Frozen 2 is officially in development at Walt Disney Animation Studios with directors Chris Buck and Jennifer Lee and producer Peter Del Vecho, the Oscar®-winning filmmaking team behind Frozen.
The news was announced at Disney’s Annual Meeting of Shareholders this morning by Bob Iger, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of The Walt Disney Company; John Lasseter, Chief Creative Officer of Walt Disney and Pixar Animation Studios; and actor Josh Gad, who provides the voice of Olaf from Frozen.
“We enjoyed making Frozen Fever so much and being back in that world with those characters,” said John Lasseter. “Jennifer Lee and Chris Buck have come up with a great idea for a sequel and you will be hearing a lot more about it and we’re taking you back to Arendelle. We are so excited about that.”
A release date and production details are yet to be announced.
Disney chairman and CEO Bob Iger announced Thursday that Rogue One is the title for the first stand alone film in the Star Wars franchise.
Rogue One will be directed by Gareth Edwards (Monsters, Godzilla) and written by Chris Weitz (Cinderella, About a Boy, Antz). Felicity Jones has already been cast in the project.
The film starts shooting this summer in London and will be in theaters on December 16, 2016.
Announcing official details surrounding Rogue One, the first stand-alone #StarWars film, as well as Episode VIII! http://t.co/gzAlAgbAt5
Disney chairman and CEO Bob Iger confirmed that Rian Johnson will write and direct Star Wars: Episode VIII, is set for release on May 26, 2017 — forty years and a day after the release of Star Wars: A New Hope in 1977.
Johnson directed Looper, Brick and The Brothers Bloom. He was also behind the camera for three episodes of the TV series Breaking Bad. Kathleen Kennedy and Ram Bergman, producer of Looper, Don Jon, Brick, and The Brothers Bloom, are on board to produce, and J.J. Abrams will serve as executive producer.
Facebook is changing the way it’s counting likes, subtracting any accounts that have been either manually deactivated or “memorialized” after its owner passed. It’s something that probably should have been done since the beginning — but since it wasn’t, it’d be easy to think your Likes had dropped because of something you’d done.
One thing that’s important to note: it seems that this only accounts for profiles that have been manually deactivated. Likes from profiles that could be considered “inactive” because the user just hasn’t logged in for a while will continue to count.
In June, Drew Edward Johnson (Wonder Woman) makes his creator-owned debut, combining intrigue, secret agents, monsters, and more in Midnight Society: The Black Lake.
Forty years ago, England’s greatest adventurers cast aside their friendship, making a choice that would come to haunt humanity. Now, secret agent Matilda Finn will face the consequences of that choice as she aids in a frantic rescue operation at Scotland’s Loch Ness, where something terrible is waiting to draw her into the fight of her life!
“I began my career in comics working with Dark Horse on Star Wars: X-Wing Rogue Squadron,” Johnson told Comics Bulletin. “To bring my first creator-owned project to Dark Horse Comics is a great homecoming for me. Especially given the opportunity to work with my editor, Philip Simon, whom I had the good fortune of working with in the early days of my career. I’m thrilled and honored to join Dark Horse’s line of genre-bending horror-adventure books, like Hellboy, B.P.R.D., The Goon, and so many more, which have all influenced my work heavily over the years.”
Midnight Society: The Black Lake #1 will be available at your local comic book store on June 17, 2015. Ray Synder illustrates and Lizzy John is the colorist on the miniseries.
LOS ANGELES, March 11, 2015 – In a role filled with hopes and dreams, Will Ferrell will be at five different spring training ballparks in Arizona tomorrow as production begins on a new HBO special from Funny Or Die, in partnership with Major League Baseball. Dedicating the special to the fight against cancer, Ferrell is also honoring the historic feat of Bert Campaneris five decades ago by playing every position on the field, and maybe some off the field, for ten different teams in the same day.
Ferrell’s historic day, which will be covered on social media using #FerrellTakesTheField, will be chronicled in the exclusive HBO special, which will air later this year and also feature MLB players, managers, coaches, executives and fans.
“We hope to always be in the Will Ferrell business,” says Michael Lombardo, president, HBO Programming. “This latest collaboration is one of those things only Will could pull off. I can’t wait to see him take the field.”
Baseball Commissioner Robert D. Manfred, Jr. said, “Spring training affords an appropriate setting where our game can serve as the backdrop for an event that will benefit organizations that fight cancer. Will is a big fan of our game, and many of us in baseball – among our clubs, players and our millions of fans – are big fans of his. Major League Baseball is happy to take part in what will surely be a fun and memorable day for a great cause.”
Ferrell’s goal is to honor “Campy” Campaneris while also helping organizations dedicated to fighting cancer, including Cancer for College. Formed in 1993, Cancer for College is a charity that helps individuals adversely affected by cancer to realize their dream of a college education.
