Disney Studios are the real Scrooges

From Slashfilm:

"Very unexpected news from the Disney camp today: the studio has just issued a press release saying that, after production finishes on Mars Needs Moms!, the Robert Zemeckis studio ImageMovers Digital will be closed in 2011.


We don’t have a lot of details on the closing right now, but a statement from Walt Disney Studios president Alan Bergman says it all:

'Bob and the entire IMD team successfully built a state of the art studio and produced an amazing film, A Christmas Carol, at a time when the dynamics of the industry are rapidly changing. But, given today’s economic realities, we need to find alternative ways to bring creative content to audiences and IMD no longer fits into our business model.'

In other words, the movies from IMD are quite expensive, and if A Christmas Carol is any indication, they’re not making the sort of money the new Disney regime would like. The press release says that a new production deal may be formed to continue work on the Yellow Submarine remake.

The LA Times reports that 450 people will be laid off as operations at the studio wind down."

Here's the full press release:

"BURBANK, Calif. – March 12, 2010 – The Walt Disney Studios and ImageMovers Digital (IMD) today announced that they will close operations at IMD’s Marin County facility after production is completed on Mars Needs Moms. The IMD facility is expected to be closed by January 2011.

'Bob and the entire IMD team successfully built a state of the art studio and produced an amazing film, A Christmas Carol, at a time when the dynamics of the industry are rapidly changing,' said Alan Bergman, President of The Walt Disney Studios. 'But, given today’s economic realities, we need to find alternative ways to bring creative content to audiences and IMD no longer fits into our business model.'

'I’m incredibly proud of the talented team that we assembled at IMD and the fantastic work they have accomplished,' said Robert Zemeckis, one of the co-founders of ImageMovers Digital. 'Their pride and dedication to making quality movies is evident in everything we have produced.'

The Studio is hoping to create a new long-term production deal with Zemeckis and his IMD partners, Jack Rapke and Steve Starkey, which will include the continued development of the Yellow Submarine project."

Maybe they'll go back to Paramount (distributor of Beowulf) or Warner Bros. (distributor of The Polar Express) or Columbia Pictures (distributor of Monster House). I'm sure after the massive success of the mo-cap epic Avatar, they'll be welcome back with open arms.

The Visual Effects Are...

From Hitflix:

"The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences announced the 15 semi-finalists for the Achievement in Visual Effects for the 82nd Academy Awards today. The contenders are as follows:

Angels & Demons
Avatar
Coraline
Disney’s A Christmas Carol
District 9
G-Force
G.I. Joe: The Rise of Cobra
Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince
Sherlock Holmes
Star Trek
Terminator Salvation
Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen
2012
Watchmen
Where the Wild Things Are

According to the Academy, the members of the Academy’s Visual Effects Branch Executive Committee, who selected the semifinalists, will narrow the list to seven early next month. At that point, all members of the Visual Effects Branch will be invited to view 15-minute excerpts from each of the seven shortlisted films on Thursday, January 21. Following the screenings, the members will vote to nominate three films for final Oscar consideration. "

Okay, three? As painful as it is, here goes -

Avatar
Star Trek
Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen

Follow-ups?

Disney's A Christmas Carol
District 9
Sherlock Holmes
Terminator Salvation
2012
Watchmen
Where the Wild Things Are

UPDATE:

Here's the seven finalists:

Avatar
District 9
Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince
Star Trek
Terminator Salvation
Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen
2012

The Animated Features Are...

From ComingSoon.net:

"20 features have been submitted for consideration in the Animated Feature Film category for the 82nd Academy Awards®.

The 20 submitted features are:

Alvin and the Chipmunks: The Squeakquel
Astro Boy
Battle for Terra
Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs
Coraline
Disney's A Christmas Carol
The Dolphin – Story of a Dreamer
Fantastic Mr. Fox
Ice Age: Dawn of the Dinosaurs
Mary and Max
The Missing Lynx
Monsters vs. Aliens
9
Planet 51
Ponyo
The Princess and the Frog
The Secret of Kells
Tinker Bell and the Lost Treasure
A Town Called Panic
Up

Alvin and the Chipmunks: The Squeakquel, The Dolphin – Story of a Dreamer, Fantastic Mr. Fox, Planet 51, The Princess and the Frog, The Secret of Kells and A Town Called Panic have not yet had their required Los Angeles qualifying run. Submitted features must fulfill the theatrical release requirements and meet all of the category's other qualifying rules before they can advance in the voting process.

