It’s safe to say that Toy Story is still Pixar’s biggest, most beloved franchise. The third movie, which Biggs inexplicably reviewed the other day—should I review the new Roots album here?— took home some $109 million at the weekend. That’s Pixar’s biggest opening weekend ever. The other big, animated feature of the year, Shrek Forever After, only took home $71 million its first… → Read More
Tokyo-based gadget maker Greenhouse announced [JP] three super-cute, Disney-themed digital photo frames today, the GH-DF35TV. Buyers can choose between three characters: Winnie The Pooh, Stitch or Little Green Man (one of those green, three-eyed aliens from Toy Story 1 and 2). → Read More
In September last year, Sony rolled out the S Series Walkman, portable audio and video players, which are supposed to compete with the iPod Nano. And today, Sony in Japan announced [JP] a branded version of those Walkmans, namely the “Disney Character S Series Walkman”. To be more exact, Sony introduced nine Disney-themed Walkmans, a special case and a Mickey Mouse stand. → Read More
Tron Legacy is nerds wet dream come true. The movie will hopefully invoke the same sort of futuristic imagination as the original. You’ve watched the trailer, right? Well, anyway, to gear up for the premiere, Disney has skin a couple of its monorails to look like the light cycles. Kind of meta future meets future moment, eh? → Read More
A consortium of investors led by The Walt Disney Company is currently engaged in advanced talks to invest in Bus Online, China’s leading in-bus digital media and advertising company, sources tell Reuters.
The deal, which would provide Disney with a new platform to promote Mickey Mouse in China, is oddly said to involve Google, which is a minority investor in the consortium according to the news… → Read More
The cable companies suck. All of them. Some suck less than others. But they all suck. We need someone to whip them into shape. And that someone may be Apple.
Apple may be on the verge of gaining two key television network agreements, according to The Wall Street Journal. Specifically, CBS and Walt Disney (which runs ABC) are said to be considering a proposal by Apple to offer a subscription-based… → Read More
Tokyo-based Kenko-Tokina, normally known for its camera accessories, has announced a cute Disney-themed digital camera [JP] for the Japanese market today. Spec-wise, this 8MP point-and-shoot camera isn’t anything special, but that’s what you’d expect from a camera whose case shows Mickey Mouse giving Minnie a bucket of hearts. → Read More
This photoset is a fantastic use of 10 minutes of your time. Life apparently spent some time on the scenes of Disney’s 1954 classic and the photos have just been posted for your viewing pleasure. They are fantastic. Jump over to the site to see for yourself. [Time via Boing-Boing] → Read More
When in doubt, make a sequel. When in doubt in the year 2009, tack on 3D. That’s the mentality of Hollywood these days—“remakes” are another in thing—and it looks like will be in theaters on December 17, 2010 Tron: Legacy. Considering my only knowledge of Tron comes from that one Simpsons episode, I’m not going to pretend to be excited. But maybe some of you are! → Read More
The Walt Disney Company has agreed to acquire Marvel Entertainment in a stock and cash transaction, the companies announced this morning. Under the terms of the agreement and based on last week’s closing price of Disney, Marvel shareholders would receive a total of $30 per share in cash plus approximately 0.745 Disney shares for each Marvel share they own.
Based on the closing price of Disney… → Read More
Canadian photo sharing startup BubbleShare will be shuttered on November 15, 2009. Users were notified via email and a notice on the site’s home page.
The site, founded by Albert Lai, first launched in late 2005 and we immediately liked it: “Toronto-based online photo sharing BubbleShare is just wonderful, and ridiculously easy to use. Their interface team deserves a gold star or something…”… → Read More
It’s not much is it? It’s hard to say if the videogame will be any good considering the fact that it will only be available on the Wii, DS and PC. I’m still waiting for updates on American McGee’s sequel to Alice. → Read More
If we feature something LEGO here on CrunchGear, you can be sure that it’s worth your time and these Toy Story LEGO Minifigs are the coolest thing I have seen all day. Apparently Disney and LEGO hooked up back in February – who knew? – and this is the first of what is sure to be a fantasic partnership. → Read More
Disney Interactive Studios announced today that French dev Etranges Libellules has begun development of videogame adaptations of Lewis Carroll’s beloved Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland and Through the Looking Glass to complement Tim Burton’s upcoming film, Alice in Wonderland. The Wii, DS and PC title take place a few years after both stories in Underland and players must help Alice battle… → Read More
Well, this is certainly a novel idea that I hope studios in the US will adopt. Disney Japan announced today that it would begin shipping microSD cards chock-full of Disney movie goodness with the DVDs themselves. Panasonic will provide Disney Japan with the pint-sized memory cards when the DVD/microSD combos ship in November for 4935 Yen. Said combos will begin with the Pirates of the Caribbean… → Read More
Huh. That’s weird. Well, ASUS and Disney teamed up on a netbook, called the Netpal, designed to “make computing fun.” I thought a regular laptop with parental controls could do the same thing, but apparently you need an 8.9-inch display, Wi-Fi, and a locked down version of XP to really have fun. The Netpal is selling at Toys ‘r’ Us and Amazon for $349. Would you buy a… → Read More
Great news for VUDU owners this morning. Well, great news if they happen to have kids. VUDU just announced that Disney has released 60 library films for purchase and future titles will be up on the same day that the Blu-ray/DVD titles are released. → Read More
Can I get a raise of hands of those that do not want Disney to remake Flight of the Navigator? Everyone? Good. → Read More
As Hulu continues its spectacular rise (it is the No. 3 video site in the U.S. and is closing in on No. 2), it just got major buy-in from yet another major media company. Disney is now an investor, joining News Corp and NBC (along with private equity firm Providence Equity Partners). Each of the three media companies now reportedly own 27 percent of Hulu.
