Disney Princesses Become American Girl Dolls in NEW Disney100 Collaboration

Posted on by Mathew Corn Uncategorized

An iconic collaboration is set to captivate the hearts of fans around the world.

It has just been revealed that some of the Disney princesses have been transformed into American Girl dolls as part of a collaboration celebrating the Disney100 celebration. This extraordinary union brings together two iconic brands -the Walt Disney Company and American Girl- to create a magical product like no other.

The fact that it has taken so long for this collaboration to happen is honestly surprising. There is a ton of crossover between Disney fans and fans of American Girl dolls. American Girl is known for creating high-quality dolls and accessories that inspire children to be brave, kind, and confident. They are well known for their line of dolls featuring characters from different parts of history, as well as their “Doll of the Year” series.

This year, Disney has been hard at work creating unique and incredible collaborations with beloved brands. They are doing this as a way to celebrate the 100th anniversary of the Walt Disney Company. Collaborations include everything from a Disney Car to LEGO sets to Disney Makeup collections.

Now, this new line with American Girl Dolls is in the running for being the best collab of all.

American Girl has just released three limited edition collector Dolls based on some of the most iconic Disney princesses. The collection includes Princess Jasmine, Princess Belle, and Princess Rapunzel. The dolls are made in extremely limited batches of 4,000 dolls each and are priced at $300 each. Each doll comes with the full costume from their respective animated film and a certificate of authenticity.

While these dolls are certainly on the more expensive end of American Girl Dolls, these collectibles will likely be worth a lot in the future. It is unclear if more princesses will be getting dolls in the future. There would certainly be a market for other Princesses like Tiana, Cinderella, Snow White, and Mulan.

Haunted Mansion Was Dead On Arrival

Posted on by Mathew Corn Uncategorized

The new Haunted Mansion (2023) movie may become another flop from The Walt Disney Company. Although it hasn’t spawned the level of controversy associated with other films in the past 12 months, such as Lightyear (2022), Strange World (2022), or The Little Mermaid (2023), it will likely follow in the footsteps of a long life of recent box office failures.

In addition to the titles above, additional box office bombs include Elemental (2023), Ant-Man and The Wasp: Quantumania (2023), and Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny (2023). As long as audiences choose to avoid seeing Disney movies in the theaters, the studio will continue hemorrhaging money.

indiana jones and the dial of destiny 5 harrison ford box office loss pheobe waller-bridge helena shaw

It was reported earlier this year that in the past 12 months, the Walt Disney Company was estimated to have lost almost $1 billion in box office flops. And that figure was before the release of Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny (2023), which in the end could lose another couple hundred million.

Walt Disney Pictures hoped the Haunted Mansion (2023) would be a chance to turn things around. After all, it’s not a controversial live action remake, and it’s a movie based on a popular theme park ride at Disneyland (and the Magic Kingdom at Disney World). But its expected box office numbers for this weekend are $25-$30 million domestically. For comparison, Avengers: Endgame (2019) made $357 million on its opening weekend. Granted, that’s an established franchise, but those numbers are from four years ago. But when compared to The Haunted Mansion (2003) with Eddie Murphy, the opening box office is about the same ($24.3 million).

Even though $30 million (at best) is still a nice chunk of change, it’s not a win when the movie allegedly cost the studio $150 million to produce. That figure also includes no marketing or promotional costs, which could easily be another $50-$100 million. Again, Disney seems to find itself where the costs of producing its movies ends up setting a bar too high for the box office. This was the problem with The Little Mermaid (2023), Lightyear (2022), and Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny (2023).

Adding to the lukewarm box office numbers (which usually drop each week a movie is in theaters), the Haunted Mansion (2023) has received few positive reviews. Currently, it holds a critic score of 41% on Rotten Tomatoes (and it drops to 24% when filtered down to Top Critics).

Audiences seem to enjoy the movie with a score of 83%. However, a favorable audience score alone may not be enough to dig the Haunted Mansion (2023) out of its 6′ hole.

For those mortals (and Disney fans) interested in the new movie directed by Justin Simien, it’s in theaters this weekend and stars Tiffany Haddish, Rosario Dawson, Owen Wilson, Danny DeVito, Jamie Lee Curtis, Jared Leto, and Lakeith Stanfield.

haunted mansion 2023 ensemble cast owen wilson disney rosario dawson

Disney Icon and Historian Dies at 72

Posted on by Mathew Corn Disney Parks, Uncategorized

Many of us Disney fans like to think of ourselves as experts regarding topics such as Walt Disney, Disney Parks, and perhaps even the Walt Disney Company. But there are some whose entire lives revolve around the love and expertise of the Disney brand.

