Posts for 'Others' Category

The April to June period included a sizable chunk of monster box-office take for "Alice in Wonderland" and, thanks to an early home-video release, the first month of DVD and Blu-ray sales.

On top of that, "Toy Story 3" took in $258 million domestically in June and went on to become the Pixar unit's second biggest-grossing title ever, behind "Finding Nemo."

"Iron Man 2," released in May, represented another big win for Disney, which bought the studio behind the superhero sequel, Marvel Entertainment, at the end of last year. Though the film was distributed by rival Paramount Pictures, a unit of Viacom Inc., that studio collected just an 8% distribution fee, after recouping expenses.

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Disney Interactive Studios today announced the release of Disney Sing It: Family Hits, a new karaoke style video game that allows players of all ages to sing along to songs from some of their favorite Disney films.

Now available for the PlayStation®3 computer entertainment system and Wii™ console, Disney Sing It: Family Hits features 30 of the most beloved songs and videos from both current and classic Disney and Disney•Pixar films.

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Ingenious and funny, yet slightly melancholy with a harrowing climax, "Toy Story 3" will enthrall kids 7 and older, and grown-ups, too. The age recommendation reflects the poignancy of the theme about kids setting aside toys as they grow up.

And the scariness of the finale. Cowboy Woody, spaceman Buzz Lightyear and the other toys face a bittersweet life change, because Andy, their owner, is going to college.

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“Whiz Kids” traces the events leading up to the most prestigious science competition in the USA. The Science Talent Search began in 1942 and currently is sponsored by Intel, the processor chip giant. The filmmakers scoured the high schools of the country looking for 16-17 year old budding scientists.

To their surprise, they found that some of the STS candidates were already working in government labs, sometime under the supervision of Nobel Prize winning scientists. Others were working in that masterpiece of American ingenuity, the basement lab. Here they toiled away, driven by curiosity and fueled by the energy of youth.

The group was winnowed down to three competitors who were chosen to tell their stories in “Whiz Kids.” Keledra Welcker’s research centered on pollution dumped into the Ohio River by her hometown in West Virginia. The pollutant is a byproduct of the Teflon manufacturing process and the corporations who make Teflon are very big and very powerful.

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Who says family films are just for families? In one of the more surprising developments of the summer movie season, three movies primarily aimed at kids and their parents are drawing a surge of significantly older moviegoers — many of whom are going without their children — in a trend that single-handedly has reversed the vacation season's box-office doldrums.

Thanks to the performance to date of the PG-rated "Shrek Forever After" ($223.8 million in domestic release), the G-rated "Toy Story 3" ($125.9 million) and the PG-rated "The Karate Kid" ($110.6 million), total receipts since the first weekend of May are now even with where they were a year ago, a material improvement from early June, when ticket sales were off 4% (summer admissions are still down about 6% compared with 2009).

Because these three films are either sequels or remakes with significant nostalgic appeal (and attracted some very favorable reviews), they are reaching an audience that typically would drop off their children at the multiplex, rather than join them inside the auditorium.

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Marvel Studios and Disney are preparing a mystic spell with the announcement that writers have been hired to take a crack at Doctor Strange.

Thomas Donnelly and Joshua Oppenheimer, currently working on Conan, just got the job. For whatever reason I think I've read more Doctor Strange.

Than any other Marvel property, and I can tell you that if this is done right, it could be a terrific movie.

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It's a sign of our times. The reboot of the 1984 classic that pitted underdog Daniel Larusso against merciless bullies offers the same crowd-pleasing charm but with a contemporary twist.

"The Karate Kid" reflects both globalization and bone-crunching stylistics, packaging dislocation and violence as picture-postcard entertainment stamped in China.

Will the PG crowd enjoy the retread? Absolutely. Will parents feel conflicted about mixed messages? Probably.

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New stills have been released from the upcoming Disney/Pixar movie “Toy Story 3,” which is set to hit theaters on June 18, 2010. In the stills you can see all of your favorite Toy Story characters who have been with us ever since the first movie, and you can meet a ton of new characters from the third and upcoming movie. Who’s excited for Toy Story 3?

Wouldn’t it be great if 7-year-olds could drive themselves to the movies? You could give them some money for Junior Mints or whatever, send them on their way, and never have to trouble yourself with tripe like “Marmaduke.” The kids are happy, the parents are happy, it’s a win-win.

Sadly, that’s not the way it works, and so you’re going to have to schlep to the multiplex with your 7-year-old. Because that’s who the target audience is for this talking-dog extravaganza, based on the long-running comic strip, and no one else. Adults, meanwhile, will have to endure groan-inducing puns, some seriously cheesy green-screen effects and a hokey, feel-good ending.

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Animated movies are a guilty pleasure of mine. When others are out enjoying the sun on a weekend, I'm sometimes hiding in a movie theatre seeing the latest animated offering. However, many times I find myself doing it alone. You see, a lot of the people I know in New Zealand seem to be of the opinion that animated movies are "just for kids". Personally, I disagree with that in a big way.My first job in the UK was working as a Cast Member (Sales Assistant) at The Disney Store. Working in these stores was likened to being part of a show because it was our job to create the Disney magic in a store. I grew up going on holidays to the Disney theme parks and as a result I'm a bit of a Disney fanatic and I'm glad to say that working for them for five years, though enlightening, didn't turn me off Disney films.

There are so many awesome animated films out there. Some of my own favourites include Bolt, How to Train Your Dragon, A Bug's Life, Finding Nemo, Flushed Away, Toy Story, Tarzan, Ice Age, The Little Mermaid, Beauty & The Beast, Shrek and The Lion King. One of my friends said he hasn't seen most of these films; that made me sad.

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