Disney is rumored to be releasing the following Diamond Edition packages over the upcoming months/years. This is completely unofficial, these are from information that folks spotted on semi-official Disney sites, so take it for what it is worth. If the date comes and goes and no release, well, we apologize for the misinformation. We'll try to keep the information updated for upcoming releases with new posts, this is "state of the moment" information as of the date of this post.

Even if the dates are correct as of this time, Disney changes release dates all the time for a variety of reasons. So, check back every so often and we'll try to post any changes that we see.

These are scheduled US releases of Diamond Edition Blu-ray animated titles, to the best of our knowledge at the current time, with both Blu-ray and DVD discs and bonus features/material in each package:

2014
Hercules (6/10/14)
Tarzan (6/10/14)
A Goofy Movie & An Extremely Goofy Movie (2-Movie Collection – 6/24/14)
Mickey, Donald and Goofy: The Three Musketeers (Summer 2014)
The Black Cauldron: Special Edition (8/19/14)
Bears (8/26/14)
Fun and Fancy Free (9/30/14)
The Adventures of Ichabod and Mr. Toad (9/30/14)
Sleeping Beauty (10/7/14)
Saludos Amigos & The Three Caballeros (2-Movie Collection, Blu-ray and DVD – 12/2/14)
Make Mine Music & Melody Time (2-Movie Collection – 12/2/14)
Planes: Fire & Rescue (12/9/14)

2015
101 Dalmatians (2/3/15)
Aladdin (10/6/15)

2016
Pinocchio (2/2/16)

2020

Short film "Paperman."


"Paperman" is a romantic little animation that's actually been around for a while, running before "Wreck-It Ralph." It won both the Academy Award for Best Animated Short Film at the 85th Academy Awards and the Annie Award for Best Animated Short Subject at the 40th Annie Awards.

It is an unusual animation, being a short film from Disney that has all scenes, character models and props modeled in 3-D and afterward rendered mostly into 2-D visuals. It looks like 3D, but it really isn't, so calling it 3D would be a misnomer. Basically, they rendered the whole thing in Black-and-White 3D models and textures and then they went back frame by frame and drew the traditional Disney animation. The software created to make Paperman was created specifically to make 2-D out of 3-D animation and models, so it is an experimental video in a format called "final line advection."

John Kahrs is George, Kari Wahlgren is Meg, Jeff Turley is the boss.

The short was produced by Walt Disney Animation Studios and directed by John Kahrs, who claims it stemmed from his own experiences commuting into Grand Central Station in New York City. Having done the same into Penn Station, I can verify that this is the kind of thing you kind of wish would happen at some point, though it never does. You see someone and wonder if you should go say hello, and then you figure you'll see them again the next day or some other time and you never do. Perhaps it's an old friend from high school or just someone who strikes your fancy. Naturally, when you have time to think about it later you realize you should have just gone over and said something. Call it a "commuter fantasy." Everyone who spends enough time taking the train into the city has a story or two like that...

Incidentally, the standard way to try and hook up between buildings like that isn't the paper airplane method, that would never work because of the wind and distance and, well, it's just too small a target. Besides, windows in the city are almost always closed, especially on the avenue side. Instead, you get the biggest piece of paper or cardboard that you can find and you write your phone number on it in as big and dark a manner as you can, then you hold it up to the window and jump up and down like an orangutan until the other person sees you. Then, she laughs and closes the blind.

Now, how would I know this?

Anyway, it's a cute video and well worth a look.

There are various copies of this floating around of varying quality. Here's another version should the one above doesn't work:


2020

DreamWorks Animation is dancing as fast as it can - with Penguins.

DreamWorks is in trouble. There's no question that DreamWorks Animation is going through a difficult period. It has had three out of four flops recently - "Rise of the Guardians" at the end of 2012, "Turbo" in 2013, and "Mr. Peabody and Sherman" this year. "The Croods" did well last year, so expect a sequel from that as soon as they can crank one out. But a 25% success rate is not good, and those flop films collectively lost a lot of money. Many think that DreamWorks spent too much  ($180 million) on "Mr. Peabody," a sign of over-confidence. With Hollywood accounting, you can never be sure exactly what is going on, but DreamWorks had to take huge charges for its film failures that really hurt its stock price, so that money that it isn't seeing is important.

