Let’s take a trip back in time to the magical year of 2010. If someone with modern eyes were to go back and try to live in these olden times, they’d discover themselves in a topsy-turvy bizarro world where the economy was in the toilet, a charismatic figure by the name of Barack Obama was in the White House, and Terry Gilliam was going to make a movie about Don Quixote starring Robert Duvall and Johnny Depp. A lot has changed since then. Ewan McGregor replaced Johnny Depp in Gilliam’s movie, then Gilliam’s movie got cancelled completely, and the White House…well, I’m not sure who’s living there these days. Who can keep track? Even after all these years though, one thing hasn’t changed: Johnny Depp is still really into the character of Don Quixote. That’s why he’s teaming up with Disney to start developing a new feature film about Miguel de Cervantes’ creation. Deadline has the scoop that the untitled pitch has been shipped out for screenwriting duties to Steve Pink (Grosse Pointe Blank, High Fidelity) and Jeff Morris (The True Memoirs of an International Assassin). Little is known about the project at this point, but it’s said that it’s going to be a modern imagining of the Don Quixote story.

Seeing as Wreck-It Ralph was Disney Animation’s most well-received movie in quite a while, the studio has wasted no time in getting one of its main creative talents to work on a new project. Today they announced in a press release [via ComingSoon] that Ralph co-writer Jennifer Lee is not only going to be handling some writing duties on their upcoming animated feature, Frozen, but that she will also be serving as co-director alongside studio vet Chris Buck (Tarzan, Surf’s Up). Frozen is an adventure tale about a magical kingdom that’s suffering under a spell that keeps it trapped in a perpetual winter. Its main characters are a brave young girl named Anna, a burly mountain man named Kristoff, and a reindeer sidekick named Sven. The main thrust of the film’s narrative is said to be this trio’s journey to find the Snow Queen and find a way to reverse her spell, which of course leads to them encountering treacherous mountain passes, all sorts of magical whatsits, mystical trolls, comical snowmen, and who knows how many other examples of weirdness along the way. Forgetting Sarah Marshall’s Kristen Bell and Enchanted’s Idina Menzel are already on board to supply voices.

We recently found an interview with Safety Not Guaranteed director Colin Trevorrow where he proclaimed to be prepping a movie in a universe we all knew and loved while promising not to make it suck. Which was nice of him. Of course, snagging that in the middle of Episode 7 Fever 2k12 placed him squarely in the rumor bin for the new Star Wars, but he quicklydenied that possibility. Now, according to Variety, we know what he was talking about. Trevorrow and his writing partner Derek Connolly have been hired by Disney to rewrite a remake of Flight of the Navigator, and Trevorrow may eventually direct it. The original film came out in 1986 (and is one of my earliest movie memories). It told the story of a 12-year-old boy who disappears, and reappears 8 years later without having aged, and the UFO that crashed nearby definitely had something to do with it. It was a fun coming-of-age story that featured a sort of Mini Pee-Wee’s Playhouse of cool alien creatures (and the ship was voiced by Pee-Wee himself), but it’s the perfect kind of candidate for a remake. Even though it hit at the right time and a lot of kids fell in love with it, Navigator is now a bit dated, and the effects could certainly use a boost. Mr. Trevorrow, just don’t make it suck.

If Disney’s Oz the Great and Powerful ends up being another Alice in Wonderland-level exercise in style over substance, the parallels to its main character are going to be too obvious to dismiss. In the film, James Franco plays Oscar Diggs, a Kansas con-man magician who does tricks illusions and enjoys tricking illusioning people out of their coins. During a hot air balloon stunt, he’s pulled into a tornado and whisked away to the strange land of Oz where three good witches (played by Mila Kunis, Rachel Weisz and Michelle Williams) implore him to rid the world of a wicked witch. The only problem? He only talks a big game, and he might not be able to deliver any real magic. The plot in its vague form mirrors The Wizard of Oz directly, and the look of the universe tries for the CGI expansiveness of Alice, but hopefully Sam Raimi has been able to make the movie his own. With a new trailer comes new hopes and concerns. It looks like a lot of fun, but some of the dialogue (and the delivery) sounds like first draft exposition. It’s also not hard to think of Franco as a bored actor at this point, and there’s nothing here to disabuse anyone of that notion. However, the callbacks to the 1939 classic are spot-on and exciting. Maybe this could be a real epic after all.

