Disney Sees The Light...

It's going to be interesting seeing how the opening of the Mouse's new film does this week...

Why you may ask? Well, it may have something to do with how fast this project gets going. But being as how the company paid such a high price for the script, and in this hostile market, it may have strong enough legs to get out of the gate despite any soft opening of Walt Disney Pictures' "Prince of Persia: Sands of Time" box office. Now, don't read that I'm thinking it'll be a bomb or anything, I'm just saying that success, failure or disappointment will have some weight in how much breathing room Bruckheimer will have with pushing this film into production. Granted, it's Jerry and he has a great deal of wiggle room.

For those that want to know what I'm ranting about, Walt Disney Pictures and Jerry Bruckheimer Films have bought Terry Rossio and Bill Marsilii's epic space adventure script, "Lightspeed."

The Mouse and the Bruck put down $3.5 million bucks for said script. This is an astronomical amount, and the fragile state of the economy only multiplies the significance of this purchase. Rossio and Marsilii were responsible for the Touchstone Pictures film, "Deja Vu" that came out a couple years ago. Rossio, of course, is one half of the team responsible for the "Pirates of the Caribbean" series, the Disney classic, "Aladdin" and the upcoming western epic from the Mouse, "The Lone Ranger." Marsilii is also known for the early drafts of McG's "Captain Nemo" reboot/prequel that Ross canned late last year.

The plot of tale is about a young pilot who qualifies for something known as the Earth Interstellar Racing Team and then takes his star ship on a dangerous journey through a galaxy that is on the brink of war. The film will be live action and most likely in 3D. Sounds like Star Wars meets Speed Racer.

Developing...

Disney Adopts Bastard...

It appears that Harvey Weinstein can't get away from Miramax even after the very public divorce he had with the Mouse a few years ago. When his company, The Weinstein Company failed to secure financing for Quentin Tarantino's latest script, "Inglorious Bastards", the scribe sent out the script to several studios for financing and the winner was...

Miramax.

Weinstein's old home will distribute both films(yes it will be two films, ala: Kill Bill) domestically and Harvey will produce. Interesting how fate can play you a very funny hand sometimes, eh?

BTW, I'll have a review of "Inglorious Bastards" up in the coming weeks as I'm just about half-way through reading it...

Disney Wedding Banned...

Looks like the Mouse likes expensive weddings...

Walt Disney Studios' Touchstone Pictures has made a preemptive strike and paid deal $850,000 versus $1.6 million, in deal for the script "Wedding Banned".

The script is a comedy written by Jack Amiel and Michael Begler about a long-divorced couple that kidnap their daughter on the day of her wedding to stop her from making the mistakes they made. Over the course of the chase as they evade cops and the groom they find that maybe they still have love for each other.

Fire Sale...

The Los Angeles Business Journal had article the other day about Disney buying back the Disney Stores from Children's Place... it seems the Mouse is getting them for a lot cheaper than previously reported. Also there's going to be about half as many stores under the Disney moniker when the sale is done.

Mars Investigations Hired By The Mouse...

The lovely and talented Kristen Bell, whom played in one of the few TV shows of the last few years that I consider great, "Veronica Mars" and then went on to become a villain in the hit television show "Heroes" has been cast in "When in Rome" for Walt Disney Studios. Mark Steven Johnson(Daredevil) will direct the romantic comedy written by David Diamond and David Weissman, the tale of a lonely New York curator looking for that elusive thing we like to call love. She steals magical coins from a famous Roman fountain and is pursued by some men that aren't exactly what she expected Cupid to send her way. Filming should begin by the end of April.

Mouse Pays For The Blind...

Walt Disney Studios owed but independently run studio Miramax Films has purchased the rights to Fernando Meirelles' new thriller "Blindness" for $5 million dollars. The story focuses on a city overtaken by an epidemic of its citizens becoming blind. The story is told from the point of view of several victims played by Julianne Moore, Mark Ruffalo, Alice Braga, Danny Glover and Gael Garcia Bernal.

I'm a huge fan of Meirelles' "City of God" and liked parts of "The Constant Gardener", although I thought that film was politically heavy-handed and don't tend to like preachy conspiracy takes on life. The film was very well done though and received a great deal attention from a guy named Oscar.

It appears Miramax's Daniel Battsek is still trying to stay artsy despite the absence of Harvey Weinstein. Don McKellar wrote the script, which is adapted from Portuguese Nobel Laureate Jose Saramago's 1995 novel. Filming is going on in Toronto right now.