Disney’s animated movie ‘Lightyear’ flopped in its first weekend in theaters, with the new Toy Story spin-off film earning $51.7 million in North America.
The disappointing start came after controversy over Disney’s decision to include a brief kiss between a lesbian couple in the movie and to replace the conservative star Tim Allen with Chris Evans as the voice of Buzz Lightyear.
‘Lightyear’ opened in 4,255 locations domestically and in 43 markets overseas – but 14 Muslim-majority nations banned the movie from playing in their cinemas because Disney included a lesbian kiss.
On Wednesday, it was reported, “Emblematic of the Covid-19-related struggles and tensions between state officials, medical professionals and businesses, Walt Disney reported that it had no other choice but to lay off roughly 28,000 employees from its Disney Parks, Experiences and Products segment.”
Disney, according to the Wall Street Journal, placed the blame on California’s government and asserted that the closure was “exacerbated in California by the State’s unwillingness to lift restrictions that would allow Disneyland to reopen.”
A quadriplegic man is suing Disneyland after being stranded on the “It’s A Small World” ride for more than 40 minutes during an evacuation.
Go ahead. Try to tell us that you don’t break out in a cold sweat at the mere thought of being stranded on Disneyland’s “Small World” ride. Try to tell us the sound of that annoying song doesn’t fill you with a terror unlike any other.
They should change the name to "It's A Small, Very Annoying World"
Time Newsfeed has the details:
A quadriplegic man is suing Disneyland after being stranded on the “It’s A Small World” ride for more than 40 minutes during an evacuation.
Jose Martinez is suing the “Happiest Place on Earth” for negligence, emotional distress and liability, claiming that after the famous ride stalled, Disney staff evacuated other passengers, while leaving him and his wife behind.
The lawsuit, which was filed in U.S. District Court by the Disability Rights Legal Center on behalf of Martinez, claims that Disney violated the Americans with Disabilities Act by not having proper procedures in place to evacuate disabled passengers. Martinez also alleges that Disney staffers refused to call the paramedics after the stress of the situation caused his blood pressure to rise.
We pause now for another one of those mildly amusing stories from the Editor’s sordid past:
When I was about 17, my dad’s Rotary Club paid for a group of local Cub Scouts to attend Disneyland’s annual Scout Day extravaganza. My dad decided it would be a character building experience if I were to pack my car full of Cubbies and drive them to the amusement park. The good news was that he paid for my ticket, too.
It was not only the middle of summer, but a particularly hot Southern California day. No, that doesn’t quite describe it. It was freakin’ torrid. Steaming. Hotter than hell. And I was in this amusement park with 10,000 screaming little scouts.
It was fun for a while, but as the temperature soared I desperately began searching for a place – any place – out of the sun. Then I thought of “It’s A Small World.” I handed over what I remember as a “C” coupon (c’mon, It’s A Small World couldn’t have been more than a “C” coupon) and boarded my boat for a short cruise through the air-conditioned building. Life was going to be good for the next seven or eight minutes.
Then, halfway through the ride, the boats ground to a halt. Cool, I thought. Figuratively and literally. I’ll get a few extra minutes in here out of the heat.
Unfortunately, the minutes dragged on. And on. And friggin’ on. I was forced to sit there with a boatload of heat-crazed, screaming Cub Scouts waiting for the ride to start up again.
But the sound of the screaming Scouts was nothing, a mere distraction. The real problem was that damn song. Those friggin’ little foreign-dressed figures kept singing “It’s A Small World” over and over and over again, searing it into my brain, driving me ever close to that fine line between sanity and lunacy.
Eventually – I lost track of time, but it must have been three or four days – they fixed the ride and we completed our circuit of “It’s A Small World.”
To this day, though, I hate that damn song. Absolutely hate it. It’s like fingernails on a chalkboard to me.
So, Mr. Jose Martinez, I completely understand why you’re suing Disneyland. I hope you take ‘em to the cleaners. I hope you win so much money that they’re forced to change the name of the place to JoseLand.
Disney is searching for real treasure chests for its upcoming shoot of the next “Pirates of the Caribbean” swashbuckler — that is, women with natural breasts.
