Archives for February, 2008
Ratatouille and Peter & the Wolf win Academy Award
Ratatouille has won the Oscar for best feature length animated movie and Peter & the Wolf has won for best animated short.
Congrats to the winners!
Update 2/29/08: Peter & the Wolf will make its U.S. television premiere on Thirteen/WNET’s GREAT PERFORMANCES series on Wednesday, March 26 at 8 p.m. on PBS (check local listings).
In the mean time, check out some behind-the-scenes footage.
WALL-E WonderCon report
Pixar’s Andrew Stanton, director of WALL-E, was present at this year’s WonderCon to speak about and show new WALL-E clips to the people in attendance.
So here are some of the highlights, provided by ComingSoon:
WALL-E stands for Waste Allocation Load Lifter Earth-Class.
Earth is buried in trash from over consumption and embarks on a 5 year space cruise to wait out the clean up efforts. Something goes wrong and they are gone for 700 years. The clean up effort fails as all the machines left, fall apart. WALL-E is the last one left.
EVE is a probe droid that is sent down to check out the planet, and WALL-E falls in love with her. Everything revolves around his pursuit of her.
Ben Burt (Star Wars) is doing the sound design.
Mr. Stanton also showed several clips from the movie:
Day in the Life of WALL-E.
WALL-E showing EVE his “home”.
“Helo, Dolly!” music scene.
WALL-E stowing away on pod recovery ship.
WALL-E being sent back to earth from the home ship AXIOM.
Popeye the Sailor Vol. 2 details and release date announced
Warner Home Video has announced that Popeye the Sailor: 1938-1940 Volume Two which includes 31 uncut and remastered shorts will be released on Junw 17, 2008. Extras will include commentaries, Popeye Popumentary featurettes, Out of the Inkwell: The Fleischer Story documentary, the feature-length movie Gulliver’s Travels, vintage audio recordings, radio interviews and more. Click here to view the complete list of included shorts.
Adventures of the Galaxy Rangers Vol. 1 DVD announced
KOCH Vision announced today that Adventures of the Galaxy Rangers - The Collection: Volume 1 will be released on May 13th. The DVD set will include the first 32 episodes of the 1986 show, created by Robert Mandell.
The series ran for 65 episodes so it’s safe to assume that Vol. 2 (whenever that comes out) will include the final 33 episodes.
Extras include a never-before-seen pilot/demo reel, on-camera interview with Mandell, audio commentary with Mandell and special guests, original music tracks and new “No Guts, No Glory” music video, slideshow of the vintage talking storybook “Tortuna the Outlaw Planet” and a 32-page collectible booklet featuring character profiles and illustrations.
Via AWN
Gore Verbinski planning animation epic
Director Gore Verbinski and producer Graham King are collaborating to develop and produce a $100 million animated feature with franchise potential. Academy Award nominee John Logan is in discussions to write the script which is based on an idea by Verbinski’s production company, Blind Wink Prods. and producer John B. Carls.
The team also includes Mark McCreery and James Ward Byrkit, who will oversee the story and storyboards. The release date is planned for 2010.
Via AWN
Disney announces 3 new classic DVD sets
Disney has announced today that they will be releasing three new volumes from the Disney Vault on November 11, 2008. The three new two-disc sets are: Destino, Dr Syn, Alias the Scarecrow and Chronological Donald Vol. 4.
Destino began its life in 1946 and was a collaboration between Walt Disney and Salvador Dali and was unfortunately never finished. In 2003, Walt’s nephew, Roy Disney, made the decision to complete the film and bring it to the public.
Dr. Syn, Alias the Scarecrow first aired as three separate episodes on Disney’s weekly TV show and was edited for theatrical releases in England and the U.S. The DVD set includes all three of the original TV episodes plus the theatrical version of the film that was released in England.
Chronological Donald Vol. 4 includes 31 shorts starring Donald Duck that were created between 1951 and 1961.
Via AWN
Live-action Akira in development, Leonardo DiCaprio attached
Do you hear that? That’s the sound of millions of fans around the world screaming at their monitors. You really can’t blame them though. Akira is a beloved manga and animated film and a live-action adaptation may or may not live up to the original. The story is set in a post-nuclear war “New Tokyo” in 2019 where a teen biker gang member is subjected to a government experiment which unleashes his powers. The gang’s leader must find a way to stop the ensuing destruction.
Apparently Leonardo DiCaprio is producing the film with the possibility of starring. Ruairi Robinson has been hired to direct and would mark the feature directorial debut for Robinson who was nominated for a best animated short Oscar in 2001 for a sci-fi comedy called “Fifty Percent Grey.” He also wrote and directed a sci-fi short titled “The Silent City.” Warner Bros. is hoping for a summer 2009 release for the first movie.
Dore the Explorer goes live-action
Nickelodeon announced today they will develop their hit series Dora The Explorer Dinto a live-action prime-time TV movie. The movie will feature an older Dora, 10 years old, and will be enhanced by special effects. Candidates for CG are Boots, Dora’s monkey pal, and Swiper, the fox who loves to steal, although at this time Nickelodeon hasn’t decided.
“Dora will be a little older for her high stakes live-action adventure, which we think will be very exciting for our pre-school audience, as well as kids and their families who have grown up watching the show over the last 7 years,” said Brown Johnson of Nickelodeon.
Via AWN
Peter Gabriel involved with Pixar’s WALL-E
Straight from Peter Gabriel himself comes the news that he is involved with Pixar’s upcoming summer movie, WALL-E. It is unclear exactly what he will be contributing but he says he’ll be creating one or two new things as well as putting some glue on things he’s done in the past. Perhaps some of his music will be remixed for the the movie.
Peter has been involved with the movie for quite some time, when he was approached by Pixar back in 2005. He has high hopes that WALL-E will continue the Pixar tradition of being appropriate for children but at the same time enjoyable for adults.
Via Cinemablend
Guided Tour of Pixar Animation Studios
The fine folks over at Empire Online were lucky enough to tour Pixar headquarters. Luckily for all of us, they took a video camera along to document the guided tour.
So Pixar, where’s my invitation? It’s in the mail right? Right?
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