Short film disney pixar

Disney is moving back closer to how things used to be run on the content side with the creation of a new Disney Entertainment unit that will encompass TV and film. This new corporate division, which will sit separate to ESPN and the Parks, Experiences & Products unit, will be led by Dana Walden and Alan Bergman . The Walt Disney Company CEO Bob Iger just revealed the new structure on the company’s latest earnings call, as part of a “ significant transformation ” at the company that he said would “maximize the potential of our world-class creative teams”. It officially dismantles Disney Media & Entertainment Distribution, created by former CEO Bob Chapek and run by Kareem Daniel, who left last year. This unit separated the the way content and distribution decisions were made and took decision making power away from the creative teams. “Our new structure is aimed at returning greater authority to our creative leaders, and making them accountable for how … [Read more...] about Dana Walden & Alan Bergman To Oversee New Disney Entertainment Unit

Animated sequels to Toy Story , Frozen and Zootopia are in the works, Disney CEO Bob Iger announced on today’s Q1 earnings call. “Today I’m so pleased to announce that we have sequels in the works from our animation studios to some of our most popular franchises, Toy Story, Frozen and Zootopia ,” Iger said. “We’ll have more to share about these productions soon, but this is a great example of how we’re leaning into our unrivaled brands and franchises.” The news came in the wake of some sour news, read a $5.5 billion cost savings by the conglomerate across all divisions and 7,000 jobs getting cut at Disney. RELATED: Disney Earnings Report & Reorganization – Full Coverage The most recent installments of those animated franchises were huge global grossing hits on the big screen: Frozen 2 ($1.45 billion in 2019), Pixar’s Toy Story 4 ($1.07 billion in 2019) and Zootopia ($1.02 billion in 2016). Franchise sequels work, duh. … [Read more...] about ‘Frozen‘, ’Toy Story’ & ‘Zootopia’ Sequels In The Works, Disney CEO Bob Iger Says

Disney is reorganizing its sprawling businesses under three core segments — Entertainment, ESPN and Parks , Experiences & Products — as CEO Bob Iger moves to restructure the company. The move follows his dismantling of DMED , or Disney Media & Entertainment Distribution, set up by previous CEO Bob Chapek , that wrested control over content decisions by the company’s creative executives. Now we know what the new structure will look like. It’s aimed at returning creative authority to Disney’s “world-class creative team” and its “unparalleled brands and franchises,” he said during a conference call following the company’s first-quarter earnings report. The reorganization is a key element of a transformation that he said also will help rationalize the streaming business for sustained growth and profitability and reducing expenses in a world of increased competition and global economic challenges. The DTC business, except for ESPN+ , will be under … [Read more...] about Disney Reorganizes Into Three Segments, Entertainment, ESPN & Parks

The highest grossing movie of 2022 at the domestic B.O. in pure calendar days and second highest grossing worldwide, Paramount’s Top Gun: Maverick ($718.3M U.S., $1.488 billion) has been named the best movie of last year by Rotten Tomatoes . The news comes in the wake of Top Gun: Maverick scoring six Oscar nominations including Best Picture, Editing, Sound, VFX, Adapted Screenplay (from Ehren Kruger, Christopher McQuarrie, Eric Warren Singer, Peter Craig and Justin Marks) as well as Lady Gaga and BloodPop’s original song “Hold My Hand”. The pic landed a 96% certified fresh grade from critics off 464 reviews and a 99% fresh on their audience meter. The Tom Cruise starring, Joseph Kosinski directed sequel which was held through the pandemic for a big screen release, notched a rare A+ CinemaScore, too. Rotten Tomatoes’ top pics of 2022 was ranked by the media site. Other movies in the top ten include Searchlight’s The Banshees of Inisherin (97% certified fresh), … [Read more...] about ‘Top Gun: Maverick’ Named Best Film Of 2022 By Rotten Tomatoes

EXCLUSIVE : Avantika ( Senior Year ), Christopher Briney ( The Summer I Turned Pretty ) and Bebe Wood ( Love, Victor ) have landed major roles in Paramount Pictures’ film adaptation of the Tony-nominated Broadway hit, Mean Girls , which is itself based on the classic Paramount comedy of the same name. The actors join an ensemble for the Paramount+-bound feature that also includes Angourie Rice, Reneé Rapp, Auli’i Cravalho and Jaquel Spivey, as previously announced. The original film adapted by Tina Fey from the Rosalind Wiseman book Queen Bees and Wannabes follows high school new girl Cady Heron (Lindsay Lohan) in her attempt to fit in with A-list girl clique, The Plastics. The effort is sabotaged when she makes the mistake of falling for Aaron, the ex-boyfriend of alpha Plastic Regina George. Premiering on stage at Washington, D.C.’s National Theatre in 2017 and jumping to Broadway the following year, the Mean Girls musical was also written by Fey, with … [Read more...] about ‘Mean Girls’: Avantika, Christopher Briney & Bebe Wood Board Paramount Film Based On Tony-Nominated Musical Adaptation

