The Playlist

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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10 Things J.J. Abrams Needs To Do With 'Star Wars: Episode VII' To Make It Great

By Oliver Lyttelton
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January 25, 2013 3:09 PM
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24 Comments

Features

So the question that's been dominating the movie world for the past few months has finally been answered. After lots of rumors and speculation, with Steven Spielberg, David Fincher, Jon Favreau, Guillermo Del Toro, Matthew Vaughn and Colin Trevorrow among the many names linked to the project, firm news has emerged that J.J. Abrams, creator of TV shows "Felicity," "Lost," "Alias" and "Fringe," among others, and director of blockbusters "Mission Impossible III," "Star Trek," "Super 8" and the upcoming "Star Trek Into Darkness," has been hired to direct "Star Wars Episode VII," the continuation of George Lucas' classic sci-fi saga.

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Mark Romanek Parts Ways With Disney On 'Cinderella'; Director & Studio Clash Over Dark Vision

By Rodrigo Perez
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January 7, 2013 10:04 PM
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3 Comments

News

Well, this is deeply unfortunate, but perhaps not entirely unexpected. Director Mark Romanek ("Never Let Me Go") has parted ways with Disney over their reimagined live-action adaptation of "Cinderella." The modern, reivisionist project was set to star Cate Blanchett as the evil step-mother and last we heard, young ladies like Saoirse Ronan, Alicia Vikander & Gabriella Wilde were in the mix for the title role of Cinderella. But it was not to be, at least not for Romanek, which is a shame because on paper it would be a most anticipated film, any calendar year it was released.

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Weekend Box Office: 'Wreck-It Ralph' Levels Up To First Place With Biggest Disney Animation Opening Ever

By Gabe Toro
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November 4, 2012 11:57 AM
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8 Comments

Box Office

A week after theaters on the East Coast faced Hurricane Sandy, business was back to normal in Hollywood, with Disney debuting “Wreck-It Ralph” to a nearly $50 million gross. This is the biggest stateside Disney Animation Studios opening ever, which, coming off the acquisition of Lucasfilms, suggests the studio has had a very good week. U mad, Hollywood?

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Bringing Balance To The Force? 5 Directions The New 'Star Wars' Films Could Go

By Oliver Lyttelton
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October 31, 2012 10:59 AM
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31 Comments

Features

Unless you've been robbed of power by Hurricane Sandy, you've probably heard that yesterday saw the biggest movie news story of the year -- if not several years -- break. Disney have purchased LucasFilm for $4 billion, and have announced that plans are moving ahead for new "Star Wars" movies, beginning with "Episode VII" in 2015 (the start of a new trilogy), with franchise creator George Lucas serving only as a creative consultant, and new talent coming in to write and direct the new films.

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With George Lucas Only Consulting, Can Disney Restore The Integrity Of The ‘Star Wars’ Franchise? Does It Even Matter?

By Rodrigo Perez
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October 31, 2012 10:05 AM
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14 Comments

News

“We’re going to concentrate on the ‘Star Wars’ franchise,” Disney CFO Jay Rasulo said yesterday in a Disney conference call to discuss the immediate acquisition of Lucasfilm Ltd. “What we’re buying, along with the overall company, is a pretty extensive and detailed treatment for what would be the next three movies. The [new] trilogy.”

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Disney Picks Up Lisa Cholodenko & Steve Carell's 'Alexander And The Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day'

By Charlie Schmidlin
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October 22, 2012 10:23 AM
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0 Comments

News

With every studio regime change there remains a number of promising projects left to die a slow death in turnaround, and when 20th Century Fox CEO Tom Rothman stepped down in September this was certainly the case. The first casualty turned out to be the adaptation of beloved children's book "Alexander And The Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day" -- with both Lisa Cholodenko and Steve Carell attached -- but now after nearly a month of studio bargaining it seems the film has found a more family-friendly home.

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Level Up Or Game Over: Will 'Wreck-It-Ralph' Be A Winner?

By The Playlist Staff
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October 11, 2012 4:26 PM
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6 Comments

Features

Our quest to pinpoint the potential peaks and troughs of the big fall movies continues today, and after examining "Lincoln," "Flight" and "Skyfall" so far, we're moving on to the last big hitter of November (bar :"The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn Pt. 2," which felt like shooting fish in a barrel) -- Walt Disney's latest 3D CGI extravaganza "Wreck-It Ralph."

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David Slade To Direct Futuristic Love Story/Young Adult Novel 'Matched' For Disney

By Edward Davis
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September 5, 2012 3:45 PM
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4 Comments

News

"Hard Candy" director David Slade isn't wasting any time now that 20th Century Fox's reboot of "Daredevil" is off his plate. He's evidently Disney's first choice to direct an adaptation of "Matched," a young adult novel and love story set in the future, written by Ally Condie. Of course, since it's a young adult novel and set in the future, like "The Hunger Games," "Matched" is the opening part of a trilogy that contains the second book, "Crossed," and a third as-of-yet untitled final book that is due November 2012. Can you say: franchise!

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Disney Preparing 'The Rocketeer' For A Reboot

By Kevin Jagernauth
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August 22, 2012 9:01 AM
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4 Comments

News

When Joe Johnston was first announced as the director for "Captain America: The First Avenger," folks were worried. He was coming off the disastrous "The Wolfman," and hadn't really had a hit since 2001's "Jurassic Park III" (which wasn't much to shout about). But the geek crowd -- and Kevin Feige himself -- pointed to "The Rocketeer" as evidence that he was the right man for the job. And indeed he was. The 1991 film shares a lot of the homespun humor, patriotic pride and yes, WWII setting found in 'Captain America,' and of course, it featured the requisite thrills as well. It's a favorite among the geek set, a film beloved by many and now it seems it's getting a remake.

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