Disney This Week: The Lion King, Incredibles 2 & More!


Disney This Week: The Lion King, Incredibles 2 & More!

Disney This Week: December 9 – 16, 2016

Hello and welcome to the first edition of a new regular weekly feature Disney This Week here at ComingSoon.net, where we roundup the latest news on all things Disney! Hopefully that will include movies, TV, Blu-ray/DVD, theme parks, games and even toys, along with exclusive interviews, fan art and Disney history. Let us know what you like or want to see more out of in Disney This Week in the comments below!

RELATED: The Star Wars News Roundup for December 16, 2016

Movies

Jon Favreau Talks Live-Action Lion King Remake

“It’s a very powerful, simple, well-told, mythic story with emotional components that deal with subject matter that movies that are geared toward kids don’t often deal with,” Jon Favreau told Variety of the 1994 original. “You’re dealing with death, with exile, very deep, strong — family, a sense of revenge and of injustice. I think they really hit it just right. Now we’ll see if we can do something that gives it a live action feel. I think with ‘Lion King’ you have a much tighter story (than ‘The Jungle Book’) and a much more emotional story. And the story feels more modern. And it’s not as distant a memory. So you have to see what the tools have to offer and make sure you’re connecting with the audience.”

National Film Registry 2016 Titles Include Lion King, Roger Rabbit & Rushmore

Disney features added to the National Film Registry of the Library of Congress because of their cultural, historic or aesthetic importance include The Lion King (1994), Who Framed Roger Rabbit (1988) and Rushmore (1998), the latter two released through their Touchstone Pictures division.

Samuel L. Jackson Reveals First Recording Session for The Incredibles 2

Samuel L. Jackson took to Instagram last night to reveal a special event, his very first recording session for the upcoming The Incredibles 2. This marks Jackson’s return to the character of Frozone after over 12 years since the first film’s release.

Cruella de Vil Movie Sets Alex Timbers to Direct

Walt Disney Pictures‘ upcoming Cruella de Vil movie appears to have found a director in Alex Timbers, co-creator of Amazon‘s acclaimed Mozart in the Jungle, who is now in talks to helm. La La Land‘s Emma Stone is attached to play the title role.

Moana’s How Far I’ll Go Song: Watch the Full Sequence!

On the heels of the song’s Golden Globe nomination, Walt Disney Animation Studios has just released the full How Far I’ll Go song sequence from Moana. Featuring the vocal talents of star Auli‘i Cravalho, the How Far I’ll Go song scene can be viewed in the player below!

Moana Wins Domestic a Third Time, Fantastic Beasts Tops Overseas

For December 9th through the 11th, Walt Disney Animation Studios‘ Moana won the domestic box office for the third straight weekend with $18.8 million for a total of $145 million. Internationally, the animated film earned $23.5 million this weekend and has grossed $93.8 million. Worldwide, Moana is up to $238.8 million. Moana was directed by John Musker and Ron Clements. The film features the voices of Auli’i Cravalho, Dwayne Johnson, Jemaine Clement, Rachel House, Temuera Morrison, Nicole Scherzinger, and Alan Tudyk.

Blu-ray/DVD

The Light Between Oceans

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Disney/Dreamworks Pictures’ The Light Between Oceans, which arrives on Digital HD, Blu-ray, DVD and On-Demand on January 24, released box art as well as a featurette which you can watch below! The drama stars Michael Fassbender, Alicia Vikander and Rachel Weisz.

Mickey and the Roadster Racers

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Disney Junior released the box art for Mickey and the Roadster Racers, which will be making its Disney DVD debut on March 7, 2017.

TV

DuckTales Cast Revealed by Disney XD

Among those set to voice the fan-favorite characters in the revival are Danny Pudi, Ben Schwartz, and Bobby Moynihan as Huey, Dewey, and Louie, with David Tennant as Scrooge McDuck, Beck Bennett as Launchpad McQuack, Toks Olagundoye as Mrs. Beakley, and Kate Micucci as Webby Vanderquack. Other characters will appear in the series as well, including Donald Duck, Flintheart Glomgold, Gyro Gearloose, Duckworth, Gizmoduck, Magica DeSpell, Gladstone Gander, and Ma Beagle and the Beagle Boys.

Theme Parks

Toys

Exclusive Interviews

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The Blu-ray/DVD combo pack for director Steven Spielberg’s The BFG was released on November 29, and Disney This Week had the chance to have an exclusive chat with Lucy Dahl, the daughter of original author Roald Dahl, who told us about growing up with The BFG… literally!

“I was a little possessive because ‘The BFG’ was my childhood story growing up,” Lucy Dahl told us. “The BFG lived under our garden, basically. And he used to come up into our bedroom at night. So when dad made a story out of the BFG, I was mildly annoyed that I had to share the BFG with the rest of the world. But I got written out, and I’m so delighted about the film, at that very happy ending.”

Lucy Dahl also appreciated the sweet, gentle performance of Academy Award-winner Mark Rylance as the title character.

“Mark Rylance did an absolutely extraordinary job,” Dahl said. “He studied the accent of the countryside. England, as you know, has many different accents in many different areas. And my father based ‘The BFG’ on one of our great family friends called Wally Saunders, who was from, I believe Wiltshire, but he had a wonderful accent and a way of talking. Mark studied videos of Wally, our friend, and studied him and just got it all perfectly, perfectly right. He did an incredibly beautiful job. I mean, even the fact that he had makeup on the whole time and he was usually in front of a blue screen or a green screen, he really got it beautifully right. The first time I saw it, watching him really made me feel like I had spent two hours with both my father and our dear friend Wally, neither of whom are still with us. So it was extraordinary.”

You can purchase a copy of The BFG on Disney Blu-ray by clicking here!

Fan Art of the Week

This week’s fan art for Moana comes from artist Ellie Yong, a.k.a. SillyJellie, whose portfolio you can see here!

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This Week in Disney History

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Walter Elias Disney was born on December 5, 1901, and this week marks the 50th anniversary of his death on December 15, 1966 at the age of 65. His nephew, former Vice Chairman of The Walt Disney Company Roy E. Disney, also died this week on December 16, 2009 at age 79.

The Muppet Christmas Carol was released by Walt Disney Pictures in 1992, the original Pete’s Dragon and Candleshoe were both released in 1977, Bedknobs and Broomsticks in 1971, and True-Life Adventure film Jungle Cat was released in 1959.

On December 16, 1952 Walt Disney incorporated the WED Enterprises company in order to develop ideas for a “family park” to be called “Disneyland.”

Disney Vault

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Each week we highlight an underappreciated Disney classic! This week it’s 1971’s Bedknobs and Broomsticks, a live-action/animated hybrid in the Mary Poppins tradition, but with a supernatural twist. Angela Lansbury plays a witch-in-training in the English countryside during World War II. Together with three crafty orphans and an older warlock (David Tomlinson) they fight Nazis and travel to the animated fantasy world of Naboombu. Directed by Disney vet Robert Stevenson and released on December 13, 1971, this is a terrific film with songs by the Sherman Brothers.

Check out the trailer below, and purchase a copy of Bedknobs and Broomsticks on Disney Blu-ray by clicking here!



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