The common denominator of those three under-performing films, aside from the fact that they were all from DreamWorks and greenlighted by legendary studio head Jeffrey Katzenberg, is that they were not sequels. Now, that might not seem like something out of the ordinary or even something to mention - for instance, Disney almost never does theatrical sequels to its major hits, though that may be changing - these days the most popular word in Hollywood is, you got it, "sequel."

To a large extent, DreamWorks has built its empire on sequels. "Shrek" begat "Shrek 2" and "Puss in Boots" and, well, all sorts of little Shreks. DreamWorks also has several other highly successful franchises such as the "Madagascar" films. So, DreamWorks is far from being a one-trick pony.

It's an axiom of the business that movie stars are allowed three box office duds in a row before they start losing roles. While studios are a bit more resilient than that, they aren't immune to costly film failures. Disney has gone through several periods in its history when the very survival of the studio hung by a thread, and nobody in the business compares to Disney in terms of success and prestige. DreamWorks has nowhere near the deep catalog of Disney, and it does not have the tv networks and tv series and the theme parks (though DreamWorks is building several major parks in China and Europe) and what-not that Disney can always fall back on (not that Disney has to with the end-times success of "Frozen").

So, with DreamWorks struggling, what is its prognosis?

Just fine.

Jeffrey Katzenberg knows the business, and the business is sequels.

Katzenberg hears the cries of the shareholders who have been losing money recently. Accordingly, here is what the studio is going to do, some of these things obvious, some just recently announced:

1. Release guaranteed smash hit "How to Train a Dragon 2" this summer on schedule.
2. Release sequel "Penguins of Madagascar" this holiday season.
3. Push off new (i.e. non-sequel) "Home" starring Steve Martin until next year.
4. Jeffrey Katzenberg has been making noises recently about further sequels to its successful franchises such as another "Shrek" and "How to Train Your Dragon 3" and even "How to Train Your Dragon 4" (that's how utterly confident they are about "How to Train Your Dragon 2").

What does all this tell us? Well, it confirms the power of sequels. It also shows that DreamWorks has a whole deck of aces up its sleeves.

Sequels in Hollywood are virtually guaranteed money-makers. All you have to do is re-tell the same story with different bits and maybe a couple of new actors thrown into the mix as new villains or new buddies to the main character and... guaranteed hit.

That is life in Hollywood these days. Anyone who tells you differently is kidding you.


"Home" has a brilliant pedigree. It stars proven headliner Steve Martin and also features Jim Parsons and Rihanna. However, while Martin is proven, the story is not. "Guardians," for goodness sake, had Hugh Jackman in it, and there's no more bankable star today than Jackman. So a big name can't save a turkey all by himself (and nobody is saying that "Home" is ready for the bake oven), certainly not Steve Martin, who hasn't been in much lately.

Accordingly, "Home," which was originally supposed to be released on November 26th, 2014; has been moved back to March 27th, 2015. "Penguins of Madagascar," another sequel to "Madagascar" that has the added bonus of featuring popular stars John Malkovich and Benedict Cumberbatch, has been moved forward to a November 26, 2014 release date after previously slotted for mid-2015. It's not really a sign of desperation - but a sign that DreamWorks is feeling the heat and wants to bank some coin before putting out any more new (non-sequel) material. Three out of four failures is bad enough, but four out of five would not be good at all and might cause all sorts of problems with financiers.

When you think about it, this latest move makes sense anyway. Penguins in wintertime - when else would you want to release a movie about penguins? The Steve Martin film has had a rocky marketing campaign, being tied so far to the sluggish "Mr. Peabody," so it could use more time to get the word out to people that it is worth watching.


Now, here's the true bottom line: DreamWorks has nothing whatsoever to fear right now. Nothing, that is, if everything proceeds as it always has in Hollywood, with sequels to successful films also being huge successes.