Under the rules for this category, a maximum of 5 features can be nominated in a year in which the field of eligible entries numbers at least 16.

Films submitted in the Animated Feature Film category also may qualify for Academy Awards in other categories, including Best Picture, provided they meet the requirements for those categories.

The 82nd Academy Awards nominations will be announced on Tuesday, February 2, 2010, at 5:30 a.m. PT in the Academy’s Samuel Goldwyn Theater.

Academy Awards for outstanding film achievements of 2009 will be presented on Sunday, March 7, 2010, at the Kodak Theatre at Hollywood & Highland Center®, and televised live by the ABC Television Network. The Oscar presentation also will be televised live in more than 200 countries worldwide."

My predictions:

Up
The Princess and the Frog
Ponyo
Disney's A Christmas Carol
Fantastic Mr. Fox

I don't see why Alvin and the Chipmunks 2: The Squeakuel is up there - it's half live-action. If Up is as insanely popular with Oscar judges as people are saying it is, and it does get a Best Picture (never say never - remember, Beauty and the Beast) then my runner-up would be Coraline.

Scary CHRISTMAS?

From JimHillMedia.com:

"So, of course, you'd think that -- now that ads for Disney's A Christmas Carol have begun airing on television -- that those who tour this traveling exhibit for Robert Zemeckis' latest film would have a better sense of what to expect. But that really isn't the case.

You see, all of the commercials that are currently playing on TV here in the US play up A Christmas Carol's more comic moments. So when people see Jim Carrey's version of Ebenezer Scrooge being hit in the face by giant icicles ... Well, that's what these folks expect when they enter that inflatable 3D Theatre that Disney has been hauling from city-to-city on the Christmas Carol Train Tour. A comical holiday romp.



The only problem is ... That's not the Christmas Carol that Zemeckis set out to make.

In his introduction for Diana Landau's 'The Art of Disney's A Christmas Carol' (Disney Editions, October 2009), Robert talks about how ' ... I can't resist a great ghost story ... Finally we have the technology to bring (the ghosts that are showcased in this holiday story) to the screen as Dickens described ... With our CG tools (at ImagerMovers Digital) we can make the ghost as strange or enormous or terrifying as we want ...'

And though Zemeckis receives lots of recognition for his more life-affirming / family-friendly fare like Forrest Gump, Back to the Future and The Polar Express ... As 1992's Death Becomes Her and 2000's What Lies Beneath (not to mention Robert's work as the executive producer of HBO's 'Tales from the Crypt') proved, this Academy Award-winner just loves a good scare.

And the grislier the better. As is evidenced by that scene from Disney's A Christmas Carol that's been screened inside of the Digital 3D Theatre all across this country. When that bandage around Jacob Marley's head comes loose. And this ghoul's jaw & tongue suddenly -- thanks to the far-too-detailed cinematic magic of Disney Digital 3D -- dangles right in the audience's face.

'So why are the TV commercials & movie trailers that have been prepped for the U.S. market trying to sell Disney's A Christmas Carol as a comedy?,' you ask. Because the Mouse's marketing staff believes that the best way to sell a new film is with humor. That laughter -- more than anything -- is what prompts American to buy movie tickets.

Whereas for the Japanese ... Well, they're far more likely to buy a ticket to a new movie if the TV commercials and/or film trailers for that release do a proper job of showcasing the characters that you'll meet, the emotions that you'll experience while watching this movie. Which is why the Japanese trailer for Disney's A Christmas Carol is decidedly different than the one that Mickey's marketeers prepared for American audiences. These ads actually give you a sense of how scary certain sections of this movie might be.



Anyway ... Getting back to the Christmas Carol Train Tour ... Those who have been checking out this film's Digital 3D preview in that inflatable theatre have been coming out talking about that Jacob Marley footage. And not necessarily in a good way.

Said one tour insider:

'Yeah, we've been getting a lot of complaints about that sequence. Especially from parents who have taken small children into the theater. They say that there should have been some sort of advance warning about how intense that footage was going to be.'

