This photoset is a fantastic use of 10 minutes of your time. Life apparently spent some time on the scenes of Disney’s 1954 classic and the photos have just been posted for your viewing pleasure. They are fantastic. Jump over to the site to see for yourself. [Time via Boing-Boing]
When in doubt, make a sequel. When in doubt in the year 2009, tack on 3D. That’s the mentality of Hollywood these days—“remakes” are another in thing—and it looks like will be in theaters on December 17, 2010 Tron: Legacy. Considering my only knowledge of Tron comes from that one Simpsons episode, I’m not going to pretend to be excited. But maybe some of you are!
The Walt Disney Company has agreed to acquire Marvel Entertainment in a stock and cash transaction, the companies announced today. Under the terms of the agreement and based on last week’s closing price of Disney, Marvel shareholders would receive a total of $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, August 28, the transaction value is $50 per Marvel share or approximately $4 billion.
Under the deal, Disney will acquire ownership of Marvel including its more than 5,000 Marvel characters, including Iron Man, Spider-Man, X-Men, Captain America, Fantastic Four and Thor.
(News breaking, more coming)
If we feature something LEGO here on CrunchGear, you can be sure that it’s worth your time and these Toy Story LEGO Minifigs are the coolest thing I have seen all day. Apparently Disney and LEGO hooked up back in February – who knew? – and this is the first of what is sure to be a fantasic partnership. Read More
Disney Interactive Studios announced today that French dev Etranges Libellules has begun development of videogame adaptations of Lewis Carroll’s beloved Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland and Through the Looking Glass to complement Tim Burton’s upcoming film, Alice in Wonderland. The Wii, DS and PC title take place a few years after both stories in Underland and players must help Alice battle the Red Queen and Jabberwocky.
The Wii and PC titles will follow the storyline of Burton’s film while the DS version pits Alice against the Red Queen’s Army. All three titles are due out the same week as the film release. A “promo” app will be released this December with a full release for the iPhone, BlackBerry, Android and Java/Brew devices in February of 2010.
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Well, this is certainly a novel idea that I hope studios in the US will adopt.
Disney Japan announced today that it would begin shipping microSD cards chock-full of Disney movie goodness with the DVDs themselves. Panasonic will provide Disney Japan with the pint-sized memory cards when the DVD/microSD combos ship in November for 4935 Yen. Said combos will begin with the Pirates of the Caribbean and National Treasure series.
There seems to be a catch, though. Your mobile (or GPS) will have to stream terrestrial digital broadcasting for the microSD cards to work. How does that work out?
via Reuters
Huh. That’s weird. Well, ASUS and Disney teamed up on a netbook, called the Netpal, designed to “make computing fun.” I thought a regular laptop with parental controls could do the same thing, but apparently you need an 8.9-inch display, Wi-Fi, and a locked down version of XP to really have fun.
The Netpal is selling at Toys ‘r’ Us and Amazon for $349. Would you buy a full-bore netbook for your kids?
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Great news for VUDU owners this morning. Well, great news if they happen to have kids. VUDU just announced that Disney has released 60 library films for purchase and future titles will be up on the same day that the Blu-ray/DVD titles are released.
Can I get a raise of hands of those that do not want Disney to remake Flight of the Navigator? Everyone? Good.
Mr. Steve Jobs himself actually appeared in the public eye today – behind closed doors though. Previously he was on a medical leave of absence due to some ‘hormone imbalance,’ but that didn’t stop him from attending a Disney board meeting where he was re-elected to the board. So far no pictures or descriptions have emerged which leaves many Mac fanboys wondering how their almighty leader is filling out his black turtleneck these days. It’s important cause their other hero lost all respect last night on Dancing with the Stars.
Blu-ray movies are selling but the format’s backers want more sales and Disney has a plan which may increase the sales. Here it is: Offer Blu-ray movies two full days before the standard DVD. Crazy, I know, but it might sway some buyers to purchasing the more pricey HD format instead of waiting two full days for the normal, less expensive DVD.
Mickey & Co. is a vast empire and soon, the Mouse might launch a “subscription-based online movie and TV rental service from the company’s huge video library.” Sounds like a great idea, eh? If it was 2007! ROFL! Read More
Video games haven’t really been on my radar the last two months, so I may have missed this one along the way. The makers of Pure appear to have another racing game waiting in the wings, but we’ll have to wait until March 11th to find out unless someone in the audience can enlighten me.
Just in time for Christmas, two new cute USB gadgets have been released today in Japan and the best thing is you can order both online even if you live outside Nippon.
First, a company called Runat announced it started selling a USB humidifier [JP] that is shaped like the Disney cartoon character Stitch. The little guy (184×130x165mm) is suitable for small rooms and offices. You can pre-order it here (price: $117.30).
Japan released a number of super-cute gadgets and electronic devices in the last days. Here are the top five.
Top 5: Fragrance case for earphones
Marubeni Infotech has announced the “Fragrance Case for Earphone” [JP], a small box made of aluminum tailor-made for the “Y” part of any given earphone. The box is filled with scented cotton that emits a nice smell while the wearer listens to music. The Japan-only case costs $30 (release date: November).
Another reason to go with a TiVo instead of a generic DVR: downloadable Disney and indie movies on demand.
The deals were actually announced earlier in the year, but starting today you’ll be able to download and rent movies from Jaman.com. They specialize in indie movies that people pretend to enjoy in order to come across as erudite and refined. Rentals there start at $1.99 per 24-hour viewing window.
Beginning next week you’ll also be able to download Disney movies (via CinemaNow), with prices there starting at $2.99.
Keep in mind that we’re only talking about standard definition here and that you’ll need a Series 2 or Series 3/HD TiVo to participate.
via Zatz Not Funny
I’m not sure who this wild man-child is, but his love of phallic humor is definitely worth about 2 minutes of your time. This is a one-trick joke – it’s just Pluto pleasuring himself and then Mickey screwing a car – but feel free to watch all the way through. I just worry about Mike Mozart here: Where does he keep all his toys? And why is he so happy? And why does he see sex in toys aimed at pre-schoolers?
Nobody takes the fun out of life more than lawyers and Disney’s 57-page EULA on its Sleeping Beauty Blu-ray release. The agreement must be accepted before disc access is allowed and then there is another 63-page Privacy Policy agreement screen before access to BD Live material can be accessed. The whole ordeal is a tad annoying. It’s understandable that Disney wants to protect its assets, but this is a little much.
Disney has always been in Blu-ray’s pocket and now Mouse & Co. is bringing their 2-ton gorilla to the struggling high-def format. The media company is trying to spur consumer interest about the format with five of their classic animated films. Pinocchio, Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs, Fantasia, Fantasia 2000 and Beauty and the Beast are now added to the queue previously occupied only by Sleeping Beauty. These titles will be coming out over the next two years and will all support BD Live.
This strategy might just work. Most AV nerds already have an interest in Blu-ray but the general consumer might not. Why should they if none of the titles watched in their home are available? Sure, new releases come out on Blu-ray but back catalogs are emerging slowly. Households with kids, mine included, will tell you that it’s a great thing that DVDs don’t wear out ’cause the favorites get played multiple times everyday, all week long.
Opening the Disney vault and bringing back the classics will force at least this father to re-purchase the catalog. Other studios should take note and expanded past the action / adventure / thriller genres back releases that are currently coming out on Blu-ray and give us some kid, and dear I say romantic, titles.
Quick question? Would you purchase more Blu-ray titles if there were more child films available?
