At the Diz Co.

I spent part of the afternoon at the Hat Building, where people were traipsing back from the costume competition on the main lot. ...

In a week, the new movie comes out. (And publicity is going full bore on the TV and in various periodicals, as you'd expect.)

... “Big Hero 6” is expected to take in $51 million in its first weekend and $200 million in its domestic run, according to Boxoffice.com. That’s no sure thing though, since it opens the same weekend as “Interstellar,” the space epic from “Dark Knight” director Christopher Nolan. ...

Artists are hoping for a robust opening, but some of them are a bit tense about where the weekend totals will end up (despite positive reviews and a high want-to-see quotient). Production has moved on to Zootopia and a short that's based on a recent, well-loved Disney animated feature that a lot of crew is working on.

Meantime, various projects now in development will be moved out of the feature animation facility next month to take up space at Disney Toon Studios (now with lots of empty cubicles) and leased buildings near the Burbank airport as Hat renovations get underway. (There are design sketches showing interior renovations down on the first floor. The alterations to offices and the entrance space will definitely be big improvements, but WDAS will still be stuck with the basic architectural mediocrity of the three-story structure sprawling along Riverside Drive.

Happily, upper management isn't stressed over any Hat Building weaknesses. Upper management is accentuating the positive.

Iger says his greatest accomplishment was reviving the animation studios. He says Frozen made him feel like he succeeded!

-- Jackie Kazim