Disney’s Alice in Wonderland opened over the weekend and has already attracted a tremendous buzz of interest among moviegoers and fans of the classic tale. In it’s first weekend, Alice in Wonderland brought in $116 million (which even Disney execs were expecting), topped the opening weekend of Avatar! Yet, for all the hype around the film, there are a few things that audiences might want to know before heading out to see the extravaganza.

First, and this is key- the film is not an attempt at remaking the original tale, or any of the various film versions to date. The plot is based on an imaginative new screenplay written by Linda Woolverton, which is based on the idea of Alice’s return to Wonderland, where she must confront the red queen (played by Helena Bonham Carter) and restore tranquility for all of the beloved characters known from the books.

This is not to say that Burton completely ignores the work of the original author, Lewis Carroll. Considerable research into the classic texts and original illustrations was key to understanding the characters. However, as Burton felt dissatisfied with the earlier films, he decided to strike out in a different direction. Burton also felt that simply remaking the original tale of “Through the Looking Glass” would “infuriate the purists”. He also wanted to remake the central character, Alice, in his vision. By beginning the film with an older Alice, Burton was able to give the character more fibre and greater resilience.

The other classic characters are all here as well. From the Mad Hatter, played by Johnny Depp, to the Cheshire Cat and the unloveable Tweedledum and Tweedledee. And many of the characters are either digitally enhanced in various ways, or consist entirely of computer animation, like the March Hare and the Dormouse. New characters appear as well, such as the ethereal White Queen, played by Anne Hathaway, sister to the villainous Red Queen.

Perhaps the most intriguing thing about the film is Alice herself, played by Australian actress Mia Wasikowska, a little known quantity. Chosen because of her “emotional toughness”, she portrays Alice as a young woman, on the cusp of making important decisions concerning her future.

Undeniably, the film is a visual masterpiece of computer imagery and live action, which allowed Burton the freedom to develop characters in unusual ways and manipulate the actors to his vision. Despite a heavy pricetag into the millions for the visual effects, the film is sure to wow audiences with its spectacular sweep.

Hayao Miyazaki’s Ponyo has been released on DVD and Blu-Ray (March 2nd). This is the first Miyazaki film to hit Blu-Ray so it should be pure eye candy. Ponyo is based on the Little Mermaid as it’s about a 5-year old boy who meets a goldfish princess that wants to be human.

The runtime on Ponyo is 101 minutes and our users seem to love it. While Ponyo only did $15 million here in the United States, it did $185 million elsewhere. It has won 6 awards including Best Animated Feature from a number of associates.

To help celebrate this release here is the Ponyo theme song by Noah Cyrus (yes, Miley’s sister) and Frankie Jonas.

Recently, we wrote about all the Kurt Russell disney movies and with the Winter Olympics coming to a close I couldn’t help but dig a little deeper into one of the greatest speeches in sports movie history. In Disney’s Miracle Coach Herb Brooks (Russell) delivers a truly inspiring talk to the US hockey team before they face Russia in the semi-finals.

You can view that speech below but here is also a mashup of that speech in visual form.

Remember Captain EO with Michael Jackson? I remember seeing it at Disney World when I was a kid. Well, starting today Disneyland is bringing back Captain EO back as it will be replacing the Honey I Shrunk the Audience attraction in Tomorrowland.

Captain EO, a short film produced by George Lucas, originally ran in Tomorrowland from 1986 to 1997. The film is about Captain EO (Jackson) who along with his space crew travels to a planet to deliver a gift to the evil Witch Queen. In the end, EO see the inner beauty of the Queen and convinces her to change her ways.

Watch the full version below:

PART 1

PART 2

On Sunday night, Valentine’s Day, more than 2.3 million kids between the ages 9 – 14 watched the premiere of Disney Channel’s Starstruck. This figure was the highest total ever for that tween age group in that Sunday 8pm time slot. Overall, it recorded 6 million viewers…more than double than that of the NBC’s Winter Olympics in the kids demographic.

Starstruck is Disney Channel’s 78th Orignal Movie and is about Mid-western girl Jessica Olson (Danielle Campbell) who meets Hollywood pop star Christopher Wilder (Sterling Knight). They immediately fall for one another but their love is tested when Wilder denies their relationship after Olson returns home.

The success of Starstruck wasn’t much of a surprise as it also stars Brandon Smith, who, along with Knight, stars in Disney’s super popular tv series Sonny With A Chance.

A new trailer for Toy Story 3 was released today giving us some additional scenes that we have not yet seen before in any of the other trailers. The most notable would be the meeting of Barbie and Ken. Not thrilled with Barbies response back to Ken (another cheap sexual innuendo in a kids film). However, did laugh at the Lincoln logs joke and it seems that Toy Story 3 is going to be just as big of a treat as the previous two. The trailer also shows a scene with Woody taken from a Mission Impossible scene.

