Month: June 2008

Google signs animation deal with Seth McFarlane

Google has teamed up with the creator of Family Guy to create 50 two minute episodes of a new cartoon called Seth MacFarlane’s Cavalcade of Cartoon Comedy, an animation series which will appear exclusively on the Internet. Seth MacFarlane has created a stable of new characters to star in the series, which will premiere in […]

Walt Disney World's Pleasure Island closing down

Jim Hill talks about “the real reason WDW’s night club complex is shuttering. Which is Mickey’s desire to create a seamless Guest experience for all those shopping & dining at Downtown Disney.”

WALL•E gets our Animated View…

James R Whitson drops in to note our take on Pixar’s latest, WALL•E!

Teaser trailer for Hayao Miyazaki's Ponyo on the Cliff

Ain’t It Cool points to what looks like the first trailer for Hayao Miyazaki’s upcoming animated feature which opens July 19th in Japan. The film centers on a goldfish named Ponyo who desperately wants to be a human. In pursuing her goal, she befriends a five-year-old human boy, Sosuke-who ironically Miyazaki-san based on his own […]

More on Wall•E's box office performance

A $100 million-plus production, Wall•E repeated the feat of every single past Pixar film by opening #1 at the U.S. box office this weekend. About 22% of patrons for the wondrously reviewed film were couples without children. “That basically tells you that the adults have heard the reviews, and they’re coming,” Disney distribution president Chuck […]

WALL-E

Words fail to convey just how wonderfully unique WALL-E is.

Official estimates are in: #1 with $62.5M for Wall•E

Pixar’s latest narrowly edged out DreamWorks’ Kung Fu Panda opening weekend numbers with a $23.1M Friday and a rather modest $23M Saturday for a $62.5M three-day total. Meanwhile Panda, in spite of suffering its biggest drop this weekend (46.5%), still topped $179.3M on its way to beat Madagascar‘s $193.6M by the end of its run […]

$65M opening weekend in sight for Wall•E

The Pixar masterpiece exceeded expectations with an estimated $23.3M gross yesterday for what should be a $64–67M three-day weekend. That would make it the third biggest opening for a non-sequel animated film, behind Pixar’s own Finding Nemo and The Incredibles. Congratulations to everyone at Disney/Pixar!

Wall•E headed off to a $60+M opening weekend

According to Fantasy Moguls, Pixar’s perfectly-reviewed film is off to a meteoric start, much stronger than last year’s Ratatouille. The new animated masterpiece, already described by many critics as the likely winner of the next animation Oscar, will almost certainly top $20M on opening day. One source told the site $60M+ for the weekend and […]

First trailer for Disney's Bolt now online!

Empire offers a first look at the new trailer for Disney’s November animated feature film Bolt which can also be enjoyed on the big screen in theaters nationwide starting today in front of Wall•E.

Wall•E scores 100% positive reviews from top critics

And Pixar’s latest also rose to 98% of positive reviews overall according to Rotten Tomatoes. It “has all the heart, soul, spirit and romance of the very best silent movies 60 years ago.” says the Hollywood Reporter. “One of the best films of the summer” (USA Today), “Pixar’s ninth consecutive wonder of the animated world” […]

Disney hoping for a Best Film Oscar nomination for Wall•E

Deadline Hollywood Daily reports that Disney and Pixar are going to push hard for a Best Picture Oscar nomination for Wall•E “on the basis of its anti-toon moody darkness and rave reviews by critics who matter.” Only Beauty and the Beast earned a nomination in that category back in 1991, and that was before an […]

Michael Giacchino to score Pixar's Up

UpcomingPixar, via UpcomingFilmScores, reports that Michael Giacchino will be scoring Pixar’s 2009 feature film, Up. Giacchino’s previous works also include Pixar films such as The Incredibles and Ratatouille.

New trailer for The Tale of Despereaux

Yahoo! Movies exclusively debuted the trailer for the December 19th animated feature film The Tale of Despereaux, Directed by Sam Fell (Flushed Away) and featuring the voices of Matthew Broderick, Robbie Coltrane, Frances Conroy, Tony Hale, Ciaran Hinds, Dustin Hoffman, Kevin Kline, Frank Langella, Christopher Lloyd, William H. Macy, Stanley Tucci, Tracey Ullman, Emma Watson […]

The Making of WALL•E

UpcomingPixar shares a SlashFilm link featuring the Making of Pixar’s WALL•E. The site has made available two clips featuring concept art, design and voice acting that went into the making of the film.

