Disney to Release the First AVATAR Sequel in 2021...Followed by a New STAR WARS Film in 2022!

The Walt Disney Studios Announces Film Release Schedule (News Release)

The Walt Disney Studios has unveiled its upcoming slate following the recent acquisition of the Fox film studios, including changes to previously dated films and a number of major additions.

After kicking off with the record-setting success of Marvel Studios’ Avengers: Endgame, The Walt Disney Studios’ 2019 summer slate includes Disney’s Aladdin on May 24, Fox’s Dark Phoenix on June 7, Pixar’s Toy Story 4 on June 21, Fox’s Stuber on July 12 and Disney’s The Lion King on July 19. Fox 2000’s The Art of Racing in the Rain moves up to August 9, and Fox Searchlight’s Ready or Not will release on August 23, while three films move to later dates: Ad Astra (September 20, 2019), The New Mutants (April 3, 2020) and Artemis Fowl (May 29, 2020).

The Studios’ 2019 slate rounds out with Fox’s The Woman in the Window on October 4 and Ford V. Ferrari on November 15, Disney’s Maleficent: Mistress of Evil on October 18 and Disney Animation’s Frozen 2 on November 22, Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker on December 20 and Blue Sky Studios’ Spies in Disguise, moving from September to Christmas. Among early 2020 titles are Fox’s Underwater on January 10, a new Kingsman movie on February 14 and Call of the Wild on February 21, followed by Pixar’s Onward on March 6 and Disney’s Mulan on March 27.

The updated calendar also sets release dates for major franchises Avatar and Star Wars. With Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker bringing the original Skywalker saga to its conclusion, three new as-yet-untitled Star Wars films will release on the pre-Christmas weekend every other year beginning in 2022. Four forthcoming Avatar films, expanding the vibrant world of Pandora, will release on the pre-Christmas weekend every other year beginning in 2021. In the holiday corridor for 2020, Fox’s West Side Story adaptation, directed by Steven Spielberg, will debut December 18 in the pre-Christmas slot, with Disney’s Cruella opening Wednesday, December 23, for the long holiday weekend.

“We’re excited to put in place a robust and diverse slate that lays the foundation of our long-term strategy, bringing together a breadth of films from Disney, Pixar, Marvel, Lucasfilm, Fox, Fox Searchlight and Blue Sky Studios to create an extraordinary collection of cinematic experiences for audiences around the world,” said Cathleen Taff, president, Theatrical Distribution, Franchise Management, and Business & Audience Insights, The Walt Disney Studios. “With a strong summer already in place, we are eager to carry that momentum forward over the coming years thanks to a creative wellspring of bold and imaginative stories coming from our world-class studios—including several new chapters of two revered franchises, Avatar and Star Wars.”

Source: The Walt Disney Company

****

Oscars 2017: After a Snafu, MOONLIGHT Gets Its Time to Shine...

Congratulations to the cast and crew of Moonlight after (eventually) winning Best Picture at the 89th Annual Academy Awards last night! Even though her movie didn't win the top prize after some goofball handed Warren Beatty and Faye Dunaway the wrong envelope to read, it is awesome that Emma Stone won Best Actress for her performance as Mia Dolan in La La Land [which also won Best Director (for Damien Chazelle), Original Score, Original Song, Cinematography and Production Design]. Along with Best Picture, Moonlight also took home statuettes for Best Adapted Screenplay and Supporting Actor...for Mahershala Ali in his role as Juan, the Cuban crack dealer. In regards to the other acting categories, Viola Davis won Best Supporting Actress for her role as Rose Lee Maxson in Fences and Casey Affleck won Best Actor for his performance as Lee Chandler in Manchester By The Sea.



Rogue One: A Star Wars Story lost Best Visual Effects to fellow Disney film The Jungle Book (as predicted) and lost Best Sound Mixing to Mel Gibson's World War II epic Hacksaw Ridge...which also won an award for Best Film Editing. The sci-fi hit Arrival won an Oscar for Best Sound Editing, while the NASA biopic Hidden Figures unfortunately came away empty-handed. Warner Bros' Suicide Squad won the Oscar for Best Makeup and Hairstyling, while its fellow comic book flick Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice "won" four awards at the Razzies the night before.



