It’s (nearly) the 35th anniversary of James Frawley’s hugely popular feature The Muppet Movie, you know the one in which we find out how Kermit and the rest of the gang got their start in show biz. The 1979 release gets an official Blu-ray high-def launch this Tuesday (Aug. 13). The beloved movie, which received on Oscar nomination for Best Song (“The Rainbow Connection”), stars Charles Durning, Steve Martin, Frank Oz, Elliott Gould, Jim Henson, Richard Pryor, Orson Welles and Mel Brooks.
The Muppet Movie
Among the new release’s many extras are an all-new bonus features:
Disney Intermission, Starring the Muppets
All-New Frog-E-Oke Sing-Along
Kermit: A Frog’s Life
Jim Frawley’s Extended Camera (includes previously unseen footage)
Pepe Profiles – Kermit: A Frog’s Life featurette
Doc Hooper’s Commercial
Original Trailers
Here’s the trailer:
This week’s other hot new animated releases are:
The Amazing World of Gumball: The Party
The Amazing World of Gumball: The Party (Cartoon Network, $14.97)
After dominating entertainment news with reveals about the studio’s upcoming animated movies, Disney’s eclectic live-action slate took center stage on Saturday (Aug. 10) at the D23 Expo in Anaheim. Hosted by Disney Studios chairman Alan Horn, the special presentation highlighted upcoming Marvel and Disney titles such as Saving Mr. Banks, Thor: The Dark World, Captain America: The Winter Soldier, Guardians of the Galaxy, Maleficent, Cinderella and Muppets’ Most Wanted.
“Disney, Marvel, Pixar, and Lucasfilm are some of the most powerful and beloved brands in entertainment,” said Alan Horn. “We have so many incredible cinematic adventures ahead of us, and it is especially exciting to be able to share the exclusive details with our biggest fans first at the D23 Expo.”
Kevin Feige, president of Marvel Studios, and Sean Bailey, president of Walt Disney Studios Motion Picture Production, presented overviews of the Marvel Studios and Disney live action slates throughout the day:
Here’s the official recap of the Saturday presentation:
Thor: The Dark World
Marvel’s Thor: The Dark World thundered into D23 with an introduction by its producer, Marvel Studios President Kevin Feige, who then introduced stars Natalie Portman, Tom Hiddleston and Anthony Hopkins to the crowd.
Thor: The Dark World continues the big-screen adventures of Thor, the Mighty Avenger, as he battles to save Earth and all the Nine Realms from a shadowy enemy that predates the universe itself. Thor fights to restore order across the cosmos…but an ancient race led by the vengeful Malekith returns to plunge the universe back into darkness. Faced with an enemy that even Odin and Asgard cannot withstand, Thor must embark on his most perilous and personal journey yet, one that will reunite him with Jane Foster and force him to sacrifice everything to save us all.
Starring Chris Hemsworth, Natalie Portman, Tom Hiddleston, Stellan Skarsgård, Idris Elba, Christopher Eccleston, Adewale Akinnuoye-Agbaje, Kat Dennings, Ray Stevenson, Zachary Levi, Tadanobu Asano and Jaimie Alexander with Rene Russo and Anthony Hopkins as Odin, Marvel’s Thor: The Dark World is directed by Alan Taylor, produced by Kevin Feige, p.g.a., from a story by Don Payne and Robert Rodat and screenplay by Christopher L. Yost and Christopher Markus & Stephen McFeely. The release date is Nov. 8, 2013.
Captain America: The Winter Soldier
Marvel’s Captain America: The Winter Soldier stars Chris Evans and Anthony Mackie were on hand to greet the audience, which was then treated to a glimpse of Captain America in action via clips chosen especially for D23.
Captain America: The Winter Soldier finds Steve Rogers, aka Captain America, living quietly in Washington, D.C. and trying to adjust to the modern world. But when a S.H.I.E.L.D. colleague comes under attack, Steve becomes embroiled in a web of intrigue that threatens to put the world at risk. Joining forces with the Black Widow, Captain America struggles to expose the ever-widening conspiracy while fighting off professional assassins sent to silence him at every turn. When the full scope of the villainous plot is revealed, Captain America and the Black Widow enlist the help of a new ally, the Falcon. However, they soon find themselves up against an unexpected and formidable enemy—the Winter Soldier.
Based on the Marvel comic book series, first published in 1941, Marvel’s Captain America: The Winter Soldier is produced by Kevin Feige, directed by Anthony and Joe Russo, from a screenplay by Christopher Markus & Stephen McFeely, and stars Chris Evans, Scarlett Johansson, Sebastian Stan, Anthony Mackie, Cobie Smulders, Frank Grillo, Emily VanCamp and Hayley Atwell, with Robert Redford as Alexander Pierce and Samuel L. Jackson as Nick Fury. The film will be in theaters April 4, 2014.
Guardians of the Galaxy
Feige then introduced the epic space adventure Marvel’s Guardians of the Galaxy and thrilled the crowd with a clip from the film, which went into production in London in June. Based on the Marvel comic book that first appeared in 1969, Marvel’s Guardians of the Galaxy is produced by Kevin Feige, directed by James Gunn from a story by Nicole Perlman and Gunn and screenplay by James Gunn, and stars Chris Pratt, Zoe Saldana, Dave Bautista, Lee Pace, Michael Rooker, Karen Gillan, Djimon Hounsou, with Benicio del Toro, John C. Reilly and Glenn Close. The film is slated for an August 1, 2014 release.
Bears
Horn then shared some news about Disneynature’s newest big-screen adventure Bears. He plans to support National Parks through opening-week ticket sales. See “Bears,” Protect Our National Parks invites moviegoers to see the film during opening week (April 18-24, 2014) and Disneynature, via the Disney Worldwide Conservation Fund, will make a contribution to the National Park Foundation to protect wildlife and wild places across the National Park system. D23 Expo fans were among the first to see the film’s new trailer, which is slated to premiere online next week.
Disneynature’s True Life Adventure Bears showcases a year in the life of a bear family as two impressionable young cubs are taught life’s most important lessons. Set against a majestic Alaskan backdrop teeming with life, their journey begins as winter comes to an end and the bears emerge from hibernation to face the bitter cold. The world outside is exciting—but risky—as the cubs’ playful descent down the mountain carries with it a looming threat of avalanches. As the season changes from spring to summer, the brown bears must work hard to find food—ultimately feasting at a plentiful salmon run—while staying safe from rival male bears and predators, including an ever-present wolf pack. Bears captures the fast-moving action and suspense of life in one of the planet’s last great wildernesses—Alaska!
Directed by Alastair Fothergill (Earth, African Cats, Chimpanzee) and Keith Scholey (African Cats), Bears is slated for Earth Day, April 18, 2014.
Muppets Most Wanted
President of Walt Disney Studios Motion Picture Production Sean Bailey offered details about Muppets Most Wanted, welcoming Ty Burrell to the stage—via Le Maxium, a tiny European car that aptly underscored the actor’s portrayal of French Interpol agent Jean Pierre Napoleon. The film also stars Ricky Gervais, plus Tina Fey, Kermit the Frog and Miss Piggy, who greeted guests of the D23 Expo “live” from the film’s international set.
