Elementary school shows "The Lion King" during a fundraiser. Now it owes Disney $250.

"One of the dads bought the movie at Best Buy," PTA president David Rose told CNN. "He owned it. We literally had no idea we were breaking any rules."

So it goes for the folks at Emerson Elementary School in Berkeley, CA, which was hosting a fundraiser for "parents' night out." They showed the 2019 remake of The Lion King during the festivities--and, in the process, raised about $750 for the school.

That is until Movie Licensing USA caught wind of the event. The company represents Disney and other major Hollywood studios for licensing issues. They emailed Emerson explaining that since the school didn't have a license to publicly show the movie, they owe Disney $250. The PTA says they won't fight it and will give Disney the money.

Disney's net income for 2019 was $10.44 billion on record revenue of $69.57 billion.

They want $250 from a school.

That's all you really need to know.

So, apparently Victor Hugo isn't as popular as he was back in the day.

Two game show contestants in England were playing a sort of Wheel of Fortune knockoff called Letterbox when they had to spell out a fictional character. Everyone in the audience, the host, and the two players' teammates knew the answer, but this intellectual dynamic duo was a bit dense.





"Does that open things up for you Lyndsey?" asks the host kindly. Oh, I think we're opening her up to a world of 19th century literature right before our eyes.

Hell, even Disney made a version of Hugo's classic awhile back. But we all know Quasimodo is no Mufasa or Aladdin.

Kermit the frog is no longer Kermit the frog.

Kermit plotting his revenge against Elmo and company.

Steve Whitmire, the voice of Kermit the frog, has been fired, and no one exactly knows why.

Disney, who owns the Muppets, announced in October 2016 that they intended to recast Kermit's voice, but never explained to Whitmire why, or to anyone else for that matter. Whitmire took over the voice of Kermit in 1990 after the Muppets creator--and original Kermit--Jim Henson died.

On his personal blog, Whitmire is taking the whole matter pretty hard.

"I want all of you who love the Muppets to know that I would never consider abandoning Kermit or any of the others because to do so would be to forsake the assignment entrusted to me by Jim Henson, my friend and mentor, but even more, my hero," he wrote.

Oh, boy.

"I just want you all to know that I am sorry if I have disappointed any of you at any point throughout our journey, and to let everyone know that I am devastated to have failed in my duty to my hero," he added.

Someone get this guy a drink...or six...because he's going to need them.

Since Disney is quiet on the matter, I think it's fair to throw wild accusations around and blame Elmo for this. We all know he's power hungry.

The city of Orlando is looking to hire a poet laureate.

Admittedly, you'll be going up against Donald Duck and Shamu for the job, but interested applicants can apply here.

Free Dobby! (And maybe buy him a shirt.)

At the Warner Brother's studio tour at Leavesden in London, people have begun leaving socks at the case where a life-sized (for a house elf) Dobby stands inside, all in hopes of freeing him.

In case you're confused because you didn't read the Harry Potter books, Dobby is Harry's elf servant. House elves serve humans in the book series, and can free themselves from a life of slavery if given pieces of clothing. (I don't know what the logic is, just go with it.) In the books, Hermione knits socks and places them around Hogwarts hoping the elves find them and free themselves.

Which brings us back to the studio tour where socks are now being draped beside Dobby's case, as this Twitter post shows.

People have been trying to free Dobby at the WB Studio Tour 😢 pic.twitter.com/qTduzDmZvu

— Hogwarts Logic (@HogwartsLogic) September 27, 2015

Isn't this cruelty though? Dobby's locked inside a case. How exactly is he going to be able to grab one of those socks. That's just teasing the poor little guy at this point. No wonder he has his eyes closed. He can't bear to look.





Now, I may be wrong, but the piece of clothing doesn't have to be a sock. So why not drape some other clothing for the poor guy outside the case. A shirt, a nice pair of slacks, some underwear. Dobby is wearing a sweat-stained and dirt-caked rag--and people are going to leave him mismatched socks? He needs an entire wardrobe, people.

And while I'm at it--what's up with so many cartoon characters lacking pants? Donald Duck and Porky Pig are prime examples. Both wear shirts--and bow ties, no less (BOW TIES!)--but no pants. So they can show their goodies, but damned if they aren't going to look stylish with the neckwear. Business up top, party down below, I guess.

Something horribly, horribly wrong has happend on the Japanese toy market.

Japanese toy maker Bandai has announced that they intend to release 'Chogokin King Robo Mickey & Friends' in early 2013. Yes, that Mickey. As in Mickey Mouse. As a robot.

Not just Mickey though--as the '& Friends' includes Minnie Mouse, Daisy and Donald Duck, Goofy, Pluto, and Steamboat Willy all combining into a wannabe Power Rangers robot.

In essence, it's channeling the Super Sentai Chogokin Shinken robot whatchamacallit toy from the 1980s. And if you're reading this right now and blacking out because I just typed the words Chogokin Shinken, I'm waaaaaaay ahead of you.






My grandmother gave me a Chogokin Shinken robot toy for Christmas once because she thought it was popular. Shockingly, 77-year old women don't have their fingers on the pulse of popular toys for 10-year old boys.