Fantasy and adventure are the primary forces driving Disney Studio's newest batch of projects, set to launch on the heels of the Pirates of the Caribbean series' success.

The wizards working for the Magic Kingdom hope to leave moviegoers spellbound with the slew of new movies they have in the works.

Disney's first-ever live-action princess is scheduled to make silver screens shine throughout the United States this November.

The animated/live-action movie Enchanted tells the tale of a princess' uncanny journey through modern New York. The company spent more than a decade putting the project together.

The movie started as a work of traditional 2-D animation that was intended as a tribute to all of the company's classic animated pictures, such as Sleeping Beauty and Cinderella.

Princess Giselle lives happily with all kinds of furry friends in her fairyland home, until the Evil Queen banishes her to modern New York.

"In New York, there is no happy ending," jokes chairman of Disney Studios Richard Cook, "except in our movie".

The movie makes the transition to live action within 15 minutes of the opening credits, when Giselle worms her way out of a manhole in Time Square. From that point on, the film is riddled with hilarious cultural clashes between the fairyland princess and the citizens of the chaotic city.

Particularly memorable scenes take place when Giselle sings the Happy Working Song while cleaning up the bathroom and when the princess tries to summon animal friends, but rather than silly squirrels and baby bunnies, rats and cockroaches heed her calls.

Cook told China Daily that Enchanted would be the answer to how to better define a Walt Disney film. "It is truly a love letter to past Disney movies," he says.

But while Enchanted is meant to encapsulate and pay homage to the Disney films of yore, it's not the end-all of the company's newest offerings.

Another gem on the way is the sequel to National Treasure 1. Treasure hunter Benjamin Franklin Gates, is at it again in Book of Secrets, and Gates (Nicolas Cage) has reunited once more with director Jon Turteltaub in hopes of reliving the glory days of Treasure 1, which earned the company a booty of $745 million worldwide.

In the new story, Gates discovers the secrets behind the assassination of President Lincoln, who was believed to have been murdered by John Wilkes Booth.

A missing page from Booth's diary reveals that Gates' great grandfather might have actually been the one responsible for Lincoln's assassination, and so Gates sets off on a mission to clear his family's name. To do so, he must kidnap the president of the United States to access a secret book that is for the president's eyes only. This book also contains the truth about Area 51 and the missing minutes of the Watergate tapes.

The film is now in editing. Disney hopes it will premiere Stateside before this Christmas. Treasure 1 was screened in China in 2005 and raked in more than 25 million yuan ($3.3 million) in the first two weeks. Disney says they hope the sequel would also make it to China's theaters.

Sequels have been especially hot in recent years, and Disney is answering the call with the second installment of its Narnia franchise.

The Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian is in the works, after Disney brought the first installment of the classic children's story to life in 2005.

The four Pevensies return to Narnia one year after their first adventure and find 1,300 years have passed in the wonderland. Sinister King Miraz has taken over the throne, exiling the nightful heir Prince Caspian, son of the King of Old Narnians. The four must help the ousted prince retake his rightful place as ruler of the mystical land.

Cook promises this installation would be especially action-packed, saying the film would be "all battles all through".

All of the original cast will appear for the sequel, again joining forces with director Andrew Adamson. But Cook says the movie is a new chapter of Narnian history and a whole new world, with new characters, including Prince Caspian (Ben Barnes).

The movie is scheduled to hit US theaters in May of 2008.

In addition to this sequel, Disney plans to make the High School Musical franchise into a trilogy.

The Emmy Award-winning Disney Channel original TV movie series has already become the talk of the town among the teenage demographic. Currently, Disney is in pre-production for Musical 3, which is slated for release in motion pictures theaters next fall.

When Musical 1, a cheerful story about two teenaged music lovers, was broadcast on the Disney Channel in January 2006, it captured the attention of a record-breaking 7.8 million viewers.

The series again broke records last week, when 17.2 million tuned in to the channel to catch the second installment, including a number of participants of viewing parties.

One shopping mall in the United States set up 500 chairs for viewing parities.

Networks in the United States started talking about whether the show's popularity would help build a new, nicer image of teenage girls, while the "bad girls" of Hollywood, such as Britney Spears and Paris Hilton, dominate today's youth culture.

Musical 1 aired on CCTV-6 on August 18, and Disney says the company very much hopes the two successive stories would also make their way to China.

(China Daily September 5, 2007)