D23: The Walt Disney Studios Panel – Saturday 8/20/2011

D23 Expo: August 19-21, 2011

Anaheim Convention Center, Anaheim, CA

Being the Disney lover that I am, I FINALLY joined D23 this year (as mentioned in my 8/12/2011 post). I am full-fledged card carrying Disney Fan Club member. Yes, I’m a geek like that. I think besides the Expo, which occurs bi-annually, that’s pretty much all the bragging rights one member can do. They do have special sales in the Disney Store for collectibles and Screenings for Disney movies at the El Capitan in Hollywood but those don’t compare to the Disney Expo. The one HUGE perk of being a D23 member at the Expo was that they allowed members (and the guests they bought tickets for) to enter the Convention center 1 hr early. This was a big deal because the Walt Disney Studios Panel, scheduled to start at 10:30AM in the D23 Arena, was the highlight of the Expo because this 2.5hr panel was where they were announcing and unveiling all upcoming movies from Disney Studios, Pixar, AND Marvel for the next 2 years! I love all their movies so I was SUPER excited about this, especially after the no-show for The Avengers at Comic Con.

Since this was a 2.5 hr panel, I’ll just a list and a short description of each movie. Also, there was HEAVY security for only this panel and the Treasures of the Walt Disney Archives; no cameras, phones, or recording devices were allowed in, thus no pictures from the presentation to accompany my synopsis. I guess if you have the money and power to hire security, that’ll ensure no leaked or pirated stuff on you tube.

Disney Studios:

John Carter – Based on the Edgar Rice Burroughs novel, it’s the story of a former military captain named John Carter who magically gets transported to Mars and becomes part of the drama of its natural inhabitants. It stars Taylor Kitsch (Wolverine), Lynn Collins (True Blood, Wolverine), and Willem Dafoe (Finding Nemo, Boondock Saints, Spider-Man). I’m not too familiar with the John Carter stories but the scenery and effects look like it’d be enough to draw me in. Release date is March 9, 2012.

Planes: This movie basically has the same premise as Cars. It’s the same world as cars but from the planes point of view. John Cryer is the voice of Dusty who is a crop-dusting plane who tries to make it in the world of fighter planes. Not that big a fan of the whole Cars world but I think it’d be interesting to watch how they transform the world to accommodate planes.

Wreck-It Ralph – This is a story of Ralph, the antagonist of the 8-bit arcade video game “Fix-It Felix,” who dreams of one day being more than a video game bad guy. John C. Reilly is the voice of Wreck It Ralph so I already think this is going to be a hilarious movie. Set for release in 2012.

The Odd Life of Timothy Green: A married couple find out that they aren’t going to be able to have children of their own so in order to come to terms with it, they write down characteristics and unique qualities that they envision their child to have then bury those notes in a wooden box in their backyard. The next day, they find a young boy covered in dirt and the rest of the teaser trailer shows flashing events with the 3 of them. Jennifer Garner was on stage to give her short description of the movie and gush about her adorable co-star. Not sure how I feel about this movie quite yet.

The Muppets: From what I could gather from the trailers and clips shown, Amy Adams and Jason Segel help muppet bff, Walter, to bring back the Muppets and save the Muppet Theater. The script is written by and it’s starring Jason Segel so I have no doubt that the movie will be funny.

Chimpanzee: Chimpanzee is a Disneynature film that follows baby Chimp Oscar living in the Ivory Coast and Ugandan rain forests. After being abandoned by his family, another adult chimp takes him and raises him as his own. There is just something about baby animals and Disney that spells winner. I am definitely looking forward to this documentary. It’ll be released on Earth Day 2012.

