If you read the Friday morning edition of the Hollywood trade newspaper Variety, you will notice a story about Jerry Bruckheimer acquiring the big screen rights to IDW Publishing’s graphic novel World War Robot. But if you had looked at the recent domain records that Disney had purchased: WORLDWARROBOT-MOVIE.COM, WORLDWARROBOTMOVIE.COM, or WORLDWARROBOTTHEMOVIE.COM, you would have known about this announcement before it happened.

Jim Hill noticed that the mouse house went on a domain buying spree yesterday (July 29th), snapping up a bunch of Internet addresses for possible upcoming projects. So which projects were on the purchase list? Details after the jump.

Among the new domains purchased was MONSTERS2.com, the possible future location for the highly rumored sequel to Pixar’s Monsters Inc. At a recent licensing fair, Disney officials supposedly told attendees behind closed doors that Pete Doctor would be following Up with Monsters, Inc 2. We asked Disney head John Lasseter about the rumors last weekend at Comic-Con, but as expected, he wouldn’t comment. The domain purchase seems to be an admission by Disney that they are developing a sequel, or at very least — thinking about it.

Another interesting purchase was the domain TheTigerKingMovie.com, which we can only assume is a spin-off based on The Lion King. With the word “Movie” in the domain name, we know it is a feature film — but we don’t know if it is a new animated feature film or a direct-to-dvd production. Some of you might remember that when John Lasseter became Chief Creative Officer of Walt Disney Animation Studios when the Mouse purchased Pixar in January of 2006, he was quick to kill many of the company’s direct-to-dvd sequels and spin-offs, because he believed the productions hurt the studio’s brand. The Aristocats 2, Chicken Little 2 : The Ugly Duckling Story, Meet the Robinsons 2: First Date, and Disney’s Dwarfs were among the productions which were trashed. I find it hard to believe that Lasseter would approve of a Lions King spin-off titled The Tiger King, unless it was for theatrical release. But you never know?

As for World War Robots, which was mentioned above, the 48-page book was published in August 2008, and is out of print. Here is the official plot synopsis from the book:

Award-winning designer/artist Ashley Wood (Popbot, Zombies Vs. Robots) has handled his share of robots over the years. And now, he presents total robot war! In World War Robot, a dwindling band of humans and robots face off in a battle that will likely end humanity as we know it – on Earth, on the Moon, and on Mars, too! Badass battles, really intense human/robot drama, and even a little black humor and political intrigue are the order of the day in this oversize, standalone epic courtesy of Wood.

source: Jim Hill