This Week on A113Animation (15th - 21st July, 2013)

Given that it's Comic-Con week, it's no surprise that there's been a lot of Marvel news this week, and we've got everything from casting rumours and posters to official titles and cast chats. Don't be expecting lots of stuff from Disney's other subsidiaries though, the Mouse House has largely withdrawn from Comic-Con in recent years, to announce big things at its own D23 Expo (next month). This week has brought some interesting articles, clips and a teaser though. As well as that and your latest features, we've got two editorial lists for you to check out too! Make sure you catch up on everything you might've missed in the past week below.

News

Will Joseph Gordon-Levitt be Marvel's Doctor Strange? We started the week with some far off Marvel news; Phase 2 has only just begun, but eyes are being cast forward to the post-2015 Phase 3. Particularly, we are teased more and more with the studio's upcoming Doctor Strange movie; we know head honcho Kevin Feige's keen, we know Marvel are envisioning Strange as a new figurehead for the studio, and now, apparently, Joseph Gordon-Levitt is in consideration for the part. Check out the report here.

Comic-Con posters for Thor and Captain America: With Nerdvana (AKA Comic-Con) underway, we began hearing of all the cool stuff those of us not in San Diego are missing out on. Marvel are giving away awesome concept art posters for their next two Phase 2 films, Thor: The Dark World and Captain America: The Winter Soldier. Check the cool prints out here.

Awesome How to Train Your Dragon 2 prints by Drew Struzan: Chalk up another point for people at the Con. Legendary movie poster artist Drew Struzan (Star Wars, Harry Potter, Back to the Future) has designed a Comic-Con-exclusive How to Train Your Dragon 2 print, which director Dean DeBlois showed off this past week. Check out the beautiful thing, seemingly from the same ilk as the teaser we got last week, here.

DreamWorks' Bill Damaschke in spotlight; Brenda Chapman slates John Lasseter: The New York Times published a profile this week, highlighting the "The Quiet Force Behind DreamWorks", CCO Bill Damaschke. The piece credits him with being the main creative influence behind the studio, pointing out the CEO Jeffrey Katzenberg has taken a significant step back in recent years. It's not all happy-happy though, as original Brave director Brenda Chapman, who is now back at DreamWorks, had some choice words for Pixar CCO John Lasseter. Check out the full story and breakdown here.

Ghibli's The Wind Rises divides audiences early on: Studio Ghibli's latest film sees Hayao Miyazaki return to the director's chair, with The Wind Rises. So, you'd expect the film to be a guaranteed critical smash, but early consensus is divided - by age. The film is being dubbed "Ghibli for adults," so while it's being praised ecstatically be elder viewers, kids are said to be a little bored by the film though, finding it difficult to follow. More on all that here.

Rio 2 teaser 2: Blue Sky Studios will release their first non-Ice Age sequel next year, the Carlos Saldanha-directed Rio 2. The studio this week released a second teaser trailer for the film, with some characters belting out "Memories" from Cats. The film seems to be as musical and rhythmic as the first; check out the trailer for yourself here.

Planes clip: DisneyToon's Cars spin-off, Planes, hits cinemas next month, and while we still remain not quite sold on it, the studio is releasing new clips for it. This one features John Cleese's veteran racer, Bulldog, having a bit of a run in with eccentric Mexican plane, El Chupacabra. It's kinda funny, but it seems that it's kids who'll get the most out of it. Watch the clip here.

Warner Bros. assembling a Lego Justice League for The Lego Movie: Some of the biggest news out of Comic-Con was that Warner Bros. would be teaming up Superman and Batman in the follow-up to this year's Man of Steel. Before that though, and likely in a much more fun way, the Justice League will be assembled in next year's Lego Movie. Joining Will Arnett as Lego Batman are Channing Tatum as Lego Superman, Jonah Hill as Green Lantern and Cobie Smulders as Lego Wonder Woman. Full story here.

Avengers sequel called Age of Ultron: Arguably the biggest story out of Comic-Con that concerns us, nerd king Joss Whedon took to the stage in Hall H to announce that the sequel to The Avengers will be called Avengers: Age of Ultron. The film isn't due until summer 2015, so any more concrete details are still at least a year off, but Nadine explains who Ultron is and speculates about what that could mean for the film here.

Guardians of the Galaxy Comic-Con stuff: The final big piece of Marvel paraphernalia this week, we got some exciting words and teases from the director and cast of Marvel's last pre-Age of Ultron movie, space opera Guardians of the Galaxy. We've also got a breakdown of the (very early) footage shown to the attendees (like, super early, filming's less than two weeks in) and some great quotes from the cast. Check it all out in full here.


Features

Disney Retrospective, Oliver and Company: Munir is now more than halfway through his Disney Retrospective reviews, and this week he said goodbye to the company's dark age with a review of 1988's Oliver and Company. Based on Oliver Twist by Charles Dickens, Munir recognises some of the film's merits, but calls it a modest and forgettable affair that has little replay value." Full review here.

Futurama, A Swan Song - Week 5: This week Damien reviews the fifth episode of the final series of Futurama. The episode is called Saturday Morning Fun Pit and consists of parodies of other famous animated series, but Damien thinks it at times "isn't very funny and lacks in ideas". So, not a big fan of the episode, with only 7 more episodes left, let us know, did you like this week's? Check out the full mini-review here.


Other

The Top 5 Animated Films to Watch for in 2014: With the influx of cool trailers we're getting at the moment, 2014 is starting to look ever more appealing; it seems to be one of the most exciting years in history for animated film! As such, I've ranked my top 5 animated films that promise to be truly great next year, including Pixar's The Good Dinosaur and DreamWorks' How to Train Your Dragon 2. Check out my list and share your own here.

Returning to Mars: 7 Reasons Why Andrew Stanton Should Get a Chance at John Carter 2: In addition to my blogging and head-honchoing here at A113Animation, I also write for MoviePilot.com; this week I wrote a piece listing 7 reasons why WALL-E director Andrew Stanton's live-action directorial debut, John Carter, is very underrated, and why a sequel should happen. If you're a fan of the film or of Stanton, please check out the article, the intro to which can be read here.


Damien, Nadine and I recorded episode 3 of the A113Animation Podcast today, discussing recent news, Pacific Rim and Monsters University. The show will probably take a couple of weeks to edit, so keep your eyes open for it at the end of this month/the start of the next.