Tag: Disney XD

DuckTales Announces Premier Date, Unveils Updated Theme Song

There’s been another DuckTales development: A premiere date! A new title sequence! An updated version of the beloved theme song that you already have stuck in your head!

DuckTales Theme Song

Check out the brand new opening credits — plus a nifty series poster — from the hotly anticipated Disney XD revival of the cherished ‘80s toon, which reboots the animated adventures of Scrooge McDuck, nephew Donald, grandnephews Huey, Dewey, and Louie, niece-by-affection Webby, and a whole expansive ensemble of heroic and villainous side-ducks.

The series will premiere with a one-hour TV movie — titled “Woo-oo!,” naturally — on Saturday, Aug. 12, which will air 24 times straight, beginning at midnight. A month later, the show will officially get started with two new episodes debuting Sept. 23 on Disney XD, VOD, and the network’s app.

DISNEY XD

Disney has also announced an avatar creation app launching in July, an Angry Birds cameo featuring Donald Duck in August, and a slew of comic and book titles rolling out from July to well into 2018.

The voice cast of DuckTales features — get ready — David Tennant, Danny Pudi, Ben Schwartz, Bobby Moynihan, Kate Micucci, Beck Bennett, Toks Olagundoye, Tony Anselmo, Lin-Manuel Miranda, Allison Janney, Margo Martindale, Paul F. Tompkins, Kimiko Glenn, Jim Rash, Josh Brener, Keith Ferguson, Eric Bauza, and Corey Burton. The new theme song was recorded by Felicia Barton and written by Mark C. Mueller.

None of the aforementioned are actual ducks, but you hopefully knew that.

From Entertainment Weekly

‘Star Wars Rebels’ Renewed For Season 4 By Disney XD

Star Wars Rebels will return. Disney XD has ordered a fourth season of the praised animated series from Lucasfilm. Production is underway for premiere later this fall. Further details will be revealed during Star Wars Celebration in Orlando next month, according to the network.

Currently in its third season, Star Wars Rebels was Disney XD’s No.1 series in Total Viewers and its No.1 animated series across key kid and boy demos in 2016. The series also generated more than 60 million consumer engagements across digital platforms.

Star Wars Rebels is created by Dave Filoni (Star Wars: The Clone Wars), Simon Kinberg (X-Men: Days of Future Past) and Carrie Beck. The Lucasfilm Animation production is executive produced by Filoni and Kinberg.

The Season 3 voice cast includes Freddie Prinze Jr. as Kanan, Vanessa Marshall as Hera, Steve Blum as Zeb, Tiya Sircar as Sabine, Taylor Gray as Ezra, Dee Bradley Baker as Captain Rex, David Oyelowo as Agent Kallus, Forest Whitaker as Saw Gerrera, Sam Witwer as Maul, Tom Baker as Bendu and Lars Mikkelsen as Grand Admiral Thrawn.

“The team behind Star Wars Rebels delivers epic storytelling that has captivated fans of all ages across the globe,” said Marc Buhaj, senior vice president, Programming and general manager, Disney XD. “We’re excited to continue sharing the journey of these fan-favorite Rebels with our audience in the fall.”

From Deadline

Disney Releases First Look at New ‘DuckTales’ Series

Looks like life will be like a hurricane in Duckberg once more. Not only is Disney’s DuckTales set to return with an all-new animated series in 2017, but Disney has just given us our first official look at Scrooge McDuck’s team.

Disney has unveiled the first art for the new DuckTales series, viewable above. Huey, Dewey, Louie, Uncle Scrooge, Donald Duck, and what appears to be Webby Vanderquack are back in action, apparently outrunning spear-throwing pursuers in their latest adventure.

When originally announced, Disney revealed that other beloved characters from the series like Launchpad McQuack, Flintheart Glomgold, and the Beagle Boys are also set to return.

The Emmy Award-winning Disney animated series, which aired 100 episodes between 1987 and 1990, is a cartoon with an impressive legacy and a source of many fond memories for a lot of people. Based on the Uncle Scrooge comic books by Carl Barks, it dominated The Disney Afternoon daily syndicated cartoon block and became immensely popular, winning two Daytime Emmy awards and being nominated for two more, inspiring two series of comic books, an extensive toy and merchandise line, a number of Nintendo and computer games, and even a movie in 1990.

