News Archive for James R Whitson

Saving Mr. Banks roundup

Saving Mr. Banks opens next week in the United States, but it’s already made its debut overseas. The Mirror has photos from the premiere, including some of the stars of the original film, Julie Andrews and Dick Van Dyke. Stars of the current film are out promoting the film. Tom Hanks discusses taking on Walt […]

Frozen producer talks about producing

Bleeding Cool sits down with Frozen producer Peter Del Vecho and discusses not only the role he played in this film, but how exactly the Disney system works from the inside — the typical day of a producer, ratings, scheduling, the Disney brand and legacy, and more.

Rimes music video created with stop motion on an iPhone

The Hollywood Reporter digs into the creation of LeAnn Rimes’ new music video for the song Gasoline and Matches. The video, created by Ian Padgham, uses stop-motion animation and all 8,000 frames were shot using an iPhone. “Padgham says that anyone could use the same virtually free technology to make their own stop-motion animation nowadays. […]

The Wind Rises takes award despite “morally egregious” claim

The Boston Society of Film Critics named Hayao Miyazaki‘s The Wind Rises as Best Animated Feature — but not without controversy, according to IndieWire. Before the vote Village Voice critic Inkoo Kang read aloud a statement calling out the film for being “morally egregious” in ignoring the atrocities committed during the war by the Japanese […]

Lasseter’s Disney and Pixar tug-of-war

The Hollywood Reporter looks at the “Tricky Tug-of-War” John Lasseter is in the middle of in running both Disney Animation and Pixar. “Borrowing a page from Pixar, Lasseter is hands-on at WDAS. He gives extensive notes, pores over story reels and even does the first reading with actors and directors. Initially, Pixar animators worried that […]

Annie Award nominees for 2013 films revealed

ASIFA-Hollywood has announced the nominations for the 41st Annual Annie Awards, which recognize the year’s best in animation. Frozen and Monsters University lead the field with 10 nominations each. The nominees for Best Animated Feature are: A Letter to Momo, Despicable Me 2, Ernest & Celestine
, Frozen, Monsters University, The Croods
, and The Wind Rises. […]

Nineteen animated films up for Oscar noms

Nineteen titles have been submitted for consideration in the Best Animated Feature Film category for the 86th Academy Awards: Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs 2, The Croods, Despicable Me 2, Epic, Ernest and Celestine, The Fake, Free Birds, Frozen, Khumba, The Legend of Sarila, A Letter to Momo, Monsters University, O Apóstolo, Planes, Puella […]

Video of 243 animated titles

Irina Neustroeva, who has described herself as a “stop-motion and media creator, a scriptwriter, [and] a teacher of animation”, has put together an amazing four-and-a-half minute video of the title sequences from 243 animated movies from Snow White to Rise of the Guardians. Besides being very cool and bringing on a feeling of nostalgia, it […]

Free Birds opens

Relativity/Reel FX’s Free Birds opens today in 3,736 theatres according to Box Office Mojo. The film is taking a beating from the critics, with a 12% rating on the Tomatometer — though it is faring better with their Top Critics. Box Office Guru projects an $11 million opening weekend.

Toy Story of Terror premieres

Pixar’s Toy Story of Terror premieres tonight on ABC. The New York Times review says, “Once the annual avalanche of Halloween-themed episodes, specials and movies overtakes TV, you probably don’t expect to be using the word ‘charming’ very often. But charming perfectly describes… Toy Story of Terror.” The Wall Street Journal went behind the scenes […]

Ghibli updates: pics and Twitter record

Bleeding Cool has a few images from director Isao Takahata’s upcoming film Kaguya-hime No Monogatari. And Cinema Blend notes that the record for most Tweets sent in a second was set this month due to a TV airing of Hayao Miyazaki’s Castle In The Sky.

McKenzie talks Muppet sequel

Collider has posted a video interview with Bret McKenzie, one half of Flight of the Conchords, a Middle Earth elf, and the Oscar winning song writer of The Muppets. While he is out promoting another project, a considerable amount of time is spent on the new Muppet sequel Most Wanted. He discusses: How winning the […]

D23 photo wrap-up

If you want a visual wrap-up, ComingSoon.net has a slideshow of over 100 images from the recent D23 Expo. It includes peeks at Star Wars Orange Harvest, Marvel’s Big Hero 6, Avatar theme park, the Avengers Academy and more.

TV visual effects behind the scenes

Deadline takes a look at the Emmy nominated TV series’ up for Best Visual Effects. Instead of focusing solely on the shows themselves, the piece talks about what goes into putting effects on screen in the more time-limited fashion required with TV schedules.

