On Sunday night, Frozen added two Grammys to its enormous pile of awards and honors: The smash-hit Disney film took home Best Compilation Soundtrack for Visual Media and Best Song for Visual Media, with the latter award going to the ubiquitous power ballad “Let It Go,” which beat out The Lego Movie‘s “Everything is Awesome” in an animated heavyweight battle for the ages.
The sixth release from The Legacy Collection celebrates the 75th anniversary of “Pinocchio” with a 2-disc set, which includes the original restored motion picture soundtrack, 3 new Lost Chords recordings, plus bonus tracks, enchanting illustrations, original concept art and more.
“Pinocchio” was a groundbreaking achievement in the area of effects animation, giving realistic movement to vehicles, machinery and natural elements such as rain, lightning, snow, smoke, shadows and water. The film was released to theaters on February 23, 1940. “Pinocchio” became the first animated feature to win a competitive Academy Award®, winning two for Best Music, Original Score and for Best Music, Original Song for “When You Wish Upon A Star.” The beloved ballad became an instantly recognizable cornerstone of Disney’s entertainment legacy. In 1994, “Pinocchio” was added to the United States National Film Registry as being “culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant.”
Disc One of The Legacy Collection Pinocchio features the songs and score from the restored original motion picture soundtrack. The album’s extensive liner notes were written by Jim Fanning, an internationally published Disney historian, writer and editor, who has written for many divisions of The Walt Disney Company.
Disc Two features The Lost Chords of Pinocchio – 3 new recordings (“Rolling Along to Pleasure Island,” “No Strings,” and “As I Was Sayin’ to the Duchess”) brought to life the way they would have sounded in 1940. Disc Two also includes 5 bonus tracks performed by Jiminy Cricket (Cliff Edwards) from the original “Mickey Mouse Club.” Russell Schroeder provides an overview of The Lost Chords project as well as background on each song. Schroeder worked as an artist for The Walt Disney Company for 29 years. In addition to Disney’s Lost Chords Volumes 1 & 2, Russell authored several other books including Disney: The Ultimate Visual Guide, and Mickey Mouse: My Life In Pictures.
The CD cover and 24-page booklet feature newly created artwork inspired by “Pinocchio” from Lorelay Bove, a visual development artist at Walt Disney Animation Studios (“Tangled,” “Winnie the Pooh,” “Wreck-It Ralph”). The CD booklet also includes 12 pages of visual development art from the film, with notes by Dave Bossert, Producer/Creative Director at Walt Disney Animation Studios.
Walt Disney Records The Legacy Collection Pinocchio 2-disc set is available for pre-order at Amazon: http://smarturl.it/lcpama1 and at Disney Music Emporium: disneymusicemporium.com. For more information on Disney Music Emporium, please visit, DisneyMusicEmporium.com become a fan at Facebook.com/disneymusicemporium or follow us at Twitter.com/DisneyMusicEmp.
In celebration of the release of Disney’s live action film inspired by the classic fairy tale “Cinderella,” Disney Consumer Products (DCP) has collaborated with nine luxury designer shoe brands across the globe to assemble an enchanting collection of shoes that reimagine Cinderella’s iconic glass slipper. The distinguished designers, in alphabetical order, are: Paul Andrew, Alexandre Birman, René Caovilla, Jimmy Choo, Salvatore Ferragamo, Nicholas Kirkwood, Charlotte Olympia, Jerome C. Rousseau, and Stuart Weitzman. Each brand has created its own interpretation of the famed glass slipper Cinderella accidentally leaves behind when the clock strikes midnight.
“Cinderella’s glass slipper has become a magical symbol of transformation,” said Jonathan Symington, vice president and general manager, licensing, Disney Entertainment at Disney Consumer Products. “Each pair of shoes in this exciting global collection captures Cinderella’s elegance and grace through the lens of celebrated designers, making this shoe collection truly fit for a princess.”
Swarovski, which produced the iconic glass slipper for the film under the direction of Academy Award®-winning costume designer Sandy Powell, provided the crystals featured in the designers’ shoes.
