Another Way

Walt Disney Animation Studios is firing on all cylinders… Scratch that, has been firing on all cylinders for a while…

Bits Journal #10

Some CinemaCon bits and more...

'Frozen' 3D Blu-ray Confirmed?

You heard it right! A 3D Blu-ray edition of Frozen might be hitting North America this coming autumn!

Just Don't Say

In the recent years, Disney Animation and Pixar have wisely kept their lips sealed on when they'll be releasing their films in the future…

Bits Journal #9

CEOs, snails and Spanish/Argentine animation… It's time for another bits journal.

Is 'Newt' Coming Back?

Ed Catmull, President of Pixar, spoke up yet again in the wake of the Incredibles 2/Cars 3 announcements. This time, he briefly spoke about balancing art and commerce, and also talked about retooling movies when they aren't working.

Letting It Sink In

Well, the dust has settled… Time for some fleshed out thoughts on all this sequel business and Pixar, along with some other announcements concerning Disney's other properties and whatnot…

The Mystery Sequels

Well, the beans have been spilled. Pixar is in fact making some sequels after Finding Dory… The Incredibles 2 and Cars 3…

It's a Great Teaser, Charlie Brown

The teaser trailer for Peanuts is finally here… And lo and behold, it actually looks pretty good!

Supers in 3D

The Incredibles, as we speak, is being converted to 3D.

Word of Caution

Be on the look out for this… Thing…

This is probably fake, though no one has come out to confirm it yet… Still, look at it. Kinda sketchy looking…

The biggest controversy about this "slate" is Moana's supposed new title… Spirited. If true, then that would continue Disney's misguided new tradition of eliminating anything they perceive as "girly" from titles in an attempt to market to young boys, rather than, ya know, everybody.

But here's why I think this thing is fake.

Up until now, Disney Animation has no releases set for 2017. The official slate lists two 2016 releases, and two 2018 releases. That's because Pixar has 2017 locked up, they've got the summer date and the autumn date.

Second, Dean Wellins' currently untitled space race project is, as of last September, on the back burner. What's the status on it now? We don't know. Honor Hunter no longer posts on Blue Sky Disney. It was also never stated officially that Jennifer Lee was going to direct it with him, or a future film at Walt Disney Animation Studios. (Though a Lee-directed film is a given in the future.)

It seems as if some person made this dream slate, guessing that Jennifer Lee would direct the space movie with Wellins because she said a little while back that she wanted to direct a sci-fi film. Not an animated one, specifically. Galactic seems like a plausible title given the string of films between Big Hero 6 and the untitled fall 2018 film having one-word titles: Giants, Zootopia, Moana…

King of the Elves has been off the map for a long time. Also, Rich Moore? Just because he directed Wreck-It Ralph, it means he'll be doing this film? I don't know about that. It seems like it was a fake slate put together based on assumptions.

Also, look at the thing itself. No neat 'Walt Disney Animation Studios' heading above all those titles, plain-looking text for the directors and dates (gotta love the abbreviations), Photoshopped look… It looks like something a fan put together.

I don't know, it's all fishy to me. I'd take this with a grain of salt. It's also a little too early for April Fool's.

Updates shall be coming...

Finally!

It looks like Hercules and Tarzan will be hitting Blu-ray this year. You heard that right, Hercules and Tarzan on Blu-ray.

'Peabody' Hits #1

Last week, DreamWorks' Mr. Peabody & Sherman opened with a modest $32 million. That was a good $13 million below that weekend's #1 opener, overdue sequel 300: Rise of An Empire. However, for an animated film, that was a pretty good opening. It was on par with the likes of Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs 2, thus it should be something of a small success.

Not Going Extinct

Pixar President Ed Catmull himself recently wrote about mistakes and the fact that things go wrong… This piece is essentially him owning up to Pixar's recent trip-ups, and how sometimes, even the pros can't make the greatest decisions at certain times. That's totally alright. In case you are new here, no I'm not in the "Pixar is declining"/"Let's make fun of Pixar" boat.

Bits Journal #8

Delayed sets, more cars and superhero stuff...

Bits Journal #7

'Twas a busy week, but boy do I have a lot to cover.

Icy Diamond?

So as all of you may know by now, Frozen is a runaway success for Walt Disney Animation Studios and their biggest success since The Lion King. It has earned Disney Animation their first Oscar for Best Animated Feature (and of course, the iconic 'Let It Go' took home Best Song and is a worldwide phenomenon) and it's also their highest-earning film, period. People loved it. It's everywhere.

Molten Pixar

The good folks over at Animated Views got some information on what could possibly be Pixar's next short film after this year's Party Central, thanks to animator Shaun Seong-Young Kim's LinkedIn profile…

Frozen Statues

Kudos to whoever made this...

Well, that big grand event was last night… You know, the event where they hand out meaningless golden statues to various motion pictures and categories pertaining to filmmaking. Yet it's still fun to watch for some strange reason.