By Patrick Luce Jan 9, 2009, 14:03 GMT
Walt Disney and Touchstone Pictures have announced their 2009 theatrical slate – which includes the adventures of a “Shopaholic,” a 3-D concert film from the Jonas Brothers, the Hannah Montana Movie, and the Bruce Willis sci-fi adventure flick “Surrogates.”
Walt Disney and Touchstone Pictures 2009 releases range from the return of “Toy Story” to a re-telling of a classic Christmas story.
2009 Walt Disney and Touchstone Pictures films include:
CONFESSIONS OF A SHOPAHOLIC – Release Date: 02/13/09, Genre: Comedy, Rating: PG, Cast: Isla Fisher, Hugh Dancy, Joan Cusack, John Goodman, John Lithgow,Kristin Scott Thomas, Leslie Bibb, Fred Armisen, Julie Hagerty, Krysten Ritter, Robert Stanton, Christine Ebersole, Clea Lewis, Wendie Malick, Stephanie March, Director: P.J. Hogan, Screenplay by: Tracey Jackson and Tim Firth and Kayla Alpert, based on the books “Confessions of a Shopaholic” and “Shopaholic Takes Manhattan” by Sophie Kinsella.
Synopsis: In the glamorous world of New York City, Rebecca Bloomwood (Fisher) is a fun-loving girl who is really good at shopping - a little too good, perhaps. She dreams of working for her favorite fashion magazine, but can’t quite get her foot in the door - until ironically, she snags a job as an advice columnist for a financial magazine published by the same company. As her dreams are finally coming true, she goes to ever more hilarious and extreme efforts to keep her past from ruining her future.
JONAS BROTHERS: THE 3D CONCERT EXPERIENCE In Disney Digital 3-D™ - Release Date: 02/27/09, Genre: Rockumentary, Rating: G, Cast: Kevin Jonas, Joe Jonas, Nick Jonas, Demi Lovato, Taylor Swift, Director: Bruce Hendricks.
Synopsis: The Jonas Brothers head to the big screen - in Disney Digital 3-D™ - in a high-energy Walt Disney Pictures rockumentary feature film event from director Bruce Hendricks (“Hannah Montana/Miley Cyrus: Best of Both Worlds Concert”).
The film blends excerpts from the Brothers’ red-hot “Burning Up” concert tour, including guest performances from Demi Lovato and Taylor Swift, with exclusive behind-the-scenes footage, off-the-wall segments, a never-before-heard song ("Love Is On Its Way"), swarming fans and a lot of JB-style humor - giving fans never-before-seen insights into the lives of Kevin, Joe and Nick.
RACE TO WITCH MOUNTAIN – Release Date: 03/13/09, Genre: Action/Adventure, Rating: TBD, Cast: Dwayne Johnson, AnnaSophia Robb, Carla Gugino, Ciaran Hinds, Alexander Ludwig, Tom Everett Scott, Christopher Marquette, Cheech Marin and Garry Marshall, Director: Andy Fickman, Written By: Matt Lopez and Mark Bomback and Andy Fickman, Based on Characters Created By: Alexander Key.
Synopsis: For years, stories have circulated about a secret place in the middle of the Nevada desert, known for unexplained phenomena and strange sightings. It is called Witch Mountain, and when a Las Vegas cab driver (Johnson) finds two teens with supernatural powers in his cab, he suddenly finds himself in the middle of an adventure he can’t explain.
When they discover that the only chance to save the world lies in unraveling the secrets of Witch Mountain, the race begins, as the government, mobsters and even extraterrestrials try to stop them. Race to Witch Mountain is a fun and thrilling adventure featuring incredible special effects.
HANNAH MONTANA THE MOVIE – Release Date: 04/10/09, Genre: Family/Comedy, Rating: G, Cast: Miley Cyrus, Emily Osment, Margo Martindale, Jason Earles, Peter Gunn, Melora Hardin, Mitchel Musso, Lucas Till, Barry Bostwick, Moises Arias, Rascal Flatts, Taylor Swift, with Vanessa Williams and Billy Ray Cyrus, Director: Peter Chelsom, Written by: Dan Berendsen, Based on Characters Created By: Michael Poryes and Rich Correll & Barry O'Brien.
Synopsis: Walt Disney Pictures takes the Disney Channel phenom to the big screen in a feature film extravaganza. Miley Stewart (Miley Cyrus) struggles to juggle school, friends and her secret pop-star persona; when Hannah Montana’s soaring popularity threatens to take over her life - she just might let it.
So her father (Billy Ray Cyrus) takes the teen home to Crowley Corners, Tenn., for a dose of reality, kicking off an adventure filled with the kind of fun, laughter and romance even Hannah Montana couldn’t imagine.
earth – Release Date: 04/22/09, Genre: True Life Adventure, Rating: G, Narrator: James Earl Jones, Directors: Alastair Fothergill and Mark Linfield.
