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Lego wants the whole family to enjoy The Little Mermaid. On Sunday (April 23), the toy company unveiled three new sets inspired by the Disney film releasing next month.
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The collectible sets, designed for kids and adults, range in price from $19.99 up to $159.99.
First up for release, Lego’s The Little Mermaid Story Book Set, which is designed for ages 5 and older, and will be available in stores and online on May 1. The ($19.99) set includes miniature figurines of Ariel, Ursula, Prince Eric and Sebastian.
Dropping June 1, Ariel Treasure Chest lets fans “build their own treasure chest, decorate it and fill it with keepsakes in two secret drawers.” The set is suitable for ages 6 and up. Unfortunately, pre-orders are sold out at Lego.com, but the set might get restocked closer to the release date.
The Story Book set is still available for pre-order online.
Lego
Lego Disney The Little Mermaid Story Book Set
$19.99
Lego’s The Little Mermaid Clam Shell set, designed for ages 18 and up, will be released on May 1. The massive set ($159.99) features mini figures of Ariel, Ursula, King Triton, Sebastian and Flounder; along with Ariel’s sisters Indira and Karina. The set features “key moments from the movie” and references to throne rock, Ariel’s grotto and Ursula’s lair.
The Lego sets are the latest in a string of Little Mermaid merch to hit the web, including the official Barbie doll, books, clothing, bags, jewelry and other collectibles that fans can purchase in anticipation of the film, which hits theaters on May 26.
Disney’s The Little Mermaid, a live-action adaption of the animated film, stars Halle Bailey, Melissa McCartney, Jonah Hauer-King, Simone Ashley, Javier Bardem, Jacob Tremblay, Daveed Diggs and Jessica Alexander.
Pre-order Lego’s Little Mermaid clam shell set below.
Lego
LEGO Disney The Little Mermaid Royal Clam Set
$159.99
Spectators at Disneyland’s popular “Fantasmic!” show got a shock this weekend when the feature’s fire-breathing animatronic dragon suddenly burst into flames.
No injuries were reported following the blaze Saturday night (April 22) at the Southern California theme park, the Anaheim Fire Department said.
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Ryan Laux, a frequent Disneyland visitor, said fire has always been a part of the “Fantasmic!” presentation. But he said he knew something was awry when when flames didn’t come from where they usually do.
“The head started going on fire instead of the fire projecting out,” said Laux, who lives in Los Angeles and captured the blaze on video.
The show was stopped almost immediately “and then right after that, the dragon started catching fire and the whole body was up in flames,” he told The Associated Press on Sunday.
The show takes place nightly near the park’s famous Tom Sawyer Island. The climax features Mickey Mouse battling a giant dragon named Maleficent.
Laux said Mickey vanished from the stage as soon as the dragon’s head became engulfed in flames.
The extent of the damage wasn’t immediately known.
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The issues mount for Jonathan Majors as it’s been revealed that other victims alleging that he abused them have come forward with their claims.
According to reports, there are multiple victims who have come forward and contacted the Manhattan district attorney’s office, resulting in their cooperation with the investigation into the Creed III actor. Majors is set to appear in court on May 8th for a hearing related to his arrest on March 25th in the Chelsea neighborhood on multiple charges of assault, strangulation, and harassment. The D.A.’s office has refused requests for comment.
“Jonathan Majors is innocent and has not abused anyone. We have provided irrefutable evidence to the District Attorney that the charges are false. We are confident that he will be fully exonerated,” Majors’ attorney Priya Chaudhry said in a statement released to the press after the news broke. The news comes after the 33-year-old actor was dropped by his management firm, Management 360, and public relations group The Lede Company earlier this week leaving WME left representing him along with Andrew Bourke, his crisis publicist, and Chaudhry’s husband.
Another element to the March 25th incident ties in with Majors’ prominent role as the supervillain Kang the Conqueror in the recent Marvel Cinematic Universe film, Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania, as the victim apparently also worked on the movie. Disney has not offered any comment up to this point. Majors has already filmed for the second season of the Disney Plus series Loki and is signed for Avengers: The Kang Dynasty slated to be released in 2025.
While his Disney roles seem safe for now, Majors has experienced some tough losses as the U.S. Army removed him as the face of their new campaign last month. The Dallas area native was also removed from being featured in a campaign by Major League Baseball’s Texas Rangers set to launch on Friday (April 21st). In addition, the actor and fashion house Valentino “mutually agreed” that he would not attend the Met Gala, and he has also stepped down from the Sidney Poitier Initiative for emerging filmmakers and from the board of the Gotham Film and Media Institute. Executive director Jeffrey Sharp relayed the news to members of the latter group on Wednesday (April 19th).
