Disney's Martial Arts Snow White Finally A Go

Francis Lawrence has signed on to direct Disney's long-gestating martial arts take on the Snow White story. The working title has Snow and the Seven for some time though this has long been earmarked for replacement.

According to new and old reports, the lead character, Snow, is a member of British aristocracy raised in China. She leads seven Shaolin monks into battle against an evil 'force' (read: wicked witch). Rumour has it that Natalie Portman has the part already in the bag, but these don't seem to be very credible rumours. Finding the seven Shaolin monks shouldn't be too hard - maybe this is the perfect excuse a Shaolin Soccer reunion?

Yuen Woo Ping is choreographing the fights and acrobatics. That's a very good thing.

The Princess And The Frog Scene Set For - BLIMEY - The Song Of The South DVD

Jim Hill knows Disney. He knows Disney up, down, left to right and inside out. If he says something Disney, I believe it.

According to his latest roundup, a Song of the South DVD is finally imminent. The thinking is that such much-desired titles will be necessary on the release schedule to make up for the countless direct-to-DVD-sequels that have now been nixed.

Jim even goes so far as to say that when the Song DVD does launch - late next year seems to be a realistic timeframe - that it will contain a scene from The Princess and the Frog.

It might seem cynical, but The Princess and the Frog, being the first African-American-centric Disney toon, is being positioned as an answer to Song of the South's critics.

Of which I am not really one, but, yes, I do see the controversy.

Well, it's all good news if you ask me. Song of the South can come out and be understood and appreciated for what it is; we all get an early look at the Princess and the Frog; Disney moves on and starts dealing with a wider scope, more varied range of settings, characters and stories.

Maybe they'll start shaking the demographic of their creative leads up a little too, eh?

Par Bleu! More Ratatouille Goodness

Disney-Pixar Productions has alerted us to some Ratatouille goodness for you all, via YouTube. Enjoy!

Two are rough animation workouts, both starring Emile the rat: Emile's Workout and Emile's Magic Trick

Very cute. I can't say I'm too keen to see this movie (I'm much more excited for a certain little robot) but I do love chubby rats.

[EDIT: I, on the other hand, simply cannot wait - Brendon]

There's also 9 minutes of the film that you can watch here to whet your appetite.

Depending how hungry you are, YouTube has plenty more tasty videos to keep you satisfied until the main course is released on June 29th.

And if that isn't enough, Disney has also put up an enormous collection of movie stills for you to feast your eyes upon.

(I really didn't mean to make so many dining references, but it just happened. But given that culinary title that I still can't spell, it seems appropriate.)

Pixar Shorts DVD Edging Closer

The Disney Enquirer has discovered the recently registered domain names PixarShorts and DisneyPixarShorts (both dot com). These are about the only film ick relevant entries in an unusally quiet Disney Domains update.

A DVD of Pixar shorts has been a long time coming, Will it make the shelves in time for Christmas? I certainly hope so, and I hope there's some new material on there too. At the very least it will be good to see some of the more rarely screened bits and pieces (Red's Dream, The Adventures of Andre and Wally B) all over again. And again. And again.

Movie Minesweeper - The Mini Minesweeper

I've just found out the UK press screening of Transformers coincides with a Wedding I not only have to attend, I have to 'film'. Very disappointing.

Here's a small-ish Minesweeper update to take my mind off of the disappointment.

- Michael Apted has signed on to direct Voyage of the Dawn Treader. Where were those Neil Burger rumours coming from? And where did they vanish to?

- Zac Efron's debut star vehicle is Seventeen, pitched as Big in reverse and written by Bringing Down the House's Jason Filardi. Which only reminds me how much I love Big and don't like Bringing Down the House at all. Interestingly, Efron is already making weak excuses for his non-involvement in Haunted High School Musical in the mini-interview. Why can't people just be honest about their real motivations?

- The Ridley Scott/Monopoly story has been bouncing around for at least nine days. I didn't buy it then, and I don't buy it now. Though I do know exactly how it could work and... actually, I've just cracked it. A great idea for a Monopoly movie. Hmmmm.... I'll probably have forgotten it by morning, but at least I won't be so cynical about the movie now. Probably.

