Upcoming Pixar and Disney animated films!!!

Pixar is adopting a new strategy. Sort of. They’re going for sequels and stories more (rather than just one-word concepts).


Info from Wikipedia.



Pixar Disney
WALL-E - June 27, 2008 Bolt - November 21, 2008 10
Up - May 29, 2009 The Princess and the Frog - Christmas 2009 10
Toy Story - June 18, 2010 Rapunzel - Christmas 2010
Cars 2 - Summer 2011 The Bear and the Bow - December 2011
Newt - Summer 2012 King of the Elves - Christmas 2012


Up Teaser:


Up is an upcoming computer-animated 3-D film being produced by Pixar Animation Studios. It will be distributed by Walt Disney Pictures, and is scheduled for release on May 29, 2009. The film is directed by Monsters, Inc. director Pete Docter

Carl Fredricksen (Edward Asner) is 78 years old. When Carl was a child, he met and eventually married a girl named Ellie who grew up in a small midwestern town. Ellie always dreamed of exploring the mountains but died before she got a chance. Now, when developers threaten to move him into an assisted living home, Carl decides to fulfill his promise to Ellie. To accomplish this, he befriends a chubby eight-year-old Wilderness Explorer named Russell. The two opposites match up for thrilling adventures as they encounter wild terrain, unexpected villains, and all the terrifying creatures that wait in the jungle.

My thoughts: Old man and boy go exploring. It somehow involves houses and other things that are carried by balloons.



Toy Story 3 is an upcoming computer-animated 3-D film being produced by Pixar Animation Studios, slated for release on June 18, 2010.[1] It is a sequel to the films Toy Story and Toy Story 2. Lee Unkrich, who edited the previous films, and co-directed the second, took over from the original director, John Lasseter. However, Lasseter remains as producer. Tom Hanks and Tim Allen have been confirmed to return to the cast.

The film has Woody the Sheriff, Buzz Lightyear, and the rest of their toy-box friends being dropped off at a day-care center after their owner, Andy, departs for college.

My thoughts: Oooh. I like it. Andy finally grew up and left the toys behind. Now they have to cope. Can’t wait!




Cars 2 is an upcoming computer-animated 3-D film being produced by Pixar Animation Studios and a sequel of the 2006 film Cars. It will be distributed by Walt Disney Pictures, and is scheduled for release 2011. Ratatouille producer Brad Lewis takes over from John Lasseter as director. Lasseter mentioned, "This time we’re going international." Cars is the second Pixar film to have a sequel, along with Toy Story. The film was originally scheduled for 2012, but was pushed forward a year. The movie is the first of two films to be released in 2011 for Pixar, marking the first time that more than one film for Pixar will be released in the same year.

My thoughts: Yeah. Disney has a drought that year, so Lasseter pumped up production on this one to fill in that gap. After Lasseter took over Disney animation, he’s been in charge of meshing the Pixar and Disney lineup, and their goal is one Disney and one Pixar feature each year. Pixar gets the summers and Disney gets Christmas. So this one fills the Disney gap that Christmas. Anyway, I hope they do more of a road trip for this version because that’s a duh sort of thing to do with cars. The first Cars movie stalled in a hick town. Not the best idea when your characters are moving vehicles. =^)




The Bear and the Bow is an upcoming computer-animated 3-D film being produced by Pixar Animation Studios and starring the voices of Reese Witherspoon, Billy Connolly, Emma Thompson and Julie Walters.

In mythical Scotland, Merida (Reese Witherspoon), a member of the royal family, decides to give up her family name for her dream of becoming an archer. Merida makes some kind of reckless choices, resulting in the destruction of her father's kingdom and her mother's life. Merida then struggles to set things right.

The film, Pixar's first fairy tale, is a combination of director Brenda Chapman's love of Hans Christian Andersen and the Brothers Grimm, as well as a reflection on raising her daughter.

My thoughts: Lasseter brings over Brenda Chapman, the director of Prince of Egypt to do a Pixar film (or two). I’m curious why he didn’t have her do this at the Disney studio instead (my guess is that he’s selfish, because she’s an awesome director). Her history (she worked at Disney first, on the stories of Little Mermaid, Rescuers Down Under, Beauty and the Beast, Lion King, and Hunchback of Notre Dame) and the theme of this movie feel like they fit better with the Disney brand than the Pixar brand. So this is the first case where we’ll see a mesh between Pixar and Disney. This film will fall somewhere between the two styles. Brenda still holds the title of being the only woman to ever direct an animated DreamWorks, Pixar, and 3D film (and she’s the third woman to direct any animated film). Hats off to Brenda.