Well, now that Disney's A Christmas Carol has officially been rated PG (Because the MPAA recently decided that some of the material in this Robert Zemeckis movie 'may not be suitable for children' due to 'scary sequences and images'), that's really not an issue anymore. Disney can now put signage outside of the train tour's inflatable theatre that actually informs parents about this movie's rating."

UPDATE:

New clip from Disney's A Christmas Carol. "I'm Still Here".



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Disney's A Christmas Carol "Ultimate Ghost Story"

A CHRISTMAS CAROL trailer finally arrives!

From ComingSoon.net:

"Walt Disney Pictures has provided us with the trailer for A Christmas Carol, writer/director Robert Zemeckis' adaptation featuring Jim Carrey, Gary Oldman, Colin Firth, Bob Hoskins, Robin Wright Penn and Cary Elwes.

Opening in conventional and IMAX theaters on November 6th, the film captures the fantastical essence of the classic Dickens tale in a groundbreaking 3D motion picture event. Carrey plays eight different characters in the film, including the alternate versions of Scrooge.



Ebenezer Scrooge begins the Christmas holiday with his usual miserly contempt, barking at his faithful clerk and his cheery nephew. But when the ghosts of Christmas Past, Present and Yet to Come take him on an eye-opening journey revealing truths Old Scrooge is reluctant to face, he must open his heart to undo years of ill will before it's too late."

Saw this trailer back when I went to see I Love You, Beth Cooper and now they're finally putting it out on the Internet! Finally!!

Yes, I know it's the UK trailer. How the more fitting to see a British movie with an American/Canadian star from an American director from an American movie studio!

UPDATE:

New trailer!

Zemeckis discusses YELLOW SUBMARINE and A CHRISTMAS CAROL

From ComingSoon.net:

"Robert Zemeckis himself took the stage and showed off a 3-D Yellow Submarine logo, featuring a submarine design that looks like a literal 3D translation of the classic cartoon version.

'You're going to see Pepperland and the Blue Meanies like never before', said Disney Studios Chairman Dick Cook, 'and it will feature the greatest soundtrack of all time.'

Here is the full press release sent out after the announcement was made:

'The Walt Disney Studios has made a deal with Apple Corps Ltd. to develop a new 3D performance capture adaptation of the 1968 hit animated film Yellow Submarine to be written and directed by Robert Zemeckis, it was announced today at the D23 Expo by Dick Cook, chairman, The Walt Disney Studios. The film will be created by ImageMovers Digital, Disney's state-of-the-art performance capture animation studio operated in conjunction with Zemeckis and his partners, Jack Rapke and Steve Starkey, who will serve as producers on the project.

For this fantastic new voyage to Pepperland, Zemeckis will incorporate the 16 Beatles songs and recordings from the original motion picture licensed from Sony/ATV Music Publishing LLC and EMI-Capitol Records, respectively. The songs include 'All Together Now,' 'All You Need Is Love,' 'Eleanor Rigby,' 'Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds' and 'With A Little Help From My Friends' while combining his unique vision and style to bring this dazzling tale to life.

In making the announcement, Cook said, 'This is truly an inspired collaboration, and a wonderful opportunity to revisit one of the most imaginative and memorable musical fantasies of all time. To be working with the amazing folks at Apple Corps, and to have Bob helming the sub is truly as good as it gets. With all those incredible Beatles songs and imagery, the spectacular vision of Bob and his pioneering team at ImageMovers Digital, and a classic adventure full of wit and action, we're sure that moviegoers are going to have a great time on this latest trip to Pepperland.'

Zemeckis said, 'Yellow Submarine is one of the greatest fantasy films of all time, and making this new 3D performance capture movie is a dream come true for me. With the latest advances in technology, we will be able to take moviegoers on a voyage unlike any other, and bring new excitement and dimension to Pepperland and the various sea worlds they encounter. I'm thrilled to be working with the good folks at Apple Corps and our partners at Disney on this epic retelling of one of my all time favorite films.'

