Latest news with #Disney-Pixar
Express Tribune
4 days ago
- Entertainment
- Express Tribune
'Coco' voice actress Renée Victor dies at 86
Renée Victor, the actress known for voicing Abuelita in Disney-Pixar's Coco and playing Lupita in Showtime's Weeds, has died at age 86, according to Deadline. She passed away on May 30, 2025, at her home in Sherman Oaks, California, surrounded by family. The cause of death was lymphoma, her agency confirmed. Born on July 25, 1938, in San Antonio, Texas, Victor was the eldest of three sisters. She moved to Los Angeles in the 1960s and began her entertainment career as a singer with renowned Latin bandleaders such as Xavier Cugat and Perez Prado. She also taught dance styles like salsa and tango. Alongside her husband, she performed internationally under the name 'Ray & Renee,' earning the nickname 'the Latin Sonny & Cher' during their decade-long collaboration from 1963 to 1973. After years of touring, Victor expanded her artistic reach in the 1970s by hosting Pacesetters on KTLA, a program that spotlighted the Chicano Power movement. She joined the Screen Actors Guild in 1973 and transitioned into television and film during the 1980s, appearing in series like Scarecrow and Mrs. King and Matlock. Her film roles included The Doctor, The Apostle, and A Night in Old Mexico, where she appeared alongside close friend Robert Duvall. Victor also had roles in ER, Vida, Gentefied, Snowpiercer, All Rise, Dead to Me, A Million Little Things, and With Love. She lent her voice to the 1992 animated The Addams Family series as well. Victor's daughters said in a joint statement, 'Renée was loved by so many and had fans all over the world. Her memory will be cherished by all who knew her.'
Toronto Sun
23-05-2025
- Sport
- Toronto Sun
SHRINKING NEMO: How clownfish survive deadly marine heat waves
SIMMONS: Shahanan defeated by very Maple Leaf players he supported so avidly SHRINKING NEMO: How clownfish survive deadly marine heat waves Article content If you've ever watched 'Finding Nemo,' you know clownfish face many ocean threats: hungry sharks, ravenous seagulls, eager scuba divers that may scoop them up and put them into a dental office aquarium. Advertisement 2 Story continues below This advertisement has not loaded yet, but your article continues below. THIS CONTENT IS RESERVED FOR SUBSCRIBERS ONLY Subscribe now to read the latest news in your city and across Canada. Unlimited online access to articles from across Canada with one account. Get exclusive access to the Toronto Sun ePaper, an electronic replica of the print edition that you can share, download and comment on. Enjoy insights and behind-the-scenes analysis from our award-winning journalists. Support local journalists and the next generation of journalists. Daily puzzles including the New York Times Crossword. SUBSCRIBE TO UNLOCK MORE ARTICLES Subscribe now to read the latest news in your city and across Canada. Unlimited online access to articles from across Canada with one account. Get exclusive access to the Toronto Sun ePaper, an electronic replica of the print edition that you can share, download and comment on. Enjoy insights and behind-the-scenes analysis from our award-winning journalists. Support local journalists and the next generation of journalists. Daily puzzles including the New York Times Crossword. REGISTER / SIGN IN TO UNLOCK MORE ARTICLES Create an account or sign in to continue with your reading experience. Access articles from across Canada with one account. Share your thoughts and join the conversation in the comments. Enjoy additional articles per month. Get email updates from your favourite authors. THIS ARTICLE IS FREE TO READ REGISTER TO UNLOCK. Create an account or sign in to continue with your reading experience. Access articles from across Canada with one account Share your thoughts and join the conversation in the comments Enjoy additional articles per month Get email updates from your favourite authors Don't have an account? Create Account or Sign in without password View more offers Article content Article content tap here to see other videos from our team. Try refreshing your browser, or SHRINKING NEMO: How clownfish survive deadly marine heat waves Back to video tap here to see other videos from our team. Try refreshing your browser, or Play Video Article content Left unmentioned in the Disney-Pixar film is perhaps the biggest threat Nemo and his little orange-and-white cousins face: climate change, which is devastating their delicate reef habitats. Now, a new study spotlights one strange behaviour that appears to be helping orange clownfish, also called anemonefish, to survive in warmer waters. Clownfish have been shown to shrink their bodies during what otherwise would be deadly marine heat waves. 'They have these amazing abilities that we still don't know all that much about,' said Theresa Rueger, a tropical marine ecologist who helped conduct the research, published in the journal Science Advances on Wednesday. 