Back in January 2007, the Walt Disney company released the first photos from their Year of a Million Wishes campaign which featured celebrities portraying classic characters from Disney animated films in new photos shot by famed photographer Annie Leibovitz. As you may recall, David Beckham was photographed as Prince Phillip from Disney’s Sleeping Beauty, Scarlett Johansson was photographed as Cinderella and Beyoncé was photographed as Alice from Alice in Wonderland. Then in January of 2008, Disney released a whole batch of new photos from the campaign which featured celebs like Jennifer Lopez & Marc Anthony (who portrayed Princess Jasmine & Aladdin), Whoopi Goldberg (as Aladdin’s Genie), Jessica Biel (as Pocahontas) and more. Later that same year, a new photo that featured Julianne Moore as Ariel from The Little Mermaid and Michael Phelps as a merman was released. Today, we get to see the latest photo from this Disney campaign … behold, Zac Efron and Vanessa Hudgens as Prince Phillip (the very same character Becks portrayed in the first batch of photos) and Princess Aurora/Briar-Rose from Disney’s Sleeping Beauty:

While the pose is pretty cheesy (most likely because it’s got Zac Efron in it), the photo is beautiful. Leibovitz is such an amazing photographer, her photos are very, very cool. I suppose I get why Disney would select Zanessa to portray these characters but I’m actually surprised they’ve decided to milk the Sleeping Beauty movie for another photo when there are so many other films that have yet to be featured. Snow White?* Mulan? Mowgli from Jungle Book? I am happy to know that the campaign is still ongoing, especially since Disney’s Year of a Million Dreams is long over. I wonder if we’ll be seeing more photos soon from the campaign? I guess we shall see.

*Pink reader Starkie reminds me that Rachel Weisz did portray Snow White in a photo of her own. Thanks!

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Fans of the epic graphic novel Watchmen who happen in live in NYC might be encountering either some extreme fandom or really illegal movie marketing on the streets of their fair city. As fans of the comics know, the phrase Who Watches the Watchmen? is spray painted on public walls thru out NYC in the story … and this week, real graffiti of that phrase has started showing up on real buildings in NYC … which either means there are some really rabid fans out there who want to promote the movie OR viral movie marketing for the film has taken on an illegal slant. Here are a few examples of some of the graffiti that has been spotted this week:

The familiar “Who Watches The Watchmen?” graffiti from Alan Moore and Dave Gibbons‘ celebrated graphic novel — and Zack Snyder’s upcoming “Watchmen” movie — has been popping up all over lower Manhattan lately. But is it a viral marketing campaign, or fans excited about the film’s looming arrival in theaters? Sure, graffiti is nothing new in New York City, but the fact that this kind of graffiti is showing up around the city has become a common topic of conversation among New York City comics fans — and everywhere else the familiar tag is popping up. From personal blogs to Twitter feeds and Flickr photo sets, “Watchmen” graffiti has found its way online, with photos [being] snapped in Manhattan’s Chelsea neighborhood and … in the SoHo area. If viral marketing was indeed involved, the company would have to go great lengths to get permission from the city to tag a telephone booth near Union Square, while the tag found in Chelsea was on the side of a restaurant. I’d assume it would be difficult to get the restaurant owner to agree to that one. Better yet, is the graffiti a product of something more like the controversial “Aqua Teen Hunger Force” viral marketing campaign that hit Boston back in 2007? One kind of hopes, though, that it’s the work of one — or more — comics fans who just like “Watchmen” that much. While we probably won’t get any answers about the graffiti’s origins, any chance to show off a comics in-joke posted in a public forum is worth mentioning.

On the one hand, I think this is genius … on the other, it’s grossly criminal. Seeing this type of graffiti splashed on buildings all around town, just like in the comics, adds a level of meta-ness that, I think, heightens the movie going experience. But I suspect that owners of storefronts and buildings who may fall victim to this type of marketing might not be too happy about the practice. I agree with the report that we may never find out if this graffiti is actually sanctioned by the movie makers or if it’s merely the work of fanboys. Having seen the film yesterday (review to come later today), I can understand how fans of the original comic might want to express their fandom in this way. The movie, in my estimation, is excellent. While I personally would not go to these lengths to profess my fandom, I can see how some might. It’d be interesting to know if this sort of graffiti has been seen in any other cities.

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Welp, it’s a done deal, y’all. A new email sent out by Summit Entertainment, the company that will produce the entire Twilight Saga franchise of movies, is confirming that Dakota Fanning has been officially cast to play Volturi vampire Jane in the upcoming film The Twilight Saga’s New Moon:

As some of you may be aware, Jane is described in the book as a vampire who has a “Botticelli angel-like face…[and] crimson irises” … which is a role that I think Dakota can play well. In January, we learned that her name was being floated around for the role and a couple of days after, Dakota herself publicly expressed her interest in playing the part. Many Pink readers were very much on board with her getting the role … while the folks against her getting the part were merely worried that her “big name”ness might spoil the film. To be honest, it never occurred to me that Dakota would be perfect for the role of Jane until her name was being floated around … now she’s the only person I can imagine doing the role justice. I think Summit Entertainment made a wise choice. I expect Dakota will be making her way up to Vancouver, Canada in the coming weeks (if not sooner) to join the rest of the New Moon castmembers who are making their way there now to begin filming (you may recall that earlier this week we saw photos of Taylor Lautner, who will reprise his role as Jacob Black, was spotted at LAX Airport headed for Vancouver). What do y’all think … are y’all still on board with Dakota playing Jane?

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