Tinker Bell in 1953’s ‘Peter Pan’. Photo: Walt Disney Pictures.
Preview:
Streaming service Disney+ has a Tinker Bell series in development.
It’ll be a new, live-action take on the character.
Liz Heldens and Bridget Carpenter are running the show.
While Marvel has been all over Disney+ with a variety of shows based on the Marvel Cinematic Universe, we haven’t seen quite as much from the company’s animation arm, which has mostly kept its live-action takes on cartoon characters limited to the big screen.
Now, though, Deadline brings word that the streaming service is developing a series based on ‘Peter Pan’s fairy, Tinker Bell, titled ‘Tink’.
While the character remains an iconic part of the Disney firmament, there have been frustrations with realizing her in the live-action world.
A live-action feature named ‘Tink’ was in development in 2015, with Reese Witherspoon set to play the lead. But that never came to pass and the idea has now been retooled into a series.
Despite a box office stumble with ‘Snow White’, the huge success of ‘Lilo & Stitch’ has led to the Mouse House reaffirming its commitment to converting its animated output to live-action.
‘Moana’ is sailing towards theaters this July, ‘Beauty and the Beast’ spin-off ‘Gaston’ is back in development, and there has been movement on the ‘Tangled’ live-action movie.
Walt Disney Studios kicked off the first day of D23 Expo 2022 in style today with tons of advance looks at what the House of Mouse has in store for fans in the coming days, months, and years. You can watch Moviefone‘s exclusive backstage interviews by clicking on the video player above.
The first D23 Expo in three years began with the president of Walt Disney Studios Motion Picture Production, Sean Bailey, revealing the first-ever footage from ‘Hocus Pocus 2’.
Bailey was joined by the wacky Sanderson Sisters themselves – stars Bette Midler, Sarah Jessica Parker, and Kathy Najimy – who appeared via video to show how their characters are back for the first time since 1993 for more soul-stealing Halloween action.
Battling them this time around are aspiring witch Becca (Whitney Peak) and magic shop owner Gilbert (Sam Richardson).
But the audience’s biggest applause went to the original film’s Billy Butcherson (‘The Shape of Water’s Doug Jones) upon his return from the grave. ‘Hocus Pocus 2’ hits Disney+ on September 30th. The trailer is in the video player above.
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Next up on the panel was another eagerly anticipated sequel, ‘Disenchanted’. Returning stars Amy Adams, Patrick Dempsey, Idina Menzel, and James Marsden took the stage, alongside Maya Rudolph, the film’s new villain. ‘Disenchanted’ finds Adams’ Giselle and hubby Dempsey moving to the suburbs with their infant and teenage children.
“I was a huge fan of the original,” said Rudolph. “I can’t believe I got to be part of this… It’s not easy being mean to Amy Adams.” The new teaser trailer for the sequel is in the video player above.
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As far as live-action remakes of Disney animated classics go, ‘Peter Pan & Wendy’ was the first on deck today: with star Jude Law (Captain Hook) flanked by newcomers Alexander Molony (Peter Pan), Ever Gabo Anderson (Wendy), and Alyssa Wapanatâhk (Tiger Lily).
Expect more empowered female characters this time around, including at least one Lost Girl among Peter’s Lost Boys.
“Disney has worked very hard to give her more depth and a lot more character,” said Anderson of Wendy. “She and Peter are equals in this film.”
Law added that Hook and Pan’s prior relationship is also fleshed out. “We got to mine their back story a little bit more. You get to understand their past,” he said, hinting that the two were once friends.
“I got to make sure all the little details, all the Easter eggs are there. Because I’m a nerd,” confessed Simien. He then joined another of the film’s stars – scream queen Jamie Lee Curtis – in a Doom Buggy rolling across the D23 Expo stage.
Few Disney films are so beloved as 1994’s ‘The Lion King’. And fans will get more of the film’s animal kingdom in the 2024 prequel ‘Mufasa: The Lion King’.
Director Barry Jenkins appeared to explain how “Mufasa is the origin story of one of the greatest kings of the Pride Land… It’s the real story of how Mufasa found his place in the circle of life. What you learn is that Mufasa is great because of the family and the friends he has with him.”
Of course Disney Studios wouldn’t exist without its very first animated classic, 1937’s ‘Snow White’.
Director Marc Webb is tackling the live-action 2024 remake, featuring Gal Gadot as the Wicked Queen and Rachel Zegler as its eponymous heroine. The two were touched by the warm response they received as they presented a first look at their characters.
“Just your reaction means the world to us,” said Gadot.
A visibly moved Zegler explained that, “Snow White is the girl you remember, but she’s definitely made for the modern age,” stating the film redefines what it means to be the fairest of them all.
Rachel Zegler and Gal Gadot at Disney D23 Expo 2022 Getty Images
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While ‘Snow White’ is Disney’s first animated feature, 1989’s ‘The Little Mermaid’ is responsible for the studio’s renaissance. As well as its renewed dedication to musicals, as Rob Marshall, director of May 2023’s live-action adaptation, reminded fans today.