Ferrell will be playing in the following games as part of the special:
March 12 (all times Pacific; subject to change)
12:05 p.m. Seattle Mariners at Oakland Athletics (HoHoKam Stadium)
1:10 p.m. Chicago Cubs at Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim (Tempe Diablo Stadium)
2:10 p.m. Cincinnati Reds at Arizona Diamondbacks (Salt River Fields at Talking Stick)
4:05 p.m. San Francisco Giants at Chicago White Sox (Camelback Ranch)
6:15 p.m. Los Angeles Dodgers at San Diego Padres (Peoria Stadium)
An important part of the fundraising efforts will be game-used memorabilia from Ferrell’s journey across the five ballparks, to be auctioned at MLB.com with proceeds being donated to Cancer for College, as well as Stand Up To Cancer, a groundbreaking initiative created to accelerate innovative cancer research. MLB is the founding donor to Stand Up To Cancer.
On Sept. 8, 1965, Bert “Campy” Campaneris, in only his second major league season, went 0-for-3 playing all nine positions for the Kansas City Athletics in a game against the California Angels. Campaneris is expected to be there with Ferrell as he begins his journey tomorrow.
Ferrell previously appeared on HBO in the 2009 comedy special “Will Ferrell: You’re Welcome America. A Final Night with George W Bush.” He was also an executive producer of and guest-starred in HBO’s “Eastbound & Down” and “Funny Or Die Presents.”
The new special is executive produced by Will Ferrell in association with Gary Sanchez Productions, Funny Or Die’s Mike Farah and Joe Farrell, and Stuart Miller, and directed by Brian McGinn.
New York, N.Y., March 10, 2015 – In an unprecedented move, Game of Thrones® will premiere in over 170 countries and territories across the globe simultaneously with HBO’s U.S. airing on Sunday, April 12 at 9:00pm ET, it was announced today by HBO. The entire fifth season of the Emmy®-, Golden Globe®- and Peabody®-winning series will be simulcast to HBO branded networks and broadcast partners across the world, creating a global television event week after week throughout the season’s 10-episode run.
“We are thrilled to see our international partners jumping on board to bring Game of Thrones, one of the most universally loved television shows in the world, to global audiences at the same time it airs on HBO in the U.S.,” said Michael Lombardo, President, HBO Programming. “It’s going to be a great season.”
Among those participating are the HBO branded networks: HBO Asia, HBO Canada, HBO Europe, HBO Latin America, HBO Netherlands and HBO Nordic.
Also included are international “Home of HBO” services including: Africa/M-Net, Australia/Foxtel, Belgium(Flemish)/Telenet, France/Orange, Iceland/365 Media, Israel/DBS, Sky Deutschland, Sky Italia and SKY New Zealand. HBO licensing partners in the simulcast include: Belgium(French)/Betv, Greece/Intervision, Russia/Amedia and Spain/DTS.
Since its debut Game of Thrones has become a worldwide phenomenon and the most popular series in HBO history. Last year, the series was the most searched television show worldwide on Google and the #1 most talked about show on Facebook in the U.S.
Game of Thrones is based on George R.R. Martin’s fantasy series A Song Of Ice and Fire, where political and sexual intrigue abound as seven noble families fight for control of the mythical land of Westeros. The epic series, with storylines of treachery and nobility, family and honor, ambition and love, and death and survival, has captured the imagination of fans globally and become one of the most popular shows on television.
Marvel’s Daredevil is here to clean up the streets of Hell’s Kitchen, New York. Lawyer by day, street-level hero by night, Matt Murdock is on a mission to make his city a better place against an underground terror within the city. All episodes arrive only on Netflix, April 10.
Marvel’s Daredevil” is a live action series that follows the journey of attorney Matt Murdock, who in a tragic accident was blinded as a boy but imbued with extraordinary senses. Murdock sets up practice in his old neighborhood of Hell’s Kitchen, New York where he now fights against injustice as a respected lawyer by day and masked vigilante at night.
Starring: Charlie Cox, Deborah Ann Woll, Vincent D’Onofrio
NEW YORK, NY – March 9, 2015 – AMC today announced that it has placed an initial two-season order for a companion series to “The Walking Dead,” the #1 show on television among adults 18-49 for going on three seasons.
The new series (title to be announced) will be set in Los Angeles and focused on new characters and storylines. The show’s first season will consist of six one-hour episodes and premiere on AMC in late summer. The show’s second season will air in 2016.
Robert Kirkman, Gale Anne Hurd, Greg Nicotero and David Alpert from “The Walking Dead” are executive producers of the new series, which, like the original, is being produced by AMC Studios. Dave Erickson (“Marco Polo,” “Sons of Anarchy”), who co-created and co-wrote the pilot with Kirkman, is an executive producer and showrunner. The series will star Cliff Curtis (“Missing,” “Gang Related”), Kim Dickens (Gone Girl, “Sons of Anarchy”), Frank Dillane (Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince) and Alycia Debnam Carey (Into the Storm).
