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Thomas Schumacher, who helped lead Walt Disney Animation through its creative renaissance and turned Disney Theatrical Group into a worldwide juggernaut, is set to leave the company later this month after nearly 40 years.

“It’s the end of an era – after nearly 40 years at Disney, the one and only Thomas Schumacher, who helped build our stage business from the ground up, is transitioning out of his role as Disney Theatrical’s Chief Creative Officer to begin his next chapter. He will continue shaping the face of the global theatrical landscape as a behind-the-scenes force focused on the next generation of artists and audiences,” wrote Alan Bergman, the co-chairman of Disney Entertainment,...

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It's funny how "Star Wars" and "Indiana Jones" are both incredibly popular franchises that most fans agree have only a few movies that they legitimately like, while blaming the rest for ruining the franchise and cinema as a whole. If — out of five movies — you only really find "Raiders of the Lost Ark" and "Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade" to be excellent films, do you really like the franchise, or just those two entries?

Before "Kingdom of the Crystal Skull" redefined what a bad "Indiana Jones" movie could look like, it was "Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom...

Veteran motion picture and television executive Frank Price, who had more than one go-round at both McA/Universal and Columbia Pictures, died Monday in Santa Monica. He was 95.

His son Roy Price, former president of Amazon Studios, reported his death, posting on X, “My father, Frank Price, passed away peacefully in his sleep this morning at 95. He lived a full life and we will miss him deeply.”

One of the few journeymen writer-producers to rise through the ranks to head both television and film production divisions, Price headed McA’s TV division in the 1970s, a period of great prosperity for the company, with such series as “Kojak,” “Baretta” and “The Rockford Files.” He moved on to become president of Columbia Pictures in 1978 and then chairman and CEO before he left in 1983; such films as “Kramer vs. Kramer,” “The Big Chill,” “Tootsie,” “Gandhi,” “Ghostbusters” and “The Karate Kid” were released...

Plot: This adult animated comedy spans multiple years and explores a dysfunctional family’s shared history, inside jokes, and old wounds.

Review: Oy vey! Suppose you’re one of these people who thinks animation is simply for kids and can’t strike a nerve that will drive your emotions meshuggeneh. In that case, you’re about to learn a harsh lesson in self-reflection thanks to Raphael Bob-Waksberg’s Long Story Short, a slice-of-life dramedy series centered on the Schwooper family, whose deep ties to the Jewish faith inspire laughs and blasphemy in equal measure in the latest geshenk from the creator of BoJack Horseman.

After watching Long Story Short, I...

On July 2, Amazon launched “Heads of State,” an action-comedy film starring Idris Elba and John Cena as the respective leaders of the United Kingdom and the United States. But the viewership data indicated that this was no traditional two-hander. Representatives for Priyanka Chopra Jonas, who plays a senior MI6 agent and the film’s third lead, used AI tools including Grok and ChatGPT to measure and analyze viewer sentiment; they found that their client was the main driver of the success of the movie — the fourth-most-watched Amazon MGM Studios film of all time on the platform — on the talent side.

With “Heads of State,” Chopra Jonas generated more than double the buzz of her male co-stars, according to an AI breakdown based on volume, headlines and quoting intensity. The conversation around the film centered on the actress at a rate of 50% to 60%, while Cena and Elba each accounted for 20% to...

If you like your coffee black, like your men. If you speak jive. If you know a hospital is a building with patients in it. Then it sounds, to us, like you know exactly what kind of movie you like, and you'reready for the absurd genius that is Airplane!, now streaming on Pluto TV. Released in 1980, Airplane! is more than just a spoof — it’s one of the sharpest, silliest, and most relentlessly quotable comedies ever made. Written and directed by the iconic trio of David Zucker, Jim Abrahams, and Jerry Zucker (collectively known as Zaz), the film is a near shot-for-shot remake of the 1957 drama Zero Hour!, only reimagined as pure comedy. And not just a comedy — it's the comedy, the one that redefined what cinematic parody could be.

The genius of Airplane! isn’t just in its jokes (though there are thousands) — it’s in how straight they’re delivered.

Ahead of its Season 1 premiere on August 22, Netflix has renewed its upcoming animated comedy Long Story Short for a second season. You can also see a trailer for Season 1 above.

From Bojack Horseman creator Raphael Bob-Waksberg, Long Story Short is about one family, over time. Jumping through the years, we follow the Schwooper siblings from childhood to adulthood and back again, chronicling their triumphs, disappointments, joys, and compromises.

Voice cast includes Lisa Edelstein, Paul Reiser, Ben Feldman, Abbi Jacobson, Max Greenfield, Angelique Cabral and Nicole Byer, along with Dave Franco and Michaela Dietz who recur.

Long Story Short comes from Michael Eisner’s The Tornante Company, which produced BoJack, as well as ShadowMachine, which did the animation.

Bob-Waksberg serves as writer and showrunner on the series, which he executive produces alongside Noel Bright and Steven A. Cohen for Tornante Television. Lisa Hanawalt is supervising producer and designer of original art for the series.