Jeff Jones, CEO, Apple Corps Ltd., said, 'With The Beatles and Walt Disney Studios, we have a partnership between two of the best loved creative entities in the world. We're very excited about the magical fantasy that will result from this collaboration. The marriage of the music of The Beatles with the talent and technical wizardry of Robert Zemeckis and ImageMovers Digital should produce something very special. We look forward to working with Bob and his team on realising his new vision for Yellow Submarine'.

The original motion picture (released in the U.S. on November 13, 1968) based on the music of The Beatles was directed by George Dunning and featured the inspired art direction and design of Heinz Edelmann. The movie is set in Pepperland, an undersea paradise inhabited by music lovers who live in peace and harmony and are protected by Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band. That is... until they are threatened by the music hating Blue Meanies. It's up to John, Paul, George and Ringo to set off on a magical adventure in their yellow submarine and bring music and harmony back to Pepperland. "

More from ComingSoon.net:

As part of his surprise appearance at D23, Robert Zemeckis showed off a first look a the full 3D trailer for A Christmas Carol.

Expanding from the footage that is currently touring the country on the film's train exhibit, this trailer gave a glimpse at both the Ghost of Christmas Present and the Ghost of Christmas Future, both played by Jim Carrey (who has eight different characters in the film, including the alternate versions of Scrooge).

The Ghost of Christmas Present appears as a huge, viking-like being with an enormous beard. He's gigantic and talks down to a tiny Ebenezer Scrooge, who only seems to come up to his ankle.
The Ghost of Christmas Future is only glimpsed at, but is completely draped in a hooded robe with its face completely obscured (very similar to Neil Gaiman's Destiny in the 'Sandman' series).

The trailer also features a segment of the film that seems to have Scrooge in a snowy London street, but shrunk down to inches in height with a squeaky, high-pitched voice.

A Christmas Carol is slated to hit theaters on November 6th."

I'm feeling two cool Robert Zemeckis movies coming!!

Comic-Con: Disney 3D Hits Hall H

JUST IN FROM COMIC-CON
From ComingSoon.net:

"ComingSoon.net has gotten into the 6,500 seat Hall H at Comic-Con, and we're waiting for Walt Disney's 3D presentation to begin which will feature new footage from Tim Burton's Alice in Wonderland, Disney's A Christmas Carol, directed by Robert Zemeckis, and the action sequel TRON. The panel moderaed by Patton Oswalt should be starting shortly and we'll try our best to liveblog it, although the Wi-Fi in Hall H this year is horrendous!

*Panel just started... place is packed... already lost my 3D glasses... but found them again. Been hearing about how people having arrived and stood in Hall H as early as yesterday afternoon. Some of our colleagues go in line at 7AM and only got in around 11AM.

*Patton Oswalt just came out to host the event wearing 3D glasses. Incidentally, this is indeed to very first 3D presentation in Hall H ever, which may be why it's so packed. Oswalt is definitely winning the crowd over with his jokes.

*First up is A Christmas Carol and director Robert Zemeckis is on hand to present the 3D footage. Oswalt is asking him why he's excited about 3D. They're sitting on high chairs just like on 'Inside the Actor's Studio' and this is a very different setup than in previous years with one large screen in the center of the Hall rather than three smaller screens.

*Jim Carrey plays 8 roles in the movie and they all have pictures of all of them on the screen. Wish I could keep up with Oswalt's jokes, but he's actually giving a fairly good interview with Zemeckis which we'll try to post highlights of later.

*Zemeckis showed an extended scene that includes the footage of Scrooge being visited by the ghost of his late partner Jacob Marley. It starts earlier with Scrooge visiting Marley lying in a coffin with coins on his eyes and signing the death certificate. It then shows Scrooge returning home and walking up the staircase which is glowing eerily in red. The rest of the clip was pretty much what we had seen with the long build-up to the entrance by Marley's Ghost as well as some of the footage that shows the various ghosts, much of which can be seen in the trailer. The 3D footage actually looked better than the same footage we saw in IMAX a few months ago, the smaller screen really bringing out the detail on Scrooge's wrinkled face since it isn't stretched out to fit the larger IMAX screen.

*They've gone to Q n A and Zemeckis is answering a lot of the obvious questions about why he cast Jim and why he decided to do it animated using motion capture. He said that he didn't feel that anytime while doing motion-capture that he thought they didn't have what they needed from Jim Carrey's performance to do what they need to do in animation. He was just asked whether he'd be doing any more live-action movies and right now he's into 'sending this artform out into the world' because he likes the 'control this artform gives the director'.

