Wednesday, February 18, 2009

Disney’s Matinee Club animates its way into DFW

By Pegasus News wire

A large number of North Texas movie theaters are set to participate in a Disney-sponsored entertainment experience "for the whole family" (but geared towards kids) called Disney's Matinee Club.

Looking to bring more kids (and their attendant families) into the theater, some marketing whiz kids at Disney have come up with a multi-activity themed event which participating theaters will run for one week only (per theme) in association with a 10 a.m. showing of the specified movie.

First up will be the Princess Program, which - from March 6-12 - will center around a showing of Mulan. Also on the agenda will be a Sleeping Beauty curtsy school and a "Part of Your World" sing-along (ref. the Disney film The Little Mermaid). But here's the best part: little girls coming to the show are encouraged to wear their princess ball gowns, a la Cinderella. Can you say, "cute"? (Sure you can.)

Boys get equal time during the next special event, dubbed the Adventure Program (March 27-April 2), featuring a showing of the animated movie Tarzan. Also screening during the program will be a short called Test Pilot Donald (as in, "Duck"). Activity on tap: the Monkey Dodgeball game. Hm...

The Motormania Program (April 17-23) involves the Disney/Pixar opus Cars, with a short film called Mater and the Ghost Light cued up for auxiliary viewing. Something called the Motormania Race Game will rev up its engines to serve as a live-action activity.

And finally - on the week of May 8-14 - participating theaters will host the Pre-School Program, with The Many Adventures of Winnie the Pooh serving as the feature presentation. Tugboat Mickey (the cartoon rat's first big break) will play as the featured short, while activities such as a follow-the-leader sing-along and a sing-along parade will keep the wee ones occupied in the interim.

Each program will run for 90 minutes to two hours.

Here's a list of participating theaters in the Dallas-Fort Worth area: AMC Parks Arlington; AMC Stonebriar 24; AMC Grapevine 30; AMC Highland Village 12; AMC Mesquite 30; Cinemark 14, Cedar Hill; Cinemark 17; Cinemark 15; Cinemark Movies 14; Cinemark 24; Cinemark West 20; Harkins Town Square 14; Rave 13 at Ridgmar; Rave Hickory Creek 16; and Rave 18.

For further information and to buy tickets, direct your browser here.

posted by JM

Related stories

• Audio: Disney VP talks about North Texas Matinee Club rollout (Feb. 26, 2009)

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• Arts > Movies / Film