Mid Week Links

Turkey day is almost upon us, but here's some toon-centric ... and labor-oriented ... intertubes linkage.

Enchanted is opening and the Hollywood trade papers go ying and yang on the feature:

Enchantment only goes so far in Disney's "Enchanted," a sometimes clever, other times grating mix of live action and animation that plays tricks with levels of move reality as the world of fairy-tale animation invades comtemporary New York..."

-- The Hollywood Reporter

"Enchanted" more than lives up to its title. A full-blown musical that commutes between Disney's patented cartoon universe and the "real" world with cleverness and grace, this splashy production reminds one of nothing in the Disney canon so much as "Mary Poppins," not least due to the "star is born" aura that surrounds Amy Adams here, just as it did Julie Andrews 43 years ago. Comparison between the two films will certainly extend to their popularity, as the new one will please nearly all audiences all the time on its flight to the place where B.O. dreams come true.

--Daily Variety

Winner of the worst book title in the current fiscal year? Cooking with Pooh. (We sh*t you not, and a h/t to Dave Barry. Particularly appropriate the day before Thanksgiving.)

If you haven't visited the striking writers blog, here's your chance. They detail yesterday's march down Hollywood Boulevard (as well as other things):

On a day when thousands of union supporters marched down Hollywood Blvd, the message was simple and most eloquently stated by Sandra Oh: "Writers want to write!"

Patric Verrone's remarks were short and to the point. We all know that we're headed back to the table, we all know the contract issues both sides have to face ...

And Futurama returns as four new direct-to-video features:

In 2003, FOX made the mistake of cancelling one of the smartest animated programs ever to grace television, Futurama. But thanks to DVD sales and the ratings of their [adult swim] reruns, everybody's favorite 31st century delivery crew is back… just for the time being in straight-to-DVD format.

For those that are late to the party, Futurama is in the midst of creating sixteen episodes of the program which will first be released as four DVD movies - which will eventually air on television as individual episodes ...

This just in! The always disappointing, always under-performing Ratatouille (the one that has Disney execs wringing their hands in despair, per a highly-placed and delusional Disney insider who unloads especially to us) has gone and done it again:

Nov. 20 Disney/Pixar's animated blockbuster "Ratatouille" passed the $600 million mark at the world-wide box office, U.S.-based Walt Disney Studios said.

"Ratatouille" also stands as the fifth most popular film released this year and the top grossing non-sequel ...

We can only hope that Bob Iger doesn't go and kill himself. ("That Pixar deal! What was I thinking?!")

But maybe there's something for Robert Iger to be glum about. Motley Fool says that Disney stock is currently one of the good bargains on Wall Street:

Don't you love findng brand names on sale?

That's what Walt Disney (NYSE: DIS) is today -- one of the most powerful and lucrative corporate brands in the world, trading at a discount to the company's actual value, any way you look at it ... Disney should be worth almost $110 billion right now. That's $46 billion more than the going market price ...

Have a festive Thanksgiving.