Posts Tagged ‘film’
Red Carpet Premiere for “The Lone Ranger” Scheduled at Disney California Adventure
Image copyright Disney
The Lone Ranger, Disney’s latest big-screen collaboration between Jerry Bruckheimer and Johnny Depp, rides into American cinemas on July 3, 2013, but the masked hero will be making an early appearance at Disney California Adventure for an exclusive audience. On June 22 the film will have its red carpet premiere inside the second Anaheim theme park in a charity event benefiting the American Indian College Fund.
In past years, premieres for the Pirates of the Caribbean films have been held along Disneyland’s Rivers of America, necessitating the closure of parts of Frontierland and New Orleans Square to regular guests. The Lone Ranger premier will be held inside DCA’s Hyperion Theater and should have minimal impact on guests outside of the Hollywood Land area. A limited number of tickets to the premiere are available online for $1000 each. Regular guests will not be able to attend the private screening, but will be able to see celebrities (including the Lone Ranger’s horse, Silver) parade down Hollywood Boulevard, and a life-sized train engine from the film will be on display.
We’ll bring more details of the event, and any anticipated effect on visitors, as they become available. In the meantime, here is the complete press release about the premiere:
Read the rest of this entry »
Rediscovered Transcript Reveals Original Spielberg/Disneyland Connection
Photos by Seth Kubersky
It's no secret that legendary film director Steven Spielberg is a life-long theme park afficiando. As a long-time consultant to Universal Studios, rides based on movies he has created or produced (including classics like ET, Back to the Future, Jaws, Men in Black, and Jurassic Park) have been hits in Orlando, California, and Japan. Spielberg is also known to be a fan of classic Disney films; he had composer John Williams include the melody “When You Wish Upon a Star” in his Close Encounters of the Third Kind score, and his film A.I. is essentially an explicit update of Pinnoccio.
But few fans realize how far back Spielberg's fascination with theme park rides — specifically Disneyland dark rides and E-tickets — goes. Thanks to a fascinating 35-year-old story conference transcript, we have a first-hand account of the lauded filmmaker's pro-Disney fanaticism.
The minutes of this momentous meeting, recorded over a week in late January 1978, document the moment when Spielberg, together with pal George Lucas and screenwriter Lawrence Kasdan, brainstormed the basic backstory of Indiana Jones, and solidified the script outline that would eventually become 1981's Raiders of the Lost Ark. Originally leaked on an Internet film site in 2009 as scan of a grainy photocopy, the document has recently resurfaced as a searchable PDF. These newly accessible transcripts reveal the creative energy that birthed this iconic screen hero, and give insight into these award-winning artists' working methods.
Peter Pan Passholder Event at Disneyland this Wednesday
All images copyright Disney
Are you a Disneyland Resort Annual Passholder?
Do you love the Disney animated classic Peter Pan?
Would you like to spend a couple extra hours in Fantasyland this week?
If your answer to the following questions is “all of the above,” head over to Disneyland on Wednesday night (February 27, 2013) for the latest Limited Time Magic event. For one night only, Passholders can see a special screening of Peter Pan at the Main Street Opera House, in honor of the film’s recent Blu-ray release.
As an added bonus, select Fantasyland attractions will be open to participating Passholders for 2 additional hours past the park’s public 8pm closing time. Be warned, however, that my recent experience with extended Passholder hours at Disney California Adventure did not result in light crowds and short queues; in fact, it was exactly the opposite.
Film screening start at 11am on Wednesday. Passholders may register for the event in person at the Opera House beginning at 10am on the day of the event; online and advance registration is not offered. See here for details on the event direct from Disney.
Escape From Tomorrow: The Disney Parks Film You’ll Never See
In the annals of Walt Disney’s cinematic legacy, there are a handful of infamous films that have been banished from public sight for various social and legal reasons. Song of the South, which has been unavailable to American audiences for a generation due to perceived racial insensitivity, is perhaps the best known. The Sweatbox, a fascinatingly unflattering warts-and-all documentary about the troubled creation of The Emperor’s New Groove, is a more modern example that Mickey buried out of embarrassment.
To that ignoble club, the latest member you can likely add is Escape From Tomorrow, the darling of this week’s Sundance Film Festival. Writer/director Randy Moore‘s debut independent feature is a David Lynch-inspired black & white surreal horror flick featuring Roy Abramsohn as a father trapped in a nightmarish theme park vacation.
