As Frozen skated its way into Japan on March 14, the question began to loom larger and larger: Could the movie break Toy Story 3‘s $1,063,171,911 in worldwide box office to become the highest-grossing animated film of all time? When Bob Iger predicted it would happen, the reality of such a possibility crystalized…

Not a lot of love at Diece-Lisa Industries for Disney or Toy Story 3, it seems. Yesterday, the toymaker sued Disney Enterprises in a Texas federal court for trademark infringement and unfair competition. Like it did in previous filings against Disney Shopping Inc and QVC last year and Pixar in 2012, the New Jersey…

Three months ago, when Big Media CEOs wrapped up their 2Q earnings, they were still relentlessly upbeat about the business. Any worries about the economy? Not then. But the messages they delivered over the past few weeks, as they discussed 3Q, were different. Although they’re still optimistic — remember, they’re paid…

The company reported net income of $1.1B, up 30% vs the period last year, on revenues of $10.43B, up 7%. That comfortably beat Street forecasts for revenues of $10.36B. Earnings, at 58 cents a share, also topped predictions of 54 cents — and without one-time charges would have hit 59 cents. Disney’s cable channels led…

Disney claims it is looking into accusations of human rights abuse at the factory in China that makes its popular Cars and Toy Story merchandise. An undercover investigation, which took place in June after a factory employee’s suicide, revealed mistreatment including child labor and excessive overtime. Although the…

Although U.S. audiences have cooled to 3D movies, overseas ticket buyers still loved the technology in 2010, a report today from IHS Screen Digest Cinema Intelligence shows. Researchers say that ticket buyers worldwide spent $6.1B on 3D movies last year, which was 19.3% of total box office. That was up from $2.5B in…

UPDATE, 3:10 PM: CEO Bob Iger told analysts that Disney hasn’t seen much change in consumer spending plans as a result of the stock market gyrations and recession talk over the last few days. He adds that he doesn’t think that price discounting at the theme parks is “something we’ll have to do quickly.” In the…

EXCLUSIVE: After Toy Story 3 cracked the billion dollar worldwide gross mark and got a Best Picture nomination for Disney, I’m told the studio is making moves to pair stars Tom Hanks and Tim Allen in Jungle Cruise, the live action film inspired by the venerable Magic Kingdom theme park ride. The studio has hired Roger…

Before I focus on last night’s 83rd Academy Award winners, let me describe my conversations with the "losers", only some of whom seemed to take the news in stride. Clearly, The Social Network filmmakers were licking their wounds. To the point that hands-on producer Scott Rudin didn’t even make the trip west for the…

Nikki Finke’s Annual Oscars Live-Snarking… Winners of the 83rd Annual Academy Awards were announced tonight during the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences…

American Cinema Editors (ACE) tonight announced the winners for the 61st Annual ACE Eddie Awards recognizing outstanding editing in nine categories of film, television and documentaries. Winners were revealed during ACE's 61st annual black-tie awards ceremony in the International Ballroom of the Beverly Hilton Hotel. C…

The Deadline Team of Nikki Finke, Pete Hammond, and Mike Fleming have spent recent days interviewing the studio moguls to gauge their perspective on this very close Oscar race: WALT DISNEY STUDIOS 12 Nominations: 5 Toy Story 3, 3 Alice In Wonderland, 1 Tron: Legacy 3D, 1 The Tempest, 1 Tangled, 1 Day & Night DEADLINE’s…