Oriental Land Refutes Shanghai Park Stories

People's Daily Online:

"We have approached neither Walt Disney Co nor the Shanghai municipal government about jointly running the Shanghai Disneyland theme park," Hiroshi Suzuki, director of public relations at the leisure and tourism company, told China Daily on Thursday, adding that "media reports are not true".

I suspected it might not be true, as the Chinese and Japanese can be antagonistic at times. I can't imagine the Chinese government welcoming a Japanese company running their flagship tourism initiative.

Bullshit Alert: Disney to Open Theme Park in Israel by 2013?

The Jewish Chronicle Online:

The Walt Disney Company, which has amusement parks in the US, France and Hong Kong, is planning to open another in Haifa in 2013.

The park, which will cover 20 acres of land near the Carmel Tunnel, will be home to a 25-screen cinema complex, shops and other entertainment facilities.

The project is expected to cost more than £107 million.

20 acres?  £107 million? It's all bullshit.

Shanghai Daily: Major Shanghai Disneyland Construction to Begin by May

Large-scale construction of the Shanghai Disneyland project could start as early as May with work on two major roads leading to the future theme park due to be completed in April, officials said yesterday.

If they still plan on opening by 2015, they'd need to begin fairly soon.

Monsters Inc 2 a Prequel?

Reelz Channel:

According to rumors, the prequel will focus on the story of Mike and Sulley's time at University of Fear, and how they started off as enemies but soon became friends. The source of the rumor comes from a 2011/2011 catalog Disney gave to theater owners.

First reported on French Disney fan forums Disney Central Plaza.

Al Lutz: Perennial Passholders

New Disneyland update from MiceAge editor Al Lutz.

And Now The Fun Begins...

The CALIFORNIA letters have been walled off and guests are being directed around the walls.

You can see how building Buena Vista Street and the new turnstile is going to be a traffic nightmare.

(via Twitter user MacDaddyUpdates)

New So Cal Ticket Deal

It's not the old "2fer" deal, and it's $99 ($23 more expensive).

OC Register's Around Disney blog:

In recent years, Disney sold two-for-one park tickets to Southern California residents at the start of the year, roughly January to May, when attendance is down. Last year’s deal cost $72.

The new Southern California tickets do give more flexibility than the previous ones.

The old two-for-one deal required guests to go to one park on one day and the second park on another day. Both trips had to occur within 30 days of each other.

This year’s ticket can be used at either park — two visits at one park or one visit at each park. The two trips can happen any time between now and May 14.

Still a great deal, and hopefully it will help with some of the crowding problems the old "2fer" ticket used to cause.

Tangled Tops $150 Million at Domestic Box Office, Tron Passes $100 Million

Congratulations to the Tangled team. It's worldwide total now stands at over $272 million.

While Tron: Legacy had a tough fall last weekend, it's been consistently grossing ~$6 million a day during the week. But school starts in many parts of the country on Monday. It's looking at $150 million total domestically. That's merely okay.

The Hollywood Reporter:

Disney's Thanksgiving film Tangled has transformed into the gift that won't stop giving, jumping the $150 million mark this week at the domestic box office and keeping up with newer Christmas family offerings.

Tangled grossed $3.6 million on Tuesday from 2,582 theaters for a cume of $150.6 million in its fifth week.

Disney's Tron: Legacy registered its own milestone Tuesday as it became the first Christmas film to cross the $100 million mark domestically. Overseas, the pic has brought in roughly $75 million for a worldwide total of $175 million.

Tron is a solid performer, but it hasn't broken out to the extent Disney might have liked beyond its core fanboy base.

Conversely, Tangled has done far more business than anyone predicted. Most had expected the film to gross $125 million domestically. Now, the movie is expected to reach $175 million.

Laughingplace: A Visit to Tokyo Disneyland's Club 33

Located on Main Street, USA.

Looks much roomier than its California counterpart.

Warner Brothers' Space Jam Website, Untouched Since 1996

Awesome.

Aerial Photos of the Magic Kingdom's Fantasyland Expansion

You really get a sense of how dramatically the expansion will alter Fantasyland.

Once completed, Fantasyland will more than double in size.

NYTimes: Disney Tackles Major Theme Park Problem - Lines

The New York Times:

And so it has spent the last year outfitting an underground, nerve center to address that most low-tech of problems, the wait. Located under Cinderella Castle, the new center uses video cameras, computer programs, digital park maps and other whiz-bang tools to spot gridlock before it forms and deploy countermeasures in real time.

In one corner, employees watch flat-screen televisions that depict various attractions in green, yellow and red outlines, with the colors representing wait-time gradations.

