Disney Headlines for July 29th, 2025

In this week’s news, we’ll discuss Disney’s retro theme park decision and Comcast’s Single White Female behavior.

We’re going all-in on theme parks in the latest edition of Disney Headlines…but I’ll talk Stitch, too.

The Once and Future Themed Land

Here’s an article I didn’t expect to write the other day. I’d covered this story when it happened in 2015.

Disney’s Hollywood Studios was committing to its future by killing its past.

Hollywood Studios entrance

As a necessary first step, management closed The Magic of Disney Animation.

This themed land had opened with the park in 1989, making it a “kill your darlings” situation for Disney.

Photo: Disney

Hollywood Studios reclaimed the space for a Star Wars experience, the first of many we got during the 2010s.

Star Wars Launch Bay performed exactly as intended, building hype for Star Wars: Galaxy’s Edge.

Star Wars Launch Bay

But Disney no longer needs that hype. Actually, Star Wars Launch Bay has become a mixed message of sorts.

As a reminder, Disney ended Star Wars Weekends to keep the Star Wars experiences confined to one area.

Hollywood Studios

Since Animation Courtyard wasn’t hosting anything better, Disney left Star Wars Launch Bay anyway.

The idea was that it could lure guests to this area, which adults without children rarely did anyway.

Animation Courtyard

So, Disney has embraced its new mantra of min-maxing park space while simultaneously paying homage to its roots.

Animation Courtyard will close, replaced by The Magic of Disney Animation.

Photo: Disney

The whole thing is a bit confusing since The Magic of Disney Animation had been a part of Animation Courtyard.

I guess this is where I mention that Disney is turning this themed land into The Walt Disney Studios Lot.

Photo: Disney

We can all agree that its name sounds more fitting for Hollywood Studios, right?

Still, the real Headline here is that Disney announced this project a month ahead of Destination D23.

Photo: Disney

This sort of theme park reveal would be more appropriate then, which raises speculation about what’s coming next.

Personally, I was expecting a calmer D23 after last year’s madness, but now…

The Theme Park Wars Escalates

This week’s other big theme park Headline comes from The Hollywood Reporter.

The publication wrote about the escalating war for theme park revenue between America’s top two heavyweights.

Photo-Illustration: Vulture | Photo: Gary Hershorn/Getty Images, Julio Aguilar/Getty Images

While there’s probably at least one theme/amusement park within 300 miles of you, two companies matter more.

Those are Comcast, the corporate owner of Universal Studios, and The Walt Disney Company.

Filmmaker magazine

Basically, Comcast has decided that its best business strategy is to duplicate everything Disney does.

I could tell you that Comcast is doing it for the children or the sake of storytelling, but…it’s Comcast.

Photo: Yahoo Finance

They’re doing it for the money. Everything they do is for the money. And theme parks are a high-margin business.

As the article notes, Disney’s operating income from its theme parks triples that of Universal Studios.

Universal Orlando

So, Epic Universe represents the first step in a dramatic, lightning-fast expansion for Universal.

The next phase occurs with the opening of Horror Unleashed in Las Vegas next month.

Photo: Universal

Then, another opens in Chicago next year, giving Universal two permanent installations of Halloween Horror Nights.

Also, Universal is building a children’s theme park in Frisco, Texas, and a Disneyland Paris-ish park in London, England.

Photo: Universal

I’ll discuss this next phase of the Theme Park Wars in detail later this week, but this Headline amused me.

It’s the theme park equivalent of Single White Female, a 1992 movie about someone stealing someone else’s entire life and personality.

There was a later knockoff called The Roommate, and that’s really what Comcast is.

They’re the shameless knockoff in this scenario, but we, as theme park fans, are the beneficiaries.

Universal Orlando

Disney knockoff theme parks are better than no theme parks at all, right?

The Happiest News of the Week

Here’s a story from 2006 that you probably didn’t know. The gist is that Disney once fired Chris Sanders.

Okay, he technically left the company of his own free will due to creative differences.

(Photo by Pascal Le Segretain/Getty Images)

That’s typically what people in the entertainment industry say when a corporation fires someone.

The creator of Stitch should have been a made man at Disney, as he co-wrote and co-directed the 2002 release.

Photo: Disney

Since Disney never fully appreciated what it had with Stitch in the early 2000s, Sanders’ career stagnated.

In a way, he became typecast as the voice of Stitch, with film executives questioning his directorial skills.

Photo: Disney

That’s a real thing that happened 20 years ago, culminating in Sanders leaving his own project, American Dog.

Disney fans know that movie as Bolt, and it’s wonderful. Why? Everything Sanders does is wonderful.

Photo: Disney

Even though he didn’t get to carry Bolt to the finish line, his DNA as an animal lover is all over the film.

Universal Pictures recognized an opportunity and poached the unemployed creator.

Photo: DIsney Wiki

So, Sanders took his Stitch co-director, Dean DuBlois and made a new movie. It was How to Train Your Dragon.

Yup, those two have created two of the most iconic animated franchises of this century.

Photo: Universal

I guess I should note that How to Train Your Dragon is adapted from a book, but Sanders infused Toothless with heart.

He’s Baaaack!

More recently, Sanders solo-directed the glowingly reviewed blockbuster, The Wild Robot.

Between that and the box office of the live-action remake of Lilo & Stitch, something finally clicked at Disney.

Photo: Universal Pictures

Suddenly, somebody figured out that the voice of Stitch happens to be one of the best storytellers of this generation.

So, Disney has welcomed Sanders back into the fold as the writer for Stitch 2.

Photo: Disney

Presumably, the relationship thawed as Sanders performed voicework for the live-action remake.

Given the acrimonious nature of the 2006 separation, one that made headlines, it’s a noteworthy turn of events.

Photo: Disney

Chris Sanders created the character of Stitch in 1985. If Disney had appreciated him more, he never would have left.

But the storyteller has returned to the fold. Now, we can get the Lilo & Stitch sequel we missed in the early 2000s.

Photo: Disney

I’m confident that ideas have rolled around in Sanders’ head for 20 years.

They’ll become a reality soon, which makes this one of the best Disney entertainment Headlines in ages.

Photo: Disney

The voice of Stitch should work with Disney. Period

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