Coming to Theaters has been updated with new Herbie: Fully Loaded pictures and a new preview of The Greatest Game Ever Played.
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March 14, 2005 - Those in the Los Angeles area may be interested in a special The Incredibles DVD signing event at the Virgin Megastore on Hollywood's Sunset Boulevard tomorrow night. Story supervisor Mark Andrews and composer Michael Giacchino will be on hand to meet fans and sign DVDs, and attendees can win a variety of Incredibles prizes. See this thread for more details.
A new week means a new weekly update video (WMV, 961 kb) from snowhite8 on this week's big Disney DVD release!
Disney has opened up the official Cinderella DVD website at CinderellaDVD.com, though there's nothing there but the trailer that's been turning up on DVDs since the beginning of the year.
Over in UD's International DVD Forum, Ric-mx is reaching out to inform another audience of Disney's DVDs with his new series Disney DVD en Espańol. In the first installment, there is an overview of US discs of the animated classics for Spanish-speaking viewers. This column is in English, but the series will be bilingual.
Despite direct competition in the family film market from Fox and Blue Sky's Robots, estimates say that The Pacifier sustained only a 40% drop to bring in an additional $18 million at the weekend box office. This Vin Diesel comedy (with a $54 million gross to date) will be joined in theaters this Friday by the 4th Disney film of the year: Ice Princess. Both are expected to come to DVD this summer.
March 13, 2005 - Sunday's New York Times has an interesting read on Disney's remakes. The article specifically looks at how Herbie: Fully Loaded and Tim Allen's The Shaggy Dog depart from the original films. There are some interesting tidbits to be found, from Dean Jones cameos to the new Swiss Family Robinson and a Tron sequel.
March 12, 2005 - Aaron Wallace has reviewed the "Felicity" Senior Year DVD Collection, housing the 4th and final season of Touchstone's hour-long drama. The set provides a conclusion and then an atypical time-bending extension due to changed network plans. In spite of a healthy offering of bonus features, the show is deemed lackluster. Only diehard fans seeking completion will likely take notice.
Though we just learned of Valiant's delay here, there is now an official website in the UK, where the film is still set to open on March 25th. For now, the elaborately-designed site provides some wallpapers, a screensaver, a photo gallery, and a larger version of the 70-second trailer that's been around for a while. The American equivalent of the URL still only redirects to the Walt Disney Pictures homepage.
March 11, 2005 - That didn't take long! Pooh's Heffalump Movie, the well-reviewed but minimally-seen latest Hundred Acre Wood outing, will come to DVD in late May. Here's our first look at the cover and disc art:
There's a bit of new information about the four newly-announced DVDs coming on July 12th. As you might have deduced, they're timed to coincide with Disneyland's 50th Anniversary. We've just posted the Vintage Mickey cover art, which now gives us covers and some information on 3 of the 4 scheduled discs. (The 90-minute Mickey DVD will contain "Steamboat Willie" and other classic Mickey shorts.) All we have on the fourth is the title (The Secrets, Stories, and Magic of the Happiest Place on Earth) and SRP. More details to come on these four and all other newly-discovered releases.
This shouldn't surprise anyone considering the complete lack of promotion there's been thus far, but according to BoxOfficeMojo.com, Disney's upcoming Valiant (which was scheduled to open in theaters on April 15th) has been bumped back four months and will now arrive August 19th. This G-rated, Vanguard-produced computer animated comedy centers on British carrier pigeons in World War II.
Cover art has been added for Touchstone Television's Desperate Housewives: The Complete First Season, coming in mid-September.
March 10, 2005 - Thanks to Amazon.com, we have a pretty complete slate of the Disney DVDs due to arrive this summer and fall. Each is now up for preorder at 30% off (or more) and will automatically be adjusted if prices are lowered. One that's anticipated as much as any is the long-awaited Cinderella: Platinum Edition (35% off) on October 4th, the 6th 2-disc set in the line and the last Disney animated classic to arrive on DVD. The reported collector's gift set on the way is not yet listed on the site.
The next catalogue wave in August brings some live action films from the early Walt Disney and post-Walt periods in the way of Johnny Tremain (1957), Toby Tyler, or Ten Weeks with a Circus (1960), The Boatniks (1970), and The World's Greatest Athlete (1973).
Coming August 30th is the promising direct-to-video sequel Lilo & Stitch 2: Stitch Has a Glitch, of which you can view screencaps here.
July 12th brings a variety of Disney titles we're hearing about for the first time, including the low-priced compilation discs The Best of the Original Mickey Mouse Club (of Walt's daily mid-'50s program) and The Best of Britney, Justin and Christina (the early '90s Disney Channel revival), plus Vintage Mickey and a Disneyland disc entitled The Secrets, Stories, and Magic of the Happiest Place on Earth.
Lumpy the Heffalump returns for the direct-to-video feature Pooh's Heffalump Halloween Movie on September 13th. Three other holiday-themed films make their way to Disney DVD same day, in the Halloweentown Double Feature (housing the Disney Channel Original movies Halloweentown and Halloweentown II: Kalabar's Revenge) and third and latest entry of the series Halloweentown High.
Also due in September are the previously-mentioned two new Disney Princess DVDs Disney Princess Sing Along Songs: Volume 2 - Enchanted Tea Party and Disney Princess Stories: Volume 3 - Beauty Shines from Within (9/6) and 6-disc sets containing the debut seasons of Touchstone's popular TV series "Desperate Housewives" (9/20) and "Lost" (9/6).
Lastly, there's also the next Baby Einstein title Baby Wordsworth (July 19), preschool series launcher Little Einstein: Our Big Huge Adventure on August 23, the Barbie and potentially Lohan-themed My Scene Goes Hollywood (August 30), and the first two discs of a new series called Timeless Tales (Vol. 1, Vol. 2) debuting August 16th.
Specifications and special features on most of these are still to be announced, and we'll have more details for you as they come in. For now, enjoy the often-short-lived 30% discounts at Amazon.com!
New cover art for the three DVDs above: The Best of the (Original) Mickey Mouse Club, The Mickey Mouse Club: The Best of Britney, Justin & Christina, Disney Princess Sing Along Songs: Volume 2, plus "Lost" Season 1 box art, My Scene Goes Hollywood: The Movie's cover, and a new title graphic for Lilo & Stitch 2: Stitch Has a Glitch.
Beauty and the Beast, Mary Poppins, "A Whole New World", and Maleficent. Over the past two years, UltimateDisney.com readers have named these the best of Disney's animated classics, live action films, songs, and villains, respectively. This spring, the site will be conducting a fifth poll and countdown and you can help decide what the subject will be. Check out this thread to give feedback on some proposed ideas or come up with your own.
March 9, 2005 - A much more upbeat review looks at Finding Neverland, Miramax's delightful PG-rated drama that looks at what inspired author J.M. Barrie to write Peter Pan. While the DVD isn't a universal triumph, the film is.
The subject of today's new DVD review presents high school life in California in a rather different fashion. "Popular": The Complete Second Season houses the hour-long WB dramedy's final 21 episodes in a 6-disc set. Offering a blend of bitter personalities, teary-eyed drama, and a bit of the bizarre, "Popular" is an uneven and mostly unsavory viewing experience.
Cover art for That Darn Cat! has been revised and yes, "Hayley" is now spelled correctly.
March 8, 2005 - In a brand new video feature for UD, snowhite8 takes a look at new and upcoming DVD releases. (Windows Media, 768 KB)
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