Animation had a wild year in 1998. Disney released the action-packed musical "Mulan," which broke new ground in terms of Asian American representation in animation. Meanwhile, Pixar followed up "Toy Story" with "A Bug's Life" and showed CGI animation was (for better and worse) here to stay, even as"Pokémon: The First Movie" took Pokémania to new heights and broke box office records. Most importantly, it was the year when Disney's domination over the American animation landscape truly started to crumble, with three different studios making their feature animation debuts that year: Nickelodeon with "The Rugrats Movie," Warner Bros. Feature Animation with "Quest for Camelot," and DreamWorks Animation with both "Antz" (its answer to "A Bug's Life") and "The Prince of Egypt."

That last bit is especially important. While Nickelodeon Movies didn't stick to theatrical features for very long (with the exception of its "SpongeBob SquarePants" sequels) and Warner Bros. Feature...

Liam Neeson’s upcoming comedy, The Naked Gun, is a reboot of the 1988 original starring Leslie Nielsen. The movie launched a franchise’s worth of sequels — The Naked Gun 2 ½: The Smell of Fear and The Naked Gun 33 ⅓: The Final Insult. But that movie comedy was also a reboot, a big-screen adaptation of the criminally short-lived TV series, Police Squad!.

Police Squad! was the unlikely follow-up to Airplane!, a film that landed at #10 on AFI’s list of the funniest American comedy movies of all time. Based on that success, why would David Zucker, Jim Abrahams and Jerry Zucker turn to television?

They didn’t want to. Like Airplane!, the funny guys envisioned Police Squad! as a spoof of a deadly earnest 1950s drama. But unlike Zero Hour, the overwrought disaster movie that lent its plot to Airplane, the episodic police adventures of the TV show M Squad...

Four decades ago, Police Squad! didn’t log much time with viewers but still lined up an impressive legacy.

Following the success of 1980 spoof film Airplane!, which made $78 million at the box office ($214 million today) co-directors David Zucker, Jim Abrahams and Jerry Zucker hoped to make a similar comedy about police officers inspired by the 1950s Lee Marvin drama series M Squad. Then-Paramount exec Michael Eisner, who had championed Airplane!, offered them six episodes on ABC and promised that the process would be free of network meddling.

Police Squad! centered on bumbling officer Frank Drebin as played by Leslie Nielsen, known for dramatic roles before his crackup part in Airplane! “Leslie never let on that he was in a comedy,” David Zucker tells The Hollywood Reporter of the late star’s knack for deadpan humor.

Co-starring Alan North, each episode kicked off with the murder of a notable guest,...

Summer shined on the Sun Valley Lodge for the Allen & Company’s annual gathering of media, finance and tech titans this week.

But the storm clouds brewing over an entertainment industry facing unprecedented disruption from AI and other tech innovations means possible M&a deals are certain to be raised in Idaho among power brokers at the annual Sun Valley Conference during the usual hiking, golf and rafting on their schedules.

The invite-only Allen event, nicknamed “summer camp for billionaires,” had Netflix CEO Ted Sarandos, Disney CEO Bob Iger and Warner Bros. Discovery David Zaslav captured by photographers as they arrived at the Sun Valley lodge for the annual gathering.

Iger recently turned thumbs down to following Warner Bros. Discovery and Comcast in splitting off some legacy TV assets from future-facing streaming platforms. But Sun Valley watchers will be looking to see how Iger gets to grips with extracting most...

At Sun Valley 2024, Warner Bros. Discovery CEO David Zaslav predicted a surge of media M&a and said he didn’t care who became president as long as deals got done.

Four months later, Donald Trump won the White House and purged the watchdogs of the former regime, as many executives had hoped. With 2025 now past the halfway point, mergers have been muted, and Trump is laying legal siege to media companies as his hand-picked FCC launches investigations into their journalism or Dei practices. That stark reality gives moguls nestling in the woods at this year’s Allen & Company annual retreat much to ponder as they gather around campfires, take hikes and – symbolism alert! – paddle the rapids.

Sun Valley is typically associated with deals, given the number of potentates it draws, and a handful of notable M&a moves have indeed originated there over the decades. But it’s more about the schmooze.

Oscar nominee Kate Hudson will be receiving the Will Rogers Motion Picture Pioneers Foundation’s highest honor, the 2025 Pioneer of the Year Award on Oct. 8th at The Beverly Hilton.

The Pioneer of the Year Award is awarded to those respected members in the motion picture industry whose leadership, service to the community, and commitment to philanthropy are exceptional.

“Kate Hudson’s influence extends beyond her outstanding contributions to the motion picture business. Her commitment to philanthropy and social causes inspires audiences everywhere to be active in their communities and support each other in times of need,” said Lisa Bunnell, President of Distribution at Focus Features and President, Will Rogers Motion Picture Pioneers Foundation.

“Will Rogers Motion Picture Pioneers Foundation is proud to celebrate Kate’s achievements and recognize her with the 2025 Pioneer of the Year Award,” Bunnell added.

