Twenty-four days into its release, Disney’s latest film, the sci-fi animated feature Mars Needs Moms, is barely hanging on to 10th place at the box office after another meager domestic haul of $2.3 million. The film’s domestic $6.9 million opening weekend was a major disappointment for Disney’s Buena Vista, and with a current international box office tally of only $34.35 million, it is unlikely Mars Needs Moms will recuperate much more of its estimated $175 million production and marketing budget.

Screenshot from Disney's Mars Needs Moms (2011)

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When I saw Tangled in the theater last December, I thought it was the most charming, romantic, and entertaining (non-Pixar) Disney animated film since Beauty and the Beast (1991). Disney’s 50th animated feature is such a delight that I was simultaneously grinning broadly and blinking back tears for most of the 100 minute duration.

Promotional image for the DVD release of Disney's Tangled, image from Disney.go.com

And now, four months after its box office debut, Tangled is coming to Blu-ray and DVD on March 29th! Tangled-lovers with multiple home systems can even buy a 4-disc combo pack with the film on Blu-ray, Blu-ray 3D, DVD, and as a digital copy (a steal at only $29.99 on Amazon). Members of the Disney Movie Rewards club are also eligible for a free* Tangled bracelet with their purchase of the film between March 29th and June 30th, while supplies last.

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In 2007, renowned portrait photographer Annie Leibovitz was hired by the Walt Disney Company to recreate some of Disney’s most iconic scenes in a series of photographs featuring Hollywood celebrities. The Disney Dream Portrait series originally began as part of the “Year of a Million Dreams” campaign to promote Walt Disney Parks and Resorts.

Recently, three new photographs were added to the series, which has previously featured an eclectic mix of celebrities, from Tina Fey as Tinkerbell and Beyoncé as Alice (from Alice in Wonderland) to David Beckham as Prince Phillip from Sleeping Beauty. The new portraits star Olivia Wilde, Alec Baldwin, Penelope Cruz, Jeff Bridges, and Queen Latifah.

“Where magic speaks, even when you are not the fairest of them all”

Alec Baldwin as the Magic Mirror and Olivia Wilde as the Wicked Queen from Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs, photograph by Annie Leibovitz

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Walt Disney Studios proudly presents its 50th animated feature, Tangled, which opened Thanksgiving weekend to rave critical reviews and a strong $48.8 million opening weekend, just shy of Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part One’s second weekend haul of $49.1 million.

If you are like me and you grew up with the best of Disney dominating your movie shelf (The Lion King, Cinderella, The Little Mermaid, Beauty and the Beast, Bambi, etc), you may still have a hard time naming 25 of these animated films, much less all 50. Below is the full list of Disney’s Animated Classics, from Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs to Tangled, with trivia about each film.

Part 5 of 5 (Atlantis: The Lost Empire through Tangled)

Screenshot from Disney's Atlantis: The Lost Empire (2001)

41. Atlantis: The Lost Empire (2001)

• Although this is the first science-fiction film in the Disney Animated Classics cannon, many of the film’s stars are veterans of the science-fiction genre, including Michael J. Fox (Back to the Future series) and Leonard Nimoy (Star Trek series)
• The production design was based on the style of comic book artist Mike Mignola, creator of Hellboy, and one of four production designers who worked on the film
• This was the last film role of Jim Varney who voiced ‘Cookie’ Farnsworth in Atlantis: The Lost Empire, Slinky Dog in Toy Story (1995) and Toy Story II (1999), and who starred as Ernest P. Worrell in the Ernest film series
• The producers originally planned a TV series spin-off called Team Atlantis, but when the movie underperformed at the box office, the series was scrapped, although a 2003 direct-to-video sequel Atlantis: Milo’s Return was later released

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Walt Disney Studios proudly presents its 50th animated feature, Tangled, which opened Thanksgiving weekend to rave critical reviews and a strong $48.8 million opening weekend, just shy of Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part One’s second weekend haul of $49.1 million.

If you are like me and you grew up with the best of Disney dominating your movie shelf (The Lion King, Cinderella, The Little Mermaid, Beauty and the Beast, Bambi, etc), you may still have a hard time naming 25 of these animated films, much less all 50. Below is the full list of Disney’s Animated Classics, from Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs to Tangled, with trivia about each film.

Part 4 of 5 (Aladdin through The Emperor’s New Groove)

Screenshot from Disney's Aladdin (1992)

31. Aladdin (1992)

• The film is based on the Arab folktale of Aladdin and the magic lamp from One Thousand and One Nights (also known as Arabian Nights)
• One of the controversial versus of the opening song “Arabian Nights” (Where they cut off your ear if they don’t like your face / It’s barbaric, but, hey, it’s home) was changed (Where it’s flat and immense and the heat is intense / It’s barbaric, but, hey, it’s home) on home video releases following protests from the American-Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee
• Because of a conflict with Walt Disney Studios, Robin Williams did not voice the Genie in the first direct-to-video sequel, The Return of Jafar (1994), but later rejoined the cast in the second sequel, Aladdin and the King of Thieves (1996), inspired by the tale “Ali Baba and the Forty Thieves”
• A musical theater adaptation of the film is in the works and set to premiere in Seattle in 2011

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