Bosses at Odeon were able to reach an agreement with Disney to overturn the boycott which they themselves imposed on Alice in Wonderland. The boycott grew from debate over the release date of the DVD of the 3D movie. Odeon had been planning on preventing the movie from being shown in its 107 cinemas across Ireland and Britain.

The DVD release date was slated for May 10, a mere three months after the movie’s big screen debut. The negotiations have seen a change of heart from Odeon but the juicy details were not disclosed. Presumably somewhere some payment was made, and the Irish, Italian and UK public can look forward to seeing Johnny Depp, Helena Bonham Carter and Anne Hathaway in all their glory.

A press release by Odeon declared that detailed negotiations had been beneficial to the commercial relationship of both parties, who had signed an apparently enduring agreement. The statement also said that the agreement would allow the cinema chain to pursue its current course of 3D capability in addition to numerous other digital developments.

Critics have not been overwhelmed, claiming the film adheres to fairytale stereotypes, holding little interest for Narnia or Avatar devotees. Alice has come in for several scathing reviews, with one critic saying she looked more on heroin than a heroine.

Iger said today that the largest theme park operator in the world has already started to pull back on special offers from a year ago. He made the comments while at a UBS AG investor conference in New York.  In November 2008, Disney offered discounts in order to counteract the ill effects of the recession.

He said the entertainment giant will be able to pursue reducing the promotions through out 2010.

By that statement, Iger was referring to promotions on accommodation, food and merchandise. But he did say that Disney as waiting to experience the market conditions before making further commitments.

Iger claimed that Disney had scaled back offers based on its experience with several economic downturns.

Since 2008, it has given away free hotel nights and had offered food and merchandise discounts. At that time, the US theme parks under the Disney banner had reported four consecutive quarters of shrunken revenue and reduced profits compared with the previous year.

This November, the company revealed that a swap was planned between Chief of Disney Parks Jay Rasulo and Chief Financial Officer Tom Staggs in attempt to provide different experience to both executives. The change will come into effect at year’s end.

In related news, Disney got the go ahead to open its first theme park in mainland China. The announcement came late last month, when Beijing officials finally agreed to let the entertainment giant launch an amusement park in a district of Shanghai.

Citing a government representative, The National Business Daily reported that the local government has completed the registration process of villagers seeking compensation for the cost involved with vacating the four-square-kilometre parcel of land.

Government officials still have to work out the details concerning the cost allocated to each relocation.
Authorities came up with the six billion yuan figure by basing themselves on a previous compensation paid to residents of a neighbouring land, industry insiders said.

Shanghai government officials were not available for comment.

The Shanghai government and Disney announced a few weeks ago that Beijing had given its okay for the theme park project, which will represent one of the largest foreign investments in the country.

None of the parties involved have revealed any costs or time line for the project but speculation has revealed an estimated total price tag of 24.5 billion yuan for the first phase of the ambitious them park.

The attraction will be located in the Chuansha county of Pudong, Shanghai’s up and coming district, and will also include would include a hotel and a shopping complex.

In Beijing earlier today, Communist Party officials finally ended years of speculation by approving Disney’s long-awaited first amusement park to be built in mainland China.

The announcement comes less than 14 days prior to US President Barack Obama’s first official visit to China, which is scheduled to begin on November 15 in Shanghai.

The announcement follows 10 years of seesawing negotiations between the Shanghai authorities and Disney which showed the difficulties which foreign media companies face when trying to gain a foothold in the country in order to reach 1.3 billion Chinese.

Such entertainment ventures have become particularly attractive thanks to rising incomes in China as wealthier families search for new ways to pamper their kids, most of them born under China’s policy of “one couple, one child”.

Walt Disney officials said The Project Application Report (PAR) for a new theme park in Shanghai has been awarded approval from the central government of China authorities. The theme park will be built in the Pudong district of the city.

Pudong is Shanghai’s new business heart where several skyscrapers have risen in the last decade alongside a multitude of apartment complexes. A Disney theme park would certainly contribute to inject life into this rather soulless ocean of offices and shopping malls and may even rekindle the fortunes of Shanghai which is facing tough competition from several other urban centres in China.