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Photo: Getty
Alan Menken opened up about bringing The Little Mermaid back to the screen for the live-action adaptation and some of the changes he made to the show’s iconic music.
“There are some lyric changes in ‘Kiss the Girl,’” the legendary composer told Vanity Fair on March 31, “because people have gotten very sensitive about the idea that [Prince Eric] would, in any way, force himself on [Ariel]. We have some revisions in ‘Poor Unfortunate Souls’ regarding lines that might make young girls somehow feel that they shouldn’t speak out of turn, even though Ursula is clearly manipulating Ariel to give up her voice.”
While diehard fans of the original 1989 animated classic may have mixed feelings to updating some of the show’s most beloved songs, Menken also teased that viewers will get to experience a few entirely new songs he wrote for the movie in collaboration with Lin-Manuel Miranda.
“One was the Prince Eric song, called ‘Wild Unchartered Waters,’” he revealed. “Then, there was the song for Ariel when she has her legs (doesn’t have a voice), and she’s singing her thoughts about all the firsts she is noticing for the first time. Then, there was a number called “Scuttlebutt” for Scuttle and Sebastian. It’s this harebrained [song for them] trying to figure out what’s going on because they hear rumors that the prince has decided to marry. They think it must be Ariel but of course it’s Ursula in the form of Vanessa. It’s all this delicious imagination. Lin’s lyrics are to die for.”
“We wrote a fourth song called ‘Impossible Child’ for King Triton,” the Broadway legend continued. “It didn’t remain in the film only because dramaturgically we didn’t really need it. It was so great to work with Javier Bardem on that song and people will hear it as a DVD outtake, I guess.”
Starring Halle Bailey, Melissa McCarthy, Jonah Hauer-King and more, The Little Mermaid is set to hit theaters on May 26 while the film’s official soundtrack will be released one week earlier on May 19.
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Source: Leon Bennett / Getty
Disney is engaging the services of the award-winning musician and producer Questlove as a director for their upcoming film.
According to reports, Ahmir “Questlove” Thompson has been picked by Walt Disney Studios to be the director for the live-action hybrid reimagining of their animated classic from 1970, The Aristocats. Questlove will also oversee the musical score of the film and serve as an executive producer through his Two One Five production company. His bandmate and co-founder of The Roots, Tariq “Black Thought” Trotter will also be a producer of the film along with Shawn Gee and Zarah Zohlman.
The Aristocats follows a family of Parisian felines who learn that they’re about to inherit the fortune of their owner, a retired operatic diva. Her butler, who gets wind of the bequeathment, plots to get rid of the cats so he can get the fortune. The movie then follows the cats as they are befriended by an alley cat who works to help them get home. It would go on to be one of Disney’s more lucrative films at the time, earning $191 million at the box office.
This project will be the first feature film that Questlove will direct. The six-time Grammy Award-winner began his foray into film as a producer and director of the 2021 documentary Summer of Soul (…Or, When the Revolution Could Not Be Televised). The film, which unearthed the backstory of the 1969 Harlem Cultural Festival, premiered at the Sundance Film Festival. It would go on a tear winning awards culminating in it winning the Academy Award for Best Documentary in 2022. The win placed Questlove in rarified air as one of a few Black directors to win an Oscar–all of them in the documentary field.
The news comes as fans are eagerly anticipating Disney’s latest edition of their series reimagining their classic animated features with The Little Mermaid, featuring singer & actress Halle Bailey in the iconic role of Ariel and Melissa McCarthy portraying the villain, Ursula. Will Gluck and his production company, Olive Bridge, will also produce on the film in addition to writing the script along with Keith Bunin.
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Photo: Leon Bennett / Getty
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Source: Gilbert Flores / Getty / Victoria Alonso
Marvel’s 2023 is off to a rare bad start. First Ant-Man & The Wasp: Quantumania didn’t make that much noise at the box office, then Jonathan Majors caught a domestic violence case, and now one of the company’s longtime execs is gone.
The firing of Victoria Alonso by Marvel Studios sent shockwaves throughout Hollywood. Reports were all over the place regarding the reasoning behind her abrupt exit from the company.
