Tom Hanks turns into Walt Disney!

Saving Mr. Banks has opened in select theaters as of December 13th, and will be everywhere on December 20th, 2013.

When Walt Disney’s daughters begged him to make a movie of their favorite book, P.L. Travers’ “Mary Poppins,” he made them a promise – one that he didn’t realize would take 20 years to keep. In his quest to obtain the rights, Walt comes up against a curmudgeonly, uncompromising writer who has absolutely no intention of letting her beloved magical nanny get mauled by the Hollywood machine.

How much will Disney lose on all their ridiculous Lone Ranger merchandise?

The poor performance of Disney’s summer Lone Ranger movie will cost the company between $160 million and $190 million in losses during the current quarter, the company’s CFO said on Tuesday, as reported by Investor Place.

But never mind what they blew on the movie – what about all the ridiculous Lone Ranger merchandise?  They really went way overboard!  The Lone Ranger was rated PG-13, which cut out a lot of family audiences, and post-release audience demographics showed that the movie was mostly popular with people over 50, yet Disney made a ton of Lone Ranger toys and other products for kids.  What were Disney’s merchandisers smoking?

Tom Hanks stars as Walt Disney in “Saving Mr. Banks”

What?  Tom Hanks as Walt Disney?  You bet.  And as usual he absolutely owns the part, as seen in the trailer above, for “Saving Mr. Banks,” a touching movie “inspired by true events, the extraordinary, untold story of how the classic ‘Mary Poppins’ made it to the screen – and the testy relationship that the legendary Walt Disney had with author P.L. Travers that almost derailed it,” according to the official Disney movie website.

Universal’s Minions are trouncing Disney’s Lone Ranger

One thing you must know about the Disney Company’s executives is that they absolutely hate Universal Studios.  The two companies compete on every level. They both make movies and TV shows.  They both own TV Networks (ABC and NBC).  And they both own amusement parks.

This 4th of July weekend their competition started up again as they both launched summer blockbusters, but while Universal’s Despicable Me 2 is blowing up at the box office, Disney’s Lone Ranger is tanking.

Here is what the media is reporting about their respective box office returns:

Disney’s $250M Lone Ranger movie could be as big a bust as John Carter

“The Lone Ranger” can’t seem to ride away from scathing reviews from critics, with some comparing it to Will Smith’s 1999 epic disaster, “Wild Wild West,” according to CBS.

The $250,000,000 film is currently hovering at 22% on film review site Rotten Tomatoes, according to the Business Insider.

Disney tarts up Brave’s Merida angering thousands in the process

The news came in a press release today, “Disney today proudly welcomed Merida from Disney∙Pixar’s Academy Award® winning film, “Brave,” into the Disney Princess royal court.”

I suppose that would have been fine but Disney went a step further – they decided to tart up Merida.  “The animated character has received a head-to-toe makeover — she’s thinner, her eyes are wider,” according to the Huffington Post.

Disney drops their attempt to trademark “Dia de los Muertos” after public outcry

After a flurry of online outrage, Disney has decided to no longer pursue a trademark on “Dia de los Muertos,” according to the OC Weekly.

The backlash was swift, and late Tuesday afternoon a Disney spokesperson issued this statement, according to KPCC:

Cal/OSHA fines Disney Studios after man dies on Lone Ranger set

“State regulators have fined a producer of the upcoming Walt Disney Studios movie “The Lone Ranger” more than $60,000, citing numerous safety violations in connection with a crew member who died at a movie ranch in Acton,” according to the L.A. Times.

A welder/water safety expert named Mike Bridger died on the L.A. movie set Friday while working inside a large water tank. Law enforcement sources told TMZ that it appeared Bridger suffered a heart attack. 

Can Abrams fix the mess that Lucas made of Star Wars?

“After a bevy of emails and phone calls, the formalities have been wrapped up, and at long last everyone can exhale and properly share the word with an excited Internet. Yes, J.J. Abrams will direct Star Wars: Episode VII, the first of a new series of Star Wars films to come from Lucasfilm under the leadership of Kathleen Kennedy. Abrams will be directing and Academy Award-winning writer Michael Arndt will write the screenplay,” according to the Star Wars website.

Star Wars Episode 7 update

Picture Courtesy of StarWars.com

Disney completed its acquisition of Lucasfilm Ltd. LLC., on December 21, according to a company press release.

So what role will Star Wars creator George Lucas play now?  “When Lucas passed the torch, so to speak, by selling his company to Disney, he really meant it when he said he was moving on. He’ll be there as a source of canonical information, as someone who may know the details or relationships of certain characters that perhaps were only briefly touched on in the six films so far, but the new scripts will tell a new story and the new director will direct without answering to Lucas,” according to Screenrant.