Mission Impossible:

Woody Impossible:

Here is the trailer, enjoy:

The Tron Legacy is really starting to pick up. Here is a recent photo that we pulled from coolcarsandbikes.com. I gotta say this is personally, one of the most anticipated Disney films for me.

Bloggers at i09 are saying that buzz coming from the Disney camp is that they are having so much fun making Tron Legacy, that a possible series of films or tv series is being talked about. It’s likely that we’ll be seeing the trailers for Tron Legacy before Alice in Wonderland which will be in theaters on March 5th.

The below photo was released without any details. Of course, it’s Flynn (Jeff Bridges), and he seems to be either in prison or exile. Perhaps waiting to be rescued? What’s that disc on his back?

Tron Legacy is scheduled for a Dec. 10 release and will probably be a must to see in 3-D!

For whatever reason, there are a number of actors and actresses that Disney seems to love having in their films. Or perhaps, it’s mutual and both parties enjoy being in Disney films. Whatever the reason, from time to time, we will highlight those people and give you the full list of Disney movies they appear in.

Here is the list of Disney movies that Kurt Russell has appeared in:

• Sky High – 2005 – Steve Stronghold
• Miracle – 2004 – Coach Herb Brooks
• The Fox and the Hound – 1981 – Voice of Adult Cooper
• The Strongest Man In The World – 1975 – Dexter Riley
• Now You See Him, Now You Don’t – 1972 – Dexter Riley
• The Barefoot Executive – 1971 – Steven Post
• The Computer Wore Tennis Shoes – 1969 – Dexter Riley
• The Horse in the Gray Flannel Suit – 1968 – Ronnie Gardner
• The One and Only, Geniune, Original Family Band – 1968 – Sidney Bower

Walt Disney Pictures will be shooting scenes for their fourth “Pirates of the Caribbean” film in Kauai and Oahu, Hawaii this summer, it was announced.

Entitled “Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides,” Johnny Depp will return to his award-nominated role of Captain Jack Sparrow, his surly crew of fellow pirates coming along for the ride. In this film, Sparrow and his nemesis, Captain Hector Barbossa (played by Geoffrey Rush) find themselves on a mission to locate the Fountain of Youth.

“On Stranger Tides” is slated for cinema release in May of 2011. Rob Marshall, whose past director works include “Annie” and “Memoirs of a Geisha,” will be taking over where former director Gore Verbinski left off.

“The Walt Disney Co. has a great relationship with Hawaii that we’re looking forward to building upon with the filming of the latest adventures of Captain Jack Sparrow and his crew,” said Bob Iger, president and CEO of the Walt Disney Company. Iger paid a special visit to inform Governor Linda Lingle of the news. Though only portions of the film are expected to the shot there, it will generate an estimated $85 million for the local economy, from both direct and indirect spending.

Jerry Bruckheimer, the producer of “Pirates,” had this to say in a statement. “We’ve always sought out the most extraordinary and exotic locations for the ‘Pirates of the Caribbean’ films … Hawaii provides an amazing range of both land and seascapes, and we’re delighted to return for ‘On Stranger Tides.’”

Disney is no stranger to Hawaii, as they have used the tropical getaway several times in the past. “Pirates of the Caribbean: At World’s End” was also shot there, along with “George of the Jungle” (1997), and “Pearl Harbor” (2001). ABC, which is also owned by Disney, has shot their successful television drama “Lost” there.

In the meantime, a new Disney resort to be located in Hawaii is undergoing construction, set to open in 2011.

With the 2000’s decade coming to a close I thought it would be interesting to take a look at what the top films were the past 10 years at the box office. As you can see below the Pirates of the Caribbean films did extremely as did pretty much all of the Pixar films. From these numbers it easy to see 2 things. First, when Disney bought Pixar, that was a no-brainer. And the other no-brainer, keep making more POC movies, which is happening as Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides is currently in production.

Top Worldwide Disney Movies At The Box Office From 2000 – 2009:

1. Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man’s Chest – $1,066,200,000
2. Pirates of the Caribbean: At World’s End – $961,000,000
3. Finding Nemo – $864,600,000
4. Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, Witch, Wardrobe – $745,000,000
5. Up – $723,000,000
6. Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl – $654,300,000
7. The Incredibles – $631,4000,000
8. Ratatouille – $623,7000,000
9. Monsters, Inc. – 525,400,000
10. WALL-E – $521,300,000

Top Domestic Disney Movies At The Box Office From 2000 – 2009:

1. Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man’s Chest – $423,315,812
2. Finding Nemo – $339,714,978
3. Pirates of the Caribbean: At World’s End – $309,420,425
4. Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl – $305,413,918
5. Up – $293,004,164
6. Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, Witch, Wardrobe – $291,710,957
7. The Incredibles – $261,441,092
8. Monsters, Inc. – $255,873,250
9. Cars – $244,082,982
10. Wall-E – $223,808,164