All proceeds raised at the event benefit Wrmppf’s Pioneers Assistance Fund,...

Kate Hudson will be the recipient of this year’s prestigious Will Rogers Motion Picture Pioneers Foundation’s Pioneer of the Year award, becoming among only a few female actresses to receive the top honor.

The award-winning actor, producer, singer and entrepreneur will be feted with the top honor by the foundation during the organization’s annual dinner on Oct. 8 at The Beverly Hilton in Los Angeles.

For over 75 years, the Pioneer of the Year Award has been presented to members of the motion picture industry whose commitment to philanthropy and community is unparalleled.

“Kate Hudson’s influence extends beyond her outstanding contributions to the motion picture business. Her commitment to philanthropy and social causes inspires audiences everywhere to be active in their communities and support each other in times of need,” Lisa Bunnell, president of the Will Rogers Foundation and head of distribution at Focus Features, said in a statement.

Raphael Bob-Waksberg, the man broadly credited with reinventing animation with his 6-season, three-time Emmy-nominated Netflix hit Bojack Horseman, is back with more family trauma, but no taking animals, in Long Story Short.

The new Netflix animated series, which Bob-Waksberg premiered at the Annecy international animation film festival on Thursday, follows the trials and tribulations, or as Bob-Waksberg puts it, the “small t traumas,” of the Schwoopers, a fairly ordinary Jewish family.

“On one hand, it is an animated family comedy like Bob’s Burgers or King of the Hill, that kind of show, we have two parents, three kids,” he said, speaking at Annecy ahead of the series’ world premiere. “But the way we’re telling stories is a little different, in that we’re traveling back and forth through time. Not by using a time machine, just in the way we’re telling stories. So in the first episode, we...

After his stint as one of the Monkees, drummer, vocalist and all-around goof Micky Dolenz knew his acting career would stall. “I grew up in a showbiz family and heard the term ‘typecasting’ before I could walk. My dad was an actor and got typecast as a swashbuckling romantic lead in sword-fighting movies,” Dolenz told People. “I knew I wouldn’t get an acting gig (after The Monkees).”

He remembered going into auditions after his sitcom was canceled, with casting directors asking, “What are you doing here? We don’t need any drummers!”

But while parts were hard to find, Dolenz did find himself a finalist for a plum sitcom role a few years later. It was 1973, and he was being considered for the part of Arthur “The Fonz” Fonzarelli on a new sitcom called Happy Days. “I almost got it,” Dolenz claimed. “Supposedly, it was between me and Henry (Winkler). He remembers it too.

Kevin Smith’s “Dogma” is back.

After touring the film to sold-out crowds earlier this year, Smith’s controversial 1999 feature returns to theaters everywhere June 5 via Iconic Films, complete with a Q&a that was recorded at the first stop of the tour. What makes the movie’s resurrection so miraculous is the fact that the film, which stars Ben Affleck and Matt Damon as a pair of fallen angels looking to make hell on earth, had been out-of-print and downright impossible to stream for years.

In fact, until recently, it had been under the control of Harvey Weinstein. That’s right – a movie about angels had long been trapped by a man many see as the devil.

How “Dogma” made its way back to cinemas, on more screens than it did in 1999, is just as dramatic and unexpected as anything in the movie.

Lost in limbo

Back in 2022, we talked to Kevin Smith about “Dogma.

From the Ashes A quarter of a century after its initial crucifixion by critics- professional and otherwise- and a long, drawn-out stay in legal limbo at the hands of a devil, ‘Dogma’ has finally been resurrected for a 25th anniversary tour. Goodfellas, the maverick Paris-based sales company, has acquired international rights to the newly remastered 4K edition of Kevin Smith’s 1999 religious satire. The film will screen at the Cannes Film Festival as part of the prestigious Cannes Classics sidebar, alongside a centenary screening of Charlie Chaplin’s ‘The Gold Rush.’ This marks a major moment for ‘Dogma’, which has long been out of circulation- Smith only regained the rights to the film last October, decades after its initial release. The new deal was secured by Triple Media Film in partnership with Kevin Smith and Scott Mosier’s View Askew Productions. The film will be returning to movie theaters in the U.

Studios celebrate their box office hits — unless it’s Paramount, where even success becomes opaque.

Tom Cruise’s $400 million Mission: Impossible – The Final Reckoning was produced by Skydance Films for Paramount, but Skydance also wants to acquire Paramount, an ambition mired in layers of Trumpian and dynastic complexity. Indeed, the intrigues are reminiscent of those of Barry Diller, the onetime Paramount chief whose dealmaking forays ended in defeat, but then success.

Diller’s new memoir, titled Who Knew, details double-crosses and plot twists among Hollywood majors that could justify its rebranding as Who Cares.

Despite the success of Mission: Impossible, the Skydance morass may trigger a reversal for David Ellison and his billionaire father, Larry. It could further imperil the CBS network and the future of its revered 60 Minutes as well as redefine Donald Trump’s policy toward future mergers and acquisitions.

