Disney

Once upon a time, a man with a dream turned a small animation studio into a global empire. Much of that success was built on a series of wildly popular feature films, many of which shared a common figure: A beautiful, heroic princess. The man was Walt Disney and even after he passed away in 1966, his company continued to dedicate much of its creative energy on films (and television shows and untold tons of merchandise) dedicated to princesses. The latest, a live-action version of the studio’s Oscar-nominated cartoon Beauty and the Beast, opens in theaters on Friday. In its honor, the staff of ScreenCrush (and Mousterpiece Cinema co-host Josh Spiegel) decided to rank every single Disney princess in history.

Listen to 'How Does a Moment Last Forever,' Celine Dion's ballad off the 'Beauty and the Beast' soundtrack.

Disney has really put their marketing for the upcoming Beauty and the Beast on steroids lately, giving us all-too-short glimpses of some really iconic scenes. First it was Josh Gad and Luke Evans in a few seconds of (the best song) “Gaston” on Good Morning America. Now it’s almost a full minute(!) of the opening number “Belle,” that serves as a great introduction to our heroine and an opportunity for everyone else in the town to air their grievances about her.

Among the most difficult aspects of parenting is the matter of simply filling the hours in a day. Kids become bored after approximately twenty unstimulating minutes, so moms and dads have to constantly plan out diversions to keep their offspring occupied. Disney just did the parents of America a real solid, however. Animated movies have long been a go-to option for parents hoping to run out the clock, and they’ll be able to go back to Moana for seconds later this month, when the film re-enters theaters for a one-day sing-along engagement.

Over nearly 80 years, the 56 feature films from Walt Disney Animation Studios have become beloved and instantly recognizable their iconic fairy tales, memorable comic-relief sidekicks, terrifying villains, and some of the greatest songs in cinema history. This week heralds the release of Disney’s latest animated film, Moana, which boasts songs co-written by Hamilton creator Lin-Manuel Miranda. So there’s no better time to compile a list of the 25 best songs in animated Disney history — with a couple of important pre-list caveats. First, to avoid overloading the list with songs from only a few films, each movie here could only be represented by a maximum of two songs. Second, this list has films in the official Disney animation canon only, so nothing from Pixar or even The Nightmare Before Christmas. With that in mind, here’s the list!

We’re just about a month away from Disney’s biggest gamble on the Star Wars universe. While odds are good that Rogue One: A Star Wars Story will do well at the box office  —  projects this big rarely fail to find their audience  —  there must be a little anxiety in the hearts of Star Wars fans and Disney executives alike. The studio has made some pretty big financial investments in their upcoming slate of standalone Star Wars stories; if Rogue One disappoints in its opening weekend, it could be seen as a shot across the bow of Disney’s future slate.

Adding to their roster of upcoming live-action remakes of popular Disney films, the company has announced that the next classic they’re updating will be Snow White.

When you think of Santa Claus, what do you think of? Fur-lined red coats? Red- and green-wrapped presents? Cookies left out by the fireplace? A successful decade-and-half-long standup comedy and acting career working with the likes of Judd Apatow, Ice Cube, and Dwayne Johnson? If it’s that last one, first of all, really? Second of all, you’re in luck, because professional standup comedian and actor Kevin Hart is in talks to play Santa Claus in Disney’s Dashing Through the Snow.

Firth will star with Emily Blunt, Lin-Manuel Miranda and Meryl Streep in the sequel set 25 years after 'Mary Poppins'.

Because things that are adaptations of other things tend to sell pretty well (see: the current reboot storm we’re in the middle of, or any TV show based on a movie, or any movie based on a musical or book or comic) studios are once again looking at classic literature to adapt to film. Today’s latest news comes from Disney, which is planning a Don Quixote movie, based on that giant classic work of literature you probably read an abridged version of in your Spanish class.

We only just (officially) met the new Han Solo, but we might be seeing him onscreen longer than expected.

As it turns out, making a politically-minded movie for kids can be financially successful.