- Melvil Poupaud is to play a race commentator in Speed Racer.

- SlashFilm has saved our memories and imaginations the bother by putting John Lennon and Yoko Ono alongside Dane Cook and Jessica Alba.

- Jim Broadbent has confirmed his Indy IV role - a Professor at Yale. Teeny cameo? I hope not.

- Talking of that Jones boy, MTV have the first look at Lego Indy. Tee and indeed hee.

- The AV Club have spoken to Joe Dante. Read it.

- The estate of Dr. Seuss have refused to sanction the name Sam I Am for Christina Applegate's new show. The replacement? Samanth Be Good. Better.

- Paul Reubens has a role in Todd Solondz' new film. That strikes me as a perfect combination.

- This all comes from Variety: Harvey Keitel, Willem Dafoe, Bruno Ganz and Valeria Golino (three and a half out of four is pretty grand) are to star in Theo Angelopoulos' Dust of Time. Meanwhile, Susan Nettlebeck has cast Gillian Anderson and Jeffrey Dean Morgan in Helen.

- Disney aren't the only US animation house forging alliances in India. Time Warner are also up to the same trick.

Direct Download Links For Two Ratatouille Podcasts

You can directly download Getting Into Character and The Comedians of Ratatouille now.

Direct Download Links For The New Ratatouille TV Spot

Choose from low, medium or high resolution versions of this Quicktime standard-def TV spot for Ratatouille.

Direct Download Links For The Wall-E Trailer

You need to see this now. This is the trailer for Pixar's Wall-E.

Choose from low, medium and high res standard definition and 480p, 720p and 1080p high definition.

Oh - and it has some of Michael Kamen's score from Brazil in it. Always nice.

Direct Download Link For Ratatouille Animation Progress Reel

This is great. A clip from Ratatouille, progressing from storyboard to full, finished render.

Download it now.

Rat Sneaking

No, this is not another post about Nikki Finke.

According to Box Office Mojo, there are to be 800 sneak preview screenings of Ratatouille, all over the US, this very weekend. I have to wait months to see this film here in the UK. I promise, if money was no object I'd be on a plane in the next couple of days and in line on Saturday night.

Movie Minesweeper - The Sparkling Florida Orange Edition

- Anchor Bay are to release Zak Penn's The Grand across the continent of North America. But why are they still being called Anchor Bay? I thought that was on the way out.

- Another Poker film is about to go into production. Johnathon Schaech is starring and has co-written the screenplay, from Ed Gorman's novel, The Poker Club.

- Gus Van Sant is to direct the first film adaptation of Tom Wolfe's The Electric Kool-Aid Acid Test. It won't be the last - those times and places are becoming more and more romanticised by the week, and after this version fails to set the world on fire, the slow turning gears will get in motion again, I'm sure.

- Paramount are to distribute Strange Wilderness. Despite the presence of film ick favourite Steve Zahn - plus Jordan Hill, Justin Long and Jeff Garlin - I'm having difficulty getting up any interest for this one.

- Didn't we already know that Escape From Planet Earth was going to be in 3D? Maybe not - but ever since I first mentioned the film last summer, I've been convinced of its turkey status. 3D isn't going to change that.

- Harald Zwart has signed on to direct the next Pink Panther film. Of Shaun Levy, the last Panther's director, and Zwart - I'd take Levy any day of the week.

- Elizabeth Banks is to play the wicked stepmother part in the US remake of A Tale of Two Sisters. Good casting.

- After a very long engagement, McG is finally wed to his next project: Me and My Monster. I like McG a lot - even though I'm only judging him on two films. I'm keen to see We Are Marshall to see him operating in a whole new style, but I'm quite impressed by both of the Charlie's Angels films. Yes. Both. The story is about an adult who had a childhood imaginary monster friend that has hung around - Drop Dead Fred style? I'm hoping the monster will be more Sweetums than Eragon, more Sulley than Pennywise, more Lirpa Loof than Nobby the House Elf.

- Thundercats is to be a CG film on the TMNT model, rather than live action, as per Transformers.

- Natalie Portman turned down a role in the stage adaptation of All About My Mother. The Penelope Cruz role, I'd imagine.