As seen on CBR via Variety’s initial reporting, One report claimed her termination had to do with the “allegations she had created a hostile work environment for Marvel’s visual effects department, which she oversaw as the studio’s President of Physical, Post Production, VFX and Animation.”
The website also reports Alonso got the boot for working on a documentary, Argentina 1985, with Disney/Marvel’s competitor Amazon Studios as a producer. Alonso’s attorney, Patty Glaser, hit back against those allegations saying, “Victoria, a gay Latina who had the courage to criticize Disney, was silenced.”
Glaser also said Alonso “was terminated when she refused to do something she believed was reprehensible. Disney and Marvel made a really poor decision that will have serious consequences.” She also notes Alonso vocally criticized former Disney CEO Bob Chapek over his waffling on Florida’s stupid “Don’t Say Gay” bill.
Other Reporting Claims Disney Had A Legit Reason For Firing Victoria Alonso
Reporting on the firing claims that Marvel let Alonso go for a contract breach, according to Heroic Hollywood, via Puck News.
Per Heroic Hollywood:
The report points out that Disney could have simply paid her out for any number of reasons, according to the recent backlash against Marvel VFX in the public eye. According to Puck’s Matthew Belloni, the dispute first came up in mid-2021 while renegotiating Alonso’s contract, with Disney discovering she had been producing Argentina, 1985 for Amazon Studios, a direct competitor.
Despite this breach, Disney granted leeway to Alonso due to her tenure at Marvel Studios and allowed her to keep her name on the project as long as she didn’t promote it. In the following months, Alonso would give an interview to Indiewire about the project, as well as attend the BAFTAs in London. These incidents are what ultimately led Disney to let Alonso go.
Whatever the case is, Alonso was part of the epic ride that is the MCU for 17 years. She was the co-producer and visual effects producer for 2008’s Iron Man, Iron Man 2, Thor, and Captain America: The First Avenger.
For her hard work, she got a promotion to become an executive producer for The Avengers. While things seem shaky between Marvel Studios and Alonso, Puck news also reports Alonso and Disney are working on a settlement.
We will continue to monitor this situation to see how it plays out.
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Photo: Gilbert Flores / Getty
Jeremy Renner‘s reality docuseries Rennervations is coming to Disney+ on April 12, and ahead of the premiere, Billboard is sharing an exclusive clip in which the Hawkeye star shares how music has impacted his life.
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Following a haunting piano cover of The Animals’ “House of the Rising Sun,” Renner is heard explaining over a piano melody, “Music has always been my first love. It’s a very personal thing for me, something that I fell into when I was younger to get me out of trouble. Becoming an adult, it still is. Any time I get overwhelmed with personal problems or my job, music is such a therapeutic outlet for me.”
He added that his decision to share his own music over the past few years was life changing. “In doing so, it opened my eyes and opened my heart,” he revealed. “It gave me a sense of belonging. Music unites people and that, to me, is exciting.”
Jeremy Renner, ‘Rennervations’
The series follows Renner in his hometown of Reno, Nevada, as well as three other cities — Chicago, Illinois; Cabo San Lucas, Mexico; and Rajasthan, India — where he works with a team of builders to identify decommissioned vehicles that can be rebuilt to serve a new purpose.
Rennervations comes just two months after a terrifying accident in which Renner’s 14,000-pound PistenBully snowplow ran him over on his Mt. Rose Highway-area property while he was trying to divert it away from his nephew while clearing the snow, leaving him with more than 30 broken bones.
Watch the exclusive Rennervations clip below, and sign up for Disney+ here.
Back in her own little corner… or make that kingdom! Brandy revisited her role as Cinderella in a new teaser for Descendants: The Rise of Red released on Wednesday (March 22).
The clip features the R&B legend — who originally graced the screen as the iconic princess in the 1997 TV movie Rodgers & Hammerstein’s Cinderella — wearing a regal, voluminous gown of baby blue and matching overcoat with her hair in a long, blue braid. She even reunites with her co-star Paolo Montalban, who’s now graduated from Prince to King Charming.
Brandy’s casting was first revealed back in November when the project was announced as a Descendants spin-off titled The Pocketwatch. At the time, the movie musical was purportedly centered around Red, the daughter of the Queen of Hearts, and Chloe, the daughter of Cinderella and Charming — but there’s no word yet on whether any plot points may have changed along with the new title.
