Category: Entertainment

ATHENS, Vt. —A family that needed a break is getting one — courtesy of ABC-TV's "Extreme Makeover: Home Edition." Sara and Louis Vitale, whose 2-year-old son suffers from severe birth defects, will have a house built for them so they can move out of the deteriorating former hunting cabin they now call home. The construction will…

ABC ordered 10 episodes of game show Duel from BermanBraun, the production company’s first series pickup.The hour-long show is from producers French TV, who also landed a run for the show in England via ITV. Gail Berman and former ABC exec Lloyd Braun will produce, along with French TV’s David Rosconval and Francis Vacher. The…

THE Broadway-bound productions of Disney’s “Little Mermaid” and “The NewMel Brooks Musical Young Frankenstein” (yes, that is its official full name) both had their out-of-town openings on the same night, Aug. 23, roughly 1,300 miles apart. In many ways the out-of-town experiences for these two shows — the biggest high-stakes gambles of the fall season,…

Walt Disney World visitors could eventually order line-skipping, FastPass ride tickets from their cell phones or home computers, and could receive preferential treatment based on the price of their Disney accommodations, using a new technology the resort's parent company is developing.The technology, which the Walt Disney Co. is seeking to patent, would use central computers…

ENVER, 7 (UPI) — The musical stage production of "Disney’s The Little Mermaid" has sold out its seven-week, pre-Broadway run in Denver.Nearly 95,000 tickets were sold for the 47-performance engagement, which ends Sunday, at the Ellie Caulkins Opera House at the Denver Center for thePerforming Arts.It was one of the most highly attended events in…

DENVER, Colo., Sept. 7 /PRNewswire/ — With its final performance this Sunday, September 9 — after four weeks of previews and nearly three weeks of performances — Disney's pre-Broadway engagement of THE LITTLE MERMAID has sold out every ticket made available to the public in its run at the Ellie Caulkins Opera House at the…

The stars of the popular "High School Musical 2" will host a special Dance-Along telecast on the Disney Channel Sept. 8. Fans can print out instructions and practice the choreography via DisneyChannel.com for the Dance-Along premiere, which plays at 8 PM. (All times ET. Check local listings.) The sequel's TV debut drew a record-breaking 17.2…

NEW YORK – The Walt Disney Co. is sticking with the 18-year-old star of its wildly successful "High School Musical" franchise, despite her "lapse in judgment" in posing for racy photos that were leaked to the Internet. Vanessa Hudgens apologized Friday for the photos, which show her smiling as she posed naked and in underwear…

Is he the next John Travolta or Johnny Depp, or just another teenage fad, as ephemeral as Hula-Hoops, "Scream," "Dawson's Creek" and Leif Garrett? That's the billion-dollar question hanging over 19-year-old Zac Efron, the pimple-free star of Disney's "High School Musical" juggernaut. Hollywood woke up this past week with a case of whiplash. Sure, everyone…

Walt Disney World has released details of this year's Mickey's Not-So-Scary Halloween Party — its tame alternative to Universal Orlando's very scary Halloween Horror Nights. The Disney event will be held on 20 nights at the Magic Kingdom. They are Sept. 14, 21, 28 and 30; Oct. 4, 5, 8, 11, 12, 14, 16, 18,…

'High School Musical' creative force Kenny Ortega cites Gene Kelly as a source of inspiration BEVERLY HILLS, Calif. – -Kenny Ortega has a way of making America move. The latest celebration of his talent will come at 8 p.m. Saturday, when Disney Channel presents the dance-along version of High School Musical 2.Ortega directed and choreographed…

For all of you who have been waiting in anticipation, wait no more! The Disney Channel has released its latest news about the third installment of 'High School Musical.' According to starmagazine.com, after the success of the first two movies, Disney has already started the process of making a third picture entitled 'Haunted High School.'Here's…

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) – The Walt Disney Co's ABC television network and Warner Bros announced an experimental deal on Thursday for four Warner-produced ABC shows to appear on ABC's Web-based broadband media player. ABC already makes several shows from its own production arm, ABC Studios, available for free to viewers on the ad- supported broadband…

An Indian tribe's plan is on the council's agenda, but two of five council members oppose the idea and a third has doubts. After years of toying with the notion of building Orange County's first casino, Garden Grove officials are now close to throwing in the towel on the idea once and for all.Two of…

One focuses on the magic, the other on the machinations As the hordes of tourists recede with the dying summer, the theme parks suddenly remember those of us who actually live in Orlando. The next three months are by far the best time of year for locals to visit the attractions, with shorter waits and…

A giant book that stands 12 feet tall and 9.5 feet wide is making history this morning at Disney's Contemporary Resort in Orlando.It's not one for reading, however — it's for photographs.Boasting a new Guinness World Record as the largest photo album, the book is being celebrated at the Scrappers Dream Vacation convention at the…

Calling all moms: Is a trip to Walt Disney World Resort your idea of the perfect family vacation? Do you know where to find the one and only campfire marshmallow roast at Walt Disney World Resort? Have you ever been to one of the resort's baby care centers to change and feed your little one?…

Walt Disney World and several produce and insurance companies have settled a lawsuit that emerged from a 2002 salmonella outbreak at the giant resort.Disney and the other companies did not disclose the terms. Likewise, Disney and the Boston woman who filed a suit against Disney and the produce companies in 2004 also settled last spring,…

ESPN, the cable television network that has driven profit growth at Walt Disney Co. much of this decade, may produce smaller gains in coming years, crimping the stock price of the second-largest media company. Professional football, baseball, basketball and auto racing contracts that take effect by October 2009 will boost expenses by $1.02 billion a…

Walt Disney World visitors could someday order line-skipping, "FastPass" ride tickets from their cell phones or home computers, and could receive preferential treatment based on the price of their Disney accommodations, using a new technology the resort's parent company is developing.The technology, which the Walt Disney Co. is seeking to patent, would use central computers…

HIGH SCHOOL MUSICAL star OLESYA RULIN has started taking piano lessons, after faking her musical skills in the Disney TV movies. The Russian beauty, 21, plays composer/pianist Kelsi Nielsen in both High School Musical movies and hopes to be able to play the instrument by the time they start filming the third movie next year…

Although Disney/Pixar's Ratatouille crossed the $200-million mark at the domestic box office over the weekend, some Pixar executives are blaming Disney's marketing staff for failing to create a promotional campaign for the movie that would have pushed it into the top-five for the year, asToy Story was in 1995 (No. 1); A Bug's Life was…

The Walt Disney company has had extraordinary success in imprinting its adapted fairy tales on the collective American consciousness. The marching dwarves in "Snow White" and the charming mice in "Cinderella" are reference points for generations of audiences who would find the original stories quaint and disturbing — if they even bothered to seek them…

Disney is in for a Bollywood flavour and as it gets ready to launch its Hollywood blockbusters in India, it is quickly sealing deals. The latest one being with the Shankar Ehsaan Loy trio for its Hollywood chartbuster 'High School Musical'. "The creativity in India is great. We definitely wanted a Bollywood touch to 'High…