Directed by James Bobin and produced by David Hoberman and Todd Lieberman, Muppets Most Wanted takes the entire Muppets gang on a global tour, selling out grand theaters in some of Europe’s most exciting destinations, including Berlin, Madrid and London. But mayhem follows the Muppets overseas, as they find themselves unwittingly entangled in an international crime caper headed by Constantine—the World’s Number One Criminal and a dead ringer for Kermit—and his dastardly sidekick Dominic, aka Number Two, portrayed by Gervais. Fey is featured as Nadya, a feisty prison guard. Bobin co-wrote the screenplay with Nicholas Stoller, who is also executive producer with John G. Scotti. Featuring music from Academy Award-winning songwriter Bret McKenzie, Muppets Most Wanted hits the big screen March 21, 2014.
Into the Woods
Disney’s Into the Woods celebrated its first public introduction as Sean Bailey shared some details with the audience about the highly anticipated musical. Rob Marshall, the talented filmmaker behind Chicago and Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides is set to helm the musical, which stars Meryl Streep, Johnny Depp, Anna Kendrick, Chris Pine and Emily Blunt. Marc Platt, will produce along with Marshall, John DeLuca and Callum McDougall.
The film is slated for a December 2014 holiday release.
Sean Bailey thrilled the D23 audience with an exclusive, very early, sneak peek at the vision of Cinderella, courtesy of director Kenneth Branagh. Though many of the elements are still in development and pre-production, like Cinderella’s gown, the audience enjoyed getting a taste of what they could expect when Disney’s live-action version of the classic fairy tale opens in theaters on March 13, 2015.
Maleficent
Angelina Jolie joined Sean Bailey on stage after the audience had a first look at Maleficent. Starring as the title character in the highly anticipated live action film, Jolie chatted with Bailey about the film before exiting to wild applause. Maleficent is the untold story of Disney’s most iconic villain from the 1959 classic Sleeping Beauty. A beautiful, pure-hearted young woman, Maleficent has an idyllic life growing up in a peaceable forest kingdom, until one day when an invading army threatens the harmony of the land. Maleficent rises to be the land’s fiercest protector, but she ultimately suffers a ruthless betrayal—an act that begins to turn her pure heart to stone. Bent on revenge, Maleficent faces an epic battle with the invading king’s successor and, as a result, places a curse upon his newborn infant Aurora. As the child grows, Maleficent realizes that Aurora holds the key to peace in the kingdom—and perhaps to Maleficent’s true happiness as well.
The film also stars Sharlto Copley, Elle Fanning, Sam Riley, Imelda Staunton, Miranda Richardson, Juno Temple and Lesley Manville and is produced by Joe Roth and directed by Robert Stromberg. Linda Woolverton, the screenwriter of Alice in Wonderland, The Lion King and Beauty and the Beast, wrote the screenplay. Maleficent opens on July 2, 2014.
Tomorrowland
The D23 audience was also treated to a glimpse into the mysteries surrounding Tomorrowland as Sean Bailey and filmmakers Brad Bird (director, co-writer, producer) and Damon Lindelof (co-writer, producer) talked about the inspiration of the secrets of the black box, which was featured in a short behind-the-scenes piece screened for the audience about the visionary Walt Disney. Although the audience was buzzing with questions, Bailey remained coy, but then announced a special, surprise Tomorrowland exhibit opening in the afternoon on the D23 floor that would reveal the contents of the box and more. Starring George Clooney, Hugh Laurie, Britt Robertson, Raffey Cassidy and Thomas Robinson, the action-packed adventure hits theaters December 12, 2014.
Saving Mr. Banks
Sean Bailey set up the story and cast of Saving Mr. Banks, the untold backstory of how Mary Poppins made it to the screen, and reminded everyone that “the classi is about to celebrate its 50th anniversary. After showing two clips from the movie to the D23 audience, Bailey introduced Jason Schwartzman and B. J. Novak, who portray the famous composing team of Richard and Robert Sherman, respectively, in the film. In a big surprise moment, Schwartzman and Novak welcomed Mary Poppins composer Richard Sherman on stage to greet the excited audience. The two talented actors then engaged the crowd in a rousing, confetti-filled, grand finale sing-along performance of Let’s Go Fly a Kite.
Emma Thompson and Tom Hanks topline Saving Mr. Banks which is directed by John Lee Hancock (The Blind Side, The Rookie) and produced by Alison Owen, Ian Collie and Philip Steuer. Kelly Marcel and Sue Smith wrote the screenplay.
The movie opens in theaters December 13, 2013, limited, December 20, 2013, wide.
Fans of DC Comics’ Aquaman character were thrilled this past weekend when writer Geoff Johns confirmed that a new animated feature featuring the character is now in the works. Johns, the writer of the New 52 version of the character, which has been well received by fans and critics alike, confirmed the news via Twitter.
Most recently, Aquaman was voiced by Cary Elwes in the recent animated home ent. title Justice League: The Flashpoint Pardox. The character, which is also known as Arthur Curry and Orin, was created by Mort Weisinger and Paul Norris. The Atlantis native made his debut in 1941 in More Fun Comics and later starred in his own solo title. He is a founding member of The Justice League.
Although the overall box office numbers are still not impressive, North American audiences chose to seek out Elysium, Neill Blomkamp’s follow-up to the acclaimed District 9. The sci-fi thriller landed at the top spot at the box office with a $30.5 million weekend.
While Disney was having a fantastic p.r. weekend, showing off its impressive slate of animated and live-action movies at the D23 Expo in Anaheim, the studio’s latest animated feature Planes made a respectable $21.01 million at the domestic box office. Although critics didn’t embrace the pic (it rated a low 24% on rottentomatoes.com), family auds, who associated the film with Pixar’s Cars franchise, seemed to seek out the spinoff, which was actually produced by DisneyToon Studios.
Among the other vfx/animated titles out this past weekend, Fox’s Percy Jackson: Sea of Monsters was No. 2 with a $22.8 million domestic take, Sony’s The Smurf 2 landed at No. 6 with an additional $9.3 million (cume is now $46.4 million), while Universal/Illumination’s Despicable Me 2 continues its winning summer streak with an additional $5.2 million and a smashing $337.8 million Stateside cume and a global total of $745.814 million.
Here is a look at the top 10:
1. Elysium – Weekend $30.5 million
2. We’re The Millers – Weekend $25.7 million Cume $37.2 million
3. Planes – Weekend $21 million
4. Percy Jackson: Sea Of Monsters – Weekend $14.0 million, Cume $22.8 million
5. 2 Guns – Weekend $11.3 million, Cume $48.7 million
6. The Smurfs 2 – Weekend $9.3 million, Cume $46.4 million
7. The Wolverine – Weekend $8.0 million, Cume $112.0 million
8. The Conjuring – Weekend $6.3 million, Cume $120.3 million
9. Despicable Me 2 – Weekend $5.2 million, Cume $337.8 million
Thanks to the announcements at D23 Expo, we learned more about the plot and voice cast of Pixar’s much-anticipated sequel Finding Dory. As director Andrew Stanton told the audience, the 2015 feature will set out to explore the mysteries behind Dory (Ellen DeGeneres) family and her history. Diane Keaton and Eugene Levy will play Dory’s long-lost parents. Albert Brooks is also reprising his role as Nemo’s dad in the movie.