Ever since the surprising announcement that we have a new Star Wars on the way, just about every movie site on the web has started running lists (including us!) of who they’d love to see direct it. I’m sure Matthew Vaughn‘s name was on more than a few of those lists (as it turned on, he didn’t appear on ours), and it seems there’s a small, small chance of that dream coming true. According to (an unconfirmed rumor on) Collider, Vaughn is in discussions to direct. First of all, take this story with a grain of salt. New Lucasfilm head Kathleen Kennedy is probably having a lot of discussions with all kinds of directors, considering how many people would die to take a crack at Star Wars. Vaughn is most likely one of those guys and on a list of hopeful prospects they have, just like their list for who they’d want to play the old, whiny Luke Skywalker.

A strange thing happened when it was announced that Disney had purchased Lucasfilm and was intent on continuing the Star Wars franchise: people forgot how shitty Lucasfilm has been. That’s the only explanation for many of the reactions. Our friends at /Film gathered up some celebrity Twitter responses that seemed to be at best cautiously optimistic, though potentially terrified at what could be coming and for the life of me, I can’t figure out why it’s not all ewoks banging drums and fireworks in the sky before a billion tons of metal rains down on the forest moon of Endor.

Wreck-It Ralph is a nice trip down memory lane. During a packed screening for the film I could hear whispers and gasps, and I saw audience members pointing to the screen in awe and excitement of seeing their favorite video game characters. They were swept up, maybe even more so than the children in the audience. That doesn’t mean it won’t win over kids, however, because the movie is more than an empty piece of nostalgia. Case in point: the big gamble that starts the film. The opening animated short, “The Paperman,” is a beautiful black-and-white silent love story. Right after it ends, the daunting question becomes, “How is Wreck-It Ralph going to top that?” Director Rich Moore (Futurama) instantly responds, giving the audience an equally charming experience. Ralph (John C. Reilly) is your typical working stiff. For almost 30 years, he has served his sole purpose of smashing. Ralph is a wonderful video game villain, but his work has always been overshadowed by the game’s hero, Fix-It Felix Jr. (Jack McBrayer). With the arcade game’s 30th anniversary coming up, Ralph has hit an existential crisis. He is tired of playing the bad guy. After facing the rejection from the game’s anniversary party, Ralph sets out to become the hero. Since his own game won’t allow him to do that, he decides to jump to a different game.

Old school Star Wars fanatics had a long wait between George Lucas’ original trilogy and the launch of his prequel trilogy in 1999. So, to get their Star Wars fix, many turned to the expanded universe of Star Wars-themed comic books, novels, toys, video games, and what have you. At this point there’s a wealth of Star Wars stories and Star Wars characters who have never actually appeared in one of George Lucas’ Star Wars films; stories and characters that have legions of fans in their own right. The materials that get most often referenced by Star Wars geeks trying to educate newbies about the expanded universe are probably Timothy Zahn’s “Thrawn Trilogy” of novels, which take place five years after the events of Return of the Jedi, are already widely embraced by Star Wars fans, and have generally been thought of as the logical starting point if anyone were going to make Star Wars: Episode VII and beyond.

You know the story. At this point it’s basically the new shot heard ‘round the world: Disney has bought Lucasfilm for $4 billion, George Lucas is retiring from the Star Wars game, and three more Star Wars films are planned for production starting in 2015. Lucas and the new Lucasfilm president, Kathleen Kennedy, have stated that they have archives of story treatments for more books, TV shows, and films… but with Lucas stepping back from the property, who are they going to get to direct these next three episodes in the ongoing Star Wars adventure? Let’s take a look at some candidates, whether they be likely, unlikely, or long shots.