Planes opens

Disney’s Planes opens today in 3,702 theatres according to Box Office Mojo. The film isn’t winning over the critics, earning just 25% on the Tomatometer. Their consensus is that Planes “has enough bright colors, goofy voices, and slick animation to distract some young viewers for 92 minutes — and probably sell plenty of toys in […]

D23 Expo begins, flood of news expected

Disney’s D23 Expo begins today and the studio is expected to unlock the vault on a lot of upcoming projects. ComingSoon.net has a first look at some of Disney’s teases for Big Hero 6. The Rotoscopers have a clip from Frozen. Entertainment Weekly has a peek at The Good Dinosaur. And you can keep up […]

Disney releases animation app

Disney Animated, a new app for iPad, is now available in the App Store. Fans can explore the story of Disney animation through interactive illustrations and animation workshops derived from actual Disney technologies. The app features a large amount of content, including text, art, sound, images, interviews and interactive activities, spanning all eras of Walt […]

Planes prepares for take off

Disney’s Planes is getting ready to take off this week. (Be prepared to hear that pun everywhere for the next few days!) The Associated Press talks with comedian and the film’s star Dane Cook. Then Collider interviews director Klay Hall and producer Traci Balthazor-Flynn about switching the film from a direct-to-video to a theatrical release, […]

DreamWorks remakes itself with deals

Reuters takes a look at the recent flurry of dealmaking being done by DreamWorks Animation. “In the last year, Dreamworks has bought a YouTube network aimed at teenagers and picked up a company that controls such iconic characters as Lassie and Casper the Friendly Ghost. It acquired the rights to the Troll toy franchise and […]

Catch up on Disney reading

If you’re in the mood to settle in with a book, MiceChat has you covered for the rest of the year. They’ve compiled a list of books about Disney being released over the next several months. Titles include Disney Legend Marty Sklar’s Dream It! Do It!: My Half-Century Creating Disney’s Magic Kingdoms, Tinker Bell: An […]

Paramount woos Wedge, sets date for SpongeBob

Paramount Animation is trying to woo Blue Sky co-founder and Oscar winner Chris Wedge to direct a new animated project titled Monster Trucks for a planned opening on May 29, 2015, according to Deadline. The studio also announced that big screen sequel SpongeBob SquarePants 2 will open February 15, 2015.

DreamWorks TV lands Nickelodeon executive

DreamWorks Animation Television has hired 26 year Nickelodeon veteran Marjorie Cohn to run the division, according to Variety. She takes the helms of a group planning a big increase in output due to deals with Netflix and their purchase of Classic Media.

Talking Planes strive for measure of authenticity

Disney previewed their upcoming film Planes at the AirVenture airshow this week in Oshkosh WI. And CNN talked with Sean Bautista, one of the film’s aviation consultants, about the authenticity and accuracy of how the planes and their abilities are portrayed. “At a screening for aviation enthusiasts I went to, the general comments were that, […]

The Croods raise DreamWorks’ bottom line

After some financial issues earlier this year, DreamWorks announced a stronger-than-expected profit in the second quarter, the L.A. Times reports. DW head Jeffrey Katzenberg said, “DreamWorks Animation significantly outperformed in the second quarter, thanks primarily to The Croods‘ incredibly successful box-office run, where it has amassed $584 million worldwide to become the fifth-highest-grossing movie of […]

Lasseter on Disney Infinity, creativity and Jobs

With Disney’s largest video game effort to date, Disney Infinity, releasing later this month, Fast Company spoke with Disney and Pixar creative chief John Lasseter. Topics ranged from the game and why he resisted the idea initially, to the importance of creativity and how the game promotes that, to how the late Steve Jobs influenced […]

Despicable Me 2 Universal’s biggest hit ever?

NBCUniversal head Steve Burke said today that Despicable Me 2 will be “the single most profitable film in the 100 year history of Universal Studios”, Deadline reports. With a production budget of $76 million according to Box Office Mojo, the film has so far brought in $664 million worldwide.

Amazon doubles down on original kids’ animation

Variety reports that Amazon has greenlighted five more children’s shows this year, in addition to the one’s previously reported. The animated offerings include: Grid Smasher, from Dan Clark (Yo Gabba Gabba!, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles); Hard-Boiled Eggheads, from Duane Capizzi (Transformers Prime, Men in Black: The Series, Darkwing Duck); The Jo B. & G. Raff […]

Hader talks Cloudy 2 and South Park

Collider talks with SNL alum Bill Hader. Besides the discussion about his recent exit from that show (for which he was just nominated for his second Emmy Award for Best Supporting Actor in a Comedy Series), they also discuss his role on Cloudy With a Chance of Meatballs 2, and his previously part time now […]

Lasseter number two at Academy

Pixar and Disney creative head John Lasseter was just elected to the post of First Vice President of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences. He previously served terms as treasurer and secretary. Cheryl Boone Isaacs was elected president.

Docter talks Inside Out

Pete Docter, the Academy Award winning director of Up, recently discussed his upcoming film Inside Out with The Hollywood Reporter. The plot focuses on an 11 year old girl and what exactly goes on in her mind as she goes about her life. “One story is hard enough. This is two stories that need to […]