Disney Headlines for October 22, 2024
In this week’s Disney Headlines, Prince Charming gets his moment in the sun while a possibility has arisen from a recent tragedy.
Photo: Disney
A Tale As Old As Time
Have you ever watched a Disney classic co-starring Prince Charming?
The odds suggest that you have, as Disney leaned hard into this trope during the early days of its feature-length animation.
Snow White & The Prince
Prince Charming is either the official or unofficial name of the male romantic leads in Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs, Cinderella, and Sleeping Beauty.
Later, as a kind of throwback gag, Disney also gifted Prince Eric from The Little Mermaid with the full name of Eric Charming.
Photo: Disney
So, yes, four of your favorite Disney movies feature a character with the same name.
Over the years, Disney added a distinct identity to each one to avoid the bigamy accusations.
Sleeping Beauty & Prince Phillip
Snow White’s Prince Charming is Prince Florian, although he’s also sometimes listed as Prince Ferdinand. In the film, he’s really just The Prince.
By the way, his age is either 31 or 18, depending on who you believe, which speaks volumes about the lazy storytelling at the time.
Snow White & The Prince
Walt Disney and his team fully fleshed out the female protagonists, but their romantic partner was a Hallmark Movie-esque “That Guy.”
A handsome face is all that you need, right? Well, that was the thinking at the time.
Photo: Disney
For Cinderella, her Prince Charming was named Prince Henry, while Sleeping Beauty awakened to a charming prince named Philip.
These are all entirely different characters with distinct looks and character styles.
Photo: Disney
They were simply called Prince Charming to drive home the storybook fairytale nature of the plot.
One day, these princes would come for their heroines, and that was plenty good enough in the 1930s-1950s.
Photo: Disney
By the time The Little Mermaid arrived in the late 1980s, the notion was already quaint enough for that one subtle tease.
Nowadays, it’s absolutely archaic thinking, which got someone at Disney thinking.
The Lore of Prince Charming
Technically, in Disney lore, Cinderella was the first character to fall in love with an actual Prince Charming.
This is a weirdly intense debate among some fans, as The Prince in Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs is described as charming.
Snow White & The Prince
If you’ve never heard any of these arguments, consider yourself lucky, but it speaks to the passion some people have for the stories.
What we’ve never had until now is a story that explains the character from his own perspective.
Princess Tiana and Prince Naveen
I strongly suspect that’s because every conversation regarding Prince Charming would start with, “Which one?”
Still, in 2007, Disney experienced success with a clever fractured fairytale called Enchanted.
Photo: Disney+
In that story, Amy Adams portrays Giselle, a character handed the Disney Princess starter kit.
She sings and dances in the forest, meets the person of her dreams, and then faces a previously unknown fate for a Disney Princess: the real world.
Photo: Disney
The film was a smashing success, earning back more than five times its budget and eventually spawned a sequel.
Disenchanted debuted on Disney+ in 2022, toward the end of the pandemic.
Photo: Disney
While it’s challenging to know which streaming programs are huge hits, we know that Disenchanted earned at least 1.1 billion viewer minutes.
The film charted twice on the Nielsen Streaming Ratings charts, which I discuss on MickeyBlog each week.
Photo: Disney
I don’t think it was a strong performer, at least compared to the original, but that recent success underscores the popularity of the idea.
Prince Charming Gets His Movie
Fans love strange takes on classic story ideas, which leads us to the news of Prince Charming: The Movie.
Paul King, the director of Wonka and the delightful Paddington films – watch them if you haven’t yet! – will direct.
Photo: The Hollywood Reporter
Variety reports that the project doesn’t even have a plot revealed yet. However, we do know one key element.
This version will NOT link Prince Charming to any of his many Disney Princesses, which is for the best.
Photo: Disney
If Disney picked one, fans of the others would get upset. So, that’s the safe, smart approach.
Also, Disney apparently hasn’t settled on whether the Prince Charming movie will be live-action or animated.
Photo: Disney
That’s an important distinction because a live-action film could enter production next year and be ready by late 2026 or 2027.
An animated movie is like at least three and possibly as many as five years away from release.
Photo: Disney
Given King’s track record of well-intended live-action family films, I suspect that’s the path Disney will take.
And I think you can tell by my tone here that I think this is a brilliant idea for a Disney movie. It’s rife with comedy potential.
Photo: Disney
I mean, James Marsden already highlighted the ridiculous nature of this concept in Enchanted. It’s big and it’s fun, and audiences should adore it.
Baseball Team Needs a Home
Right as Disney Headlines went live last week, I saw a story that I kicked myself for not considering before then.
Marc Topkin at the Tampa Bay Times discussed the fallout of Hurricane Milton. Don’t worry, though. This isn’t a sad story.
Photo: WESH
Instead, Topkin idly wondered where the Tampa Bay Rays would play their 2025 season. Remember this?
That’s the roof of Tampa’s current stadium. The inclement weather literally tore the roof off the place.
According to early estimates, this cheap-looking material will apparently cost nine figures to repair.
I don’t claim to understand why, but the stadium apparently wasn’t designed to handle rain since it had a roof.
Photo: BRYAN R. SMITH/AFP via Getty Images
I guess fail-safes and contingencies aren’t always a thing in modern architecture.
Anyway, the Rays need a new home for the next three seasons.
To our Rays family, fans and the entire Tampa Bay community. 💙 pic.twitter.com/X9fwjZdcRX
— Tampa Bay Rays (@RaysBaseball) October 10, 2024
Tampa is about to break ground on its next stadium, which will open in time for the 2028 season.
So, spending $100 million or more to repair the old stadium just doesn’t make any sense.
Photo: Tampa Bay Times / ZUMA Press via Shutterstock
And I think you know where I’m going with this. Tampa officials would like to pick somewhere stable in the area.
Could This Happen?
Finding a baseball facility in the south capable of hosting an MLB franchise isn’t that easy to do.
The article details some Florida minor league stadiums but also shows why they’re suboptimal.
Photo: Major League Baseball
Similarly, MLB would need to rework the 2025 schedule if it wanted Tampa to share the Miami Marlins’ home stadium.
There are some other viable options – although Montreal already ruled itself out – including the current candidates for MLB expansion.
Photo: Major League Baseball
But the simplest, most straightforward answer is…ESPN Wide World of Sports in Orlando.
Disney would probably need to cancel some currently scheduled children’s events, which is less than ideal.
Credit: Disney
However, comping those and readjusting dates isn’t a problem for a company like Disney.
Meanwhile, the coup of hosting Major League Baseball must be enticing for park officials.
Credit: Disney
They’d guarantee more park traffic on those days, some of whom are day-trippers.
If you’re only spending one day at Disney and had deep pockets, you’d probably consider the Lightning Lane Premier Pass.
Photo: Disney
To a larger point, the NFL Pro Bowl is at Disney again in three months.
So, that would give Disney the honor of hosting NFL, MLB, and NBA games during the 2020s.
Photo: Disney
I think there’s only a slim chance of this happening, but it’s a non-zero chance. And baseball fans like me would LOVE it!
For that matter, so would Disney. Think about all the VIP Tours they could sell players on their off-days.
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