The latest issue of The Hollywood Reporter contains the multi-part feature, Milestone: 'That's So Raven,' saluting the series hitting the 100-episode mark.

Confirming one of the reasons behind the overwhelmingly negative reaction most people had to the news that Raven-Symone had been cast in the remake, the article contains quotes and insights into the "Raven-Symone" brand, which "Adventures in Babysitting" will likely be assimilated by. According to THR, Raven-Symone is a "full-blown pop phenomenon!"

If you know anything about the entertainment industry, you can tell the underlying messages that Raven's management and publicity team were pushing... If you want to play a fun game while reading the articles, count how many times you see variations on how Raven is a "regular girl."


*This* is so Raven:

Milestone: "That's So Raven"
Self-empowered pop phenom Raven-Symone soars to fame.

Dialogue: Raven-Symone
Staying grounded is part of the actresses' career plan.

The raven's song
Touring and recording are two more facets of this entertainer's career.


It's clear that Raven's handlers are quite talented in that The Hollywood Reporter's articles read as if they were love letters written by her publicist.

Also, it is important to note that trade publications like The Hollywood Reporter, Variety, Billboard, etc. mainly publish these special feature inserts around "milestone" events because they can sell ads to the company or the individual they are saluting...to where the honoree is essentially paying a premium for the extra pages of coverage (but you can't really blame the Disney Channel for supporting its own projects). Of course, then the magazine can also hit up dozens of other companies to buy full page ads congratulating them on their achievement. If you haven't ever seen one of these issues, the advertisements read like a high school yearbook, where one friend bought an entire page to publicly praise another friend (or group of friends).

from Entertainment Weekly:

Have You No Shame?

Disney plans a remake of Adventures in Babysitting

"Don't f -- - with the babysitter" is possibly one of the greatest lines ever to come from an '80s teen comedy. Uttered by a knife-wielding Elisabeth Shue, it's just one of the reasons why 1987's Adventures in Babysitting couldn't be made today. With profanity-spouting teens who get stabbed, propositioned by underage prostitutes, and mistaken for Playboy Playmates, it's probably too edgy for today's increasingly tame studios. Which is why it's baffling that Disney has greenlit a remake starring Raven-Symoné (the Cosby Show alum now starring in Disney Channel's That's So Raven). Aside from the necessary changes created by the racial reversal (Shue had to sing her way out of a black blues club. Will Raven have to pogo her way out of some hipster indie-rock gig?), there's the fact that unlike that other great '80s teen movie set in downtown ChicagoFerris Bueller's Day OffBabysitting does not see the big city as a place where anyone can lip-synch "Twist and Shout" in a parade, but rather as a place where white kids from the suburbs might actually die. And, honestly, America's big cities are just not as stereotypically scary as they were in the '80s. So, Disney? Please reread the first five words of this piece and take them to heart.

A week after being quoted in almost every story announcing the casting of Raven-Symone, Nina Jacobson is out at Walt Disney Pictures, where she was head production chief of the live-action films division.

Disney has been in the midst of a downsizing shake-up, as part of a larger corporate re-organization.

Click here to read the full article at The Hollywood Reporter.

Given her glowing support for the casting of Raven-Symone in the upcoming remake, this *might* have something to do with the fact that she fucked with the babysitter (but probably not).

Oren Aviv, who has been serving as president of marketing and chief creative officer, is taking over as the head of live-action film production.

This probably won't have any effect on Raven-Symone's casting, or change the plan to move forward with production--however, you never know what can happen when top-level changes like this occur at a studio.

Entertainment Weekly echoes the popular reaction:

Adventures in Babysitting: Ready for the remake?

Elisabeth Shue warned us years ago: "Don't f--- with the babysitter." Disney isn't heeding her admonition. They're remaking Adventures in Babysitting (pictured, right), the apparently beloved comedy-adventure starring Shue as a put-upon high-school senior whose boring night babysitting turns into a Dante-esque odyssey through blighted '80s cityscapes. So who's the new Shue? Raven-Symone (left), of That's So Raven, a show I've never watched but always assumed was about Poe's wacky Goth adolescence. (It's not, apparently.)

This office, it appears, is a stronghold of Babysitting purists who don't want a repeat of Love Don't Cost a Thing, the (admittedly execrable) Nick Cannon remake of Can't Buy Me Love. Types one staffer: ''oh, this is worse than a remake of the Seven Samurai. this is sick.'' Another simply says, ''This must be stopped!''

There are contrarians, of course. ''I love how you're outraged over the disrespect being shown to a movie that was directed by... Chris Columbus. My feeling is that we're really grieving is the faded glory of our shared teenage crush on Elisabeth Shue. That lucky Macchio!'' This respondent continues with an interesting hypothetical that goes to the heart of the ''race-reversed remake'' question: ''If Shue and her charges flee into a black club and she's gotta sing the blues to get out... where will Raven et al find themselves? Honkytonk?'' My vote would be for a Blue Collar Comedy Tour concert. Or a Klan rally. Whatever's funnier.

This Babysitting memory takes the cake, though: ''I saw 'Adventures...' during Free Video Friday Night at the Sloane House International YMCA in Manhattan with members of a Korean street gang who afterward went into the adjoining ballroom where a wedding reception was taking place and shot out the windows with pistols hidden in their socks, then put a bullet in the groom's foot. True story.''

From there, the conversation degenerated into an anti-Giuliani lament about the lack of ''good Korean street gangs.''

Of course, everyone here is certifiable. You seem like sane folk, though. (Comparatively speaking.) Tell me: Is Adventures in Babysitting too sacred to remake?

from The Hollywood Reporter

Dis calls on Raven to baby-sit

By Borys Kit

Raven-Symone is attached to star in the Walt Disney Pictures remake of Adventures in Babysitting. At the same time, she has signed an acting and producing deal that includes a guaranteed pay or play on one movie, with an option for a second.

The original "Babysitting," an '80s cult favorite, follows a high school senior who gets stuck baby-sitting a bunch of kids. The dull night is interrupted when she gets a call for help from a friend stuck downtown, leading her and the kids into a night of misadventures. The original movie marked the directorial debut of Chris Columbus.

Lynda Obst, who produced the 1987 original with Debra Hill, is on board to produce the remake. David Stem and David Weiss wrote the script for the new "Babysitting." No director has been named yet.

Kristin Burr is overseeing for Disney.

It is uncertain whether "Babysitting" will fold into Raven-Symone's deal.

"Raven is a smart, funny and talented star who has the class and composure to go all the way," Disney production chief Nina Jacobson said. "The Disney Channel has made Raven into a household name, and we feel very lucky to be working with her to build a feature career."

Raven-Symone is the star of "That's So Raven," one of Disney Channel's highest-rated shows, and stars in the upcoming Disney telefilm "Cheetah Girls 2." She also is producing content for broadband and mobile phones.

Raven-Symone is repped by Endeavor, manager Jessica Samuel of Sanders/Armstrong and attorney P.J. Shapiro of Ziffren Brittenham.

from Variety:

Walt Disney is set to remake the 1987 teen comedy Adventures in Babysitting and has hired Hilary Galanoy and Elizabeth Hackett to write the screenplay. The original film starred Elizabeth Shue as a suburban high schooler whose peaceful night of babysitting is interrupted by a call from a friend who needs her help. The movie grossed $34 million at the time.