Time for another News Round-Up! Again, I'm sorry I haven't been posting a lot; I shall try harder! To kick things off, reports are coming in about a Finding Nemo sequel. Oh boy, looks like I will have to write a post about sequel crazy studios! For example, I just saw Ice Age: Continental Drift and it wasn't that good! Sequels dry up great movies and run them into the ground. Making a sequel to one of the best animated films around is kind of setting them up for failure. Andrew Stanton is slated to return to direct and Victoria Strouse is set to write the script based on Stanton's idea. While Stanton has tweeted not to believe everything you read, I still think this is in the works.
Lot's of news coming from DreamWorks Animation. First off, they released a new trailer for Rise of the Guardians and it looks fantastic! There is just something about this trailer that makes me extremely excited for this film! The magic of all our favorite holiday characters is put in an action like film with beautiful, mystical worlds and lovable, funny characters! It brings the imagination of our childhood to the screen in an amazing action movie and looks like it is going to be one of DreamWorks best! If you have not seen the trailer for yourselves, check it out below.
Some more news has finally been coming out about which studio DreamWorks Animation is going to be partnering up with to distribute its films next year. There deal with Paramount ends with Rise of the Guardians and it appears that Sony Pictures. Personally? I think that is a big mistake. Sony already has there own animation studio and they have partnered with Aardman Animations. They don't need to juggle another animation studio, they would just be competing with themselves!
DreamWorks Animation Logo
It's been reported that DreamWorks has also been talking to Fox and Warner Bros. I think that Warner Bros. is their best option because Warner Bros. hasn't been doing well with animation at all. DreamWorks would have a company that wouldn't be competing with them and Warner Bros. would finally have an animation studio. There is also the option of Paramount continuing their deal, or for DreamWorks Animation to self distribute.
Casper the Friendly Ghost logo
In even more DreamWorks news, it appears that they will be making quite the acquisition by buying Classic Media. Classic Media owns suck properties as Casper The Friendly Ghost, Felix the Cat, Dick Tracy, Archie, and many more famous cartoon characters. I would love to see a studio like DreamWorks Animation take all these old characters and introduce them to audiences today. I think they are just the studio to bring life back to these famous icons and would handle them perfectly. They have reportedly offered $150 million for the studio and is reportedly more than anyone else has offered, scaring away competitors.
Thought the DreamWorks news stopped there? Think again! Recently at Comic-Con, Madagascar 3 director said that the studio was working on a Penguins of Madagascar film for 2015. I find this really interesting, and while I am excited as a fan of the penguins, I am worried how it will tie into the other three films. Bill Damaschke, Chief Creative officer, also announced that Kung Fu Panda 3 was in the works. I am a huge fan of the Kung Fu Panda films and I can't wait to see where the third one takes us!
The Me and My Shadow logo
Also at Comic-Con we got some more information on Me and My Shadow. Alessandro Carolini will be directing the film about Stan, a shadow who longs for a more exciting life than being attached to a wallflower named Stanley Grubb. When a crime in the shadow community puts both of their lives in danger, Stan is forced to take control of Stanley, thrusting both of them into an adventure featuring a dark villain, who intends to lead a rebellion to take over the human world. Stan, the shadow, will be voice by Bill Hader while Stanley, the real flower, will be voiced by Josh Gad with Kate Hudson voicing Stanely's love interest.
A drawing of American Dream theme park
I think the film sounds really interesting and I am excited to see more! The film will be a mix of CG and hand-drawn animation so I am especially excited to see what the film looks like! I think everything about the film is turning out great so far! Finally in DWA news, it looks like they are getting ready to build there own theme park titled American Dream! It would be indoors and located only 10 miles west of New York City, featuring the characters of DWA films.
Everything sounds pretty cool, but I'm not too thrilled about anything. I would never travel all the way to New York to go there as right now it doesn't sound to interesting. I really do see why DreamWorks Animation needs a theme park, it seems kind of like a cash grab to me. I guess we shall see more as development continues!
A Spiritual enemy in Book 2: Spirits
In other news, The Legend of Korra has been picked up for 26 more episodes! That brings us through four seasons and 52 episodes total! I am extremely happy to hear this news as I absolutely love this show. It definitely deserves all of these episodes and I can't wait for the show to return in Book 2: Spirits. Book 2, as the title suggests, will heavily involve the spirit world, even featuring villains from it. It will also show more locations besides republic city and introduce new characters to us! I can't wait to hear more about it.
Finally, Sony Pictures Animation has signed a deal with Hotel Transylvania director Genndy Tartakovsky to have him develop and direct his own projects at Sony Pictures Animation, including Popeye. I think it's great that he has finally found a new home where his wonderful contributions can be enjoyed at one place! I am really excited to see what he comes up with next.
Well I think that is all of the most recent news! I hope I didn't miss anything, and if I did I will post another news post! In the meantime, look for reviews of both Brave and Ice Age: Continental Drift! A lot of exciting things are happening in the world of animation, and everything is looking fabulous! Again, I'm sorry for the lack of posts lately and I will really try to get on top of things! "Go, confront the problem. Fight! Win!"
I know I haven't posted in a while, life caught up to me this past week! But now that I have a little down time I can't wait to share all the great news! Quite the hub-bub has been going on in the animation world and it's very exciting! However some of it is pretty worrisome; Big Hero 6, I'm looking at you. Disney has confirmed to be adapting a Marvel comic series into an animated film. I am not excited for this project at all and I really hope that Walt Disney Animation Studios is not handling this project; I can't protest this enough!
