John Lasseter confirmed to Rotten Tomatoes in November 2007 what everyone already knew – Pixar was going to make Toy Story 3. Ironically this is the project that broke the camel’s back when it came to Pixar’s relationship with former Disney head Michael Eisner. Eisner, trying to play hardball during Pixar’s contract renegotiations, maintained that Disney held the rights to all the characters from the Disney-Pixar co-productions and would make Toy Story 3 with our without Pixar. Eisner set up an entirely new internal animation studio, Circle 7, in Glendale to specifically make sequels to Pixar films starting with Toy Story 3.
All this changed with the Disney-Pixar merger in 2006 and the resulting management shakeup; Lasseter shut down Circle 7 and abandoned their work on TS3 (more on this story, and the plot of the abandoned sequel, can be found here). Pixar, who already had a concept of their own for the film, began development under director Lee Unkrich. Unkrich was on the original creative team for Toy Story and co-directed Toy Story 2; he also edited both films. The storyline for the new sequel is still unknown, but it’s targeted for a 2010 release. Based on a treatment by Andrew Stanton, the film will be scripted by writer Michael Arndt (Little Miss Sunshine).
Cast: Tom Hanks (Woody), Tim Allen (Buzz Lightyear)
Crew: Lee Unkrich – Director, Michael Arndt – Screenplay, Randy Newman – Score, Darla Anderson – Producer, John Lasseter – Exec. Producer
So here’s an interesting piece of business that someone posted on the web – a look at the uncompleted “Legendary Years” section of Walt Disney World’s Pop Century Resort. For those of you fortunate to miss out on this regrettable portion of Disney theme park history, the first phase of Pop Century was originally announced to open in December 2001 with completion of the second phase to come in 2003. The opening was soon pushed back to early 2002, and when tourism plummeted in the wake of the 2001 terrorist attacks it was delayed indefinitely. The first phase, called the “Classic Years” and allegedly depicting the years from 1950-2000, finally limped to execution in December of 2003. The second phase, themed to the “Legendary Years” of 1900-1950, remain unfinished.
What’s interesting, though, is that Disney just didn’t not build these buildings, they started to build them – and then one day just packed up and got out of Dodge. The “Legendary Years” sit half-finished, falling apart in the Florida sun. They’re completely untended and unmaintained, and as weeds take over the buildings the general effect is quite bizarre. Take a look:
Kinda creepy, huh? Especially all the materials and stuff just sitting around – like they all just fled at lunchtime one day and never came back. Maybe it was built on some ancient Seminole burial ground; maybe there was a vampire attack, who knows? While the “dust bowl” theme might seem perfect for a resort themed to the 1930’s, they could have at least plussed it with a recreation of Tom Joad’s truck. There have been rumors in recent years that Disney intends to finish the resort as an all-suite affair, but I have a feeling they aren’t going to be too happy when they have to get back to work – all those rusty fixtures and cracked, weeded concrete is probably going to be pricier to replace than to just put in new. So for now we’re stuck with “Disney’s Logan’s Run Resort” and for my money, I’d rather have the place continue to look like a hobo encampment in Yucca Flats than have more of this.
News continues to come in fits and starts from Orlando concerning the renovation of Spaceship Earth. Originally rumored to open in December, then officially pushed back until February, sources now insist that the ride will at least have some soft openings during December. Exactly when and for how long? Disney isn’t telling. But the rumor mill insists that internal changes to the ride are nearly complete, which can be somewhat believed due to the fact that WDI has managed to get around to installing all the external signage for the attraction.
Pictures posted on message boards show a variety of cosmetic signs, including warning signs, installed in and around the building; these are usually the last thing to go up before opening. Some rumors hold that the hangup with the opening date is the “interactive finale”, but this has not been confirmed.
What else have we learned? Well, this story on Distant Creations insists that an animatronic avatar for Steve Jobs will be shown inventing the personal computer. This goes with long-standing rumors that the cheesy “two kids sharing their ironic cross-cultural hobbies” scene will be replaced with three vignettes showing the rise of the computer (similar, one should point out, to the scene in the original 1982 attraction).
