Promotional image for Jake and the Never Land Pirates, image copyright Disney
Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides may have grossed more than $1 billion worldwide, but Jack Sparrow is not the only Disney pirate making waves this year. The fearsome Captain Hook from 1953’s Peter Pan has returned in a gentler form in Jake and the Never Land Pirates, a preschool-friendly animated hit on the recently launched Disney Junior (formerly Playhouse Disney).
Read More: http://www.disney-blog.com/?p=1794
San Diego’s Comic-Con may be the preeminent event for comic book fans eager for sneak peeks of new properties, but for Disney fans, the can’t miss event is the D23 Expo.
The D23 Expo is hosted by D23, the Official Disney Fan Club. For $34.99/year (Silver Membership) or $74.99/year (Gold Membership), D23 members enjoy special member events, a subscription to the D23 FanFare e-newsletter, promotional offers and discounts, and four issues of the Disney twenty-three collectible magazine (Gold members only).
In 2009, the first D23 Expo was held in Anaheim, California and featured pavilions from Walt Disney Imagineering and Disney Consumer Products which showcased models for future attractions and Disney-exclusive products. There were also sneak peeks of upcoming Disney films and appearances by celebrities such as John Travolta, Miley Cyrus, Johnny Depp, and Nicholas Cage. The Expo’s most anticipated announcement confirmed the planned expansion of the Magic Kingdom’s Fantasyland in 2012-2013. These expansion plans were later revised, scrapping Cinderella’s chateau and Sleeping Beauty’s cottage in favor of a Seven Dwarfs Mine Train and the Princess Fairytale Hall.
Read More: http://www.disney-blog.com/?p=1778
The five week audition period for Disney Channel’s Make Your Mark: Ultimate Dance Off ‘Shake It Up’ Edition came to an end on August 3rd. More than 28,000 videos were submitted online showcasing talented young dancers from all over the United States. And now the real contest begins.
Screenshot from the Make Your Mark: Ultimate Dance Off website, image copyright Disney
It’s time for Make Your Mark fans to make their voices heard by voting online for their favorite videos as the most liked auditions of the day. Videos with a STAR under them have been chosen as featured videos by a Disney.com editor, while videos with THUMBS UP have been chosen by fans as the most liked videos of the day. Videos with the STAR and THUMBS UP are the best of the best, as voted by Disney and Make Your Mark fans!
Read More: http://www.disney-blog.com/?p=1740
If you’re currently in your 20s or 30s, you know that the TV shows of your childhood are nothing like the TV of today. Thanks in part to an earnest social networking fanbase, on July 25th, Teen Nick debuted The ’90s Are All That, a two-hour weeknight programming block featuring a rotating lineup of some of the most popular Nickelodeon shows from the ’90s.
Currently, the TV block includes episodes of All That, Kenan and Kel, Clarissa Explains It All, and Doug. The ’90s Are All That website has even more to offer with a rotating lineup of clips and episodes of Rocko’s Modern Life, Hey Arnold, Legends of the Hidden Temple, Rugrats, Aaahh!!! Real Monsters, CatDog, Ren & Stimpy, and more! Website fans can chat, view media, vote in polls, and enter sweepstakes to win ’90s-era products! Remember GAK, anyone?
As one of the millions of former kids who grew up watching these classic Nickelodeon shows in a regular afternoon lineup, I think the late night programming block is fantastic. Now the kids of the 21st Century can see the best of what the ’90s had to offer, and they’ll have to agree that the ’90s were indeed All That. If the Disney Channel were to follow Teen Nick’s example and bring back some of their own ’90s hits, then I, and millions of other 20-something-year-olds, would be in absolute nostalgia heaven.
Read More: http://www.disney-blog.com/?p=1620
The Disney Friends for Change Games, a five week multiplatform event, officially culminated on Sunday, July 31st with a finale that drew 3.6 million total viewers (with 1.9 million K6-11 and 1.6 million Tweens 9-14), making it the top show on cable in its time slot.
Overall, the event was a huge success with a series of shorts that aired on the Disney Channel and Disney XD, reaching more than 37 million viewers. As reported by Cynopsis, the Disney Friends for Change website had more than 22 million page views and almost 4 million game starts of three featured games which kids can plan to donate points to one of four charities.
Disney Friends for Change, image from disney.go.com/projectgreen/
Over four weeks in July, Disney Channel stars from around the world competed in the Friends for Change Games, a competitive sporting event with an eco-friendly twist, which aired on the Disney Channel. The final on-air score had the Red Team (World Wildlife Fund) decimating the competition with 1025 points, compared to the Blue Team’s (Ocean Conservatory) 700 points, the Yellow Team’s (UNICEF) 550 points, and the Green Team’s (Fauna and Flora International) 500 points.
Read More: http://www.disney-blog.com/?p=1558