The story is basically X-Men in Japan; a group of heroes who were assembled by the Japanese Government. If Disney re-worked it quite a bit, then maybe this film could turn out alright. But it just doesn't feel right; Walt Disney Animation Studios has been putting out amazing work lately from Tangled to Winnie The Pooh. This just doesn't seem to fit and I would be much more okay with this project if it were headed by DisneyToon Studios, who handle all the direct-to-video movies.
Luckily, although the film is confirmed to be in "early stages of development", Disney has not commented on which animation studios will be making the film. Not only does that mean this film could be canceled, but it also means that DisneyToon Studios could be the company making the film. Then I would be completely fine with this film, I just don't think it's right for the Walt Disney Animation Studios. I know there have been reports that this is there 2014 film and that Don Hall is directing, but I really don't want it to happen and I am still holding out hope. I would much rather see The King of the Elves come back into development!
Good old Popeye
In other news, it looks like Sony Pictures Animation was happy with director Genndy Tartakovsky's work on Hotel Transylvania because he is now attached as the director of Popeye. David Ronn and Jay Scherick, the writers of The Smurfs, are also attached to write the script. One of Sony's many upcoming films, this is one of the ones I am most excited for and I hope it continues to move along quickly.
I think it would be extremely fun to see Popeye return to the screen for today's audience! Although it has the writers of The Smurfs, which makes me nervous, I really hope Sony Pictures Animation can do this film justice. It should be reminiscent of the old cartoons but updated for the screen. Hopefully it isn't aimed just at little kids and will be something everyone can enjoy!
Posters up around San Diego for Comic-Con
Comic-Con is coming up, and hopefully we will get more news on Big Hero 6 seeing as it is based off of a comic! If not, we will be getting some panels from two other Disney animated films! Both Frankenweenie and Wreck-It Ralph will be a part of the Walt Disney Studios panel.
Held on July 12 from 2:05-3:05, Tim Burton will be holding a Q&A for Frankenweenie while director Rich Moore and voice cast members John C. Reilly and Sarah Silverman will be there to talk about Wreck-It Ralph. Marvel Studio's panel is on July 14 from 6:00-7:00, hopefully including some announcements regarding Big Hero 6! It's less then ten days away and I really hope we get some great news!
In smaller news, Laika has released a video titled "Making Norman". It's an extremely cool look at all the tedious work that goes into making one stop-motion character. Check it out for yourselves!
There hasn't been a lot of news regarding DreamWorks Animation's Rise of the Guardians lately so I thought I would take the time to post the character posters that were released a while ago. Although they are a little bit old, they are still extremely nice to look at and dissect!
The Easter Bunny
This poster has to be my favorite out of all of them. I think the artwork is absolutely beautiful and stunning. The character design for The Easter Bunny is extremely cool, yet familiar to our childhood imaginations. The world behind him looks extremely fantastical and well thought out. I absolutely love the look of his world and hope the rest of the film is as incredible.
Jack Frost
This one is one of my least favorites. His world looks very typical and human, much like his character. It loses it's sense of imagination and wonder that these fantasy characters are known for. It makes him... normal, and non of these characters are normal. That's why this one is really disappointing and I hope he turns out to be better than this.
The Sandman
The Sandman's character design is very beautiful and imaginative. He looks a lot better than other interpretation's of his character and it's nice to see DreamWorks Animation making The Sandman a more recognizable fantasy being. We don't get to see much of his world but I really hope it is inspired by the rolling mountains in the background as dessert sand dunes would be beautiful to see.
Santa Clause
This is one that I am a little worried about; Santa with tattoos. Now I appreciate that they are taking the Santa character where no one has before, but I feel like they might be going a little over the top. Hopefully that is just the trailer as his world looks to be a beautiful Christmas land that we are used to seeing him in.
The Tooth Fairy
Another character that appears a little over the top is The Tooth Fairy. I think her world is beautiful and as far as animation she goes, she looks great; it's her character design that worries me. I think she looks too weird and like an awkward hummingbird-human mix that no one wanted to see. I feel like they could have mixed up the idea of a fairy in a much more creative way.
Pitch
Finally we have Pitch and why his name isn't The Boogieman, I haven't the slightest. His world looks extremely dark and adds a great contrast to the bright, fantastical worlds of the other fantasy characters. The horses look especially sinister and creative, much more so than Pitch himself. While I think Pitch's character design is great, it could have been better. They captured a more human yet scary Boogieman here than most stories do, but I think they played it a little safe. Pitch could defiantly use some of the eerie design that the horses behind him got, just to make him a bit more scary and dark.
A beautiful still from Paperman
At last we come full circle to Walt Disney Animation Studios. EW has an amazing look at their upcoming short, Paperman. The film looks absolutely beautiful and I cannot wait to see more of this new hand-drawn art style. The combination between hand-drawn and CG truly is seamless and looks beautiful.
While I would love to see more of this in upcoming hand-drawn films, I still want some classically animated hand-drawn films as I feel like they are still beautiful. Please check out the article for yourself, it gives great insight into the story and process of merging both animation techniques.
And that's it for today! The next post will be the Brave review, and I'm so sorry I haven't posted it already! I have been really busy lately and the blog just got pushed aside for a while. These next couple of days are still a little busy so bare with me here as I try to keep the blog updated! "Busy, busy, busy!"