EXCLUSIVE : Disney is moving full speed ahead with a re-imagining of Splash , the 1984 sleeper hit film that launched the stars of Tom Hanks and Daryl Hannah, along with Imagine partners Ron Howard and Brian Grazer , the latter of whom hatched the idea for the fish wish-fulfillment story that Howard directed. They’ve got an intriguing take: It’s being developed for Channing Tatum to take role that Hannah played, with Jillian Bell in the role that Hanks played. I’m told the pitch was hatched by Bell, who worked with Tatum in 22 Jump Street, most recently wrapped Office Christmas Party and next stars in Rock That Body . They’ve hired Marja-Lewis Ryan to write the script. She most recently wrapped the Timur Bekmambetov-produced Liked , which she wrote and directed. The scribe also is writing for HBO and Tatum’s Free Association the college-set Unsupervised , which just hired a writers room and is looking good to go to a pilot. She also adapted the Sheryl … [Read more...] about ‘Splash’ Remake Hooks Disney; Channing Tatum, Jillian Bell Star; Grazer & Howard, Free Association Producing

Walt Disney is targeting $5.5 billion in cost savings, including $3 billion in non-sports related content, CEO Bob Iger said today on a meaty call after earnings where he detailed a company-wide restructuring. He said the other $2.5 billion are general operating costs, of which $1 billion is already underway. CFO Christine McCarthy, also on the call, will give details of the cuts shortly. Disney is the latest conglom to wield the axe on content from giant Warner Bros. Discovery one down as challenges mount for streaming, advertising and stock prices. Rampant spending on new content for streaming has not been matched by the sector’s financial results or path to profits. That said, Disney’s DTC losses narrowed last quarter. Warner Bros. Discovery CEO David Zaslav has promised investors $3.5 billion in cost cuts. MORE … [Read more...] about Disney To Cut $3 Billion In Content Costs Amid $5.5-Billion Savings Push As Bob Iger Makes His Move

EXCLUSIVE: We hear that Sarah Rothschild , the writer of the Netflix movie Sleepover, will be writing the latest draft of Disney/Imagine/Free Association’s Splash remake. Deadline first told you about the remake back in 2016 with the 22 Jump Street and Inherent Vice actress attached. The original Splash in 1984 was a huge hit for Disney at a near $70M stateside, the first of its adult-demo features released at the time under its Touchstone label, and the first major hit for director Ron Howard and producer Brian Grazer which led to the creation of their Imagine in November 1985. The original starred Tom Hanks and Darryl Hanna as a man and a mermaid, respectively, who fall in love after being reunited years after she saved his life as a boy. Marja-Lewis Ryan wrote an earlier draft of the Splash remake. Rothschild, an award-winning screenwriter, recently adapted The Love Hypothesis for MRC and Elizabeth Cantillon and wrote 24/7 – a modern day take … [Read more...] about ‘Splash’ Redo With Jillian Bell Sets ‘Sleepover’s Sarah Rothschild As Scribe

EXCLUSIVE: The Gotham Group , which most recently produced Disney+’s Stargirl based on the bestselling novel, has made its latest book deal. It has optioned Christina Hammonds Reed’s upcoming debut YA novel The Black Kids , setting Rafiki helmer Wanuri Kahiu to direct and Allison Davis to adapt it. The novel, to be published September 1 via Simon & Schuster, is a coming-of-age story of a wealthy African-American teenager whose family gets caught in the vortex of the 1992 Los Angeles riots. Kahiu’s previous film Rafiki was banned in her native Kenya for a time ahead of its world premiere at the 2018 Cannes Film Festival, where it made history as the first Kenyan film selected. It explored LGBTQ issues in a country that criminalizes homosexual acts between consenting adults. The film’s success helped Kahiu land gigs in the U.S. Now managed by Gotham Group, she is also set to direct Millie Bobby Brown in The Thing About Jellyfish for Made Up Stories, … [Read more...] about ‘Rafiki’ Helmer Wanuri Kahiu To Direct Gotham Group’s YA Adaptation ‘The Black Kids’

EXCLUSIVE : Kino Lorber has acquired all North American distribution rights to Four Quartets , the film version of the Ralph Fiennes -starring stage adaptation of T.S. Eliot’s seminal poem. Directed by Sophie Fiennes, the film will get its U.S. premiere at the Santa Barbara International Film Festival later this week followed by a theatrical release this spring. One of the giants of modern literature, the poet, playwright, critic, and editor T.S. Eliot is best known as one of the central figures of the Modernist movement in poetry. Consisting of four poems published over a six-year period – Burnt Norton, East Coker, The Dry Salvages , and Little Gidding , each titled after the landscape that inspired their writing – Four Quartets is widely considered Eliot’s masterpiece and the culminating achievement of his career as a poet, offering four interwoven meditations on the nature of time and the quest for spiritual enlightenment. Following the completion of Four Quartets … [Read more...] about Ralph Fiennes’ ‘Four Quartets’ Gets North American Distribution Deal Ahead Of Stateside Bow At Santa Barbara