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Tron Legacy Marketing? Bring It!

GeekSugar — Fri, 26 Mar 2010 09:00:33 PDT

Everyone needs a little pick-me-up during the workday; mine are Lady Gaga videos and movie trailers for comic book and sci-fi flicks. On heavy rotation these days is the trailer for the highly anticipated sci-fi film, Tron Legacy. Being totally OK in my world of geekdom, I'll admit to you that just thinking about the movie gets me excited, really excited. While I was too young to watch the original film in the theaters, it became one of my favorites growing up. But as much as I love it, it's starting to look a little dated. Luckily, the clips for Tron Legacy portray a digital world like nothing I've ever seen before. In a word: awesome.

The marketing for the film has been super fun to experience, and often viral. Fans at last year's Comic-Con were treated to a blacklight scavenger hunt that led them to "Flynn's Arcade" and a real lightcycle, news articles from the faux Tron world are being released, and the Disney monorails were transformed into lightcycles. Besides all the fun viral video game hunting you can do, an animated movie poster for Tron Legacy was revealed in Germany recently. All I have to say is that this slick ad campaign is working. Hey Disney, continue to throw these little nuggets of Tron my way until the December release and I'm yours! Check out the sleek animated poster after the break.

Walt Disney Launches a Wallpaper Collection

CasaSugar — Mon, 15 Mar 2010 07:00:00 PDT

From silent films and gloved mice to Arabian nights and amusement parks, the Walt Disney Company has covered a lot of bases. But never ever did I think the media conglomerate would get its feet wet in the world of wallpaper. I was wrong. York Wallcoverings and the lifestyle brand Walt Disney Signature have teamed up to debut an upscale wallpaper collection inspired by original artwork from the Disney archives of the 1940 classic Fantasia. The collection includes 12 prints with graphic and botanical motifs derived from specific scenes in the animated film, such as the dancing thistles and orchids, frost fairies, and milkweed ballerinas in "The Nutcracker Suite."

The verdict? I am really impressed. When wallpaper samples arrived at my desk and I saw the words "Disney" and "wallpaper," all I could think was, "Oh no." But the designs are sophisticated, modern, and hip! My two favorites are Allegro, a Moroccan-style fretwork pattern, and Shimmer, a grasscloth that's very subtly woven with metallic gold, but there are a few others I'd definitely use, too. The only downfall of the collection are two wallpapers, Pixie and Sparkle (at left), which have glass beading and sparkly sand on them; from a tactile perspective, they are cool, but the shimmer is just tacky.

See the other wallpapers in the collection when you

View 12 Photos ›

What do you think? Would you like to use any of these in your home?

Daily Tech: Will You Be Catching the Google Wave?

GeekSugar — Wed, 22 Jul 2009 12:01:59 PDT

On Sept. 30, Google will start sending out invites for Google Wave - Mashable
Harmonix will be adding seven more tracks to The Beatles: Rock Band - Joystiq
Walt Disney is starting to put some of their movies on microSD cards - Engadget
Fujifilm has just unveiled a new line-up of cameras - CrunchGear
10 ways in which the BlackBerry trumps the iPhone - Switched
Log in for a chance to win a new Amazon Kindle - geeksugar

Buzz News Roundup, 6/22

BuzzSugar — Mon, 22 Jun 2009 13:15:21 PDT

Just days away from the start of shooting, Columbia has pulled the plug on Moneyball, Steven Soderbergh's baseball drama starring Brad Pitt. - The Hollywood Reporter
Here's the track listing for the American Idol season eight album. - Entertainment Weekly
A 10-gallery museum devoted to the life of Walt Disney will open in San Francisco on Oct. 1. - AP
Simon Cowell has addressed the Susan Boyle situation and other controversies from this season of Britain's Got Talent. - Daily Mail
Nip/Tuck has filmed its 100th and final episode - though it may not air till 2011. - LA Times
Playing in Britain and Japan ahead of its worldwide release on Wednesday, Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen premiered at No. 1 on the international circuit during the weekend, with a total of almost $20 million. - Reuters
True Blood tops a new index of shows that fans love to talk about online. - The Hollywood Reporter
British singer Estelle will replace Lauryn Hill as the headline act at this year's Stockholm Jazz Festival. - AP

Source and WireImage

Up: Another Major Pixar Success

BuzzSugar — Fri, 29 May 2009 09:30:46 PDT

From the press notes handed out at my screening of Up, I learned that Walt Disney believed that for every laugh there should be a tear, a sort of Newton's third law of entertainment. If he were around to see this movie, which upholds that "law" to a T, I have a feeling Mr. Disney's head would swell with pride - and perhaps take him up into the air like one of the many colorful balloons in the movie. See? Up is so fanciful and fun that it has set my own imagination in motion, which will, presumably, remain in motion . . . OK, OK, enough with Newton's laws - back to my thoughts on Pixar's latest accomplishment.