No budget or schedule for the theme park construction has been revealed. But when speculations of an agreement spread this week, the US entertainment giant was said to be investing $US3.6 billion for a 10-square-kilometre theme park.

The group of theme parks of Disney, which represent an annual $11.5 billion business and is considered to be a great consumer confidence indicator, have experienced some trouble during the recession. In a move praised by Wall Street, the company has quickly limited the damage via aggressive discounting.

The Fantasyland of the Magic Kingdom in Orlando, Florida will receive a large share of a revamping budget. The Magic Kingdom, opened since 1971 and at the centre of the broader resort, is facing steep new competition from the Wizarding World of Harry Potter, scheduled to open at  the neighbouring Universal’s Islands of Adventure next year.

The new or reworked attractions planned for Fantasyland during the next three years comprise of an area where children will be able to dance with Cinderella, interact with Belle from Beauty and the Beast or celebrate Sleeping Beauty’s birthday. Dumbo the Flying Elephant ride will also be redesigned.

Jay Rasulo, chairman of Walt Disney Parks and Resorts, said during a Disney-sponsored fan convention that the company is always tinkering with new ideas to tell new stories.

Mr. Rasulo also confirmed the rumoured overhaul of Star Tours. The Disneyland and Disney World editions of the famous but aging simulation ride will reopen to the public in 2011 boasting new modern 3-D effects.

Writers have returned to the original books authored by AA Milne and are basing the new movie on five never released on film Pooh tales which will be stitched together for the new animated feature production.

Disney-Pixar’s chief creative officer John Lasseter said Winnie the Pooh has already been one of his favourite comic book characters. He claimed that people viewed Winnie the Pooh as being only for little kids but two recent screenings of Disney of Pooh films made a theatre full of adults laugh hysterically.

Lasseter claimed the artistic team will remain faithful to previous films by using only water-colour backgrounds and Burny Mattinson, who previously authored on Pooh movies, would be the lead story artist.

The news was announced in London to Disney staff and reporters and there was an old-school style as Lasseter talked about Disney-Pixar’s upcoming project. The initial 30 minutes of Disney’s first hand-designed animation film in five years, The Princess and the Frog, was screened as a finale to the presentation.

But of course most of what Disney-Pixar creates will be computer-animated and 3D. Toy Story 3 will tell the tale of Andy, as he is sets out for college and has to pack all of his old toys.

There will also be a sequel to Cars in which the characters voyage to Europe, speed down Germany’s autobahns, get stuck in roundabouts in France and drive on the ‘wrong’ side of the road in the UK.

Don’t think the Incredible Hulk is to crush the Castle of Cinderella, but Walt Disney Co.’s buying of Marvel Entertainment Inc. and its gigantic book of comic villains and troubled heroes will stir up the world of theme parks world the same as it will the film business.

Last week’s $4 billion take over deal cracks open the Magic Kingdom to dark and gloomy figures like Iron Man and Dr. Doom – which hold significantly more appeal to internet-addicted teenage boys with matching social skills than Mickey and Minnie – and spins a web of doubt arround NBC Universal’s licensing deal for Spider-Man, one of top enduring characters created for Marvel by Stan Lee, the comic book legend.

Other significant modifications are rooted in fantasy land – the re-boosting of Six Flags as it emerges from the depths of bankruptcy, the forthcoming sale of Busch Gardens and Sea World, and next year’s launching of a Harry Potter-themed island park at Universal Orlando’s Islands of Adventure.

Since the start of Disneyland close to Los Angeles in 1955, Walt Disney has obtained world domination – Disney attracts more visitors than all other amusement-park chains put together.

But now the giant Mouse that gobbled up Pixar three years ago is setting itself for complete virtual monopoly with every imaginable cartoon character from Donald Duck to the Fantastic Four, from Buzz Lightyear to the X-Men, some of which are strong theme-park draws.

According to analyst Jamie Rizzo of Fitch Ratings in New York, upon close inspection of Marvel’s catalog of 5,000 characters, there’s no stone left unturned in terms of what superpowers and what genre. They have Squirrel Girl. Anything that you can think of, they’ve got covered.

