Disney's 'Tangled' gets a Trailer!

Take a gander:

-Do a dragon trainer and a bunch of toys have some competition for a gold statue?

'Secretariat' gets a Poster

Going by the poster, one of those actors is playing the horse...

Did Pixar's 'Newt' get canceled?

Apparently so, according to Collider:

It’s hard to imagine that Pixar's sorcery couldn’t make any project thrive, but such is the case as today we’ve learned that they’ve canceled their upcoming film, Newt. The Pixar Blog reports that they learned from Walt Disney Company archivist Dave Smith (or a representative), that “the film has been canceled.” This wasn’t totally out of left field. Newt was originally slated to hit theaters next summer, but was moved back to 2012 to make room for Cars 2. However, with both Brave (formerly The Bear and the Bow) and Monsters, Inc. 2 set for 2012, Newt mysteriously disappeared from the schedule. And then in February, Disney legend and animation industry insider Floyd Newman said point blank, “Newt is dead.” Looks like he was right. Sadly, Cars 2 lives even though I think the largest success of the first film was in the ability to sell disgusting loads of merchandise. Newt sounded far more interesting.

Here was the plot synopsis offered for Newt from back in 2008:

What happens when the last remaining male and female blue-footed newts on the planet are forced together by science to save the species, and they can’t stand each other? That’s the problem facing Newt and Brooke, heroes of “newt,” the Pixar film by seven-time Academy Award(R) winner for sound Gary Rydstrom, and director of Pixar’s Oscar-nominated short, “Lifted.” Newt and Brooke embark on a perilous, unpredictable adventure and discover that finding a mate never goes as planned, even when you only have one choice. Love, it turns out, is not a science.

-Sad to see Pixar abandon a project, but in Pixar I trust...thoughts?

Is a sequel to 'Monsters Inc.' coming our way?

Via Variety:

Disney is getting animated in 2012.

Studio has dated Pixar's "Brave" for June 15, 2012 while also confirming a sequel to "Monsters Inc.," which will be released on Nov. 16, 2012.

Mouse House chairman Rich Ross made the announcement Thursday afternoon on the studio lot.

"Monsters Inc.," released in 2001, becomes only the third Disney-Pixar property to reach sequel status; the first was "Toy Story," which is gearing up for its third installment this summer. The second, "Cars 2," will unspool in 2011.

"Monsters" grossed over $525 million at the worldwide box office.

Pixar's "Brave," formerly known as "Bear and the Bow," is the CGI animation company's first-ever female-driven feature.

Starring Reese Witherspoon,"Brave" tells the story of an impulsive princess (Witherspoon) who aims to shed her royal ties and become the world's first, great female archer.

Writer/director Brenda Chapman ("Cars") is behind the project.

Ross isn't known for being a man of few words. Yet outside of the occasional appearance at an awards show or premiere, Disney's studio chairman has been one very silent figurehead since taking the job last fall.

It's been a surprising departure from the exec Hollywood is used to: As the head of Disney Channel, Ross was one of the Mouse House's most vocal cheerleaders.

He might be back. After spending months assembling his new regime, which culminated with this week's hire of MT Carney as marketing chief, Ross met with the media for the first time Thursday to unveil his blueprint for the Mouse House moving forward.

It involves making 14-16 movie per year coming from Disney's live action and animated divisions, Marvel and DreamWorks.

Carney's role is in fact a new one for the studio when she joins in mid-May, with the exec handling marketing for all pics from theatrical on through their homevideo releases -- "the whole life cycle of a movie," Ross said.

"Our job No. 1 is to male great movies, get the word out that they're coming out and deliver them to consumers the way they want it," Ross said.

"I need to make movies that are profitable and that's what I need to focus on," Ross said from the Disney lot as he unveiled new footage from a muscular slate of tentpoles skedded for this year that include "Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time," "Toy Story 3," "The Sorcerer's Apprentice," "Tangled," and "Tron: Legacy," as well as "Secretariat," with Diane Lane and John Malkovich, which he described as a movie that sends a signal of what Disney is and what Disney can be."

The pic falls into a category that Ross describes as a "targeted tentpole," one like the teen-skewwing dramedy "Prom," that can be made at a lower pricetag and for a specific audience.

