For five weeks during Summer 2011, dancers who were between 8 and 16 years old were invited to submit online audition videos to Disney Channel’s first ever dance-themed talent competition, Make Your Mark: Ultimate Dance Off Shake It Up Edition. More than 28,000 videos were submitted, and from those videos, six semi-finalist dance acts were chosen.
Promotional image for the Make Your Mark Ultimate Dance Off, image copyright Disney
Now these semi-finalist dancers are finally ready to show their skills when Disney Channel airs the premiere of the Ultimate Dance Off on Friday, October 14th at 8:30pm ET/PT with a results show to follow on Sunday, October 16th at 8:30pm ET/PT. The six dance acts will perform for celebrity judges Selena Gomez (Wizards of Waverly Place), recording artist Sean Kingston, choreographer Rosero McCoy (Shake It Up), and Disney Channel viewers.
Read More: http://www.disney-blog.com/?p=2203
Disney Channel, Disney Junior, and Disney XD are celebrating Halloween all month long with brand new episodes of their most popular shows. The Halloween-themed episodes range from the silly to the spoooky and feature pirates, zombies, aliens, werewolves, vampires, and monster high school students.
Screenshot from disney.go.com/disneychannel, image copyright Disney
Special mention goes to the four-part Wizards of Waverly Place saga “Apartment 13B” which follows Alex Russo and Harper Finkle as they move into a new apartment and uncover the mystery of the building’s secret 13th floor, and the Phineas and Ferb Halloween episode “The Curse of Candace” which features the voices of Hollywood celebs Michael J. Fox (Teen Wolf), Anna Paquin (True Blood), and Stephen Moyer (True Blood) as the cast of a popular vampire movie. Typecasting, anyone?
Read More: http://www.disney-blog.com/?p=2170
When Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl sailed into theaters in 2003, no one expected the film to break records or launch one of the most successful film franchises of all time with three sequels and a fifth film scheduled for a 2013 release. Based on a 36 year old dark ride with a catchy theme song and starring the then-indie Johnny Depp who hadn’t yet proven himself as an A-list leading man, the movie seemed like a long shot, especially after the failure of Disney’s previous ride-based films.
And now, more than $3.7 billion dollars later, Pirates of the Caribbean stands as a testament to the potential blockbuster hidden inside the plastic veneer of every Disney theme park attraction. Walt Disney Pictures is well-aware of this potential and the company has a long history of ride-inspired feature films with even more on the way. From the made-for-TV Tower of Terror to 2013’s Magic Kingdom and Jungle Cruise, here’s a list of all of the Disney films inspired by theme park attractions.
Read More: http://www.disney-blog.com/?p=2114
Disney may have purchased Marvel and all of its comic book properties in 2009, but superheroes aren’t the only characters appearing in Disney comics these days. Earlier this year, Disney Publishing Worldwide launched the Disney Comics app in the US for iPhone and iPad users with plans to expand the app to readers in more than 80 countries.
Screenshot from the Disney Comics iPad app, image copyright Disney
The app features a collection of comics, short stories, and graphic novels starring classic Mickey Mouse characters (Mickey, Minnie, Donald, Scrooge, Huey, Dewey, and Louie, etc.) as well as modern Disney characters (Rapunzel, Tiana, the casts of Cars 2 and Toy Story, etc). The comics range in length with most averaging between 20 and 50 pages.
Read More: http://www.disney-blog.com/?p=2149
Ever since the perky, doe-eyed Rapunzel flounced onto theater screens in Tangled (2010), no one doubted that the royal beauty was a bona fide Disney Princess. But it wasn’t until October 2nd, 2011 that Rapunzel officially joined the ranks as the tenth “Disney Princess” during a beautiful coronation ceremony at Kensington Palace in London, England.
Screenshot of Rapunzel, the 10th Disney Princess, video copyright InsidetheMagic.net
Surrounded by the exquisite Kensington Gardens, Kensington Palace is the official residence of many British Royals, including the new Duke and Duchess of Cambridge (Prince William and Princess Kate) who married in a lavish fairytale wedding this past April. No one would deny that Kensington Palace is quite the proper place for a Disney Princess to be crowned, and the other nine Disney Princesses (Snow White, Aurora, Cinderella, Ariel, Belle, Jasmine, Pocahontas, Mulan, and Tiana) were in attendance for this first-ever grand coronation event.
Read More: http://www.disney-blog.com/?p=2115
