CARS 3: DRIVEN TO WIN

The third film in the Disney•Pixar Cars movie franchise is racing into theaters this June and Warner Brothers Interactive Entertainment and Disney Consumer Products & Interactive Media just announced a video game tie-in in conjunction with the film's release.  Cars 3: Driven to Win promises to be a world-class competitive racing game that features key characters from the upcoming film.  Picking up after the final big race in the movie, the video game extends the storyline of Cars 3 with an expanded adventure and lets players participate in a high speed competition filled with both familiar and new faces.

Players will be able to join Lightning McQueen and Cruz Ramirez as they prepare to take on rival racer Jackson Storm. The game features more than 20 customizable playable characters including popular heroes from past Cars films as well as the next generation racers being introduced in Cars 3. Players can also select their favorite race environments from a series of iconic settings from the film, such as Radiator Springs and Florida International Speedway, with over 20 unique tracks to choose from across 13 different locations.



Cars 3: Driven to Win will empowers players to master their driving skills so they can engage in an exceptional virtual competitive racing experience. With six thrilling modes for gamers to learn and advance their abilities, players can progress their character through training and tests of racing proficiency that unlock new modes, tracks, characters and more. Players can hone a wide variety of skills and abilities including Drifting, Turbo, Two-wheel Driving, Driving Backwards and Side-Bash. Each unique mode and ability allows players to explore the deeper gameplay mechanics and earn rewards for their expertise. The video game aims to be an exhilarating, action-packed experience where training and skill give players an edge on the race course but also incorporates all the elements that have made the Cars movies popular so it will be family friendly and playable by both kids and adults.

Additionally, players will be able to experience Cars 3: Driven to Win by competing against friends or by racing on their own through the various racing styles and modes available in the video game. It will include local split-screen cooperative play, allowing players either to compete against one another or team up working together to win the race.  Cars 3: Driven to Win will be available for the Playstation 4, Playstation 3, XBOX ONE, XBOX 360, Nintendo Switch and Wii U beginning June 13, 2017.

Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious! Mary Poppins is Returning in a Brand New Movie

Here's a first glimpse of Golden Globe® winner Emily Blunt portraying Mary Poppins as filming has begun for MARY POPPINS RETURNS, the all new sequel to Disney’s 1964 film MARY POPPINS. Directed and produced by Rob Marshall, MARY POPPINS RETURNS also stars Lin-Manuel Miranda, Ben Whishaw, Emily Mortimer and Julie Walters with Colin Firth and Meryl Streep. The original movie is a family favorite so we'll be looking forward to an outing at the cinema when this sequel arrives at theaters!

The film, which introduces three new Banks children, played by Pixie Davies, Nathanael Saleh and newcomer Joel Dawson, also features Dick Van Dyke and Angela Lansbury. The film is set in 1930s depression-era London (the time period of the original novels) and is drawn from the wealth of material in PL Travers’ additional seven books. In the story, Michael (Whishaw) and Jane (Mortimer) are now grown up, with Michael, his three children and their housekeeper, Ellen (Walters), living on Cherry Tree Lane. After Michael suffers a personal loss, the enigmatic nanny Mary Poppins (Blunt) re-enters the lives of the Banks family, and, along with the optimistic street lamplighter Jack (Miranda), uses her unique magical skills to help the family rediscover the joy and wonder missing in their lives. Mary Poppins also introduces the children to a new assortment of colorful and whimsical characters, including her eccentric cousin, Topsy (Streep).

MARY POPPINS RETURNS will be released in U.S. theaters on December 25, 2018!

Disney is remaking Pete's Dragon

Do you know the first Walt Disney Studios feature film to be released for public distribution on video tape? It was Pete's Dragon which was made available for VHS and Betamax video cassette players in 1980.  This was one of the very few movies my parents ever purchased for our VCR, back in the days when everyone rented movies from video stores because purchasing them was absurdly expensive, and I watched it more times than I can count...so much in fact the cassette tape eventually just wore out.  It was probably a good investment for my parents as we'd gone to the theater so many times to see the movie at my urging.  Compared to today's computer generated imagery Pete's Dragon was very rudimentary yet for it being the late 70's/early 80's the combination of its special effects, Disney animation, and the Apple Dumpling Gang / Escape from Witch Mountain vibe of its live action scenes made it a mesmerizing film for a 6 year old boy to see.  I still remember excitedly stomping around during my elementary school's Halloween parade wearing my bright green and purple Ben Cooper costume of Elliot my mom let me pick out at the Ben Franklin Five & Dime wishing I could fly, breath fire and turn invisible like the dragon in the movie.

Based upon my childhood fondness of Pete's Dragon, it was exciting to find out that Walt Disney Studios is producing a new version of the movie this summer that I'll be able to enjoy with my children who are at the age I was when the original movie was popular.  This new movie is arriving August 12, 2016 to theaters across the United States will be a re-imagined telling of the tale with a modernistic tone to it.  The original film's musical numbers, slap stick comedy, and cartoonish animation will be replaced with stunning imagery, a more sophisticated script and incredible life like special effects within this new incarnation of Pete's Dragon.  Disney has been pretty hush-hush up to now on details of this brand new Pete's Dragon movie but has just recently released a poster, movie stills and a teaser reel.



Pete's Dragon will be rated PG.  It's story revolves around old wood carver Mr. Meacham (Robert Redford) who for years has delighted local children with his tales of the fierce dragon that resides deep in the woods of the Pacific Northwest. To his daughter, Grace (Bryce Dallas Howard), who works as a forest ranger, these stories are little more than tall tales…until she meets Pete (Oakes Fegley). Pete is a mysterious 10-year-old with no family and no home who claims to live in the woods with a giant, green dragon named Elliott. And from Pete’s descriptions, Elliott seems remarkably similar to the dragon from Mr. Meacham’s stories. With the help of Natalie (Oona Laurence), an 11-year-old girl whose father Jack (Wes Bentley) owns the local lumber mill, Grace sets out to determine where Pete came from, where he belongs, and the truth about this dragon.

I hope that my kids find the new Pete's Dragon as magical as the original movie that I enjoyed so much at their age.  For more information, visit movies.disney.com/petes-dragon-2016