Wednesday, August 13, 2014
First Picture of of Mark Hamill on The Set of Star Wars: Episode VII - Updated With Gorgeous Picture of R2D2 in Its Crate !
This is the first photo we've got of Mark Hamill ( Luke Skywalker ) on the set of Star Wars: Episode VII, even Mark is probably standing outside of one of the sound stages that on the set itself. The crew will start soon production again as it was delayed after Harrison Ford got his accident. Ford is now ready to come back and this picture comes from Bryan Fuller.
But i have more for you with this gorgeous picture released by LucasFilm of R2D2 in its crate - and here is say "gorgeous" referring to the perfect photo quality of the shot. Click on it to see it in full size, you'll see why.
Picture: copyright Bryan Fuller
Libellés :
Luke Skywalker,
Mark Hamill,
Star Wars: Episode VII
Marvel Developing a Movie Based on The Inhumans !
Marvel is developing a new movie project based on The Inhumans, a fictional race of superhumans, and apparently the studio has a completed script by Joe Robert Cole ready to go, the next step being to find a director. Actually, not so long ago Marvel had to decide if they wanted to make a Guardians of the Galaxy movie or an Inhumans movie first. They finally choose to do Guardians of the Galaxy first, but The Inhumans might be the next one and be one of the Marvel movies coming out in 2017. More from a report posted by Collider:
"Marvel plans to handle The Inhumans in the same way they handled Guardians of the Galaxy. For those who don’t know, the original draft of Guardians was written by Nicole Perlman, who was part of Marvel’s writing program. That draft then went out to filmmakers. When James Gunn came on board, he added his flavor and details to the story, but the characters, story structure, and beats from Perlman’s draft remained in place. As Adam explained in his recent editorial, directors are brought on board to execute a specific vision."
Collider's source told them that "this movie is part of Marvel not only expanding its list of properties, but actively building a multiple-film cosmic universe."
The Inhumans were created by the Kree in a series of alien experiments they were conducting on primitive homo-sapiens. The Kree ended up abandoning their work, and the Inhumans created went on to form a society of their own. That society is led by the king Black Bolt and his family Medusa, Karnak, Gorgon, Triton, Crystal, Maximus the Mad, and the canine Lockjaw. More info on the Inhumans characters on Wikipedia HERE.
Vin Diesel is rumored to be playing the part of Black Bolt, but Marvel has yet to confirm all this.
Picture: copyright Marvel
New Shanghaî Disneyland Construction Site Pictures !
Stefan Zwanzger - The Theme Park Guy - has posted new pictures of Shanghaî Disneyland construction site, and these ones are even more close shots than the one he posted three weeks ago! According to Stefan, the picture above shows what is probably the Pirates of Caribbean show building structure. And below, most probably the structure of the big mountain of "Roaring Rapids", the Dinosaurs raft ride of Shanghaî Disneyland Adventure Isle.
The next picture shows the Tron Lightcycles Power Run show building with the outside track which will be later covered by a modern style structure. There is many more Shanghaî Disneyland construction pictures to discover on The Theme Park Guy, so jump right now HERE.
Pictures: copyright The Theme Park Guy
Libellés :
Shanghaî Disneyland,
Shanghaî Disneyland Pictures
Rare 1993 DLP Official "Les Mystères du Nautilus" Video !
Disneyland Paris put on line recently on its Youtube Channel a vintage short video filmed when the Nautilus opened in 1993, and it includes a short appearance of WDI Imagineer Tom Morris, but not Tim Delaney or Tom Scherman, unfortunately. Anyway, it's probably the only official video that still exist showing the Nautilus as it looked on its opening AND the attack by the giant squid, too, so don't miss it!
By the way, the picture on the top, which is a double page in my Disneyland Paris book is here in wallpaper format!
Picture and video: copyright Disney
Tuesday, August 12, 2014
Dates of Every Superhero and Star Wars Movies to be Released up to 2020
The list below shows the release dates of every superhero or Star Wars movies that have been announced in a way or another by the majors - mostly the dates and for some no final title - and which are set to be released all the way through 2020. Not only chances are that we start to be over-saturated with superhero movies but it's also bad news for "mainstream movies" which have so much difficulties to find a distributor in our days...
Actor and Comedian Robin Williams Dies at The Age of 63
Robin Williams, the beloved actor and stand-up comedian died today at 63, most probably by committing suicide. Williams was found unresponsive at his residence in Marin County, California and was pronounced dead at the scene. According to Marin County's coroner's office, the probable cause of death was asphyxiation.