*Zemeckis was just asked if he'd ever make a sequel to Who Framed Roger Rabbit? but he said that he 'can't confirm or deny'. He said that the 2D animated characters from the original movie would remain in 2D if he did decide to revisit those characters in a new movie.

*Next up is Tim Burton making his first Comic-Con panel appearance ever and he got a huge round of applause... he obviously has a lot of fans in this crowd. He says that he hasn't been here since he was a college student in the 70s.

*They just showed the character pictures from Alice in Wonderland including Matt ('Little Britain') Lucas' Tweedledum and Tweedledee, which looks like a shorter dumpier version of Lucas. Oswalt has asked him about why he picked Johnny Depp as the Mad Hatter and they showed concept art for the Cheshire Cat, voiced by Stephen Fry.


*They showed the first teaser trailer which starts out with an image of Johnny Depp as the Mad Hatter and the voice-over, 'There is a place like no other on Earth.' His Mad Hatter walks across the table set up for the Tea Party and towers over Alice saying, 'You're terribly late, you know. Naughty.' The footage accompanied MGMT's 'Let's Pretend' (great choice!) includes a bit of Alice falling down the Rabbit Hole and then we see her walking through a forest, following the White Rabbit, in turn followed by Tweedledum and Tweedledee and the Jabberwocky. A later scene shows the Jabberwocky swooping down and grabbing the twins. After that we see a shot of Alice and Anne Hathaway's White Queen on a terrace looking over the kingdom and a brief look at Helena Bonham Carter's Red Queen. We see a few shots of the Cheshire Cat, including one where he's roaring like a lion. The audience goes wild whenever Johnny Depp appears on the screen as the Hatter, throwing his top hat at the camera and laughing maniacally. Towards the end of the footage, we see Alice drinking the potion that causes her to shrink with her voiceover saying, 'That's impossible' and the Mad Hatter responding, 'Only if you believe it is.' Oswalt immediately showed the teaser again to great applause... and a third time!

*Burton says that the movie is based on all of Lewis Carroll's works including the 'Jabberwocky' poem, not just the best known original 'Alice' novel.

*After the brief Q n A, Oswalt asked if he had anything else and he said he brought an 'imaginary friend' and Johnny Depp walked out to HUGE screams from the ladies in the audience. Apparently, Johnny isn't able to enjoy the 3D experience, according to Burton.


*Next is the Tron Legacy panel and apparently, that is the OFFICIAL title for the new film. Director Joseph Kosinski is on hand, as is producer Sean Bailey and Steve Lisberger. From the cast is Garrett Hedlund, Olivia Wilde and of course, the veteran from the first film, Jeff Bridges.

*They just showed concept art from the world of Tron City including a view down from the top of Mile High Tower and a look at the arena for the city's gladiatorial games including an update of Disc War, which features 16 combatants fighting at once and then the courts combining as someone is eliminated to create one giant court for the final battle. They also showed shots of the new Recognizer, the Solar Sailor, the two passenger Light Runner, and the 5th Generation light cycle.

*They just finished filming last week but Joe had cut together a key scene in which Hedlund's Sam Flynn arrives at the old Flynn's arcade which has been abandoned for 20 years. The place has clearly been vacant for a long time and all the arcade games are covered in plastic but he flicks on the power and the jukebox kicks into the opening of Journey's 'Separate Ways' which was in the original Tron as all of the games comes to life. He sees a blue light emanating from the back wall so he walks back towards it and takes the plastic off the game and it's the original Tron arcade game. He takes out a quarter to play but it drops to the floor and he sees a crack on the floor and realizes that it goes behind the console. He pushes the game aside and there's a secret door with blue light glowing from the cracks and he opens it up and walks in.

*French techno band Daft Punk has composed 24 tracks for the movie so far."

WHY COULDN'T I HAVE BEEN THERE?!

