends box office. As expected To Story 3 would take the lead. Not only would it take the lead but it would set some records too. This sequel can now call itself the biggest Pixar opening, surpassing The Incredibles $70.5 million opening weekend record. Toy Story 3 estimated opening weekend gross is set to $109 million. This includes the IMAX 3D theaters too where it shattered the previous record for animated feature with a total of $8.4 million. The previous record was for Monsters vs. Aliens with $5.1 million.

Toy story is also Disney’s 4th movie to enter the$100+ million domestic opening weekends of all time top 10 list. This was the third movie to open over 100 million this year. Other movies that did the same in 2010 are the amazing and wonderful Alice in Wonderland and, to proof that it’s not always good movies to enter these records, so did the terrible Iron Man II (the first one was so good).

The New York Toy Fair has started and you can already find some great reports online with pictures of all the new and great toys. If you want to know how a presentation on a Toy Fair looks like visit the “Gearlog, A Guide By Geeks, For Geeks”  site and you’ll be invited to see the Disney presentation of they new Toy Story Toys in their pictures update. John Lasseter was at the event, posing with his Lego Head that was on display on the table, before talking about the new Toy Story Toys that will hit the shelves.

Their will be a Barbie toy as well as a Lots-O-Huggin Bear. This bear will be the first plush in the Toy Story Toys range and will responce to voice and hugs as well as smell of strawberries.

Picture from Gearlog, A Guide By Geeks, For Geeks.

Can’t wait to see the Toys get into action again for the third time? Just download the 3rd trailer for Toy Story 3 and enjoy a preview of the action you can expect as from June 18, 2010. Woody and Buzz will be back with more adventures, more fun and even more toys.

The trailer looks like it will be another fun ride, not something to take for granted with sequels. However Pixar doesn’t seem to have a problem with that. It already proofed it with Toy Story 2 and now it looks like to repeat itself with the third in the series.

Enjoy the Preview trailer 3!

Picture Copyrights Disney.

Want to help the people who lost everything in the disastrous earthquake in Haiti. You can do so and own a nice piece of Pixar memorabilia at the same time.

Lee Unkrich, who is currently directing Toy Story III, has set up a special auction page in cooperation with Ebay where he is selling some amazing Pixar items to help the once in need. There are Signed items including a Tom Hanks Woody Doll, original crew items and a lot more.

You can find the auction behind the link! You can also add Lee Unkrich’s twitter page where he will keep everybody informed on the auction.

Picture copyrights Disney

One of the most amazing conventions ever is the San Diego Comic Con. I was lucky enough to have been there both as a professional comic shop owner (in a previous life) and a comic fan. There is always a lot to do, especially for the comic fans and the movie buffs. But Disney fans have every reason too to go and visit the convention. Disney has announced their plans for this years comic con (July 23-26) and will make sure their presence will not go unnoticed.

The most exciting news (for me) is that they’ll be showing some more TRON footage. The already bedazzled the crowd last year but I am sure that Disney will blow the fans away with the footage they’ll bring this year. This could be the first 3D footage of the movie! I am so excited… and I’m not even going (because, well, it’s on the other side of the planet. Or it sure feels like it).

The will also show footage of some of the other 3D projects they are working on. Alice in Wonderland and Disney’s A Christmas Carol. There will also be previews of The Princess and the Frog, Beauty and the Beast, Ponyo and the Toy Story Trilogy.

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Disney Interactive Studios announced a new game exclusively for the Wii; Toy Story Mania! The game will be based on the theme park attraction “Toy Story Mania”. The Wii adaption will include the quick firing shooting galleries from the rides and will have new scenes too. Also a series of mini games and 3D bonus features will be part of the new game. The game will have a multiplayer option that can invite up to 4 people for “the ride”…

The Wii is a fun console, actually it’s the most fun one I have ever played on. And I am not alone thinking this, even people who seems to react allergic to any console seem to have found something that convert them to game players. I have witnessed some of these “non-believers” myself who can’t see the fun in playing on a console for hours, but are being changed to Wii lovers once they tried it.

Combine this console with a great Disney attreactions equels garantied fun for every one. Can’t wait to see the final result… Now, if you’ll excuss me, I think I’ll go do some Wii bowling now…

The Lego Group and Disney Consumer Products announced they would start producing Lego and Lego Duplo sets based on Disney movies. They have signed a multi year agreement and will start the cooperation with sets from Toy Story, Cars and the live action movie Prince of Persia.

Lego has always been great toys, not only for children as I am sure many adults (and I do know some) collect them to. Especially Star Wars has been a favorite of many older “children”. The new range might not convince the more mature fan, but many younger once will be drawn to them. I can see Cars doing particularly well. There is always a lot of Cars toys to be found in many shops. Proofing they are still very popular, even if it isn’t the latest Disney/Pixar production. The new Lego Car set will have the same popularity for sure.

To read the full Press release follow the link: Disney and LEGO Group Announce Strategic Licensing Relationship.

Me, I only wish they would make Lego based on Disney attractions!… I would buy them all.

Picture copyrights Lego

Click the picture to see the funny trailer of Disney’s and Pixar’s next adventure “UP“. Release date May 29, 2009

Picture copyrights Disney

Comics! I love them (and collect them), so I am very excited with the news that we will get some Disney/Pixar comics that will give us new stories about the characters we love. We will get Toy Story, Finding Nemo, Wall-E and the one I am most looking forwards too; The Incredibles.

If you are in San Diego right now make sure to visit the Comic Con where a first exclusive preview book is on sale at the BOOM! Booth (#2543)

To commemorate this historic partnership, BOOM! will be releasing a special preview book featuring sneak previews of upcoming projects using the characters from TOY STORY, FINDING NEMO, and MONSTERS, INC. Featuring commentary by Waid, this preview will give comic fans and interested parents a look at the quality comics BOOM! will be producing for a younger audience by the end of the year. (BOOM! Blog)

Picture Copyrights BOOM! Studios

Mickey Mouse has a big impact on American history, an impact that goes far beyond American boundaries. Just look at the theme parks around the world, the movies playing in thousand theaters and the millions of toys in the shops. Even if you don’t have a Disney holiday, most likely you will still encounter some sort of Disney on your trip (or near your home). You can also ask what cartoon character is the most known in the world; I am pretty confident that Mickey Mouse will make it on the top spot as most well known cartoon character. Mickey (and his friends) are everywhere, even making an impact on our daily lives.

But what about the impact on Mickey Mouse and Disney from the outside? It’s a question that popped up in my head, more specifically the impact of today and in the (near) future! Let’s have a look at some possible theories (I think) that has have impact on the mouse and that might form the future look of Disney. Let’s do so starting with the biggest influence at the moment; PIXAR!

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