While we still haven’t been officially been told who is the new narrator of the attraction, Bruce Broughton has confirmed that he has written around twenty minutes of new music for the ride. Disney published a bit more about the rehab on their site, but as their required login irritates me I’ll reprint the story below the fold. We’ll continue to monitor all frequencies in the hope of finding some info about when the ride is going live. And it had better be soon; Team Tangaroa is T-minus seven days until we hit property…
Yesterday, Disney went live with their new webpage for Toy Story Mania!, the new attraction for Disney-MGM Studios and California Adventure (where it will be known as Toy Story Midway Mania). The page (pictured above) is still rather sparse, but features a few pieces of concept art and behind the scenes images (through the ViewMaster on the left) and a short video blurb by Imagineer Tom “Walking, Talking Press Release” Fitzgerald (via the videocamera on the right).
The attraction, an interactive dark ride set to open next year, seems to be a combination of two earlier concepts. It’s partially a next-generation Buzz Lightyear’s Space Ranger Spin, but instead of dimensional sets and laser guns the ride will use computer animation and stereoscopic 3-D effects to simulate a shooting gallery environment. As can be seen in the pictures on the site, the “spring action shooters” that are attached to the ride vehicles seem quite similar to the cannons in the Pirates of the Caribbean shooting game at DisneyQuest. Toy Story Mania! thus seems to combine the VR technology of the Pirates attraction with Buzz Lightyear‘s omnimover system.
In the ride, guests will pull back the spring on the shooters attached to their vehicles, launching a virtual projectile at a series of targets themed to different environments and characters from the Toy Story films. Guests will wear 3-D glasses, giving a depth of field to the shooting galleries and adding realism. One of the more interesting aspects of the attraction is that the computers running the show will change the difficulty level for each individual rider based on their skill, thus changing the show every time you ride it.
So load your shooters, take a double dose of your A.D.D. medicine and head on over to Disney’s site for a preview. Be sure and enjoy Fitzgerald talking about “the classic carnival games that we all know and love”… whatever, dude. The L.A. Times has also posted a short article about the attraction.
Those of you who peruse the site regularly might have noticed the emergence of a couple of new page links on that handy sidebar on the right of your screen. We’re going to keep a running tally of new animation and park projects, with all the news we can scavenge from around the net. Look for these to get added to in the future…
From the Progress City archives comes this collection of 33 tall tales and true from Disney history. Available in paperback, hardback, and ebook formats.
John Lasseter confirmed to Rotten Tomatoes in November 2007 what everyone already knew – Pixar was going to make Toy Story 3. Ironically this is the project that broke the camel’s back when it came to Pixar’s relationship with former Disney head Michael Eisner. Eisner, trying to play hardball during Pixar’s contract renegotiations, maintained that Disney held the rights to all the characters from the Disney-Pixar co-productions and would make Toy Story 3 with our without Pixar. Eisner set up an entirely new internal animation studio, Circle 7, in Glendale to specifically make sequels to Pixar films starting with Toy Story 3.
News continues to come in fits and starts from Orlando concerning the renovation of Spaceship Earth. Originally rumored to open in December, then officially pushed back until February, sources now insist that the ride will at least have some soft openings during December. Exactly when and for how long? Disney isn’t telling. But the rumor mill insists that internal changes to the ride are nearly complete, which can be somewhat believed due to the fact that WDI has managed to get around to installing all the external signage for the attraction.
The attraction, an interactive dark ride set to open next year, seems to be a combination of two earlier concepts. It’s partially a next-generation Buzz Lightyear’s Space Ranger Spin, but instead of dimensional sets and laser guns the ride will use computer animation and stereoscopic 3-D effects to simulate a shooting gallery environment. As can be seen in the pictures on the site, the “spring action shooters” that are attached to the ride vehicles seem quite similar to the cannons in the Pirates of the Caribbean shooting game at DisneyQuest. Toy Story Mania! thus seems to combine the VR technology of the Pirates attraction with Buzz Lightyear‘s omnimover system.
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