The shoes will be available for order in the following retail stores around the world, as well as in some of the designer brands’ own stores. Please contact the stores and/or designer brands for specific availability:
“The tale of Cinderella is rich in romance and tradition thus the collaboration between Saks Fifth Avenue and Disney felt natural,” said Mark Briggs, Chief Marketing and Creative Officer. “Saks aims to bring back the magic in retail, and what better way to celebrate than enchanting our customers with dazzling footwear fit to make any dream come true.”
In early March, Saks Fifth Avenue will bring Disney’s “Cinderella” to life by creating enchanting fairytale vignettes within the center six windows of its New York flagship as well as select windows in its Beverly Hills location. The windows will prominently feature the complete designer footwear collection as well as select props from the film, including costumes and spellbinding pumpkins. In addition to the windows, both locations will display the footwear collection on 10022-SHOE, Saks’ dedicated shoe floor Zip Code. Lily James and Richard Madden will also star on the covers of Saks Fifth Avenue’s latest March Magalog – the new, elevated rendition of its fashion catalog. The Magalog debuts March 4, 2015.
This iconic story told in spectacular live action is directed by Sir Kenneth Branagh, and includes the stellar cast of Cate Blanchett, Lily James, Richard Madden, Helena Bonham Carter and more. The Walt Disney Studios film “Cinderella” is in theatres March 13, 2015.
Q&A sessions with Guardians of the Galaxy stars Michael Rooker and Karen Gillan, Harry Potter franchise regulars James & Oliver Phelps, William Shatner (“Star Trek”), Liam McIntyre (“Spartacus: War of the Damned”), WWE® Divas The Bella Twins™ and Andrew J. West “The Walking Dead,” a concert by videogame tribute band “Critical Hit,” screening of The Crow, costume contests, comics creator panels and more are among the programming highlights scheduled at the inaugural Wizard World Comic Con Indianapolis, Friday through Sunday at the Indianapolis Convention Center. Most programming is included as part of the standard event admission.
Some highlights of the more than 50 panels scheduled include:
· Interactive Q&As with Shatner (Saturday, 3 p.m.), McIntyre (Saturday, 2:30 p.m.), West (Saturday, 1 p.m.), Anthony Montgomery (“Star Trek: Enterprise,” Saturday, 4 p.m.), Carol Spinney (“Sesame Street,” Saturday, 5:30 p.m.) and Jason David Frank (“Mighty Morphin Power Rangers,” Saturday, 1:30 p.m.
· Dual Q&A sessions with Rooker and Gillan (Saturday, 4 p.m.), WWE® Divas The Bella Twins™ (Saturday, 1:30 p.m.), the Phelpses (Sunday, 1:30 p.m.) and the Boondock Saints tandem of Sean Patrick Flanery and David Della Rocco (Sunday, 2:30 p.m.)
· World Of Warcraft Composer Jason Hayes Presents: Behind The Music With “Critical Hit” (Saturday, 1 p.m.). Then at 6 p.m., the band performs original arrangements and electrifying live concerts of music from the most celebrated videogames of all time
· Costume contests for adults (Saturday, 7 p.m.) and kids (Sunday, 3 p.m.), plus cosplay-themed sessions with Wizard World personality Damian Beurer, veteran cosplayer Mogchelle and others
· Comics-themed sessions with Michael Golden (“Storytelling,” Saturday, 11:30 a.m.), Jim Salicrup and Renee Witterstaetter (“Captain America,” Saturday, 5 p.m.), Tom Cook (“Tarzan,” Saturday, 5:30 p.m.) and others
· Screening of The Crow (Saturday, 7 p.m.), preceded by a Q&A with creator James O’Barr (6:30 p.m.)
· Green Ranger Half Hour of Power with Frank, a karate class for all ages (Sunday, 1:30 p.m.)
· Meet-and-greet with Frank (Saturday, 11 a.m.) (Paid event)
Unless noted, programming events take place in the designated General Programming Rooms at the Indianapolis Convention Center. VIP tickets or additional costs may apply to ensure access to select activities, as noted. (*Note: Frank Meet & Greet requires a separate ticket.)
