Let the dancing begin! On June 29th, 2012, the Make Your Mark: Shake It Up Dance Off will begin accepting online video auditions for its 2012 competition.
Promotional image for Disney Channel's Make Your Mark: Shake It Up Dance Off, image copyright Disney
Last year’s Make Your Mark inspired thousands of aspiring dancers to upload more than 28,000 audition videos. Disney Channel fans invited to watch the videos online and vote for their favorite dancers. Six semi-finalists were selected to compete in a televised event where the competitors were watched – and voted for – by millions. The four talented dancers of AKsquared were declared the winners and were featured as spotlight dancers on an episode of Disney Channel’s Shake It Up.
Read More: http://www.disney-blog.com/?p=2811
2012 has been a great year for Joss Whedon. Best known for creating the cult smash hits Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Firefly, and Dr. Horrible’s Sing-a-long Blog, the writer/director has had two critically acclaimed films hit theaters in 2012.
Screenshot from The Cabin in the Woods by Drew Goddard and Joss Whedon
Whedon’s first film of the year, The Cabin in the Woods (co-written and produced by Whedon and directed by Drew Goddard), was filmed in 2009 and then shelved for two years when MGM Studios filed for bankruptcy. The genre-bending satirical horror film was eventually bought by Lions Gate in 2011 and ultimately released in April 2012. The film (which stars Thor’s Chris Hemsworth) has grossed more than $60 million internationally and received a 90% certified fresh rating from RottenTomatoes critics who called it original, inventive, and “the canniest genre deconstruction since Scream“.
Read More: http://www.disney-blog.com/?p=2793
I have always been a fan of fairy tales, from Disney’s animated classics to retellings by authors Gregory Maguire (Wicked, Confessions of an Ugly Stepsister), Robin McKinley (Beauty, Spindle’s End), and Shannon Hale (The Goose Girl). Drew Barrymore’s Ever After: A Cinderella Story is one of my all-time favorite films, and who doesn’t swoon over Westley, Buttercup’s dashing true love in The Princess Bride?
Logo for ABC's Once Upon a Time, image copyright Disney
When ABC’s ambitious fairy tale series Once Upon a Time premiered in primetime last fall, I was excited to see Disney’s latest take on fairy tale characters trapped in the modern world, a concept which worked wonderfully in 2007’s Enchanted starring Amy Adams and Patrick Dempsey. The pilot episode showed promise, despite some sup-par special effects and conspicuously rendered backgrounds, but as season one’s disjointed plot unfolded across two worlds (one magical, one mundane), I was often less than enchanted – and left wanting.
Read More: http://www.disney-blog.com/?p=2714
When I was in high school, my favorite Disney character was Tinker Bell, and I was definitely ahead of the Tinker Bell-loving craze. Whenever I went to Disney World, Hot Topic, or to the Disney Store (at the Tanger Outlets in Foley, Alabama!), I was always on the hunt for Tinker Bell merchandise, but the feisty little fairy was hard to find.
Over the years, I managed to accumulate a modest fairy collection which included a Tinker Bell doll, several key chains, stickers, a journal, a picture frame, a puzzle, an assortment of snowglobes and figurines, and my favorite: three Tinker Bell mugs that I drink from every morning. I am no longer actively collecting, which is great for my mental health (and my bottom line), because all it takes is a three-second Google search to be completely overwhelmed by the quantity and quality (and $$$) of Disney Fairies merchandise available now.
Read More: http://www.disney-blog.com/?p=2744
Last summer, the Disney Channel hosted the wildly popular kids-only dance competition, Make Your Mark: Ultimate Dance Off: Shake It Up Edition. More than 28,000 audition videos were submitted online and six talented finalists were chosen. The finalists competed in a professionally-choreographed dance event telecast live on the Disney Channel, and the winners, a team of four dancers named AKSquared, were featured as spotlight dancers on an episode of Shake It Up.
Screenshot from the Make Your Mark: Ultimate Dance Off website, image copyright Disney
Millions of Disney Channel fans tuned in for the 2011 Ultimate Dance Off and thousands more have eagerly waited for the opportunity to show off their dance moves in a new competition. GREAT NEWS! Disney has confirmed that MAKE YOUR MARK WILL RETURN IN JULY 2012 for a second edition of the competition series. Like last year’s Shake It Up Edition, the 2012 competition will feature an online audition period followed by an October telecast of the semi-finalist showdown.
Read More: http://www.disney-blog.com/?p=2716