Last night's ceremony was very memorable. Here's hoping that the Jimmy Kimmel-Matt Damon feud continues (assuming, of course, that Kimmel will be re-invited to host the Oscars again), Moana's Auli'i Cravalho will get to do more Oscar-nominated songs and sing them live during the Academy Awards, and that next year's Best Picture winner won't be revealed after the wrong film is announced. Oh, and that Emma Stone will turn down roles where she is cast as an Asian. Yes, I remember that movie Aloha. Moonlight won Best Picture one year after the film Spotlight took home the top prize at the Academy Awards. Expect the upcoming Kevin Sorbo flick Let There Be Light, which gets released this Christmas, to make waves at the Oscars next March. Carry on!

Bad Santa 2...

Last Sunday, I watched the sequel to the 2003 sleeper hit Bad Santa, and needless to say, Bad Santa 2 had its moments. Billy Bob Thornton was back to playing Willie Soke, the hilariously repulsive alcoholic who disguises himself as Saint Nicholas to commit heists, with Tony Cox reprising his role as Marcus Skidmore, the disgruntled and conniving elf assistant. Brett Kelly didn't miss a beat playing the happily oblivious and naive Thurman Merman once more, while Kathy Bates was game at sporting tattoos as Sunny Soke, and calling Willie (her son) a "sh*t-stick" in almost every other line in the film. Of course, while Bad Santa 2 had lots of funny moments...it was also a lot more raunchier and irreverent than the 2003 original—which isn't necessarily a good thing. Case in point: Reference to the Immaculate Conception as the Ejaculate Conception... I'm not a devout Catholic, but yea, other Christian folks may have rolled their eyes to that one. Assuming, of course, that die-hard religious individuals actually went out to see this movie. If its opening weekend box office gross is any indication, then no—they did not.



Bad Santa 2 basically fell victim to the pitfalls that prevented 2014's Dumber and Dumber To from being as successful as its 1994 predecessor...those pitfalls being that the sequels were released far too long after the first movies came out in theaters, and the sequels having to resort to very raunchy gags in an attempt to re-capture the humorous feel of the originals. A long gap between a hit film and a sequel is okay when it comes to animated flicks and action or sci-fi epics [case in point: Pixar's Finding Dory (a follow-up to 2003's Finding Nemo) and the new Star Wars trilogy (seven uber-successful live-action movies in 39 years and counting), but sadly not Independence Day: Resurgence (the follow-up to the highest grossing film of 1996)], but this seldom applies to comedy flicks. Moviegoers' tastes in comedies evolve over time. The humor in American Pie was game-changing back in 1999...but that sort of comedy is now commonplace in today's TV shows such as the CBS sitcoms 2 Broke Girls and The Big Bang Theory.



If there was one reason to re-watch Bad Santa 2, it would be due to the charm of Christina Hendricks. I've never seen the now-defunct AMC TV show Mad Men, but yea, Hendricks' character Diane Hastings is sweet and delightful in one scene and um, romantically voracious in another. "Romantically" isn't the actual word I wanna use here, what with her moments with Willie Sokes capturing just how bad Bad Santa could be (I'm referring to Soke himself). I just wished that Bad Santa 2 overall was closer to being as memorable as the original film. Maybe it would've been if Bernie Mac and John Ritter were still here to reprise their roles as Gin and Bob Chipeska, respectively. Well, maybe not Gin—since Marcus killed him in the first movie, but Bob. Rest in peace, Mr. Mac and Mr. Ritter... Carry on.

The LEGO Movie...

Everything is awesome!!! Everything is cool when you're part of a team! That um, awesome song (by Tegan and Sara featuring The Lonely Island) is still stuck in my head after watching The LEGO Movie earlier today. Featuring the voices of an all-star cast that includes Chris Pratt, Elizabeth Banks, Alison Brie, Liam Neeson, Morgan Freeman, Jonah Hill and even Shaquille O'Neal, this flick does absolute justice to the classic toy blocks on which this film is based. The LEGO Movie conveys the theme that LEGOs are meant to be turned into any creation that a child can fathom in his or her mind...and that these creations aren't meant to stay permanent through the lack of vision and the reckless use of Krazy Glue. Bent on using the latter product to take the fun out of LEGOs is Will Ferrell, who plays the main animated villain Lord Business as well as the live-action Man Upstairs. Pratt (who played a Navy SEAL in Zero Dark Thirty and stars in NBC's Parks and Recreation) does a great job voicing the main protagonist named Emmet...an Average Joe who would save Legoland when he finally embraces his destiny of being the MasterBuilder.



