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Tag: Mary Poppins

  • Star Movies Select HD to premiere ‘Saving Mr. Banks’ and ‘Mary Poppins’

    Star Movies Select HD to premiere ‘Saving Mr. Banks’ and ‘Mary Poppins’

    MUMBAI: Star Movies Select HD is all geared up to celebrate Walt Disney’s 114 birthday by premiering Saving Mr. Banks at 1 pm and Mary Poppins at 3 pm on December 13, 2015. The two movies will be aired on the channel’s weekend property Select Sundays: A Tribute to Walt Disney. Walt Disney was born on December 5, 1901.

     

    The plot of Saving Mr. Banks is spurred on by a promise Walt Disney made to his daughters. Walt Disney, played by Tom Hanks, embarks on what would become a 20-year quest to obtain the movie rights for Mary Poppins. The author P.L. Travers played by Emma Thompson, proves to be an uncompromising curmudgeon who has no intention of letting her beloved characters become mangled in the Hollywood machine. However, when the books stop selling and she finds herself in need of money, Travers reluctantly agrees to consider Disney’s proposition.

     

    Mary Poppins, directed by Robert Stevenson narrates the story of Jane, played by Karen Dotrice and Michael played by Matthew Garber, the children of the wealthy and uptight Banks family, who are faced with the prospect of a new nanny. They are pleasantly surprised by the arrival of the magical Mary Poppins enacted by Julie Andrews. Embarking on a series of fantastical adventures with Mary and her Cockney performer friend, Bert, played by Dick Van Dyke, the siblings try to pass on some of their nanny’s sunny attitude to their preoccupied parents (David Tomlinson, Glynis Johns).

  • Disney’s playful ‘Saving Mr. Banks’ Poster

    Disney’s playful ‘Saving Mr. Banks’ Poster

    MUMBAI: Two weeks post the release of the first poster, the second poster shows a pleading Walt Disney (Tom Hanks) with a shadow of Mickey Mouse and P L Travers (Emma Thompson) with a shadow of Mary Poppins.

     

    A charming tagline reads ‘Where her book ended, their story began’ referring to the classic childrens’ book Mary Poppins written by Travers.

     

    The movie is first big screen bopic to be made on Walt Disney, which shows his struggle to make an adaptation of the book Mary Poppins battling resistance from Travers, which turns out to be his main struggle.

     

    The movie is set to be released on 13 December.

  • Excel videos line up Oscar Film Festival on DVD

    Excel videos line up Oscar Film Festival on DVD

    MUMBAI: With the 79th Annual Academy Awards around the corner Excel Home Videos in association with Twentieth Century Fox, Walt Disney Home Entertainment and Merchant Ivory Production has launched an Oscar DVD Film Festival.

    The fest titled ‘Oscar Fever 2007’ will continue from 22 Feb tol 15 March. It will feature 46 movies including The Sound of Music, Aliens, The French Connection, Gentleman’s Agreement, Titanic, Tora!Tora!Tora!, Braveheart, Sideways, Great Expectations, Miracle On 34th Street, The Abyss, Walk the line, Boys Don’t Cry, The Full Monty, Independence Day, The Longest Day, Moulin Rouge, Mrs DoubtFire, The Omen, Butch Cassidy And The Sundance Kid, Mary Poppins, Cold Mountain, Finding Nemo, The Little Mermaid, The Chronicles of Narnia, Pearl Harbor, Dick Tracy and, Howards End.

    Says Excel Home Videos managing director M.N Kapasi, “This is the first time in Indian Home Entertainment that multiple Hollywood Studios have come together for a Movie Extravaganza. This is a great opportunity for cinema buffs to expand their collection and also upgrade their VCDs to high end DVDs.”

    The Festival will feature a unique reward point system with movies with more Oscars carrying higher points. There are also opportunities for consumers to win free DVDs.

    The other movies in the fray include Master & Commander, My Cousin Vinny, Patton, Wall Street, Speed, All that Jazz, Cocoon, Planet Of The Apes, Road To Perdition, The Fly, Hello Dolly, How Green Was My Valley, The Incredibles, Tarzan, Toy Story, Monsters Inc, Pocahontas, Colour of Money among others

  • Disney visual effects veteran Peter Ellenshaw dies at 93

    Disney visual effects veteran Peter Ellenshaw dies at 93

    MUMBAI: Peter Ellenshaw, the Oscar winning visual effects pioneer and matte artist who is known for his work on several Disney classics like Mary Poppins, 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea, Darby O’Gill and the Little People, Treasure Island and The Black Hole, passed away at his home in Santa Barbara on 12 February at the age of 93.

    Announcing his demise, an official statement referred to him as “a hand-picked member of Walt Disney’s creative team.” Ellenshaw was called upon to create a wide variety of visual effects for the Studio’s films, and even painted the iconic first map of Disneyland that was featured on all the early postcards and souvenir booklets.

    Ellenshaw regarded Walt Disney as a source of inspiration, a wonderful executive, and over the years, a good friend. “Walt had the ability to communicate with artists,” observed Ellenshaw. “He’d talk to you on your level — artist to artist. He used to say, ‘I can’t draw, Peter.’ But he had the soul of an artist, and he had a wonderful way of transferring his enthusiasm to you.”

    Ellenshaw began his association with Walt Disney in 1947, when he was tapped to work on the Studio’s first live-action film, Treasure Island (1950), and continued working there until his retirement in 1979 following The Black Hole. Born in Great Britain in 1913, Ellenshaw began his film career in the early 1930s, when he apprenticed for visual effects pioneer W. Percy (Pop) Day, O.B.E. He worked on such productions as Things to Come, Rembrandt, Elephant Boy, Sixty Glorious Years, A Matter of Life and Death, and the Michael Powell-Emeric Pressburger classic Black Narcissus.

     

  • Disney & Excel Home Videos kick off DVD Film Carnival with ‘Pirates of the Caribbean – 2’

    Disney & Excel Home Videos kick off DVD Film Carnival with ‘Pirates of the Caribbean – 2’

    MUMBAI: Disney and Excel Home Videos kicked off a DVD Film Carnival on 11 December, that will continue through the festive season till 31 December, at select book and DVD stores across the country. The special event opened with the DVD launch of Pirates of the Caribbean – 2.

    M.N Kapasi inaugurates the carnival
    The Pirates of the Caribbean – 2 was released a week earlier in India as opposed to its worldwide DVD debut. Says, Excel Home Videos managing director MN Kapasi, “The incredible success of the movie has prompted us to raise the number of DVDs by 50 per cent as compared to the prequel. The DVD will also be available at a specially discounted price during the launch period. The Disney DVD Carnival, a first of its kind in India, will also feature a host of Hollywood films of various genres.”

    The DVD bonanza, a prelude to the festive season, will also feature over 50 movies from various genres at discounts such as three DVDs at the price of two and will include blockbusters like Air-Force One, Bruce Almighty, Pretty Woman, Cold Mountain, Sea Biscuit, Honey- I Shrunk the Kids, Enemy of the State, Mary Poppins, The Rock, Shall We Dance, The Parent Trap, The Horse Whisperer, The Recruit, Dangerous Minds, Crimson Tide, End Of Days, Dick Tracy, Gone In 60 Seconds, National Treasure, among others.

    The carnival is underway at stores across the country including Planet M, Crossword, Landmark, Rhythm House and Music World among others, informs an official release.

    Events like these showcase the increasing focus of companies on the home entertainment turf in India, which is an evidence of the growing demand and increased hardware penetration in the country. The revenues from home entertainment abroad compete with the theatre earnings there; this scenario may soon be a reality in India, adds the release.