Disney Cinemagic was a channel available in the United Kingdom and Ireland, which launched on March 19, 2006, replacing the UK version of Toon Disney, and proceeded to launch throughout Europe in later years as well as Australia. It also had a timeshift service called Disney Cinemagic +1. Despite the name, Disney Cinemagic has no formal connection with the CineMagic children's film festival based in Belfast, UK.
In the UK and Ireland, Disney Cinemagic ceased broadcasting at midnight on March 28, 2013 and was effectively replaced with Sky Movies Disney, as part of a multi-year film output deal between BSkyB and The Walt Disney Company.
In 2019, Disney announced plans to pull the German feed of the channel (also the last remaining one) off Sky Germany and closed on September 30, 2019.
The channel was unavailable outside of Europe.
Channel description
The original UK incarnation of Disney Cinemagic showed regular screenings of Disney movies, typically three to four each day, the movies were, with very little exception, the cinematic releases such as those from the animated canon and the live action material, as well as their direct-to-home video films. Cinemagic did not show movies from the Disney Channel Original Movie library with the one rare except of the first two High School Musical films, which were shown in conjunction with the channel premier of the third film. During the channel's run, all Disney movies would have their UK TV premiere on the channel.
Disney Cinemagic also showed the archives of classic Disney Cartoons and Disney animated television series. From the beginning of its run, the television shows broadcast were entirely those that were spun off from the movies in the animated canon, such as the Aladdin series, Lilo & Stitch: The Series, and The Legend of Tarzan, as well as the shows that starred the Mickey Mouse characters, such as House of Mouse, Ducktales, and Goof Troop. In the later half of the channel's run, several of Disney's original animated television series, such as Recess and Kim Possible, would also begin to be shown.
On September 3, 2007, the channel received new branding, including a new logo and continuity graphics.
Aspect ratio
Unlike its counterparts, Disney Channel and Playhouse Disney, its movies were sometimes shown in their original aspect ratio though these are usually available only on cable. Notable exceptions were Tarzan II, Pocahontas II: Journey to a New World and Bambi II, which have only been broadcast in fullscreen, instead of their proper 16:9 ratio. Films in the 2.55:1 ratio, such as Lady and the Tramp[1], are cropped to 16:9, the only exception being The Incredibles. Disney Cinemagic eventually abandoned this process of showing 16:9 films in their original ratio, favouring prints in pan-and-scan due to the availability of widescreen on digital platforms.
Disney Cinemagic HD
Disney Cinemagic HD launched on Sky+ HD on Monday December 1, 2008 on EPG channel 631. The channel was available to Directv customers who had Disney Channel and Disney XD.[2]
Disney Cinemagic in Europe
The channel was also launched in France on September 4, 2007 (including one hour timeshift Disney Cinemagic +1), replacing Toon Disney on French satellite platform CANALSAT, making way for the expansion of the brand elsewehere. [3] A version in HD (High Definition) launched in France on November 30, 2007. In Spain and Portugal, the channel was launched on July 1 and October 1, 2008 respectively and ceased broadcasting on January 1, 2015 and November 1, 2012, respectively. The decision to close the Spanish feed was met with much anger online.
The final active Disney Cinemagic channel, on Germany, was replaced with Sky Cinema Special on 30 September, 2019, thus bringing an end to the Cinemagic brand after 13 years. It ended with the film Zenon: Girl of the 21st Century and a message thanking viewers for their loyalty.
Antenna TV
The current Disney Cinemagic logo was used for the programming block of the television channel Antenna with Disney Movies for the 2014 season, but the programming block was named "Ο Θαυμαστός Κόσμος της Disney, στον ΑΝΤ1".