DuckTales received widespread critical acclaim and commercial success which was recognized even years after it went off the air. In 2009, IGN listed DuckTales as number 18 on its list of Top 100 Best Animated TV Shows, and in 2013 the YouTube channel for WatchMojo.com rated DuckTales as the number one Disney animated series.

DuckTales is also well-known for having what is easily the most infectious theme song of any cartoon in history, which you can watch below in case you’ve somehow forgotten it.

 

Baymax is Back! Big Hero 6 Gets Its Own TV Show on Disney XD

No one’s putting “Big Hero 6” into the Disney Vault.

Walt Disney’s TV-animation unit will create a TV series based on the 2014 film about an inflatable robot named “Baymax” and the young prodigy it befriends. Production has begun for a 2017 debut on Disney XD cable networks around the world, the company announced Wednesday. Mark McCorkle and Bob Schooley, creators and executive producers of the Disney Channel series “Kim Possible,” are the executive producers.

“We are thrilled to have the opportunity to further develop these characters into a world-class animated series — full of fun, action and the kind of endearing storytelling that only Mark, Bob — and  Baymax — can deliver,” said Gary Marsh, president and chief creative officer, Disney Channels Worldwide, in a prepared statement.

In decades past, a Disney property might surface only occasionally after its first run. And indeed, some of the company’s older classics turn up in the marketplace only every few years, as anyone who might want to go to the store and buy a copy of  the 1953 animated showcase “Peter Pan” might tell you. But in recent years, the company has found new ways to burnish some of its biggest figures and films. “Tangled,” the 2010 riff on the Rapunzel fairy tale, is slated to return as a series on Disney Channel in 2017. “The Lion Guard,” a TV-series reboot of sorts of 1994’s “The Lion King,” debuted on Disney Channel and Disney Junior last year. And the company has placed more importance on new live-motion versions of animated favorites like “Cinderella” and “The Jungle Book.”

Disney is unveiling the new “Big Hero 6” series as part of its activity around the annual TV-upfront, when U.S. TV networks try to sell the bulk of their advertising inventory for the coming year. Unlike Disney Channel and Disney Junior, which limit advertising to tie-ins and sponsorships, Disney XD runs commercials regularly. The network skews toward boys between the ages of 6 and 11, and does not have blocks of programming meant expressly for pre-schoolers.

Disney is touting 17 new series, 28 current series, the Radio Disney Music Awards and two new original movies to advertisers, all part of what is known in the industry as the “kids’ upfront. Disney will vie with Viacom’s Nickelodeon, Time Warner’s Cartoon Network and Boomerang, NBCUniversal’s Sprout and Discovery Communications’ Discovery Family Channel, among others, for a slice of what is estimated to be $800 million in advance commitments from advertisers.

“Big Hero 6” was inspired by a comic from Disney’s Marvel subsidiary. The film tells the story of Baymax 6, tech-savvy 14-year-old Hiro and their friends as they try to solve a mystery that threatens the city of San Fransokyo. The movie took in over $657 million worldwide.

From Variety

‘Gravity Falls’ Series Finale Sets All-Time Disney XD Ratings Records

Gravity Falls

Last week’s series finale of the boundary-pushing animated series “Gravity Falls” has become Disney XD’s most-watched telecast ever.

The 40th and final episode of the show that told the coming-of-age adventures of 12-year-old twins Mabel and Dipper Pines averaged 2.9 million viewers, according to Nielsen’s “live plus-3” estimates. It also established all-time network highs in kids 6-14 (1.5 million/4.1 rating) and boys 6-14 (909,000/5.0 rating).

And it’s the No. 1 regular series telecast on record across kids 6011 (1.0 million/4.4 rating), boys 6-11 (642,000/5.3 rating), kids 2-11 (1.3 million/3.4 rating) and boys 2-11 (797,000/4.0 rating). In all, “Gravity Falls” accounts for Disney XD’s top nine regular animated-series telecasts of all time in kids 6-11 and the top seven in boys 6-11.

