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Disney Cinemagic (Incredible Movies was the working title) was a channel available in the United Kingdom and Ireland, which launched on March 19, 2006, replacing the UK version of Toon Disney, and proceeded to launch throughout Europe in later years as well. It also had a timeshift service called Disney Cinemagic +1. Despite the name, Disney Cinemagic has no formal connection with the CineMagic children's film festival based in Belfast, UK.

In the UK and Ireland, Disney Cinemagic ceased broadcasting at midnight on March 28, 2013 and was effectively replaced with Sky Movies Disney, as part of a multi-year film output deal between BSkyB and The Walt Disney Company.

In 2019, Disney announced plans to pull the German feed of the channel (also the last remaining one) off Sky Germany and closed on September 30, 2019.

The channel was unavailable outside of Europe.

Branding history[]

Before Disney Cinemagic, the teaser promo on the UK and Ireland version of Disney Channel, Toon Disney, and Playhouse Disney in December 2005 features the working title Incredible Movies, in line with the premiere of The Incredibles on the channel, but no launch date shown.

In March 2006, Incredible Movies was launched as Disney Cinemagic in UK and Ireland, featuring various Disney films and shows like the premiere of the aforementioned The Incredibles. The initial branding of Disney Cinemagic features the initial logo that was different than what it was rebranded in 2007, with the Mickey Mouse head being outline cut-in-half (similar to Disney Channel's logo), and "Cinemagic" lacks film strips behind it, being large and entirely uppercase, and in different font. Disney Cinemagic's idents initially had 2D Disney or 3D CGI Pixar characters in live-action situations, such as live-action kids running while Buzz Lightyear, Mr. Potato Head, Rex, and Hamm crossing, Mad Hatter, Alice, and White Rabbit having a tea-party while live-action people watching them, and live-action barber having Beast a hair-cut. The initial branding also had some live-action reality mini-series between promos originally shown on Disney Channel, such as Movie Surfers. The initial branding also had the unique feature called "Movie Showdown", where viewers could go to the Vote page on the website and choose one of two selected films before Saturday at 9am.

In September 2007, Disney Cinemagic went completely rebranding in line with the launch of the French version, featuring a new logo and completely new idents that combines state-of-the-art painted backgrounds with 3D computer-animation (CGI) (the rebranded idents starts with 3D CGI studio set which later transforms by a pixie dust into either an Aztec jungle landscape, a fairytale landscape, an underwater landscape, a modern-western landscape, a futuristic city landscape, or a Victorian city rooftop landscape, with rebranded Disney Cinemagic logo in the centre, while mini-idents shown before shows features a basketball courtyard, a mainland, an Indian shop, and a Hawaiian beach). Live-action reality mini-series originally shown on Disney Channel like Movie Surfers and Movie Showdown from the initial branding of Disney Cinemagic were dropped from the rebrand as well.

Channel description[]

The original UK incarnation of Disney Cinemagic showed regular screenings of Disney movies, typically three to four each day, the movies were, with very few exceptions, the cinematic releases, such as those from the animated canon and the live action material, as well as their direct-to-home video films. Cinemagic did not show movies from the Disney Channel Original Movie library with the one rare except of the first two High School Musical films, which were shown in conjunction with the channel premier of the third film. During the channel's run, all Disney movies would have their UK TV premiere on the channel.

Disney Cinemagic also showed the archives of classic Disney Cartoons and Disney animated television series. From the beginning of its run, the television shows broadcast were entirely those that were spun off from the movies in the animated canon, such as the Aladdin series, Lilo & Stitch: The Series, and The Legend of Tarzan, as well as the shows that starred the Mickey Mouse characters, such as House of Mouse, Ducktales, and Goof Troop. In the later half of the channel's run, several of Disney's original animated television series, such as Recess and Kim Possible, would also begin to be shown.

On September 3, 2007, the channel received new branding, including a new logo and continuity graphics, which would continued to be used until the channel's definitive closure.

Disney Cinemagic HD launched on Sky+ HD on Monday December 1, 2008 on EPG channel 631.[1]

Aspect ratio[]

Unlike its counterparts, Disney Channel and Playhouse Disney, its movies were sometimes shown in their original aspect ratio though these are usually available only on cable. Notable exceptions were Tarzan II, Pocahontas II: Journey to a New World and Bambi II, which have only been broadcast in fullscreen, instead of their proper 16:9 ratio. Films in the 2.55:1 ratio, such as Lady and the Tramp[2], are cropped to 16:9, the only exception being The Incredibles. Disney Cinemagic eventually abandoned this process of showing 16:9 films in their original ratio, favoring prints in pan-and-scan due to the availability of widescreen on digital platforms.

Disney Cinemagic in Europe[]

The channel was also launched in France on September 4, 2007 (including one hour timeshift Disney Cinemagic +1), replacing Toon Disney on French satellite platform CANALSAT, making way for the expansion of the brand elsewhere. [3] A version in HD (High Definition) launched in France on November 30, 2007. The channel would be eventually replaced by Disney Cinema in 2015.