Disney fans will remember Robin for his genius work in voicing Aladdin Genie but Williams fame started with his role as the alien Mork in the TV series Mork & Mindy (1978–1982), Williams went on to establish a successful career in both stand-up comedy and feature film acting. His film career included such acclaimed films as The World According to Garp (1982), Good Morning, Vietnam (1987), Dead Poets Society (1989), Awakenings (1990), The Fisher King (1991), and Good Will Hunting (1997), as well as financial successes such as Popeye (1980), Hook (1991), Aladdin (1992), Mrs. Doubtfire (1993), Jumanji (1995), The Birdcage (1996), Night at the Museum (2006), and Happy Feet (2006). He also appeared in the video "Don't Worry, Be Happy" by Bobby McFerrin.
Nominated for the Academy Award for Best Actor three times, Williams received the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor for his performance in Good Will Hunting. He also received two Emmy Awards, four Golden Globe Awards, two Screen Actors Guild Awards and five Grammy Awards.
Here are some trailers or clips from some of his most famous movies, starting by Good Morning Vietnam, directed by Barry Levinson...
Dead Poets Society, directed by Peter Weir...
The Fisher King, directed by Terrry Gilliam, with also Jeff Bridges...
Hook, directed by Steven Spielberg...
Mrs Doubtfire, here in a famous cooking scene...
Robin also played in Jumanji...
...as well as Gus Van Sant's Good Will Hunting with a young Matt Damon, a movie which will bring him an Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor for his performance.
And of course Aladdin in which he voiced the Genie character.
I will add one of my favorite, Bicentennial Man, from a 1976 sic-Fi novel by isaac Asimov in which he played an android.
In fact, it's in gratitude for his success with the Disney-produced Touchstone film Good Morning, Vietnam, Williams voiced the Genie in the Disney animated film Aladdin for SAG scale pay ($75,000), on condition that his name or image not be used for marketing, and his (supporting) character not take more than 25% of space on advertising artwork, since Toys was scheduled for release one month after the debut of Aladdin. Additionally, Williams believed the character's voice was his property and did not want it to be imitated.
The studio went back on the deal on both counts, especially in poster art by having the Genie in 25% of the image, but having other major and supporting characters portrayed considerably smaller. Disney's book, Aladdin: The Making Of An Animated Film, listed both of Williams's characters, "The Peddler" and "The Genie", ahead of main characters but was forced to refer to him only as "the actor signed to play the Genie".
Williams and Disney had a bitter falling-out, resulting in Dan Castellaneta voicing the Genie in The Return of Jafar and the Aladdin animated television series. When Jeffrey Katzenberg was fired from Disney and replaced by former 20th Century Fox production head Joe Roth (whose last act for Fox was greenlighting Williams's film Mrs. Doubtfire), Roth arranged for a public apology to Williams by Disney. Williams agreed to perform in Hollywood Pictures's Jack, directed by Francis Ford Coppola, and even agreed to voice the Genie again for the King of Thieves sequel (for considerably more than scale), replacing all of Castellaneta's dialogue.
When Williams re-teamed with Doubtfire director Chris Columbus for Touchstone Pictures’ Bicentennial Man in 1999, Disney asked that the budget be cut by approximately $20 million, and when the film was released on Christmas Day, it flopped at the box office. Williams blamed Disney's marketing and the loss of content the film suffered because of the budget cuts. As a result, Williams was again on bad terms with Disney, and Castellaneta was once again recruited to replace him as Genie in the Kingdom Hearts video game series and the House of Mouse TV series. The DVD release for Aladdin has no involvement from Williams in the bonus materials, although some of his original recording sessions can be seen.
Finally, Williams reconciled with The Walt Disney Company and in 2009 agreed to be inducted as a Disney Legend and received from Bob Iger the Disney Legend Award.
Four movies in which he played recently are currently in post-production and will be released soon, starting by Night at The Museum: Secret of the Tomb which will be released this December, in which as usual he plays Theodore Roosevelt! The others are: "Merry Friggin' Christmas," "Boulevard," and "Absolutely Anything".
Williams also did a number of stand-up comedy tours, beginning in the early 1970s. Some of his tours include An Evening With Robin Williams (1982), Robin Williams: At The Met (1986), and Robin Williams LIVE on Broadway (2002). The latter broke many long-held records for a comedy show. In some cases, tickets were sold out within thirty minutes of going on sale.
After a six-year break, in August 2008, Williams announced a new 26-city tour titled "Weapons of Self-Destruction". He said that this was his last chance to make cracks at the expense of the current Bush Administration, but by the time the show was staged, only a few minutes covered that subject. The tour started at the end of September 2009 and concluded in New York on December 3, and was the subject of an HBO special on December 8, 2009. You can see the whole show in the video below!
I will end with Robin Williams participation in a Disney park attraction and something which is less known, and it's about the now extinct DLP Visionarium attraction - aka From time to Time at WDW magic Kingdom. The Imagineers originally envisioned to give to the Timekeeper robot the face of Robin Williams - i have the rendering of it somewhere but unfortunately i can't find it back - as Robin did the english voice of the character. But for different reasons the Imagineers changed their mind. At the end Timekeeper's face had some reminiscences of Williams face although he didn't looked totally like him.
