Free Republic

The upcoming film “Onward,” which will be in theaters on March 6, will feature a self-identified lesbian heroine with a girlfriend, the first-ever animated LGBT character in the Disney-Pixar universe. The character, named Officer Specter, will be a Cyclops cop, voiced by openly gay screenwriter and actress Lena Waithe, Yahoo Entertainment reported. “It just kind of happened,” the film’s producer, Kori Rae, was quoted as saying. “The scene, when we wrote it, was kind of fitting and it opens up the world a little bit, and that’s what we wanted.” Director Dan Scanlon stated, “It’s a modern fantasy world and...

Marvel Studios has made no secret that its upcoming fall tentpole “The Eternals” will feature its first openly gay superhero. In a new interview with Logo, “Eternals” actor Haaz Sleiman reveals his character is one half of the gay couple that appears in the movie. Sleiman says his character is “married to the gay superhero Phastos, played by ‘Atlanta’s’ Brian Tyree Henry, and we represent a gay family and have a child.” Marvel’s parent company Disney has promised significant gay moments in past tentpoles only for them to not be too explicit (who can forget the live-action “Beauty and the...

Rick Moranis is leaving his decades-long hiatus from live-action acting to join Disney’s sequel to its 1989 blockbuster “Honey, I Shrunk the Kids,” Variety has confirmed. Moranis will reprise his role as Wayne Szalinski, the crackpot scientist who accidentally shrunk his children (and the neighbor’s kids), then accidentally made his infant child enormous in 1992’s “Honey, I Blew Up the Kid,” and then accidentally shrunk himself and his wife in the 1997 straight-to-video sequel “Honey, We Shrunk Ourselves!” — which was also the last time Moranis acted in a live-action feature. In the new film, which has the aptly condensed...

Months after Disneyland opened the biggest expansion in its history, the Anaheim theme park raised ticket prices Tuesday, pushing the cost of some one-day passes above $200 for the first time. Prices of annual passes and the digital MaxPass climbed too. Under a new five-tier pricing scheme that charges more for days when demand is highest, one-day ticket prices rose as much as 5%. For the lowest-demand days — such as Tuesdays and Wednesdays in March — a one-day ticket to visit either Disneyland or Disney’s neighboring California Adventure Park stayed unchanged at $104. For peak days, such as most...

The Disney Corporation isn't making any friends at a California elementary school this week. After the Emerson Elementary PTA showed the remake of Disney's Lion King, the school received a bill for $250 from the studio. The Berkely area school showed the film as part of a "Parents' Night Out" event, with a suggested donation of $15 from movie-goers. When Disney took notice of the unlicensed screening, the studio's licensing agent, Movie Licensing USA, sent a letter to PTA President...Organizations are required to pay a single-use licensing fee of $250 or an annual fee of $536.. The situation has caused...

Harrison Ford isn’t hanging up his fedora anytime soon. The actor, 77, is returning to his Indiana Jones character in an upcoming fifth installment of the film, Lucasfilm President Kathleen Kennedy confirmed to BBC News while on the BAFTA Awards red carpet on Sunday. “We’re working away, getting the script where we want it to be and then we’ll be ready to go,” Kennedy said. Asked if Ford might reprise his role, Kennedy said he would. “Harrison Ford will be involved, yeah,” she said. “It’s not a reboot; it’s a continuation.” Kennedy added, “He can’t wait.”

When Lin-Manuel Miranda tweeted the news Monday that the movie adaptation of his groundbreaking Broadway show Hamilton was set for release by Disney in fall 2021, he omitted one of the most breathtaking parts of the deal. According to sources, Disney beat out other suitors and paid $75 million for worldwide rights to the show that won 11 Tony Awards in 2016, as well as the Pulitzer Prize for Drama. Disney won the deal with a commitment for a wide global theatrical release for the 2 hour, 40 minute movie, which was shot two weeks before the original cast left....

An elementary school in Berkeley has been ordered to pay up for playing a Disney video during a fund-raising event at the school. It happened in November when the Dad’s Club of the PTA presented a “parent’s night out” fundraiser at Emerson Elementary to support the school. In its school calendar listing, the club said it was going to play the most-recent version of the Disney animated film, “The Lion King.” “I think one of the dads owned the movie. He had bought it at Walmart and we just basically threw it on while the kids were playing in the...

The young prince is returning to the forest. In the latest move to turn its animated classics into live-action features, Disney has set its sights on one of its most storied: Bambi. The studio has hired Geneva Robertson-Dworet (Captain Marvel, Tomb Raider) and Lindsey Beer (Sierra Burgess Is a Loser, Chaos Walking) to pen the screenplay for the live-action remake. Depth of Field, the production banner run by Chris and Paul Weitz and Andrew Miano and which is coming off the success of indie darling The Farewell, will produce the new iteration.

