Lost Disney cartoon Sleigh Bells featuring first character Oswald the Lucky Rabbit is to be screened for the first time in 87 years.
A restored print of 1928’s Sleigh Bells will have its world premiere at the British Film Institute (BFI) in London in December 2015.
The BFI says the re-discovery of the “long-lost” six-minute film in its archive is a “joyful treat”.
Other Oswald cartoons survive but Sleigh Bells has been unseen since its original release.
Oswald the Lucky Rabbit was invented by Walt Disney and Ub Iwerks for Universal in 1927 before they went on to create Mickey Mouse.
The only surviving print of Sleigh Bells was preserved in the BFI National Archive and was “re-discovered” by a researcher browsing its online catalogue.
The restoration work was carried out by Walt Disney Animation Studios and the new print will be shown at BFI Southbank on December 1 as part of a program of Disney Christmas shorts.
Andrew Millstein, president of Walt Disney Animation Studios, which oversaw the restoration, said the Oswald shorts were an important part of Disney history.
Meryl Streep criticized Walt Disney for being a “gender bigot” who was a member of an anti-Semitic lobbying organization while honoring Emma Thompson at a dinner for the National Board of Review on Tuesday night.
Meryl Streep showed she is far from a cozy establishment figure as she carefully trod a line between praising Emma Thompson and attacking Walt Disney.
The film Emma Thompson was being celebrated for, Saving Mr. Banks, is based around Walt Disney’s persuading of PL Travers to allow him to adapt Mary Poppins.
Meryl Streep criticized Walt Disney for being a gender bigot who was a member of an anti-Semitic lobbying organization
According to Variety magazine, Meryl Streep called Emma Thompson “a beautiful artist” who is “practically a saint”, and read out a self-penned poem to the actor, before launching into her criticisms of Walt Disney. She quoted a letter he wrote to a female animator that read: “Women do not do any of the creative work in connection with preparing the cartoons for the screen, as that task is performed entirely by young men.”
Meryl Streep also noted that Walt Disney’s colleague Walter Kimball said that his boss “didn’t trust women or cats”.
Saving Mr. Banks – a film about the long and difficult process of making the Disney musical Mary Poppins – had its world premiere in London on Sunday night.
The film, which stars Tom Hanks as Walt Disney, officially brought this year’s BFI London Film Festival to a close.
Emma Thompson and Tom Hanks walked the red carpet in Leicester Square to the delight of hundreds of fans who had braved heavy rain earlier in the day.
The film focuses on the real-life battle of wills between prickly author PL Travers, played by Emma Thompson, and Walt Disney over the movie rights to her famous literary creation.
Directed by John Lee Hancock, the film is already being tipped for Oscar success.
Saving Mr. Banks is a film about the long and difficult process of making the Disney musical Mary Poppins
This year’s BFI London Film Festival kicked off with maritime thriller Captain Phillips, a true story in which Tom Hanks plays a ship’s captain taken hostage by Somali pirates in 2009.
Speaking about his role as Walt Disney, Tom Hanks said: “In a lot of ways Mary Poppins was the crowning achievement of everything he did, it won all the Academy Awards, it was a huge monster hit and it was the last movie that he truly was hands-on.”
In reality, Walt Disney had spent some 20 years in pursuit of the film rights to Mary Poppins. The main focus of the film is the two weeks in 1961 that PL Travers reluctantly spent with Walt Disney in Los Angeles as he tried to win her over.
During the visit she was played songs by the Sherman brothers, which ended up in the 1964 film, such as A Spoonful of Sugar and Let’s Go Fly a Kite.
PL Travers, who died in 1996, so disliked the Oscar-winning Disney production that she never allowed any more Mary Poppins books to be adapted into films.
The cast of Saving Mr. Banks also includes Irish actor Colin Farrell and English actress Ruth Wilson, who play the parents of the young PL Travers in 1906 Australia.
Media giant Walt Disney has decided to ban junk food commercials on its TV, radio and online programmes.
Walt Disney Company, which also runs famous theme parks, said it was setting new nutrition standards to tackle America’s growing problem of child obesity.
US First Lady Michelle Obama described the initiative as a “game changer”.
However, the new rules will not come into effect until 2015, and much will depend on how Disney defines junk food.
Makers of junk food and sugary drinks spend about $1 billion a year on commercials directed at children under 12 years.
Walt Disney has decided to ban junk food commercials on its TV, radio and online programmes
Disney said that any cereals with 10 grams or more of sugar per serving or a full meal with more than 600 calories would not be advertised.
Sugary drinks and high sodium products would also be off the air, the company said.
CEO Bob Iger acknowledged there might be a short-term dip in advertising revenue, but added that the company would adjust and create new products that meet standards.
Michelle Obama, an active campaigner to curb child obesity, welcomed the plan.