In Spain and Portugal, the channel was launched on July 1 and October 1, 2008 respectively, replacing Toon Disney in Spain in the process, and ceased broadcasting on January 1, 2015 and November 1, 2012, respectively, with Portugal's signal being replaced by Disney Junior. The decision to close the Spanish feed was met with much anger online, although a spiritual successor was eventually created in the form of Movistar Disney in 2017.

In Italy, a proper Disney Cinemagic was never created and instead became a programing block during weekends on Sky Cinema Family, being active between 2011 and 2019.

The final active Disney Cinemagic channel, on Germany, was replaced with Sky Cinema Special on 30 September, 2019, thus bringing an end to the Cinemagic brand after 13 years. It ended with the film, Zenon: Girl of the 21st Century and a message thanking viewers for their loyalty.

Antenna TV[]

The current Disney Cinemagic logo was used for the programming block of the television channel Antenna with Disney Movies for the 2014 season, but the programming block was named "Ο Θαυμαστός Κόσμος της Disney, στον ΑΝΤ1".

Replacement Channels[]

While Disney Cinemagic channels were closed over the course of the 2010s, they were replaced by alternative channels also dedicated to Disney movies, mostly exclusive to certain pay-TV operators, such as Sky, Canal+, and Movistar+. The majority of these services were closed after the release of Disney+ in the corresponding regions.

Market Name TV Operator Launch date Channel Replacement Replace date
United Kingdom, Ireland Sky Cinema Disney Sky UK 28 March 2013 Sky Cinema Five Star Movies 31 December 2020
Australia Foxtel Movies Disney Foxtel 10 April 2014 Foxtel Movies Kids 7 November 2019
France, Belgium Disney Cinema Canal+ 8 May 2015 None 1 May 2020[4]
New Zealand Sky Movies Disney Sky New Zealand 1 July 2015 Sky Movies Family 31 October 2019[5]
Spain Movistar Disney Movistar+ 22 December 2017 None 31 March 2020[6]
Middle East and North Africa OSN Movies Disney[7] OSN 1 March 2018 OSN Movies Family August 12, 2021

Disney Cinemagic films[]

Former films[]

Christmas Films[]

These films were shown for Christmas on Cinemagic:

Disney Cinemagic programming[]

Programming was scheduled for early mornings and evenings, whilst more programs were broadcast later in the evenings. Disney Cinemagic movies were therefore shown during the day. Many shorts aired between Disney Cinemagic movies.

Pixar short films[]

In between showings of films, Disney Cinemagic also aired some of Pixar's short films. shorts that have been aired are:

Single shorts[]

Short series[]

Disney Cinemagic events[]

Disney Cinemagic tended to broadcast certain special events occasionally or part of their regular schedule.

Former events[]

Disney Cinemagic brought back the Movie Showdown (after Disney Channel ceased broadcasting this show years ago), where viewers could go to the Vote page on the website and choose one of two selected films before Saturday at 9am.

Features included Inspector Gadget 2, Basil the Great Mouse Detective, Oliver and Company, and a special screening of My Friends Tigger & Pooh.

Pre-release[]

  • Two early teasers were first shown for the channel on all three Disney channels starting from September 2005. The first one shown was a slightly altered version of the original theatrical teaser trailer for The Incredibles, with the ending tagline, "The Incredibles! Coming Soon!". Later on, during the Autumn/Winter period of that same year, another teaser trailer was shown, featuring a musical montage of the movies set to be shown on the channel, such as Bambi, Brother Bear, Dumbo, Cinderella, and The Lion King II: Simba's Pride. This was the first ad to feature the early working title, "Incredible Movies" (to correspond with the channel's main movie, The Incredibles). Nobody had any idea what this was supposed to be, as the only thing said near the end of the ad was "Coming soon, to Disney".
  • During early 2006, another ad was shown several times (Again, throughout all three Disney channels), finally being showcased as "Disney Cinemagic". The ad featured Mickey Mouse, dressed in his The Sorcerer's Apprentice attire. He walked onto the completely blank white screen, took a magic wand and pressed the center of it with his finger, making magically morph into a TV remote. Mickey presses a button on the remote, and it starts blasting out magic holograms of several Disney characters. The remote starts vibrating uncontrollably, Mickey tries to regain control of it by randomly mashing different buttons, until finally, all of the holograms disappear. Mickey stands at the corner of the screen, smiling at the audience, while the Disney Cinemagic logo appears in the centre.
  • In the early morning of March 16, 2006, Toon Disney showed several repeats of Kim Possible, until it was completely shut off. Since that time and throughout the first four hours of the morning, Toon Disney broadcast a test card saying "Disney Cinemagic is coming soon". At about 10:00am that morning, Toon Disney was officially taken off the air, and Disney Channel was moved to Toon Disney's former channel slot, while the newly launched Disney Cinemagic took over Disney Channel's original channel slot. Its timeshift, Cinemagic +1, took the original channel slot of Disney Channel +1, which was also removed along with Toon Disney (Disney Channel +1 did eventually return in June 2006).

Gallery[]

References[]

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