This Week on A113Animation (20th - 26th May, 2013)

This week hasn't been quite as hectic as the one before it, but there's still been a lot of animation news breaking over the past 7 days. Trailers, rumours, reviews and more were posted on A113Animation this week; check out a breakdown of everything you may have missed below.

News

New trailer for The Lone Ranger: Disney suffered a big live-action let-down last year, with the Andrew Stanton-directed John Carter. Opinions vary as to the quality of that film, but unanimously agreed is that the marketing was dreadful. As such, Disney are clearly trying to sell the hell out of The Lone Ranger, the latest collaboration from Gore Verbinski, Jerry Bruckheimer and Johnny Depp, the crew behind the Pirates of the Caribbean franchise. Check out the latest trailer for the film (released 3rd July, US/9th August, UK) here.

Mythic Rock: Pixar are keeping Toy Story alive, fortunately not in the form of another feature film (just yet, anyway), but rather with the current series of Toy Story Toons. We've had three Toons so far, with the latest, Partysaurus Rex, preceding Finding Nemo 3D last year. Now, we may have a title for the next one, as a producer's LinkedIn profile suggests that the fourth small screen outing of Buzz and Woody will be called Mythic Rock. More details here.

Star Wars: Episode VII casting rumours: Tudors stars are big right now: Henry Cavill is the new Superman in Zack Snyder's Man of Steel, and rumours arose this week that Jonathan Rhys Meyers is in talks to star in Episode VII. Meyers has worked with director Abrams before on Mission: Impossible 3, so it's entirely possible. But who would he play? Son of Solo or Skywalker? A Sith Lord? Space Henry VIII? Check out the post and let your speculation be heard here.

New Monsters University trailer and clip: Pixar's advertising continues to make Monsters University look hellishly fun, as a new trailer and a new clip both focus on the fun, party-packed side of the college experience. The new mini-trailer (here) focuses on pranks, dancing and more, while the new clip (here). Monsters U hits US cinemas on 21st June, and UK ones on 12th July.

Star Wars Rebels: Clone Wars fans needn't dismay for too long, as Lucasfilm announced this week a new Star Wars TV series, set between two far better films. Star Wars Rebels takes place during the roughly two decade gap between Revenge of the Sith and A New Hope, Rebels is in production now and set to start airing on Disney XD next Fall. Check out more details on the show and the crew behind it here.

Leaked Frozen images: Disney clearly have some sort of vendetta against Frozen - which is odd given that they're the studio who are making it. We've seen diddly-squat from Walt Disney Animation Studios' 53rd feature film - officially, that is. Last month, some footage from the film leaked, and this week, images and character designs taken from inside Disney's Burbank animation HQ also made their way online. Check out the cool designs here.

Jon Vitti to write and Catherine Winder to co-produce Angry Birds: Last week, we heard that Sony would be distributing Rovio's Angry Birds movie in 2016. This week, the studio announced that Simpsons veteran Jon Vitti had signed on to write the screenplay, and, former Rainmaker president and Star Wars: The Clone Wars executive producer, Catherine Winder, would be joining to produce. More details on the additions here.

Features

Munir's Disney Retrospective -- Animated Classic #19: The Jungle Book (1967): The latest in Munir's ongoing Disney Retrospective series looks at the last animated film Walt Disney was personally involved in (and one of my all time favourites), The Jungle Book. Based on the classic Rudyard Kipling book, Jungle Book is expected to hit Blu-ray in the near future. Check out Munir's review here.

French Animation, Chapitre 4 - Ernest & Celestine: Damien's latest entry into his French Animation column looks at a more recent hand-drawn gem, last year's Ernest & Celestine. The film - released in France last year, this Fall in the US, and out on DVD tomorrow in the UK - took home the Cesar Award for Best Animated Film this February, too. Check out Damien's review here.


Reviews and more

The Art of Epic review and competition: Blue Sky's eight feature film, Epic, is out in cinemas now, and the film's accompanying art book is in bookstores worldwide too. As such, we've reviewed the book (here), and are offering UK readers the chance to win a free copy as well! All you have to do is answer a simple question: that question and Terms and Conditions can be viewed here.

From Up on Poppy Hill review: A113Animation recently took on two more writers, amongst those was Mayra Amaya, our dedicated Studio Ghibli writer, who this week penned her first review for us. Mayra shared her thoughts on the latest Ghibli film, the Goro Miyazaki-directed From Up on Poppy Hill (which doesn't arrive in UK cinemas until August). Check our Mayra's review of the film here.


We'll be discussing the top news stories of the past couple of weeks on episode 2 of the A113Animation Podcast, which we'll be recording (hopefully) this coming Saturday (1st June). The main focus of the episode will be reviewing Epic. If you have any thoughts on that film, recent news, the previous episode or mine and Damien's Doctor Who debate, please get in touch at contact@a113animation.com.