As the initial exclusivity for NBC and… → Read More
Just last month, we wrote that Hulu had gained some 10 million viewers to become the fourth largest video portal on the web. Now, it’s slain another rival to the list: Yahoo, to move into #3 — at least in terms of videos viewed.
To be clear, the new March U.S. numbers released by comScore show that Hulu is still slightly behind Yahoo’s video properties when it comes to unique viewers. But the… → Read More
Disney Online, the online publishing business unit of Disney Interactive Media Group (DIMG), announced this morning that it has acquired a number of assets from Toronto, Canada-based firm Kaboose, in a deal worth CAD 23.3 million (approximately $18.4M). The acquisition encompasses Kaboose.com and other properties including Babyzone.com, AmazingMoms.com, Funschool.com and Zeeks.com.
The assets of… → Read More
Mr. Steve Jobs himself actually appeared in the public eye today – behind closed doors though. Previously he was on a medical leave of absence due to some ‘hormone imbalance,’ but that didn’t stop him from attending a Disney board meeting where he was re-elected to the board. So far no pictures or descriptions have emerged which leaves many Mac fanboys wondering how their almighty leader is… → Read More
Blu-ray movies are selling but the format’s backers want more sales and Disney has a plan which may increase the sales. Here it is: Offer Blu-ray movies two full days before the standard DVD. Crazy, I know, but it might sway some buyers to purchasing the more pricey HD format instead of waiting two full days for the normal, less expensive DVD. → Read More
Mickey & Co. is a vast empire and soon, the Mouse might launch a “subscription-based online movie and TV rental service from the company’s huge video library.” Sounds like a great idea, eh? If it was 2007! ROFL! → Read More
Kerpoof, a web-based creative design suite for children that launched at 2007′s TechCrunch 40, has been acquired by Disney. The financial terms of the deal were not disclosed, but Kerpoof’s online portal at Kerpoof.com will continue to operate as its technology is deployed on Disney’s homepage.
Kerpoof is a good fit for Disney: the company’s technology is primarily image-based with little… → Read More
Video games haven’t really been on my radar the last two months, so I may have missed this one along the way. The makers of Pure appear to have another racing game waiting in the wings, but we’ll have to wait until March 11th to find out unless someone in the audience can enlighten me. → Read More
Just in time for Christmas, two new cute USB gadgets have been released today in Japan and the best thing is you can order both online even if you live outside Nippon. First, a company called Runat announced it started selling a USB humidifier [JP] that is shaped like the Disney cartoon character Stitch. The little guy (184x130x165mm) is suitable for small rooms and offices. You can pre-order it… → Read More
Japan released a number of super-cute gadgets and electronic devices in the last days. Here are the top five. Top 5: Fragrance case for earphones Marubeni Infotech has announced the “Fragrance Case for Earphone” [JP], a small box made of aluminum tailor-made for the “Y” part of any given earphone. The box is filled with scented cotton that emits a nice smell while the… → Read More
Another reason to go with a TiVo instead of a generic DVR: downloadable Disney and indie movies on demand. The deals were actually announced earlier in the year, but starting today you’ll be able to download and rent movies from Jaman.com. They specialize in indie movies that people pretend to enjoy in order to come across as erudite and refined. Rentals there start at $1.99 per 24-hour… → Read More
I’m not sure who this wild man-child is, but his love of phallic humor is definitely worth about 2 minutes of your time. This is a one-trick joke – it’s just Pluto pleasuring himself and then Mickey screwing a car – but feel free to watch all the way through. I just worry about Mike Mozart here: Where does he keep all his toys? And why is he so happy? And why does he see… → Read More
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