This Week on A113Animation (26th August - 1st September, 2013)

Now this is more like it. After a few quiet weeks, this week has been an absolute belter for animation news (although it's not all been good). Lots of casting news from Marvel, films announced and detailed from Warner Bros. and Disney, and a fun new clip from Cloudy 2; but, on the flip side, we've got directorial removals, a potential-packed animation director leaving Disney, and a whopping great retirement at the very end of the week. As usual, we've got your latest Disney Retrospective and Futurama, A Swan Song, and we've also get the big D23/Despicable Me 2 episode of the A113Animation Podcast! So for all that, and to catch up on what you might have missed in the past 7 days, check out our weekly recap below.

News

New Cloudy 2 clip: We started the week off in a fun way, with a cartoony, hilarious and completely great new clip from SPA's Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs 2. The succulent sequel stars the voices of Bill Hader, Anna Faris, James Caan and Terry Crews, and this new clip showed Hader's Flint getting the gang back together. Check it out in all its ridiculous glory here.

Plot details for Brad Bird's Tomorrowland: The second live-action film, and fifth feature film, from Incredibles director Brad Bird is shrouded in mystery. We know the project went by the cryptic name 1952, we know Damon Lindelof is co-producing and writing, we know it stars George Clooney, Hugh Laurie, and some slightly less big nams. And now we know a little bit about the plot too. Check out Disney's official, brief, synopsis for Tomorrowland here.

Bob Peterson removed as director of The Good Dinosaur: Tuesday brought the wholly unpleasant rumour that Up co-director Bob Peterson had been removed from the helm of his solo directorial debut, The Good Dinosaur (here). Then on Friday, it was confirmed. Ed Catmull and Pixar GM Jim Morris offered up comments, and a team of four was announced as currently helming the film. Fortunately, Bob's apparently staying put at Pixar. More on that whole situation here.

New Scooby-Doo animated film on the way: Warner Bros. announced this week, via Variety, that they were working on all new, and thankfully animated, Scooby-Doo feature film. Producers and a screenwriter were announced, but a director, animation medium, or targeted release date were not, so we're to assume this one is quite a way off yet. All the same, a good feature film of one of Hanna-Barbera's best properties is something we've all been waiting for, so here's hoping. More here.

Disney will distribute Ghibli's latest in the US: Mayra reported on Wednesday that Studio Ghibli's latest feature, which has been racking up big numbers in Japan, will be released domestically by The Walt Disney Company. The Wind Rises is said to be a more adult Ghibli film than the ones Disney has previously distributed, but the film, which will be - as you'll see lower down here - Hayao Miyazaki's last, is hotly anticipated nonetheless. Check out the full story here.

Ultron cast for Avengers sequel: Joss Whedon's Marvel sequel, Avengers: Age of Ultron, is set to be one of the biggest films of 2015, and now it has its villain. Marvel announced this week that James Spader (familiar to US Office fans as Robert California) will play the villainous robot in the super-sequel. All previous Avengers 2 stuff has been pretty much speculation, so it's nice to finally get some cold, hard - steely - fact. More on that here.

John Kahrs has left Disney: Amidst the sad news that Bob Peterson was no longer directing The Good Dinosaur, Disney also let this one slip, that the director of last year's fantastic Paperman has left the Mouse House. For where, we do not know, but we wish Mr. Kahrs all the best regardless. As you can see here, the parting seems to be entirely amicable, and John left with a rather snazzy parting gift. We look forward to seeing what he does next!

Bradley Cooper joins Guardians of the Galaxy cast: The star of Silver Linings Playbook and The Hangover has officially joined the cast of Marvel's space super-team blockbuster, Guardians of the Galaxy. As previously rumoured, Cooper, a master of various voices, will be voicing the bad-ass Rocket Raccoon in the line-up. Meanwhile, Vin Diesel is all but confirmed to be voicing Groot. Check out Nadine's coverage of the announcement here.

Hayao Miyazaki announces retirement: Master animator and directing legend Hayao Miyazaki has, sadly, announced his retirement. The co-founder of Studio Ghibli's last directorial effort will ostensibly be The Wind Rises, and, if reports are to be believed, it's a good way to go out. The director of classics like My Neighbour Totoro, Princess Mononoke and Spirited Away, Miyazaki San is leaving quite a legacy. Mayra emotionally reported the news here.


Features

Disney Retrospective, Pocahontas: Munir's penned his longest Retrospective yet this week, analysing in some depth Disney's 33rd animated classic, 1995's Pocahontas. The film is generally accepted as the turning point towards Disney's less-acclaimed Renaissance flicks (in fact, Munir introduced the second half of the era here), but Munir argues that, removed from the films that surround it and were released the same year, Pocahontas is a wonder all of its own. "Pocahontas is no Lion King, but it's no Chicken Little either," he summarised. Read the full review here.

Futurama, A Swan Song - Week 11: Things are winding up over at Matt Groening's other show, seemingly for good. Futurama has been cancelled before, and it may well come back, but for all intents and purposes, next week is the final episode. This week, after yet another love let-down, Zoidberg "meets Marianne, who happens to be perfect for him: she was born with no sense of smell." Check out the penultimate instalment of Damien's countdown column here; next week, the finale.

Podcast

The A113Animation Podcast - Episode 4: D23 and Despicable Me 2: D23 was a couple of weeks ago now, but here's our big, audio recap of everything exciting to do with Disney and Pixar that went with the expo. William, Damien, Munir and, making her podcast debut, Mayra talked in some depth about all the animated films discussed their, and about this week's film, which is Illumination Entertainment's mega-bucks-making Despicable Me 2. There's a bit of chatter about Planes, Turbo, The Lone Ranger, Breaking Bad and Doctor Who as well. Check out the show and accompanying show notes here!