Ross said Disney would release "Gnomeo & Juliet," the Elton John-produced animated musical produced by Miramax, in early 2011, through the Touchstone banner. Pic had been one of several that had been in mentioned to be in contention as Disney negotiates with bidders for Miramax. Miramax's Jennifer Aniston comedy "The Switch" will also bow this August through Touchstone.

"Cars 2," the fourth "Pirates," the next "Muppet" movie (which will intro a new Muppet named Walter) and DreamWorks' "Real Steel" also unspool in 2011.

Tim Burton's stop-motion pic "Frankenweenie" and Andrew Stanton's live-action epic "John Carter of Mars" also bow that year.

As for projects he pulled the plug on, "20,000 Leagues Under the Sea" was just "too dark" in what was planned to go into production. It's "still a project we're considering."

"This is about focus," Ross reiterated of the studio's plan moving forward. "We live in times where there's less opportunities to bring in revenue. While pet projects are fun it's important that everyone is focused. It's important to be focused on opening the movies.

"What you see is a slate that will have a diversity of pictures," he said. But while there's an emphasis on the bottomline, "we're in the movie business not the business business."

-Thoughts?

Why is Disney having such a hard time selling Miramax?

Well, this article in The Hollywood Reporter tried to make the case as to why:

There might be a reason why bids for Miramax are coming in under what Disney would have liked, and it's not just recession-weary cost-consciousness at play.

Rather, the library is a maze of disparate titles and murky rights. Yes, there are 14 prestige titles that competed for best picture Oscars, three of which nabbed the statuette, but there also is a lot of straight-to-video fare, quirky art pics with little remake potential and other films whose ownership is unclear or hopelessly split.

Even the size of the library has been misstated over and over again. Various reports have placed it at 700 movies, but there are actually only 611 (plus 220 hours of TV episodes) and only slightly more than half of those movies got a domestic theatrical release and can be considered salable quality movies that have potential to keep generating significant revenue.

There also are five unreleased movies in the mix: Julie Taymor's adaptation of Shakespeare's "The Tempest"; the Jennifer Aniston romantic comedy "The Switch" (formerly "The Baster"); the horror thriller "Don't Be Afraid of the Dark"; the thriller "The Debt"; and the romantic comedy "Last Night," starring "Avatar" leading man Sam Worthington.

In its history, Miramax released 359 movies in the domestic theatrical market, and among those only 10 grosses of more than $100 million in North America. The biggest success was "Chicago," released in 2002, which grossed $170 million. Many of the other releases are less desirable, such as "Drag Strip Girl" and "The Deep End." There are also Asian kung fu movies and direct-to-DVD titles.

Miramax's handful of top pics did earn about 220 Academy Awards nominations and won a total of 53 Oscars.

The three bidders for the Disney niche label have different approaches.

Miramax founders Bob and Harvey Weinstein are the management component of a group bidding $600 million, with the equity coming from the Yucaipa Cos., run by Ron Burkle, who is joined by Fortress Investment Group and Colbeck Capital Management.

Out of that bid, about $50 million-$100 million would be paid out during the next few years as a loan from Disney but wouldn't be contingent on the performance of the movies.

No matter who wins Miramax, the Weinsteins retain rights from their 2005 settlement agreement with Disney on more than 25 titles that can only be remade with their participation or approval.

The highest bidder is a group put together by David Bergstein, CEO of Pangea Media Group. Bergstein said Thursday that he did assemble the investors, but he is not personally an investor and at this point is only acting as an adviser to the group. He said the investors include his frequent show business partner Ronald Tutor and two offshore entities run by persons from outside the U.S. whom he declined to name. The producer further said theirs was an all-cash $650 million bid and would have been raised to $700 million if Disney had been willing to include the upcoming animated movie "Gnomeo and Juliet."

Bergstein went on to say that Disney already has done due diligence on his investor group and considers them serious bidders. He said he wanted to make it clear that the bid is unrelated to his own existing companies or to anything having to do with the involuntary bankruptcy action or other lawsuits against him.

