Welcome to the latest episode of the MOTION PICTURES podcast.

Your regular hosts, Carl Sweeney & Tony Black, join forces to discuss the monolith that is Disney in the wake of the release of FROZEN II...

After decades producing some of cinema’s most beloved and well known animation, the House of Mouse have over the last decade under CEO Bob Iger expanded their dominant reach across Hollywood - Pixar, LucasFilm, Marvel Studios and most recently 20th Century Fox all now fall under the Disney umbrella.

But what does that mean for cinema itself? Disney now control a significant proportion of the global box office for 2019. They have just launched their streaming service in the States, Disney+, releasing original movies such as their life-action remake of The Lady and the Tramp as an exclusive for the service. They are actively curtailing screenings of certain classic pictures they now own by independent cinema chains as control over lucrative IP tightens.

Is their corporate hegemony likely to finance bigger and better franchises, providing exciting and varied entertainment to the masses? Or is it part of a creeping cinematic dystopia? A corporate subsuming of original ideas, vibrant talent, and cinematic revolutions which led to some of the greatest film movement of the last 100 years?

Plus! In our 'What We've Watched' section, we pick through some recommendations of cinema new and old, including LE MANS '66 & DER GOLEM, plus one to avoid in the recent ROBIN HOOD...

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Matt Zoller Seitz for Vulture: https://www.vulture.com/2019/10/disney-is-quietly-placing-classic-fox-movies-into-its-vault.html

You can also find a Letterboxd list of Disney films mentioned in the podcast here - have you seen them all? https://letterboxd.com/blackster/list/motion-pictures-podcast-5-the-disney-paradox/