Newt (stylized as newt) is an upcoming computer-animated 3-D film being produced by Pixar Animation Studios. It is scheduled for release in June 2012.
Newt and Brooke live in a community college science lab and don't care for each other, yet as the last remaining blue-footed newts on the planet they are forced to mate and save the species.

Writer and Director Gary Rydstrom explained "Newt is smart but he's never had to think for himself and is pampered. Brooke on the other hand is streetwise and not to be messed with."

My thoughts: I don’t know. The actors might make or break this one. Seems too much like a concept than a story. From the director of Lifted. Lifted? Give the For the Birds guy (Ralph Eggleston) a shot at directing! He won an Academy Award! Or maybe the Presto guy (Doug Sweetland); his short was hilarious and he’s about to win an Academy award. =^)


The Princess and the Frog teaser:


The Princess and the Frog will be a 2009 upcoming American animated feature film produced by Walt Disney Animation Studios and based upon the classic fairy tale The Frog Prince. It will be the first traditional animated feature since 2004's Home on the Range. When finished, it will take its place as the 48th animated feature by Walt Disney Animation Studios. It is being directed by John Musker and Ron Clements, directors of The Little Mermaid and Aladdin, with songs and score composed by Randy Newman and starring the voice talents of Anika Noni Rose (as Princess Tiana), Oprah Winfrey, Keith David, John Goodman… The film will be an American fairy tale musical set in New Orleans during the 1920s Jazz Age, and will feature the first African American Disney Princess.

Disney had once announced that Home on the Range would be the studio's last 2D animated film entry to their animated features canon, but after the company's acquisition of Pixar in early 2006, it was reported that Ed Catmull and John Lasseter, new leaders of the animation department, were interested in going back to the Disney tradition of 2D animation.

My thoughts: Clements and Musker also did Hercules and Treasure Planet (which was nominated for the Academy Award for animated feature). They’re modeling this more after their first two films, of course. You know, the successful ones. These are no longer synopses. =^)



Rapunzel animation test:


Rapunzel is an upcoming American CGI-animated film produced by Walt Disney Animation Studios and Walt Disney Pictures. The story is based on the classic German fairy tale Rapunzel by the Brothers Grimm. The film will be the 49th Disney animated feature and will premiere during the 2010 Christmas season.
Originally, the film's plot revolved around two 'romantically challenged', real-world teenagers who are transformed into Rapunzel and her Prince Pisa by a disgruntled witch who can no longer stand happy fairy-tale endings. However, since production was halted in 2001 for major retooling, Glen Keane, whose projects include the critically acclaimed movie Beauty and the Beast, has "promised" that the film will revert back to the fairy tale's "literary origins." Thus, it is likely that the previously-mentioned plot of two 'romantically challenged, real-world teenagers' will be discarded.

Keane also promises that he’s going back to Rapunzel’s literary origins to do a traditional, character-driven fairy tale that speaks to a modern audience. “It’s a story of the need for each person to become who they are supposed to be and for a parent to set them free so they can become that. It will be a musical and a comedy and have a lot of heart and sincerity. I think that’s what Disney needs to do right now. No one else can do it. We should not be embarrassed or make excuses for doing a fairy tale."

My thoughts: This one has been around for like over 10 years. Wow. When Lasseter took over, Glen was already making it more traditional. So they stayed on that path. When Lasseter took over, the director of Bolt (and Lilo & Stitch), well, bolted… to DreamWorks (because Lasseter literally thrashed Bolt). So the director of Rapunzel, Byron Howard, took on Bolt too. So that’s why Rapunzel got the slip to 2010. Lasseter must be having difficulty finding trustworthy Disney directors. That’s a big honor for Byron to be handed Bolt, since he was in the middle of directing his first film (Rapunzel). Byron has animation experience on Pocahontas, Lilo & Stitch, & Brother Bear. And his story experience is Chicken Little and Bolt. So I imagine Lasseter is going to build up an army of Disney directors like how he did at Pixar. I can’t wait for this one. It’s the first Disney fairy tale in 3D (Chicken Little doesn’t count).




King of the Elves is an upcoming traditional animation/CGI-animated film produced by Walt Disney Animation Studios scheduled for release during the 2012 Christmas season. It is currently slated to be Disney's 50th animated feature.
Based on Philip K. Dick's 1953 short story fantasy King of the Elves, the film is about a band of elves and one dwarf living in the modern-day Mississippi Delta who name a local man their king after he helps save them from an evil troll.

My thoughts: This makes sense for Disney. Disney animated films are all about Fairy Tales and children’s books. Directed by the team that did Brother Bear. They also animated for the successful Disney animated films: Beauty & the Beast, Aladdin, Lion King, Pocahontas, Mulan.



Enjoy!

- TAE