Disney Cinemagic films
Former films
- 101 Dalmatians
- 101 Dalmatians II: Patch's London Adventure
- Air Buddies
- Aladdin
- Aladdin II: The Return of Jafar
- Aladdin and the King of Thieves
- An Extremely Goofy Movie
- Around the World in 80 Days
- A Bug's Life
- A Goofy Movie
- Bambi II
- Big Hero 6
- Blank Check
- Bolt
- Brave
- Bridge to Terabithia
- Brother Bear
- Brother Bear 2
- Buzz Lightyear of Star Command: The Adventure Begins
- Cars
- Cars 2
- Cars 3 (Germany Only)
- Chicken Little
- Cinderella II: Dreams Come True
- Cinderella III: A Twist in Time
- Coco (Germany Only)
- Confessions of a Teenage Drama Queen
- The Country Bears
- Descendants (Disney Channel Original Movie)
- Descendants 2 (Disney Channel Original Movie) (Germany Only)
- Dinosaur
- Doug's 1st Movie
- DuckTales the Movie: Treasure of the Lost Lamp
- Dumbo
- The Emperor's New Groove
- Enchanted
- The Fox and the Hound
- The Fox and the Hound 2
- Finding Nemo
- Finding Dory (Germany Only)
- Frozen
- The Game Plan
- George of the Jungle 2
- Gnomeo & Juliet
- The Good Dinosaur (Germany Only)
- The Great Mouse Detective
- Halloweentown (Disney Channel Original Movie)
- Halloweentown II: Kalabar's Revenge (Disney Channel Original Movie)
- Halloweentown High (Disney Channel Original Movie)
- Hercules
- Home on the Range
- The Hunchback of Notre Dame
- The Hunchback of Notre Dame II
- The Incredibles
- Incredibles 2 (Germany Only)
- Inside Out (Germany Only)
- Inspector Gadget (1999)
- Inspector Gadget 2
- Jungle Book 2
- The Jungle Cubs' Movie
- Kim Possible (Disney Channel Original Movie) (Germany Only)
- Kim Possible: So the Drama
- Kronk's New Groove
- Lady and the Tramp
- Lady and the Tramp II: Scamp's Adventure
- Leroy & Stitch
- Let It Shine (Disney Channel Original Movie)
- Lilo & Stitch 2: Stitch Has a Glitch
- Lilo & Stitch
- The Lion King
- The Lion King II: Simba's Pride
- The Lion King 1½
- The Little Mermaid
- The Little Mermaid II: Return to the Sea
- The Little Mermaid: Ariel's Beginning
- The Many Adventures of Winnie the Pooh
- Mr. Magoo
- Mary Poppins
- Meet the Robinsons
- Melody Time
- Mickey, Donald, Goofy: The Three Musketeers
- Mickey's House of Villains
- Moana (Germany Only)
- Monsters, Inc.
- Monsters University
- Motocrossed
- Mulan
- Mulan 2
- The Odd Life of Timothy Green
- Oliver & Company
- Pete's Dragon
- Peter Pan
- Piglet's Big Movie
- Pinocchio
- The Pirate Fairy
- Planes
- Planes: Fire & Rescue
- Pooh's Heffalump Movie
- Pooh's Heffalump Halloween Movie
- The Princess and the Frog
- Quints
- Ratatouille
- Recess: All Growed Down
- Recess: School's Out
- Recess: Taking the Fifth Grade
- The Rescuers Down Under
- Return to Halloweentown (Disney Channel Original Movie)
- Return to Never Land
- Rudyard Kipling's The Jungle Book
- Secret of the Wings
- Snow Buddies
- Space Buddies
- Spooky Buddies
- Super Buddies
- Stitch! The Movie
- Tangled
- Tarzan
- Teacher's Pet: The Movie
- The Three Caballeros
- Tinker Bell
- Tinker Bell and the Lost Treasure
- Tinker Bell and the Great Fairy Rescue
- Tinker Bell and the Legend of the NeverBeast
- The Tigger Movie
- Toy Story
- Toy Story 2
- Toy Story 3
- Treasure Buddies
- Treasure Planet
- Tron
- Tron Legacy
- Valiant
- Winnie the Pooh
- Winnie the Pooh: Springtime with Roo
- Wall-e
- The Wild
- Wreck-It Ralph
- Zootopia (Germany Only)
Christmas Films
These films were shown for Christmas on Cinemagic:
- I'll Be Home For Christmas
- Mickey's Once Upon a Christmas
- Mickey's Twice Upon a Christmas
- Mickey's Magical Christmas: Snowed in at the House of Mouse
- The Nightmare Before Christmas
- Recess Christmas: Miracle on Third Street
- Santa Buddies
- Winnie the Pooh: A Very Merry Pooh Year
Disney Cinemagic programming
Programming was scheduled for early mornings and evenings, whilst more programmes were broadcast later in the evenings. Disney Cinemagic movies were therefore shown during the day. Many shorts aired between Disney Cinemagic movies.
