We’re back with a new week and news that Disney’s online presence is about to get much more interactive. Launching in the next few weeks, the newly refurbished Disney.com, which was announced by Bob Iger at the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas recently, aims to gather a host of otherwise web-familiar applications under one roof, including the ability for sharing videos, listen to music, play group games and chat with friends within a virtual Disney world of characters and content.

Although the Disney site is apparently one of the most popular online destinations, with 22.3 million unique visitors in December alone, it’s never been the most exciting of places, and the company has had a fair struggle to place itself in the bracket of recognized leaders of this kind since the problems it faced with the whole Go.com fiasco several years back. With the new page, it seems Disney is finally stepping up to the plate with something special: the new page will contain something called Xtreme Digital, a broadband component that will allow access to Disney content, videos and games, including the Pirates Of The Caribbean massive multiplayer set to launch later this year.

Quite where this leaves the current deals with Apple’s iTunes is unclear, though it’s an interesting way to allow the use of Disney content in a YouTube fashion, but with the company keeping tabs on what’s being used where. And it remains to be seen exactly how much of that content will be made available “for free” and how much will be ad supported, either by Disney product or by third parties. I look forward to seeing what Mickey and pals have been up to in the past year, though wonder if it’s not too late to be making such a move, or indeed too early. Bob Iger has shown he’s a guy out to own the digital age by melding it with a stock of classic brands and franchises but it remains the consumer’s choice if they stick with one provider or, as seems to be the case, if they continue to look to separate areas of the web for their individual needs.

I’m very glad to read this weekend that Night At The Museum has held the global number one position for another week, bringing it up to a month at the top. It’s an extremely fun little picture, the best family outing for the recent holiday season certainly, and deserves the success it is generating. I got a big kick out of it if only for the fun of seeing legends such as Dick Van Dyke and Mickey Rooney back on the big screen as major parts of the cast (indeed Van Dyke is only second billed to nominal star Ben Stiller, whom I have gone cold on recently but who shines here). The effects keep things light and never too serious and the story, which has a couple of holes but nothing gaping, even had one twist that I admit I never saw coming. Warm and exciting, I urge you to run out and catch it before it starts its eventual box office slide. It’s films like this that proves they can make them like they used to (when they want to) and that audiences have not gone off that brand of wholesome entertainment. And apart from all the worthy epics standing up for attention as the awards season begins its merry game, Night At The Museum is the kind of film the movies were made for.

Speaking of awards…tomorrow sees the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, or AMPAS, announce their Academy Awards, or the Oscar nominations to you and me. After a packed year in terms of animation, it will be interesting to see who’ll be amongst the potential invites up to the stage when the big night comes, and the predictions have gone from the safe bets to suggestions that are wide off the mark. It’s always a guessing game, of course, but Cars recent win at the Globes means it could be just a formality of handing out the little golden guy to John Lasseter. That would be a shame, since there were more personable and original animated features put out in the past twelve months that should see some of that Pixar recognition rub off on them instead. What’s your view? Come discuss it with us at the Animated News & Views Forum!

– Ben.