Frankenweenie: This black and white stop-motion Tim Burton film showcases what he does best. It’s the story of young Victor Frankenstein who, after losing his pet Sparky, decides to bring him back from the dead. I think this remake (original live film directed by Burton, 1984) will be much closer to Burton’s imaginings. Release date October 5, 2012

Oz: The Great and Powerful: Still in the early days of production and shooting, this movie stars James Franco, Mila Kunis, Rachel Weisz, and Michelle Williams and tells the story about the rise of the Great and Powerful Oz. It’s directed by Sam Raimi (Spider-Man, Evil Dead) and boasts the beautiful same art direction of Alice in Wonderland. I’m really looking forward to Disney’s take on the whole world of Oz. Scheduled release date is March 8, 2013

Pixar:

Monsters University: Mike Wazowski and James Sullivan are back together in another Monsters movie! But this time, it’s a pre-quel! The story takes a look at how Mike and Sully become friends at Monsters University. Billy Crystal and John Goodman are back as their veteran voices but the characters themselves will have a different, younger look to them. I’m a little disappointed we won’t get to know what happened to Boo or the monsters relationship with her but I’m sure our Pixar pals will give us a great deeper story into this world of monsters. But who knows, they could be telling Boo the story of how they met and became friends, which bookends the movie. Set for release June 21, 2013.

Brave: This is Pixar’s next big release, which just so happens to be their first movie to feature a female lead/heroine. It centers on the daughter of a Scottish King, Merida. She is an expert archer that does not want to choose between the 3 abysmal sons of other clan leaders for marriage. By her defiant actions, chaos ensues in the kingdom and she has to a Witch for help. This movie looks interesting in that it’s something totally different form what Pixar has done before. From the trailer, the scenery art and details look amazing. It’s scheduled for release on June 22, 2012.

The Untitled Pixar Movie About Dinosaurs: Very little was said about this besides that the story will be centered around earth had it not have an asteroid come to earth and cause the extinction of the dinosaurs.

The Untitled Pixar Movie That Takes You Inside The Mind: This movie, along with the one about dinosaurs, is still very early in planning stages. So much so that they don’t even have titles yet! I pretty much love everything Pixar makes so I think I’ll like these too =)

Marvel:

The Avengers: Now THIS is the movie I came to this panel for. I am in no way a Marvel expert but I am graced with a brother who is up to date on all things comics/comic books. I have watched almost every superhero movie that has been released in the past 5 years, some even multiple times at the theater (I think Green Lantern takes the cake with 3 at the theater…tied with Scot Pilgrim vs. The World – in the past yr anyway). I love Robert Downey, Jr. as Iron Man. He’s witty and charming but he can pull off being a superhero. Chris Hemsworth was awesome as Thor. Chris Evans was a great choice for Captain America. He’s that everyman’s man. It might just push Iron Man from my top Marvel movie. There are just too many stars to go through in the Avengers movie but I am very excited to see Jeremy Renner as Hawkeye. He is an amazing actor, as proved in his roles in The Hurt Locker and The Town.

The movie continues where Captain America leaves off. Nick Fury is assembling heroes to form a mega-group of heroes. The nemesis in this movie is Loki, who is trying to dominate Earth. The Avengers consist of Iron Man (RDJ), Thor (Chris Hemsworth), Captain America (Chris Evans), Nick Fury (Samuel L. Jackson), Hulk (Mark Ruffalo), Hawkeye (Jeremy Renner), Black Widow (Scarlett Johanson), with Maria Hill (Cobie Smulders) as deputy Director of S.H.I.E.L.D. Since the Ant-Man movie is still in early development, this storyline will not include Ant-Man as part of the Avengers. I hope Edgar Wright can get the ball rolling. I love his work! The Avengers is slated for release on May 4, 2012.

This post ran a little long so I’ll continue with other postings of some pictures and other D23 musings.

D23 and New Layout!

In honor of the D23 Expo that I will be attending with my brothers this year, behold! A new layout!

I’ll try to blog about all things Disney related especially in regard to the D23 Expo. For those that don’t know, D23 is the Official Disney Fan Club. Their first Expo, or convention, occurred in 2009 at the Anaheim Convention Center. This is their second Expo and according to reports, has grown tremendously in the 2 years since it’s inception. This year it’s being held at the Anaheim Convention Center (right across the street form Disneyland Resort) on Friday August 19 through Sunday August 21.

