The Animation Blog

Month: March 2009 (Page 2 of 3)

Pixar’s UP to open Cannes Festival

March 19, 2009 / / 0 Comments

Big news for Pixar fans as word spread across the internet revealing that the highly-anticipated animated feature “UP” will have the honor of opening the 62nd Cannes Film Festival on Wednesday May 13, 2009, the first time an animated 3D film has opened at Cannes.

UP is directed by Pete Docter, director of Monsters Inc., who also helped developed Toy Story’s characters and story, along with serving as supervising animator. Not only that, he was also a storyboard artist on A Bug’s Life and wrote the initial story treatment for Toy Story 2. So as you can see, you have nothing to be worried about. Sure, the story is about a 78-year old man and a boy scout who fly away to South America — but when has Pixar ever let you down?

UP will be released in the United States on Friday, May 29.

Mamoru Oshii’s “The Sky Crawlers” coming to DVD, Blu-ray

March 16, 2009 / / 0 Comments

Sony Pictures Home Entertainment will release The Sky Crawlers on Blu-ray Disc and DVD May 26, 2009. From Mamoru Oshii, the world-acclaimed director of Ghost in the Shell, comes the story of an endless war with heroes too young to understand the meaning of their battles.

This anime adventure brings to life dogfights from the epic air battles described in Hiroshi Mori’s best-selling novel in Japan. Special features include featurettes on animation and sound design, and the research behind bringing real sights and sounds to life in anime. Exclusively available on the Blu-ray version is an interview with director Oshii.

The Blu-ray Disc version of The Sky Crawlers is BD-Live enabled, allowing users to get connected and use the disc as a key to unlock exclusive content and features via an Internet-connected Blu-ray player.

‘The Princess and the Frog’ release date pushed up

March 12, 2009 / / 0 Comments

Variety is reporting that Disney’s The Princess and the Frog’s original Christmas Day release date has been pushed up to December 11, avoiding direct competition with Fox’s Alvin and the Chipmunks sequel.

The film will now go up against Peter Jackson’s The Lovely Bones, which shouldn’t affect Frog’s numbers seeing as one is an animated fairytale, while the other is about a young girl who has been murdered.

As if a December 11 release date wasn’t enough, New York and Los Angeles residents will be able to watch The Princess and the Frog beginning November 25. It’s not too late to pack your suitcases and move cities. I recommend Los Angeles. The weather’s nice.

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Pixar’s ‘Partly Cloudy’ short film

March 12, 2009 / / 0 Comments

Synopsis: Everyone knows that the stork delivers babies, but where do the storks get the babies from? The answer lies up in the stratosphere, where cloud people sculpt babies from clouds and bring them to life. Gus, a lonely and insecure grey cloud, is a master at creating ‘dangerous’ babies. Crocodiles, porcupines, rams and more—Gus’s beloved creations are works of art, but more than a handful for his loyal delivery stork partner, Peck. As Gus’s creations become more and more rambunctious, Peck’s job gets harder and harder. How will Peck manage to handle both his hazardous cargo and his friend’s fiery temperament?

Release date: May 29, 2009 – Will play before Pixar’s UP.

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Via AWN

“Gulliver’s Travels” now available on DVD and Blu-ray

March 10, 2009 / / 0 Comments

In 1939, animation pioneers Max and Dave Fleischer made history when Paramount Pictures released Gulliver’s Travels, the second feature-length animated film produced by a U.S. studio. This aptation of Jonathan Swift’s novel went on to earn two Academy Award nominations for Best Original Song (“Faithful Forever”) and Best Score, and is considered one of the greatest achievements in animation history.

Seventy years later, E1 Entertainment proudly presents a digitally restored, re-mastered and enhanced Max Fleischer’s Gulliver’s Travels on DVD and Blu-ray. This edition includes the complete 77 minute feature plus two fully restored “Gabby” cartoons and the Fleischer Studios documentary short “The Making of a Cartoon.”

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