“It was very important for us to honor the original. We went to Alan Menken, who was divine to work with, and also our dear friend Lin-Manuel Miranda. They had never worked together before… There are four new songs. We still retain the beauty of the original score, written by the late great Howard Ashman as well.”
Fans were treated to the film’s entire “Part of Your World” number, featuring a note-perfect Halle Bailey, who appeared on stage with Marshall.
“Three days of filming ‘Part of Your World,’” said Bailey, “that was the most beautiful experience of my life. Just getting to sing a song I’ve loved since I was a child was so exciting.”
“The camera loves you,” Marshall told Bailey. “But it’s more than that. [It] loves what’s inside. [It] loves what you bring.”
The two then unveiled a teaser that recalled ‘Finding Nemo’ in the color and detail of its underwater world. You can find a teaser version of the clip in the video player at the top of the page.
It was then time for Pixar Animation Studios’ turn in the spotlight, with chief creative officer Pete Docter introducing next summer’s ‘Elemental’.
Director Peter Sohn spoke of how the film’s Element City was inspired by the culturally mixed New York of his childhood. Footage shown depicted the star-crossed romance of its fire-based heroine Ember (Leah Lewis) and her watery boyfriend Wade (Mamoudou Athie).
Pixar also unveiled its first original long-form series in the form of ‘Win or Lose’, each episode of which follows the perspective of a different character connected to a co-ed softball team, the Pickles.
With this year’s ‘Lightyear’, Pixar returned to the science fiction of ‘Wall-E’. Expect more in this vein soon, starting with ‘Elio’.
Announced today at D23 with star America Ferrera on stage, the film’s title character is an 11-year-old boy who doesn’t feel like he fits in his world. His mom (Ferrera) runs a top-secret military project, which inadvertently results in Elio making first contact with alien life and becoming our planet’s ambassador to the rest of the universe. It’s due out in spring 2024.
Last but by no means least on the Pixar slate – ‘Inside Out’ star Amy Poehler made a surprise appearance alongside Docter to announce ‘Inside Out 2’.
“Joy and the emotions are back for an all new adventure inside Riley’s head,” said a fittingly ebullient Poehler. “Only this time she’s a teenager!”
New emotions will also appear in the film, as Kelsey Mann takes over the directing chores from Docter, with Meg LeFauve returning to write the summer 2024 release.
To cap off the panel, Disney Animation’s chief creative officer (and Oscar-winning ‘Frozen’ director) Jennifer Lee greeted the D23 Expo audience to show what’s in store for the studio’s 100th anniversary next year.
But first, Disney’s fan-favorite 2016 ‘Zootopia’ will get a spin-off series this November on Disney+. And attendees got an advance look at the aptly titled ‘Zootopia+’, consisting of six short ‘Zootopia’-style spoofs of everything from ‘The Real Housewives of Beverly Hills’ to ‘The Godfather Part II’.
Perhaps Disney’s most unique offering at the Expo was ‘Iwaju’. Coming this year to Disney+, it finds the animation studio partnering for the first time in its long history with an overseas animation studio – Africa’s Kugali. Its three founders appeared today, describing their Afrofuturism fable and its characters as a love letter to their hometown of Lagos, Nigeria.
More sci-fi arrived with a new look at ‘Strange World’, described by Lee as “a film about family, legacy, and what we leave behind for the generations that follow.” Director Don Hall explained how the film chronicles three generations coming together on an alien planet in order to save their world.
Stars Jake Gyllenhaal, Dennis Quaid, and Lucy Liu introduced a rip-snorting clip of an exciting chase through ‘Strange World’s creature-packed planet.
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The Disney Animation segment, and indeed entire panel, concluded with the revelation of the studio’s 100th anniversary feature film – ‘Wish’. The tale of the star upon which so many Disney characters have wished throughout the past century, ‘Wish’ is co-directed by the attending team of Chris Buck and Fawn Veerasunthorn.
Buck, who co-wrote the film with Lee, explained how ‘Wish’ explores a kingdom of wishes, in which wishes can literally come true. Offering a lush, animated watercolor style coupled with CG animation, it stars newly minted Oscar winner Ariana DeBose as 17-year-old Asha, who pleas to the heavens for help, and gets an actual star from the sky, named Star, who communicates through pantomime.
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Disney “good luck charm,” actor Alan Tudyk appeared with footage of his character, a goat named Valentino who wishes to communicate with people. Finally, DeBose saw fans off with a sizzling live performance of “More for Us,” one of the film’s songs by Grammy winner Julia Michaels.
Happy birthday to Jason Isaacs! The British actor, who’s played some of the villains we love to hate most, turns 56 on June 6.