As I said, who cares? Except...

Barry Diller is not afraid of putting it all out there anymore. The 83-year-old's new memoir, Who Knew, has been making many a headline these days thanks to Diller coming out as gay in it, and dishing about his incredible and storied life-slash-career. But that revelation is just one of several cups of piping-hot tea in the new book — like this new one, which reveals that John Travolta almost starred in American Gigolo, but quit at the last minute due to, as Diller puts it, the "somewhat gay subtext" of the film.

According to The Hollywood Reporter, the book contains an anecdote about how Diller believes Travolta "played" then-Paramount Pictures president Michael Eisner in order to get out of the film. "He slumped down in a chair in Michael's office, started to cry and said, 'I can't do American Gigolo. I'm too sad. I'm still in mourning," referring to...

Barry Diller claims John Travolta exited ‘American Gigolo’ because of the “somewhat gay subtext”.John, 71, was originally tapped to take the leading role in the 1980 crime thriller about a male escort who gets framed for the murder of an ex-client, but was replaced by Richard Gere, 75, after he exited the movie.And now Diller – who was the CEO of Paramount at the time -has claimed in his memoir ‘Who Knew’ that Travolta’s reasons for quitting were not the ones he gave then-Paramount Pictures president Michael Eisner at the time.According to The Hollywood Reporter, Barry, 83, wrote in his book: “He slumped down in a chair in Michael’s office, started to cry and said, ‘I can’t do American Gigolo. I’m too sad. I’m still in mourning [the recent deaths of his mother and then-girlfriend]. It’s the wrong thing for me to do. You have to let me out of it’.“Michael came...

According to Barry Diller, John Travolta backed out of starring in American Gigolo because of the film’s “somewhat gay subtext.”

In his tell-all memoir, Who Knew, the power player recalls a time when the Grease star was attached to star in the Paul Schrader written- and directed-movie before he had to step away. In his book, Diller writes that Travolta told then-Paramount Pictures president Michael Eisner he couldn’t lead the project because he was grieving the death of his mother and then-girlfriend Diana Hyland.

“He slumped down in a chair in Michael’s office, started to cry and said, ‘I can’t do American Gigolo. I’m too sad. I’m still in mourning. It’s the wrong thing for me to do. You have to let me out of it,’” Diller, who was the CEO of Paramount at the time, writes. “Michael came down to my office and said,...

Power player Barry Diller’s new no-holds-barred memoir includes a rather critical anecdote about Star Wars creator George Lucas.

In Diller’s tell-all, Who Knew, he details working with Lucas on the development of the Indiana Jones franchise back when the mogul was CEO of Paramount Pictures.

Diller recalls feuding with his studio’s president, Michael Eisner, about whether to greenlight the first film, Raiders of the Lost Ark, which had Lucas as co-writer and executive producer and Steven Spielberg as director. While making the iconic franchise-launching movie seems like an easy decision today, at the time Spielberg was coming off his big budget box office bomb 1941 and both Spielberg and Lucas had a reputation for driving up costs.

Diller, to his credit, admits he was the more skeptical one, not Eisner.

“After the first twenty or so pages, where Indiana Jones gets chased down the mountain by a giant rock,...

Netflix has set the full voice cast and premiere date for Long Story Short, its upcoming animated comedy series from Bojack Horseman creator Raphael Bob-Waksberg.

Lisa Edelstein (Girlfriend’s Guide To Divorce), Paul Reiser (Stranger Things), Ben Feldman (Mayfair Witches), Abbi Jacobson (Broad City), Max Greenfield (New Girl), Angelique Cabral (Life in Pieces) and Nicole Byer (Nailed It!), along with Dave Franco (Krapopolis) and Michaela Dietz (Steven Universe) who recur, round out the voice cast for Season 1 of the series, which launches August 22 on Netflix.

Long Story Short comes from Michael Eisner’s The Tornante Company, which produced BoJack, as well as ShadowMachine, which did the animation.

The animated comedy is about one family, over time. Jumping through the years, we follow the Schwooper siblings from childhood to adulthood and back again, chronicling their triumphs, disappointments, joys, and compromises.

Bob-Waksberg will write and serve as showrunner on the series, which...

Airplane! is generally considered to be one of the greatest movie comedies of all-time. The sequel, which introduced William Shatner and a bomb-wielding Sonny Bono to the franchise, not so much.

Play

The steep drop in quality can be explained by the fact that Airplane II: The Sequel was helmed by Canadian comedy writer Ken Finkleman, and not the original filmmaking team of David Zucker, Jim Abrahams and Jerry Zucker.

Well, it turns out that Zaz did offer to helm a follow-up to Airplane!, but their plans were torpedoed by legendary director and wine magnate Francis Ford Coppola.

David Zucker recently sat for an interview with right-wing YouTuber, and star of the “South Park of X,” Dave Rubin. Zucker discussed how Zaz was approached by Paramount to make Airplane II, and they even put together a pitch that would have picked up right after the events of the original film.