'So there's potential that maybe some other species will adapt in a way that will allow them to hang on longer than we think.' Your Midday Sun Your noon-hour look at what's happening in Toronto and beyond. There was an error, please provide a valid email address. Sign Up By signing up you consent to receive the above newsletter from Postmedia Network Inc. Thanks for signing up! A welcome email is on its way. If you don't see it, please check your junk folder. The next issue of Your Midday Sun will soon be in your inbox. Please try again Article content Advertisement 3 Story continues below This advertisement has not loaded yet, but your article continues below. Article content Across Earth's oceans, fish species of all shapes and sizes are getting smaller, with potentially dire implications for the billions of people who rely on seafood for protein. Scientists say the change may result from a combination of overfishing and climate change. Commercial and recreational fishing operations are plucking up the biggest fish. Meanwhile, the ripple effects of higher ocean temperatures may be making it harder for creatures to find food and take in enough oxygen. The new study, though, suggests that size observations may reflect something beyond overfishing and stunted growth. 'Until now, when talking about shrinking fish, nearly all studies do not mean that fish literally shrink but that they grow to smaller sizes,' said Asta Audzijonyte, a senior lecturer at the University of Tasmania in Australia who was not involved in the research. 'This study, in contrast, reports observations of anemonefish actually shrinking by a few percent of their total length over the course of a month.' Advertisement 4 Story continues below This advertisement has not loaded yet, but your article continues below. Article content When Rueger, from Britain's Newcastle University, and her research team started observing clownfish in Papua New Guinea's Kimbe Bay, they intended to study the effects of freshwater runoff. But that year, 2023, the waters there reached a 'proper hot bath temperature,' Rueger said, as the world went through a massive coral-bleaching event that wreaked havoc across reef ecosystems in the Atlantic, Pacific and Indian oceans. 'It was heartbreaking to watch the heat wave unfold, given that these anemonefish have no option but to endure it,' said Melissa Versteeg, a doctoral student from Newcastle who led the study. 'I also recognized how unique my position was, in that I would be able to document its impacts.' Once a month during the course of the heat wave, the researchers carefully captured the same 67 breeding pairs of the species Amphiprion percula with aquarium nets and measured their lengths with calipers. Advertisement 5 Story continues below This advertisement has not loaded yet, but your article continues below. Article content Clownfish are 'pretty easy to catch,' Rueger said. 'The whole procedure maybe takes 20 to 30 seconds, if you're good at it, for each fish. They usually don't know what happened to them.' Every four to six days, the team also took the temperature of each pair's sea anemone – the vibrant, spaghetti-shaped animal that clownfish call home. Mating pairs of clownfish help feed and clean the sedentary sea anemone, while the anemone shoos away predators with its venomous tentacles. When a female clownfish dies, a male is able to switch sexes. (Yes, this means that in a more scientifically accurate version of 'Finding Nemo,' Nemo's dad, Marlin, may have become a mom.) Between February and August, nearly three-fourths of the adult clownfish decreased in length at least once between monthly check-ins, according to the study. The fish that shrank alongside their breeding partners had a higher chance of surviving the heat wave. Advertisement 6 Story continues below This advertisement has not loaded yet, but your article continues below. Article content Audzijonyte, of the University of Tasmania, said the study was 'very well executed,' and 'its data and analyses appear to be very solid.' Joshua Lonthair, a lecturer at the University of Massachusetts at Amherst who also studies fish size, said the research shows how adaptable many marine species may be. 'We typically think of animals growing until maturity, reaching a static size and then focusing on reproduction,' he said. 'But if adult organisms can shrink in response to environmental stress – perhaps to reduce metabolic demands – this could reshape our understanding of how species survive in a changing ocean.' The research team isn't sure why getting smaller is so advantageous for clownfish. 'It might be a bit counterintuitive, because you think that being bigger is generally better,' Rueger said. It may be due to a lack of plankton for the fish to eat during warm spells, she said, or because smaller fish may maintain oxygen levels more easily. Whatever the reason, such climate adaptations go only so far. Throughout the orange clownfish's waters in the Pacific and Indian oceans, bleaching events are reducing the size and number of anemones, depriving it of crucial habitat. In Kimbe Bay, the 2023 bleaching event was just the first of three back-to-back-to-back heat waves that killed off many of the subjects of the study. 'We've lost many of those fish,' Rueger said. 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Yahoo
