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It's a new day at Disney with their new studio chief, Rich Ross, and everyone has been rather eager to see what new direction the studio moved in, and what projects they fast tracked. It turns out that their new vision is a rather old one. According to The Hollywood Reporter, Disney has dug deep into the vaults and decided to remake The Black Hole. They've put Tron: Legacy director Joseph Kosinski and producer Sean Bailey on the project, hoping that they can make The Black Hole as cool as they've made all things Tron.

I feel terrible, but I have absolutely no memory of this film. I know I probably saw it at some point, but its lovable droids have been wiped out by multiple viewings of Star Wars, so allow me to recap. The 1979 original centered on a group of space explorers discover the lost USS Cygnus, floating dead on the edge of a black hole. Logically they haven't seen Event Horizon, so they happily board the ship to what's become of the crew. There they meet a scientist and his group of robot friends (some cute, and one mean, red, and named Maximilian), and he claims his crew deserted him when he tried to travel through the black hole. Of course, he's not telling the truth. The robots are the former Cygnus crew, and the scientist has no intention of letting them leave. Dun dun dun ...

Naturally, the remake won't be a straight-up retelling, and Disney is keeping the plot a secret. The only thing they're willing to reveal is that the menacing robot Maximilian will return, and that the black hole will be more of a plot point. Science will also be involved, and I imagine a little Star Trek too. Will it inspire the instant excitement of Tron: Legacy? Or will it be an entirely new concept to most moviegoers?

Comics never really die. They become cult classics, cherished until they're revived, republished, and optioned by Disney. Such is the tale of Alien Legion, which is soon to enjoy a revival that'll have many a comic fan claiming they were there from the beginning. (I won't be one of them -- I'll openly confess that it passed me right by.)

Creator Carl Potts described Alien Legion as "the Foreign Legion in space," and it's probably best described as melting pot of military and sci-fi, as Star Trek, Star Wars and The Dirty Dozen all influenced its vision of intergalactic soldiers banding together for honor, fortune, and adventure. It was one of Marvel's longest running series under their Epic Comics' banner, and it's been one that fans have continued to champion. Now it's being republished in a beautiful Dark Horse omnibus (which means out-of-the-loop losers like myself can finally read it), and getting four brand new issues from Dark Horse starting in 2010.

It's also on its way to the big screen. USA Today sat down all its creators, and Potts revealed that Jerry Bruckheimer and Disney were currently developing a feature film out of the series. Derek Haas and Michael Brandt are currently working on the third draft of the script, and Disney is undoubtedly hoping it could become another blockbuster franchise. I'd love to see the Mouse House actually develop a viable sci-fi franchise of their own, and Alien Legion is certainly a very promising series. Let's hope its cult of fans are rewarded with a good adaptation after all their years of devotion, and they don't resent the rest of us for coming to the party so late.

The klaxons are sounding for the Nautilus and Captain Nemo's origin story. Variety reports that Disney has quietly shelved the project, and McG has been released from duty in order to seek better fortune ashore.

The project was scheduled to begin production this February, and was on a fast track under Dick Cook. But as you probably remember, Cook was shown the door a few months ago. Many of Disney's big projects seem to be left dangling as stars like Johnny Depp decide whether they're sailing or staying ashore. 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea: Captain Nemo is just the latest, though Disney insists big popcorn flicks will still be a focus for them.

Leagues had already been a revolving door of rumors, with Will Smith said to be in the running to play Nemo. Justin Marks was originally penning the script, but was replaced by Randall Wallace this past July. Variety reports that the project was being penned by Bill Marsilli, so presumably Wallace was off as well. While it's not unusual to have three screenwriters on a project, it doesn't sound like this submarine had a reliable captain. Perhaps the Nautilus will sail again as a proper steampunk picture that explores his romantic Indian past, and not a slapdash summerfest.

As 2009 begins to come to a close and critics and pundits consider the movies that will ultimately make their Top Tens and Best Of lists, Up seems like a shoe-in for all of them. Effortlessly charming, deeply affecting and genuinely rousing, Pete Docter's follow-up to Monsters, Inc. is nothing short of spectacular. I'm especially reminded of this now that the film has arrived on Blu-ray, in no less than an epic four-disc set. But even as one of the best films of the year, is its home video iteration one of the best Blu-rays as well? Looking at the material contained (if also spread out) in this collection, I'm not so sure, even if everything on it nevertheless manages to make Up look like a masterpiece all over again.

Disc One features the film itself, two short features, and a modest but potent slate of extras. In terms of presentation, Up looks simply gorgeous, offering remarkable clarity and vividness no matter what's up on the screen, while the audio is muscular without being overwhelming. Meanwhile, the two shorts – "Partly Cloudy," which was attached to theatrical prints of Up, and the interstitial "Dug's Special Mission" – offer further adventures for viewers to check out once they've cried their eyes out watching the movie itself.

Additionally, the two featurettes, "The Many Endings of Muntz" and "Adventure is Out There," showcase specific aspects of the creative process that will probably be of most interest or importance to viewers: the first examines the way the filmmakers came up with the "villain"'s comeuppance, and what other options were available; and the second follows the creators as they journey to South America to visit the real-life tepui mountains that gave them inspiration when conceiving the film's picturesque vistas.

We learned in October that Nine was getting pushed back to a Christmas premiere. Since The Road was already slated for release on the same date, it sounded like this was nothing more than a move to make the film's box office grab as smooth as possible. But maybe it was to plan the massive marketing push.

