Disney

Few things in life are certain: Death, taxes, and Disney’s live-action remakes of animated classics. One of the studio’s many, many, many upcoming live-action projects has graduated from concept to reality (or something close to it) as Disney has officially set a release date for Mulan, giving you ample time to clear your calendar for the first weekend of November…in 2018.

Disney’s Gigantic just got a little more interesting, as the studio has promoted screenwriter Meg LeFauve to co-director for the upcoming animated project. The co-writer of Inside Out and Marvel’s Captain Marvel solo movie joins Tangled director Nathan Greno on the new film, which offers an animated reimagining of the classic Jack and the Beanstalk story, first previewed during last year’s D23 Expo.

Last Friday, Walt Disney Pictures gave a limited release to Queen of Katwe, a new film inspired by the true story of a girl from the slums of Uganda who became a chess grandmaster. Though it may seem like an off-kilter choice for Disney and co-producer ESPN Films to make a bio-drama about chess, Disney has a long history of making true-story films. In the last few years, Disney has been on a kick of true-story films, interspersing them in each year’s production slate between the latest Marvel, Pixar, and Lucasfilm entries. But which is best? Here, you’ll find our list of the 10 best Disney movies based on true stories. Get your tissues ready!

The events of September 11, 2001 changed a lot of things. Airline security got tighter, the War on Terror became a regular national news item, and, overall, the outside seemed a little less safe than it had the day before. The repercussions of 9/11 were also felt as far as Hollywood, with the industry’s output of films based on or around themes of violence, terrorism, and war taking on a more serious, sinister bent. “Post-9/11 horror” and “post-9/11 action” became units students study in film class. A lot of films already in production went through slight alterations: the World Trade Center towers were digitally erased from New York City skyline scenes in movies released after the attacks, and entire scenes featuring the towers were cut. Hawaii is about the furthest you can get from New York and still be in the U.S., but even so, there’s a whole scene in Disney’s Lilo & Stitch that was altered so that audiences watching the film so soon after 9/11 wouldn’t be disturbed.

In the tradition of ScreenCrush series like You Think You Know Movies and You Think You Know TV comes a new YouTube series: Top Five! Every two weeks (or so; we’ve got a lot of other stuff going on), ScreenCrush editor and critic Matt Singer will count down a particular topic from the world of movies (and probably write these introductory posts in the third person).

Just when you thought Star Wars Rebels couldn’t get any bigger than to include Vader himself, Season 3 gets expanded in a major way. Not only does the first official trailer confirm Grand Admiral Thrawn as a our new villain, but also a host of Star Wars favorites like Wedge Antilles, the darksaber, what looks to be the Outrider and more!

It’ll be some time yet before Star Wars branches into any TV or movie properties concurrent with the Force Awakens timeline, but that won’t stop shows like LEGO Star Wars: The Freemaker Adventures from having fun with the past and present. Not only do some major classic Star Wars characters put in appearances for the new trailer, but so too does fan-favorite Maz Kanata.

Way back in 2012 (or at least it feels way back), Netflix and Disney struck a deal for all of Disney’s movies — including Marvel, Pixar and Lucasfilm — to stream exclusively on Netflix Instant. According to the terms of their agreement, the deal wouldn’t kick in until 2016, which just so happens to be the year in which we are currently living. As announced today, Netflix will officially begin streaming Disney films in September, but that doesn’t mean the studio’s entire library will magically appear in your Instant browser.

Although it’s grouped in with Disney’s recent slate of live-action remakes, The Jungle Book is made up almost entirely of CGI, with young Neel Sethi’s Mowgli serving as the only substantial “live-action” element. The studio has released a new series of photos that showcase the insane amount of work that went into the film’s impressive visual effects, and it might make you do a double-take.

On February 21, ABC will broadcast a new special titled The Wonderful World of Disney: Disneyland 60, a commemoration of the Anaheim amusement park’s sixtieth anniversary and Star Wars devotees just got a reason to tune in that can’t be ignored.

Yesterday brought word that Star Wars Rebels would take Princess Leia back to the past, even if Carrie Fisher wasn’t along for the ride, and today we have our best look yet. See for yourself, as the adopted daughter of Alderaan runs afoul of Kanan and Ezra in the latest clip and photos of January 20 outing “A Princess on Lothal!”

The amount of Star Wars news flooding the internet could fill an entire galaxy, near or far, but the latest will take us a bit longer ago than The Force Awakens. Star Wars Rebels will officially return for Season 3 in 2016, keeping the crew of the Ghost fighting the Empire for another year.