This will be my first time attending and I’ll only be there for one day. Hopefully it’s not as crowded as SDCC. From what I’ve gathered so far, it’s busy and you definitely have to line up early for panels you want to attend but overall a piece of cake compared to Comic Con. Whew!

I can’t wait for all the cool exclusive toys and Marvel unveilings. For now, this is what I’ve purchased/pre-ordered from Matty Collector. It's a diorama of Woody in front of 3 interchangeable backgrounds within an old television set.

For information on all things D23, check out the website:

D23 Expo

Recap from San Diego Comic Con 2011

Way too many things to cover within my 4 days at Comic Con this year so I’ll do a bulleted list of the highlights:

· Jon Favreau and Fasion Love walked in front of me on their way to Osterra on Friday night.

· Saw David Arquette , dressed in a white suit with a hot pink unbuttoned shirt standing in front of the Hard Rock Café smoking a cigarette.

· Breckin Meyer walked past us in line (for the 30 Min or Less screening) on his way to Quality Social.

· Ended up with 4 Cowboys and Aliens shirts after going on a mad hunt for Golden Bricks all around the Gaslamp for tickets to the World Premiere of Cowboys and Aliens at the Civic Theater.

· Got all the exclusives I had planned on buying, which includes a 4 hr wait in the Hasbro line.

· Viewed trailer for new Spiderman movie with Andrew Garfield (this year’s SDCC British crush).

· Edgar Wright was at the Attack the Block panel but still didn’t get a chance to get a picture with him.

· And the MEGA-HIGHLIGHT for me was that I finally got to meet Jason Marsden!!! For those that don’t know, he’s played Rich (Dana’s boyfriend) in Step By Step, Nelson (DJ’s rich boyfriend) in Full House, Eddie in the Munsters, and voiced Max Goof in the Goofy movies. I’ve been a fan for many, many years so this was a long time coming, especially after the laryngitis no-show at SDCC 2008.

Of course there was the usual exhibition hall shenanigans with con-ers dressed in cosplay. I was pretty good at keeping my shopping to the items i REALLY wanted this year. We'll see if I can show as much restraint during D23 =p

Only bad thing is, I didn’t score tickets to next year’s con. The lines were INSANE! I’ll just have to duke it out online with everyone else.

Comic Con International – San Diego, CA July 21-24, 2011

It’s Comic Con week!!!!

Hopefully I’ll be blogging throughout the duration of Comic Con but we’ll see how realistic that is with all the lines and miles of miles pacing the exhibition hall floor.

Here are a few things I’m looking forward to this year:

I think these are the cutest things ever! They’re the Mini Muggs of some of the Avengers, with Giant Man as a Mighty Mugg (and thus his head is sticking out of the box!).

After the huge presence Scott Pilgrim had at last year’s con, I was hoping that the amazing movie would show it at the box office, but according to industry standards, it didn’t make the cut. I still went and bought 2 blu-rays of it to have almost the entire cast, author, and director sign the cover at the Amoeba Records signing last November. I definitely hope to pick up one of these at the Mezco booth.

Being a hardcore TOKIDOKI fan, this is a great time to stock up on all things tokidoki. It’s like they bring their store’s entire inventory to CCI. This year I want to get the Comic Con exclusive Captain America shirt that coincides with the movie’s release on Friday July 22.

Also, I totally want to collect the Marvel Frenzies! Soooooo cute!!!

http://tokidoki.it/sdcc2011/

Some of the panels I’m willing to wait in line for are: The Visionaries with Jon Favreau and Guillermo del Toro, The Adventures of Tin-Tin with appearances from Steven Spielberg and Edgar Wright, Attac k the Block panel, the Sony panel, and Universal Pictures panel. Hopefully this year I finally get to meet Jason Marsden during his Cartoon Voices panel too =)