- Tilly Guest has created her very own series of Derren Brown comic strips. I saw Brown's new live show this last Friday and it was even better than his previous tours. The man is the greatest live entertainer in the world. To tell you any details of the show would be to spoil it, but let me say I only know exactly how he pulled off about five percent of the reveals, twists and tricks; have some idea of about how sixty percent were done; could clutch at straws for another ten percent; and the remaining twenty five percent have me so foxed that I wouldn't even dare guess.

- John Dahl has described the Punisher 2 script as 'not that good'. He's also pointed out how restricted the schedule is - so, poor Lexi Alexender, his replacement, she's on a hiding to nothing.

- Disney are teaming with Yash Raj Films to make animated films with Indian stars, stories and style.

- Philip K. Dick has been admitted into The Man's canon. Does this trash his counter cultural credibilty at all?

A Good Look At Wall-E

A flickr user called 'inkista' has taken a few snaps of a Wall-E model on display at Disneyland, which you can see below. They offer us a very good look at his anatomy, for want of a better word - and the item he's holding in his hand gives some idea, I think of his hobbies on the abandoned Earth of the future. Poor old Wall-E.

You might want to flick through the snapper's other pics of things they saw on their day at the theme park. There's a couple of Ratatouille sculpts.

Movie Minesweeper - The Blue And Red Marker Pens Edition

- Cartoon Brew have linked to an interesting video. An abandoned cave in Cody, Montana apparently bears the signature of Walt Disney. Could it really be real?

- Amy Pascal at Sony is softening us up for the future of the Spider-Man franchise: stand alone narratives with different creatives and, every now and then, a new actor in the lead. Spider-Man 4 is to be the On Her Majesty's Secret Service of the series, I suppose.

- Regal Cinema's Complain-o-tron is finally going wide.

- Mark Verheiden has the job of writing a Teen Titans movie. Who do you get to direct that? Not Victor Salva, obviously... but who?

- The remake of Midnight is to be written by Michael Arndt and will star Reese Witherspoon in the Claudette Colbert role. The original is really very, very, very good so, of course, I'm nervous about this but, well, Arndt and Witherspoon? Seems to be working out very well so far.

- After finishing Sugar, Ryan Fleck will adapt Special Topics in Calamity Physics from Marisha Pessl's novel. He's also attached to an adatation of Ned Vizzini's It's Kind of a Funny Story. I really have to track down Half Nelson and see if all of this is something to get excited about or not.

- The Weinsteins are to release Woody Allen's Cassandra's Dream. It was looking pretty hairy for the film for a while with no buyers stepping up (or at least, not as far as anybody knew) but at least it should get a decent release now.

- The remake of The Women is finally set to go ahead. I'm quite disappointed Todd Haynes isn't directing, but fingers crossed for Diane English anyway, despite her suspicious cast list: Meg Ryan, Eva Mendes, Jada Pinkett Smith, Anette Bening, Candace Bergen and Debra Messing.

Fair Use Me, Fair Abuse Me

If you haven't seen Eric Faden's Fair(y) Use Tale yet, go do so now.

And when you're done, read the free, online comic Bound by Law.

Movie Minesweeper - The So Many Deletions Edition

Disney have removed the Enchanted trailer from the internet. Sooner or later, however, they'll put it back... and I'll be watching them. In the meantime, more movie minesweeping.

- Another strange deletion. At the blog of Daniel Lee, editor, a post relating to the Iron Man trailer today vanished into thin air. What did it say? Let me share: I start to say "Joe Carnahan!" but am interrupted when he says "Hi, I'm Joe" and extends his hand. I shake his hand and he asks me if I'm working on Iron Man. I tell him I am... and he asks if he can see what I'm working on. Joe Carnahan asks me if he can see the piece I'm cutting. I say "absolutely" and play my teaser for him. It's still in rough shape at this point, but he seems to dig it.

- Sacha Baron Cohen has already begun the filming of Bruno in LA. He appears to be ambushing the World Trade Week, and has a new hairstyle.

- Jay Roach is making a comedy that is, reportedly, a little bit similar to Vertigo. And I don't mean High Anxiety.

- Michael Patrick King is to direct the Sex and the City fillum.

- Sam Neill is the latest cast member to join Daybreakers. I liked Undead rather a lot. You?