Rizzo doesn’t think Disney bought the catalog not to exploit it and all those characters.

Fellow Fitch Ratings analyst Mike Simonton agreed.

Mike Simonton, also a Fitch Ratings analyst, agrees and added that nobody in the media industry is as sophisticated at developing and leveraging intellectual property as Disney. They’ll certainly be capable to do many things with Marvel.

Marvel’s characters are already involved in a string of complex licensing agreements (Sony Pictures with Spider-Man 4 web-crawling deal for 2011, while 20th Century Fox holds rights to more X-Men projects), but Disney is prepared to participate in a lengthy game. In the short term the company wants to use the likes of Iron Man and Hulk for its theme parks. Disney CEO Bob Iger explains that creative officials from Marvel and Pixar have already met. ‘The groups got excited pretty fast. The sparks will fly.’

Ironically, X-Men and Spider-Man co-creator Stan Lee’s company Pow! Entertainment has a first look agreement with Disney. ‘I couldn’t be happier with this agreement,’ he says. ‘From every possible point of view, the merger of Disney and Marvel is a match made in heaven.’

Disney has convinced analysts that it plans to let Marvel have artistic control for its properties. Although Marvel’s top characters are valuable to Disney’s movie, theme park and home entertainment businesses, the future will tell if the family-oriented media giant will lend a supportive hand to Marvel’s comic book undertakings in the long term. Could this agreement signify the end of Marvel as a comic book player?

The agreement means Disney will own 5,000 Marvel characters, such as the X-Men and Spider-Man.

Marvel shareholders will be compensated with $30 per share in cash and 0.745 of Disney shares for each Marvel share.

Officials at Marvel and Disney have both endorsed the deal, which is now searching the backing of Marvel shareholders plus the approval of competition authorities.

Marvel shares were up $10.17 to $48.82 shortly following the start of trading, while Disney shares fell 47 cents, or 1.8%, to $26.37.

“We believe that adding Marvel to Disney’s unique portfolio of brands provides significant opportunities for long-term growth and value creation,” Disney president Robert Iger said.

“We are pleased to bring this talent and these great assets to Disney.”

The Fantastic Four, Captain America and Thor are other famous characters at Marvel.

“Disney is the perfect home for Marvel’s fantastic library of characters given its proven ability to expand content creation and licensing businesses,” said Ike Perlmutter, Marvel chief executive.

“This is an unparalleled opportunity for Marvel to build upon its vibrant brand and character properties by accessing Disney’s tremendous global organization and infrastructure around the world,” he added.

An analyst at Sterne, Agee and Leach, Arvind Bhatia said that the agreement appeared to be a “win-win situation for both companies”.

“They [Marvel shareholders] are getting a good deal in my opinion. The CEO of the company, Isaac Perlmutter, is also the largest shareholder of the company.

“From that standpoint, we think the chances of this deal going through are pretty high.”

Last month, Walt Disney reported a decrease in profits exceeding a quarter as the crisis hit revenue at its movie and theme park divisions.

Net profit from April to June was $954m (£579m), or down 26% on the $1.28bn in profits it made in the same time last year.

We would like to thank www.bbc.co.uk for quotes used in this article.

Even the Cannes Film Festival gave its support to the 3D movie industry by having a 3D feature to open this years event. Up was the film selected by the Cannes Film festival. Up is the latest release by Disney and Pixar and is one of some fifteen 3D films coming out this year.

However the 3D release which people are most excited about is due to be released at the 2009 from James Cameron who is famous for directing the blockbuster Titanic.

The film, Avatar, is anticipated to be the most expensive film ever made. James Cameron has spent a substansial amount of the past ten years researching and experimenting with the 3D technique used in the film.

“You can look at a 2D version of a 3D film and see all the dumb gags that were fun in 3D but look stupid in 2D.”

“Before we spent hundreds of millions of dollars making a movie, we had to say is this movie going to be in any way compromised in its 2D presentation. Because the reality is that in the short-tem DVDs are still going to be in 2D.”

Thanks to BBC for the quotes above to see more on this story visit their website www.bbc.co.uk