- 101 Dalmatians: The Series
- Aladdin
- Disney Animated Shorts/Disney Classic Toons
- DuckTales
- The Emperor's New School
- Lilo & Stitch: The Series
- The Little Mermaid
- The Legend of Tarzan
- TaleSpin
- Timon & Pumbaa
- BunnyTown (Sneak preview)
- Buzz Lightyear of Star Command
- The Buzz on Maggie (Seasons 1 & 2)
- Cars Toons: Mater's Tall Tales
- Chip 'n Dale Rescue Rangers
- Dave the Barbarian
- Goof Troop
- Mickey Mouse Works
- Mickey Mouse - Have a Laugh!
- Hercules
- House of Mouse
- Jungle Cubs
- Kim Possible
- Lloyd in Space
- My Friends Tigger & Pooh (Was shown as a special event)
- The New Adventures of Winnie the Pooh
- Phineas and Ferb (Sneak preview)
- Quack Pack
- Recess
- Teacher's Pet
- Adventures of the Gummi Bears
- Bonkers
- Darkwing Duck
- Gargoyles
- Stitch!
- Hannah Montana
- The Proud Family
- Zeke and Luther
- I'm in the Band
- The Replacements
- W.I.T.C.H. (TV series)
- The Suite Life of Zack & Cody
Pixar short films
In between showings of films, Disney Cinemagic also aired some of Pixar's short films. shorts that have been aired are:
Single shorts
- Knick Knack (1988)
- Mike's New Car (2002, Based on Monsters, Inc.)
- Boundin' (2003)
- One Man Band (2005)
- Mater and the Ghostlight (2006, Part of the Cars Toons series)
- Lifted (2006)
- A True Story About Bugs (2007)
- BURN-E (2008)
Short series
Disney Cinemagic events
Disney Cinemagic tended to broadcast certain special events occasionally or part of their regular schedule.
Former events
Disney Cinemagic brought back the Movie Showdown (after Disney Channel ceased broadcasting this show years ago), where viewers could go to the Vote page on the website and choose one of two selected films before Saturday at 9am.
Features included Inspector Gadget 2, Basil the Great Mouse Detective, Oliver and Company and a special screening of My Friends Tigger & Pooh.
Pre-release
- Two early teasers were first shown for the channel on all three Disney channels starting from September 2005. The first one shown was a slightly altered version of the original theatrical teaser trailer for The Incredibles, with the ending tagline, "The Incredibles! Coming Soon!". Later on, during the Autumn/Winter period of that same year, another teaser trailer was shown, featuring a musical montage of the movies set to be shown on the channel, such as Bambi, Brother Bear, Dumbo, Cinderella and The Lion King II: Simba's Pride. This was the first ad to feature the early working title, "Incredible Movies" (to correspond with the channel's main movie, The Incredibles). Nobody had any idea what this was supposed to be, as the only thing said near the end of the ad was "Coming soon, to Disney".
- During early 2006, another ad was shown several times (Again, throughout all three Disney channels), finally being showcased as "Disney Cinemagic". The ad featured Mickey Mouse, dressed in his The Sorcerer's Apprentice attire. He walked onto the completely blank white screen, took a magic wand and pressed the center of it with his finger, making magically morph into a TV remote. Mickey presses a button on the remote, and it starts blasting out magic holograms of several Disney characters. The remote starts vibrating uncontrollably, Mickey tries to regain control of it by randomly mashing different buttons, until finally, all of the holograms disappear. Mickey stands at the corner of the screen, smiling at the audience, while the Disney Cinemagic logo appears in the centre.
- In the early morning of March 16, 2006, Toon Disney showed several repeats of Kim Possible, until it was completely shut off. Since that time and throughout the first four hours of the morning, Toon Disney broadcast a test card saying "Disney Cinemagic is coming soon". At about 10:00am that morning, Toon Disney was officially taken off the air, and Disney Channel was moved to Toon Disney's former channel slot, while the newly launched Disney Cinemagic took over Disney Channel's original channel slot. Its timeshift, Cinemagic +1, took the original channel slot of Disney Channel +1, which was also removed along with Toon Disney (Disney Channel +1 did eventually return in June 2006).
Gallery:
References
- ↑ "Lady and the Tramp (1955) - Technical Specifications".
- ↑ Wilkes, Neil (November 20, 2008). "Disney to Launch Cinemagic HD Channel".
- ↑ Clover, Julian (May 24, 2007). "Disney Brings Cinemagic to Canalsat".