In a related story, the creative forces behind the movie revealed that the recent documentary Blackfish by Gabriela Cowperthwaite, led them to rework the ending of the movie. A Pixar employee told The New York Times that the fish and mammals that live in “marine park” in the movie will have the option to leave after being take there. SeaWorld has faced harsh criticism as a result of the documentary, so it’s not surprising that the team at Pixar would rework the film to reflect a more environmentally friendly message that doesn’t portray whales as leading happy lives in captivity.
If you’re heading to Anaheim, California for the annual SIGGRAPH computer graphics, arts and technology event (July 21-25), expect a packed schedule of demos, seminars, panels and amazing animated works. Here are a few events to consider adding to your itinerary:
+ Monday’s Marc Davis Lecture Series: Giants’ First Steps keynote panel invites animated film directors Pete Docter, Eric Goldberg, Kevin Lima, Mike Mitchell, Chris Sanders, Henry Selick, David Silverman and Kirk Wise to share their experiences of the path to success with moderator Randy Haberkamp from the Academy of Motion Pictures Arts and Sciences.
SIGGRAPH Business Symposium
+ The SIGGRAPH Business Symposium on Sunday will offer industry leaders inspiration with a day of dialogues, networking, panels and talks on hot topics: Innovating Business Models, Creative Deal Structures for Growth and Survival, The Role of R&D in Production (and Profit), Pre-Visualizing a Road for Finance and Expansion, Reactive Content Creation and Partnering with Academia. The Symposium will feature a keynote by Navy SEAL officer Capt. Thomas Chaby and optional workshop on executive monitoring.
+ The CG toon tech secrets will be revealed during a number of themed talks:
Frozen
Sunday: Epic Tale explains the Fox/Blue Sky film’s particle-based hologram effect, directable fluids, procedural texturing and crowd simulation pipeline. “Getting Riggy with It” unveils Disney’s extension to dual quaternion skinning as utilized for Frozen.
Rise of the Guardians
Monday: “Effects Omelette” explores Jack Frost’s magic powers in Rise of the Guardians (DWA) and Pixar Canada’s soap bubble effects for Partysaurus Rex.
Monsters University
Thursday: “Face the Facts” explores deformer-based facial rigging (Disney) and sparse modeling and advection for hair growth (DWA). “Rendering Grab Bag” features Pixar’s constraint-preserving motion blur tool, SnugBlur. “It’s Raining Monsters” highlights the challenges of creating individual monsters, crowds and foliage for Pixar’s Monster’s University and rain/lighting effects for The Blue Umbrella.
+ Explore business practices and production issues from the perspectives of vfx artists, producers, company owners and execs during The State of the Visual Effects Industry on Thursday. Moderated by Jim Hillin (vfx supervisor, Home), the panel includes industry pros Dave Rand (senior vfx artist), Scott Squires (vfx supervisor), Scott Ross and Steve Kaplan (labor organizer, The Animation Guild).
Á la Française
+ At the Electronic Theater, check out Best in Show award-winner Á la Française from Supinfocom Arles (Morrigane Boyer, Julien Hazebroucq, Ren Hsien Hsu, Emmanuelle Leleu, William Lorton), Best Student Project Rollin’ Safari from Filmakademie Baden-Württemberg (Kyra Buschor, Anna Habermehl, Constantin Päplow), Student Project runners up Harald by Filmakademie’s Moritz Schneider and Sleddin’ by Texas A&M University’s John Pettingill, and Jury Award winner Lost Senses by Marcin Wasilewski of Grupa Smacznego. (You can also catch Sashka Unseld’s The Blue Umbrella).
Among the many cool news items revealed by Disney at the D23 Expo was the fact that Tangled and Bolt director Byron Howard’s next project is animalcentric CG-animated feature called Zootopia. Howard, who is a big fan of movies about animals dressed as humans (he says Disney’s Robin Hood is one of his big influences) introduced his 2016 along with writer Jared Bush (All of Us TV series) at the Expo.
The buddy action movie is set in a fantastic animal world in which the anthropomorphic characters live in a cosmopolitan city, which has animals like rabbits, foxes and wildebeest existing in separated urban communities, designed to reflect their natural habitats in the world. For example, Tundratown features ice taxis made of Zambonis and there’s a Busted Tusk karaoke bar where the animals can go after work to let their fur down! And business types read The Wall Street Gerbil!
The film explores the unlikely friendship between the fox Nick Wilde and the bunny Judy Hopps. Judging from the fantastic art the creators shared with the audience, this inspired journey is going to be one heck of a ride.
Here’s the official synopsis: “In the animal city of Zootopia, a fast-talking fox who’s trying to make it big goes on the run when he’s framed for a crime he didn’t commit. Zootopia’s top cop, a self-righteous rabbit, is hot on his tail, but when both become targets of a conspiracy, they’re forced to team up and discover even natural enemies can become best friends.”
We learned more about Pixar’s upcoming movies at the D23 Expo on Friday convention. Director Bob Peterson’s The Good Dinosaur, which opens next summer, takes place on an Earth where the asteroid never killed the dinosaurs and the creatures thrive as excellent farmers. The lead character, a dinosaur named Arlo, will be voiced by Lucas Neff (Raising Hope), and Bill Hader, Neil Patrick Harris and Judy Greer voice his siblings. The dino parents will be voiced by John Lithgow and Frances McDormand. The film centers on the friendship between Arlo and a wild human boy, who pops up in his world one day. The Good Dinosaur opens in theaters on May 30, 2014. Here is the official synopsis:
The Good Dinosaur asks the generations-old question: What if the cataclysmic asteroid that forever changed life on Earth actually missed the planet completely and giant dinosaurs never became extinct? In theaters May 30, 2014, the film is a humorous and exciting original story about Arlo, a lively 70-foot-tall teenage Apatosaurus with a big heart. After a traumatic event rattles Arlo’s tranquil community, he sets out on a quest to restore peace, gaining an unlikely companion along the way—a young human boy named Spot.
The Good Dinosaur
Pixar’s next film, Up director Pete Docter’s Inside Out, takes place within a young girl’s mind as she is forced to move to San Francisco. The voice cast—playing the girl’s emotions—includes Amy Poehler as the lead character, Joy, Bill Hader as Fear, Lewis Black as Anger, Mindy Kaling as Disgust, and Phyllis Smith (The Office) as Sadness. Inside Out opens in theaters on June 19, 2015. Here’s the official synopsis for Inside Out:
From director Pete Docter (Up, Monsters, Inc.) and producer Jonas Rivera (Up), Disney/Pixar’s Inside Out takes you to a place that everyone knows, but no one has ever seen: the world inside the human mind. Riley, an 11-year-old girl who recently moved with her family to San Francisco, is not the main character but the setting for the film. Moviegoers will go inside her mind to explore how memories are formed and how a mixture of five emotions—Joy, Disgust, Anger, Fear and Sadness—defines life experiences.