According to Variety, Disney has put David Fincher‘s 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea on hold for three months while they decide whether they want to make it or not. In a way, it’s understandable considering the size of the investment, but Fincher might have a trick up his sleeve in frequent collaborator Brad Pitt. It’s reported that the director is hunting down the actor (who’s appeared in three other Fincher films) to take on the harpooning role played by Kirk Douglas in the 1954 version of Jules Verne’s novel. The question becomes whether that will be enough to grab the greenlight. Here’s the funny thing: neither Fincher nor Pitt are necessarily known for bringing in massive amounts of cash. That may seem counterintuitive considering Pitt’s profile especially, but neither are huge money earners despite critical acclaim and a metric ton of tabloid covers. If it did move the needle for Disney, the next question becomes whether Pitt is really right for the role. The novel describes Canadian master harpooner Ned Land as peerless and possessing “an uncommon quickness of hand.” He’s a large man, “taciturn [and] occasionally violent.” That combination of stoicism and rage could be a fantastic challenge for Pitt who, for the most part these days, usually plays himself with Clooney-like ease. With Fincher making him do 99 takes for every scene, it could get Brando on set really quick, and that could create something amazing. Let’s hope Disney feels like taking a risk.

Somehow, despite my failings as a WordPress user, I have been allowed to return to you tonight with a collection of links that went around the Internet today. Above you might notice an image with a bunch of snakes, an alligator, and some lights. Neat, huh? Well that just so happens to be our first look inside the Ark that Darren Aronofsky is building for Russell Crowe’s Noah. Aronofsky’s cinematographer, Matthew Libatique tweeted the image earlier, but appears to have deleted since.

In the past, it’s been easy to criticize Guillermo del Toro for making more promises regarding his upcoming projects than he’s been able to keep. At one point it seemed like he was announcing another movie every other week, and yet next year’s Pacific Rim will be the first film that he’s directed since 2008. Now that he has footage of something actually shot, however, the hope was that the confusion might be over and the man might start working more often. But a recent interview with Collider sees the director back up to his old tricks. Last we heard, Disney was announcing at Comic-Con that the director was going to be tackling a re-boot of their Haunted Mansion property, a theme park ride that already had an Eddie Murphy-starring film adaptation released in 2003. Generally film fans have learned to take announcements that del Toro is going to direct something with a grain of salt, but in this case Disney announced his involvement with a bunch of hoopla and in front of a crowd. Surely he was locked in as the film’s director, wasn’t he? Turns out not.

Gary Ross shocked the world by directing one of the year’s most wildly successful films, The Hunger Games, and then opting out of coming back and making its sequel. What could he possibly have to do that’s more important than making another bajillion dollars by directing Jennifer Lawrence shooting arrows at people? So far, we’re not exactly sure. He’s become attached to a biopic about the life of famed magician Houdini, but there’s no concrete word whether or not that’s actually going to be his next job. And now another possibility has popped up. THR is reporting that the director is currently in talks to helm an adaptation of the children’s novel “Peter and the Starcatchers” over at Disney. The book, which was written by Dave Berry and Ridley Pearson and has already been adapted into a successful (it won five Tonys!) stage production, is a Peter Pan prequel that tells the story of Peter and a girl named Molly going off on an adventure that involves the keeping of a trunk filled with magical starstuff out of the clutches of the evil pirate Black Stache (so called because of his back mustache, who knows what he’d be called if he got his own boat and had his hand replaced by a hook…). A screenwriter by the name of Jesse Wigutow is said to be penning the adaptation.