At a special press briefing at Walt Disney Imagineering in Glendale, California, Imagineers revealed that a brand-new Disneyland attraction, Walt Disney – A Magical Life, will bring back the cherished Walt Disney: One Man’s Dream film, making a triumphant return to the Disneyland Resort for its 70th anniversary after nearly two decades.

In addition to the world’s first-ever Audio-Animatronic of Walt Disney himself, Tom Fitzgerald, Senior Creative Executive at Walt Disney Imagineering, told Wdwnt that while the beloved 24-year-old documentary will be “uniquely adapted” for the new attraction, the core experience will remain intact.

According to Fitzgerald,

“It will still be the journey from Walt’s childhood through to his vision for Walt Disney World and Epcot, told in his own words."

The experience begins with the 15-minute film, and then the curtain will rise to reveal the groundbreaking Walt Disney Audio-Animatronic, who will perform for guests in a special two-minute segment.

It doesn't sound too surprising when a show with a 20-year lifespan decides to go off the air, but it came as a real shock when the cast and crew "Gunsmoke" learned about the show's sudden cancellation. Without a proper heads up that their version of Dodge City was going dark, the long-running CBS western drama was without a proper ending for our main characters. That decision was made on account of the higher-ups cleaning house, playing the time-honored game of out with the old, in with the new. The "good ol' days" era of when "Gunsmoke" was on television was coming to a close, leaving the show in an awkward position.

The best thing you can hope for in a series finale is something memorable to leave longtime viewers with, but the season 20 closer isn't exactly the best note for "Gunsmoke" to go out on. "The Sharecroppers," which aired...

With Universal's latest move, is it time for Disney to make a play for a park in the United Kingdom?

Right now, theme park fans are buzzing about the coming opening of Universal's Epic Universe. The early word is that this new Orlando park is going to be a smash from the start, bringing brand new worlds to life based on Nintendo, How to Train Your Dragon, the Universal Monsters and more. 

Disney is still planning a lot of additions to Disney World and taking a "long view" on how to combat Universal. However, Universal has now thrown down a larger gauntlet with a new park for England!

Set to open in 2031, this new park located in Bedford has some initial artwork, although not much more details on what it will contain. There are roller coasters and the like and it'd be a no-brainer if there's a Harry Potter land for England.

After returning to his well-trod gangster flick turf (and changing Sharon Stone's career) with 1995's "Casino," Martin Scorsese surprised the film industry by turning his attention to a project about the early life of the 14th Dalai Lama. Based on a script by "E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial" screenwriter Melissa Mathison, "Kundun" follows the Dalai Lama from his discovery in a small province to his flight from occupying Chinese forces in Tibet to India in 1959.

This was new territory for Scorsese, who has never been a sure box office bet, but Universal, pleased with the success of "Casino" and "Cape Fear," was prepared to green-light the film. This changed when Seagram hooch-slinger Edgar Bronfman Jr. purchased the studio. Worried about ticking off China, and thus losing access to the country's massive marketplace, Bronfman turned that green light deep red, which forced Scorsese to shop "Kundun" to other studios. Shockingly, Disney's Michael Eisner,...

Disney's live-action remake of 1937's Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs has been making headlines, and not with very positive reviews. From its dismal reception to its measly box office take, it feels like this fractured fairy tale is more poison than apple.

However, as troublesome as production was for this adaptation, it did do one thing right. It serves as a reminder that fouling up the formula of such a landmark Disney classic is a bad idea. To further illustrate just what an impact the original had, take a look at what Roy Disney had to say back in 1994.

If it ain't broke, don't remake it!

If you were a child of the '90s or at least owned a VHS copy of the original Snow White, you know who Roy E. Disney is. Nephew of Walt Disney and partner to then-ceo Michael Eisner. Roy Disney did wonders for reviving the classic Disney image.

When Bob Iger became the CEO of the Walt Disney Company in 2006, he defined his tenure early on. It wasn't through any specific films or new theme parks or attractions, but through an acquisition: He immediately set to work with Steve Jobs and John Lasseter on not only ironing over the previous tensions between Pixar Animation Studios and Iger's predecessor, Michael Eisner, but to also purchase the company. By 2006, Pixar had become an official part of the Walt Disney empire, not just a beloved studio that had essentially been contracted to make a few films. 

Iger would further cement his own brand as the House of Mouse's CEO by engineering the purchases of both Lucasfilm and Marvel in the early 2010s. At the time, buying Marvel made a heap of sense. By that point, the House of Ideas had only barely become a serious force in filmmaking thanks to the...

Casting can be a frenzied game of musical chairs fueled by whims and cocaine right up until filming, at which point you’d better be certain because replacing an actor will probably mean extensive (and expensive) reshoots. The same isn’t necessarily true of a voice actor, however. You can let those guys record entire movies and then let someone else do it all again — and they have.