He doesn’t always play bad guys — exceptions include his short-lived TV show “Awake,” his terrific British mystery series “Case Histories,” and his brief appearance in “The Tuxedo” as a stylish Bond-esque spy.
But there’s a reason he’s played villains so often: He’s damn good at being bad.
Here’s the rogue’s gallery of his best bad guys:
7. Roman Castevet, “Rosemary’s Baby” (2014)
NBC
Isaacs as an elegant Satan worshiper is great casting — except this wan remake of the horror classic doesn’t make enough use of his brand of menace. He’s certainly sexier than the elderly Castavet in the 1968 film, but that’s about the only improvement here.
A doctor who’s both charismatic and sinister? Check and check! Isaacs gets to chew some scenery as the head of a remote “wellness center” in the Swiss Alps, that’s about anything but wellness in this creepy thriller. In another age this part would have been played by Vincent Price, for sure.
5. Dr. Hunter Aloysius ‘Hap’ Percy, “The OA” (2016 – )
Netflix
Yes, this character — who kidnaps people with near-death experiences to study them — is bad. But then again, the “Angel Hunter” is working for the greater good. Or at least he thinks he is. Here, enjoy this Reddit thread on whether he’s really evil or not.
Our reaction when it was first announced that Isaacs would be playing the new captain in this CBS All Access series: “Hurrah, finally he gets to play a good guy.” And then … well, things took a turn. A very dark turn.
2. Lucius Malfoy, “Harry Potter” franchise (2001 – 2011)
Warner Bros.
For any other actor, this level of magnificent malevolence would be their finest hour as a villain. But despite the splendid smugness Isaac brings to the role, he’s not even the most evil character in the franchise. But he is the one with the most style. And the best hair.
Probably most people’s first introduction to Isaacs was as the supremely villainous British officer who murders not one but two of Mel Gibson’s sons in this Revolutionary War drama. He’s the perfect blend of brutality and sophistication you need in a truly epic villain. And when he lets his hair down… mercy!
Screw Disney princesses and their bland heroes! The so-called “villains” are the relatable ones.
Zelda Williams, daughter of the late Robin Williams — aka the Genie in “Aladdin” and Peter Pan in the non-Disney “Hook” — provided Twitter with some food for thought in an impassioned defense of Disney’s three-dimensional villains.
Her tongue-in-cheek thread was taken very seriously by some readers, but she was just having fun, and also making some good points.
Screw those unachievable paradigms we called Disney Princesses, I only ever related to the smart but overlooked three dimensional characters they called villains, and here’s why: (a thread) pic.twitter.com/MJRGBO395p
Ariel is a bored snob who literally sings about having everything but it not being enough. She saves a man’a life, who she then stalks & decides to ‘re-meet’ (since he doesnt even remember what she looks like), but in order to do so, she’ll needs magic, so who does she call… pic.twitter.com/CRfP0ylpeG
Ursula helps her in spite of Ariel’s snooty royal family exiling her and her rad AF eel buds to a cave. She doesn’t even make the task HARD. Like, hello, Ariel knows how to write! She signed her name! She didnt have to play illiterate as well as mute! Not to mention- pic.twitter.com/0W9630s5Ho
Little Mermaid takeaway: snobby hot rich chicks always get their way, while the harder working talented magical ladies who don’t fit particular (dumb) beauty or age standards will often be unfairly mistreated & shunned by certain society. Ursula was a BAMF, and a babe. Onwards! pic.twitter.com/RHUiZTcsE3
Enter Simba, another snooty royal who’s told from a very young age that he owns the entire planet (which isn’t unrealistic. At all.). He immediately starts annoying his smarter uncle Scar, and btw, who wouldnt be peeved at a world that’s nicknamed you after a visible injury?! pic.twitter.com/IMWKCtvD6w
While Mufasa, who has a pride of wives but only ever talks to one by name btw, keeps indoctrinating Simba with toxic King lessons that only feed his ego, Scar tried to expand Simba’s horizons, see the world! Leave his royal safety net and meet animals from all walks of life! pic.twitter.com/OQMQ7dPUt9
And yes, Scar ended up overthrowing the monarchy, but most societies had to in order to modernize! He and the hyenas made a new democracy! It was bumpy, but when new, improved Simba returns matured by time abroad, the pride is better for it! And the burn helped new plant growth. pic.twitter.com/1Qbu7WgtGF
Lion King takeaway: the hyenas were grossly mistreated & forced to live in horrible conditions and only Scar saw their promise and got them to unionize. He also created a whole new government while Simba was off being a stoner. PS, don’t nickname people after their injuries. NEXT pic.twitter.com/RtIUr2WgJ0
I don’t even know where to begin with Maleficent other than LOOK AT THIS FABULOUS FAIRY! A fashion icon with amazing dental hygeine. Yes, she overreacted to not being invited to a party, but EVERYTHING WORKED OUT FOR THE BEST IN THE END, AMIRIGHT?! Also, Dragon drag. pic.twitter.com/fm3Wf9wL1j
Also, how’s Maleficent the weirdo of Sleeping Beauty when the Prince is just walking around entering condemned properties and kissing dead chicks?! Also, fun fact, but Ravens are super intelligent and can speak better than parrots, so extra rad points to Mal. NEXT! pic.twitter.com/X36GobqrPN
And the Villains were often dramatic high fashion icons compared to the same pastels and crinoline chic of the princesses, don’t even bother @-ing me, you know I’m right. pic.twitter.com/le4E5Utvo4
Human villain men of Disney appreciation post. Who doesn’t love crimson and purple on an artfully tailored ensemble with a dramatic silhouette?! Also, kudos to Gaston for being the only Disney dude with body hair. pic.twitter.com/3kyOhmeR22
Also, if this isnt me when I’m hungry and cranky but still feeling generous with my love in spite of having to deal with your bullshit, I dunno what is… pic.twitter.com/3bBO6etoVI
Also, kudos to the villain squad for having some of the only body representation in Disney that is inclusive of more sizes than just princess in a corset zero, and with the exception of Boogie who is a literal bag, actually drawing them in stylish, well-tailored outfits. pic.twitter.com/Pt3hffefOQ
And to the couple people who have accused me of trying to ‘normalize’ fascism or whatever by writing funny epithets about the perspectives of Disney villains-
ONE OF THEM IS A SQUID WITCH AND THE OTHER IS A TALKING LION.