If Pirates of the Caribbean, the ride that sends people on a spirited voyage through the Spanish Main, suddenly blinks from green to yellow, the center might respond by alerting managers to launch more boats.

It's all about getting guests out of the queue and into the shops and restaurants. That's not cynical, it's reality. A happy guest spends more.

Visualize the Year in Box Office

via The Film Stage:

ERC revealed today that the 2010 box office has tallied up to $10.55 billion. This is a .3% drop from 2009′s $10.58 billion box office but due to inflation, a 5% decrease in attendance. Xach has created a neat visualization of this figure in today’s Daily Distraction.

Around Disney: Slideshow of Holiday Crowds

I'll be honest, right now does not sound like a fun time to be at the Disneyland Resort.

MiceAge: Disneyland Resort Year in Review

The crazy thing is that 2011 stands to see significantly more changes.

Tron Drops 54%, Stands at $88 Million

Andre Dellamorte:

Tron collapsed. Part of this could be the holiday weekend, and potential loss of Friday evenings and Saturday morning business, but it's going to have to rebound/not fall next weekend if it's going to have any shot at $150 domestic. Since Disney has suggested that's the production budget, that would be the number that would be a saving throw. But as it was off over 50% from the opening weekend (compared to Avatar's 1.8%), this doesn't get pretty, unless international is strong (which so far it hasn't been). I don't think there's any way to look at these numbers positively, if there was I'd share it.

Not the box office hit Disney was hoping for, but if it sticks for young boys and merchandise sales are strong then we could still see that Disneyland attraction anyways.

Happy Christmas!

I am traveling for the holidays so posting will be limited.

You can follow me on Twitter for breaking updates.

Funny or Die: 1982 Tron Holiday Special

Most of your favorite characters are back!

Detailed Buena Vista Street Construction Timeline

The Orange County Register's Around Disney blog published a detailed timeline of expected construction milestones that will affect guest flow and traffic while Buena Vista Street is constructed:

Jan. 4:

Letter statues: Construction walls will start going up around the “California” letters statues in front of the park’s turnstiles. Crews plan to remove the statues. 

Sunshine Plaza: Inside the park, the walls will come out farther around the Sunshine Plaza, where a sunburst statue and fountain used to sit. The corridors will become narrower. 

June 1:

Corridor closed: The major corridor between Sunshine Plaza and the Grizzly River Run mountain, which veers right after the park entrance, will be closed. Visitors instead can get to “a bug’s land” and Pacific Wharf by going through the Hollywood Pictures Backlot and through “a bug’s land” back entrance by the Twilight Zone Tower of Terror ride.

July 31:

Shops and restaurants closed: Restaurants and a shop on the right side inside the entrance will be closed, as walls go up for more Buena Vista Street construction. The closures will be at: Baker’s Field Bakery, Bur-r-r Bank Ice Cream and Engine-Ears Toys.

Aug. 29:

Entrance changes: Visitors will go through new turnstiles at the entrance. But they will be funneled right into a pathway behind the Soarin’ Over California ride to the Condor Flats area where they will enter the park. Most of the Sunshine Plaza area will be blocked, including the Greetings from California store. The entrance change is slated to stay until summer 2012.

While construction is underway at the entrance, new venues are set to open in the spring in the Paradise Pier area: The Little Mermaid – Ariel’s Undersea Adventure, Goofy’s Sky School and a dining-shopping complex. Opening dates have yet to be announced.

I can't vouch for the accuracy of the information, and most likely the dates will be changed. But it's an interesting look at what is sure to be an involved process.

Tron: Legacy Opens to Disappointing, but Not Disastrous $43 Million

Andre Dellamorte (who, for my money, is the only box office prognosticator that matters):

David Poland mentioned that all films that have opened to over $40 in December have done $200 Million domestically, so there is hope to keep alive, and this is Disney. The question is how much of a franchise picture is the film? Because it's quite possible that - regardless of the holidays - it drops 50% next weekend much like Narnia did. Disney's got $100 Million on lock for domestic at this point. Like a lot of pictures these days, worldwide is that number to satisfy. My bottom line is that I think the number isn't great because we've seen pictures open to this number and struggle to do much more than $100 or so.

I wrote earlier on Twitter that the film could drop 60% next weekend. But with the holidays that would be a disastrous drop. I think Disney can hope for something in the 30% - 40% range.

Tangled continues to perform well, even though it lost the majority of its 3D screens this weekend. But the ceiling is still $150 million.

UPDATE: The film received a "B+" CinemaScore from opening weekend audiences. That's not great and doesn't bode well for continued legs.