5 Her

Samantha Morton didn’t just record an entire performance as Joaquin Phoenix’s A.I. girlfriend in Her. They were actually on set together, acting in real time, albeit with Morton hidden away in a four-by-four plywood box so as not to ruin the illusion of being a computer. “It was only in post production,” director Spike Jonze later said, “that we realized that what the character/movie needed was different from what Samantha and I had created together.” He then...

Disney’s most underrated mascot may finally be getting a major presence for the company, and it’s about time!

For those of a certain age, Figment was one of the most magical characters in Disney history. When Epcot Center opened in 1982, Disney wanted to distance it from the Magic Kingdom, which meant it wasn’t as common to see Mickey, Minnie, Goofy and other Disney characters in the park for the first couple of years.

Instead, the mascot for the park was easily Figment. He was the highlight of the classic Journey Into Imagination ride, created by the odd Dreamfinder as a Figment of the imagination. The purple dragon stood out from the beginning with his charm, wit, and childlike eagerness to learn more.

Any visitor to Epcot in its first decade could see Figment all over the place in merchandising. Even when other Disney characters became commonplace, Figment still had a good presence.

J.D. Salinger's 1951 book "The Catcher in the Rye" might be one of the most widely read American novels ever. Its protagonist, the 16-year-old Holden Caulfield, has become a model for adolescent angst, constantly expressing his disgust for the world and calling everyone and everything he objects to "phony." He feels he can still connect with certain individuals as he comes of age, notably younger kids, but that he is growing distant from the rest of the world. When asked what he wants to do with his life, Holden pictures a fantasy wherein he stands in a field of rye situated on top of a cliff. As children play in the rye, it's his job to catch them before they fall off the precipice. He is the catcher in the rye.

Salinger's book has been widely scrutinized and reinterpreted. It's as celebrated for its understanding of angst as it is pilloried for its nihilism,...

When Will Finn's and John Standford's animated musical Western "Home on the Range" was released, it came with an elegiac announcement. Disney, you see, had been struggling throughout the early 2000s. The 1990s renaissance was over, and much of the studio's more recent output was either failing critically or commercially. Films like "Fantasia 2000," "The Emperor's New Groove," and "Atlantis: The Lost Empire" were only modest successes, while films like "Dinosaur" and "Brother Bear" were coming and going without much notice. The studio's clunky sci-fi epic "Treasure Planet" notoriously lost buckets of money, which didn't inspire confidence. It didn't help that DreamWorks was attracting huge animation audiences with films like "Shrek" — a notoriously anti-Disney movie.

As such, to appear competitive, Disney announced that "Home on the Range" was going to be the studio's last-ever traditionally hand-drawn feature film. After that, it was to be 100% CGI. Animation purists panicked, feeling...

Fans now have the opportunity to rewatch Angelina Jolie's action-thriller Salt. The movie debuted in 2010 and was barely profitable, making just over $293 million at the worldwide box office against a $130 million budget.

Salt is now streaming on Peacock. Directed by Phillip Noyce, the movie stars Jolie as the eponymous Evelyn Salt, a CIA operative who, after being accused of being a sleeper agent for the Kgb, goes on the run to clear her name. The movie's ensemble includes Liev Schreiber, Daniel Olbrychski, August Diehl, Chiwetel Ejiofor, Tika Sumpter, and Corey Stoll.

RelatedMarch 21 Will Be a Wicked Great Day for Wicked Fans

The award-winning box office hit Wicked is heading to streaming.

Salt received mostly positive reviews upon its debut, with many critics lauding Jolie's performance and its action sequences while reserving criticism for the film's implausible and convoluted plot. The action-thriller holds a 62% critic rating and a 59% audience rating on Rotten Tomatoes.

In Robert Zemeckis' whimsical film noir "Who Framed Roger Rabbit," the alcoholic detective Eddie Valiant (Bob Hoskins) has to, in the course of his investigations, travel to a particularly dangerous part of Los Angeles. Toontown, located out by Pasadena, is the cordoned-off part of the city where its cartoon citizens all live, and it has been built specifically with a toon citizenry in mind. The laws of physics change in Toontown, and even the buildings are alive and conscious. Eddie, a live-action human, finds himself in constant mortal peril. 

In one standout sequence, Eddie finds himself plummeting off the top of a Toontown high-rise. While in free-fall, he encounters two familiar faces. Bugs Bunny (Mel Blanc) and Mickey Mouse (Wayne Allwine), outfitted in skydiving gear, pull up next to Eddie and casually point out that skydiving with a parachute is kind of dangerous. They eventually offer Eddie a spare parachute...

While Vin Diesel remains synonymous with his Fast and Furious film series, some of his other action-packed efforts continue to fly under the radar. One such effort is his 2015 fantasy film, The Last Witch Hunter, which is set to call Peacock home very soon.

Peacock confirmed that The Last Witch Hunter will be one of many new movies to grace its platform when it debuts on Mar. 1. The film has largely been available for rent or purchase on various digital platforms, including Amazon Prime Video and Apple TV.

Related'Childhood Dreams Coming to Life': Vin Diesel Teases His New Action Film Based on Retro Toy

The Fast and the Furious star has been attached to this Mattel Films project since 2021.