A full list of Wizard World Comic Con Indianapolis programming is available at http://wizd.me/PRProgrammingIndianapolis (subjects, guests, times and rooms subject to change).
Tom Hiddleston was on the red carpet of the BAFTAs, and he talks here about returning for Thor: Ragnarok, how much longer he sees himself playing Loki, and the way film fans have responded to the Marvel Cinematic Universe.
Five Walt Disney World® Resort hotels, as well as Aulani, A Disney Resort & Spa, were recently honored as top hotel choices in the U.S. for families by TripAdvisor’s 13th annual Travelers’ Choice awards.
Among the Walt Disney World Resort hotels recognized were Disney’s Art of Animation Resort, Disney’s Wilderness Lodge Resort, Bay Lake Tower at Disney’s Contemporary Resort, Disney’s Port Orleans Resort – Riverside and Disney’s Beach Club Resort.
The Walt Disney Co.’s hotel occupancy at its domestic resorts spiked in its first quarter — 89 percent compared with 81 percent the previous year. …
Animated blockbuster Frozen is just the gift that keeps giving for Disney. Sixteen months after the film was released in late 2013, it has picked up two more Grammys to add to the pile of statuettes it’s accumulated.
The story of how Don Hall and Chris Williams, codirectors of the Oscar-nominated animated hit “Big Hero 6,” first came to work at Disney almost sounds like something out of a Disney movie.
There have been many notable parades throughout Walt Disney World’s history. Currently, the only park with parades is the Magic Kingdom. However, each park has been host to a variety of parades over the years. First, Disney’s Hollywood Studios has had some of the most unique parades over its 25 year history. There was an Aladdin Caravan parade when the Aladdin movie debuted as well as other movie debut parades such as Mulan, Hercules, and Toy Story. My favorite parade at DHS was the Stars in Motorcars parade. In this parade, various Disney characters sat in custom made cars that reflected their respective movies or television shows. The characters were the focus, and the scale of this parade was the right scale for the streets of DHS. This park was never built to showcase a parade, so none of the offerings tend to fit too well into the infrastructure of this park. Namely, Block Party Bash and Countdown to Fun were difficult parades to enjoy because they stopped several times in order for the dancers to interact with guests. This sounds really fun in theory, but it led to a great deal of congestion in the entire park, and there were very few spots where you could actually see the entertaining parts of the parade.
Although DHS does not have a permanent parade right now, it does have several special events throughout the year that allow for parades or processionals. For example, Star Wars Weekends involve a parade every day with all of the Star Wars stars as well as many Star Wars characters. During the Frozen Summer Fun Event, Anna and Elsa as well as Kristoff entertained guests with a brief royal welcome procession. It will be interesting to see if DHS gets another permanent parade once all of the updating to the park is complete.
Epcot and Animal Kingdom have each had very few parades. Again, neither of these parks are really set up to host a parade. One of my favorite parades took place at Epcot, and it was called the Tapestry of Dreams/Nations parade. This was a very ethereal parade that utilized larger than life puppets as well as beautiful music. Animal Kingdom had the daily Jammin Jungle Parade as well as the Christmas version of this parade. Neither of these parks have very efficient routed for parades, so it makes sense that they do not always have a parade. Also, Animal Kingdom is undergoing serious changes right now, so who knows what the future holds.
Magic Kingdom has had innumerable parades over the years, but the current daytime parade is gorgeous. The Festival of Fantasy is everything a Disney parade should be. It is lively with fantastic, colorful costumes, and it has a very catchy song. I have seen it many times, and I still haven’t gotten sick of it. As for night parades, I really miss Spectromagic. This parade had a wonderful soundtrack as well as beautiful floats. It is such a shame that it will never travel down Main Street again.
Walt Disney World would not be complete without some sort of parade. Even in its infancy, Disneyland was home to parades, and it will be exciting to see what the Walt Disney Company does in the upcoming year to celebrate Disneyland’s 60th anniversary. Until next time, have a magical day, and keep moving forward.