IT’S NOT THAT FUCKING DEEP.
Anywhoooo, since my mentions are currently a literal dumpster fire, I’m gonna hit the hay and wait to see if this tongue in cheek villain thread will have cannibalized itself by the morning.
Wish me luck ???? x pic.twitter.com/54VX9KH859
Welp, it’s a new day, and it’s a balmy lazy Sunday, so you know what that means…
More Villain perspectives! Come get em while they’re hot ???? (another thread) pic.twitter.com/tcZZ9InZ9U
Let’s start with arguably one of the most maligned and missinderstood: Captain Hook.
First off, kids, DON’T MAKE FUN OF PEOPLE’S PROSTHETIC LIMBS. It’s rude, and frankly cruel, and if the lost boys had even a single parent around they all wouldve been in time outs for doing so. pic.twitter.com/FzVvFPguaR
And while I normally don’t blame a bunch of unsupervised kids for acting out, Pan DID essentially kidnap them, and with a couple exceptions, they are all likely forty or older and have stayed young on that hell island for decades. So STOP BEING WEIRD LORD OF THE FLIES BRATS! pic.twitter.com/bIFqX5NTf2
And lets not forget, it’s Peter’s FAULT Hook lost his hand in the first place, as he fed it to the clock crock. Like, Jesus! Are we sure he’s not Damien from the Omen!? Not to mention the boys have a whole slew of other name calling and racial epithets throughout. pic.twitter.com/6WRhkiaWXA
Peter Pan takeaway: Peter actually runs a creepy kid cult that kidnaps its impressionable members and warps them, all to command his brat army to torment well dressed boating enthusiasts & feed household items to endangered predators. HOOK AND SMEE DESERVED A BETTER HONEYMOON! pic.twitter.com/kqlyRX8Wh4
Hades it is! Well, where to begin… ah yes, WHAT IS IT with family’s banishing/disowning or just downright mistreating eachother in Disney movies?! Just because he’s the bigger brother, Zeus got to FORCE Hades to lord over the Underworld for eternity. Seriously?! pic.twitter.com/rkxDH3MOod
So not only does Hades have the HARDEST job on all Olympus (let’s be honest, Zeus has to make occasional rainstorms flashy. I mean, cmon…), but he gets ZERO CREDIT. AND they made him a fire hazard, which must be tough at parties with low ceilings… pic.twitter.com/U0URn3FmPs
Now, if my big brother got to rule the universe, I’m pretty sure I would’ve been stuck in the basement in an eternal wedgie too, so eventually, OF COURSE Hades wants out. He’s a handsome devil! Who wouldnt want a little appreciation when you’re surrounded by dead beats! pic.twitter.com/2TfHQ2zJmL
Hercules Takeaway: The Olympians need to find the God of Family Counseling, ASAP, and Hades deserves to be best man at Herc’s wedding. I mean, what brings a couple together better than death defying action and adventure, AMIRIGHT?!
