Meet the Parents: Mike and Darla Reynolds with Anthony
I doubt there's a better way to recap last weekend's D23 Expo then doing it with friends over cocktails at the Anabella Hotel.
Bonus points for having Anthony's parents join us. Even more points for being able to face off about Disney Infinity in-person with Anthony's dad. It was a good night. Exhausted, exhilarated and just a bit tipsy, Team Mouse Castle does its best to analyze the highs and lows of Disney's mega fan event. So, pull up a chair, pour a drink and join us, won't you?
"Star Wars Land" concept art.
Plans for "Star Wars Land" (or whatever they decide to call it) at Disneyland and Disney's Hollywood Studios were the biggest news to come out of Expo. We were all thrilled to see the first concept images, but couldn't D23 have saved them for the Parks and Resorts presentation Saturday afternoon instead of springing them at the Walt Disney Studios show earlier that morning?
Avatar Flight of Passage
Pandora: The World of Avatar will probably look fantastic when it opens at Disney's Animal Kingdom, but does anybody really care?
Finding Dory
Animation: Based on what we've seen so far, our thumbs are way up for John Musker and Ron Clements' Moana and Pixar's once-troubled The Good Dinosaur. We liked our first look at Finding Dory, but the jury is still out on the Jack and the Beanstalk epic Gigantic, the Day of the Dead tale Coco and, yes, Toy Story 4 (although the Woody's-search-for-Bo-Peep story line has us intrigued). Try as we might, though, we still can't muster any excitement for Disney's March 2016 release Zootopia.
Rogue One
Rogue One will be the first Star Wars film that won't be part of a trilogy. The standalone flick will tell the story of how the Rebels stole the plans to the Death Star prior to Episode IV. It will star Felicity Jones, Forest Whitaker and Alan Tudyk. Principal shooting has begun under the direction of Gareth Edwards. The film will open in the U.S. on December 16, 2016.
Colin Trevorrow will direct Star Wars: Episode IX. Not a bad gig after helming Jurassic World.
It was my pleasure to regale Mike with the latest on Disney Infinity 3.0, which hits stores in the U.S. on August 30th. Who wants some sneak peeks?
There was also an exciting announcement about the upcoming Kingdom Hearts III:
These are just some of the highlights in today's episode of Inside The Mouse Castle. We also talk about Shanghai Disneyland, lines, the Walt Disney Archives exhibit, lines, the Disney Dream Store, lines and camping overnight (which also involves lines).
(l. to r.) Kenneth Branagh, Cate Blanchett, Holliday Grainger,
Lily James, Sophie McShera and Richard Madden.
Anthony and I take you on the red carpet in Hollywood for the premiere of the new live-action version of Disney's Cinderella. This updated fairy tale stars Lily James as the titled scullery maid turned princess, Cate Blanchett as her wicked stepmother and Richard Madden as her Prince Charming. Kenneth Branagh directs the film, which is scheduled to open in the U.S. on March 13th. On Inside The Mouse Castle, Branagh talks about the challenge of staying true to the animated Cinderella while updating the story for modern audiences. James also shares why her character is not the stay-at-home-and-wait-for-her-prince kind of princess.
Also roaming the red carpet was Josh Gad, the voice of Olaf in Frozen. He's back with the whole gang in the new short film Frozen Fever, which opens for Cinderella. The film looks like it might be cute (even if it is Frozen), but we're really concerned where all those baby snowmen in the trailer come from.
Also in this edition of Inside The Mouse Castle:
Robert Downey, Jr. and Omaze are teaming up to give you a chance to attend the world premiere of Avengers: Age of Ultron. I'm really excited at the prospect--and it's totally for a good cause--but Anthony has reservations about it. Or maybe he's just jaded and bitter.
A fire at it's a small world caused more of an uproar on the Internet than it did at Disneyland Saturday night. The blaze, presumably caused by fireworks, did minor damage and there were no reported injuries. Reactionary people online, however--as is their custom--collectively lost their minds.
Bob Chapek is the new chairman of Disney Parks and Resorts. He takes over for Tom Staggs, who was recently promoted to chief operating officer. Chapek has put in 22 years with Disney and was formerly president of Disney Consumer Products.
Next to Shanghai Disney Resort, Bob's biggest new project is the completion of "Avatar-land" at Disney's Animal Kingdom, or as Anthony calls it, The Wizarding World of James Cameron. Is anyone outside of Disney actually excited about this? Because we're really skeptical. Sure, Avatar is the all-time movie box office champ, but six years after its release, is it even relevant anymore? And two years from now when it's scheduled to open, will anyone care?
Walt Disney World has announced the dates for this year's special event holiday parties at the Magic Kingdom. Mickey's Not-So-Scary Halloween Party will be held on select dates from September 15th to November 1st. Mickey's Very Merry Christmas Party will begin a week later on select dates between November 8th and December 18th. Tickets go on sale in April. For a complete list of dates, visit disneyparks.disney.go.com/blog/2015/02/dates-for-magic-kingdom-special-events-tickets-on-sale-in-april.
We're hearing that Pirates of the Caribbean at Walt Disney World will close for a major--and much needed--refurbishment this summer. It's always been the ugly sister to POTC at Disneyland. Will it finally get the update it deserves?
This Pirates of the Caribbean audio-animatronic
sold for $129,800 over the weekend.
Van Eaton Galleries in Southern California concluded an epic auction of Disneyland collectibles and memorabilia over the weekend. The Story of Disneyland collection was expected to take in about $1 million. It blew right through that estimate and finished with a take of $1.7 million. Did you bid? Did you get the items you wanted?
DuckTales is returning to Disney XD in 2017...woo-ooo!!!
LEGO Star Wars: Droid Tales is slated to air on Disney XD before the end of the year. The series of half-hour episodes will tell the saga of both Star Wars trilogies through the eyes of C3PO and R2-D2. The awkward part is the story will be told in chronological order. Any true Star Wars fan knows the only way to tell the tale is by starting at the beginning of Episode IV.
