Disney and Pixar Announce ‘Coco 2’ is in Development

March 20, 2025March 20, 2025 Michael Lee

Coco 2 is officially confirmed. The animated musical that celebrated the Day of the Dead won two Academy Awards for best animated feature and best original song (“Remember Me”) is in the early stages of development. Disney CEO Bob Iger made the reveal during an investment meeting with shareholders. He also announced that the film reunites Coco director Lee Unkrich and Co-Director Adrian Molina, and they will be joined by Oscar-winning producer Mark Nielsen (Toy Story 4, Inside Out 2).

Movies, Reviews4 Comments

NOC Review: ‘Snow White’ is a Half-Baked Hypocritical Hodgepodge

March 19, 2025March 19, 2025 Mike Manalo

Disney is in a pickle. The company that used to be a four-quadrant factory has to survive in a world where nobody is satisfied. The challenge of which results in something of an identity crisis. Do they aim for progress and alienate half the country? Or play it safe? There is no better representation of this confusion than Mark Webb’s Snow White.

Movies

Disney’s Finds its Live-Action ‘Moana’ in Catherine Laga‘aia

June 12, 2024June 13, 2024 Michael Lee

Last year, Disney made a surprising announcement that their oceanic animated musical Moana would be developed into a live-action film. It would celebrate the islands, communities, and traditions of Pacific Islanders as seen through the eyes of a young woman eager to chart her own path by sailing the ocean.

Animation, Theme Parks

The Walt Disney Company Celebrates 90 Years of Donald Duck

June 10, 2024June 10, 2024 Michael Lee

The Walt Disney Company kicked off a special company-wide campaign celebrating 90 years of Donald Duck with special activations around the world and a brand-new animated short, D.I.Y. Duck written and directed by incoming Disney Legend, Mark Henn.

Theme Parks

Disneyland’s ‘Fantasmic!’ Returns with New Effects and Reimagined Battles

May 22, 2024May 24, 2024 Michael Lee

Fantasmic! — one of Disneyland Resort’s longest-running nighttime spectaculars — returns this Friday after taking a year-long hiatus when the Maleficent dragon caught fire. The show features new special effects, a return of an iconic maritime battle, and a reimagined battle scene between Sorcerer Mickey and Maleficent.

Theme Parks

Disneyland’s Newest Summer Offerings Help Guests Save on Tickets and Hotels

May 2, 2024May 10, 2024 Michael Lee

Summer is just around the corner. That means schools are out, and families and friends are going on vacation. So what better way to spend the summer than at The Happiest Place on Earth? Disneyland Resort is celebrating summer and announcing a new, limited-time Three-Day Disneyland Ticket and hotel offer. These new offerings are a great way for guests to save and enjoy three days of magic at The Happiest Place on Earth.

Animation, Theme Parks

Mirabel Joins New Meet and Greet at Disney’s Magic Kingdom

September 15, 2023November 16, 2023 Michael Lee

Drawers, Floors, Doors, Let’s Go, as Disney is Celebrating Hispanic Heritage month with a magical New Meet & Greet! Beginning today, September 15, 2023, guests can step into a colorful courtyard outside the Casa Madrigal to Mirabel from Walt Disney Animation Studios’ Encanto.

Art, Marvel, Streaming1 Comment

The Problem with ‘Secret Invasion’ Using an A.I.-Generated Title Sequence

June 27, 2023June 27, 2023 Jamie

Welp, the flood gates are open. With Marvel Studios embracing AI art, it’s only a matter of time before we see just a flood of this stuff in all sorts of production. What’s really baffling to me is why they decided to go this direction since AI art is not protected by copyright.

Animation, Movies

‘Strange World’ Featurette Has Cast Promising an Exciting Adventure

November 3, 2022November 3, 2022 Michael Lee

Walt Disney Animation Studios has released the newest featurette for their upcoming feature Strange World. From directors Don Hall (Oscar®-winning Big Hero 6, Raya and the Last Dragon) and co-director/writer Qui Nguyen (co-writer Raya and the Last Dragon), the film is a take on the classic pulp comics of the past and centers on a family exploring a strange world that is just as crazy and bizarre just as it is mysterious, thrilling and mind-blowing.

Conventions, Movies

D23Expo: ‘Peter Pan and Wendy’ First Look Takes Flight

September 9, 2022September 12, 2022 Michael Lee

David Lowery wowed us with these beautifully composed shots of the north western portion of North America in his live-action adaptation of Pete’s Dragon. But that film put a different twist on a familiar story. One that was quite refreshing. But it looks like his take on Peter Pan & Wendy intends to stay faithful to the original, while also adding some new content by expanding on the Peter Pan and Captain Hook dynamic.

Conventions, Movies1 Comment

D23Expo: ‘The Little Mermaid’ Gets a Neat Trailer

September 9, 2022February 15, 2023 Michael Lee

Remember the excitement to hear an animated musical? Looking back, the Disney animation renaissance filled our hears with song and dance. And no other film did that so spectacularly well then The Little Mermaid.

Conventions, Movies

D23Expo: ‘Snow White’ Teases a New Telling of an Old Story

September 9, 2022September 12, 2022 Michael Lee

It’s no secret that Disney has found some critical but much commercial success with their live-action adaptations of animated classics. But these film adaptations help introduce a new telling of an old story to a young generation. And in a way, it is a great way to introduce the animated original to them as well.

Movies, Reviews1 Comment

NOC Review: The Truth is Disney’s Live-Action ‘Pinocchio’ is a Weird Movie

September 8, 2022September 8, 2022 Mike Manalo

Disney remaking its classics has been a completely mixed bag thus far. Sure they make billions. But they’re incredibly hit and miss. And it’s so appropriate that I’m kicking off the review for the latest Disney remake, Pinocchio (2022), with such a statement, because it is a completely mixed bag. And a weird one at that.

