The Playlist

Style Or Substance? 20 Visually Stunning Movies That Go For Broke

By The Playlist Staff
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May 8, 2013 1:51 PM
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23 Comments

Features

No matter what you think of Baz Luhrmann's "The Great Gatsby," opening this week in ultra-luxurious 3D, one thing's for sure – it looks pretty spectacular. Filled with lovingly crafted costumes, opulent sets, and computer generated imagery that makes ragtime New York seem like a quasi-futuristic metropolis, it is drunk on its own excess. It feels like the movie Luhrmann has been angling towards for a while and has finally achieved (thanks in part to the added dimensionality of 3D), for better or worse. It's a giant, gilded, vulgar monstrosity that overwhelms more often than it entertains. And it got us thinking about other movies whose similarly excessive styles have either been an asset or a detriment. So put on your 3D glasses, your best pink pinstripe suit, and grab a glass of bootleg liquor, for our list of 20 visually dazzling movies.

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Disney Promises New 'Star Wars' Movie Every Year Starting With 'Star Wars: Episode 7' In Summer 2015

By Kevin Jagernauth
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April 17, 2013 2:29 PM
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9 Comments

News

At a multiplex not so far away, in a galaxy you already live in, you are going be getting a whole lot more "Star Wars" very, very soon and on an annual basis. Just like filing your taxes and rotating your tires, the "Star Wars" franchise is going to become a yearly ritual.

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Watch: Disney’s New Mickey Mouse Short ‘Croissant de Triomphe’ With A Cameo From Cinderella

By Kevin Jagernauth
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March 12, 2013 5:25 PM
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8 Comments

News

Hey, here's an idea Disney hasn't really tried in a while -- trotting out a character from their archives for something new. As they've been acquiring properties left and right, rebooting fairy tales, sequel-izing Pixar movies and more, it's easy to forget this is same place that birthed the beloved Mickey Mouse. Now a worldwide icon, it's not surprising that Disney would go back to the well, we're just surprised it took this long. But, it looks like they've got a blitzkrieg of Mickey on the way.

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Obviously: 'Oz The Great And Powerful' Sequel In The Works

By Kevin Jagernauth
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March 7, 2013 11:08 PM
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4 Comments

News

By now, it shouldn't really be a surprise. When you're spending $325 million on a movie, you're hoping for a franchise, especially if you're Disney. Remember before "John Carter" came out how there was already tentative plans for a followup, "John Carter: The Gods Of Mars"? Perhaps learning not to count their chickens before they hatch, Disney has until now remained mum on any further travels down the yellow brick road after this weekend's "Oz The Great And Powerful" (our review). But with a massive opening weekend in the forecast, a small bit of their plans have been revealed.

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Can Disney Keep The $325 Million 'Oz The Great And Powerful' From Becoming Another 'John Carter'?

By Charlie Schmidlin
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March 6, 2013 10:21 AM
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11 Comments

News

It's unfortunate that director Andrew Stanton has to deal with his $250 million-budgeted “John Carter” being synonymous with high-stakes cinematic failure, but such are the risks that come with the gamble. Bryan Singer is the latest to join the club however, after “Jack the Giant Slayer” ($195 million) swiftly bombed at the box office this past weekend, earning just $27.2 million. Now, Disney is again on the chopping block with their similarly massive “Oz The Great and Powerful" (our review),” but will Sam Raimi's direction and Mila Kunis' intense likability score a successful result at last for the studio?

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Not In Kansas Anymore: The Long History Of Disney And 'The Wizard Of Oz'

By Drew Taylor
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March 5, 2013 2:22 PM
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5 Comments

Not In Kansas Anymore: The Long History Of Disney And 'Oz'

Features

This weekend's opulent 3D fantasia "Oz, The Great And Powerful," directed by former "Spider-Man" director Sam Raimi, is one of Disney's biggest movies of the year – a dreamy, technologically advanced marvel that cost $200 million to produce and god knows how much to market. And while this is the latest film from the Mouse House to flirt with the "Wizard of Oz" mythos (originally developed in a series of best-selling fantasy novels by American author L. Frank Baum), it is far from the first. In fact, Disney has been doggedly pursuing the world of Oz, to varying degrees of success, since the late '30s. The odyssey that Disney took to get to "Oz, the Great and Powerful" is more fraught with danger, pain, and dead-ends than anything involving a yellow brick road. Thankfully, nowhere in this story does a flying monkey with the voice of Zach Braff appear.

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'Roger Rabbit' Author Gary K. Wolf Proposes Mickey Mouse/Roger Rabbit Pic 'The Stooge' – But How Close Is It Really?

By Drew Taylor
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February 20, 2013 9:39 AM
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0 Comments

News

On Tuesday, news originated from the site of Gary K. Wolf, the novelist whose book "Who Censored Rogert Rabbit?" was very, very loosely adapted into the hit 1988 movie "Who Framed Roger Rabbit?," that a proposal was coming to Disney for an animated feature that would star Roger Rabbit and Mickey Mouse. (The two characters starred together in the original 'Roger Rabbit' film but who's counting?) Later, in a report to Ain't It Cool News, Wolf clarified his original statements, although how likely this project is to ever seeing the light of day remains hopelessly muddy.

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Disney Planning Young Han Solo & Boba Fett 'Star Wars' Spinoff Movies

By Kevin Jagernauth
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February 6, 2013 1:44 PM
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14 Comments

News

Will, this is timely. Given the general slow drip of news and secrecy at the mouse house surrounding their upcoming "Star Wars" we had no idea that very literally moments after we had finished writing What The Stand-Alone 'Star Wars' Movies Mean For The Franchise & 5 Possibilities Of What They Could Be, well, we would kind of know what they will be.

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Rumor: Disney Planning Character Driven 'Star Wars' Spinoffs, Yoda To Get Stand-Alone Film

By Kevin Jagernauth
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February 5, 2013 8:39 AM
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10 Comments

News

This is neither the first nor last time rumors about Disney's plans for the "Star Wars" franchise go flying around, so treat it accordingly. And we have to say, this is vaguer than most, so take it for what it's worth.

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Lucasfilm Kills 'Star Wars' Prequel 3D Re-Releases To Focus On 'Star Wars: Episode 7'

By Kevin Jagernauth
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January 28, 2013 3:55 PM
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3 Comments

News

We have to tip our hat to this decision, because financially, it finds the studio walking away from easy money. As you might recall, "Star Wars: Episode I - The Phantom Menace" was re-released just over a year ago, the first in a planned series of rejiggered "Star Wars" re-releases, this time in 3D. It did pretty modest business -- $22 million, which isn't bad considering what they spent on marketing and conversion didn't cost all that much -- but it's certainly not "The Lion King" sized numbers either (which went on to surprise everyone by making over $90 million). But even though "Star Wars: Episode II - Attack Of The Clones" and "Star Wars: Episode III - Revenge Of The Sith" were slated for back-to-back releases later this year, that's off the table.

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