Walt Disney Pictures is out with some interesting date changes and announcements:
First of all, “Saving Mr. Banks” will now open in limited release on December 13th before going wide on a crowded December 20th. This is the “making of Mary Poppins” drama in which Tom Hanks plays Walt Disney and Emma Thompson is author P.L. Travers. It has already been rated PG-13 by the MPAA. With this early limited opening, Disney clearly is focussing on making this an Oscar contender.
“The Muppets” was a success at the box office in 2011, but not as big as I (or likely the studio) had expected. Nonetheless, a sequel was announced almost immediately. Its title has gone from “The Muppets 2” to “The Muppets…AGAIN!” and now, I think, to a more suitable title: “Muppets Most Wanted”. According to the release, the Kermit and the gang go on a global tour and get caught-up in an international crime caper. Ricky Gervais heads the human cast. The film keeps its March 21, 2014 date.
What may be the most interesting new info from the studio this week is the announcement of a sequel to this Summer’s “Planes”. “Planes 2: Fire and Rescue” will hit theaters on July 18, 2014 (going up against “X-Men: Days of Future Past”). Even though “Planes” doesn’t open until August 9, it appears that Disney is already confident enough that it will be a big hit. If you remember, “Planes” was originally going to be a Direct-to-DVD release.
Other new Mouse news includes Steve Carell and Jennifer Garner’s “Alexander and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day” (based on the book and due out October 10, 2014); Brad Bird and George Clooney’s “Tomorrowland” being moved-up a week to December 12, 2014, and the musical “Into the Woods” set for Christmas Day 2014. While we’ve heard rumors of actors such as Johnny Depp, Meryl Streep and Emily Blunt being as part of the cast, no one has been confirmed. Steven Spielberg and Oprah Winfrey are producing a drama for DreamWorks called “The Hundred Foot Journey” (8/8/14) and Untitled Marvel Studios films will officially kick-off the 2016 and 2017 Summer Movie Seasons, in case you want to plan that far ahead.
The one casualty of all of this would seem to be the movie version of “Phineas and Ferb”, which has already been on hold for a while now. It was originally scheduled to open this July 26th, but has had a TBD 2014 release date for about a year. With all these new spots now
taken, it doesn’t seem likely that the boy inventors will be making it to the big screen anytime soon.