97% of positive reviews so far for Wall•E

Rotten Tomatoes sums it all up: “It’s rare that a picture earns comparisons with Chaplin’s City Lights and Kubrick’s 2001. It’s rarer still that said picture is also praised as intelligent, visually remarkable, darkly funny, and ultimately, heartwarming family fare. However, critics say the good folks at Pixar have done just that with Wall•E, perhaps […]

Sony Animation pushes its next two films back a year

SPA officially pushed back its next feature film Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs, originally set for March 27, 2009 (until DreamWorks’ Monsters vs. Aliens claimed that same spot) to the much less trafficked January 15, 2010. The studio’s follow up film, Hotel Transylvania, which had originally been announced for September 25, 2009 has now […]

Wall•E expected to open around $55M this weekend

Fantasy Moguls reports that tracking on Pixar’s latest film is “phenomenal,” and it is likely to open a notch higher than last June’s Ratatouille, earning a spot in the all-time Top 10 openings for animated films. Expect a $52 million-$57 million for the three-day and a possible $115 million-$120 million banked in its first 10 […]

Astro Boy lands Scarlett Johansson, spot at L.A.'s Anime Expo

Coming Soon reports that actress and wannabe singer Scarlett Johansson has joined the voice cast of the animated feature film adaptation Astro Boy. Imagi and Summit will promote the film at the upcoming Anime Expo convention in Los Angeles, giving away a special edition t-shirt from their booth (#913 and #915).

Steven Spielberg's tribute to Stan Winston

The world’s most famous director emailed an heartful message about his experience working with and befriending visual effects genius Stan Winston to Ain’t It Cool. Check it out!

Will Paul Newman return in Cars 2?

Academy Award winner Paul Newman is battling lung cancer according to unconfirmed reports. Could this affect Pixar’s 2012 sequel, following the recent death of George Carlin who voiced Fillmore? “Well, you know, his character [Doc Hudson] is coming back,” John Lasseter told MTV News. “He’s a good friend of mine, and so we’re just waiting […]

Disney and the environment

Regarding the environmental undertones of Wall•E, an article on O-Meon examines the efforts (and in some cases, lack of effort) of the Disney company to conserve energy and resources. The story notes the absence of any significant solar power use in Disney’s theme parks as well as the large vehicles driven during the premier of […]

Origami Wall•E

First came the Lego version of Wall•E; now artist Brian Chan has created an Origami rendition of the little rusty robot. The piece, which was created from an uncut square of paper, can be seen on Chan’s website. The site also includes a template for those interested in creating their own Origami Wall•E. Pixar’s sci-fi […]

Kung Fu Panda sequel in the works and more 2D coming

The TAG Blog reveals that a story crew has started early work on a Kung Fu Panda sequel at DreamWorks, while animators are hand-drawing new material for the DVD of the first film, expected to be released this Fall. Comments one animator: “This has been a fun project. It should go on to late July. […]

Marketing budgets for animated features are on the rise

Wall•E is expected to easily become the year’s most marketed movie, with DreamWorks’ Kung Fu Panda coming close behind. Last year, Ratatouille topped the marketing charts, with Disney spending $54 million to cook up ads for the Pixar-produced pic. To put that into perspective, the industry average to promote a pic was $35.9 million last […]

Wall•E articles keep flooding in

The film, which Cinema Blend calls “another winning confection from Pixar” and GFR “the perfect window for kids into a broader world of imagination and perhaps even activism”, could be “Pixar’s best movie ever” according to the New York Magazine. The Village Voice feels that “you’ll adore it because of a cuddly, lonely little robot […]

Stan Winston to be honored at SIGGRAPH this August

With the recent passing of VFX legend Stan Winston, Sony Pictures Imageworks has decided to change its upcoming SIGGRAPH 2008 “Studio Events” program and instead pay tribute to Stan at the Nokia Theater on Aug. 13 (8:00 -11:00 p.m.). Find out more details at AWN.

Ratatouille and Enchanted grab Saturn awards

Disney won big at last night’s Satury Awards as the Academy of Science Fiction, Fantasy & Horror presented three trophies to Enchanted (best Fantasy Film, Actress for Amy Adams, and Music for Alan Menken) while Ratatouille won for best Writing and unsurprisingly beat Beowulf, Meet the Robinsons, Shrek the Third, The Simpsons Movie and Surf’s […]

Christina Ricci leading voice cast for Hero of Color City

Movieweb reports that Christina Ricci will voice the lead role of the timid crayon Yellow in Exodus Film Group’s animated CG feature The Hero of Color City. She plays one of several crayons whose colorful world is threatened by an evil tyrant. She is the first member of the cast to be announced for the […]

Toy Story 3 plot details revealed

MTV Movies Blog features new plot points for Pixar’s upcoming sequel, Toy Story 3. According to John Ratzenberger and Estelle Harris, who played Hamm the piggy bank and Mrs. Potato Head in the previous Toy Story flicks, both characters will be playing a bigger role this time around. Harris also assures readers that there’s no […]