Directed by Sahara helmer, Breck Eisner, the son of former Disney CEO Michael Eisner, The Last Witch Hunter sees Diesel portray Kaulder, a witch hunter who slayed the all-powerful Witch Queen...

Netflix has unveiled a first-look image for its upcoming adult animated series from BoJack Horseman creator Raphael Bob-Waksberg. Long Story Short will premiere sometime in 2025.

The first-look Long Story Short image arrives via the What's New on Netflix X (formerly known as Twitter) account, showcasing the main characters in Bob-Waksberg's upcoming series. Long Story Short's synopsis reads, "Long Story Short is an animated comedy about a family over time. It's about the shared history, the inside jokes, the old wounds. If you've ever had a mother, father, sibling, partner, or child, this is the show for you — and by the way, would it kill you to call them?"

RelatedWednesday Season 2 Unveils Creepy New Footage

Season 2 can't come fast enough after this teaser.

Led by Bob-Waksberg, Long Story Short brings back the creative team behind Netflix's immensely popular BoJack Horseman. The creator will reunite with Michael Eisner's The Tornante Company...

The Magic Kingdom is essentially Disneyland 2.0, as it contains many similar attractions and experiences to its Californian counterpart. However, there have certainly been more than a few changes over the years. As progress marches on, dark secrets are revealed as new experiences take over.

One of the most drastic changes in the park's history was Mr. Toad vacating the premises of Mr. Toad's Wild Ride to make room for Pooh and his friends in The Many Adventures of Winnie the Pooh. However, as Yesterworld shows below, it might not have been an easy transition.

Pooh takes over, Mr. Toad gets squashed

Veteran Park Hoppers out there already know that Mr. Toad and Pooh are two very different attractions in both layout and theming. Where one is a cute and cuddly romp through the Hundred Acre Wood, the other is a chaotic cartoon chase scene that literally took guests to Hell and back.

Quick Links After Decades of Success, the Walt Disney Company Turned to New Leadership Michael Eisner's Leadership Created Division and Roy E. Disney Went to War By Abandoning ABC, Bob Iger Let Lloyd Braun Turn the Network Around As Leadership Changed at Disney, Lost Became a Mega-Hit That Changed Television

The 20th anniversary of Lost's debut has fans across the world celebrating the unlikely hit series about survivors of a plane crash on a mysterious island. What makes Lost even more unlikely is it owes its existence to a larger corporate war at the Walt Disney Company. As executives jockeyed for power, ABC's Lloyd Braun bet everything on the show's success. He was right, but it didn't save his job. The most important thing about Lost's creation is the faith Braun had in the idea. He essentially lifted the title from a failed reality TV series, and...

Could Disneyland's Roger Rabbit ride be on the way out and a new replacement in the works? There's evidence it could happen!

It's no secret that Disney has a habit of remaking some older rides. It's the nature of the business as they want to keep things fresh and with very few exceptions, just about every ride in Disneyland has been altered from opening day.

One interesting case is Roger Rabbit's Car Toon Spin. The dark ride has been the central attraction of the Toontown area since that expansion opened in 1993. Based on the 1988 hit Who Framed Roger Rabbit, it's a fun attraction, sending guests spinning through Roger and his friends tangling with enemies.

The ride has retained a following even if it's been shifted a few times over the years. Most recently, in 2021, Jessica Rabbit got a makeover that added a raincoat over her famed body for a detective character.

Zoe Saldaña is one of our best blockbuster actresses — and she's got the receipts to prove it. In the last decade plus, she's played Uhura in the rebooted "Star Trek" films, Neytiri in James Cameron's "Avatar," and Gamora in the Marvel Cinematic Universe. No matter how natural or made-up her character appears, she brings her A-game. (No wonder she was disappointed that her "Avatar" part felt overlooked.)

Her first blockbuster was "Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl," which unexpectedly turned one of Disney's most famous theme park rides into a successful movie. Saldaña plays Anamaria, a supporting character and a member of the pirate crew recruited by Jack Sparrow (Johnny Depp) and Will Turner (Orlando Bloom) on Tortuga. Anamaria introduces herself by slapping Captain Sparrow and yelling that he previously stole her ship, which he amends to "borrowed without permission."

Despite that, Anamaria is the...

There’s nothing better than firing up a Christmas classic while sitting around a crackling fire or getting your tree decorated. These days, which indeed are merry and bright, can be made merrier and brighter with the right visual accompaniment. And there’s just something about a Disney Christmas movie or special that is even more powerful. Below are 12 great options for a snuggly night in, embroidered and made bolder by that specific Disney magic.

Behold, our list of the best Christmas movies to watch on Disney+ right now.

Iron Man 3 (2013) Photo: Marvel Studios

Yes, “Iron Man 3” is a Christmas movie. In fact, “Iron Man 3’s” Christmas setting is an example of one of the few Marvel Studios movies to be set in a specific time; the rest of them are all part of a nondescript sometime that allows the movies to bleed into one another. This...