The all-day “Gravity Falls” takeover event and series finale generated 10.7 million unique total viewers, including 5.4 million kids 2-14. For its second season to date, it has generated 13 million video starts on Disney XD.

Created and executive produced by Alex Hirsch, “Gravity Falls” is a highly serialized mystery thriller that weaves an apocalyptic conspiracy around the Pines siblings as they spend the summer with their great-uncle, Stan. In a rarity for a show targeted at a youth demographic, “Gravity” made the most of its animated format by peppering secret clues, codes and other so-called Easter eggs into episodes to keep fans hunting for hints into the larger mythology.

From Variety

 

Disney XD’s ‘Gravity Falls’ to End After Season 2

Gravity Falls

Disney X D’s mystery toon “Gravity Falls” will end with an hourlong episode expected to air early next year.

Series creator/exec producer Alex Hirsch announced via a Tumblr post his decision to bring the story to a close after 40 half-hour episodes and 17 shorts. Hirsch said he had always envisioned the mystery coming to a close on a specific timetable. The series’ penultimate episode, “Weirdmageddon Part 2: Escape From Reality,” is set to bow Monday.

“The first thing to know is that the show isn’t being cancelled — it’s being finished. This is 100% my choice, and its something I decided on a very long time ago,” Hirsch wrote. “I always designed Gravity Falls to be a finite series about one epic summer- a series with a beginning, middle, and end. There are so many shows that go on endlessly until they lose their original spark, or mysteries that are cancelled before they ever get a chance to payoff.”

“Gravity Falls” tells the story of 12-year-old twin brother and sister Mabel and Dipper Pines, who are sent to spend the summer in a small Oregon town with their great-uncle Stan, proprietor of a roadside attraction dubbed the Mystery Shack. Once in Gravity Falls, the twins begin to uncover clues to a larger mystery that involves their “Grunkle Stan” and other characters that bend the rules of space and time. Jason Ritter and Kristen Schaal voice the Pines twins, with Hirsch providing the gravely voice of Grunkle Stan.

“Gravity Falls” was a departure for Disney XD as a toon clearly aimed at an audience of teenagers and above, given the intricacies of the mythology that drives the plot. The show is packed with clues and easter eggs leading up to the larger reveal about the source of the strange occurrences in Gravity Falls, among other phenomenon.

Disney XD confirmed it was Hirsch’s decision to bring the story of Mabel and Dipper to a close. The penultimate episode is set to premiere Monday. “Gravity Falls” is consistently one of Disney XD’s most-watched shows. And because of its dense mythology and penchant for cliffhanger episodes, the show has generated a big presence in online fandom with recaps and discussions about plot twists and grand theories about the larger story.

“Alex Hirsch had a masterful plan for the stories and characters of ‘Gravity Falls’ and, through 40 episodes and 17 shorts, he and a team of outstanding writers, artists and actors consistently delivered an inspired and unique story. Alex made the decision to conclude the story at this time, and while we’re disappointed we all won’t have the opportunity to explore more of the ‘Gravity Falls’ world, we respect his creative vision,” Disney XD said in a statement.

“We’re very pleased that several key members of the ‘Gravity Falls’ production team have now joined other animated TV series in production at Disney. ‘Gravity Falls’ continues to air daily around the world and in the coming months, we look forward to treating fans to two fun programming events that conclude the story of ‘Gravity Falls.”

“Gravity Falls” has had an unusual schedule pattern since its premiere in 2012. Disney ordered two 20-episode seasons, but the episodes have been parceled out slowly rather than on a weekly basis. Season two began airing in August 2014, running more or less weekly in November 2014. Two episodes aired in February and March of this year, followed by a handful of episodes in July, September and October. The “Gravity Falls” shorts were sprinkled out online and on the channel to help tide fans over during the long hiatus periods.

There’s no word yet on a specific air date for the finale.

Hirsch in his Tumblr post expressed gratitude to Disney for allowing him to bring the curtain down on “Gravity Falls” on his own terms.

