Disney Announces Release Dates For Two MARVEL Projects, INTO THE WOODS And THE HUNDRED-FOOT JOURNEY

Today, Walt Disney Studios announced a couple of updates on their films as well as dates for two UNTITLED MARVEL films. In line with Marvel’s successful tradition of opening films in early May, including the billion-dollar hits MARVEL’S THE AVENGERS and Marvel’s IRON MAN 3, these untitled movies will open May 6, 2016 and May 5, 2017.

The sequel to THE AVENGERS is still set to open May 1, 2015.

SAVING MR. BANKS (Disney) now opens December 13, 2013 in limited release and will still hit theaters nationwide December 20, 2013.

Two-time Academy Award®–winner Emma Thompson and fellow double Oscar®-winner Tom Hanks topline Disney’s “Saving Mr. Banks,” inspired by the extraordinary, untold backstory of how Disney’s classic “Mary Poppins” made it to the screen.

When Walt Disney’s daughters begged him to make a movie of their favorite book, P.L. Travers’ “Mary Poppins,” he made them a promise—one that he didn’t realize would take 20 years to keep. In his quest to obtain the rights, Walt comes up against a curmudgeonly, uncompromising writer who has absolutely no intention of letting her beloved magical nanny get mauled by the Hollywood machine. But, as the books stop selling and money grows short, Travers reluctantly agrees to go to Los Angeles to hear Disney’s plans for the adaptation.

For those two short weeks in 1961, Walt Disney pulls out all the stops. Armed with imaginative storyboards and chirpy songs from the talented Sherman brothers, Walt launches an all-out onslaught on P.L. Travers, but the prickly author doesn’t budge.  He soon begins to watch helplessly as Travers becomes increasingly immovable and the rights begin to move further away from his grasp.

It is only when he reaches into his own childhood that Walt discovers the truth about the ghosts that haunt her, and together they set Mary Poppins free to ultimately make one of the most endearing films in cinematic history.

Disney presents “Saving Mr. Banks,” directed by John Lee Hancock, produced by Alison Owen, Ian Collie and Philip Steuer, and written by Kelly Marcel and Sue Smith. Executive producers are Paul Trijbits, Andrew Mason, Troy Lum and Christine Langan

MUPPETS MOST WANTED (Disney)

In the follow-up to 2011’s THE MUPPETS, Disney’s “Muppets Most Wanted” takes the entire Muppets gang on a global tour, selling out grand theaters in some of Europe’s most exciting destinations, including Berlin, Madrid and London. But mayhem follows the Muppets overseas, as they find themselves unwittingly entangled in an international crime caper headed by Constantine—the World’s Number One Criminal and a dead ringer for Kermit—and his dastardly sidekick Dominic, aka Number Two, portrayed by Ricky Gervais. The film stars Tina Fey as Nadya, a feisty prison guard, and Ty Burrell as Interpol agent Jean Pierre Napoleon.

Disney’s “Muppets Most Wanted” is directed by James Bobin and produced by David Hoberman and Todd Lieberman. Bobin co-wrote the screenplay with Nicholas Stoller, who is also executive producer with John Scotti. Featuring music from Academy Award®-winning songwriter Bret McKenzie, “Muppets Most Wanted” hits the big screen March 21, 2014.

PLANES: FIRE & RESCUE (Disney) will be released on July 18, 2014 wide in 3D.

ALEXANDER AND THE TERRIBLE, HORRIBLE, NO GOOD, VERY BAD DAY (Disney) will be released on October 10, 2014. Steve Carell and Jennifer Garner have been cast. 21 Laps and The Jim Henson Company are producing and Miguel Arteta is directing. ALEXANDER AND THE TERRIBLE, HORRIBLE, NO GOOD, VERY BAD DAY, based on the award-winning children’s book by Judith Viorst, follows young Alexander through the mishaps of a terrible day for his family after he wishes they all would experience the same troubles he does.

TOMORROWLAND (Disney) moves to December 12, 2014 wide from the previously announced date of December 19, 2014. The film is being directed by Brad Bird and written and produced by Bird and Damon Lindelof. George Clooney, Hugh Laurie, Raffey Cassidy and Thomas Robinson have been cast.

INTO THE WOODS (Disney) will now be released on Thursday, December 25, 2014. Rob Marshall is directing. INTO THE WOODS, based on the Tony-winning original musical by James Lapine and Stephen Sondheim, surrounds a baker and his wife’s quest to break a witch’s curse in order to start a family.  Along the way, they encounter several well-known fairy tale characters, and together they learn what happens after “happily ever after”.

THE HUNDRED-FOOT JOURNEY (DreamWorks) will hit theaters nationwide on August 8, 2014. Lasse Hallstrom is directing with Steven Spielberg, Oprah Winfrey and Juliet Blake producing. THE HUNDRED-FOOT JOURNEY, based on the international best-selling book by Richard C. Morais, tells the story of an Indian boy living in France who becomes the culinary apprentice to his father’s rival.