Pain and Panic can be ring bearers. pic.twitter.com/K6fmzFpAyl
Honorable mention: Hades is the best friend a lovesick Meg can ask for. I mean, he sets her up with Herc, AND gives her advice on men when she’s down? Bonus points for helping her pay of her soul debt after her last boo left her high and dry. Hades’ Blind Date service is 5 star! pic.twitter.com/7S2SR00OAv
ONWARDS! Now, hear me out, but if Jafar had been as boyband cute as Aladdin, no one would’ve batted an eye. In fact, he likely would’ve gotten the girl and the kingdom! Here’s why: pic.twitter.com/uSgySSvDhq
Sure, Jafar asked Aladdin to fetch the lamp (doubt his older knees could’ve handled all those stairs), but Aladdin couldn’t follow the SIMPLEST INSTRUCTIONS. Like, how hard is that?! Then he runs off with it! Thief AND bad at following direction. pic.twitter.com/TyovYUY1lV
Bad enough Aladdin wastes his wishes by not stopping to think about them (not his strong suit), THEN he pulls a full Little Mermaid and decides to remeet his dream girl under false pretenses. Tally shows: LIAR, identity thief, bad at directions, doesn’t feed his monkey enough. pic.twitter.com/z4rFBJHfc1
Now Jafar has already been essentially running the kingdom while the clearly lazy sultan has been playing with toys and neglecting his rebellious, spoiled daughter, not to mention he’s CLEARLY the smartest, just look at those wishes, AND he’s not lying to the girl he likes! pic.twitter.com/NUjfqJNml2
In the end, Jasmine uses Jafar’s affection against him in order to trick him and be with another cuter, younger guy, which is fair enough I guess, but what does he get in return? AN ETERNITY OF IMPRISONMENT! How is THAT fair?
And WHY IMPRISON IAGO TOO?! Animal cruelty. pic.twitter.com/PcKS9ZsUhL
I’ll continue with Gaston and Queen of Hearts later folks, gotta take my real life versions of Pain and Panic for a walk and get some food. Toodle pip and whatnot! pic.twitter.com/fx36uapsep
Well played. Keep checking her Twitter for more, and for the responses challenging specific villain deeds. People really do take things like this a bit too seriously. But hey — at least they care about something. That’s a start.
A lot of Lost Boys and Girls have grown up and had kids of their own since the release of “Hook” 25 years ago this week, on December 11, 1991.
Steven Spielberg‘s “Peter Pan” sequel, a fable for adults disguised as a kid’s movie, has scarcely left our consciousness since — thanks to the director’s overstuffed visuals and swashbuckling performances by Dustin Hoffman and Robin Williams as the older Captain Hook and Peter Pan.
Still, as many times as you’ve revisited Spielberg’s Neverland, there’s plenty you may not know about “Hook,” from its secret cameos to its Michael Jackson connection. (You knew there had to be one, right?) 1. Naturally, Spielberg had long been interested in making a “Peter Pan” movie. As far back as 1985, he already knew he wanted Hoffman as Hook. But then the director’s first son, Max, was born. Echoing the theme of the film, Spielberg decided he’d rather spend time with his son than go off to London and make a movie with other people’s kids. So he dropped out of the project.
2. During the time of Spielberg’s initial interest, Michael Jackson was up for the part of Peter Pan. Years later, when Spielberg returned to the project, the king of Neverland Ranch again lobbied for the part. Spielberg explained to him that Peter was now an adult lawyer who’d forgotten he was ever Pan. The filmmaker told Entertainment Weekly that Jackson understood this was no longer a role he’d want, but Vanity Fair reported that the singer didn’t take the news well and tried to wreak vengeance upon Spielberg via a deadly voodoo curse. 3. Had Jackson played Pan, the film would have been a musical. Indeed, Spielberg’s usual composer, John Williams, composed eight songs for that version. Only two of them made it into the finished film: “We Don’t Wanna Grow Up” and “When You’re Alone.”
4. The words came from Leslie Bricusse, the lyricist behind “Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory” and many other stage and screen musicals. 5. Screenwriter Jim V. Hart credited his little boy with coming up with the film’s basic premise: a Hook who’d escaped the crocodile, and a Peter Pan who’d grown up. “I realized that Peter did grow up, just like all of us baby boomers who are now in our forties,” Hart told Spielberg biographer Joseph McBride. “I patterned him after several of my friends on Wall Street, where the pirates wear three-piece suits and ride in limos.”
6. The production hired John Bradshaw, the then-popular psychologist who specialized in helping stressed-out adults find their inner children, as a story advisor. 7.Carrie Fisher, at the height of her script-doctoring career, did an uncredited rewrite of Hart’s script to give Julia Roberts‘ Tinker Bell better dialogue.
8.Dodi Fayed, ill-fated future beau of Princess Diana, owned a piece of the “Pan” film rights. He sold them to the filmmakers in return for an executive producer credit.
9. Roberts did not wear a wig to play Tinker Bell. Instead, she dyed her famous tresses and cropped them short. 10. “Hook” is full of unusual cameos you might have missed. Fisher and her mentor, “Star Wars” creator and Spielberg’s “Indiana Jones” collaborator George Lucas, are both in the film. (They’re the couple kissing on the bridge who get fairy dust sprinkled over them.) That police detective is singer Phil Collins. And the pirates include singers David Crosby and Jimmy Buffett. And yes, that GIF above is indeed Glenn Close (in drag, rocking a beard).