“We take incredibly seriously the notion of building a satisfying companion series to the number one show on television. From the beginning of ‘The Walking Dead’ on AMC, we’ve been asked questions about what was going on in other parts of the zombie apocalypse, and what it looked like as the world really did ‘turn.’ Through this new series, we’re going to find out,” said Charlie Collier, AMC president. “Robert Kirkman, Dave Erickson and their writing team, along with an incomparable set of producers, cast and crew have created something remarkable and clearly distinct. We respectfully follow the request of Monty Python as we bring out (the latest of) our Dead.”
“We feel empowered by this two-season commitment, a serious show of faith from our network partner AMC,” Kirkman said. “I personally take it as a sign that they believe, like we do, that we’ve accomplished our goal of developing something original that can pay tribute to the original show and expand the world I created while at the same time having something new to say with this story. I’m very grateful that we now have the opportunity to tell this amazing story and show the fans that we really haven’t scratched the surface yet when it comes to ‘The Walking Dead.’”
“This vote of confidence from our partners at AMC is gratifying, to say the least,” Erickson said. “We’ve been blessed with amazing writers and a stellar cast – and we can’t wait to build this apocalyptic drama over the next two seasons and hopefully beyond.”
In addition, AMC Global, the international AMC-branded television network, announced it has acquired the international television rights to the series, which it plans to air within 24 hours of the U.S. premiere. AMC Global launched in late 2014 and is available in over 115 countries and territories throughout Latin America, Europe, Asia, Africa and the Middle East.
SAN FRANCISCO, March 9, 2015 – Home Box Office announced today the name of its standalone premium streaming service – HBO NOW – and that the service will launch this April, bringing the highly anticipated new product to audiences in time for the fifth season of Game of Thrones. HBO and Apple also announced that for the first time an HBO subscription will be made available directly to Apple customers through HBO NOW.
HBO NOW provides instant access to HBO’s acclaimed programming. Watch every episode of every season of the best series programming, more of the biggest and latest Hollywood hit movies, original HBO Films, groundbreaking documentaries, sports and comedy and music specials. To subscribe to the streaming service HBO NOW, consumers only need the internet.
Apple will give viewers the ability to enjoy HBO programming via HBO NOW. Upon launch, customers can subscribe using the HBO NOW app on their iPhone, iPad or iPod touch, or directly on Apple TV for instant access. Users can purchase HBO NOW directly in-app for $14.99 a month. Upon registering, subscribers will also be able to watch at HBONOW.com. HBO will offer a 30 day introductory free trial period to new HBO NOW customers who sign up through Apple in April.
HBO continues to be in discussions with its existing network of distributors and new digital partners to offer HBO NOW. At launch, HBO NOW will be available on iOS devices and on PCs.
“HBO NOW is the next phase of innovation at HBO,” said Richard Plepler, chairman and CEO, HBO. “With this new partnership, a natural evolution for the network, we have access to millions of Apple customers who are used to getting their favorite apps immediately. Now, they can do the same with an HBO subscription.”
“HBO NOW offers a new generation of HBO fans many of the best TV programs in the world without a cable or satellite subscription,” said Eddy Cue, Apple’s senior vice president of Internet Software and Services. “Now, with the same simplicity as buying an app, customers can subscribe to HBO NOW and instantly start viewing their favorite HBO programs as they air – this is huge.”
Similar to HBO GO, HBO NOW will offer more than 2,000 titles online. This includes current critically acclaimed series like Game of Thrones®, True Detective®, Silicon Valley®, Girls®, Veep® and The Leftovers®, as well as classics like The Sopranos®, Sex and the City®, True Blood®, The Wire® and Deadwood®.
Highly-anticipated upcoming original programs like Westworld, the drama series starring Anthony Hopkins, Ed Harris and Evan Rachel Wood; The Brink, the dark comedy series starring Jack Black and Tim Robbins; the new season of the Emmy®-winning True Detective with Vince Vaughn, Colin Farrell and Rachel McAdams; and HBO Films’ Bessie, starring Queen Latifah, will become available on HBO NOW as they air on HBO.
In addition, HBO NOW will showcase Last Week Tonight with John Oliver, named “best of 2014” on many critics’ lists; VICE, the Emmy®-winning, cutting-edge news magazine series hosted by Shane Smith; HBO Sports documentaries, series and World Championship Boxing events; and groundbreaking documentary programming like Going Clear: Scientology and the Prison of Belief, The Jinx: The Life and Deaths of Robert Durst and the Oscar®-winning Citizenfour.