The Walt Disney Studios offered an up-close look at its upcoming slate at the bi-annual D23 event in Anaheim today (Friday). The studio’s Chief Creative Officer John Lasseter was joined by many of the directors, producers and talent from the upcoming titles such as Disney’s Frozen and Big Hero 6, Pixar’s The Good Dinosaur, Inside Out and Finding Dory, and DisneyToon’s Planes: Fire & Rescue and The Pirate Fairy and screened highlights for the exuberant, main theater audience.
John Lasseter at the D23 Expo
Here are some of today’s official announcements:
The presentation included information about the just-announced feature film Zootopia(working title) from Walt Disney Animation Studios, and the newest film in Disneytoon Studios’ Disney Fairies franchise, plus never-before-shared voice cast announcements for upcoming Disney and Pixar titles that include Amy Poehler, Bill Hader, Neil Patrick Harris and Diane Keaton, among a host of others.
“It’s a fantastic, exciting time for animation at Disney and Pixar,” said John Lasseter, chief creative officer for Walt Disney and Pixar Animation Studios. “The filmmakers at our three studios are so talented—their films are all so touching and beautiful, but so different. I am truly excited to share these films with everyone.”
Toy Story OF TERROR!
Toy Story OF TERROR! (Pixar)
Lasseter surprised fans with a screening of the first 10 minutes of Disney and Pixar’s Toy Story OF TERROR! The D23 Expo audience was the first ever to see footage from the spooky new 30-minute special that features favorite characters from the Toy Story films. What starts out as a fun road trip for the Toy Story gang takes an unexpected turn for the worse when the trip detours to a roadside motel. After one of the toys goes missing, the others find themselves caught up in a mysterious sequence of events that must be solved before they all suffer the same fate in this Toy Story OF TERROR! From director Angus MacLane and producer Galyn Susman, Toy Story OF TERROR! premieres on ABC Oct. 16, 2013.
Frozen
Frozen (Walt Disney Animation Studios)
Walt Disney Animation Studios’ Frozen, directed by Chris Buck (Tarzan) and Jennifer Lee (Wreck-It Ralph– screenplay by), and produced by Peter Del Vecho (Winnie the Pooh, The Princess and the Frog), shared never-before-seen film footage, introduced by Frozen stars Kristen Bell, voice of Anna, and Josh Gad, voice of Olaf. Fans were also treated to a show-stopping live performance of the film’s powerful new song Let It Go, sung by Broadway’s Tony Award-winner Idina Menzel, who provides the voice of Elsa in the film.
In Frozen, fearless optimist Anna (voice of Bell) teams up with rugged mountain man Kristoff (voice of Jonathan Groff) and his loyal reindeer Sven in an epic journey, encountering Everest-like conditions, mystical trolls and a hilarious snowman named Olaf (voice of Gad) in a race to find Anna’s sister Elsa (voice of Menzel), whose icy powers have trapped the kingdom of Arendelle in eternal winter. In theaters Nov. 27, 2013.
Get A Horse!
Get A Horse! U.S. Premiere (Walt Disney Animation Studios)
Get A Horse! made its U.S. premiere at the D23 Expo. Featuring Walt Disney himself as the voice of Mickey Mouse, this black-and-white, hand-drawn theatrical short follows Mickey, his favorite gal pal Minnie Mouse and their friends Horace Horsecollar and Clarabelle Cow as they delight in a musical haywagon ride—until Peg-Leg Pete shows up and tries to run them off the road. This groundbreaking short from Walt Disney Animation Studios is directed by Lauren MacMullan (TV’s The Simpsons) and produced by Dorothy McKim (Prep & Landing trilogy, Meet the Robinsons), Get A Horse! opens in front of Frozen on Nov. 27, 2013.
The Pirate Fairy
The Pirate Fairy (Disneytoon Studios)
Disneytoon Studios’ The Pirate Fairy brought pixie dust to the festivities, unveiling the newest and most exciting adventure in the Disney Fairies franchise. Director Peggy Holmes (Secret of the Wings) introduced Christina Hendricks, who gives voice to Zarina, and Tom Hiddleston, tapped to voice a young James aka Captain Hook.
When a misunderstood dust-keeper fairy named Zarina steals Pixie Hollow’s all-important Blue Pixie Dust, and flies away to join forces with the pirates of Skull Rock, Tinker Bell and her fairy friends must embark on the adventure of a lifetime to return it to its rightful place. However, in the midst of their pursuit of Zarina, Tink’s world is turned upside down. She and her friends find that their respective talents have been switched and they have to race against time to retrieve the Blue Pixie Dust and return home to save Pixie Hollow. With comedy, heart and epic thrills for the whole family, The Pirate Fairy sets sail Spring 2014.
The Good Dinosaur
The Good Dinosaur (Pixar)
Disney and Pixar’s heartfelt and hilarious The Good Dinosaur roamed the convention center this morning. Co-director Peter Sohn and producer Denise Ream (Cars 2, Up– associate producer) were on hand to announce key members of the voice cast, including Lucas Neff, voice of Arlo; Bill Hader, voice of Forrest; Judy Greer, voice of Ivy; Neil Patrick Harris, voice of Cliff; John Lithgow, voice of Poppa; and Frances McDormand, voice of Momma.
Neff and Greer appeared on stage, alongside Hader, whose voice was also heard in Disney and Pixar’s Monsters University.
The Good Dinosaur asks the generations-old question: What if the cataclysmic asteroid that forever changed life on Earth actually missed the planet completely and giant dinosaurs never became extinct? In theaters May 30, 2014, the film is a humorous and exciting original story about Arlo, a lively 70-foot-tall teenage Apatosaurus with a big heart. After a traumatic event rattles Arlo’s tranquil community, he sets out on a quest to restore peace, gaining an unlikely companion along the way—a young human boy named Spot.
Party Central short (Pixar)
The crowd roared when their favorite monsters returned to the big screen as Disney and Pixar’s short Party Central scared up six minutes of fun at the D23 Expo. In the short, Mike and Sulley are back at Monsters University for a fun-filled weekend with their Oozma Kappa fraternity brothers. The gang is throwing their first party, but no one’s showing up. Luckily for them, Mike and Sulley have come up with a plan to make sure Party Central is the most epic party the school has ever seen. In theaters May 30, 2014, with The Good Dinosaur.
Planes: Fire & Rescue
Planes: Fire & Rescue (Disneytoon Studios)
Disneytoon Studios’ Planes: Fire & Rescue landed on stage at the D23 Expo, welcoming Dane Cook, the voice of Dusty in Disney’s Planes, the action comedy adventure that landed in theaters today. Cook, who returns to voice the character in the follow-up, joined director Bobs Gannaway (Secret of the Wings) on stage. Julie Bowen was announced as the voice of Lil’ Dipper, and fans were treated to story details for Planes: Fire & Rescue, plus character images, concept art and footage from the film.