The artist known as the Vocal Bible last returned to her Disney princess roots in summer 2022 for the original film’s 25th-anniversary reunion special, which also featured interviews with Montalban, Whoopi Goldberg, Victor Garber, Bernadette Peters, Jason Alexander and more. “I remember like it was yesterday,” she said of working with the late Whitney Houston on the beloved movie.
She also performed a medley of Cinderella tracks such as “The Sweetest Sound,” “In My Own Little Corner,” “Impossible,” “A Lovely Night” and “Ten Minutes Ago” for one of Todrick Hall’s viral videos during the pandemic.
Get a first look at Brandy’s on-screen reunion with Montalban as Cinderella and King Charming below.
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Under the sea! You can now pre-order The Little Mermaid Barbie doll.
Capturing The Little Mermaid star, Halle Bailey’s, likeness even down to the mole above her eye. The posable Barbie retails for $14.99 and has long red dreadlocks like Bailey’s hair in the film and an ombre-mermaid tail with a glitter fin.
Halle Bailey Celebrates Getting Her Own ‘Little Mermaid’ Doll: ‘BRB Gonna Go Cry Now…
03/16/2023
Bailey gave fans a sneak peek of the doll last week. “I have something really exciting to reveal to you all. I am gonna cry,” the actress and singer shared on Instagram earlier this month. “This is the new Little Mermaid doll! I am literally choking up because this means so much to me. And to have one that looks like me, that’s my favorite Disney character, is very surreal. And look, she even has my mole! See? And the hair, and the tail…I’m just stunned, so I don’t quite know what to do with it, but I’m gonna steal this and take it home.”
According to Amazon, the doll will be released on April 23. Meanwhile, Disney premiered the official trailer for The Little Mermaid during the Oscars telecast on Sunday (March 12). Bailey and co-star Melissa McCarthy, who plays Ursula in the film, introduced the clip.
The Little Mermaid marks the first live-action adaptation of the Disney animated film which was originally released in 1989. The doll is currently the No. 1 best-seller at Amazon along with The Little Mermaid Live Action Novelization($6.92) due out April 11. Fans can find more gear from the animated version of The Little Mermaid at shopDisney.com.
The Little Mermaid stars Bailey, McCarthy, Javier Bardem, Noma Dumezweni, Jonah Hauer-King, Simone Ashley, Jacob Tremblay, Daveed Diggs and Lin-Manuel Miranda. The soundtrack will be released on May 19 and features new music written by Miranda alongside music from the original film composed by Alan Menken and Howard Ashman.
The Little Mermaid hits theaters on May 26. Pre-order the doll below.
Amazon
Disney The Little Mermaid Ariel Doll, Mermaid Fashion Doll with Signature Outfit, Toys Inspired by Disney’s The Little Mermaid
$14.99
Miley Cyrus is going back to her roots for an Endless Summer Vacation special with Disney.
Cyrus will lead the show in every imaginable way. The pop superstar serves as executive producer on Miley Cyrus ‒ Endless Summer Vacation (Backyard Sessions), during which she’ll showcase new music from her forthcoming studio album, Endless Summer Vacation, including a performance of “Flowers.”
Disney Branded Television’s “music-focused performance special” will feature seven additional tracks from the new album, one of her “chart-topping classic hits” and a collaboration with Rufus Wainwright.
Endless Summer Vacation (Backyard Sessions) is produced by Cyrus, creative production company RadicalMedia, HopeTown Entertainment, Crush Management and Columbia Records, and is set to premiere on Friday, March 10, at 1 p.m. ET on Disney+.
It’s a sort of homecoming for Miley, who achieved lift-off in her early years as the star of Hannah Montana, which aired on the Disney Channel for four seasons between March 2006 and January 2011.
Cyrus kicked off the “Backyard Sessions” in 2012 as a series for fans, offering a glimpse at the singer with her band, chilling outdoors.
The special is, of course, a tie-in with Cyrus’ eighth studio album Endless Summer Vacation, due out March 10 via Columbia Records. It’s the followup to Plastic Hearts, which crowned Billboard’s Top Rock Albums Chart and hit No. 2 on the Billboard 200.
Its global hit “Flowers” has racked up six consecutive weeks at No. 1 on the Billboard Hot 100 and Official U.K. Singles Charts. And in the land Down Under, “Flowers” has just nabbed its seventh straight week at No. 1 on the ARIA Chart.
Jacob Bixenman and Brendan Walter are directors of Endless Summer Vacation (Backyard Sessions), and Marcell Rév is director of photography.