Category: Films (Page 69 of 85)

‘Alvin and the Chipmunks’ vs. ‘The Princess and the Frog’

October 24, 2008 / The Animation Blog / 0 Comments

Twentieth Century Fox has moved the CGI-live action hybrid Alvin and the Chipmunks: The Squeakuel directly against Disney’s The Princess and the Frog on Christmas Day 2009.

Fox’s other animated movie, Ice Age: Dawn of the Dinosaurs will stay in its Summer 2009 release date.

In other news, Sony Pictures will release Planet 51 in November 2009. The movie features the voice of Dwayne Johnson. Previously Warner Bros. had scheduled the movie for Summer 2009 but let the film go after producers wanted a November release.

will.i.am composes ‘Madagascar: Escape 2 Africa’ soundtrack

October 22, 2008 / The Animation Blog / 0 Comments

Grammy-award winning will.i.am, frontman and producer of The Black Eyed Peas, is teaming with Oscar-winning composer Hans Zimmer for DreamWorks Animation’s upcoming Madagascar: Escape 2 Africa.

In addition to completing his first full-length motion picture soundtrack album collaboration, penning four brand new original songs (and the instrumental score), will.i.am will also be doing double-duty as the voice of a new character, Moto Moto.

Madagascar: Escape 2 Africa, the album, is set for a November 4 release in the physical and digital marketplace on the will.i.am Music Group/Interscope label. The movie, a Paramount Pictures release, opens nationwide on Friday, November 7.

Four minute BOLT video

October 19, 2008 / The Animation Blog / 0 Comments

Check out this four minute clip of Disney’s Bolt, in theater November 21, 2008.

Tim Burton speaks about ‘Alice in Wonderland’

October 16, 2008 / The Animation Blog / 0 Comments

The LA Times has an interview with Tim Burton in which he discusses his projects, including Alice in Wonderland — a retelling of the classic story as only Burton could.

“It’s a funny project. The story is obviously a classic with iconic images and ideas and thoughts. But with all the movie versions, well, I’ve just never seen one that really had any impact to me. It’s always just a series of weird events. Every character is strange and she’s just kind of wandering through all of the encounters as just a sort of observer. The goal is to try to make it an engaging movie where you get some of the psychology and kind of bring a freshness but also keep the classic nature of ‘Alice.’ And, you know, getting to do it in 3-D fits the material quite well. So I’m excited about making it a new version but also have the elements that people expect when they think of the material.”

New poster for Pixar’s UP

October 14, 2008 / The Animation Blog / 0 Comments

Disney’s ‘Rapunzel’ directors replaced

October 10, 2008 / The Animation Blog / 0 Comments

The folks at Ain’t It Cool News are reporting that Disney has replaced “Rapunzel” directors Glen Keane and Dean Wellins. Below is the memo sent to AICN.

For nearly two years, Glen Keane and Dean Wellins have been directing partners on Rapunzel. As Glen lessens his directorial responsibilities to attend to some non-life threatening health issues, their involvement on the project will shift. Glen will step back as a Director but stay attached to Rapunzel as an Executive Producer and Directing Animator. At the same time, Dean will move into development to pitch three new ideas for one of our future feature projects and focus on directing one of his CG shorts.

We are happy to announce that Nathan Greno and Byron Howard have accepted to partner as directors on Rapunzel as we continue to hone the story in anticipation of our Holiday 2010 release.

We want to welcome Nathan and Byron to the project and thank Glen and Dean for their great contributions to date on Rapunzel.

Thanks
Ed

Anne Hathaway, among others, joins ‘Alice in Wonderland’ cast

October 8, 2008 / The Animation Blog / 0 Comments

Anne Hathaway’s role of White Queen in Tim Burton’s Alice in Wonderland has been officially confirmed. The movie stars Johnny Depp as the Mad Hatter and Mia Wasikowska as Alice. Also confirmed today is Helena Bonham Carter as Red Queen.

The movie will use a combination of live action and performance capture. If you’ve seen The Polar Express or Beowulf, then you know what performance capture animation looks like.

The White Queen was banished by her sister, the Red Queen and needs Alice to slay a creature known as the Bandersnatch.

International ‘Madagascar 2’ poster

October 3, 2008 / The Animation Blog / 0 Comments

CARS 2 release date pushed forward

September 24, 2008 / The Animation Blog / 0 Comments

During today’s Walt Disney Showcase, John Lasseter revealed that the release date for Cars 2 will be pushed forward to Summer 2011, from the previous 2012 release date.