If "How to Train Your Dragon 2" and "The Penguins of Madagascar" have unexpected problems, though, then DreamWorks will be in trouble. But that's highly unlikely.

2020

"Chinese Animation: Streaking In Stockholm."

Chinese animation is still a fledgling industry, but it is on the rise. It also has something to say, which may surprise some folks.

This is an animation about a political event that you likely never heard about. Since it gives a glimpse into Chinese art, we present it here, with an explanation below. The animation is difficult to decipher unless you know the background or understand Chinese writing, but bear with me here, it will all make sense.


All right, now the explanation. This all stems from Chinese dissidents protesting the incarceration of Nobel Peace Prize winner Liu Xiaobo. The dissidents are Chinese artists Liao Yiwu, Bei Ling, Wąng Yiliang, Meng Huang, and Wąng Juntao.

Liu Xiaobo is a Chinese human rights activist (and lots of other things such as a professor) who called for political reforms and the end of communist single-party rule. Fat chance! Xiaobo is currently incarcerated as a political prisoner in Jinzhou, Liaoning. His wife, who did nothing wrong that we know of, is under house arrest. The Chinese government does not play around with this sort of thing.


Xiaobo won a Nobel Peace Prize, but could not attend because he was in a jail cell. Liao and the others tried to place an empty chair at the Nobel Prize ceremonies in Stockholm in 2012 to protest Xiaobo's incarceration that had resulted in his inability to attend to accept his award. The dissidents also were upset that Mo Yan, a controversial Chinese writer, would participate in the ceremony and accept his own Nobel Prize for writing that year whilst Xiaobo remained locked up and could not accept his. The Chinese government likes Mo Yan and doesn't like Liu Xiaobo, while the dissidents now like Xiaobo and don't like Mo Yan. Thus, the empty chair in the animation served multiple purposes, much like Clint Eastwood talking to an empty chair also served multiple purposes.

Not getting any satisfaction after the 2012 stunt (and it was a stunt, but a stunt attempted in a good way for a noble cause), the dissidents decided to up the ante in 2013. They dispensed with the chair idea and instead came up with streaking in the snow right outside the Nobel Prize ceremonies. Now, obviously, this was all set up, because the Swedes probably would have let these guys run around in the snow and dark and ice naked all night if they wanted to and then collected the frozen corpses in the morning. Probably the happiest guy in the entire country that night was the naked guy, Liao Yiwu, whose main concern no doubt was that nobody might notice and he might freeze to death if not "subdued." The dissidents got what they wanted, publicity for their cause and a mercifully quick end to this cold adventure, and they now have this video as well, more publicity. And, might I add in a not immodest way, this post.

I say this in the kindest possible way: the Chinese are great at these kinds of stunts, such as the famous picture of the guy standing in front of the column of tanks. I especially like the subtle animation touch here of having the Chinese leader at the microphone standing on a stack of books to make himself look important. This actually is a sad video, because it's a completely lost cause in a totalitarian state, but these guys are trying to do something anyway.

Streaking!

Below a clip of the actual, obviously staged, event. Look at the snow! It was December in Sweden! After dark! He must have frozen like an icicle! And it takes courage to do something like this, regardless of whether it was staged or not or in a foreign land when you live under a repressive regime. It doesn't take long to get frostbite under those conditions, either.

Oh, and the animation is actually a combination with an earlier animation from 2012 that was just about the chair incident. The chair one wasn't as much fun as this one, though. I mean, noble as it was, it was just a chair. Maybe next year they'll have a new, expanded version, too, that will be even more interesting.


From the youtube page:

On December 10, 2012, artist Meng Huang streaked outside the Nobel Prize banquet in Stockholm, Sweden, to protest Mo Yan winning this year's Nobel in literature. He was accompanied by German Peace Prize recipient Liao Yiwu, who is currently living in exile in Berlin. The two were upset that Mo Yan did not present an empty chair in honor of Nobel Peace Prize winner Liu Xiaobo, currently serving an 11-year sentence in China for state subversion.

2020