News, Glorious News!

Wreck-It Ralph Logo.

     There hasn't been too much news around the world of animation recently but I have a few very interesting tidbits for you including photos from Frozen! Let's start off with Wreck-It Ralph, shall we? Opening to a fantastic 49.1 million, Ralph has continued to gain steam with a 10 day total of 93.7 million domestically! It held up well against Skyfall this weekend and here's hoping it can do the same this weekend against the final Twilight film. As Rise of the Guardians approaches quickly, Wreck-It Ralph needs to earn as much money as it can. Dreamworks Animation Studios next films looks extremely good and is set for the Thanksgiving weekend. As a holiday film with strong marketing, it will give Wreck-It Ralph a run for its' money. If you haven't seen Wreck-It Ralph yet, go see it!! It was so amazing, funny, and heartfelt and this years best animated film yet!

Lego film directors and writers Phil Lord and Chris Miller.

     Next up we have some voice casting news on Warner Bros. Lego film. With Chris Pratt, Elizabeth Banks, Will Arnett, and Morgan Freeman already signed on for the film Warner Bros. just announced that Will Farrell, Liam Neeson, Nick Offerman, and Alison Brie will also be cast in the film. Lego will center on a character named Emmet (Pratt), your typical Lego figure who is mistaken for a great warrior and joins a eclectic group of rebels on a mission to bring down an evil warlord known as President Business. Farrell will be Business while Neeson will be his right hand henchmen. Offerman will play a pirate seeking revenge on President Business while Brie will play a member of Emmet's crew. Lego is set for release on February 7, 2014.

Sony Pictures Animation Logo.

     Sony Pictures Animation has announced release dates for both Popeye and Hotel Transylvania 2. Popeye is set for release on September 26, 2014 while Hotel Transylvania 2 is set for September 25, 2014. This comes in the wake of Sony moving Cloudy 2 from a February 2014 release to September 27, 2013 release. I guess Sony Pictures Animation is attributing part of Hotel Transylvania's success to it's release date. Coming out on September 28 of this year, Sony has set all three of there upcoming releases for the same Friday of each year! I don't know how much that date really had anything to do with Hotel Transylvania becoming their number one animated film, but I guess Sony believes there is some magic in it!

Ralph's hair was very different in the final film.

     Finally, the most exciting news of the day! Recently Disney released pictures of the Destination D event celebrating 75 years of Disney Animation. Included in these photos were two pictures from the presentation about Frozen! These photos were officially released by Disney and I did not take them or leak them online. One of them is a storyboard of when Elsa accidentally reveals she has ice powers. Now remember that the character sketches in storyboards in no way suggest the final character look. Just use this Wreck-It Ralph storyboard for example. The Elsa character design I saw had long hair that was put into a braid. It was a white-blue color and went down to her waist, however that could change as well!

Director Chris Buck with a storyboard of Anna and Elsa.

     The next photo is even more exciting and shows the final character art work for the crazy snowman known as Olaf! This character was extremely funny when an animator came on stage with the puppet version shown. When Elsa runs away and builds herself a castle made of ice she also creates monstrous snowmen to keep people from coming to her castle. The very first one she made, however, was a mistake. The films director Chris Buck used an analogy of making pancakes. When you make that first pancake it's either too small or you burnt it or perhaps it splattered all over the place when you flipped it! Such is Olaf, the first snow creature Elsa created who turned out to be a goofy misfit rather than a terrifying monster.

Olaf's final character design.

     Well that's all the news for today! It will be interesting to see how Wreck-It Ralph can hold up and I wish it the best! In way of announcements, I will be posting an updated list of the 2013 animated film slate soon. Also, me and two of my friends will be starting a podcast. It won't talk exclusively on animation, but films, music, and games as well as anything else we can think of! However seeing as we will also talk about animation I figured I would post it here. If you have any suggestions of what you would like to hear us talk about, sound off in the comments below! Thank you so much for viewing and I hope you enjoyed! "Have some candy!"