Disney

Disney sent shockwaves through the world of streaming media earlier this week when it announced the company was ending its agreement with Netflix in 2019 in order to start its own competitive streaming movie and TV service. So some kind of “Dizflix” is coming, along with a similar ESPN service for sports due next year...

The pop cultural giant announced will pull its movies from Netflix and eventually have a standalone streaming site for ESPN.

According to Disney Parks’ executive Bob Chapek they are “the most ambitious lands that we have ever built at Walt Disney Imagineering.” They’re Star Wars Land, coming to both Disneyland and Walt Disney World in the near future. And this weekend at the D23 convention, Disney gave fans a look at the massive model for their creation.

This is not the future that Angelina Jolie movie foretold.

Question: Do you want to build a snowman... again?

There’s been a lot of talk about whitewashing in the news lately, what with two big blockbusters, The Great Wall and the live-action Ghost in the Shell, poised to hit theaters soon. Disney has plans for both a live-action Mulan and Aladdin in the works, and the production of both will be scrutinized for how they handle casting. But not to worry, because the producer of Aladdin says the cast will be fittingly diverse for a movie set in the Middle East.

This Friday, Paramount Pictures is releasing what will arguably be the finest family film of the year (to date): Monster Trucks, which has had a famously messy production up to its release in the doldrums of the first month of the year. (Shocking that a movie thought up by a 4-year old wouldn’t have smooth sailing!) Leaving its behind-the-scenes rockiness aside, Monster Trucks ostensibly has the ingredients to be a kids’ movie: it’s a mix of computer animation and live action; it’s directed by Chris Wedge of the Ice Age franchise; and it’s about big trucks. But all accounts suggest that the oddity of the concept’s genesis is borne out by the finished film, making for a truly odd film intended for the whole family. In (dubious) honor of Monster Trucks, thus, here’s our list of 10 of the truly weird, oddball children’s movies.

While we continue to wait for a full trailer (ahem, Disney, let’s do this already) for Beauty and the Beast, Disney has released nine new high-res images from the upcoming live-action remake. The stills (which you can view in the gallery above) feature beautiful, detailed looks at Emma Watson’s Belle, Dan Stevens’ Beast, Luke Evans’ Gaston, and all those charming animated household helpers. And although Bill Condon’s film looks pretty faithful to the original animated version, Watson has revealed that they made at least one significant change to the story — Belle’s backstory, specifically.

If you’re a fan of Disney baddies like cigar-smoking Bill Sykes from Oliver & Company (and really, who isn’t a fan of Bill Sykes from Oliver & Company?), this news is relevant to your tobacco-stained interests: The Walt Disney Company has banned all depictions of smoking from all of its films from all of its child-oriented labels (including Pixar, Marvel, and Lucasfilm) rated G through PG-13. Via a press release:

If you keep your eyes peeled during Tangled you can catch a glimpse of some other Disney classics. In the background, there are nods to Pinocchio, The Little Mermaid, Sleeping Beauty, Beauty and the Beast and Frozen, plus other references from classic Disney fairy tales. This is just one of the facts packed into the latest episode of You Think You Know Movies, which lets it hair down with Tangled!