Synopsis: The first film in the Disneynature series, earth, narrated by James Earl Jones, tells the remarkable story of three animal families and their amazing journeys across the planet we all call home.
earth combines rare action, unimaginable scale and impossible locations by capturing the most intimate moments of our planet’s wildest and most elusive creatures.
Directors Alastair Fothergill and Mark Linfield, the acclaimed creative team behind the Emmy Award-winning “Planet Earth,” combine forces again to bring this epic adventure to the big screen, beginning Earth Day, April 22, 2009.
UP In Disney Digital 3-D™ - Release Date: 05/29/09, Genre: Animation/Adventure, Rating: TBD, Voice Talent: Ed Asner, Christopher Plummer, John Ratzenberger, Delroy Lindo, Jordan Nagai, Director: Pete Docter, Co-Director: Bob Peterson.
Synopsis: From Disney•Pixar comes “Up,” a comedy adventure about 78-year-old balloon salesman Carl Fredricksen, who finally fulfills his lifelong dream of a great adventure when he ties thousands of balloons to his house and flies away to the wilds of South America.
But he discovers all too late that his biggest nightmare has stowed away on the trip: an overly optimistic 9-year-old Wilderness Explorer named Russell. From the Academy Award-nominated director Pete Docter (“Monsters, Inc.”), Disney•Pixar’s “Up” invites you on a hilarious journey into a lost world, with the least likely duo on Earth. “Up” will be presented in Disney Digital 3-D™ in select theaters.
THE PROPOSAL – Release Date: 06/12/09, Genre: Comedy, Rating: TBD, Cast: Sandra Bullock, Ryan Reynolds, Malin Akerman, Craig T. Nelson, Mary Steenburgen, Denis O’Hare and Betty White, Director: Anne Fletcher, Written by: Peter Chiarelli.
Synopsis: When high-powered book editor Margaret (Bullock) faces deportation to her native Canada, the quick-thinking exec declares that she’s actually engaged to her unsuspecting put-upon assistant Andrew (Reynolds), who she’s tormented for years. He agrees to participate in the charade, but with a few conditions of his own.
The unlikely couple heads to Alaska to meet his quirky family and the always-in-control city girl finds herself in one comedic fish-out-of-water situation after another. With an impromptu wedding in the works and an immigration official on their tails, Margaret and Andrew reluctantly vow to stick to the plan despite the precarious consequences.
G-FORCE In Disney Digital 3-D™ - Release Date: 07/24/09, Genre: Comedy/Adventure, Rating; TBD, Cast: Bill Nighy, Will Arnett, Zach Galifianakis, with the voices of Nicolas Cage, Sam Rockwell, Jon Favreau, Penelope Cruz, Steve Buscemi, Tracy Morgan, Director: Hoyt Yeatman, Screenplay by: The Wibberleys and Ted Elliott & Terry Rossio and Tim Firth, based on a story by Hoyt Yeatman (credits not final).
Synopsis: Producer Jerry Bruckheimer brings his first 3-D film to the big screen with G-FORCE, a comedy adventure about the latest evolution of a covert government program to train animals to work in espionage.
Armed with the latest high-tech spy equipment, these highly trained guinea pigs discover that the fate of the world is in their paws. Tapped for the G-FORCE are guinea pigs Darwin (voice of Sam Rockwell), the squad leader determined to succeed at all costs; Blaster (voice of Tracy Morgan), an outrageous weapons expert with tons of attitude and a love for all things extreme; and Juarez (voice of Penelope Cruz), a sexy martial arts pro; plus the literal fly-on-the-wall reconnaissance expert, Mooch, and a starnosed mole, Speckles (voice of Nicolas Cage), the computer and information specialist.
Directed by two-time Oscar-winning visual effects master Hoyt Yeatman - G-FORCE takes audiences on a high-octane thrill ride, proving once and for all that size really doesn't matter.
WHEN IN ROME – Release Date: Summer 2009, Genre: Comedy, Rating: TBD, Cast: Kristen Bell, Josh Duhamel, Will Arnett, Alexis Dziena, Jon Heder, Dax Shepard, Kate Micucci, Bobby Moynihan, with Danny DeVito and Anjelica Huston, Director: Mark Steven Johnson, Written by: David Diamond & David Weissman.
Synopsis: An ambitious young New Yorker (Bell), disillusioned with romance, takes a whirlwind trip to Rome where she defiantly plucks magic coins from a “foolish” fountain of love, inexplicably igniting the passion of an odd group of suitors: a sausage magnate (DeVito), a street magician (Heder), an adoring painter (Arnett) and a self-admiring model (Shepard).
But when a charming reporter (Duhamel) pursues her with equal zest, how will she know if his love is the real thing?
SURROGATES – Release Date: 09/25/09, Genre: Sci-Fi Thriller, Rating: TBD, Cast: Bruce Willis, Radha Mitchell, Rosamund Pike, James Francis Ginty, Boris Kodjoe and Ving Rhames, Director: Jonathan Mostow, Screenplay by: Michael Ferris & John Brancato, Based on the Graphic Novel by: Robert Venditti and Brett Weldele.