11. One walk-on actor you might have recognized is Gwyneth Paltrow, making her screen debut at 19 as the young Wendy. She’s also Spielberg’s goddaughter, and he recalled to Entertainment Weekly that he suddenly realized she was right for the part one night in his car after the Spielbergs and the Paltrows were returning from a screening of “The Silence of the Lambs.” 12. Thanks in part to the elaborate production design, “Hook” is one of the very few movies by the usually efficient director that went over schedule and over budget. Set to run 76 days, the shoot ran 116 days instead, and the cost, which started out at $48 million, ballooned to somewhere between $60 and $80 million.
13. Though considered a box office disappointment by Spielberg’s usual standards, “Hook” did gross $120 million in North America and a total of $301 million worldwide. Outside of the “Pirates of the Caribbean” films, it’s the most lucrative pirate-themed movie ever made. 14. “Hook” earned five Oscar nominations: Best Production Design, Best Costume Design, Best Visual Effects, Best Makeup, and Best Song (“When You’re Alone”). It was shut out in all categories.
15. Roberts was nominated for a Razzie for Worst Supporting Actress. 16. Two decades after releasing “Hook,” Spielberg had mixed feelings about the movie.
“There are parts of ‘Hook’ I love. I’m really proud of my work right up through Peter being hauled off in the parachute out the window, heading for Neverland,” he told Entertainment Weekly in 2011. “I’m a little less proud of the Neverland sequences, because I’m uncomfortable with that highly stylized world that today, of course, I would probably have done with live-action character work inside a completely digital set. But we didn’t have the technology to do it then, and my imagination only went as far as building physical sets and trying to paint trees blue and red.”
“Grease” is officially the word today, as Fox revels in the ratings high — and critical success — of Sunday’s “Grease: Live” broadcast.
The network’s first foray into the live musical game was a slam dunk, scoring an impressive 12.2 million overall viewers during its 7-10 p.m. timeslot. That number rose slightly during the final half-hour of the broadcast, which drew 12.81 million sets of eyeballs to the telecast.
And things get even better from there: The broadcast notched a 4.6 share in the coveted 18-49 demo (tying “The Sound of Music Live!”‘s impressive total), and boasted Fox’s largest overall audience for any series so far this season, snatching the title away from the 11 million viewers who tuned in for “American Idol”‘s debut.
Compared to NBC’s recent musical offerings — which started the live TV trend back in 2013 — “Grease” proved a formidable foe, easily taking down “The Wiz Live!” (which notched 11.5 million overall viewers and a 3.4 share among 18-49-year-olds) and “Peter Pan Live!” (9.21 million viewers, 2.4 share). “The Sound of Music Live!” remains the gold standard in terms of overall audience, with its whopping 18.62 million viewers, though it scored the exact same numbers when it came to both shares of the 18-49 crowd and overall viewership share (4.6/13).
On social media, “Grease: Live” launched 1.397 million tweets (narrowly beating out “The Wiz”‘s 1.374 million), with Vanessa Hudgens — performing after the death of her father — earning the most mentions of any cast member with 90,756, according to marketing company Amobee Brand Intelligence.
Fox must be encouraged by these results, and no doubt excited to try its hand at a taped musical when it airs its version of “The Rocky Horror Picture Show” later this year. If its direction, staging, and production values are as high as those of “Grease: Live,” it seems audiences are in for another awesome evening of television.
Last night’s live production of “The Wiz” conjured up The Wiz Live!” scored an impressive 11.1 million viewers, up from “Peter Pan”‘s 9.21 million. That makes it NBC’s second-highest rated program this fall, after “The Voice” season premiere, which had 12.37 million viewers.
While “The Wiz” didn’t beat CBS’s rival Thursday Night Football broadcast, nor did it soar to the heights of NBC’s first live musical experiment, 2013’s “The Sound of Music” (which nabbed a whopping 18.32 million viewers), its numbers are still quite impressive: Its 3.3 rating/11 share in the 18-49 demo beat “Peter Pan”‘s 2.4/7, besting the latter production by about 40 percent.
The show was also a hit on social media, with Variety noting that it yielded more than four times the amount of Twitter activity than “Pan” did a year ago. Online praise was especially high for fresh-faced young star Shanice Williams, who played Dorothy.
While “The Wiz” didn’t top “The Sound of Music” (and really, at this point, it doesn’t appear that any future live musical broadcast will reach those insanely high heights), NBC should be pleased with its performance — and no doubt is already eagerly planning the network’s next live outing.
“Pan” was supposed to be a treasure chest for Warner Bros. A year ago, the $150 million reboot of the familiar children’s tale, with a cast led by Hugh Jackman, looked like the launch of a new summer franchise.
Now, however, it appears that no amount of pixie dust could have lifted the movie’s box office prospects, and that no amount of clapping will keep the studio’s sequel hopes alive.