Planes: Fire & Rescue features a quirky crew of elite firefighting aircraft devoted to protecting historic Piston Peak National Park from a raging wildfire. When world famous air racer Dusty (voice of Cook) learns that his engine is damaged and he may never race again, he must shift gears and is launched into the world of wildfire air attack. Dusty joins forces with veteran fire and rescue helicopter Blade Ranger and his courageous air attack team, including spirited super scooper Lil’ Dipper (voice of Bowen), heavy-lift helicopter Windlifter, ex-military transport Cabbie and a lively bunch of brave all-terrain vehicles known as The Smokejumpers. Together, the fearless team battles a massive wildfire, and Dusty learns what it takes to become a true hero. Planes: Fire & Rescue ignites July 18, 2014.
Big Hero 6
Big Hero 6 (Walt Disney Animation Studios)
Walt Disney Animation Studios’ Big Hero 6 hit the D23 Expo in style, welcoming director Don Hall (Winnie the Pooh) to the stage with a story presentation, including concept art and a sizzle piece designed to build excitement for the action comedy adventure.
Big Hero 6 features brilliant robotics prodigy Hiro Hamada, who finds himself in the grips of a criminal plot that threatens to destroy the fast-paced, high-tech city of San Fransokyo. With the help of his closest companion—a robot named Baymax—Hiro joins forces with a reluctant team of first-time crime fighters on a mission to save their city. Inspired by the Marvel comics of the same name, and featuring comic-book style action and all the heart and humor audiences expect from Walt Disney Animation Studios, the CG-animated Big Hero 6 hits theaters in 3D on Nov. 7, 2014.
Legend of the NeverBeast (Disneytoon Studios)
Disneytoon Studios director Steve Loter revealed plans for Legend of the NeverBeast, which takes the Disney Fairies on an epic action adventure that’s full of heart and edge-of-your-seat suspense. Fun and talented animal fairy Fawn believes you can’t judge a book by its cover—or an animal by its fangs—so she befriends a huge and mysterious creature known as the NeverBeast. While Tink and her friends aren’t so sure about this scary addition to Pixie Hollow, the elite Scout Fairies set out to capture the monster before he destroys their home. Fawn must trust her heart and take a leap of faith if she hopes to rally the girls to save the NeverBeast. Directed by Steve Loter, Legend of the NeverBeast roars to life in Spring 2015.
Inside Out
Inside Out (Pixar)
Disney and Pixar’s Inside Out brought Joy to fans—literally—revealing members of the voice cast, including Amy Poehler as the voice of Joy, Lewis Black as the voice of Anger, Mindy Kaling as the voice of Disgust, Phyllis Smith as the voice of Sadness, and Bill Hader as the voice of Fear. The audience met two of the film’s five starring emotions, Sadness and Fear, when Smith and Hader appeared on stage to greet fans and fuel excitement for the 2015 film.
From director Pete Docter (Up,Monsters, Inc.) and producer Jonas Rivera (Up), Disney and Pixar’s Inside Out takes you to a place that everyone knows, but no one has ever seen: the world inside the human mind. Riley, an 11-year-old girl who recently moved with her family to San Francisco, is not the main character but the setting for the film. Moviegoers will go inside her mind to explore how memories are formed and how a mixture of five emotions—Joy, Disgust, Anger, Fear and Sadness—defines life experiences. In theaters June 19, 2015.
Finding Dory
Finding Dory (Pixar)
Director Andrew Stanton (Finding Nemo, WALL•E) and producer Lindsey Collins (co-producer WALL•E) shared exciting voice cast announcements for Disney and Pixar’s Finding Dory. Joining Ellen DeGeneres, who provides the voice of Dory, are Albert Brooks as the voice of Marlin, Diane Keaton as the voice of Dory’s mom Jenny, Eugene Levy as the voice of Dory’s dad Charlie, and Ty Burrell as the voice of Bailey.
The all-new big-screen adventure dives into theaters Nov. 25, 2015, taking moviegoers back to the extraordinary underwater world from the original film. Finding Dory reunites the friendly-but-forgetful blue tang fish with her loved ones, and everyone learns a few things about the true meaning of family along the way.
John Ratzenberger Parade
Pixar fans also delighted in a surprise appearance by the studio’s “lucky charm” John Ratzenberger, who was ceremoniously paraded on stage by the Disneyland marching band. Ratzenberger joined Hader in a hilarious duel of one-upmanship over the multiple Pixar characters each has voiced.
Zootopia
Zootopia (Walt Disney Animation Studios)
Walt Disney Animation Studios’ director Byron Howard (Tangled) and writer Jared Bush shared plans for the upcoming comedy adventure Zootopia(working title). In the animal city of Zootopia, a fast-talking fox who’s trying to make it big goes on the run when he’s framed for a crime he didn’t commit. Zootopia’s top cop, a self-righteous rabbit, is hot on his tail, but when both become targets of a conspiracy, they’re forced to team up and discover even natural enemies can become best friends. In theaters in 2016.
Veteran Disney Filmmaker Celebrates 60 Years with Walt Disney Animation Studios
Burny Mattinson counts 60 years with Walt Disney Animation Studios this year, and the milestone was marked with a surprise celebration at the D23 Expo. Mattinson is one of the few remaining Disney artists who worked with Walt Disney and is still on staff at Walt Disney Animation Studios. His career is highlighted by helming the Academy Award-nominated 1983 animated featurette Mickey’s Christmas Carol, which returned Mickey Mouse to the big screen for the first time in 30 years. In 1984, wrote, produced and directed The Great Mouse Detective. Mattinson’s credits include Sleeping Beauty, 101 Dalmatians, The Sword in the Stone, The Jungle Book,The Aristocats and The Rescuers. He served as a key member of the story team on Disney’s contemporary classics including Aladdin, Beauty & the Beast, The Lion King, “Pocahontas,Mulan, The Hunchback of Notre Dame and Tarzan, and was senior story artist on 2011’s big-screen adventure Winnie the Pooh. Mattinson joined Disney in 1953 at age 18 with no formal art training; within six months, he was working as an in-betweener on Lady and the Tramp.
Vfx supe Peter Muyzers details the labor-intensive process of creating the realistic worlds of Elysium for director Neill Blomkamp’s sci-fi thriller.
In 2009, South African director Neill Blomkamp knocked the socks off movie audiences around the world with his dazzling, original sci fi pic District 9. This month, he ups the ante with his beautifully crafted, futuristic epic Elysium, which serves up some striking vfx images in service of a well-told story.
Set against a backdrop of an over-populated and poverty-stricken Earth circa 2154, where the selfish super-rich have escaped to a Utopian satellite world in space, Elysium required close to 1000 vfx shots. Vfx supervisor Peter Muyzers and his team at Vancouver’s Imagine Engine delivered the lion’s share of these shots, while the rest were handled by San Rafael studio Whiskey Tree, Method, Moving Picture Company and ILM.