One of these legendary experts was Jim Korkis (AKA Wade Sampson) – a famous author and Disney historian. His work includes nearly two dozen books about Disneyland, Walt Disney World, and Walt Disney (the man himself). Jim Korkis’ best-selling and most famous works include The Vault of Walt, Secret Stories of Disneyland, Secret Stories of Disneyland: Things You Never Knew You Never Knew, and Who’s Afraid of The Song of the South and Other Forbidden Disney Stories.

An accident in February sent the Disney historian to the hospital, where doctors discovered various severe health problems. Doctors found that Jim desperately needed a quadruple bypass and had stage 4 colon cancer that had spread to his liver.

Despite a hard fight against cancer, including chemotherapy, Jim Korkis could not beat the disease. It was announced on July 28 that Jim Korkis passed away at 72 years old.

It is confirmed that Disney historian Jim Korkis has sadly passed away today. It will be very difficult for any animation historian or Disney historian to reach his level of expertise. I still cherish his book on How to be a Disney Historian. He will be missed for sure. pic.twitter.com/c18mpw89bw

— Mat Brunet (AniMat) (@AniMat505) July 28, 2023

Mark Goldhaber, the organizer of a GoFundMe campaign designed to help with the Korkis’ household and medical bills, shared the news on Facebook.

Friends, I am heartbroken to have to inform you that our friend Jim Korkis passed away this morning. He was unresponsive this morning at the rehab center and was transported to the hospital. His brother Mike was able to arrive a few minutes before Jim passed. While Jim could not respond, Mike said that Jim appeared to be able to hear him, and he was able to talk to Jim for those last few minutes.

Jim had been feeling good this week, and there really was no indication that things would take a turn for the worse. He did not appear to be in pain, and went quickly and quietly as he had wished.

There will be a memorial for Jim at a date and time to be determined. It will be held via Zoom so that those elsewhere in the US or overseas can attend. We’ll publicize the details once it’s set, but for now Mike needs to focus on taking care of the necessary details.

To those of you who contributed to this GoFundMe, THANK YOU! Your contributions and messages of support gave life and light to Jim over these last several weeks. He was astonished to see how many people loved him. The remaining balance will be used to help pay off his final medical bills.

As I get more information from Mike, I will share it. In the meantime, thank you all for your support.

Thanks,
Mark

The GoFundMe account raised over $40,000 from family, friends, and Disney fans to help Jim’s battle. Any amount not used to aid in his fight will help pay Jim’s final medical bills.

Jim Korkis and Disney Statue

Disney Cruise Line Debuts New Deck Party on the Disney Dream

Posted on by Mathew Corn Uncategorized

The Disney Dream is about to get even ‘dreamier’ this summer as Disney Cruise Line guests can now participate in a brand-new prismatic pop dance party taking place on the upper decks during select sailings.

Complete with colorful new fun for the whole family and a 90s throwback feel, it will be all feet on deck for Disney Cruise Line guests at Mickey’s Color Spin Dance Party, and we’re excited to reveal more details about this vibrant and energetic celebration perfect for Disney music lovers of all ages.

For starters, it’s not a deck party without appearances from Mickey Mouse (in all-new attire), Minnie Mouse and many of their favorite friends – even Max! – and they are all dressed up and ready to bust a move. Each character is assigned a color, and when the wheel lands on their color – it’s time to party!

This unique deck party is interactive from start to finish. After a sing-along preshow of “Into the Unknown,” each spin on the color wheel will have families singing, dancing and yes, even doing the wave and hand jive to unique renditions of iconic Disney songs with an upbeat techno twist.

Partygoers can dress like their favorite character for the festivities or join the color crew dancers, who will don colorful throwback track suits on stage.

Mickey’s Color Spin Dance Party is coming to select sailings on the Disney Dream beginning with this week on the voyage to the Norwegian Fjords and Iceland.

Disney Puts a Stop to Live-Action ‘Lilo and Stitch’

Posted on by Mathew Corn Uncategorized

By now, it’s no secret that the latest Disney movie trend is a live-action remake. But unfortunately, these live-action movies don’t seem to strike the fancy of most fans.

Disney has put a pin in the upcoming live-action Lilo and Stitch.

According to a report by The Hollywood Reporter, the ongoing SAG-AFTRA strikes have affected the production of the upcoming Lilo and Stitch remake.

Nani-and-Lilo

The Lilo and Stitch remake was originally scheduled for a Disney Plus (Disney+) release in 2024. Now that filming has been interrupted, an actual release date is currently up in the air.

lilo and stitch disney plus

Lilo and Stitch stars Maia Kealoha as Lilo, Sydney Agudong as Nani, Zach Galifianakis as Jumba, Billy Magnussen as Pleakley, and Chris Sanders who’s returning as Stitch.