- Mike Mills new video for Blonde Redhead's Top Ranking is online, starring Miranda July. Download it directly.

- As promised earlier, Michel Gondry's new video for Paul McCartney's Dance Tonight is now online too, starring Mackenzie Crook, Natalie Portman, some laundry and a mandolin. A nicer quality version most be forthcoming, this YouTube encode is hardly acceptable. There's also a nice behind the scenes clip at Dazed and Confused.

- A dozen writers have formed the 1.3.9 co-op, a group of writers who will set about penning pet projects for thespians. So, let's suppose for example, Al Pacino really wanted to play Gonzo in a live action, non-puppet Muppet movie, he'd get one of these guys and they'd draw him up a screenplay. What is this going to mean in reality? Lots of ego boosts hitting the page but never making it to the screen?

- Our Lady of Victory is a based-on-true-events underdog yarn about women's basketball and it is going to star David Boreanaz and Carla Gugino.

- Beowulf is to screen at Venice - in 3D. I think that's a genuine wow moment in the making and I wish I could be be there. Other films tipped to screen include Ken Loach's These Times, Ang Lee's Lust, Caution, Todd Haynes' I'm Not There, PT Andersons There Will Be Blood and Jiang Wen's The Sun Also Rises. Two and a half out of six 'aint bad.

- Mike Myers' Walter Mitty is being scripted by Jay Kogen, a Simpsons scribe.

- A walk-on role in Terminator 4 is to be auctioned off tonight.

- In the UK? Win a pair of tickets to a screening of Stardust... and a Q&A with Neil Gaiman afterwards.

- What does the word Pingu mean to you?

- You can download a Lost game for your suitably equipped iPod. If you wish.

- Radical Publishing is another one of these comics/Hollywood two-headed calves, like that Virgin set up recently launched with Shekhar Kapur. Destined to fail?

- Reuters have listed the films Warner Bros. are restoring to 4k resolution.

- Was a pilot filmed for the alternate Veronica Mars? The one where she's in the FBI? TVSquad seem to think so - and they've run a full synopsis of it. Somebody please find me a copy!

- BBC Films are undergoing something of a rejig.

I'm off to find more links to trailers Disney don't want you to see (for some reason).

Direct Download Links For Enchanted Trailer

[EDIT: If none of the below links work for you, there's another set on a newer post. This trailer can run, but it can't hide...]

The animation in Enchanted is looking pretty good and who doesn't like Amy Adams? I do, and I absolutely hated Junebug.

You can download the Enchanted trailer now in high-res 'normal' Quicktime as well as 480p, 720p and 1020p hi-def Quicktime too.

[EDIT: There's at least one mirror online, where you can still download the trailer. Know of any more?]

[EDIT: Courtesy of Michael - who wrote will I was sleeping, so sorry for the delay, Michael - here's another]

Disney Weave A Wicked Web

Michael Patalano has been rooting through the black bags out back of Disney Central again, and a few rolls of sellotape later he's compiled another winning list of domain names recently registered by the Mousemeisters. Let's have a look at the relevant ones...

Seems like the lacklustre performance of Goal 2 hasn't slowed down the third installment at all - www.goal3dvd.com and www.goal3bluray.com are already set.

More Blu-Ray with the general purpose www.whatsonblu-ray.com (and blue-ray and blueray variants for the as yet unfamiliar) - these are now live, and showcase the officially announced slate of Disney Blu-Ray titles.

Also looking to the future, www.sleepingbeautythemovie.com is ready for the Platinum DVD release of Sleeping Beauty in October 2008.

Slightly more mysterious are the following:

www.disneyscreeningroom.com
www.kittyslapmagazine.com
www.yoozik.com
www.tonycedarnut.com

Budding imagineers can swot up at www.theartofdisneythemeparks.com - once this goes up, I dare say it will prove quite popular. There's a lot of closet Doombuggy buffs out there just needing a little encouragement to come out.

Trying to create a sneaky ad campaign for Billy Ell... Jamie Bell's upcoming Hallam Foe, they've registered www.haveyouseenhallamfoe.com - expect situationist stunts with pretend peeping toms on the rooftops of London too. Or maybe not.

