This Week on A113Animation (2nd - 8th August, 2013)

There wasn't an awful lot of news this week, but what news there was was pretty great - more exciting Star Wars rumours, Toy Story of Terror promotion, Marvel stuff, Disney stuff and more. In addition, we've got pretty exciting instalments of our features this week, with Munir's review of an underrated Disney classic and Damien's final Futurama mini-review. All that, and some John Lassetery goodness, is what you might have missed this week on A113Animation.

News

Benedict Cumberbatch to star in Star Wars: Episode VII? We opened the week with (yet another) piece of Star Wars casting rumour - one that, I might add, I will cry very happy tears if it's proven true. Benedict Cumberbatch, star of Sherlock and villain of Star Trek Into Darkness, apparently left Guillermo del Toro's Crimson Peak to reunite with his STID director JJ Abrams in a galaxy far, far away. More on that exciting story here.

Poster for Toy Story of Terror: Pixar's next film is The Good Dinosaur, but before then we're getting their first TV special, the upcoming Halloween special Toy Story of Terror! As such, the studio are amping up promotion as we're just over a month away. This week, Entertainment Weekly rolled out a new poster, check it out here!

Paperman director talks about leaving Disney: Sadly, the director of Disney's Oscar-winning Paperman recently left the studio, on what seemed like amicable terms. This week we got official statements from both John Kahrs and Disney, with Kahrs saying he's decided to "develop my own projects and pursue directing elsewhere," while Disney "wish him the best in his future endeavors." Check out the statements in full here.

Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. gets UK air-date: It's a reasonably small story, but one that got all us Brits pumped anyway: Marvel and Joss Whedon's Avengers spin-off series will air in the UK only 3 days after it premieres in the US! The pilot of the show will air on Channel 4 on Friday 27th September, at 8pm. Check out the full story here.

Promo for Toy Story of Terror: The first video advertising for Toy Story of Terror comes in a strange form, an advert for Sky fibre broadband... but with the Toy Story gang. The special premieres in the US on ABC on 16th October, and, while we don't have a UK air-date yet, we know it'll be on Sky Movies | Disney. Watch the strange, but still rather entertaining, promo here.



Features

Disney Retrospective, The Hunchback of Notre Dame: Munir's Disney Retrospective is in the second, perhaps lesser, half of the Renaissance right now, and this week he reviewed 1996's operatic, dark and very underrated classic, The Hunchback of Notre Dame. Munir is very fond of the film, saying "The Hunchback of Notre Dame may not be a flawless classic but its ambitiousness and risky storytelling is more than enough to secure a high place in the Disney canon." Check out the full review here. Next week: Hercules.

Futurama, A Swan Song - The Finale: This week brought what might well be Futurama's final ever episode (although, saying that, this is the fourth time Matt Groening's other show has gone off the air) and Damien penned his longest mini-review yet. "We can't be absolutely certain yet this is the end," Damien said, "since Futurama already came back from cancellation before, but if it's truly over, we can at least be happy that it ended on such a high note." Check out the full review here, and look out for Damien's top ten episodes list soon.

Other

Watch John Lasseter talk about directorial changes for Bolt: With the current hubbub around Bob Peterson's removal as the director of Pixar's The Good Dinosaur, it might not hurt to remind the Internet that this is nothing new; directorial changes are a mainstay in animated cinema, and it's usually worked for the best. For instance, watch this interview with Pixar/Disney head honcho John Lasseter from February 2009, discussing the directorial changes and how it contributed to the eventually great Bolt! Check it, and William's discussion of its importance, out here.