Along with having really great animation (I couldn't help but feel nostalgic when classic LEGO sets—ranging from castle fortresses to spaceships—that I used to own and wanted to own when I was young were brought to life on the big screen), it was fun to see cameos by other brand characters that LEGO was able to build toys for over the last decade or so. Among them are Batman (voiced humorously by Will Arnett), Superman (Channing Tatum), Wonder Woman (voiced by The Avengers and How I Met Your Mother's Cobie Smulders), C-3PO (once again voiced by Anthony Daniels) and Lando Calrissian (voiced by Billy Dee Williams... One wonders if he'll reprise his role as live-action Lando in next year's Star Wars: Episode VII). It wasn't a surprise to see Batman, Superman and other Justice League members in The LEGO Movie—seeing as how this flick was produced by Warner Bros., which owns the rights to all DC Comics characters—but it was cool to see Star Wars references as well.



While The LEGO Movie may not have been as moving (only slightly so) as such Pixar flicks as Up or WALL-E, it was still a great film for kids and adults alike. You would think that it would be a straightforward cartoon like the aforementioned Disney films and other movies such as Shrek or Despicable Me, but that live-action scene featuring Will Ferrell's Man Upstairs having a change of heart after seeing his son's imagination come into play was a nice touch. Considering how well-received this movie has been with the critics, and how big this film will do at the box office this weekend, it's pretty much a sure bet that The LEGO Movie will see a sequel. Assuming that the sequel strikes the right notes that its predecessor is doing, The LEGO Movie has a chance to spawn a series that will be as moving as say, Pixar's Toy Story franchise. Everything will be awesome if that was the case. Carry on.

Peter O'Toole (1932–2013)

Rest In Peace, Mr. O'Toole... I remember how amazed I was when I watched Lawrence of Arabia up on the big screen during a film festival held at my college (Cal State Long Beach) twelve years ago. Peter O'Toole obviously worked on many movies since then—ranging from 1967's Casino Royale (actually a spoof of James Bond) to the 2007 Pixar animated flick, Ratatouille. But it will be his role as T.E. Lawrence in 1962's Oscar-winning World War I epic that O'Toole will be best remembered for. The accomplished actor passed away at Wellington Hospital in London today. He was 81.

85th Annual Academy Award Nominations... The list of Oscar nominees was announced earlier today, and as expected, Argo, Django Unchained, Lincoln and Zero Dark Thirty are all up for Best Picture. Skyfall also got some love (deservingly) by the Academy...with the latest Bond flick being recognized for Best Cinematography, Best Original Score, Best Song (props to Adele), Best Sound Editing and Best Sound Mixing. Unlike The Lord of the Rings trilogy, in which all three films were up for Best Picture (with Return of the King actually taking home the gold in 2004), The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey "only" managed to get three nominations—all in technical categories (Best Makeup, Best Production Design and Best Visual Effects). This is, unfortunately, more than you can say for The Dark Knight Rises...which was completely snubbed in this year's Oscar race. Whereas The Dark Knight was constantly mentioned as a Best Picture candidate before its official snub in 2009, Christopher Nolan's final Batman flick probably got omitted because of the bad vibe that still permeates around the movie following last July's tragic shooting in Aurora, Colorado. Even with its flaws, The Dark Knight Rises is still one of the best comic book films ever made.



As predicted in my review for Lincoln, Tommy Lee Jones is up for Best Supporting Actor, and so is Christoph Walz for Django Unchained. Keep aiming for that Oscar, Leonardo DiCaprio... I'm sure you'll stop getting snubbed by Academy voters, one day. And lastly, props to the Pixar film Wreck-It Ralph for being nominated for Best Animated Feature Film. Pixar's other flick Brave also got nominated for this category...but I didn't see that film nor do I intend to. The Academy Awards air on ABC on February 24.