Shanghai Disneyland will close its doors Saturday as a reaction to the spread of a form of coronavirus that has now killed 26 people in mainland China. The resort complex, which normally operates 365 days per year and welcomes more than 10 million visitors annually, announced Friday afternoon local time that it will shutter the Shanghai Disneyland theme park, the Disneytown retail and dining area, the Walt Disney Grand Theatre, and Wishing Star Park. It did not give a date for their reopening.

Last week, troubling rumors began swirling about the upcoming Disney+ series revolving around the character of Obi-Wan Kenobi. Ewan McGregor is poised to reprise his role from the Star Wars prequels in a story set eight years after the events of Revenge of the Sith. Screenwriter Hossein Amini (Drive) and director Deborah Chow (The Mandalorian) were tapped to spearhead the series, and production was on pace to begin this year. These rumors hinted at potential trouble behind the scenes, and while we’re hearing the show isn’t cancelled, we are hearing that it’s been delayed. Two independent sources with knowledge of...

The New York Times endorsed not one, but two candidates for the Democratic presidential nomination on Sunday. The paper’s editorial board gave their blessings to progressive candidate Elizabeth Warren and centrist Amy Klobuchar in a surprise endorsement that split from tradition. The editorial board announced their endorsements toward the end of an episode of “The Weekly,” the Times’ television show that airs on Hulu. In an article posted to the Times’ website soon after the episode aired, the board noted their two endorsements were a “break with convention.” In endorsing Warren, the board wrote her campaign writes seriously about policy,...

Hillary Clinton opened up about her marital struggles with Bill Clinton in an upcoming documentary about the 2016 Democratic presidential nominee. “I didn’t want anything to do with him,” Clinton said, appearing to tear up, in a trailer of the four-part series which premieres in March on Hulu. The Clintons’ marriage faced a difficult period when Bill had an affair with White House intern Monica Lewinsky during his presidency. He initially denied the affair under oath, which led to his impeachment in December 1998. Months earlier, Chelsea Clinton, who was 18 years old around the time the Lewinsky scandal played...

How the mighty have fallen... in this video, you can see a cringeworthy Prince Harry trying to pitch Meghan Markle's voiceover skills to Disney CEO. See it on YouTube. Twitter is deleting the video like mad, so this one may eventually be taken down too. Here's another where Meghan sees him talking with some important people, she interrupts, pushes him aside and jumps in front of them all silencing Harry.

“Star Wars” is shrinking at the box office. “The Rise of Skywalker” is nearing $1 billion worldwide, but it’s way behind the previous installments. “The Force Awakens” finished its theatrical run with $2 billion worldwide. That was an enormous hit. But the next chapter, “The Last Jedi,” ended up with $1.3 billion, a significant fall off. “Skywalker” shows “Star Wars” fatigue. It’s not quite at $1 billion, and it’s getting ready to say goodbye. Disney will keep it in movie theaters for a while but the big push is over.

MYRTLE POINT, Ore. - Melissa Morris was arrested on New Year’s Eve after she told deputies she punched her boyfriend in the face for leaving her dog outside in the rain. Police say they responded to a call of a suspected assault where they were met by the Oregon woman’s boyfriend, James, who said she punched him in the face two times. Investigators say they saw a marble-sized welt and scratch mark on James’ right eyebrow. James told police that he was talking to Morris when she began hitting him. Morris was then taken into custody on a domestic...

Hollywood only wants certain stories to be told. The stories where underage kids are plied with alcohol at the homes of glittery celebrities, like Chris Pratt and Anna Faris, and then sexually abused by adults in the industry aren’t stories anyone in tinsel town wants you to hear. Stories about how Disney knowingly allows their underage stars to be surrounded by pedophiles, and that their executives know about, witness, and even partake in child sex abuse aren’t stories they ever want the world to hear.

Disney characters, like Mickey Mouse, Donald Duck, and Minnie Mouse at Walt Disney World in Florida said they have been groped by patrons. The 36-year-old woman who puts on the costume and walks around the park at the Happiest Place on Earth as Minnie Mouse said she posed for a picture earlier this month with a man and his wife and he allegedly grabbed her chest multiple times, according to TMZ in a piece published Friday.

George Lucas “felt betrayed” by Disney‘s initial plans for the Star Wars sequel trilogy, according to Disney CEO Bob Iger. Iger has recalled the early meetings that Disney held with the creator of the acclaimed sci-fi franchise ahead of the making of The Force Awakens, which hit cinemas in 2015 as the first part of the sequel trilogy. •Read more: Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker – what we know so far about the final film in the trilogy In Iger’s new memoir The Ride of a Lifetime: Lessons Learned from 15 Years as CEO of the Walt Disney Company,...

Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker’s opening weekend will land south of both The Force Awakens and The Last Jedi, according to domestic box office estimates Disney sent out this morning. The Rise of Skywalker’s first weekend pulled in $175.5 million in North America, $90 million of that from the Thursday night early-bird showings and then Friday’s full premiere. Though it’s an estimated total, $175 million is still short of the top 10 among domestic opening weekends all time, behind 2016’s Captain America: Civil War. It’s also not in the same tax bracket as Skywalker’s trilogy predecessors — The Force...