08-05-2025
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
Disney's new Abu Dhabi theme park contradicts stance on Florida's so-called 'Don't Say Gay' bill
Disney, which infamously sparred with Gov. Ron DeSantis, R-Fla., over what the company claimed was a "Don't Say Gay" bill, now plans to build a new theme park in the United Arab Emirates (UAE), a Middle Eastern country that criminalizes homosexuality. The entertainment company announced on Wednesday that it will open its seventh park on Yas Island in Abu Dhabi, the capital city of the UAE. "This is a thrilling moment for our company as we announce plans to build an exciting Disney theme park resort in Abu Dhabi, whose culture is rich with an appreciation of the arts and creativity," Disney CEO Bob Iger said, adding that Disneyland Abu Dhabi will be "authentically Disney and distinctly Emirati." The UAE, however, has a history of human rights violations, including the criminalization of "consensual same-sex sexual conduct between adults." Comedian Nate Bargatze Says Disney Has Abandoned Its Audience As He Talks About Building Rival Media Empire According to a 2023 report from the U.S. State Department, penalties for individuals guilty of "consensual sodomy with a man" included a minimum of six months in prison. Penalties for men dressed up as women or entering women's spaces were up to one year in prison and an approximately $2,700 fine. Read On The Fox News App The UAE even banned the Disney-Pixar animated feature "Lightyear" from showing in movie theaters in 2022 after reports emerged that the film included a kiss between two female characters. The decision to partner with the nation marks a stark contrast with Disney's past stance on LGBTQ issues. In 2022, then-Disney CEO Bob Chapek spoke out against DeSantis' Parental Rights in Education bill, which aimed to ban classroom instruction on "sexual orientation" or "gender identity" in kindergarten through third grade, during the company's annual shareholder meeting. He also pledged $5 million in donations to LGBTQ organizations. "I called Gov. DeSantis this morning to express our disappointment and concern that if the legislation becomes law, it could be used to unfairly target gay, lesbian, non-binary, and transgender kids and families," Chapek said at the meeting. The Walt Disney Company also released a statement condemning the legislation and incorrectly labeling the bill as the "Don't Say Gay" bill. "Florida's HB 1557, also known as the 'Don't Say Gay' bill, should never have passed and should never have been signed into law," the statement read. "Our goal as a company is for this law to be repealed by the legislature or struck down in the courts, and we remain committed to supporting the national and state organizations working to achieve that." Disney Reportedly Backing Away From Culture Wars: 'Politics Is Bad For Business' This opposition kicked off a multi-year litigation battle between Disney and DeSantis after the latter dissolved the Reedy Creek Improvement District, the self-governing tax district for Walt Disney World, in response. In its annual SEC (Securities and Exchange Commission) report in 2023, the company seemed to acknowledge that weighing in too much in the culture wars damaged their brand after a string of movie flops. Fox News Digital reached out to Disney for article source: Disney's new Abu Dhabi theme park contradicts stance on Florida's so-called 'Don't Say Gay' bill
Fox News
08-05-2025
- Entertainment
- Fox News
Disney's new Abu Dhabi theme park contradicts stance on Florida's so-called 'Don't Say Gay' bill
Disney, which infamously sparred with Gov. Ron DeSantis, R-Fla., over what the company claimed was a "Don't Say Gay" bill, now plans to build a new theme park in the United Arab Emirates (UAE), a Middle Eastern country that criminalizes homosexuality. The entertainment company announced on Wednesday that it will open its seventh park on Yas Island in Abu Dhabi, the capital city of the UAE. "This is a thrilling moment for our company as we announce plans to build an exciting Disney theme park resort in Abu Dhabi, whose culture is rich with an appreciation of the arts and creativity," Disney CEO Bob Iger said, adding that Disneyland Abu Dhabi will be "authentically Disney and distinctly Emirati." The UAE, however, has a history of human rights violations, including the criminalization of "consensual same-sex sexual conduct between adults." According to a 2023 report from the U.S. State Department, penalties for individuals guilty of "consensual sodomy with a man" included a minimum of six months in prison. Penalties for men dressed up as women or entering women's spaces were up to one year in prison and an approximately $2,700 fine. The UAE even banned the Disney-Pixar animated