Wreck-It Ralph... I saw the new animated film earlier today, and needless to say, it's another Pixar masterpiece. Wreck-It Ralph combines the awesome action sequences of 2004's The Incredibles with the heartfelt sincerity of 2001's Monsters, Inc. Like Monsters, Inc., this latest movie revolves around a character who—despite making a living out of scaring people and causing havoc—just wants to feel accepted and learns that he has a soft-side to him after befriending a young child. While this may sound like a bad thing in that it makes Wreck-It Ralph look not-so-original, this is actually a plus in a long line of pluses that made this film totally entertaining to watch. There are lots of nice plot twists in Wreck-It Ralph...even though it's a kid's flick and not say, The Usual Suspects.



Wreck-It Ralph has a stellar cast in it—with John C. Reilly lending his voice as the title character Ralph, Sarah Silverman playing the adorable 'glitch' named Vanellope, Jack McBrayer (of NBC's 30 Rock) voicing Fix-It Felix, Jr. (who's supposed to be like Super Mario while Ralph is paying homage to Donkey Kong), Glee's Jane Lynch as the bad-ass Sergeant Calhoun, comedian Adam Carolla as Wynnchel, the always-hilarious Alan Tudyk as King Candy, The Office's Mindy Kaling as Taffyta Muttonfudge, Superbad's Joe Lo Truglio as Markowski, Modern Family's Ed O'Neill as Mr. Litwak and 24's Dennis Haysbert as General Hologram. Clearly, Disney spent lots of money to get such talented actors to lend their voices to this production.



Wreck-It Ralph has lots of familiar video game characters in it...such as Pac-Man, Bowser from Super Mario Bros., various combatants from Street Fighter II and Mortal Kombat, Sonic the Hedgehog, the Paperboy from Paperboy and even the high-tech soldiers of Xbox's ultra-popular Halo (though the title was changed to Hero's Duty...most likely due to copyright issues with Microsoft, and the fact the title is making a reference to another mega-hit video game series, Call of Duty). Wreck-It Ralph makes clever use of actual characters (I wonder how much Capcom was paid to allow Ralph to be featured in a Street Fighter II gaming scene where he gets electrocuted by Blanka?)...and found a funny way to integrate these characters into a storyline that, as mentioned in the first paragraph above, has unexpected moments in it. What kind of unexpected moments, you ask? Well— Let's just say that the main villain isn't what you'd expect him to be. There's a reason why it's a bad thing to go 'turbo' in the world of Wreck-It Ralph.



Like The Incredibles, Finding Nemo and WALL-E, I expect Wreck-It Ralph to get a Best Animated Feature Film nomination (and possibly win it) at next year's Academy Awards. I never saw Pixar's summer film Brave because it quite frankly looked unappealing...but I'll be rooting for Pixar to get some nice accolades for this latest cinematic hit. Now if you excuse me, I think I'll go play Streetfighter II on Super Nintendo. No wait— I don't have my SNES anymore. Darn it.

THE LION KING... Just as an FYI, Walt Disney Pictures has brought its 1994 animated classic back into movie theaters. I saw it in 2-D this week (the film was re-released in cinemas so you could watch it in 3-D), and needless to say, it’s still a great flick. The opening scene at Pride Rock with the "Circle of Life" song playing in the backround is amazing, while watching well-made hand-drawn sequences to the tune of Hans Zimmer’s awesome music score is something to experience. There were a few aspects of The Lion King that seemed awkward to watch [such as Scar’s effeminate behavior whenever he interacted with Mufasa and young and adult Simba...and Nala’s "come-hither" stare as she drank water from a lake while adult Simba watched (a little too sensual for young children in the audience, I reckon)], but other than that, the movie still holds up more than 17 years after its original release date in June of 1994.



In this age of computer-generated kids films (with the best ones ironically being released by the Disney-owned Pixar...though I never saw Cars or Cars 2), The Lion King is something you should watch (again) to see old-fashioned animation at its finest. And if you’re unable to watch the movie while it’s still in theaters, well...it’s all good. Just watch it on DVD then. Hakuna Matata.

I’m sure you knew I was gonna say that.