“Just a few years ago if you had told me or any other mom or dad in America that our kids wouldn’t see a single ad for junk food while they watched their favorite cartoons on a major TV network, we wouldn’t have believed you,” Michelle Obama was quoted as saying by the Associated Press news agency.
Recent studies have shown that almost a third of America’s children are overweight or obese.
Inevitably, there is skepticism about Disney’s move.
Still, it is all part of a growing campaign to fight obesity.
Last week, in the first move of its kind by an American city, New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg proposed to ban sales of super-sized sugary drinks in restaurants, delis, cinemas and sports arenas.
Walt Disney expects to lose $200 million on its new movie John Carter, making it one of the biggest flops in cinema history.
The John Carter film, about a military captain transported to Mars, could result in an $80-120 million loss for Disney’s movie business during the current quarter.
Disney shares fell 1% in after hours trading after the announcement.
The company is still likely to make a substantial quarterly profit, though, thanks to its TV businesses.
It is estimated that John Carter cost $250 million to make and it is likely that Disney spent another $100 million on marketing.
Walt Disney expects to lose $200 million on its new movie John Carter, making it one of the biggest flops in cinema history
The film’s director, Pixar’s Andrew Stanton, had previously had great success with films such as Finding Nemo and Wall-E.
The John Carter film is based on a series of books written by the author of Tarzan, Edgar Rice Burroughs.
The series began with A Princess of Mars in 1912 and ended with John Carter of Mars, published after the author’s death in 1964.
The film has taken no more than $184 million at box offices worldwide, with cinema owners receiving about half of that total.
It is difficult to compare losses on films, as studios reveal little financial detail and allowances have to be made for inflation.
The Hollywood Reporter says that last year’s biggest flop was Mars Needs Moms, which cost $150 million to make and only took $39 million at the box office.
Disney will be hoping for success from other big budget movies due for release later this year.
The list includes The Avengers, due to be released in May, and Brave, set to be released by Disney Pixar in June.
Hungry Hobos, a long-lost Disney cartoon that features Oswald the Lucky Rabbit (a character who was the prototype for Mickey Mouse), has been discovered in a British film archive.
Hungry Hobos, was made in 1928 but has been missing since before World War II.
The black-and-white cartoon features Oswald the Lucky Rabbit and was drawn shortly before the character was abandoned and turned into Mickey Mouse that same year.
Incredibly, the five-minute silent cartoon has turned up in a vault at the Huntley Film Archives in Herefordshire, where it has sat for decades.
Amanda Huntley, who runs the company, said a colleague stumbled upon it on a shelf and out of curiosity searched its name on Google and discovered it was a “lost” classic.
Amanda Huntley said: “There are a lot of lost films out there. This was made in 1928 and has been in our collection for decades.
“We specialize in social history films and not animation. But my colleague took the film from the shelf and Googled it – I don’t really know why.
“We quickly realized it was one of the great lost films. We posted the news on specialist web forums and everybody was very excited.”
Hungry Hobos, a long-lost Disney cartoon that features Oswald the Lucky Rabbit (a character who was the prototype for Mickey Mouse), has been discovered in a British film archive
Hungry Hobos follows a starving Oswald the Lucky Rabbit and his friend Peg Leg Pete on a train. They rob a chicken of her egg by squeezing the animal and cook it by using the train’s wheels.
Oswald’s facial features and behaviour are clearly those of Mickey Mouse – the legendary character that has endured ever since.
The whereabouts of the film has for decades baffled animation experts, who believed it would never be seen again.
It is now expected to fetch at least £25,000 ($39,000) when it goes under the hammer at Bonhams’ Entertainment Memorabilia auction in Los Angeles next month.
Hungry Hobos was released for general screening on May 14, 1928, just one day before Mickey Mouse’s feature debut, Plane Crazy, had its first preview screening.
The film marked a significant turning point for Walt Disney as it was the last time he had to work alongside another studio.
Walt Disney made 26 films with Oswald the Lucky Rabbit as the central character for Universal Pictures before taking the character to his own studio and turning it into a rodent.
Amanda Huntley said: “It is significant because it is Disney but also because the character was the prototype of Mickey Mouse.
“Disney developed many characters and they changed over time and Oswald has the characteristics of Mickey Mouse – he looks similar even though he’s a rabbit.
“Disney made a series with this character and then turned him into a mouse.
“Mickey Mouse has lasted over 80 years and many generations have grown up to love him.
“How we ended up with the film I don’t know. It was probably collected by my father who started the company and it has been sitting on our shelves for decades.
“We have decided to sell it because it is not really what we specialize in and we can use the money to preserve other films we have.”
Stephanie Connell, from Bonhams, said: “Hungry Hobos is an incredible find, a lost masterpiece and a cartoon with a unique and vital place in animation history.”
Hungry Hobos comprises of a 16mm double perforated celluloid acetate positive print.
The film is being auctioned on December 14.
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