“Pan” sailed into theaters on a wave of bad buzz, only some of which came from negative reviews. Pundits had revised their predictions downward, expecting the movie to open in the range of $17 to $20 million. But it didn’t even meet that low bar, debuting instead with just an estimated $15.5 million, premiering in third place.
So why didn’t “Pan” fly? Here are seven reasons.
1. The Rescheduling
Initially, “Pan” was scheduled to open July 24. But in April, Warner Bros. decided to push it back to October 9 – citing the need for more time to finish the film’s complicated special effects, and to avoid getting lost among all the other potential July blockbusters. But the rumored real reason to bump “Pan” was that the studio knew they were in trouble and needed time to do reshoots.
But delaying the release of a film, especially a big-budget, effects-driven spectacle like “Pan,” always looks fishy. Industry analysts see it as a sign of trouble, that something is wrong with the film, or that the studio has lost faith in it. That speculation and skepticism usually filters down to the public, and then the movie’s failure becomes a self-fulfilling prophecy. It doesn’t always happen that way — few remember now that pundits expected “Titanic” to be a flop because its initial summer release date got pushed back six months — but it happens often enough to have generated suspicious buzz over the delay. 2. The Competition
Warner was smart enough to pick an October date, free of other wide releases. As it turns out, however, the studio might have done better just leaving it in July. The movie might still have faced stiff competition from “Minions,” and more modest competition from Marvel’s “Ant-Man,” but the only new wide releases on July 24 were “Pixels,” “Southpaw,” and “Paper Towns” — all of which underwhelmed at the box office.
This weekend, however, “Pan” had to contend with still-strong holdovers “The Martian” and “Hotel Transylvania 2.” The Matt Damon sci-fi adventure was down just 32 percent from its debut last weekend, finishing atop the chart again with another estimated $37.0 million, more that twice what “Pan” made. In its third weekend, “Transylvania” finished second with an estimated $20.3 million. It’s doing 14 percent better than the original “Hotel Transylvania” did at this point in its run three years ago. Plus, next week’s “Goosebumps” will probably siphon off the rest of the family audience. Oh, and about that family audience…
3. The Kid Appeal
There wasn’t much. Studio exit polling suggested that some 52 percent of “Pan” viewers were over 25. The movie may have been too dark for kids. Or, with its numerous old-school historical, literary, and musical references, it may have sailed over kids’ heads. Grown-ups may have chuckled to hear “Pan” characters singing “Smells Like Teen Spirit,” but does anyone under the age of 12 know who Nirvana was?
4. The Format
Maybe “Pan” would have done better if more viewers could have seen it in its full 3D glory. It might have generated better word-of-mouth and benefited from the surcharge. As this column noted last week, however, there’s still a scarcity among theaters equipped for premium-format viewing. So “Pan” had to struggle for available 3D theaters against not just “The Martian” and “Transylvania,” but also “The Walk,” which opened wide this week after its limited IMAX release. So most “Pan” viewers had to settle for 2D screenings. 5. The Casting
Was it wrong for Wright to cast Rooney Mara as Tiger Lily, princess of an imaginary Indian tribe? It seems odd that there were complaints that the film didn’t cast a Native-American actress to play a role that was a patronizing racial-fantasy stereotype to begin with. Indeed, according to his own explanation, Wright seems to have made the decision in order to avoid stereotyping by making no pretense to authenticity and rooting the character firmly in fantasy. Nonetheless, this decision seems to have backfired. Whether the moviegoing public cares about any of this is another story, but it certainly didn’t help generate positive buzz for the movie.
6. The Reviews
The release delay and Tiger Lily controversy may have tainted the film for reviewers, but it’s not like critics didn’t have high hopes for this film. After all, Wright is an acclaimed art-house director (“Atonement”), and star Jackman is known for his versatility. Even so, judging by the film’s dismal 23 percent on Rotten Tomatoes, reviewers were sorely disappointed. According to many of the pans of “Pan,” critics found the movie overstuffed but under-thought. Aside from Jackman’s hammy performance, they found it bleak, grim, and no fun — not qualities you want in a story about a place where childhood playtime lasts forever. To the extent that older audiences (in this case, parents) still care about reviews, these really had to hurt. 7. The Concept
Are audiences really clamoring for Peter Pan retellings? Movies inspired by J.M. Barrie’s characters have a hit-or-miss record at the box office. (See Steven Spielberg’s “Hook,” which grossed $119.7 million domestically despite tepid reviews.) The 2003 live-action “Peter Pan” earned raves but grossed just $48.5 million in North America, less than half its $100 million budget.
Given that mixed track record, it was a risk for Warner Bros. to go ahead with “Pan” in the first place, especially in creating a new backstory for a character that never needed one. No doubt the studio hoped to launch a new series of Peter Pan adventures. That might still happen, if foreign grosses are good enough. After all, overseas viewers tend to be more appreciative of movies that offer more visual spectacle than narrative coherence. So far, however, foreign grosses have been weak (just $3.8 million).
