Disney

Review: John Carter

Already written off as potentially "the biggest write-off of all time", it's a shame to put the boot into a film that was always going to struggle during a crowded, franchise-heavy summer. Andrew Stanton is a director with two of the finest animated films ever made on his CV (WALL-E and Finding Nemo), and he has one of science-fiction's true originals on his side in Edgar Rice Burroughs' A Princess Of Mars. A production this large must have taken thousands of men and women years to create – writers, runners, artists, builders, designers, extras and animators alike. You feel for them all, because there is no escaping it - John Carter is a calamitous failure; a dirty bomb of laughable dialogue, boneheaded plotting, wooden acting and uninspired direction that will leave a smoking crater in Disney's Q1 box-office returns. If it is to flop, it's so woeful it deserves it.

Review: Tangled

After 2009's The Princess and the Frog reminded us how wonderfully sublime traditional Disney animations are and, in the process, helped to apologise for the recent output of sacrilegious, straight-to-DVD sequels (something like Jungle Book II: The Killer Uprising or Bambi's Revenge), now the Mouse House is back with a new, energised take on its usual fairytale offering. Somewhere, deep in the bowels of a secret cryogenic chamber, Walt's disembodied head is smiling sweetly.

Review: The Sorcerer's Apprentice

18th Century poetry isn't usually the biggest fountain of ideas when it comes to full-on, bold, effects-driven summer blockbusters. But when has logic stood in the way of uber-producer Jerry Bruckheimer? After all, this is the man who turned a crappy theme park ride into the billion dollar Pirates Of The Caribbean franchise and made Prince Of Persia a successful... er... yeah... (*awkward pause*).

New trailer for The Sorcerer's Apprentice features shoes, mops

In which Nic Cage is still crazy, Jay Baruchel is still annoying and Jerry Bruckheimer is clearly still huffing glue.

The Sorcerer's Apprentice trailer: Nic Cage still rocking hat

Nicolas Cage's career renaissance continues with this latest trailer for The Sorcerer's Apprentice. Did he just become acceptable to like again? Uh-oh.

Disney pop mo-cap in Zemeckis' ass

Last stop for The Polar Express. Disney have shut down Robert Zemeckis' motion-capture studio ImageMovers Digital studio, meaning you won't be seeing his corpse-eyed puppet people any more.

Depp to jump ship on Pirates 4?

Johnny Depp looks set to say 'yo ho...no' to the proposed fourth Pirates of the Caribbean movie after news that Disney Chairman Dick Cook has had to stand down/been fired/been made to walk the plank. More forced pirate-related metaphors after the jump.

Disney buy Marvel for $4 billion

Huge multi-national corporation spends ridiculous amount of money on another huge multi-national company. What this means for your weekend, after the jump.