Apple Clips gets new Disney- and Pixar-inspired effects

Here’s another fruit from Apple’s partnership with Disney. The company’s video creation app for iOS, Clips, is bringing tons of graphic overlays and posters from some of your favorite Disney and Pixar characters. Version 1.1 of the app now has animated overlays of Mickey Mouse, Minnie Mouse, Donald Duck, and Daisy Duck as well as your favorite Toy Story and Inside Out characters like Woody and Jessie, Joy, Fear, etc. Aside from the overlays, there are new Disney-designed posters that can work as title cards for your stories.

Aside from these, there are 10 new Apple-designed overlays and 12 posters with “dramatic graphics, beautifully rendered backgrounds, and customizable animated text.” Apple says they’ve also included some usability improvements to make it that much easier to turn video clips and photos into something fun.

Lenovo makes AR headset for ‘Star Wars’ games

It’s not something you’d expect to be announced at Disney’s D23 Expo in Anaheim, California but here it is. Lenovo and Disney have partnered to release its own augmented reality headset, which would need a smartphone for it to work. Not much is known yet about the headset but the first game coming is called Star Wars: Jedi Challenges and it looks like it’ll bring your lightsaber-wielding dreams to life as you have a motion controller for it. Other games coming include Holochess, which is considered a catch-all term for the holographic games in the Star Wars universe. No announcement yet on the release dates of the headset and the games but according to its website, it’s “coming soon to Best Buy and Lenovo.com.”

Source: Polygon

Hackers claim to have pirated upcoming ‘Pirates of the Caribbean’ film

Taking cues from its subject matter, it’s been reported that Disney’s upcoming Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Men Tell No Tales has been taken by hackers who are now demanding ransom for it. Disney CEO Bob Iger won’t name the film but Deadline reports it’s this fifth installment of the Pirates series. The hackers are said to be asking for a large sum that must be paid in bitcoin. But Iger says the company is refusing to pay and they’re already working with FBI. The hackers are threatening to release five minutes of the film for the first time and then in 20-minute chunks until their demands are met.

This incident involving Disney isn’t the first high profile hack of a studio. Another hacker uploaded just weeks ago 10 episodes of the upcoming season of Orange is the New Black on The Pirate Bay after Netflix refused to pay.

Source: The Hollywood Reporter

Disney & Lucasfilm announces release dates for ‘Star Wars Episode IX’ & new ‘Indiana Jones’ movies

It’s going to be a two-year wait for the next main trilogy Star Wars movie and a three-year wait for the upcoming Indiana Jones film. Walt Disney Company and Lucasfilm just announced that May 24, 2019 will be the release date for the untitled Star Wars: Episode IX, while Indiana Jones will be hitting theatres on July 10, 2020. Directed by Colin Trevorrow, Episode IX closes out the newest Star Wars trilogy. For Indiana Jones, it’s been announced Harrison Ford and director Steven Spielberg will be coming back for this latest movie. Chris Pratt has been tipped to be coming to the reboot but that hasn’t been confirmed just yet.

Source: Polygon