This Week on A113Animation (1st - 7th July, 2013)

This was a jam-packed week for animation fans, not least because we got 4 brand spanking new trailers on the same day. And that was just by Tuesday! We've also got box office updates, interviews, posters and set pictures. As well as your usual features, we've also got a review of Illumination Entertainment's Despicable Me 2 and an editorial about the current state of Pixar. Check out links and summaries for all of that below.

News

Monsters University stays at #1 at American box office: Pixar have never been slouches when it comes to box office takings (or when it comes to anything, really...), so it shouldn't be too surprising to hear that Monsters University is going down a storm in the States! The film is still to open in several international territories, but has managed to be the top dog for two weeks running in the US, while its total worldwide gross has already passed £300 million. Check out the details and figures here.

Michael Giacchino scoring Toy Story Halloween special: Toy Story of Terror! is a pretty special prospect: Pixar's first TV special, and the longest outing for the Toy Story gang since 2010's Toy Story 3. We know that it'll be a spooky special, we know who's directing and we know it'll focus on Jessie; now we know that it'll sound great. Pixar favourite Michael Giacchino is to score the special, which airs on ABC this October. Full story here.

New Turbo trailer: The day of trailers began with a new one for DreamWorks' Turbo. Although the film seems to be going off a lot of the same story beats as Cars and Ratatouille, the snail racing-comedy certainly looks fun, has some stunning visuals and an impressive voice cast. Yahoo! had the trailer, which you can watch here. Also, Turbo director David Soren is now on Twitter, make sure to follow him @David_Soren1.

Teaser trailer and poster for The BoxTrolls: The second trailer we got also happened to be the most exciting animation news story of the week: Laika, the twice Oscar-nominated studio behind Coraline and ParaNorman, released the first look at their next film, The BoxTrolls. The trailer sets up the basic premise of an orphan boy adopted by strange creatures called... well, called BoxTrolls, but it was its winning message of understanding and acceptance that won it the most fans. That teaser and a great poster for the film can be viewed here.

Stunning Japanese Frozen footage: The third trailer tells us slightly less about its film - given that it's in Japanese. Following the fun, but rather underwhelming, teaser that they released a couple of weeks ago, Disney - or its Japanese arm, at least - released an impressive, spectacle-filled new trailer for Frozen, showing off giant snow-monsters, running and badassery. Marvel at how un-Tangled-like the film now looks here.

Pun-filled new trailer for Cloudy 2: The final trailer we got on Trailer Tuesday (although we posted it very early on Wednesday) was another one stacked to the brim with puns for Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs 2. You can really see the Jurassic Park-vibe the directors are trying to strike with the film, and one thing's for sure, it definitely looks impressive. Feel free to be swarmed by puns for yourself, you can watch the trailer here.

New murals celebrate Studio Ghibli's filmography: Hayao Miyazaki's latest directorial effort, dubbed The Wind Rises in English, is close to opening in Japan. So, while a US or UK release date is still a long way away, promotion is in full swing back in Studio Ghibli's native country, complete with a stunning mural of all of the studio's 21 films. The mural is adorning Japanese cinemas, but for the less worldly of us, it can be viewed here too.

From Up on Poppy Hill finally starts playing in the UK on 2nd August; new poster and trailer: So, just as the latest Ghibli flick's about to start playing in Japan, the previous one is only just making its way to British shores. From Up on Poppy Hill arrives over here next month, so Mayra shared a new trailer and poster for the film (which she's already seen, and loved - review here) here.

Interviews with the cast of Turbo: Fox Houston's Jake Hamilton is back with more A-grade interviews, this time with some of the cast of DreamWorks' Turbo. Questions based around the film's basis and message were asked to stars Samuel L. Jackson, Ryan Reynolds, Michael Peña and Snoop Dogg. The snail-racing pic had its premiere in Barcelona last month, and opens in the States in another 10 days - a UK release isn't due until October though. Check out the fun interviews here.

Robert Redford spotted in character on the set of Captain America 2: Nary a week passes without some little titbits of Marvel news. This week, we got our first look at what Robert Redford's S.H.I.E.L.D. head honcho character in Captain America: The Winter Soldier is going to look like. So far, we know he's going to look like Robert Redford in a suit. Shocking, no? We're still none the wiser on what the actual role will entail though. Check out the set picture here nonetheless.

Despicable Me 2 opens big all over the world: Illumination Entertainment's fourth feature film is winning fans al over the world; the surprisingly great, minion-packed comedy opened massively in the US and is raking in a bunch around the rest of the world too. While The Lone Ranger is struggling to get moving, DM2 has already got a higher five-day opening gross than Toy Story 3, and poses a serious threat to Monsters University. Check out all the facts and figures here.

Features

Disney Retrospective - The Black Cauldron: Munir's Disney Retrospective reached week 25 this past Wednesday, unfortunately we didn't have a particularly great film to mark the occasion. Munir this week reviewed 1985's The Black Cauldron, a film he lambasted as "one of the worst and most boring pictures the famous studio have ever created." Check out the full review here - warning, it doesn't get a lot more positive.

Futurama, A Swan Song - Week 3: Damien's ongoing Futurama countdown is back with another mini-review of the latest episode, in which Bender tries his luck as a folk singer. With 9 episodes left after this, now's the time to make sure you're watching the show and reading this column. Check out the latest instalment here.




Reviews

Despicable Me 2: It's knocked Monsters U off the US top spot, it's got a CinemaScore of "A", Despicable Me 2 seems to be a hit. And, if you'll take our word for it, it is. I absolutely loved the film, in fact "the film is an absolute riot from beginning to end; this is easily the funniest animated film in recent years." Read the full A113Animation review here to find out why this is the most fun you're likely to have at the cinema this summer.


Other

In Defence of Pixar [Editorial]: Pixar were formally seen as practically infallible, year after year they could do no wrong. But then Cars 2 came and now critics seem to be out for blood. This week Munir penned his thoughts as to why the belief that Pixar have lost a step is completely flawed, but also why the marginal lesser quality of their most recent films is perfectly understandable. Check out his argument and feel free to offer up your own here.