Variety reports that the Weinstein Company have partnered with Disney/ABC Unlimited to market the film. This "megapact" will mean that Nine-flavored content will get infused into "a wide variety of shows, including ABC's Dancing with the Stars." For the dance-centric show, there will be a themed dance number on November 17 with songs and outfits from the film. The push will also work its way into the soaps on ABC -- the big trio of All My Children, One Life to Live, and General Hospital. Then there will be a "road-block" style trailer on the 22nd, making it's way onto a bunch of channels, a microsite on ABC.com, and late-night integration.

Inclusion on dancing reality shows make sense, but the rest is a little ridiculous -- both for the potential for over-saturation and this idea of market-injected content. I bet they're just ruing the fact that series get written well in advance and that they couldn't get Nine-themed fare into the likes of Grey's, Cougar Town, Lost, etc. And here we used to make fun of obvious product placement. At this rate, I wonder if we can come to expect films to be advertised in each other, like Spider-Man trying to make it to Mary Jane's Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows premiere or somesuch.

Do you enjoy big marketing pushes, or does it all get real old real fast?

The fear many of us had when it was announced Jim Carrey would play Ebenezer Scrooge and other parts in Robert Zemeckis' adaptation of A Christmas Carol was that Carrey's clowning would turn the story into a goofy farce. This fear turns out to have been unfounded. If anything, the opposite is true: The film has no personality at all, not Carrey's or anyone else's.

Charles Dickens' holiday classic has already been adapted for movies and TV dozens of times, but Zemeckis noticed something peculiar: Somehow, none of the previous incarnations had managed to be in 3-D! He sought to rectify this oversight with that newfangled motion-capture technology he's been so excited about the last several years, where actors' movements are translated into animation. The Polar Express and Beowulf demonstrated that for as neat-o as the technology is for action scenes, characters' faces -- especially their eyes -- look dead and soulless. Some improvement has been made in that respect, but most of the people in A Christmas Carol still look like creepy robots.

We are now in the age of the 20-year-old sequel. Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull, Wall Street 2, Who Framed Roger Rabbit?, Beverly Hills Hop 4, The Untouchables: Capone Rising. It hasn't been "too long," it isn't awkward to go back. It'll make you feel young again! Now we've reached the pinnacle of past grabs, as WENN is reporting that Steve Guttenberg, Tom Selleck, and Ted Danson are reuniting for Three Men and a Bride.

"Disney's developing Three Men and a Bride. That's going to be a smash. A smash hit. They're bringing everybody back for that," says Guttenberg. "Nobody knows about it. I'm the first to talk about it."

Guttenberg might just become king of the It's Never To Late To Return! movement, as he dreams of reviving all of his past franchises. "It's definitely time for another Police Academy. And I think they could make another Cocoon. They're surefire hits and I think they're good for the world. They make the world a better place and that's what it's all about." Hopefully, he's not setting his hopes on reviving Short Circuit, as that has become someone else's dream to live. But I think there were a lot of unanswered questions about The Day After, and nothing's trendier than the apocalypse. It's only been twenty-five years ....

On November 10, 2009, Walt Disney Home Entertainment is releasing a 4-disc Blu-ray set for Monsters, Inc., Pete Docter's feature directorial debut. Much like Finding Nemo set the stage for what Andrew Stanton eventually did on Wall-E, the 2001 Pixar film offers a glimpse of what was yet to come from Docter – who went on to direct this summer's Up, also out next week – but it also reiterates some of the themes that run throughout all of the studio's best work, including the concept of an alternate perspective on a place or idea that seems obvious, and the idea of families that are both familiar and unconventional. But how effectively does it examine and explore those things, particularly in light of what the studio has done since?

Suffice it to say that the Blu-ray set offers not only the best presentation of the film imaginable, but a bounty of extra content that expands the film's universe in new and interesting ways. As for the movie itself?

We've all lamented the way that Christmas decorations, candies, and wrapping paper start appearing on store shelves between fake pumpkins and cheesecloth ghosts. In some stores, the Christmas stuff appears as early as July or August. But when it comes to our local multiplex, we're generally safe from holly and plum pudding until it's actually cold outside. Not this year.

Being entertainment fiends, I'm sure that the last week found most of you were tuning into AMC, IFC, and other assorted channels to check out their horror selections. You were also undoubtedly watching your favorite television shows, football teams, and following the World Series. I'll bet that you saw the tv spots for A Christmas Carol around ten times a day. Possibly more than that given all the games. Did you feel a cold chill run down your spine?

I did, and it wasn't caused by a pocky Jim Carrey or the possibility of Robert Zemeckis' mo-cap dead eyes. It was the fact that my jack o'lantern was flickering on my kitchen counter, bell jars of bones were decorating the top of my television, and Shadow of the Vampire was beckoning from my DVR. It was Halloween weekend. Even after October ticked down to its last gasp and we fell back, it was still autumn. It's harvest time. It's heartwrenching drama time, the real start of the Oscar race. It's time for The Road, The Men Who Stare At Goats and the Coens. It is not Christmastime. I don't care what the Three Spirits try to tell me, or whether Tiny Tim wants God to bless us, every one. I'm not going to listen until December 1. Perhaps I'll miss a great 3D thrill ride and the velvet voice of Colin Firth, but I'm not ready for snow and Dickensian morality just yet. Are you?