Muyzers, who was nominated for an Oscar for his phenomenal work on Blomkamp’s Disctrict 9, says that he and the director began discussing the possibilities of Elysium while they were still working on their first project together.
Elysium
“Neill and I began talking about ideas for his next film over four years ago,” he recalls. “He wanted to explore this new world and was very adamant to create something quite unique. Of course, there have been so many great films exploring similar themes before, so we tried to do things differently and base a lot of it on they work that NASA had done in the 1970s, where they were looking at creating structures like this in space. You want to use as much scientific backup as you can, so we consulted with advisors at NASA and Jet Propulsion Lab. Then at some point, you need to leave it behind and take creative liberties for the sake of the story.”
Fans of District 9 will recognize some of the helmer’s visual trademarks, but the new film is a different beast in many ways.
“Elysium has a more epic feel, and the visual effects are also quite different since in District 9, we didn’t shoot a single blue-screen or green screen sequence,” notes Muyzers. “We don’t want to repeat the same work and just turn out these things like a factory. Our crew was very encouraged by the fact that we had new challenges and a variety of work to be delivered for this movie.”
Elysium
So how did the different houses divide the film’s many vfx requirements? Whiskey Tree was tasked with creating the organic structures, roads, lakes and waters on the ring-shaped space habitat of Elysium, while Image Engine worked on more mechanical structures, the glass, the spokes. ILM created the stunning aerial scene depicting a futuristic take based on the cityscape of downtown Los Angeles as a helicopter flies over.
“That was a monster shot and they worked long and hard on it,” says the film’s vfx supervisor. “It was a real honor to work with ILM on the show.”
Constructing the surface details and the ring of Elysium, which has been described as the wheel of a classic Chrysler, provided the team with some of its toughest challenge.
Elysium
“When you think about creating a world of that size and the amount of detail it requires, the first instinct is to create as much as you can in camera and to think about taking a practical route,” explains Muyzers. “On Earth, we’re sitting on this giant sphere, so the horizon has a certain look, which has a lot to do with the way light travels through the air. On Elysium, it’s almost as if you’re sitting on top of the rubber, inside of a bicycle tire. Your horizon drops away from you. We had to conceptually imagine what this horizon, the sky, the depth of the clouds would look like. The vfx team had to take over the production design. Our art department created very detailed illustrations, which looked almost like photos.”
One of the film’s secret weapons is none other than celebrated futurist and designer Syd Mead, the man behind the influential concept art for classics such as Blade Runner, TRON and Aliens. Myd’s sketches for the ring were the basis for the final visuals.
As Muyzers points out, “Syd has a very specific style of drawing angles and circles, the way all the angles crisscross each other is very recognizable. At 79, he doesn’t take on many jobs, so we were pleasantly surprised that he wanted to work on our film. That’s why we wanted to make sure his design lived on in this project. It all led to some highly detailed, high-res images generated by our art department. These were the photos that we showed our vfx artists as inspiration.”
Elysium
By the way, if some of the aerial shots of Elysium look strangely familiar, it’s because the filmmakers were partially inspired by the pristine mansions and pools of Malibu and the Hollywood Hills.
“Neill showed aerial shots of Malibu to us and told us that he wanted Elysium to look like that,” recalls Muyzers. “As part of the inspiration for the terrain, I shot some helicopter footage and discovered that some of the mansions are kind of like the ones Neill had in mind for the super rich neighborhood in the ring. We were going to use that footage, but we actually ended up using only 5 or 10 percent of the footage, because we went full digital.”
For Muyzers, another memorable aspect of the film, which was lensed with the Red Epic camera and posted in 4K, is its depiction of the brutal droids employed by the officials, which were done using a mixture of live actors wearing grey suits and CG doubles, combined with practical droids.
Elysium
Looking forward to the next generation of visual effects challenges, Muyzers says he believes in creative inspiration versus technological excellence.
“As computers get faster, it’s cheaper to maintain and store data in render farms, but you have to find the right talent that can do the work. It has to be a combination of the talent that’s out there and the technology that keeps on changing and renovating. I remember when we first started talking about building Elysium’s ring, we thought that rendering and managing it would be brutal. But we were able to find solutions and move outside the box, and upgrade our software and hardware—Maya, Houdini or the other rendering software bring new technologies to the market that allow us to have more information to be processed. But in the end, it’s all about the images that the filmgoers are going to see on the big screen. As Neil used to say, it has to look beautiful and real.”
Here are two great featurettes on the making of the film:
Dawn Taubin has been hired as the new Chief Marketing Officer at DreamWorks Animation, Deadline reveals. Taubin’s appointment follows the departure of the studio’s veteran marketing chief Anne Globe. Studio head Jeffrey Katzenberg announced earlier this week that Globe had decided to leave DWA to launch her own consulting business.
Taubin formerly headed domestic marketing at Warner Bros. from 2002 to 2008 where she oversaw the Harry Potter franchise, 300: Rise Of An Empire and the launch of Christopher Nolan’s Batman series. She also handled the marketing of George Miller’s 2005 animated feature Happy Feet for WB. Other recent clients included The Help and War Horse for DreamWorks Pictures.
Disney Animated, a new premium app for iPad, allows fans to explore the story of Disney animation through unique interactive illustrations and authentic animation workshops based on actual Disney technologies.
Animated gives fans “unparalleled access to an astonishing amount of content, including text, art, sound, images, interviews and interactive activities, spanning all eras of Walt Disney Animation Studios history, many previously unavailable to the public.”
The app, which contains 170 minutes of video, over 26,000 frames from Disney movies, and 28,000 pictures/clips/posters, is a joint project of Disney Animation Studios and Touch Press, the digital book publishers of Elements and Leonardo DaVinci: Anatomy.
Here are some of the key highlights
The Story of Animation: How Disney animated films are brought to life, from early concept and story development through layout and background, animation, visual effects, sound and music and final assembly – with every illustration on every page touchable and interactive, including the ability to peel back the layers of animated scenes to reveal work-in-progress animation steps and visual effects layers.
Interactive Workshops: Hands-on interactives allow fans to experiment with iPad versions of authentic Disney animation technologies and share their creations via email and social media. Fans can animate Vanellope from Wreck-It Ralph using a straightforward but powerful 3D animation package adapted from real Disney software and control a swirling snow visual effect from the upcoming film Frozen.
Disney Animation History in One Place: A comprehensive timeline of all 53 animated feature films from Walt Disney Animation Studios, including animated clips of favorite characters and recently uncovered historic trailers.
Unprecedented Access: Disney Animated contains over 750 interactive illustrations, including more than 400 short animation clips, over 350 high-quality images from Disney’s archives, including backgrounds, concept art, character sketches, and super-zoomable storyboards, 3D rotational photography of rare artifacts like the maquette of Hyacinth, the dancing hippo from Fantasia, and a unique Color Map that displays a sophisticated color summary and thumbnail frames from every scene from every one of Walt Disney Animation Studios’ 52 released feature films in a single iPad image.
