So there's this little Indie film opening this weekend. Maybe you've heard something about it. Cars 2?

While Disney's original Cars only (only!) made $460 million at the box office, its merchandising efforts have raked in over $2 billion a year since 2006, enough to get any sequel's motor running. Just two weeks after the release, some estimates valued sales of Cars merchandise in excess $600 million. In June 2006, just a month after the film's release, Disney announced that Cars-licensed products had already broken merchandising records, racking up a volume ten times that of Finding Nemo. 

Cue Cars 2. Target, the film's official retail partner, has been running heavy tie-in ads letting consumers know here to get even more Cars merchandise. Target currently offers over 150 different Cars 2-branded products, from bedspreads to a "Bubble Mater." Landing Cars 2 deal was a huge "get" for Target, as Walmart was the retail partner for Cars.Continue reading...

In Disney's latest viral marketing, the above "ad" is really a pitch for the upcoming Disney and Pixar film, Cars 2.  It appears to be the type of used car commercial that you might see on a local TV station at 2am.  

There are hints and clues throughout the ad that hint towards the new movie, and there is even a hidden URL you can go to, if you can find it, (pause the video on the 57 second mark), that will take you to an exclusive clip of the new movie itself, but only those with the link can access it.  

The phony commercial even has a phone number that, when called, a message machine answers and the spokesperson from the commercial, Stu says he’s unavailable, and then a robot voice instructs the caller to visit a URL — which links to the Cars 2 clip.Continue reading...

The New York Times' Carpetbagger Oscar blogger (aka arts reporter Melena Ryzik) takes a tour of Disney's Pixar studios, once again up for numerous (six, to be exact) Academy Awards — including a Best Picture nomination for Toy Story 3.

Besides the fun elements of a workplace devoted to firing up kids' imaginations through visual storytelling, it's a fascinating look at a corporate culture based on accidental meetings, hypercreativity and collaboration. And one very big chair.

Grilled cheese sandwiches are an acknowledged staple of many children's diets. Disney is arguably the best-known kiddie brand on the planet. So it's only natural that the two should come together somehow.Continue reading...

The trailer for Pixar's sequel to Cars — called, wait for it, Cars 2 — is out and it's full of brands. Except, in keeping with Pixar tradition, those brands are not real. One product-placed "brand" in particular is all over the place, but what does it mean?Continue reading...

Disney may be closing the book on animated fairy tales, but with Tangled it's certainly leaving a proud hair-itage behind. The animation studio has announced that it's getting out of the fairy tales business because they don't appeal to boys, but its 50th animated motion picture would have made Walt proud (besides being in CGI, that is).

Although it failed to trump the penultimate Harry Potter film, Tangled (which was renamed from the too-girly Rapunzel before it opened) set a US box office record this past weekend by posting the second-biggest Thanksgiving opening ever at $69 million. 

That success may have been due, in part, to parodies produced by Disney's marketers to make their final princess project more hip (and Shrek-like).Continue reading...

Comcast and GE name Comcast COO Steve Burke as new CEO of NBC Universal, replacing Jeff Zucker after the NBCU sale to Comcast closes. 

Alberto Culver has been sold to Unilever for $3.7 billion in cash.

AIG will lose the US Treasury as a part-owner.

Apple's Ping music-based social network incorporates users' iTunes libraries.

Barnes & Noble ownership battle nears its climax.

BP pressured to restore reputation and stock price as new CEO Robert Dudley takes the reins on Friday.Continue reading...

General Motors' IPO could be filed tomorrow, a source tells Reuters. GM’s toughest obstacle will be persuading investors that new CEO Daniel Akerson can get a handle on the company’s unprofitable European operations. GM also agreed to pay employees of its European Opel division up to about $340 million a year if it fails to invest billions of euros into new cars and trucks through 2014.

Hulu is said to be considering an IPO of $2 billion this year. Hulu is now serving 3x as many video ads as YouTube, while Facebook is now the third largest video site in the U.S. according to new comScore figures.

Adobe partners with Typekit to bring "legendary" typefaces to the web.

Android surges as mobile device sales increase 13.8%, reports Gartner.

Apple's ad service is off to a bumpy start, the WSJ reports.

Barclays settles U.S. charges brought by the federal government and New York.Continue reading...