This Week on A113Animation (10th - 16th June 2013)

Here we are, another week, another batch of animation news. Apologies for forgetting about last week's, but we've got a lot more this week to tide you over. We've got your usual fix of inexorable hordes of Monsters University clips, as well as the first reviews for the film, some heroes and Muppets thrown in, and a little bit about a budding animation war. Check out that, and more, here!

News

Early Monsters U review consensus: Pixar's Monsters University is less than a week away from release (in America anyway. Grr.), so, naturally, reviews are starting to trickle out. So far, reviews are, for the most part, pretty positive. Not an Up-level classic, apparently, but still a lot of fun, with some even calling it just as good as Monsters, Inc.. Check out our collection here and head on over to the film's Rotten Tomatoes page to stay up to date with its reviews.

Avengers 2 gets its Quicksilver and he's going to kick ass: Quicksilver and Scarlet Witch-gate continues; Bryan Singer has the characters in his X-Men: Days of Future Past and Joss Whedon has them in his treatment for The Avengers 2. Singer cast his Quicksilver, and now Whedon has cast his, with Kick-Ass star Aaron Taylor-Johnson donning the role. Check out the full breakdown here.

Pixar's Gary Rystrom directing for Lucasfilm Animation: You know Gary Rydstrom, right? The Pixar veteran who directed Lifted, Hawaiian Vacation and was directing this writer's most anticipated film, newt. Well now he appears to have left Pixar; Gary is directing an untitled animated film for Lucasfilm Animation, which Brave's Brenda Chapman has been involved in. Find out all we know here.

Kung Fu Panda co-helmer making The Little Prince: We learned this week that Mark Osborne, one of two directors of the original Kung Fu Panda, is now signed on to direct a 3D animated adaptation of the beloved French children's story, The Little Prince. The film, starring the voices of Jeff Bridges and James Franco, is apparently targeting a 2014 release. More details here.

Fox announces Blue Sky and DreamWorks release dates; declares war on Disney: Begun, the animation war has. You may remember Disney recently announced eight new release dates for WDAS and Pixar releases, one encroached on How to Train Your Dragon 2. Fox have fired back and tried to poach not one, but two Pixar release dates. This is all part of their new 25-film animation release schedule. Check out the happenings here.

Frozen trailer coming soon: Disney tweeted the above picture, indicating that they're ready to actually start advertising their winter release. The image promises the first trailer in 5 days (although that's now ticked down to 2) and we can't wait. I would imagine it goes along the lines of a sweeping shot showing the snowy backdrops of the film, then has some comic action, and a narrated title announcing the film. Standard stuff. I'd be chuffed with a more in depth one though... Check the picture out in big here.

And another two Monsters U clips: Yep, more. Pixar are trying their hardest to make Monsters University a hit, even though I doubt they'll run into trouble, as the most reliable studio on the planet, selling a prequel to one of their most beloved films. All the same, we get shiny new clips, showing Mike and Sulley's tenuous relationship take a step closer to best bud-territory. Watch that and another cool clip here here.

The Muppets... Again! gets a new name: The hotly anticipated sequel to the Jason Segel-starring relaunch of The Muppets has got a new name. The film is now called Muppets Most Wanted, which fits the film's caper-like theme of globetrotting adventures. The film will also star non-Muppets like Ricky Gervais and Tina Fey, Oscar-winner Christoph Waltz will also apparently cameo. Check out the update here.

Marvel announce two new, unspecified films for Phase 3: More untitled films! Hooray! Disney announced two new Marvel films for May 2016 and May 2017. No titles or anything, but Marvel big-boss Kevin Feige said Doctor Strange is one of them, and I'd put my money on Black Panther being the other, since we've heard several times that it's in development. Well that's enough speculation, check out the actual facts here.

New Turbo TV spots: Late last night, DreamWorks, not to be outdone by their Emeryville rivals, unloaded a horde of TV spots for their next film, Turbo. After the strong commercial performance of their previous film (so much so that China gave it the elbow), the studio will be hoping for a repeat performance with this. Check out the cool new spots here - the animation's great, the humour connects, and Samuel L. Jackson makes a rather good snail.


Features

Disney Retrospective, The Many Adventures of Winnie the Pooh: Munir's weekly exploration of Disney's animated past reaches dangerously close to the end of the Silver Age; this week, he reviews Disney's magnificent short film compilation, The Many Adventures of Winnie the Pooh. I love the film, but does Munir? Find out here.




Reviews

Epic: This actually comes from last week, but I kinda forgot to put this column together that week, and given our Epic-themed podcast will be online soon, it seemed apt to bring it to the forefront again. Anyway, Munir reviews (non-too positively) Blue Sky's latest, pint-sized adventure-comedy, Epic. Check the review out here.




Keep your ears open over the early parts of next week, because we'll be rolling out the second episode of our podcast. Munir and I (Damien was unfortunately ill) discuss Epic and a lot of recent news. Coming soon.