Cannes? Humbug. A CHRISTMAS CAROL premieres footage May 18

From ComingSoon.net:

"Christmas will come to the Croisette, when Jim Carrey, Colin Firth, director Robert Zemeckis, and producers Steve Starkey and Jack Rapke from Disney's A Christmas Carol kick off the holiday season early at the Cannes Film Festival on Monday, May 18. They will unveil the first look ever in 3-D of the classic Dickens tale as re-envisioned by director Robert Zemeckis. The event, located at the Carlton Intercontinental Hotel, will begin at approx. 11:30 a.m. with a photo opportunity, followed by a press conference and luncheon. Disney's A Christmas Carol, a multi-sensory thrill ride re-envisioned by Zemeckis, captures the fantastical essence of the classic Dickens tale in a groundbreaking 3-D motion picture event.

Ebenezer Scrooge (Carrey) begins the Christmas holiday with his usual miserly contempt, barking at his faithful clerk (Gary Oldman) and his cheery nephew (Firth). But when the ghosts of Christmas Past, Present and Yet to Come take him on an eye-opening journey revealing truths Old Scrooge is reluctant to face, he must open his heart to undo years of ill will before it's too late.

Disney's A Christmas Carol opens in conventional and IMAX theaters on November 6, 2009."

Wish I could be there. I mean, Disney, Carrey, Zemeckis?! I've been dying for this movie!!

Jim Carrey says, "Bah, humbug" for Disney

http://www.comingsoon.net/news/movienews.php?id=51795

Looks like a Dickens' version of Count Olaf from Lemony Snicket's A Series of Unfortunate Events.

I already can't wait!

WALT DISNEY PICTURES 2009 Preview

This year, Disney's prospects don't look too bad.

Race to Witch Mountain -- (March 13)

Dwayne Johnson (Jack Bruno), AnnaSophia Robb (Tia), Alexander Ludwig (Tony), Carla Gugino; Directed by Andy Finkman

A Las Vegas cab driver and a discredited astrophysicist attempt to rescue two paranormal siblings from the hands of a villainous man.

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I never did see the original movies, but I did see the 1990s remake with Robert Vaughn as the villain. This looks to be a major improvement.

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Up -- (May 29th)

An animated film by Disney/Pixar

Voices of: Ed Asner (Carl Frederickson), Jordan Nagai (Russell)

By tying thousands of balloon to his home, 78-year-old Carl Fredricksen sets out to fulfill his lifelong dream to see the wilds of South America, however, he learns he isn’t alone on his journey, since Russell, a wilderness explorer 70 years his junior, has inadvertently become a stowaway on the trip.

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This looks to be the first all-people movie for Pixar since 2004's The Incredibles which used to be my all-time favorite Pixar movie (there really isn't a Pixar movie which isn't a favorite of mine) until this year's Wall-E. I'm just wondering if kids will respond to their main character being a really old guy voiced by Elf's Santa Claus.

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When in Rome - - (September 18th)

Kristen Bell (Beth Harper), Josh Duhamel (Nick Beamon); Directed by Mark Steven Johnson

In New York City, a young art curator finds herself aggressively pursued by a band of wannabe lovers after she steals coins from a Roman fountain.

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All I'm wondering, why is the guy who directed Daredevil and Ghost Rider doing a Disney romance-comedy? Casting looks great, plot looks great. Do as the Romans do!

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A Christmas Carol - - (November 6th)

Perfomance Capture Film

Voices of: Jim Carrey (Ebenezer Scrooge), Richard E. Grant (Ghost of Christmas Past), John Cleese (Ghost of Christmas Present), Alan Rickman (Ghost of Christmas Yet to Come), Gary Oldman (Jacob Marley), William H. Macy (Bob Cratchit), Colin Firth (Fred), Bob Hoskins (Mr. Fezziwig), Robin Wright Penn (Mrs. Cratchit); Based on the story by Charles Dickens; Directed by Robert Zemeckis

An old and bitter miser, Ebenezer Scrooge, undergoes a profound experience of redemption over the course of one night with the help of three Christmas ghosts.

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Jim Carrey as Scrooge? Directed by Robert Zemeckis?? I'm sold instantly! I'm only saddened that Michael J. Fox won't play Tiny Tim and Christopher Lloyd won't play Jacob Marley. Note that Jim Carrey performs all versions of Scrooge and the ghosts although the ghosts will be voiced by different actors.

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