"Accomplishment" is the word to use when referring to Up, as you can pretty much go down a checklist of the many things this movie gets right. Colorful and imaginative enough to keep kids' attention? Check. Genuinely interesting enough for adults? Check. Humor, sadness, action and tenderness - all rolled up together? Check. Astounding, vibrant visuals? Check. What's not to love about Up? Honestly, not much. To find out what else I did love about it,

The story follows a little old widower named Carl (voiced by Ed Asner) who is determined to keep the house in which he lived with his beloved late wife Ellie while his neighborhood is being reconstructed on all sides of him. He attaches hundreds of balloons to his house and flies away, hoping to find his way to Paradise Falls, a remote South American locale where he and Ellie always dreamed of going and finding adventure. But while he's in the sky, Carl discovers that a persistently "helpful" young boy, Russell (voiced by Jordan Nagai), took off on the house along with him. Together they reach South America where they encounter some non-human friends: A dog named Dug with a collar that communicates his thoughts and a colorful, affectionate bird that Russell names Kevin. But there's a problem: Dug's owner is trying to hunt down Kevin and Russell immediately takes on the challenge of protecting the bird. So, despite Carl's desire to have a peaceful life by himself at Paradise Falls, he finds himself surrounded by - and suddenly responsible for - a trio of clumsy but well-meaning friends.

To us adults, at times the movie seems downright trippy - but that's the thing about imagination, isn't it? Strange, funny things like an elderly man dragging his house through the air above him strike us as the stuff of drug-induced dreams, but it's actually a scenario that a child might just paint in her head any day of the week. Movies like Up, when done as well as Up is done, take us right back to that childlike place of wandering thoughts and carefree creativity and it is so much fun to be there again.

And at the same time, there's an adult-like realism in this animated movie as well. There's death and great sadness and even a little blood. It's rated PG - not G - and some moments were clearly too scary for some of the more wee viewers at my screening. There are slow-moving, tender moments, too, that probably resonate more with those in the audience who have a bit more life experience. All told, I have tremendous respect for what the makers of this movie have done in creating something so whimsical, so exciting to watch, and so cute but something that also beats with a real heart, with all its vulnerability and love. As Mr. Disney prescribed, Up pulls you through practically every emotion available - but happily, it leaves you in sweet (if a little tearful) contentment.

Images courtesy of Walt Disney Pictures

Do You Go to the Opera?

BuzzSugar — Tue, 30 Sep 2008 05:30:27 PDT

According to Variety, composer Philip Glass is creating an opera about Walt Disney. The story "imagines the last months of Disney as seen through the eyes of a fictional Austrian cartoonist who worked for him."

I seriously cannot wait to see what the heck this opera looks like.

What do you think of the opera in general? Do you ever go? Or are you not an opera person?

Source

Which Pre-Pixar Animated Disney Movie Is Your Favorite?

BuzzSugar — Tue, 08 Apr 2008 16:32:56 PDT

Cinematical has some tidbits from today's Disney/Pixar Animation Presentation in New York City, including news about upcoming Disney movies. One of the projects on the list is a CGI version of Rapunzel, which is apparently "the first classic Disney story being done in CGI."

This got me thinking protective thoughts about my personal favorites in the old-school Disney collection (read: before the Pixar collaboration). If I heard news of an "updated" CGI version of Lady and the Tramp, I would probably burst into tears.

What's your favorite pre-Pixar animated Disney movie? I know there are many more titles than just these, but I decided to stop the options with The Lion King (1994) before the Disney-Pixar projects started up, like Toy Story (1995).

The Avengers Easily Sinks Battleship in a Box Office Showdown

Maggie Pehanick — Mon, 21 May 2012 03:05:00 PDT

For the third week in a row, The Avengers has taken the top spot at the box office. The Marvel superhero flick earned $55.1 million this weekend, bringing its total gross to an impressive $457 million. New releases Battleship and The Dictator trailed behind, with $25.3 million and $17.4 million, respectively. Johnny Depp's vampire revival Dark Shadows came in fourth in its second week in theaters, taking in $12.8, and the Jennifer Lopez ensemble comedy What to Expect When You're Expecting rounded out the top five with $10.5 million in its first weekend.

Photo courtesy of Walt Disney Studios

Geeks We Love: Tim Burton's Geekiest Films

Anna Monette Roberts — Fri, 11 May 2012 03:16:06 PDT

Specializing in all things geek - including science experiments gone awry, dystopias, and alien attacks - Tim Burton's morose imagination and kooky humor keeps his fans coming back for more. Opening today is his latest venture, Dark Shadows. The flick is a reboot of the '60s-era TV show, starring Tim's muse Johnny Depp as a vampire who ends up in the disco era with his dysfunctional descendants. To celebrate his quirkiest creations, we've rounded up geek favorites from Tim's 17 years of film-making.

Photos Courtesy of Warner Bros., 20th Century Fox, and Walt Disney Studios

Pixar Cofounder Ed Catmull Lists His Storybook California Estate

Angela Swinderman Elias — Tue, 08 May 2012 14:38:45 PDT

Pixar cofounder and Walt Disney Animation Studios president Ed Catmull might be known for cranking out computer-animated blockbusters like Toy Story, A Bug's Life, and Finding Nemo, but his whopping Kentfield, CA, estate, listed for $10.9 million, proves that he also has an excellent eye for prime real estate. According to Trulia, the six-bedroom, eight-full-bathroom, and two-half-bath estate is filled with storybook details. The South Hampton-inspired house sits atop a three-quarter-acre parcel surrounded by lush lawns and views of Mt. Tamalpais and the Southern Marin Ridgeline. Still, state-of-the-art touches throughout the house reflect Catmull's creative tech tycoon status. Take a look inside to tour the picturesque grounds, modern decor, and custom details of this Northern California gem.