The last URL to snag my attention was www.enchantedgame.com through which we'll probably be able to role play as an animated Amy Adams up against level after level of flash-coded tedium. Yawn. Are there any good online film tie-in games?

If you have any insight into any of these domains, please leave a note in the comments below. I love a good mystery, but love a good solution more.

Ratatouille Concept Art

The 20 Years of Pixar Exhibition now includes Ratatouille concept art - which you can see below.

The full gallery was taken by a young man named Dougie, up there in Edinburgh. Cheeky.

Movie Minesweeper - The Colder Than July Edition

- You can download and enjoy the My Blueberry Nights press kit in pdf form. The Hollywood Reporter Hollywood report that at the first press screening "a few fans tried to generate some applause, but the screening room quickly fell silent."

- Sean Hughes is to appear on Coronation Street.

- Thomas Jane won't be The Punisher again, and he's told Aint it Cool why. I don't really know a great deal about the comic books, but I can see how a good Punisher film would work. Chan Wook Park would be very at home with the material, for example.

- There's a rumour going round that 50 Cent might be the next Terminator.

- Lionsgate will pimp The Spirit in the UK and the US. Shooting is likely to start this summer, unless Sin City 2 isn't pushed back again. Though, apparently, it will be.

- Deborah Kaplan and Harry Elfont are to direct Red-Tails in Love, but they won't script it - at least, not the formal last draft. The writers are to be Peter Speakman and Michael Gavin.

- What Happens in Vegas is to star Cameron Diaz and Ashton Kutcher. Chances are, we'll wish it stayed in Vegas.

- Richard Curtis' The Girl in the Cafe has been remade in German with Julia Jentsch in the Kelly McDonald role.

- Apparently, the zombies in Steve Miner's Day of the Dead rapemake - sorry, remake -
are 'sexier' than in the original. Like, literally. But are they sexier than in Return of the Living Dead Part 3?

- Screendaily are reporting remakes of The Long Good Friday and Mona Lisa. The directors attached? Paul W. S. Anderson and Larry Clark, respectively. Both stories are being relocated to the US. No director is yet attached to the Time Bandits remake from the same producers - which, hopefully, will mean it never happens. Ever.

- Jim Brown's Pete Seeger documentary is to open Silverdocs 2007. Springsteen has boosted Seeger's profile somewhat, this may be something of a minor hit - if only on TV.

- Has David Goyer cast Justin Chatwin as Magneto? Possibly. I heard Ben Whishaw was up for it, but I don't really know about that for sure either.

- Roger Moore, Ioan Gruffud, Alice Evans, Ruby Wax and Brian Blessed are to provide voices for Agent Crush, a CG spy spoof toon.

- Eliza Dushku has signed on for Rob Schmidt's The Alphabet Killer. Bet it isn't as pedestrian as Zodiac - but I doubt it will be as ambitious either.

- William Macy is to star in, produce and co-write Family Man for TNT. The show will be directed by Stephen Schachter, Macy's co-writer and frequent collaborator.

- Ye Olde Times is a film about Medieval fairs and re-enactments, set to star Jack Black and Tim Robbins, and it's up for sale at Cannes this year.

- MoviesOnline have a piece about the casino set for Ocean's 13.

- Hank Azaria is to direct Outsourced. If he can hold it together, he'll probably have a smash - the film stars Vince Vaughn and Owen Wilson, will likely be marketed as a Wedding Crashers reteam.

- Glenn Close, Larry Fishburne and Djimon Honsou are apparently up for the Death Race do-over. Joan Allen is reportedly a back up plan for - yeah, that's right, Larry Fishburne. No - Close, obviously.

- Jennifer Garner is cooking up a TV show 'by moms, and for moms' - The View with nappies?

- Development of The Princess and the Frog and Rapunzel is progressing nicely. Each of them is about to be done as a story reel, which brings them close to the actual animation process, providing all is in order. The reels for American Dog have been completed and screened, and the signs are good.

- Today is the anniversary of Jim Henson's death, in 1990. I've missed him ever since.

caDirect Download Links For New Ratatouille Podst "Parlez-Vous Francais?"

Download the latest Ratatouille podcast in low, medium or high resolution quicktime. It's a good one.