As to the five unreleased movies, Bergstein said that under his plan, they would be released by Disney. Who would pay the marketing costs has not been determined, he said.

The third investor group, with a bid of $550 million, is Platinum Equity Partners, run by Tom Gores, and an investment firm run by his brother Alec. They are being advised by their brother Sam, who heads the Paradigm talent agency. The Gores' bid is for all cash, and their plan apparently is to ramp Miramax up and run it as a stand-alone movie company again.

A few of the movies already have led to sequels through the Weinstein Co., most notably "Scream" and "Spy Kids."

One analyst characterized these as exceptions because they are very commercial and lend themselves to further iterations. Most of the rest, said the analyst, are more auteur-driven and therefore of limited financial appeal. In addition, the rights to some of these movies are incomplete: Miramax owns only certain rights in specific parts of the world for "The Aviator" and "Reservoir Dogs," for example.

There also are some movies that originally were licensed for a period of years, typically 25, and are within 10 years of lapsing if the terms are not renegotiated.

Still, caveats aside, bidders are expected to benefit from the available foreign rights on many titles, which could be exploited individually or be the basis to launch digital niche channels.

Disney did not return calls seeking comment. Spokesmen for the Gores and for the Weinsteins declined comment.

-It's an interesting read to me...thoughts?

A new Trailer for The Princess and the Frog to tide you over till the one for Up in the Air reappears...

Here it is:

-Looks like it'll be interesting enough...and on the 'Up in the Air' front, look for the trailer to officially hit on Thursday...

Walt Disney buys Marvel Entertainment for $4 Billion!

The run of news stories continues with this one from Variety:

The Walt Disney Co. has agreed to acquire Marvel Ent. in a stock and cash transaction worth $4 billion.

Under the terms of the deal, Marvel shareholders would receive $30 per share in cash plus approximately 0.745 Disney shares for each Marvel share they own. Based on the closing price of Disney stock on Friday, the transaction value is $50 per Marvel share or approximately $4 billion.

Disney will acquire ownership of more than 5,000 Marvel characters, including Iron Man, Spider-Man, X-Men, Captain America, Fantastic Four and Thor.

The boards of both companies have approved the pact, which is subject to antitrust review and the approval of Marvel shareholders.

Robert A. Iger, Mouse House prexy and CEO, said in a statement: "This transaction combines Marvel's strong global brand and world-renowned library of characters including Iron Man, Spider-Man, X-Men, Captain America, Fantastic Four and Thor with Disney's creative skills, unparalleled global portfolio of entertainment properties, and a business structure that maximizes the value of creative properties across multiple platforms and territories."

-No idea if this is good or bad news yet...all depends on what happens to the product...Thoughts?

Today's Trailers: A Teaser for M. Night Shyamalan's The Last Airbender, a Trailer for Miyazaki's Ponyo, and a Promo for HBO's The Pacific

The Last Airbender:

-A decent teaser, though Night's been in a freefall as of late...

Ponyo:

-Miyazaki being Miyazaki...

The Pacific:

-I just hope it reaches Band of Brothers quality...

-Thoughts on these trailers?

Diane Lane to star in a Secretariat flick

Variety has all of the gory details:
Diane Lane is set to star in "Secretariat," the Disney film about the relationship between the 1973 Triple Crown-winning racehorse and his owner, Penny Chenery.
Randall Wallace is directing the film this fall from a script by Mike Rich.
Mayhem partners Mark Ciardi and Gordon Gray are producing.
While Secretariat showed potential before the horse became the first Triple Crown winner in 25 years, Chenery's rise to become "first lady of racing" was the real underdog story.
Lane will play Chenery, a mother and housewife who knew little about horse racing when she took over her ailing father's farm in Virginia.
Around the time that Secretariat established himself as a horse with serious potential, she was pressured to sell him and everything else after her father died and she was hit with a large inheritance tax.
Lane last starred in "Nights in Rodanthe."
-Disney has a good track record with their sports movies, so I'll keep an eye on this...

Poster for G-Force

We could also use better movies than this too, but alas...

The Princess and the Frog gets a Poster

Pretty cool, I must say...thoughts?

Trailer for The Princess and the Frog

-Should Pixar be worried?