Right around the time that the 67th poster of two stars leaning back to back hits theater lobbies is when the pessimism about modern one sheet design starts to creep in. Fortunately, there’s always a handful of excellent posters dotting the year to keep hope alive. Thank you, Oz the Great and Powerful poster, for keeping hope alive:

Eagle-eyed fans of Pixar can tell you that the studio is a big fan of littering their movies with Easter Eggs; which is a fun way of saying they stick junk from their past films in the background of their current films. Most prominently, they have a long standing tradition of hiding the Pizza Planet truck – which first appeared in the original Toy Story – in every film that they make (other than its strange snub in The Incredibles). Want proof? This Pixar Wiki entry on the truck has compiled a screen grab of each case of this rusty junker showing up in a Pixar product. But what about Brave, you may be asking? Well, the film has been out for a couple weeks now, and Walt Disney Studios seems to be worried that people are going to stop talking about it, so they’ve emailed around some handy screen grabs that point out the secrets they have in store for us this time around. Both come in the scene where the film’s princess protagonist, Merida, visits the wood carving shop of the tricky old witch she strikes a deal with. The first image, which should come as no shock, features Toy Story’s now iconic pizza delivery truck. Look, it’s right there sitting on her workbench:

Brave has already made a milestone for Pixar as it marks the 13th straight release to debut at #1. No surprise for a brand that’s loved around the world and continually crafts memorable movies that resonate with children and old children alike. But where does it rank against other Pixar openings? According to numbers from Box Office Mojo, The Movie Formerly Known as The Bear and the Bow made $66.7m domestically in its first weekend, making it the fifth highest in the production company’s history. Here’s the full ranking:

As an entertainment company, Disney has never been short of stature in a few key areas. Most notably, they’ve always been good at selling fantastical stories and moving movie-sized boxes of merchandise in their wake. They built an entire theme park around their properties, constantly move home video releases in and out of a metaphorical vault, and they always seem to come up with stories that serve two purposes: capture the adoration of youth and then get them to convince their parents to buy them things to fuel those fires of love. And for years, fairy tales and princess stories have been their bread and butter. Conversely, the folks at Pixar have always marched to a slightly different beat. They’ve always simply made stories they thought were fun, not that they necessarily thought we’d buy. Movies about talking toys, runaway fish, and main characters who can’t even talk. For Pixar (even though they became an official part of Disney in 2006 and had a working relationship with the Mouse House well before that), they’ve never made anything that felt like a Disney movie. That is, until their latest film, Brave. For better or worse, a product of princess story perception or real influence, Brave is a Disney movie at heart. And depending upon who you ask, it’s either a major misstep for Pixar or an evolutionary one for its parent company.

Oh, those geeks and their wonderful ways of storing minuscule tidbits of information and pulling them from their mental storage unit to spur on debates. What must it be like to listen to a group of them talk about a movie they love? How about a movie they’ve all worked on? That’s exactly what Disney and Pixar did for WALL*E. They’ve pulled four of the geekiest minds on the production crew, minds that would analyze every, minute detail of a film and test it for accuracy, and let them talk all over the film. And, like any good geek conversation, the pop cultural references come with each, nerdy breath. So, without any further ado, it’s time to find out what this Geek Squad has to say about WALL*E.

For more than fifteen years, Pixar has represented the gold standard in computer generated films. Since the studio’s early days of making groundbreaking short films to producing Oscar-winning feature-length movies, Pixar has become a brand associated with quality animation and adorable characters. There have been some bumps along the road, from a love-hate-owner relationship with Disney to some questionable sequels, but few studios can boast such a consistent level of quality and innovation. This week, Pixar will be releasing its 13th full-length feature, Brave, with an entire new cast of characters different from any other Pixar film. This gives us a chance to look into Pixar’s past and remember some of the favorite characters from their films.

Pixar and Disney are going back to college (and back into sequel/prequel territory) with Monsters University. The movie, of course, acts as a feeder school into Monsters, Inc., and features John Goodman and Billy Crystal in their old/younger voice roles. The film is being directed by Dan Scanlon (one of the writers on Cars), and while it’s not at all an indicator of quality, this first teaser trailer is pretty dull. It’s not at all imbued with the kind of Pixar magic we’ve come to love – with its generic voice over and obvious gags. The timing doesn’t even seem right. Check it out for yourself: