disney

Heads, Anticipation Explode as German 'Beverly Hills Chihuahua' Trailer Unveiled

STV · 07/15/08 01:40PM

We should have seen this coming after our first confession of love at first sight, but there is no doubt plenty of magic to be found in the growing number of reaction videos to the Beverly Hills Chihuahua trailer. Brooks Barnes had a glimpse at the burgeoning subgenre in yesterday's New York Times, but he nevertheless missed the boat on the international phase of Disney's Mexi-canine plot: Germany. Spoiler alert: You haven't really reacted to the BHC trailer until you've heard George Lopez's Teutonic counterpart introduce himself, "Ich bin ein Chihuahua." Is it still vaguely racist in German? Is it even worse? And either way, after all of its accompanying marketing horrors, why can we still not wait to see it? [YouTube]

Miley Cyrus, Genuine Class

Douglas Reinhardt · 07/10/08 12:40PM

In between shots of her latest music video, Disney golden goose Miley Cyrus held a bubble gum chewing contest. Cyrus wanted to see who could stretch their gum out the furthest, but most competitors quit after the first round after realizing how gross it was. Yet, the Hannah Montana star trucked on and managed to get her gum all way from the beach to the Pacific Ocean with the aid of a few friends.

'Beverly Hills Chihuahua' Further Corners Market on Mexican Gags For the Whole Family

STV · 07/08/08 02:25PM

Our obsession with Disney's forthcoming nature extravaganza Beverly Hills Chihuahua has resulted in feverish demands for an earlier release date and, failing that, an unabating anticipation of the day when we can plunk down our $10 for studio's garish, G-rated monument to ethno-canine stereotypes. The bastards appear to be listening, however, as a new teaser making the rounds features the angry, George Lopez-voiced hero Papi rallying the diminutive troops, wetting panties and calling for "mas" all-you-can-eat taco bars and "no mas" handbag accessorizing. Seriously — who can wait for this?

Before Harvey's Greed, Resentment

Hamilton Nolan · 07/02/08 01:14PM

Movie mogul Harvey Weinstein has always resented the fact that peers made more money than him with what he deemed to be inferior films. These days, he's obviously overcome this problem by milking reality shows for millions to prop up his more artsy products; but he couldn't always be so sanguine. Here we have a priceless and EXCLUSIVE classic from the archives: a recording of a phone call between Weinstein and Disney exec Joe Roth, taped shortly after Michael Ovitz-a spectacular failure as head of Disney-was paid more than $100 million to leave the company in 1996. Weinstein is galled beyond belief (and perhaps a bit envious). "Let's quit today!" he jokes. Why, he works his ass off and what does he get? A fucking lecture. "Joe, you're a success, so therefore you're a failure in this business," Weinstein complains. Then he insults his fellow moguls: "Between Peter Guber and Mike Ovitz and everybody who fucked up...Everybody got wealthy on failure." Weinstein just cares too much about the films, you see; "We have character flaws that must be overcome," he sighs. Thanks to Project Runway, he's done so. Click to listen to the titan of Hollywood in all his expletive-spitting glory.

It's Wall-E's World

Seth Abramovitch · 06/30/08 11:15AM

If you emerged from Saturday's city-wide, Paps vs. Surfs caste riots with two or more limbs (and both flip-flops) intact, consider yourselves one of the lucky ones: It was a massacre out there, folks. Slow the bleeding with the box office numbers from this robust, bullet-bending moviegoing weekend:

Pistol-Packing Angelina Jolie No Match for Puttering Pixar Robot

STV · 06/27/08 11:15AM


Welcome back to Defamer Attractions, your handy cheat sheet to the best and worst of this weekend at the movies. Not that a new Pixar film requires much tire-kicking ahead of time, or that we haven't already spilled our guts about its gloriously confectionery pop-trash competition, or that last weekend's biggest disappointment wasn't assured to hemorrhage more money in week two. But! You shouldn't attempt to get by without our underdog pick or a typically scintillating scan of the latest DVD releases. As always, our predictions are not only our own, but also the very soul of precision. You can thank us later!

Is Pixar's 'Wall-E' The Most Expensive Silent Movie Ever Made?

Kyle Buchanan · 06/23/08 03:05PM

There exists a certain type of filmgoer (I know him intimately, for he is me) whose weakness can be summed up in four words: "Robots with Human Emotions." This sort of film fan grew up on movies like Short Circuit, thrilled to videos like Bjork's "All Is Full of Love," and even has been caught defending A.I. Artificial Intelligence (you take the good with the bad, people). A 30-second clip of Pixar's Wall-E could drive a man like this to tears, but for the other 99% of the population it will provoke nothing but head-shaking, for the $180 million Wall-E contains virtually no dialogue.

'Camp Rock' The New, Annoying Thing Your Kid Is Obsessed With

Seth Abramovitch · 06/23/08 02:25PM

· Disney may have another "bankable tyke-and-tween franchise" (why does that phrase sound vaguely offensive and child-pornish?) in Camp Rock, says Variety, with 8.9 million viewers tuning in to watch the Jonas Brothers sing their newest hit, "(Yuck!) There's A Mosquito in My S'mores." [Variety]
· DreamWorks bought a comedy pitch called Home Schooled, about a 30-year-old man who was home schooled and is now heading off to college. The clash of cultures is sure to yield hilarious results! [THR]
· Tom Hanks sides with AFTRA in the escalating SAG-AFTRA feud. [Variety]
· Plastic pony fetishist Sloane Crosley's book of short, personal essays, I Was Told There'd Be Cake, was purchased by HBO for development into a possible series. [Variety]
· Supernatural EP Eric Kripke has signed a two-year deal with Warner Bros.TV, which—get ready to be spooked out—secures his showrunner duties on the shows upcoming fourth season on The CW. [Variety]

Comcast buys Movies.com

Nicholas Carlson · 06/23/08 12:20PM

Comcast subsidiary Fandago will acquire Movies.com from Disney for an undisclosed price. Disney doesn't expect any layoffs as a result of the deal. [paidContent]

Rising Disney Star Eyes Miley Cyrus' Tweenybop Throne, Earns Spot On All-Time Best Teen Feuds List

Molly Friedman · 06/18/08 07:00PM

After a bumpy spring protecting and investing their billion dollar baby Miley Cyrus, today brings news that there may be additional troubles brewing over at the Mouse House. 15-year old Selena Gomez, the rising star of the newest Disney series Wizards Of Waverly Place, whose elevator pitch was most likely "Gossip Girl Meets Harry Potter Meets Charmed But Like, Happy!," is reportedly usurping the scandal-plagued Cyrus' dimming star power. Quietly crowned “The Next Miley Cyrus” by various newsies, the Miley lookalike (minus gummy smile, plus premature Jolie-level hotness) plays Alex, whose painfully ironic mantra is "cast magic first, ask questions later." But the turbulence among competing teens trying to catch their big break by stepping over their peers left and right is a trend as old as the Mousketeers’ first dimpled disciples. After the jump, we count down our top three favorite teen feuds of yesteryear.

Jonas Brothers Poised To Annoy, Baffle Adults

DroppedCall · 06/17/08 02:10PM

Since the Disney Teen Idol Factory's Miley Cyrus model has developed a "slutty photos" malfunction, the company is ramping up the marketing on its male prototypes, The Jonas Brothers. Like Cyrus, the band has sold millions of albums but you probably can't name a single one of their songs unless you spend a lot of time around 12 year-old girls. According to The New York Times, the trio features none of Cyrus's dangerous hints of a sex drive.

Did Apple forget to clear Disney rights for music during WWDC keynote?

Jackson West · 06/12/08 06:40PM

When CEO Steve Jobs presented the list of countries where the iPhone will be available in the next few months near the close of Tuesday's keynote address at Apple Worldwide Developers Conference, the presentation cued music of "It's a Small World After All" — a song long copyrighted by Disney, on which Jobs sits on the board. However, someone at Disney legal must have asked Apple to excise the music from the copy of the video that's archived online. With the original grabbed from Mahalo Daily's one minute version of the address, we've cut together the two versions for comparison. That saddest part? Now you can't hear the jolly chortle of Apple board member Al Gore!

Disney acquires San Francisco green-living site IdealBite

Nicholas Carlson · 06/12/08 01:40PM

The House of Mouse has swallowed San Francisco-based tips-for-living-green site IdealBite for $15 million. Heather Stephenson and Jennifer Boulden founded the site in 2005 and later took funding from former AOL exec Bob Pittman, who's also known for backing email lists Daily Candy and Thrillist. Expect more similarly small acquisitions from Disney going forward. After its $350 million Club Penguin purchase last year, Disney said it planned to acquire 20 startups in 24 months.

Studio Players Blame Everyone But Themselves For Multiplex Glut

STV · 06/11/08 07:40PM

Jon Favreau isn't the only one haunted by release dates these days, though the execs polled recently by Claudia Eller and Josh Friedman aren't necessarily worried about having less than two years to write all the product placement into Iron Man 2. No, their fears hinge on the surplus of new releases reaching theaters annually — 517 titles in 2007 by the authors' counts (most others put it above 600), up 49 percent from '06. And while the glut has been essentially played out elsewhere, it is kind of rare to see such a studio-friendly perspective on the "crisis," even from the pushovers at the LAT; after all, it's the specialty labels of the world — your Warner Independents, not your Warner Bros. — really battling for life in the cluttered market.

Meet the man who has to save cable

Nicholas Carlson · 06/10/08 04:20PM

Ad money is flying onto the Web. While it hasn't hurt cable TV yet — that business is still seeing a migration of ad dollars from the broadcast networks — Comcast, Time Warner Cable, Cox, Cablevison, Charter and Brighthouse Networks are worried it could. So together, they've created Canoe Ventures, and hired ad-agency veteran David Verklin as CEO. His mission: Convince cable programmers like Walt Disney's ESPN or Viacom's MTV to adopt advertising technology that will automatically place cable commercials, like Internet ads are targeted today.

How Disney's Steve Wadsworth plays the game

Owen Thomas · 06/05/08 02:20PM


Is there an old-media Internet chieftain with a longer tenure than Steve Wadsworth of Disney? Just a finance guy when he first got involved in Disney's Internet projects in 1995, he survived corporate shakeup after corporate shakeup. He was first named chief of the online group in nine years ago by the long-forgotten Michael Eisner, and held onto that role through spinoff and reorg, bubble and bust and bubble. His latest power grab: seizing control of Disney's videogames unit. A memo from current CEO Bob Iger yammers about synergy between the Internet and mobile content operations Wadsworth oversees and the games unit he's taking over. It all makes a passable amount of sense, as business moves go. But the real explanation for the creation of Wadsworth's new Disney Interactive Media Group?

Brittany Murphy Back Off The Pixie Dust

Seth Abramovitch · 06/02/08 01:45PM

Two years after Disney executives nudged Brittany Murphy before a roomful of gathered press, then detonated a confetti-filled landmine which left one Reuters photographer legless from the knees down, comes news that the once white-hot Hollywood Was-Girl has been replaced by order of Disney animation head John Lasseter as the voice of Tinker Bell in that sprite's direct-to-video adventures. Explains hollywood-newsroom.com:

Month Of May Latest Victim In 'Caspian' Finger-Pointing Volley

Seth Abramovitch · 05/29/08 02:55PM

· Excuse-making for the lackluster Prince Caspian rides all the way up the corporate flagpole, with Disney president Bob Iger blaming the month of May. Sure, Bob—blame lunar cycles! Those made your movie suck. [THR]
· Live Nation has signed a deal with Facebook that will allow users to purchase concert tickets directly through their social networking site, with bonus features that allow you to status update ("...is loving the Stones despite Keith's left arm just falling off,") right from the event. [Variety]
· The search for America's Next Street-Smart Business Mogul is on, and 50 Cent will be your Tyra. Ooh, look everyone! Fitty Mail! [Variety]

Tarnished Tween Queen Miley Cyrus Caught Eating Her Clothes Off

Seth Abramovitch · 05/23/08 02:10PM

Having barely recovered from the aneurysm-inducing shock of seeing America's Multi-Platform 3D Tween Sweetheart Miley Cyrus splayed nakedly across the pages of Vanity Fair—wet hair, Kool-Aid lips, and a look of seductive defiance that practically dares the observer to prove their stamina—emerges yet two more photos of a similarly suggestive, naked, and seemingly wanting-it-bad vein. In this suite—rumored to have been clearly marked "For Nick Jonas's Eyes Only," a restriction that went virtually ignored by the boundary-oblivious MySpace community—Cyrus gnaws hungrily on her own T-shirt. The intention? Clearly to drive its intended boy-band-member recipient, widely rumored to be a rabid garment-consumption fetishist, wild with desire.