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Tag: The Mighty Ducks

  • Disney+ Cancels ‘Big Shot’ and ‘Mighty Ducks: Game Changers’ After 2 Seasons

    Disney+ Cancels ‘Big Shot’ and ‘Mighty Ducks: Game Changers’ After 2 Seasons

    The end has arrived for Big Shot and Mighty Ducks: Game Changers. Disney+ is canceling both series after their recently released second seasons. Unfortunately, this became possible after senior executive, Peter Rice, was fired last June. The company noted a “culture fit,” but some speculate that it was due to how Rice spent the streaming services’ overall programming budgets.

    Data for each show is not available, but it is noteworthy that neither series is in the upper echelon of streaming rankings. Additionally, series leads John Stamos and Yvette Nicole Brown will join other shows on Amazon Freevee and Bounce TV in the near future, which means they were very likely not expecting to return anytime soon anyway.

    This might be the first of many cancelations moving forward that’ll reshape the streaming service’s future endeavors. The mentioning of “culture fit” is a bit bizarre, as The Mighty Ducks of all things does seem to fit quite nicely into Disney’s overall niche and the plan to make good use of pre-existing IP.

    It’s unclear what exactly their plans are moving forward for the service and if we might see fewer productions rolling out. Though, it’s also possible they go down a reality TV route, which is cheaply made and easy to share on the service for younger audiences. Most shows nowadays are mainly focused on adults. So, there’s a potential market for them to make use of, as they already tested out some projects. For now, Disney+’s future remains a question mark.

    Source: The Hollywood Reporter, Variety, TV Line

  • Disney+’s ‘Mighty Ducks’ Series Found Its New Male Lead in Josh Duhamel

    Disney+’s ‘Mighty Ducks’ Series Found Its New Male Lead in Josh Duhamel

    It looks like The Mighty Ducks Disney+ series has found its new lead, as Josh Duhamel has been announced to fill the gap that is left behind with Emilio Estevez leaving the project. He originally was going to return for the second season, but there were rumors that conflicts regarding the series COVID restrictions may have led to his departure. Supposedly, there were also creative differences that played a key factor in why he and Disney went their separate ways on this project.

    Duhamel is set to play a new character named Gavin Cole, who runs an intense summer hockey institute. He was once an NHL player that became a coach with the description of being “inspirational, charming, and hardcore as he is big on the hockey metaphor that applies to life.” So, the kids might be in for a tough training session in the upcoming second season. It won’t be the same without Estevez‘s Gordon Bombay, but it’ll be interesting to see what Duhamel might offer to mix up the formula.

    The second season will be run by Cathy Yuspa and Josh Goldsmith, who created the series together with the film’s director Steven Brill. Outside of Estevez, most of the cast will return for the second season, such as Lauren Graham and Brady Noon. The series currently has no production start date or release date for its second season.

    Source: The Hollywood Reporter

  • Emilio Estevez Won’t Return for ‘The Mighty Ducks: Game Changers’ Season 2 After All

    Emilio Estevez Won’t Return for ‘The Mighty Ducks: Game Changers’ Season 2 After All

    Here’s a rather surprising bit of news. It seems that Gordon Bombay actor Emilio Estevez is exiting the second season of The Mighty Ducks: Game Changers. After the series brought back an unlikely team of kids to play hockey, he was one of the key cast members returning from the original 1992 film. Yet, it seems he won’t be returning to the upcoming season due to disputes over COVID vaccination requirements. The series has adopted mandatory policies for its cast and crew. It seems he declined to assure he would comply just as the scripts were being written until the studio decided not to exercise his option. As such, they are going to rewrite the scripts without him. Yet, there are also hints that creative differences also played a key factor.

    Zone A vaccination mandate isn’t new to the industry, and we might see many more people refuse to join productions if this continues. Netflix has it mandatory on all their productions while Disney TV Studios is only rolling it out on new and some existing projects. So, we’ll see if this starts affecting other productions moving forward and what it might mean for the industry, as the world still continues to recover from COVID.

    Source: Deadline

  • ‘The Mighty Ducks: Game Changers’ Release Date Revealed Alongside New Trailer

    ‘The Mighty Ducks: Game Changers’ Release Date Revealed Alongside New Trailer

    It has been quite the day for Disney+, as they’ve been releasing one reveal after another. They are using the current TCA event to showcase their upcoming series to get some release dates out and answer a few questions. Loki got a new release date in June and it looks like another series got its release date. Disney+ has confirmed that The Mighty Ducks: Game Changers is going to release on the service as of March 26th. It also came alongside a new poster and trailer that teases the next generation of misfits standing up for what they believe in.

    The new Mighty Ducks series looks like a promising look at kids coming together. The original franchise that started in 1992 consisted of three films. Game Changers is the first live-action series that will see the return of screenwriter Steven Brill and producer Jordan Kerner. Brill is serving as head writer for the series, while Josh Goldsmith and Cathy Yuspa will serve as showrunners. The franchise also had an animated series that had nothing to do with the original franchise, as it focused on anthropomorphic ducks that played the game. Only the iconic team’s symbol and the name carried over into the animated adaptation. I would love to see an animated series in the background that pays tribute to the animated series.

    Source: Twitter