Robin Williams is now not anymore with us, i send my condolences to his family, and i wish to Robin the very best, wherever he is now. Let's give to Robin Williams the last word with what he said once on the TV program "Inside the Actors Studio," when he was asked, "If Heaven exists, what would you like to hear God say when you arrive at the pearly gates?"
After a joke about a concert including Mozart and Elvis, he added, "to know that there's laughter."
Pictures and videos: copyright Disney, Touchstone
Monday, August 11, 2014
Hong Kong Disneyland Update - Part One : Main Street, Tomorrowland and Iron Man Experience Construction Site
Let's start the week with a great Hong Kong Disneyland update and today we'll have a look at Main Street and HKDL Tomorrowland with the first pictures of Iron Man Experience construction site!
Above and below, Main Street station, and yes, it looks exactly like the one at Disneyland Anaheim!
But if we turn our head on the east side of HKDL Town Square we can't miss the cranes currently in place for the works on the Iron Man Experience land located just behind.
When the pictures were shot the facades of all the east side of Main street were in renovation with printed canvas on all facades. It's probably over by now, but although we've seen before printed canvas on Main Street facades - DLP currently have one on the Boardwalk Candy Palace facade as well as on Main street transportation building as you've seen in my previous DLP updates - it's the first time that i see a Disney park doing this all at one time on an entire side of Main Street.
On our way to Central Plaza let's stop to have a look at the new shop "Victorian Collection" located on the west side, which opened a few months ago. Stuck between the Emporium and Curiosity shop, i'd like to say that it's okay but the truth is that it's an unbelievable mistake, so unbelievable that it's hard to think how HKDL Imagineers did such a mistake. And the sign over the entrance is terrible, too. Eventually it could have worked if it had been smaller, but the goal was to increase the merchandise space, and even smaller i'm not even sure that it would have fit nicely. It's a pity as HKDL Main Street is lovely and they really destroyed the harmony with this new shop coming out from nowhere, just like it had been parachuted and landed between Curiosity and Emporium.
You'll note too on the ceiling the very ugly ventilation pipes... impossible to don't notice them.
Recently they decided to use the shop for Frozen merchandise as you can see on the picture below found on This is Mr B Facebook page, and it's probably the best thing they have to do with this shop.
Okay, let's move to Central Plaza and Tomorrowland. As you can see the sky was blue when the picture was shot, but it won't last as a storm will come soon.
In Tomorrowland, the structures of Starliner Diner and Comet Cafe have been repainted recently and they both have now the same light mauve color. I't's not bad but i'm not totally sure that it was a good idea, personally i preferred when the two restaurants had two different colors.
Nearby, we can see one of Tomorrowland merchandise carts which have been moved to a different area from where they were before to make room for the Iron Marks works.
While we are in Tomorrowland let's have a quick look to the interactive and splash area "UFO Zone" that kids enjoy a lot.
Right behind, it's Autopia and the land for Iron Man Experience is located on the right of Autopia and behind the Buzz Lightyear ride show building. On our way to Autopia HKDL guests notice these themed fences hiding the works behind.
I like a lot HKDL Autopia not only because the cars are electrically powered and make some cool sounds but also because of the vegetation theming. I think they did a real good job to have part of the land where the cars are moving looking like another planet. As you'll see on the pics below the weather had changed in the afternoon and we experienced a storm which lasted two hours during which all rides in Adventureland and the new lands were closed, except Mystic Manor as it is the only one indoor.
Anyone arriving to Autopia boarding room can have a glimpse of what's going on on the right side, where they build Iron Man Experience. At that time they were preparing the ground, so no building yet to see and only cranes or building site machinery.
When you're moving up for the dispatch to Autopia cars they've placed canvases all along the west side to avoid the sight of the works. However, the storm that happened just before these pictures were shot was so powerful that the canvases had all fly all over allowing to enjoy a panoramic sight of the Iron Man construction land. Click on the panoramic picture below to see it in big size, it's three pics put together with photoshop and it's not perfect but what will amaze you is the size of the land, several hundred meters long.
I remind you that Iron Man Experience is supposed to be a simulator ride - like Star Tours but with a new generation of simulators - but i doubt that they need all this huge land for the Iron Man show building only. I can understand that they need also room for the backstage but seeing this huge space made me wondered if they are in fact preparing the ground not only for Iron Man Experience but eventually to have it also ready for others rides that could be added in the future... we'll see what the future will tell!
O-kay, that's all for today, in a next HKDL update we'll move to others lands to see what's new!
Pictures: copyright Disney and more
Libellés :
hong kong disneyland,
iron man experience,
main street,
tomorrowland
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