Animation, Movies, Reviews

NOC Review: Decent ‘Lightyear’ Doesn’t Quite Reach Infinity and Beyond for Pixar

June 13, 2022June 13, 2022 Mike Manalo

At the beginning of this movie there’s a disclaimer briefly explaining that this was the movie Andy saw, loved, and became obsessed with when he got his first Buzz Lightyear action figure. Andy really needs to see more movies.

Animation, Movies

Pixar Releasing ‘Elemental’ in Summer 2023

May 17, 2022May 17, 2022 Michael Lee

Pixar’s success is built on its original storytelling. From their Toy Story flagship franchise all the way to Turning Red, audiences around the globe have seen the human experience through fantastical stories of the life of toys, monsters, and emotions. But the studio’s latest reveal teases they are going Elemental.

Animation, Movies

Pixar’s Approach to Making ‘Lightyear’ a Sci-Fi Epic

April 21, 2022April 19, 2022 Michael Lee

Pixar may be known for its originals, but the animation studio has also produced a few sequels and prequels for its unforgettable films. While the Toy Story films may have given us a glimpse at Woody’s history, Lightyear serves as the definitive origins story for the brave space ranger that we all know and love. But rather than follow the character as a toy, the spinoff is presented to us as one of Andy’s favorite Sci-Fi films. As such, director Angus MacLane assembled a group of talented artists to achieve that cinematic look and feel that one gets when watching a Sci-Fi movie like Star Wars and Aliens.

Animation, Movies

Pixar’s NASA Research Trip Helped Influence the Look and Feel of ‘Lightyear’

April 21, 2022April 19, 2022 Michael Lee

In 1995, Disney•Pixar would release the first of four Toy Story films, not to mention countless other shorts and TV specials, making them the premier animation studio. And throughout these films, we’ve seen Woody and Buzz in all sorts of adventures. Though we’ve seen glimpses of “Woody’s Roundup,” the show that inspired the cowboy doll Andy played with, Buzz’s story remained untold. That is until Pixar decided to make Lightyear, an all-new Sci-Fi epic adventure that would be the movie Andy watched in 1995.

Animation, Interview, Movies

‘Lightyear’ Artisans on Film’s Themes and Achieving the IMAX Experience

April 21, 2022April 20, 2022 Michael Lee

Time is a construct of which we are all familiar. It’s the universal truth that there is simply never enough of it. Which makes it the perfect theme for Pixar’s Lightyear. Billed as their first Sci-Fi epic, the Toy Story spinoff is an origins story — and film that Andy watched as a kid — for the title character who accidentally maroon’s his entire crew on an uninhabited planet.

Animation, Movies

‘Lightyear’ Footage Goes “To Infinity and Beyond”

April 21, 2022April 21, 2022 Michael Lee

It’s been 27 years since Pixar released the first Toy Story in 1995. Since then, the animation studio has told us stories about innovative bugs, family fish, a lonely geriatric man and his flying house, not-so-scary monsters, romantic robots, our inner emotions, and 13-year-old Chinese Canadians who turn into red pandas. Audiences everywhere have connected with each title emotionally while being wowed at the incredible visuals. So with Lightyear hitting theaters later in June, we will get to see the man that made the beloved toy.

Interview, Movies, Theatre

Rachel Zegler and Ariana DeBose Discuss Latina Representation and ‘West Side Story’

December 9, 2021 Sophia Soto

Rachel Zegler and Ariana DeBose star as María and Anita in West Side Story. The film was adapted for the screen from the original 1957 Broadway show, and tells the classic tale of fierce rivalries and young love in 1957 New York City. From 20th Century Studios, The Walt Disney Company will release West Side Story in theaters on December 10.

Animation, Movies, Music

Adassa and Mauro Castillo Celebrate Colombian Culture Through Music in ‘Encanto’

November 19, 2021November 19, 2021 Michael Lee

Encanto, Walt Disney Animation Studios’ 60th film, is an animated musical that tells the story of the Madrigals, an extraordinary family who live in a magical casita hidden in the mountains of Colombia. Every Madrigal child is blessed with a unique magic gift, like super strength and healing powers, to use to help the family and surrounding town. Unfortunately, Mirabel (Stephanie Beatriz) is the only one who didn’t receive a gift. But when she discovers that the magic is in danger of disappearing, she sets off on a quest to save it while also learning more about her family and realizing her true worth.

Animation, Movies, Reviews

NOC Review: ‘Encanto’ is Mostly Enchanting

November 17, 2021January 12, 2022 Mike Manalo

First of all, score one for Walt Disney Animation for putting out two releases in one year that celebrate different stories from different cultures! With the terrific Raya and the Last Dragon earlier this year, and now the charming Encanto, it’s refreshing to see that the House of Mouse has been more proactive in telling stories that aren’t just rooted in Western European fairy tales. I think Moana really opened the door for this, and as far as our site is concerned, we couldn’t be happier.

Movies, Theatre

A New Sneak Peek at Steven Spielberg’s ‘West Side Story’

October 27, 2021October 30, 2021 Sophia Soto

The Walt Disney Company has released a new sneak peek of the highly anticipated film, West Side Story. Steven Spielberg’s film adaptation of the iconic musical stars Rachel Zegler, Ansel Elgort, Ariana DeBose, David Alvarez, Mike Faist, Josh Andrés Rivera, Ana Isabelle, Corey Stoll, Brian d’Arcy James, and Rita Moreno. The screenplay, which will tell the classic tale of fierce rivalries and young love in 1957 New York City, comes from Tony Kushner.