Illustrated Movie Tie-in Book For "Into The Woods" Late Release/ Blu-ray Now Available For Pre-Order

                         

Here's the announcement and an excerpt from the press release earlier in the month for a special edition, movie tie-in book for Disney's Into The Woods (I believe this was supposed to be out before the movie but it seems there was a printing delay. Not exactly sure why this was announced in near-mid January).

Interesting to note is that the book is via TCG rather than directly from Disney's publishing house and is illustrated as well as having photos (I haven't seen it myself but everyone is wowed with how lovely it looks):

The Theatre Communications Group (TCG) has published a movie tie-in edition of the book and lyrics for the musical, Into the Woods. 

Famed composer Stephen Sondheim wrote the lyrics and stage directorJames Lapine created the book. This new edition will feature eight pages of full-color photographs from the film adaptation which stars Meryl Streep, Emily Blunt, Anna Kendrick, Chris Pine, and Johnny Depp. 

(From the press release:) 

“Into the Woods brings to musical life Cinderella, Jack and the Beanstalk, Little Red Ridinghood, Rapunzel and other well-known fairy-tale characters. Interwoven with these classic tales is the story of the baker and his wife, whose longing for a child is thwarted by the mischievous witch who lives next door. Stephen Sondheim and James Lapine have fashioned a modern musical classic which has been performed countless times all over the world since its Tony Award-winning debut in 1987.”

Sounds like it might be worth picking up if you ever want to discuss the movie down the road. I'm sure such an edition will be hard to find not too far in the future!

And we have a Blu-ray with special features (I hope there are LOTS!) coming on March 24th. 

It's now available for pre-order. Here's a poor quality pic of the new cover (the one showing on Amazon is supposed to be replaced - just be sure if you pre-order and want the extras that you're ordering the correct version).

From Broadway World:

(Both) the Blu-ray and DVD editions are now available for pre-order, as well as a HD digital download, set to be released in March, with a preview of the cover art now available to view.

Of note, the INTO THE WOODS Blu-ray is rumored to contain a director's commentary, extensive documentary featurettes and the excised new Sondheim-penned song sequence, "She'll Be Back", performed by Meryl Streep.

"Maleficent" - Light & Dark Featurette (lovely), A Sneak Preview Scene of Aurora Pricking Her Finger... (interesting) & Amazing Tribute Posters (!)

Simon Delart

While this is a professionally done poster, it's not officially Disney. It's a tribute by Paris based illustrator, Simon Delart, of Poster Posse designs. This is his homage to the movie and iconic-looking Maleficent posters Disney has released. What makes these even more amazing is that they're constructed entirely of triangles (full count - 2857!):

Click to see larger
& 'count' the triangles..

“I have to admit that I have never seen “Sleeping Beauty”, but when I saw Angelina Jolie and her suit in Maleficent I was really surprised. I found it very graphic and fascinating. The lively red contrast of her lips and her black suit reminded me of René Gruau’s illustration, very minimalist.I looked for what could symbolize Maleficent, and the branches of bramble surrounding its castle are in her effigy, disturbing and dangerous.  Brambles compose her suit giving a minimalist aspect to the poster, but when we look at it closer, it reveals all its complexity.

Triangles - that makes for an interesting representation of the movie approach as well... Apart from the gray, there are three different colored backgrounds you can find HERE as well ("...variants on the four elements: earth, air, fire and water as they intertwine with the “thorniness” of evil..."). 

And now that you've been delightfully awed and distracted by these (amazing!!) posters, here's what you actually came to see: the clips.

First is a new featurette (#4), titled Light & Dark. Its quite lovely! (And of course, there are glimpses of additional scenes in there too.)

And I can't let you leave without teasing a scene from the movie: when Aurora pricks her finger on the spindle. The approach has a lot of similarities to the Disney classic but departs from it in key ways as well. 

WARNING: Clip contains what may be considered spoilers (even if you are very familiar with various Sleeping Beauty's and the Disney classic.

If I was uncertain about it being a family movie before, I know it is now, and that's a good thing. We need some good live action family fairy tale films. I'm more excited than ever to be taking my son now.

To quote Angelina Jolie from the conference (this was included in the clip I posted a few days ago HERE):

"I think all kids are curious. They're drawn to things that are dark. It's not just simply a desire to be wicked. I think there are things that frighten us in life, and especially children, they want to understand so they can take it on, or they want to understand so it frightens them less."

The G.K. Chesterton paraphrase of my favorite fairy tale quote* equals awesome.

*  Click for larger image & to read the quote. 

Sources: HERE, HERE & HERE

"Maleficent": Reinventing the Tale - Featurette #1...