So it’s looking like Warners gambled $150 million on an awfully big misadventure.
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Rooney Mara gets why some people shook their heads at the casting of a white actress as Tiger Lily in the new movie “Pan.” Some cried “whitewashing” — like Emma Stone in “Aloha” — to give the role to a white actress instead of a Native American one, since so few roles are given to Native actresses and here’s a part that was written as non-white from the start.
Rooney Mara addressed the criticism while promoting the movie at the NYC premiere:
“It wasn’t great, I felt really bad about it,” she told People. “It was something that I thought about before I met with [director Joe Wright]. When I met with Joe and heard what his plans for it were, it was something I really wanted to be a part of. But I totally sympathize with why people were upset and feel really bad about it.” Director Joe Wright also addressed the decision:
“I thought about the idea of having a Native American tribe, and that worried me actually,” he told the New York Daily News. “What would I be saying with that choice? So then I thought, ‘Well, where should they be from?’ And I couldn’t decide, so I felt like picking just one race would be an unwise choice. So then I thought about the potential of them being the indigenous people of the [entire] planet.” He wanted to avoid alienating any culture with stereotypes from the original story, so he used a mix of ethnicities to populate the Native village, and Rooney Mara as the Native American princess. “It felt like Rooney had this kind of beautiful princess, kick-ass character.”
Changing a character’s race is always a touchy subject — just ask Michael B. Jordan in “Fantastic Four” — but Tiger Lily’s casting probably won’t affect how “Pan” performs, for better or worse. The real problem is that if the studio wanted both a famous name and a Native American actress for “Pan” they’d be out of luck, since most of Hollywood’s famous film starlets are white and many viewers would be hard-pressed to name even one Native American actress. This is why they could use more casting. You can’t become as known and respected as Rooney Mara if no one gives you a chance to begin with.
Disney’s live-action trend continues with the announcement of its newest take on a classic character: Reese Witherspoon is set to play Tinker Bell in an origin story flick.
The Hollywood Reporter writes that the Oscar-winning actress has been tapped to headline “Tink,” which will delve into the backstory of the “Peter Pan” character. Though there are no plot details yet, THR says that the movie “will play with the idea and the timeline of the well-known Peter Pan narrative.” And like 2014 hit “Maleficent,” “Tink” aims to tell “‘the story you don’t know,’ and will offer a new perspective on the character,” per THR.
Witherspoon certainly has the petite, pixie-ish looks to pull of the character, and she’s been splitting her time pretty evenly these days between comedy and drama projects. Depending on which director she takes Tinker Bell, the flick could wind up being some combination of those two genres.
Screenwriter Victoria Strouse, who penned the script for upcoming “Finding Nemo” sequel “Finding Dory,” is writing “Tink,” and Witherspoon is set to produce. No director is attached yet.
Last fall, Melissa McCarthy was also announced as the new face of Tinker Bell in an untitled comedy from Shawn Levy (the “Night at the Museum” flicks), which was similarly billed as a new take on the classic tale. No update yet on the development process for that film, or if it will compete with Disney’s version at the box office.
Screw Disney princesses and their bland heroes! The so-called “villains” are the relatable ones.
A lot of Lost Boys and Girls have grown up and had kids of their own since the release of “
1. Naturally, Spielberg had long been interested in making a “Peter Pan” movie. As far back as 1985, he already knew he wanted Hoffman as Hook. But then the director’s first son, Max, was born. Echoing the theme of the film, Spielberg decided he’d rather spend time with his son than go off to London and make a movie with other people’s kids. So he dropped out of the project.
3. Had Jackson played Pan, the film would have been a musical. Indeed, Spielberg’s usual composer, 
5. Screenwriter 
7. 
10. “Hook” is full of unusual cameos you might have missed. Fisher and her mentor, “
12. Thanks in part to the elaborate production design, “Hook” is one of the very few movies by the usually efficient director that went over schedule and over budget. Set to run 76 days, the shoot ran 116 days instead, and the cost, which started out at $48 million, ballooned to somewhere between $60 and $80 million.
14. “Hook” earned five Oscar nominations: Best Production Design, Best Costume Design, Best Visual Effects, Best Makeup, and Best Song (“When You’re Alone”). It was shut out in all categories.
16. Two decades after releasing “Hook,” Spielberg had mixed feelings about the movie.
“Grease” is officially the word today, as Fox revels in 
Last night’s live production of “The Wiz” conjured up The Wiz Live!” scored an impressive 11.1 million viewers, up from “Peter Pan”‘s 9.21 million. That makes it NBC’s second-highest rated program this fall, after “The Voice” season premiere, which had 12.37 million viewers.
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2. The Competition
5. The Casting
7. The Concept
Director 
Disney’s live-action trend continues with the announcement of its newest take on a classic character: