Sunday, September 13, 2009

Disney/Pixar's John Lasseter Talks 'Rapunzel' Casting, 'Toy Story 3' Plot, 'Cars 2', 'Winnie the Pooh' and More!

Spoiler alert: The Marvel / Pixar Ant-Man rumors flying around are purely that ... rumor. That's according to John Lasseter, who headlined an enormous Disney Animation / Pixar presentation this morning. We spoke with him at a press conference afterwards, where he squashed the Ant-Man rumors, and wouldn't comment on possible sequels to The Incredibles or Monsters, Inc. He also said they have no plans to reopen the closed Disney Orlando animation studios, and when we asked him how they'll handle Doc's (Paul Newman) absence in Cars 2, to which he replied "You'll see."

Plus he had no news whatsoever of any Disney/Pixar/Marvel plans, although I guess that's hardly surprising since the ink is still drying on that contract.

That's the big news about what he didn't clue us in on. So what did he tell us? We found out that Rapunzel will feature the voice of Mandy Moore as Rapunzel, and Zachary Levi as a roguish bandit named Flynn Rider who becomes Rapunzel's love interest. It will be Disney's 50th feature animated film, their first computer-animated fairytale, and the first CG musical. "There's a lot of girl power in this movie," according to Lasseter. Which isn't odd considering that it's about a young girl with 70 feet of hair. Read on after the break for more.

They showed us some storyboarded sequences with very short bits of completed animation, featuring Rapunzel using her hair as a whip like Indiana Jones, a rope to shimmy down, and an acrobatics tool. None of the musical sequences were shown, so we'll have to wait and see how Moore's singing voice holds up ... and if Levi can carry a tune.

They also showed off a new Toy Story 3 trailer (in full 3D) featuring home videocam footage of a young Andy, and it finally dissolves into his high school graduation picture. Andy goes off to college, and his toys get donated to a day care whose kids make the bad neighbor in the original Toy Story look like a cuddly hamster. Brief snippets include Buzz getting reset and changing to a Spanish language only setting, a quip from Hamm (John Ratzenberger, the pig) about checking their value on eBay, and of course ... a sappy song by Randy Newman.

Joining the already announced voice cast of Ned Beatty, Michael Keaton as Barbie's Ken, and Timothy Dalton as Mr. Pricklepants, a lederhosen-wearing porcupine thespian, are John Morris, the original voice of Andy, Jeff Garlin, Bonnie Hunt, and Whoopi Goldberg. They didn't tell us what toys they'll be voicing, but they did show us a hilarious "Groovin' With Ken" shot film that has him storming off the set when the interviewer only wants to know what it's like being a "girl's toy" and second banana to Barbie.

While we don't know how they send Doc off to the graveyard in the sky, he did talk Cars 2 plot points. The whole gang (minus Doc) is returning, and they go on a race around the world through Tokyo, Germany, Paris, Italy, and London. The subplot is a "Hitchcockian thriller" according to Lasseter, and involves Mater being mistaken for a spy, and he teams up with super spy car Finn McMissile on adventures that the rest of the Cars cast doesn't believe, much in line with the Cars Toons shorts Disney shows online and on The Disney Channel. They're bringing three more out, which John Lasseter is directing, and they showed us two of them. Funny stuff, but extremely short.

They also talked a lot about Winnie the Pooh, which was previously announced, as a fully hand-drawn movie that will be made to mimic the style of the two original Disney movies. Veteran Disney animator Burny Mattinson (the only surviving animator who worked under Walt Disney himself) is on the production team, and the developers put a storyline together consisting of five plots pulled from the original A.A. Milne books. The movie will be out in Spring of 2011.

We'll pass along more info as we stumble into it. Disney has a very busy next few years, and we'll see how they handle the increased workload plus the addition of Marvel.

by Kevin Kelly

Source

It's looks like Toy Story 3 is filled with lots of surprises.

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Monday, August 3, 2009

Movie news and updates 7...an alien prequel?...who can hear you scream now?...| Resident Evil 4 | Pirates of the Caribbean 4

Brace for it, film fanatics.  Really weird stuff from Hollyweird this week.

1)  "Toy Story" & "Toy Story 2" have both been reworked for 3D and will be shown back-to-back in limited release starting on Oct. 2nd.  This is meant to hype "Toy Story 3D", coming soon.  There are very cool trailers on www.firstshowing.net.

2)  "Surrogates", new Bruce Willis film from Disney, directed by Jonathan Mastow (Breakdown; U571; Terminator 3), coming Sept. 25.  Very cool trailer and first showing of promo posters on www.firstshowing.net.

3)  "Pirates 4"--Rob Marshall to direct?  Some horrifying rumors emanating from the West Coast have it that Rob Marshall could be being considered to direct "Pirates of the Caribbean 4".  To date, he's best known for "Chicago"," Memoirs of a Geisha"  and the upcoming "Nine", all musicals.  This is a total buzzkill should he be hired.  What next?  Recast Depp's part with Barishnikov?  No thanks.  Stay tuned.

4)  "Green Hornet" update.  Apparently, the film is alive and well and, according to the Korea Times, Korean actor Kwon Sang-woo will make his Hollywood debut as Kato, replacing Stephen Chow.  More will undoubtedly follow as copies of The Korean Times don't deliver door-to-door in South Mpls.

5)  "Resident Evil 4: Afterlife".  Still unconfirmed but being twittered about, www.bloody-disgusting.com is reporting that Milla Jovovich will return for a fourth time.  Sony only made about $51 million on R.E.3 but wants to keep the franchise alive.  Jovovich has been quoted as saying this one will be bigger and better and it must be true.  No one has ever said that before about any film.  We'll see.  Part 3 stunk out loud.  Anyway, Jovovich can be seen in "A Perfect Getaway" opening this Friday, Aug. 7.

6) Other summer releases still being plugged quite shamelessly:  G.I. Joe--Aug. 7;  Halloween 2 and Final Destination 4--Aug. 28; Sherlock Holmes--Dec. 25 (hardly summer but...).  From Warner Bros., this stars Robert Downey, Jr. and Jude Law as Holmes and Watson respectively and is directed by Guy Ritchie (Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels; Snatch; Revolver).

7)  DVD releases:  The Last Starfighter, 25th Anniv. Ed.--Aug 4; Last House on the Left, remake--Aug. 18;  An American Werewolf in London, Full Moon Ed., & X Men Origins: Wolverine, single and double disc editions--Sept. 15;  Friday the 13th: The Series, final season & Star Trek Next Generation Motion Picture Collection, on Blu-ray, 5 discs--Sept. 22;  CSI: NY, Season 5:  Monsters vs. Aliens, two packages:  Wizard of Oz, 70th Anniv. Ed., two packages--Sept. 29;  National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation, Ultimate Collector's Ed.--Oct. 27;  Star Wars, Clone Wars, Season 1--Nov. 3; and Star Trek, single and two-disc packages--Nov. 17.

8)  The Alien Prequel.  Variety, the bible of the film world, is reporting that Ridley Scott will direct a prequel written by Jon Spaihts, a newcomer.  This is really, really weird to even think about let alone see written down.  There are still a few thousand people who were alive in 1979 when 20th Century Fox released this film.  It featured an ensemble cast including Tom Skerritt, Sigourney Weaver, Ian Holm, Veronica Cartwright,  Harry Dean Stanton, John Hurt, Yaphet Koto and Bolaji Badejo.  Badejo, a 7'2" Nigerian design student, shared the role of the 'Alien" with stuntmen Eddie Powell and Roy Scammell.  That's not the weird part.  What's weird is that the crew of the Nostromo were the first humans to make contact with this hostile species.  At no point in the script was any history of the species established, certainly not with Weaver's character (Ripley), the only one to survive the encounter.  Her cat also survived but it's doubtful that "Jonesy' had any documented encounters prior to the opening credits.  Many fans of the  franchise have to be wondering about the wisdom of such a move.  This isn't like "Temple of Doom" happening prior to "Raiders of the Lost Ark".  The 'aliens' didn't even make it to earth till part 4 (Alien: Resurrection).  Let's hope this is just a bad dream or a horrible horrible hoax.  A remake would be better than trying to invent a story this difficult to link.  Sadly, history has shown that Hollywood is willing to throw money at just about anything when sales are lagging.  Stay tuned but pray this is a hoax.

That's going to do it for this week (maybe).  Please remember that the Record Coop show is this coming Sat., Aug. 8th, at the VFW Club on Lyndale Av. S. at 29th St.  Hours are 9 a.m.-5 p.m. and admission is still $2.00.  The June show was very well attended and thanks all around for those who braved the rain.  Next Sat. is supposed to be a nice day but come spend an hour or two inside.  Wheel and deal with the friendly dealers who all have some cool stuff.  Later.

Darrell Moen

Weird stuff indeed. There's a lot of movies on that list that I would be watching out for - not just toy story 2 and 3. I'm excited to know more about Resident Evil 4 and Pirates of the Caribbean 4.

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Venice to Screen 3-D Toy Story, Rintaro’s Penguin

Attendees at the 66th annual Venice Film Festival will get the first chance to see the 3-D versions of Toy Story and Toy Story 2.

The Pixar films, due for general release from Disney as a double feature in October, will be screened as part of a lifetime achievement honor the festival is bestowing on John Lasseter and the Disney/Pixar directors.



Lasseter, currently chief creative officer of both Pixar and Walt Disney Animation Studios, directed the first Toy Story and co-directed the second. Toy Story, released in 1995, was the first feature-length CG-animated feature and Pixar’s motion-picture debut.

The festival also will screen out of competition the new 3D anime feature film from Japanese director Rintaro, titled Yona Yona Penguin.Produced by Japanese anime studio Madhouse and French company Denis Friedman Productions, Yona Yona Penguin is billed as Madhouse's first CG-animated anime film. The bulk of the actual 3D animation is done by the French animation studio Def2shoot, the Thai studio Imagimax, and the Japanese studio Dynamo Pictures, with Madhouse providing direction and storyboards.

The film's storyline revolves around a brave little girl who gets sucked into a fantasy world populated by goblins who believe that their savior will be a penguin.



The Venice Film Festival which announced its lineup today, is one of the most prestigious in the world and will run its 66th edition from Sept. 2-12.

By: Thomas J. Mclean

Those guys are pretty lucky to be the first ones to see the toy story 3-D versions.

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'Toon Town: A fantastic 'Mr. Fox' hits the screen while 'Toy Story' flies into the third dimension

An animated fall looms ahead at the cinema as the artistry of Roald Dahl inspires post-modernist filmmaker Wes Anderson. But first, two Disney-Pixar classics will be going from infinity and beyond right into 3-D for the first time.



It's been 14 years since Pixar created "Toy Story," a groundbreaking effort of art and storytelling that redefined the animated film. One of Disney's biggest hits, the companies have since become one, delivering an unprecedented string of state of the art blockbusters on a yearly basis. With "Toy Story 3" in the works for 2010, Pixar and Disney are revisiting the first two installments to bring audiences closer to Woody, Buzz Lightyear and the entire toy box than ever before.

This October 2nd, prepare for a "Toy Story" Double Feature in selected theaters for a special two-week engagement. Both "Toy Story" and "Toy Story 2" will be presented in Disney Digital 3-D for the first time.


By Jorge Carreon

Many fans are surely excited about these ToyStory movies.

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