The Lion King 3D has been a huge success for Disney, making over $90 million since its re-release in September (it originally had a 2 week run but was still making money 6 weeks later). Disney announced more 3D re-releases of their classics would be coming soon, and a trailer for the next one, Beauty and the Beast, has appeared online.

Watch below:

Beauty and the Beast was originally released in 1991 and centers around a prince who is transformed into a Beast and a young woman named Belle whom he imprisons in his castle. It made $380 million at the worldwide box office and was the first ever animated film to be nominated for the Academy Award for Best Picture. In total it picked up 6 nominations (most in the music category) and it ended up winning Best Original Score and Best Original Song.

Beauty and the Beast 3D will be released January 13, 2012.

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With The Lone Ranger budget trimmed and back on track Disney, producer Jerry Bruckheimer, and director Gore Verbinski are now aiming to begin filming in February with Armie Hammer as the title character and Johnny Depp as the Ranger’s Native American companion Tonto.

In a new interview Bruckheimer revealed it was “a shock” when Disney halted production back in August, but the team have now reduced the budget to $215m from $260m with most scenes left intact, so as to compete with the “fierce” competition.

From THR:

How did you do it?
…we bunched the sequences that were big together, and for the smaller scenes [we] laid off the extras, the effects people, the makeup people. It costs an enormous amount with 150 extras on the set. It’s not the extras, it’s the people that support the extras. You’re still carrying all the wardrobe, makeup and hair people. We bunched together scenes with Tonto and the Lone Ranger, so we had a much smaller crew. We saved about $10 million just by doing that.

Then we looked for the best break in tax incentives. We found that Louisiana gave us a better tax incentive than New Mexico — that was another $8 million. We’re still shooting in New Mexico, and we might [also] go to Louisiana.

Did you have to lose sequences from the script? There was talk that some train sequences were cut back.
We cut a sequence involving a coyote attack — supernatural coyotes — and a small animated segment. The train [scenes] are intact. We trimmed it a little bit. Gore made some sacrifices creatively, but nothing that would hurt the film.

Disney would have much preferred us cutting stuff out of the script. But the competition is fierce. You can’t compete with The Hobbit, you can’t compete with Transformers if you do that. The audience will stay home.

Because you missed your original start date, how do you feel about Disney moving the release from December 2012 to May 31, 2013?
It’s a better date. Before, we were up against The Hobbit and World War Z. Now we’re a week after Fast and Furious and a couple weeks before Superman. The competition is not as bad. There are a lot of movies jammed in at Christmas. In the summer, you have a longer run. You’re cut off after the first of the year on a Christmas release.

As well as Depp and Hammer, The Lone Ranger will also feature Ruth Wilson, Dwight Yoakam, Helena Bonham Carter, James Badge Dale and Barry Pepper.

Bruckheimer also said they were at “the outline phase” with Pirates of the Caribbean 5, but “decided we could do better” with the script, so re-writes will likely take place before it moves forward. I felt the script for On Stranger Tides was pretty weak, so improving the next film (which is coming whether we like it or not) will be better for everyone.

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Harry Potter, Jaws, Jurassic Park and King Kong have all made the leap from the big screen to entertaining tourists as theme park attractions, and it was just announced that Avatar will be solidifying itself in popular culture by having an attraction built at Disney Parks.

From the Disney Parks blog:

James and his producing partner Jon Landau and their team at Lightstorm Entertainment will serve as creative consultants on the project and will work side-by-side with our Walt Disney Imagineers as we dream up experiences that will take our guests deep into worlds of AVATAR like never before. There are also two sequels to the record setting first film in the works, which will offer more fascinating stories, characters and locations to explore in the AVATAR universe. Disney’s Animal Kingdom at Walt Disney World Resort is planned as the site of the first AVATAR-themed land with construction expected to begin by 2013.

We believe Disney’s Animal Kingdom is a great fit for this project because it was created to give guests the opportunity to experience the worlds of animals and nature – real and mythical – in new ways. Disney’s Animal Kingdom also celebrates adventure, living in harmony with nature and environmental stewardship – themes that are deeply rooted in the story of AVATAR.

James Cameron and 20th Century Fox have a global franchise with Avatar, so the arrival of merchandise, video-games and theme parks is just another way to keeping the money rolling in. An Avatar attraction is a good idea given its popularity and the world Cameron has created, but construction won’t begin until 2013 so tourists won’t be bonding with mechanical Mountain Banshee’s for a few years yet.

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With Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides crossing the $1 billion mark over the weekend the likelihood of Disney moving forward with Pirates of the Caribbean 5 was more certain than ever, however the studio doesn’t have a franchise if there’s no Captain Jack Sparrow.

Luckily for them, Johnny Depp is apparently close to a deal to return for the fifth time.

From The Wrap:

Johnny Depp is close to signing a deal to star in a fifth “Pirates of the Caribbean” movie, an individual close to the negotiations told TheWrap.

In May, producer Jerry Bruckheimer said he was working on a fifth “Pirates” script — and that he wouldn’t make the movie without Depp.

“Hopefully, if this one does well, (Depp) will want to come back and play the character again,” Bruckheimer told the L.A. Times. “But it’s going to depend on the screenplay. It always does. He’s maniacal about not wanting to disappoint his audience.”

Apparently, Depp likes what he sees. He’s negotiating for the movie.

Earlier this year Depp said whether he returns for another film “boils down to story, script and filmmaker” and said ““we should hold off for a bit. They should be special, just like they are special to me.”

This suggests that even if Depp signs for 5, which is likely, he won’t want to start shooting any time soon. Terry Rossio, who has co-written all of the Pirates films with his writing partner Ted Elliott, was hired to write the script back in January, so Pirates of the Caribbean 5 will be ready to go whenever Depp is.