Feature films: Fans can immerse themselves in content from all 53 full-length animated feature films. From the ability to examine treasured artifacts and intricate artwork to an exclusive first look at footage, concept art, animation tests and visual effects from the upcoming film Frozen, Disney Animated allows fans to discover the animation process through hands-on interactive activities adapted from the actual tools Disney animators use.
Cartoon Network will kick off the new season of Total Drama All-Stars on September 10. The show features 14 of Camp Wawanakwa’s previous contestants, who are back to take home the million-dollar prize. In an epic battle of good vs. evil, the “Heroic Hamsters” and the “Villainous Vultures” compete in some of the most daunting, dangerous and of course disgusting challenges from seasons past.
In past seasons, the animated reality competition series Total Drama produced by Fresh TV and distributed by Cake Entertainment had egotistical series host Chris McLean torturing contestants on a toxic nuclear waste dump, a voyage around the world and a movie set. This season promises to be the toughest ever with spine-tingling twists, explosive challenges and bust-a-gut laughs. The Total Drama contestants will be split into two teams, and after each challenge the losing team will have to vote one teen off the island via the Flush of Shame! Last season, Total Drama: Revenge of the Island ranked #1 in its time period vs. all TV with key kids and boys 2-11, 6-11, & 9-14.
Fighting for the million-dollar prize is the all-star cast of 14 reality show contestants, ready to face the pain from Chris and Chef. The All-Star contestants are: the prettiest girl in the camp Lindsey, ultimate jock Lightning, take-no-prisoners Jo, sweetheart Sam, queen bee Heather, obsessive uber-fan Sierra, Duncan the delinquent, Cameron the bubble boy, type-a Courtney, troublemaker Scott, loner Gwen, small town girl Zoey and multiple personality Mike and a super-secret-surprise contestant that you’ll just have to tune-in for!
Total Drama was created by Tom McGillis and Jennifer Pertsch. Episodes are directed by George Elliott and Brian Irving. The show debuted in Canada in July 2007 and made its U.S. premiere in June 2008.
Juan Jose Campanella’s popular 3-D CG-animated feature Foosball is building some major momentum. According to The Hollywood Reporter, the Argentine-Spanish co-pro will kick off the San Sebastian Film Festival on September 20. The pic, which is also known as Metegol, is performing remarkably well in Argentina, where it broke the country’s opening week box-office record. The family pic has already attracted over one million viewers.
The film tells the story of how the foosball figures in a local bar come alive to help one of a young bartender to save his village and win the heart of the girl he loves. The pic is produced by Jorge Estrada Mora (Argentina), and Plural-Jempsa and Atresmedia Cine (Spain) Universal Pictures International will distribute the movie in Spain on Dec. 20.
Campanella is best known for directing the Oscar-winning 2010 live-action drama The Secret in Their Eyes. A native of Buenos Aires, he has also directed episodes of House MD and Law & Order.
Home entertainment company Cinedigm has added the N. American video, VOD and digital rights to animated preschool show The Hive to its catalog. The deal covers all 26 x half-hour episodes of the series, which airs in over 150 markets around the world, including Disney Junior in the US.
Cinedigm, Hive Enterprises, Bejuba! and Disney Junior will focus on ancillary rights to the franchise. In November, Cinedigm will launch three new thematic DVDs, each with 80 minutes worth of content and it will bring the complete first season to digital platforms.
The series launched in October 2012 and Joester Loria Group was appointed to represent the brand in the U.S. this past winter. The show is a joint production of DQ Entertainment, Lupus Films, Monumental Productions, Picture Production Company, Hive Enterprises and Bejuba! Entertainment. The preschool toon focuses on the lives and adventures of the Bee Family, exploring everyday things that concern little children such as playing, being friendly, spending time with your family and finding out all about the world and how it works.
Cinedigm currently has digital content deals with platforms including iTunes, Netflix, Hulu and Amazon. The org’s library holds over 20,000 programs and more than 40,000 hours of programming.
The National Film Board of Canada (NFB) will showcase four new projects from celebrated auteurs at the 2013 Toronto International Film Festival (TIFF), which takes place Sept 5-15. The influential festival will feature premieres of NFB S3D animated shorts in its Short Cuts Canada program, with the world premiere of The End of Pinky by Claire Blanchet and Impromptu by Bruce Alcock (Global Mechanic Media/NFB) and screenings of Gloria Victoria by Theodore Ushev and Subconscious Password by Chris Landreth.
World Premieres:
The End of Pinky
The End of Pinky revolves around three fallen angels―Johnny, Mia and Pinky―seeking companionship and humanity in the shadows of the red-light district, in a mythic, magically realized Montreal. But when one of Pinky’s endearing quirks sets off a tragicomic chain of events, Johnny plots revenge. Created with hand-drawn pencil and pastel animation, and rendered in stereoscopic 3D, The End of Pinky is based on a story by Heather O’Neill, who also narrates. It is directed, written and animated by Claire Blanchet and produced by Michael Fukushima for the NFB.
Impromptu
Impromptu. When Chuck’s wife spontaneously invites her co-workers home for dinner in Bruce Alcock’s Impromptu, this last-minute gathering seems to have all the makings of a disaster—but leads instead to a quiet epiphany about embracing the chaos of life’s rich pageant. Impromptu reminds us of the redemptive power of food, wine, music and love, as seen through the eyes of a modern man. The film was written by Ed Riche and Bruce Alcock, with Tina Ouellette as producer for Global Mechanic and Annette Clarke and Michael Fukushima as producers for the NFB.
N. American Premiere:
Gloria Victoria
Gloria Victoria. The final film in Theodore Ushev’s NFB trilogy on the relationship between art and power, Gloria Victoria unfolds on the still-smouldering rubble of a furious 20th century. From the Russian front to the Chinese Revolution, from Dresden to Guernica, Gloria Victoria combines elements of surrealism and cubism to orchestrate an explosive nightmare in the name of peace. Winner of the FIPRESCI Award at the Annecy International Animation Film Festival, Gloria Victoria is set to music from Shostakovich’s Leningrad Symphony, and joins Ushev’s previous works Drux Flux and Tower Bawher as an animated dialogue between music and images. The film is produced by Marc Bertrand for the NFB.
Canadian premiere:
Subconscious Password
Subconscious Password. In the computer-animated S3D work, Oscar-winning director Chris Landreth (Ryan) uses a common social gaffe—forgetting somebody’s name—as the starting point for a mind-bending romp through the unconscious. Inspired by the classic TV game show Password, the film features a wealth of animated celebrity guests who try (and try, and try) to prompt Charles, Landreth’s alter ego, to remember the name. Winner of the award for best short film at the Annecy International Animation Film Festival, Subconscious Password is produced by the NFB, with the participation of the Animation Arts Centre of Seneca College and Copperheart Entertainment. Marcy Page (NFB) and Mark Smith are the producers.