Keira Knightly's make up man has the world's best job
Hollywood has come full circle and we’re pretty sure Pam Anderson isn’t too happy about it.
The New York Post supplements the story:
Disney is searching for real treasure chests for its upcoming shoot of the next “Pirates of the Caribbean” swashbuckler — that is, women with natural breasts.
The movie studio has banned actresses with artificial enhancements for the fourth installment, “Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides,” directed by Rob Marshall and starring Johnny Depp as the drunken buccaneer Jack Sparrow.
The filmmakers sent out a casting call last week seeking “beautiful female fit models. Must be 5ft7in-5ft8in, size 4 or 6, no bigger or smaller. Age 18-25. Must have a lean dancer body. Must have real breasts. Do not submit if you have implants.”
And they warn that there’ll be a “show and tell” day.
To make sure LA talent scouts don’t get caught in a “booby trap,” potential lassies will have to undergo a Hollywood-style jiggle-your-jugs test and jog for judges. If there’s nothing moving from the waist up, they’re saying, it’s a dead giveaway that you’re not all flesh and bones — and you’re out.
Apparently, the bouncier the better, especially for sword-fighting action sequences, according to the Sunday Times of London.
“In the last movie, there were enhanced breasts to give that 18th-century whorish look, and men were pretty well padded too, and no one worried,” a former casting agent said. “But times are changing, and the audience can spot false breasts.”
Keira Knightley, 24, who was 18 when she shot the first Pirates movie, did not have to face the indignity of a breast exam.
“I am not that well endowed, so they literally painted in my cleavage,” she said.
“It took about 45 minutes every day for makeup artists to add shade and volume, and it looked fantastic until it got too hot shooting.”
Hey, wait just a darn second. Let’s go back a couple paragraphs to where Keira Knightly said they painted in her cleavage every day.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o0j7EactM9s Damn those racists at Disney. They’ve produced a new animated movie called “The Princess and the Frog.” The lead character is a black princess named Tiana.
Race baiting critics did what they always do – they accused the studio of racial insensitivity.
So Disney did what American business always does – they caved in and made changes to the cartoon. But you can never do enough for the race baiters. Never.
Unbelievable. This guy’s made about a thousand movies and about a billion dollars. Yet, somehow, DreamWorks is so strapped for cash that he’s begging from studio door to studio door.
We’re not talking petty cash here, either. Reports say financially-floundering DreamWorks studio needs $250,000,000 to save its shaky Bollywood start-up.
According to Perez Hilton, Spielberg tried to change his deal with Universal at the last minute. But Universal said, “No dice.” So now the famed director has gone behind Universal’s back and hit Disney up for the money.
“Universal should have asked me about this guy,” thought Amy Irving, Spielberg’s first wife. “He did the same thing to me when he met Kate Capshaw.”
Irving didn’t really say that. We made up that part of the story. Please call off the attorneys, Steven.
The recession and plummeting ad sales have claimed another 200 victims as the Walt Disney Co announced layoffs.
The media and entertainment conglomerate expects to freeze 200 vacant jobs, resulting in a 5% reduction in ABC-TV’s workforce of about 6,500 to 7,000.
“After months of making hard decisions across our businesses to help us adjust to a weakening economy, we’re now faced with the harsh reality of having to eliminate jobs in some areas,” said Disney spokesperson Anne Sweeney.
Sadly, even Disneyland has not been spared the pain of the recession. Grumpy has been given his walking papers and one of the park’s most famous attractions will been renamed Snow White and the Six Dwarfs.
Robert Iger, CEO of Disney, received a pay package worth $51.1 million in fiscal 2008. That was up a whopping 85 percent from a year earlier. Unfortunately, most of it came in stock options that are currently worthless.
The Magic Kingdom has also announced several new attractions in their amusement park division — The Haunted Soup Kitchen, Pirates of Wall Street, and Dumbo the Flying Stockholder.
Robert Iger, CEO of Disney, received a pay package worth $51.1 million in fiscal 2008. That was up a whopping 85 percent from a year earlier. Unfortunately, most of it came in stock options that are currently worthless.