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While appearing on BBC Breakfast in the UK promoting Larry Crowe Tom Hanks revealed that work has begun on a Toy Story 4. You can view the video here, and Hanks makes his revelation around the 2:40 mark.

When asked if there will be a Toy Story 4 for his new granddaughter to see Hanks says, “Yeah…yeah, I think they’re working on it now”.

Toy Story 3 couldn’t have been a more perfect ending to the trilogy, but with it making over $1 billion worldwide at the box office Pixar and Disney have a very big incentive to continue on with the franchise. Do you want to see Toy Story 4?

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Over a year ago we heard that Tim Burton and Angelina Jolie were loosely attached to Disney’s Maleficent, a live-action take on the wicked fairy godmother who cast the original spell on Sleeping Beauty. Burton never officially signed on, but he got his Alice in Wonderland screenwriter Linda Woolverton to write the script.

After a year with little news on the project Heat Vision now reports that Burton has moved on and is no longer directing, but with Angelina Jolie still interested Disney are in search of a new director.

One of the names that has apparently surfaced in the early search is David Yates, director of the past four Harry Potter movies including Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 2, which looks nothing short of epic. Yates would be a great choice, but after spending the last 6 years in the fantasy genre he may want to do something different before diving back into magic and dragons.

If a director is found it could still be a year or two before it actually gets made as Jolie and Sony are currently searching for a director to helm Cleopatra, with David Fincher being a possible candidate.

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With Disney and Pixar making over $2 billion a year from Cars merchandise a third Cars movie is likely in the pipeline, but in the meantime they have a new batch of toys to sell a movie to promote in the form of Cars 2.

Today a new extended international trailer was released on the UK Disney YouTube account, and it looks like it will be a fun movie. For the kids.

In the sequel Lightning McQueen, his pit crew and his new crew chief, Mater, head around the world for the “Race of Champions” taking place in five different countries: Japan, Austria, Italy, a 24-hour race in France and the United Kingdom. However, Mater, involved in a case of mistaken identity, saves the life of a British secret agent named Finn McMissile and finds himself embroiled in his world of international espionage.

Ratatouille producer Brad Lewis will direct along with original Cars director John Lasseter. The voice cast includes Owen Wilson, Larry the Cable Guy, Michael Caine, Emily Mortimer, Bonnie Hunt, Tony Shalhoub, Cheech Marin, Jason Isaacs, Joe Mantegna, Peter Jacobson and Thomas Kretschmann.

Cars 2 opens in 3D on June 24, 2011.

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I’ve always wondered why Disney/Pixar decided to move forward with a Cars sequel instead of something original or another outing of The Incredible, for example. Cars only made $460 million worldwide compared to the $630 million made by The Incredibles, however an announcement today from Disney makes everything clear.

From THR:

Merchandise tied to the Cars franchise has generated global retail sales of more than $8 billion, Walt Disney said Monday. That makes it one of the company’s top franchises at what are now $2 billion in global retail sales annually.

Disney detailed the merchandise strength of Disney/Pixar hit Cars, which has grown its retail business since its launch in 2006, here on Monday as the entertainment giant unveiled what it expects to be its largest licensed film merchandise program ever for Cars 2.

In an event tied to Toy Fair, which opened here this weekend, Disney brought Cars 2 voice actors Michael Caine and Emily Mortimer to the stage to help unveil a line of more than 300 toys for the June 24 release. Over 200 million die-cast cars tied to the franchise have sold to-date, the company said.

So not only are Disney/Pixar making Cars 2 purely for the money, they’ve got Sir Michael Caine selling toys for them. The shame!

I guess this is the equivalent of Disney releasing a movie which makes Avatar numbers each year, so it makes very good business sense. But why would they have Lightning McQueen heading around the world for a “Race of Champions” taking place in five different countries: Japan, Austria, Italy, France and the United Kingdom? More global toy sales perhaps? Has Pixar allowed money to influence its storytelling?

I guess we’ll find out in June.

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Last week Disney moved John Carter of Mars up from June 8th 2012 to March 9th 2012, which just so happened to be the date 20th Century Fox recently set for Ridley Scott’s Prometheus.

Both are sci-fi movies set in space and neither would benefit from being set against the other, so in response Fox today moved Prometheus into Carter‘s old spot of June 8th 2012.

John Carter of Mars is directed by Andrew Stanton (Finding Nemo, Wall-E) and follows Civil War veteran John Carter (Taylor Kitsch) who is transplanted to Mars. Lynn Collins (X-Men Origins: Wolverine), Thomas Haden Church (Spider-Man 3), Mark Strong, Dominic West, James Purefoy and Samantha Morton also star, along with Willem Dafoe who plays a 10-foot alien with four arms called Tars Tarkas.

Prometheus started out as an Alien prequel but evolved into a “new, grand mythology and universe” with an original story. Ridley Scott says the movie will contain “Alien’s DNA, so to speak, but the ideas tackled in this film are unique, large and provocative.” Noomi Rapace is set to play scientist Elizabeth Shaw.

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Being a large entertainment company with many divisions has its advantages, one being that you can give yourself exclusives. The Disney Channel today released a short “Movie Surfers” video from behind the scenes of Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides which features footage from the set and an interview with Johnny Depp.

Watch below:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WmRe56LeNsU

Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides will include “zombies, cutthroats, mermaids and… Penelope Cruz” as Jack Sparrow and Barbossa sail to find the Fountain of Youth under the orders of King George II, only to find Blackbeard (Ian McShane) is after it too. Cruz plays Blackbeard’s daughter who is a woman from Sparrow’s past and he’s not sure if it’s love–or if she’s a ruthless con artist who’s just using him to find the Fountain of Youth.

Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides will be released May 2011, and you can watch the trailer here!

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