Inside The Mouse Castle 01-12-2016 - Disneyland's Rivers of America, 'Black Panther' and the Golden Globes

By Tim Callaway

Concept art of the new Rivers of America at Disneyland.

Anthony and I dropped by Disneyland last week to get our last looks at the Rivers of America, the Disneyland Railroad and Big Thunder Ranch/Trail/BBQ before they close. We report back from our visits in today's Inside The Mouse Castle and look ahead to the changes coming to the northwest corner of Walt's original park (a rerouted river and a Star Wars something or other).

We also chat about a few other items:

• Actor John Boyega likes the look of the Star Wars VIII script, calling it "much darker" than The Force Awakens. Should we expect The First Order Strikes Back?
• Ryan Coogler (Creed) has been tapped to direct Marvel's Black Panther. The movie will star Chadwick Boseman and Andy Serkis and is scheduled for a February 2018 release.

• Pixar's Inside Out took the Golden Globe for Best Animated Feature Film on Sunday night, but how will it fare with the Oscars? We'll find out Thursday at 5:30 a.m. PT when the Academy Award nominations are announced.
• A retrospective of Disney artist Mel Shaw's work will open at the Walt Disney Family Museum on January 13 and run through September 12. It will be curated by film producer (and friend of The Mouse Castle) Don Hahn.

Enjoy!

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Inside The Mouse Castle 12-21-2015 - 'Star Wars: The Force Awakens' Spoiler Edition

By Tim Callaway

Star Wars. Nothing but Star Wars. That's what today's episode of Inside The Mouse Castle is all about as Anthony and I share our thoughts about J.J. Abram's epic Episode VII. THERE WILL BE SPOILERS.

Star Wars: The Force Awakens destroyed just about every opening weekend box office record and is expected to challenge Titanic and Avatar as the all time box office champ. Is $2 billion in worldwide ticket sales reachable? We think so. Isn't it crazy that anything short of that will make the movie a financial disappointment?

Money aside, we think The Force Awakens is a stellar return to form for the Star Wars franchise. We love the newcomers to the cast (Daisy Ridley, John Boyega, Oscar Isaac and Adam Driver) and were thrilled to welcome back some old friends (Harrison Ford, Carrie Fisher and Mark Hamill). We were impressed with a story that paid homage to the original trilogy while setting in motion some exciting new story arcs. We can't wait to see what happens next--in about 18 months when Episode VIII opens {sigh}.

I could tell you more about our respective takes on the film and what we think is still to come, but it's way more fun if you give the show a listen. I'll say this again. THERE WILL BE SPOILERS. Lots of them.

Enjoy! May the Force be with you!

Oh, and Merry Christmas!

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The Mouse Castle Lounge 12-16-2015 - 'Star Wars: The Force Awakens' World Premiere

By Tim Callaway

The cast of Star Wars: The Force Awakens.

We are just days away from the release—finally—of Star Wars: The Force Awakens, the seventh episode in the Star Wars saga and the first since Disney plunked down $4 billion to buy Lucasfilm and all its assorted intellectual properties. It’s been ten years since we saw a new Star Wars film in theaters and—let’s be honest—32 years since we saw a really good one. The Force Awakens comes with ridiculously high expectations from older fans who grew up with Star Wars as well as generations of younger fans gearing up for the next wave of new Star Wars films that will be coming out every year until at least 2019.

No pressure, but the future success of the franchise really hinges on how good a film director J.J. Abrams delivers this week. Certainly $100 million in advance ticket sales and early positive reviews aren’t hurting The Force Awakens one bit. We’ll see if the fan base embraces it as well. I’m catching it Thursday night and I cannot wait. I especially can’t wait until you see it so we can have dorky conversations without worrying about spoilers.

J.J. Abrams and George Lucas.

Anyway, flashback to Monday night for this special edition of The Mouse Castle Lounge. We are eavesdropping on the red carpet on Hollywood Boulevard for the world premiere of Star Wars: The Force Awakens. Now, in the annals of Hollywood world premieres, this ranks up there as one of the biggest if not the biggest ever. The red carpet stretched about four blocks—a quarter of a mile—in front of the El Capitan, Dolby and Chinese theaters, all three of which screened the film for celebrities, invited guests and lucky fans. The majority of the red carpet was covered by tents which housed an after-party following the screenings. It was an epic night for the latest installment of the epic Star Wars saga and we'll be hearing from the cast today in The Mouse Castle Lounge.

Harrison Ford, Mark Hamill and Carrie Fisher
(with Peter Mayhew in the background).

Enjoy!

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