Mr. Lasseter also revealed plot details and how the idea came to him while traveling the world doing publicity for the original Cars. He wondered how Lightning McQueen, Mater and the rest of the gang would react to other countries and the foreign vehicles that inhabit them.

The sequel will answer such a question as Lightning McQueen and Mater go on a worldwide trip where they will no-doubt meet many new friends — all of which you will be able to buy at a toy store near you, just in time for the Holidays! After all, we all know that’s the only reason Pixar is doing another sequel. The original was a HUGE merchandising hit for Disney with products repeatedly selling out.

Also announced was a series of short Cars cartoons cleverly (not really) titled Car-toons… get it? Car…toons… Yea, they didn’t even try. The shorts will air on the Disney Channel and maybe even in theaters before other Disney films.

Discuss: What do you think? Is Cars 2 just an attempt to cash in on merchandising? What other Pixar film do you think would have been a better choice for a sequel? Post your comments and discuss with other readers.

Via Slashfilm

‘Astro Boy’ release date announced

September 22, 2008 / The Animation Blog / 0 Comments

Summit Entertainment will release Astro Boy in North America on Friday, October 23, 2009, it was announced today by Rob Friedman of Summit Entertainment, and Erin Corbett of Imagi Studios U.S.

Produced by Imagi Studios, the CG-animated motion picture will bow on over 3,000 screens across North America. International release dates for the film are to be announced soon.

Astro Boyâ€™s cast features the voices of Nicolas Cage, Donald Sutherland, Nathan Lane, Bill Nighy and Eugene Levy with Freddie Highmore in the title role. David Bowers (Flushed Away) is directing Astro Boy from a screenplay written by Timothy Harris (Trading Places, Kindergarten Cop), with Maryann Garger producing.

‘Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs’ voice cast announced

September 18, 2008 / The Animation Blog / 0 Comments

Sony Pictures Animation’s “Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs” just got a bit clearer with the announcement that Bill Hader, Anna Faris, James Caan, Andy Samberg, Bruce Campbell, Mr. T, and Tracy Morgan will voice the characters. The movie is set for release January 15, 2010.

Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs is written and directed by Chris Miller and Phil Lord, based on the kids book written by Judi Barrett and illustrated by Ron Barrett about a small town where it doesn’t rain “cats and dogs” — instead, it rains food!

Bill Hader will voice Flint Lockwood, an inventor with big dreams. Anna Faris plays Sam Sparks, a smart weathergirl covering the phenomenon. James Caan plays Tim Lockwood, Flint’s technophobic father. Andy Samberg plays Brent, the town bully. Bruce Campbell plays Mayor Shelbourne. Mr. T plays the town cop Earl Devereaux, and Tracy Morgan takes on the role of Officer Earl’s son, Cal.

Via AWN

Behind the Scenes of Disney’s Bolt

September 15, 2008 / The Animation Blog / 0 Comments

Bolt is Disney’s latest computer animated movie; one for which new techniques had to be invented by the studio’s artists. With production wrapping up, Disney gave ComingSoon.net the chance to go behind the scenes and experience firsthand the level of detail that goes into a project such as Bolt.

Johnny Depp to star in Gore Verbinski’s ‘Rango’

September 10, 2008 / The Animation Blog / 0 Comments

Variety reports that Johnny Depp will reunite with director Gore Verbinski (Pirates of the Caribbean) on “Rango,” an animated movie financed and distributed by Paramount.

In the movie, scheduled for a March 4, 2011 release, Johnny Depp will voice the lead character, a household pet that goes on an adventure to discover its true self.

The script was written by John Logan (The Aviator) from an idea by Verbinski. The animation will be done by the incredibly talented folks at Industrial Light & Magic.

‘Madagascar: Escape 2 Africa’ IMAX run extended

September 8, 2008 / The Animation Blog / 0 Comments

DreamWorks Animation has announced that the IMAX run of Madagascar: Escape 2 Africa has been extended to include the Thanksgiving holiday, and will run into December. Madagascar: Escape 2 Africa will be digitally re-mastered for IMAX and play for a full run in IMAX theatres, including select new IMAX Digital theatres.

Madagascar: Escape 2 Africaa joins four other DreamWorks Animation movies previously announced and/or released on IMAX, including Kung Fu Panda, released on June 6, 2008, as well as DreamWorks Animation’s first three 3D titles, Monsters vs. Aliens (March 2009), How to Train Your Dragon (March 2010), and Shrek Goes Fourth (May 2010).

Madagascar: Escape 2 Africa opens on November 7 in North America.