New Chief Rich Ross stopped production of the film and has shelved the project indefinitely. $10 million were already spent in hiring crews that was supposed to start building sets in Rosarito Beach. It was reported that a generous amount was already spent to hire Pulitzer Prize winner Michael Chabon to write the Nemo story. Charlie’s Angels and Terminator Salvation director McG was supposed to direct while Will Smith was supposed to be Captain Nemo (he turned it down previously).

The movie was supposed to be the next franchise story for Disney, following Pirates of the Caribbean. Incidentally, the focus now of what will be the next big, “water-based” story that will replace Captain Nemo is the fourth installment of Pirates. The story was to focus as a prequel to the 1954 Disney film 20,000 Leagues Under The Sea, which was Walt Disney’s first science fiction film. The story was based from the novel of the same title by Jules Verne.

It now seems that, after almost 20 years of negotiation, Disney has finally won approval to build its new park in Shanghai. This new approval just happened last week. The entertainment group will spend about £2.4 billion to £3 billion on building a 3,000 acre park. This is great news for Shanghai since Disneyland is a huge attraction for many Europeans.

However, before the construction can begin, thousands of local residents have to be relocated. Some canny farmers have already launched a plan to cash in on Disney having to buy the land for their new theme park.

The goal of many people right now is to start building on the land that Disney needs to buy. That is because the areas that are built on fetch far more compensation than the ones that are just open fields. Thus, it now seems like the cost for Disney to build their new park just keeps going up.

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The Walt Disney Co. posted a surprise 18 percent increase in fourth-quarter earnings Thursday and announced an executive job switch that might point to an eventual successor to Chief Executive Robert Iger.

Iger, 58, said he was behind the decision to turn Chief Financial Officer Tom Staggs into the parks and resorts chairman, while making parks chairman Jay Rasulo the new CFO.

Staggs, 49, is well respected among Wall Street analysts and had been in his job for 11 years. Rasulo, 53, has pushed a theme park expansion into China and the construction of two new cruise ships, and has been in his current job since 2005.

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Mainland China may have its own Disneyland in less than five years, Chinese officials confirming Monday government approval to build the park in Shanghai. Speaking under anonymity to BusinessWeek, officials said the country's main planning agency, National Development and Reform Commission, had approved the plans. However, Disney Parks and Resorts Group executive vice president Leslie Goodman said in a statement that "No deal has been agreed to, no project has been approved"

Despite this, Mayor Han Zheng told reporters Sunday that a detailed announcement would be made this week ahead of President Barack Obama's November 15 visit to Shanghai. It is speculated that the different public statements reflect last-minute disputes over cost and ownership details for the theme park.

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A bailiff inspected Disneyland Paris on Wednesday to investigate allegations that recruitment policies discriminated against staff who were not white but found no evidence to support them, a Disneyland spokesman said.

The inspection, ordered by a court in Meaux, outside Paris, follows a report by anti-racism campaign group SOS Racisme, accusing Euro Disney of discriminating against people who were not white when recruiting "cast members" for its Disneyland Paris resort.

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Didn't Charles Dickens use to be the author of "A Christmas Carol?" Well, now it's "Disney's A Christmas Carol" that opens later this week. Even that's a misnomer.

It should be "Robert Zemeckis' A Christmas Carol." This is not nitpicking, for authorship goes to the heart of what's good and what's not good about this latest cinematic installment of the classic Christmas story.

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A long-awaited plan to build a Disney theme park in Shanghai appears to have moved forward, with officials confirming Monday that needed central government approvals are in place and an announcement is due soon. However, Disney said there was no change to report.

Mayor Han Zheng told reporters Sunday that the city plans to make an announcement as early as this week to explain details of the plan _ handy timing ahead of President Barack Obama's planned Nov. 15 visit to Shanghai. An official in the public information department of the National Development and Reform Commission, China's main planning agency, confirmed Monday that the plan had been approved.

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Disney’s newest cruise ship sets sail in 2011. Disney says The Disney Dream will take family cruising to all-new heights. The ship features a first-of-its kind water coaster that sends guests racing above the upper decks of the ship, an animated turtle that engages children in conversation about life in the ocean and a sophisticated lounge where the sun sets over the skyline of a different world-famous city each night.

Other features include: AquaDuck Water Coaster:  Guests will get swept away in AquaDuck, a flume ride that stretches 765 feet in length – more than two and a half times the length of a football field – and spans four decks in height. Guests slide 13 feet over the side of the ship.

In a translucent “swing out” loop allowing them to look down on the ocean 150 feet below and experience coaster-like thrills as high-powered water jets push them upwards and forwards at 20 feet per second.  AquaDuck continues through the forward funnel, encounters a 335 foot stretch of river rapids and splashes down to an end on Deck 12.

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If you were President Obama, what's the best possible news you could hear from Hu Jintao during your upcoming visit in November? That the Chinese military will agree to keep their agreement to work more closely with the US military? That recent threats to potentially raise tariffs on US automakers were just a big joke? Or were you thinking something perhaps...a bit more...magical?

Because it would be pretty magical if the reports of Shanghai's Disneyland being given the go-ahead by Beijing were true. In theory, all that needs to happen would be a deal signed by Disney and the Shanghai government, which supposedly exists already, though we have our doubts. If it does go through, Reuters has some interesting analysis on the potential effects of such a deal, though we think they may have been watching too many Disney movies:

Analysts said a Disney agreement could be a feel-good bilateral story, highlighting U.S. cultural influence and an investment that does not entail U.S. job losses in the manufacturing sector. China would get a boost to its leisure sector and to domestic demand as it tries to trim its dependence on exports, which left it vulnerable during the financial crisis, wrote Gong Weisong, an editor at the state-run Shanghai Securities News.

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Selena Gomez, star of Disney Channel Original Series “Wizards of Waverly Place” spent Sunday at the Disneyland Resort. Around Disney spotted her enjoying an afternoon ride on California Screamin’ at Disney’s California Adventure. The night before, Gomez hit Haunt at Knott’s Berry Farm, where she got one of the park’s monsters to stop lurching just long enough to pose for a photo.

Gomez just finished her album, “Kiss and Tell,” which debuted last month, and is stepping into new territory with the fall 2010 launch of her fashion line, Dream Out Loud . Currently, she is hard at work as she returns for her second year as spokesperson for Trick-or-Treat for UNICEF