... I'm hoping of many.

By the way - don't you just love all the spinning wheels emphasized in this mini-poster?

I want to hear all I can about the behind the scenes process of bringing this fairy tale to life on screen and the considerations they took regarding the characters of Aurora (as it's based directly on the Disney animated classic), Maleficent and the fairy tale overall.

In this featurette , which is titled "Reinventing the Tale", Angelina Jolie talks briefly about finding a new way to look at the story of Sleeping Beauty and of how, while it's faithful to the source, showing all those scenes we really want to see, while at the same time bringing us something we never would have imagined as part of the tale and world before. Screenwriter Linda Woolverton (who is possibly the most prolific woman writer of fairy tales for the bi screen today) explains how it's not actually a retelling of the fairy tale but rather a reinvention and tells us a little of how she approached the writing.

Note: it seems unlikely, but I have to wonder if Ms. Woolverton looked at other versions of Sleeping Beauty that gave the 13th/uninvited fairy more of a character than most retellings have; like Carabosse in the Sleeping Beauty ballet. (Contemporary ballet choreographer, Matthew Bourne's Carabosse is fascinating!)

Take a look (you can see a high res version at this link HERE):

Here's the latest synopsis which has changed slightly again to reflect more of the reveals they've been showing (words in bold are my emphasis):

“Maleficent” explores the untold story of Disney’s most iconic villain from the classic “Sleeping Beauty” and the elements of her betrayal that ultimately turn her pure heart to stone. Driven by revenge and a fierce desire to protect the moors over which she presides, Maleficent cruelly places an irrevocable curse upon the human king’s newborn infant Aurora. As the child grows, Aurora is caught in the middle of the seething conflict between the forest kingdom she has grown to love and the human kingdom that holds her legacy. Maleficent realizes that Aurora may hold the key to peace in the land and is forced to take drastic actions that will change both worlds forever.

El Capitan Theater in LA is holding a special preview with a whole heap of extras to add to the entire movie going experience as well (honestly - these El Capitan special previews are amazing and unforgettable. To attend one for a fairy tale movie is on my bucket list...)

Hollywood's legendary El Capitan Theatre presents a special engagement of Disney's "Maleficent" in Dolby Atmos May 29 - July 17, 2014. Internationally acclaimed magician Greg Wilson will present an all-new magic show before every screening of the movie through July 6. Plus, El Capitan guests will have the chance to see an exclusive collection of props from the movie, including Aurora's bedroom, Maleficent's gown and horns and the model of Sleeping Beauty Castle at Disneyland during the entire El Capitan engagement.

By the way - the horns, which were one of the props I got to see last week, were much smaller than I expected! Perhaps the cowl gives the effect that they're larger than they are. Interesting.

"The El Capitan will kick off our special engagement of Disney's 'Maleficent' in royal fashion," said Lylle Breier, senior vice president of worldwide special events for WaltDisney Studios Motion Pictures. "El Capitan Theatre guests will have the opportunity to see the movie in advance of its national opening with two special screenings on May 29 at 8 p.m. and Midnight. Both of these screenings will also feature raffle prizes and costume contests, adding to the excitement of this long anticipated film."

You can find out about tickets and more HERE.

Sources: HERE & HERE

New "Tangled" Teaser Poster from Disney + Some Development Art

Lots of hair...

(click image for a larger view):

The vibe is 'mischievous'. Think it will grab the boys attention? Personally I'd like to see more of the fencing horse, as in, a horse with a sword (artwork below).

Here's a reminder of the synopsis:And below is some uncredited development art that's been released (though much of it it looks like Glen Keane's work). I'm just posting a small selection. You can see a whole lot more HERE. I see a "lather, rinse, repeat" regarding some of the motifs (most of which I did not include here) - I'll leave you to discover what I mean by that - but I'm guessing it's supposed to be a tribute to the classics.Looking forward to seeing what they do with the chameleon. I hope he still doesn't talk by the time it gets to the big screen.This one below is lovely, although again a 'tribute' sort of piece to the classics and yes, there's a book for the beginning too - at least in the development art. That makes me happy. :) The mosaic is gorgeous.Again, you can see a whole lot more behind-the-scenes art HERE.

In case you missed it on the SurLaLune Blog, here's a behind-the-scenes featurette recently released by Disney on creating Tangled.


Sources for poster HERE and development artwork HERE.

2 New "Princess and the Frog" Featurettes

A LEAPING LOVE STORY
(as the title suggests, it looks at the love story in the film)

If you have problems viewing the movie please go HERE to view.

DISNEY'S NEWEST PRINCESS
(focusing on Tiana and how she's not the typical Disney heroine)