TOY STORY 3... I watched Pixar’s latest movie last week, and despite the fact I only saw parts of the first two Toy Story films, the new installment was really good. Two of my co-workers mentioned that I should’ve seen the first two Toy Story flicks in their entirety, so that the moment where Andy drives off to college at the end of Toy Story 3 would’ve been more emotional. I disagree with that. The ending was already very emotional without me having to see the two previous films. Pixar does a wonderful job of conveying friendship, loyalty, a sense of loss and even betrayal in Part 3...which was more than you can say for Shrek Forever After (which was a decent film, but still... Give this franchise a rest, Dreamworks).



In terms of Pixar making sequels to its other hit films, a follow-on to The Incredibles would be pretty cool. And so would a sequel to Finding Nemo or Monsters, Inc. as well. No wait... Pixar is already making a sequel to Monsters, Inc. It's scheduled for release in theaters in 2012. Awesome.

WALL-E... I saw the film yesterday, and Pixar has done it again. Even though the title character isn’t the most original-looking (Short Circuit, anyone?), Pixar did an excellent job making him a character you can definitely root for. Not to sound sissy-ish or anything (I’ll watch the Angelina Jolie assassin flick, Wanted, some other day), but even as a dude I couldn’t help but feel for the ‘bot whenever he had that sad droopy look in his eyes. Okay, nevermind— That did sound sissy-ish. But it was interesting how WALL-E and Eve communicated with each other by only saying the other robot’s name. Whenever they said each other’s name, it meant something else [WALL-E: "Eeeve!" (Translation: "I miss you and want you to be with me.") Eve: "WALL-E!" (Translation: "I miss you too, and wanna get laid by you, robotically.") Just kidding about that last part]. In terms of the other characters, that robot (named M-O) that had to clean the dirty tracks left behind by WALL-E onboard the spaceship Axiom was cool...but is that cockroach immortal or something? If roaches could survive being squashed that many times in real life, we're f*cked.



Fred Willard’s live-action cameo in an animated film was funny...but if the movie were to take place in real life (for some odd reason, I like bringing up real life in this journal entry), the future of humanity would be screwed as we know it (at least I didn't use the "F" word this time). Mankind’s existence depends on a bunch of fatasses (who have been living in space for 700 years) recolonizing the Earth! That's a drag. Famed Star Wars sound designer Ben Burtt did a great job on the audio for the film (and also did the voice for WALL-E and M-O). That is all.



More screen shots from the film:

Revenge of the Sith Teaser Trailer: Highlights from the preview... Oh, and by the way-- I watched The Incredibles over the weekend. Good film... Pixar has done it again! Though I don't know about The Cars, though. Might be the weakest of the movies done by the animation company, from what I've seen in the trailer that was shown at the theater. Speaking of which, the ROTS trailer looks awesome on the big screen! The computer monitor doesn't do it justice.

On Friday, I watched Monsters, Inc...and needless to say, I liked it. Along with the short Pixar film that preceded it.


But what I really wanted to say was that the teaser trailer for Attack of the Clones kicked ass--despite the fact it was hella short. Not surprisingly, though, people clapped before and after the trailer was shown, and were quiet during the preview as new Star Wars movie images passed by (QUICKLY) on the big screen. So which scenes from the trailer stood out the most? Let's see...

- Natalie Portman looking GOOD as Padme in the first scene of the preview

- Several clone children going about their business inside a classroom

- Jango Fett's Slave One blasting away at an unseen target while flying through an asteroid field (actually the rings surrounding a new SW planet called Geonosis)

- Obi-Wan floating above a ray of light inside a cave (he's captured by enemy forces on Geonosis)

- THOUSANDS of clonetroopers boarding a transport ship (most likely the final scene in the film)

- A glimpse of the water world Kamino

- The glimpse of Yoda...who is COMPUTER GENERATED in this film

and last, but not least:

- Jango Fett flying in the air in a scene that takes place on Kamino

This trailer was tight...but the real one doesn't come out till 2 weeks from now, when Harry Potter is released.

Just wanted to point out that the official SW site today announced that a short teaser trailer for Episode 2 will be shown before Monsters, Inc. starting this Friday. The trailer was actually talked about on a fan site two weeks ago...with the teaser involving clips of Attack of the Clones being shown as Darth Vader's famous breathing can be heard in the background. Sounds pretty cool, but things get even cooler when Harry Potter comes out in a few weeks...since the full-length teaser trailer is rumored to appear before that film.

I haven't read any of the Harry Potter novels, but most likely I'll see the film...and you know why.