Walt Disney Studios 2006 Showcase
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Lunch and Fantasy are Served
It was then time to break for lunch where, of course, chicken was on the menu. As luck would have it, we were seated beside the director and producer for Chicken Little and had the opportunity to say hello. Afterwards guest were encouraged to tour a special area set up with set pieces, costumes, and props from the upcoming Disney epic, The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, The Witch & The Wardrobe. We then were ushered back into the theater for an exclusive 10 minute work-in-progress clip from it. Part Lord of the Rings, part Harry Potter, this impressive film is based on the C.S. Lewis children books, the clip ended with snow coming down in the theater. If the visuals were any sign of overall story content to come, this one is going to be a huge hit for the company.

Snow was a good segway into the next film Santa Claus 3 with Tim Allen. Opening November 2006, the film stars Allen and Martin Short. No preview was available so Dick continued with another Tim Allen film, The Shaggy Dog, a remake of the 1976 Disney classic The Shaggy D.A. starring Dean Jones. Being a purist, I have no interest in remakes, after all wasn’t it Walt that once said, “You can’t top pigs with pigs.�? While that was in reference to what he thought about sequels I think the same could be said for remakes of Disney classics. Nonetheless, we were treated to a short clip of The Shaggy Dog and while I’m neither a fan of Tim Allen or classic Disney remakes, after watching Allen chase a cat through traffic on all fours, I can honestly say, Disney has my attention and interest.

Back to The Action
The afternoon was slowly creeping up on us as we were introduced to Glory Road. Disney loves sports movies: The Rookie, Remember the Titans, and they were mentioned as Dick explained the story of Texas Western coach Don Haskins (played by Josh Lucas) and how he led the first all-black starting line-up to a college basketball NCAA championship in 1966. He then introduced actors Josh Lucas, Mechad Brooks, mega-producer Jerry Bruckheimer and consultant to the film, former coach of the Los Angeles Lakers, Mr. Pat Riley. Riley, a player during the legendary 1966 games, spoke of the films importance and how he felt Disney and Bruckheimer did such an excellent job of handling the material.

Mel Gibson works the crowd on Hollywood Boulevard.

Dick took back hosting duties to say how excited they were about Glory Road, while referring to Bruckheimer as Disney’s Shaq. He also mentioned that Jerry Bruckheimer was working on National Treasure II (2007) and Déjà vu. “More on what Mr. Bruckheimer is up to in a moment,�? Dick said as he ushered the Glory Road stars off stage. First Dick wanted to tell us about a film they were working on with “one of the biggest stars in Hollywood.�? Dick introduced Apocalypto in Mayan appropriately enough, since it’s an action film that takes place three thousand years ago during the ancient Mayan civilization. There wasn’t a trailer to show but they did have the writer and director of it here to talk about. On cue, out strolled Mel Gibson, with a Grizzly Adams beard and boots to talk about his current labor of love. Basically Mel did stand-up for 3 minute. While little information was disclosed about the film Mel had the audience rolling during his brief appearance. It was already quite a show and my companion turned to me and whispered, “Mel Gibson, how are they gonna top that?�?