Planned Disneyland Expansion in California Clears Major Hurdle 

The Sleeping Beauty Castle is pictured at dusk at Disneyland Park in Anaheim, California, US, July 24, 2021. Picture taken July 24, 2021. (Reuters)
The Sleeping Beauty Castle is pictured at dusk at Disneyland Park in Anaheim, California, US, July 24, 2021. Picture taken July 24, 2021. (Reuters)
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Planned Disneyland Expansion in California Clears Major Hurdle 

The Sleeping Beauty Castle is pictured at dusk at Disneyland Park in Anaheim, California, US, July 24, 2021. Picture taken July 24, 2021. (Reuters)
The Sleeping Beauty Castle is pictured at dusk at Disneyland Park in Anaheim, California, US, July 24, 2021. Picture taken July 24, 2021. (Reuters)

Plans to expand the Disneyland Resort cleared a major hurdle Wednesday, as local officials endorsed a new blueprint governing the development of Walt Disney's Southern California theme parks over the next 40 years.

The Anaheim city council approved a plan, called DisneylandForward, that one researcher estimated would create as many as 4,520 construction jobs per year of development and an additional 26,764 parks-related positions over the coming decades.

A second procedural council vote, to consider zoning changes, revisions in the city's development agreement with Disney and an analysis of environmental impacts, is scheduled for May 7. If adopted, the changes would take effect after 30 days, clearing the way for Disney to invest a minimum of $1.9 billion in new theme park experiences and lodging over the next decade.

Parks have become a reliable profit engine for Disney and have helped cushion losses in the Disney+ streaming business, which is expected to become profitable by September. The company last year announced it would deepen its investment in its parks, and double the capacity of its cruise line, committing $60 billion over the next decade.

Disneyland, the company's first theme park, opened in 1955. As it grew in popularity, the city of Anaheim approved plans that would govern its growth, creating zones designated for specific types of developments.

In 2021, Disney submitted a plan, dubbed DisneylandForward, which would give the company flexibility in how it could develop its 490-acre California property. Disney is looking to blend hotels, shops and attractions within the same themed world, as it has in Fantasy Springs, which opens June 6 at Tokyo DisneySea Park.

TELLING 'NEW STORIES'

The proposal calls for allowing theme park attractions alongside hotels on the west side of Disneyland Drive and theme park attractions alongside new shopping, dining and entertainment to the southeast on what is today the Toy Story Parking Area.

Dozens of members of the public addressed the council before the vote. Many voiced enthusiastic support for the job opportunities and revenue they expected the expansion to bring to the area. Some local residents, however, said they would be harmed by increased traffic and noise and the conversion of a public road known as Magic Way into a pedestrian walkway.

"A project like DisneylandForward will only further exacerbate the current problems," said Anaheim resident Trangdai Glassey. "To disregard the human costs from a project of this scope is unthinkable."

The company has not said what attractions and amenities it plans to add in California, though it has pointed to attractions found elsewhere, such as the new World of Frozen, where guests can experience the fictional world of Arendelle at Hong Kong Disneyland, or the "mammalian metropolis" of Zootopia at Shanghai Disneyland.

"With each new experience taking three to five years to come to fruition, DisneylandForward is an urgent need so we can determine what new stories could be told at The Happiest Place on Earth,” Disneyland Resort President Ken Potrock wrote in an opinion piece that appeared in the Orange County Register.



Alfonso Cuarón, Cate Blanchett Bring Series ‘Disclaimer’ to Venice Film Festival 

Cast member Cate Blanchett poses on the red carpet during arrivals for the screening of the mini-series "Disclaimer", out of competition, at the 81st Venice Film Festival, in Venice, Italy August 29, 2024. (Reuters)
Cast member Cate Blanchett poses on the red carpet during arrivals for the screening of the mini-series "Disclaimer", out of competition, at the 81st Venice Film Festival, in Venice, Italy August 29, 2024. (Reuters)
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Alfonso Cuarón, Cate Blanchett Bring Series ‘Disclaimer’ to Venice Film Festival 

Cast member Cate Blanchett poses on the red carpet during arrivals for the screening of the mini-series "Disclaimer", out of competition, at the 81st Venice Film Festival, in Venice, Italy August 29, 2024. (Reuters)
Cast member Cate Blanchett poses on the red carpet during arrivals for the screening of the mini-series "Disclaimer", out of competition, at the 81st Venice Film Festival, in Venice, Italy August 29, 2024. (Reuters)

Alfonso Cuarón is the first to admit that he does not know how to make a television series. He might even be too old to learn how, he said.

The Oscar-winning filmmaker has technically now made a series, the seven-part AppleTV+ show “Disclaimer,” four episodes of which premiered Thursday at the Venice Film Festival. But he did it his way: Like a film.

Based on Renée Knight’s 2015 book of the same name, “Disclaimer” is a psychological thriller about a documentarian and journalist, Catherine Ravenscroft (Cate Blanchett), who discovers she’s a character in a novel that reveals her darkest secret.

Cuarón, Blanchett and Kevin Kline all made the journey to the Italian film festival to debut and speak about the show before it begins streaming on Oct. 11.

“I read the book and immediately in my mind I saw a film, but I didn’t know how to make that film,” Cuarón, the director of films including “Gravity” and “Roma,” said in a news conference Thursday. “It was way too long. I could not shape it as such.”

It was only later, he said, that he thought it might work in longer form, inspired by predecessors like Rainer Werner Fassbinder, David Lynch and Krzysztof Kieślowski.

“I was intrigued and that was the point of departure,” Cuarón said.

He started writing with one name in mind for Catherine: Blanchett, terrified that she might say no. Not only did she not say no, she also was the one who suggested Kline for a British character. Sacha Baron Cohen plays her husband in the show and Kodi Smit-McPhee plays her son.

All soon realized that approaching it as a film, and shooting it as a film, would take much longer than a normal series. He even enlisted two cinematographers, Emmanuel Lubezki and Bruno Delbonnel, to add a distinct visual language to the different perspectives in the story. All told, it took about a year.

“It was a really long process,” Cuarón said. “And I really feel for the actors because they were stuck with the characters for way too long.”

Blanchett laughed that they were “still recovering.”

The final three episodes will screen Friday at the festival. Though the festival is most known for its feature film premieres, it does play host to select series as well. This year those also include Joe Wright’s Mussolini biopic “M: Son of the Century,” Rodrigo Sorogoyen’s “The New Years” and Thomas Vinterberg’s “Families Like Ours.”