The National Film Board of Canada (NFB) produces groundbreaking animation at its studios in Montreal and at NFB centers across Canada, as well as via international co-productions with many of the world’s leading auteur animators. The org has created over 13,000 productions and won over 5,000 awards, including 4 Canadian Screen Awards, 7 Webbys, 12 Oscars and more than 90 Genies. You can catch some of this content at www.NFB.ca or download its apps for smartphones, tablets and connected TV.
L.A.-based mo-cap studio House of Moves is reporting lower production costs, thanks to the latest technology advancements in Vicon’s Blade motion capture software, which offer increased processing and production efficiencies. The company’s film, TV and games customers will benefit from the resulting cost savings.
House of Moves recently completed an internal audit determining that over the past 12 months and multiple project types, its motion capture processing costs have declined by as much as 50%. House of Moves CEO Brian Rausch attributes these savings to technological advancements including proprietary tools the company has written for Blade 1.7 software, the integration of Shotgun production management software, and more recently, the deployment of Blade 2 software.
“Technology is helping to significantly reduce the costs of high quality motion capture, making it more accessible to all kinds of film, TV and game productions,” said Rausch. “Processing and cleaning up motion capture data requires a human in the loop, and is a particularly time-intensive, and potentially costly, task. Thanks to tools exposed in Blade 2, we’re considerably reducing these processing costs and passing these savings on to our clients.”
Blade 2’s Axiom live engine has streamlined House of Moves’ production workflow by processing digital character animation in real time during motion capture shoots. Its ability to handle multiple characters, run real time with face markers, and automatically fix occlusions has further reduced House of Moves’ processing costs.
We’re only a couple of days away from the release date of Disney’s Planes in theaters (August 9), and already, the early reviews aren’t painting a pretty picture. Directed by DisneyToon Studios veteran Klay Hall, the film has so far generated a low 23% rating on review compilation site rottentomatoes.com. Here is a sampling of trade reviews:
“While visually engaging, this production of Disneytoon Studios—it was originally slated to go direct-to-DVD —lacks the sort of character depth and dramatic scope normally associated with the Pixar brand. … Theatrically, given the crowded animated feature marketplace, Planes should do solid if unspectacular business — provided audiences don’t mind some overlapping plot and character similarities also shared with the recent Turbo and Despicable Me…As shameless an attempt by Disney to sell more bedspreads to the under-10s as Planes is, it nonetheless manages to be a minor lark that will at least mildly amuse anyone who ever thrust their arms outward and pretended to soar over the landscape.” — The Hollywood Reporter
“Planes is so overrun with broad cultural stereotypes that it should come with free ethnic-sensitivity training for especially impressionable kids.” — The Wrap
“Little ones will love the bright action scenes, but the lack of wit and humanity that makes exec producer John Lasseter’s best work so special will leave grown-ups feeling frustratingly grounded.” — Total Film
“Strangest is the film’s tendency toward racial stereotyping, which comes off as breezily silly at best and downright insensitive at worst (Cedric the Entertainer voices a Southern-accented laze-about biplane named Leadbottom). — Time Out New York
Directed by aviation enthusiast Klay Hall (King of the Hill, The Simpsons), and produced by Traci Balthazor-Flynn, Disney’s Planes features the voices of Dane Cook, Stacy Keach, Brad Garrett, Teri Hatcher, Julia Louis-Dreyfus, Priyanka Chopra, John Cleese, Cedric the Entertainer, Carlos Alazraqui, Anthony Edwards, Val Kilmer, Sinbad and John Ratzenberger. The pic centers on Dusty Crophopper who dreams of competing as a high-flying racer.
Fans of Lionsgate 2010 CG-animated feature Alpha and Omega will be happy to know that the studio is releasing a sequel on Blu-ray combo, DVD, digital download and VOD on October 8. EW.com says this will be the first in a series of new Alpha and Omega adventures to be released for the home market.
This first sequel, Alpha and Omega 2: A Howl-iday Adventure follows Kate, Humphrey, and their three cubs: Stinky, Claudette, and Runt, who mysteriously disappears in the opening act. It’s up to the pup’s family to find him — discovering the true meaning of the holidays along the way.
Here is the official synopsis: “Kate, Humphrey and their 3 wolf cubs (Stinky, Claudette and Runt) are happily preparing to celebrate their first winter together when their smallest cub, Runt, mysteriously disappears. They must now go on a new journey across the wilderness to find Runt and bring him back before the snow blocks their way home. It’s their greatest adventure yet, filled with action and suspense as well as plenty of the humor and heartwarming moments that were delivered in the first theatrical release. While their adventure does not end exactly as planned, Kate & Humphrey discover that ‘Home is where the Family Is.’”
The star-packed voice cast includes Justin Long as Humphrey, Hayden Panettiere as Kate, Christina Ricci as Lilly, Chris Carmack as Garth, Danny Glover as Winston, Vicki Lewis as Eve, Jane Lynch as Terra, Ed Asner as Slash and Aziz Ansari as Simon Piglet (OK..we love this character’s name already!)
Yowza Digital, Creating4Kids and SupperTime Entertainment have joined forces to deliver a new animated preschool series based on the popular Impossimals characters created by Peter and Jayne Smith. The colorful rotund and striped animal characters have sold over 1.6 million art prints and 2 million greeting cards in the U.K. alone. In addition to the UK, gallery presence for the characters can be found in the U.S., Australia, Japan and China.
“You know when something just feels right? Well, that’s exactly how we felt when three-time Emmy nominated Suppertime Entertainment approached us to make our ‘Impossimal’ dreams come true,” said the Smiths. “We have that giddy feeling all over again as we are joined by Canadian animation powerhouse Yowza, with its impressive client list and, if that wasn’t enough, entertainment veteran Christopher Keenan of Creating4Kids has joined our creative journey too.”
Established over 16 years ago, Toronto-based Yowza’s talented crew are the recipients of numerous awards including four Geminis and two Emmy’s.
Heather Walker, Yowza’s producer of Intellectual Property Development and Production, added, “Impossimals is the quintessential property that all producers love! As an existing brand we know there are eager children worldwide waiting to see their favorite Impossimal come to full animated life. We’re thrilled to be working with Peter and Jayne as well as SupperTime Entertainment in the U.S. together with Christopher Keenan, the project’s creative leader.”
Animation veteran Christopher Keenan has over 25 years of experience in animation and kids entertainment. Formerly he served as SVP of Creative Affairs at Warner Bros. Animation and also was head of programming for Kids WB! Most recently, Keenan executive produced Iconicles for Cbeebies and currently, he is consulting for Hit Entertainment and story editing for Bix Pix Entertainment on Amazon Studio’s first original stop-motion animated preschool series.
“I’ve been an enormous fan of Peter and Jayne Smith’s Impossimals for years, and it’s truly an honor to be working with them to bring some of their most vibrant and beloved characters to life in animation,” he said.
SupperTime Entertainment president, Gerry Renert, will assist in development and his company will manage publishing and merchandise, worldwide. As an exec producer and creator, Renert, has been Emmy-nominated three times in the category of “Outstanding Animated Children’s Program.” SupperTime principal and former publishing executive, Liz Stahler, will manage the series merchandise and publishing, worldwide.