Synopsis: FBI agents (Willis and Mitchell) investigate the mysterious murder of a college student linked to the man who helped create a high-tech surrogate phenomenon that allows people to purchase unflawed robotic versions of themselves - fit, good looking remotely controlled machines that ultimately assume their life roles - enabling people to experience life vicariously from the comfort and safety of their own homes.
The murder spawns a quest for answers: in a world of masks, who’s real and who can you trust?
TOY STORY In Disney Digital 3-D™ - Release Date: 10/02/09, Genre: Animation-Comedy/Adventure, Rating; G, Cast: Tom Hanks, Tim Allen, Don Rickles, Jim Varney, Wallace Shawn, John Ratzenberger, Annie Potts, John Morris, Erik von Detten, Laurie Metcalf, R. Lee Ermey, Director: John Lasseter, Original Story by: John Lasseter, Pete Docter, Andrew Stanton and Joe Ranft, Screenplay by: Joss Whedon, Andrew Stanton, Joel Cohen and Alan Sokolow.
Synopsis: They’re toys, they talk - at least when people aren’t around - and they’re back…celebrating the return of the “Toy Story” franchise - in Disney Digital 3-D™ this time! TOY STORY, the film that started it all, takes moviegoers back to that fantastic fun-filled journey, viewed mostly through the eyes of two rival toys - Woody (voice of Hanks), the lanky, likable cowboy, and Buzz Lightyear (voice of Allen), the fearless space ranger.
The comically-mismatched duo eventually learn to put aside their differences when circumstances separate them from their owner Andy and they find themselves on a hilarious adventure-filled mission where the only way they can survive is to form an uneasy alliance.
Disney•Pixar’s TOY STORY kicks off a Disney Digital 3-D™ Toy Story celebration, which includes “Toy Story 2,” opening Feb. 12, 2010, and culminates in a brand new adventure starring Buzz and Woody: “Toy Story 3” - in theaters June 18, 2010.
DISNEY’S A CHRISTMAS CAROL In Disney Digital 3-D™ - Release Date: 11/06/09, Genre: Fantasy Adventure, Rating: TBD, Cast: Jim Carrey, Gary Oldman, Colin Firth, Bob Hoskins, Robin Wright Penn, Cary Elwes, Fionnula Flanagan, Director: Robert Zemeckis, Screenplay by: Robert Zemeckis, Based on the Classic Novella by: Charles Dickens.
Synopsis: DISNEY’S A CHRISTMAS CAROL, a multi-sensory thrill ride re-envisioned by Academy Award-winning filmmaker Robert Zemeckis, captures the fantastical essence of the classic Dickens tale in a groundbreaking 3-D motion picture event.
Ebenezer Scrooge (Carrey) begins the Christmas holiday with his usual miserly contempt, barking at his faithful clerk (Oldman) and his cheery nephew (Firth).
But when the ghosts of Christmas Past, Present and Yet to Come take him on an eye-opening journey revealing truths Old Scrooge is reluctant to face, he must open his heart to undo years of ill will before it’s too late.
OLD DOGS – Release Date: 11/25/09, Genre: Comedy, Rating: PG, Cast: John Travolta, Robin Williams, Kelly Preston, Seth Green, Ella Bleu Travolta, Lori Loughlin and Matt Dillon, Director: Walt Becker, Written by: David Diamond & David Weissman.
Synopsis: Two best friends - one unlucky-in-love divorcee (Williams) and the other a fun-loving bachelor (Travolta) - have their lives turned upside down when they’re unexpectedly charged with the care of six-year-old twins while on the verge of the biggest business deal of their lives.
The not-so-kidsavvy bachelors stumble in their efforts to take care of the twins (newcomers Ella Bleu Travolta and Conner Rayburn), leading to one debacle after another, and perhaps to a new-found understanding of what’s really important in life.
THE PRINCESS AND THE FROG – Release Date: Christmas 2009, Genre: Animated Comedy Adventure/Musical, Rating: TBD, Voice Cast: Anika Noni Rose, John Goodman, Keith David, Jim Cummings, Jenifer Lewis, Directors: Ron Clements, John Musker.
Synopsis: Walt Disney Animation Studios presents the musical THE PRINCESS AND THE FROG, an animated comedy set in the great city of New Orleans. From the creators of “The Little Mermaid” and “Aladdin” comes a modern twist on a classic tale, featuring a beautiful girl named Tiana (Rose), a frog prince who desperately wants to be human again, and a fateful kiss that leads them both on a hilarious adventure through the mystical bayous of Louisiana.
THE PRINCESS AND THE FROG marks the return to hand-drawn animation from the revered team of John Musker and Ron Clements, with music by Oscar-winning composer Randy Newman (“Monsters, Inc.,” “Cars,” “Toy Story”).
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