Johnny Depp, Jim Carrey help Disney woo investors
Last Updated: Thursday, September 25, 2008 | 12:35 PM ET
CBC News
Johnny Depp as Captain Jack Sparrow in Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End. 'Any time this guy wears a funny hat it's good news for Disney,' a Disney chairman said. (Stephen Vaughn/Disney/Associated Press) Johnny Depp will play Tonto in a Lone Ranger remake and the Mad Hatter in Tim Burton's Alice in Wonderland in a continuation of the character roles he's done for Disney Studios.
Depp, dressed as Jack Sparrow of the Pirates of the Caribbean franchise, was just one of the stars Disney rolled out Wednesday as it wooed Hollywood investors and cinema owners with an extensive preview of its lineup.
"Believe me, any time this guy wears a funny hat, it's good news for Disney," said Disney studios chairman Dick Cook.
In a lavish daylong presentation in the Kodak Theatre in Los Angeles, the studio revealed its slate of both animated and live-action films over the next three years, emphasizing its prospects with the presence of stars such as John Travolta, Robin Williams, Sandra Bullock and George Lopez.
Also on hand was Jim Carrey, who will play seven characters in a 3-D motion capture remake of Charles Dickens's A Christmas Carol. The film uses a technique in which the actions of an animated object are derived automatically from the motion of a real-world actor or object.
Oprah Winfrey has also taken a voice role in a Disney animated movie, The Princess and the Frog.
She will be the voice of the character Eudora, mother of the main character Princess Tiana, voiced by Anika Noni Rose in the hand-drawn film set in New Orleans.
Disney's rollout was intended to scare up investment in a tight economy and create excitement for its upcoming releases which Cook called the "most creative" in Disney history.
It showed the industry crowd a full screening of the soon-to-be-released animated dog movie, Bolt.
Other animated movies in the lineup:
- A sequel to the 1982 sci-fi film Tron, titled TR2N.
- Pixar's next feature Up.
- Cars 2, to open in summer 2011, earlier than anticipated.
Under its Miramax label, Helen Mirren is set to play an Israeli agent in The Dead, a Second World War espionage thriller that John Madden will shoot early next year.
Bullock has a role in The Proposal, Tim Allen will star in Wild Hogs 2 and Zac Efron will be back in High School Musical 3: Senior Year.
Disney announced Hannah Montana: The Movie will open April 10, 2009. Star Miley Cyrus and her father Billy Ray Cyrus appeared at Wednesday's event, with a performance of a song from the film by Miley.
Cook also boasted Disney would release five 3-D movies next year, more than any other studio.
With files from the Associated PressShare Tools
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