“I wanted Gravity Falls to have a mystery that had a real answer, an adventure that had a real climax, and an ending that had a real conclusion for the characters I care so much about. This is very unusual in television and a pretty big experiment, and Disney for their part has been enormously supportive. I know that hits are rare in this business, and its hard to let one of them go, so I’m so grateful that this company has had the vision to let me start (and end) the show the way I always wanted to,” Hirsch wrote.

Hirsch was an animation wunderkind who got his start on Disney Channel’s “Fish Hooks” before creating “Gravity Falls.”

From Variety

Meet Disney Channel, Disney XD, and Disney Junior Stars at D23 EXPO 2015

d23expo_2015

The talented stars and creators from tweens, teens, and families’ favorite Disney Channel, DisneyXD, and Disney Junior series will be at D23 EXPO 2015, August 14–16, at the Anaheim Convention Center!

The hot-off-the-presses schedule features “inside-the-magic” experiences that include star-studded musical performances by Sabrina Carpenter, Olivia Holt, Bea Miller, Dove Cameron, Sofia Carson, and a Teen Beach 2 Dance Party; a sneak peek at Disney Junior’s upcoming The Lion Guard; meet and greets with beloved characters from top-rated series like Sofia the First and Doc McStuffins; the premiere of an all-new Mickey Mouse cartoon short; and more.

Here’s the weekend’s line-up:

On Friday, August 14, fans can attend a performance by Disney Channel star Olivia Holt.

On Saturday, August 15, Sofia the First’s Ariel Winter will be a special reader during Disney Junior story time. Plus, fans can catch performances by Girl Meets World star Sabrina Carpenter, Disney’s Descendants stars Dove Cameron and Sofia Carson, and Radio Disney’s NBT Bea Miller. Also, popular radio personalities from Radio Disney will be on site for a Radio Disney dance party. Then, fans can join creators of hit Disney XD animation series for the New Disney Storytellers panel, which will offer a glimpse into the vision and inspiration that go into a Disney XD animated series.

On Sunday, August 16, younger kids and their families can start off with Disney Junior story time featuring special guest reader Loretta Devine from Doc McStuffins, and then get up and groove with Radio Disney Junior at a special dance party. Later in the day, tweens, teens, and families can catch the debut of an all-new Mickey Mouse cartoon short entitled “Wishing Well,” then boogie at a Teen Beach 2 dance party, featuring stars from the movie and its choreographer, Chris Scott.

*Schedule is subject to change.

Throughout the three-day event, Radio Disney on-air personalities will be hosting electrifying Center Stage performances and events, while casts from fans’ favorite Disney Channel and Disney XD series and movies will be making special appearances and signing autographs in the Disney | ABC TV Pavilion. They include fans’ favorite stars from Disney Channel’s Descendants, Teen Beach 2, Liv and Maddie, Jessie, Dog With A Blog, I Didn’t Do It, Girl Meets World, K.C. Undercover, Austin & Ally, BUNK’D, and Best Friends Whenever as well as Disney XD’s Lab Rats: Bionic Island, Mighty Med, Kirby Buckets, and Gamer’s Guide to Pretty Much Everything.

Tickets for D23 EXPO 2015 are available at a discounted price for a limited time. Now through June 30, 2015, tickets are $67 for one-day adult admission and $48 for children 3–12. Tickets for members of D23: The Official Disney Fan Club are $58 for one-day adult admission and $42 for children. Multi-day money-saving tickets are also available. D23 Members can save as much as $188 off the price of admission, based on the purchase of four three-day tickets at the D23 Member rate. For more information on tickets and the ticket pricing structure for D23 Members and general admission, visit D23EXPO.com.

Disney Channel, Disney XD and Radio Disney Stars to Appear at Magic Kingdom’s ‘Coolest Summer Ever’ 24 hour Event

Disney Channel Club Chill

If you and your kids are fans of the hit shows on Disney Channel and Disney XD, and listen to Radio Disney, they won’t want to miss these special events within the Walt Disney World Resort 24-hour Summer Kickoff on Friday, May 22. Some of the network’s most popular stars will be dropping by the party at Magic Kingdom Park throughout the day, giving fans a unique opportunity to see their favorites in person at fun themed events.