Quick Links J.J. Abrams Used the Lost Pilot as His 'Audition' for Feature Film Directing When Abrams Left Lost, Co-Creator Damon Lindelof Wanted to Quit The Season 1 Finale of Lost Was a Perfect Microcosm of the Show

It's the 20th anniversary of the first season of Lost, and the surprise hit for ABC had a strong fall season on the network. As the show went into the winter holiday hiatus, the mid-season finale introduced both the Others and co-creator J.J. Abrams' biggest contribution to the Lost mythology: the mysterious hatch. One of his first ideas for the show was a mystery meant to carry through that first season. The premise for Lost was actually dreamed up by then-abc president Lloyd Braun, who wanted to create a scripted drama about a group of castaways on an island.

Braun knew he only had one shot to get the show made, because...

It can take just a generation for a family name to go from Oscar darling to Razzie frontrunner.

Case in point: Jake Kasdan’s Christmas-themed “Red One” landed in theaters on Nov. 15 with a thud louder than Santa’s sleigh hitting a rooftop. The Dwayne Johnson–Chris Evans pairing, which chronicles the bid to rescue Old Saint Nick after he is kidnapped from the North Pole on Christmas Eve, has mustered just $175 million worldwide to date despite a colossal $250 million budget. For Kasdan, the son of four-time Oscar nominee Lawrence Kasdan, the “Red One” reviews were even harsher than the box office, with the film receiving a 30% score on Rotten Tomatoes.

Kasdan — whose track record outside “Red One” was enviable, with $2.5 billion in box office from the recent “Jumanji” films and others — was far from alone this year. The past 12 months have featured a procession of underperformers and downright embarrassments...

Marijuana is legal in 38 states, and now Cheech & Chong are in the Library of Congress’ National Film Registry. The country is going to pot!

Up in Smoke (1978), the first feature from Cheech Marin and Tommy Chong, is one of the 25 “culturally, historically or aesthetically” motion pictures selected for preservation this year, it was announced Tuesday.

Among those also making the cut are Angels With Dirty Faces (1938), The Pride of the Yankees (1942), Invaders From Mars (1953), The Miracle Worker (1962), The Texas Chainsaw Massacre (1974), Beverly Hills Cop (1984), Dirty Dancing (1987), Common Threads: Stories From the Quilt (1989), My Own Private Idaho (1991), No Country for Old Men (2007) and The Social Network (2010).

Five picks include prominent Hispanic artists or themes: American Me (1992), Mi Familia (1995) — both featuring the work of Edward James Olmos — Up in Smoke, Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan (1982) and Spy Kids (2001).

It’s a great day for Marin, who also starred in Spy Kids,...

Quick Links The Santa Clause Had a Planned Release Under Disney’s Hollywood Pictures Label The Santa Clause 2 Removed Tim Allen’s Trademark Sarcasm From the Franchise The Santa Clause TV Show Aligns More With Movies 2 and 3 in the Franchise

It's no secret that it's tough to create a memorable Christmas movie that sticks with audiences for years to come. Many are produced each year, but few become classics that families will watch together time and time again. In 1994, Disney produced an off-beat Christmas movie starring comedian Tim Allen titled The Santa Clause. At the top of his game in the mid-1990s with a hit TV show, Allen seemed like somewhat of an unconventional choice to play Santa Claus. But the film ended up being successful, so successful that it expanded into a franchise in the early 2000s.

What set The Santa Clause apart, however, from its follow-up installments...

Quick Links Ace Cluck Was Supposed to Be a Girl An Iconic Sitcom Actor Finally Secured the Role Despite Its Many Changes, the Film Was Panned by Critics

Disney's Chicken Little may not be the most iconic Disney movie of all time, but it was a big deal back when it was released in 2005. Fans appreciated the unique animation style as well as the compelling story, even if the film didn't manage to hit every nail on the head. The film also boasted an all-star cast, all of whom added their own sense of flair to this compelling film.

Audiences will recognize Zach Braff as the voice of Ace Cluck, but he wasn't the team's first choice at all. In fact, Chicken Little was set to be a very different film and even had a strikingly different cast. So, who was cast as Cluck before Zach Braff, and how did...

Larry David is reprising his best known acting role on Seinfeld, once again portraying the late former owner of the New York Yankees, George Steinbrenner.

David is playing Steinbrenner in a new commercial for Michael Rubin’s Fanatics, which is releasing a new baseball card set, Topps’ Bowman Draft 2024. The set includes a card that never was: a 1981 Bowman card featuring NFL Hall of Fame quarterback John Elway, who was drafted by the Yankees that year. He ended up choosing football over baseball (probably for the best, for him at least).

The spot, called “It’s Gotta Be Elway!”, sees David demanding that his executives draft Elway over baseball legend Tony Gwynn: “The basketball player?! I don’t think so … It’s gotta be Elway! I want him out in right field with that cannon of an arm!” David says as Steinbrenner.

It is also laden with references to Seinfeld,...