feature "Lightyear" from showing in movie theaters in 2022 after reports emerged that the film included a kiss between two female characters. The decision to partner with the nation marks a stark contrast with Disney's past stance on LGBTQ issues. In 2022, then-Disney CEO Bob Chapek spoke out against DeSantis' Parental Rights in Education bill, which aimed to ban classroom instruction on "sexual orientation" or "gender identity" in kindergarten through third grade, during the company's annual shareholder meeting. He also pledged $5 million in donations to LGBTQ organizations. "I called Gov. DeSantis this morning to express our disappointment and concern that if the legislation becomes law, it could be used to unfairly target gay, lesbian, non-binary, and transgender kids and families," Chapek said at the meeting. The Walt Disney Company also released a statement condemning the legislation and incorrectly labeling the bill as the "Don't Say Gay" bill. "Florida's HB 1557, also known as the 'Don't Say Gay' bill, should never have passed and should never have been signed into law," the statement read. "Our goal as a company is for this law to be repealed by the legislature or struck down in the courts, and we remain committed to supporting the national and state organizations working to achieve that." This opposition kicked off a multi-year litigation battle between Disney and DeSantis after the latter dissolved the Reedy Creek Improvement District, the self-governing tax district for Walt Disney World, in response. In its annual SEC (Securities and Exchange Commission) report in 2023, the company seemed to acknowledge that weighing in too much in the culture wars damaged their brand after a string of movie flops. Fox News Digital reached out to Disney for comment.
Forbes
02-05-2025
- Entertainment
- Forbes
Report: How ‘Inside Out 2' Became The Most Profitable Film Of 2024
Scene from "Inside Out 2." Disney-Pixar's Inside Out 2 was not only the highest-grossing film of 2024, it also netted the most. How much did the animated blockbuster earn in profits? Inside Out 2, of course, is the sequel to 2016's Inside Out, which earned a Best Animated Feature Oscar. The first film imagines how a young girl named Riley (voice of Kaitlyn Dias) deals with five core emotions living in her brain — dubbed her 'Headquarters' — as her family moves from Minnesota to San Francisco. The emotions — Joy (Amy Poehler), Anger (Lewis Black), Sadness (Phyllis Smith), Disgust (Mindy Kaling) and Fear (Bill Hader) — are in turn projected through a console in Riley's Headquarters. In Inside Out 2, Riley (Kensington Tallman) turns 13 and when puberty arrives and her way of thinking literally changes overnight destruction and reconstruction of her Headquarters, which makes room for new emotions including Anxiety (Maya Hawke), Envy (Ayo Edebiri), Embarrassment (Paul Walter Hauser) and a name for boredom—Ennui (Adèle Exarchopoulos). Suddenly, Riley's core emotions of Joy, Anger, Sadness, Disgust (Liza Lapira) and Fear (Tony Hale) are in danger of being suppressed. In total, Deadline reported on Thursday that Inside Out 2 netted Disney a profit of $650 million. But how did it get there? Scene from "Inside Out 2." Released in theaters on June 14, 2024, Inside Out 2 went on to make $653 million internationally and more than $1.045 billion internationally for a worldwide box office gross of $1.698.8 billion. Of course, Inside Out 2's financials don't begin and end with the amount the film made in theaters since various expenses and additional revenue streams help determine the film's eventual bottom line. All of the film's revenues and expenses were taken into account by Deadline in the trade publication's annual series of articles called the 'Most Valuable Blockbuster Tournament,' which examines the 10 most profitable films of 2024. Since theaters are partners with studios in the movie business, a percentage of money earned from ticket sales goes to theater owners and the studio's actual revenues will be lower than the gross. As such, Deadline reported that Inside Out 2 earned $770 million in theatrical revenues, as well as $170 million in the home entertainment market and $210 million from television and streaming services. Once all the numbers were counted, Inside Out 2, Deadline reported, had earned $1.150 billion in total revenues. As for expenses, the trade publication reported that Inside Out 2 had a $200 million production cost and spent $170 million on prints and advertising. Additionally, Deadline noted, the studio paid out $45 million in residuals and other distribution expenses, $40 million in interest and overhead and $45 million in profit participation deals. All figures combined, Inside Out 2 had $500 million in combined expenses. After Deadline subtracted Inside Out 2's $500 million in expenses from the $1.150 billion in revenues, the trade publication arrived at the $650 million net profit figure. For viewers who missed Inside Out 2 in theaters or want to see it again, the film is streaming on Disney+.