  • Disney Channel’s Club Chill: Be sure to check out this super-cool party zone in Tomorrowland from 4 p.m. to 11 p.m., where you can see a DJ spinning the latest tunes, previews of upcoming films and music videos, and more. Keep your eyes peeled because you never know if some of guests’ favorite Disney Channel and Disney XD stars might just stop by.
  • Grand Marshals for the 3 p.m. “Disney Festival Of Fantasy Parade“: Watch as some of your favorite Disney Channel and Disney XD stars kick off the 3 p.m. “Disney Festival Of Fantasy Parade.”

Scheduled to Appear*

    • Karan Brar (“Jessie“)
    • Dove Cameron (“Liv and Maddie” & “Descendants“)
    • Sofia Carson (“Descendants”)
    • Garrett Clayton (“Teen Beach 2“)
    • Skai Jackson (“Jessie”)
    • Peyton List (“Jessie”)
    • Ross Lynch (“Austin and Ally” and “Teen Beach 2″)
    • Laura Marano – (“Austin and Ally”)
    • Maia Mitchell (“Teen Beach 2″ and ABC Family’s “The Fosters“)
    • Bradley Perry – (Disney XD’s “Mighty Med“)
    • Grace Phipps (“Teen Beach 2″)
    • Jake Short – (Disney XD’s “Mighty Med”)
    • Calum Worthy – (“Austin and Ally”)
    • Radio Disney: Broadcasting from 8 a.m. – Midnight catch Ernie D, Brooke, Candice and Nate as they broadcast live during the event! 

      *Talent and entertainment subject to change

Disney’s Phineas and Ferb to End in June With 73-Hour Marathon

Phineas and Ferb

From USA Today – 

Phineas and Ferb, the angular brothers who found plenty of adventures in their backyard on Disney XD, will wrap it up June 12 after 126 episodes and well over 104 days of summer vacation.

But fear not, fans of their helpful spy Perry the Platypus or bumbling evildoer Dr. Hans Doofenschmirtz: Creators Dan Povenmire, the voice of Hans, and Jeff “Swampy” Marsh are creating a new series for the network to debut in 2017.

First, Phineas will get a proper sendoff with a 73-hour marathon of every episode, starting June 9 (8 p.m. ET/PT), that culminates June 12 with series finale “Last Day of Summer.” (A special about Perry and his fellow animal agents, “The O.W.C.A. Files,” is due this fall).

The new series, Mikey Murphy’s Law, centers on Mikey, the “fictional great-great-great-great-grandson” of the namesake for Murphy’s Law, which promises that anything that can go wrong, will.

Phineas premiered in 2007, won three Emmy Awards and for a time, says Disney, citing Nielsen data, was the top-rated animated series among tweens, thanks to multiple cable reruns, which will live on.

WOO-OO! Ducktales is Back!

Ducktales

Children of the ’80s, rejoice.

“DuckTales,” the beloved animated series, will be remade for a new audience, Disney announced today.

“‘DuckTales’ has a special place in Disney’s TV animation history,” said Marc Buhaj, Disney XD’s Senior Vice President of Programming and General Manager, in a statement. “It drew its inspiration from Disney Legend Carl Barks’ comic books and through its storytelling and artistic showmanship, set an enduring standard for animated entertainment that connects with both kids and adults. Our new series will bring that same energy and adventurous spirit to a new generation.”

The new series will again feature the adventures of Scrooge McDuck and his grandnephews, Huey, Dewey, and Louie, as well as Donald Duck.

Other characters that will return are Duckworth, Gyro Gearloose, Launchpad McQuack, Flintheart Glomgold, Magica DeSpell and Poe, Ma Beagle and the Beagle Boys (Burger Beagle, Bouncer Beagle), Mrs. Beakley and Webbigail Vanderquack.

The reboot of the show, which originally aired from 1987-1990, is set to launch in 2017 on Disney XD channels worldwide

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