William On The Scotty Jo Podcast

A few days ago I had the chance to speak to Scotty Jo Nicholson of the self-titled Scotty Jo Podcast via video chat, to record a little segment for his show (which this week is Conan O'Brien themed). The show's up on Scotty's website now and you can check it out embedded above.

I'm one of a few special guests (his words, not mine) on the episode and Scotty and I discuss A113Animation, our favourite Pixar memories, my thoughts on Brave, 2013 in animation and, yes, I even have a little rant about UK release dates. Please excuse the tinny quality on my end - my Wi-Fi sucks.You can check out my segment from 4:35 to around the 13:10 mark, although I encourage you to give the whole thing a listen - it's a fun show.

Yes, animation podcasters, I am available for bookings... Y'know, if you like.

DISCUSS: What's Your Most Anticipated Animated Film of 2013?

2012 has passed and Awards season is upon us, so we'll soon know what the critical successes of 2012 were (in terms of box-office successes, I'll refer you to someone much more knowledgeable about that than I - though what I can easily judge, is that 2012 was not a good year for stop-motion). So, now we look to the future - or, more accurately, the present - and our inner film-savant surfaces as we offer our predictions on what will be big in 2013.

DreamWorks Release Turbo Teaser Trailer

DreamWorks have released (via iTunes Movie Trailers) the first trailer for their snail-starring, Cars-like feature, Turbo. Turbo is directed by veteran DreamWorks story artist-turned director (Merry Madagascar), David Soren, and will be the second DreamWorks feature released under their distribution deal with 20th Century Fox - following The Croods in March.

DreamWorks Preview Their 2013 Movies

DreamWorks, fresh off a critical hit, if not a commercial one (yet), with Rise of the Guardians, are looking forward to 2013, where - under their new distribution deal with Fox - they will release three films. Towards the end of last week, some post surfaced about said films, which have been previewed for press at the Fox campus.

Two Cool New Monsters University Posters

Brave's been and gone, and the big push for advertising Pixar's fourteenth animated feature film has begun. Today that manifests itself with two new posters for the Monsters, Inc. prequel, Monsters University!

We firstly get the above teaser poster, showing the film's leading duo, looking quite a bit younger, decked out in MU apparel. The minimalistic, white-background design definitely harkens back to the poster for the 2001 original.

Secondly, we get this awesome international poster for the film - titled Monsters Academy in France. I personally prefer this to the American one, it shows a little bit more from the film: some environments we can expect to see, the competitive relationship between Mike and Sulley, Little Mikey making a re/preappearance, and holy Easter Eggs, Batman, check out the time on that clock!

Monsters University is directed by Dan Scanlon and produced by Kori Rae, and hits cinemas on 21st June, 2013 (US) and 12th July, 2013 (UK).

With Monsters U on the horizon, be sure to check out Monsters, Inc. 3D in cinemas from 19th Decmber (US) and 18th January, 2013 (UK) - and have a read of our exclusive review of it here.

Watch: Brilliant New Trailer for Epic

Blue Sky Studios are great. They get a lot of flack sometimes for their more goofy, comic approach to animation - versus the more sophisticated stories of Pixar or, now, DreamWorks - but their films have heart, have depth, are gorgeous, and, yes, have lots of, sometimes asinine, comedy. I loved the first two Ice Age films (3, not so much; I still haven't seen 4), I loved Robots as a kid, Horton Hears a Who! was fun, and Rio was a great film! That said, the Fox-owned studio's next film, Epic, looks like a departure from their pre-existing mould, and I'm all for that.

Cloudy 2 Gets a New Release Date

A few days ago, Disney dated their upcoming slate, announcing several new projects, and new dates for existing ones - including Saving Mr. Banks - and, yesterday, Sony dated one of their highly anticipated projects too.

Cloudy 2: Revenger of the Leftovers, Sony Pictures Animation's sequel to 2009's successful Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs, is now due on 27th September, 2013, says Box Office Mojo. This is up several months from its previously planned 7th February, 2014 release date - and this new date puts it at almost exactly the same date that Hotel Transylvania opened at so successfully this year. UPDATE: 22:33 (GMT) - Kyle (Ostrumation92) commented that the subtitle has been dropped, and that the film is now just called Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs 2, which does fit with the Box Office Mojo listing.

Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs was a hell of a let of fun, and its quirky comedy and lively charm made it one of 2009's best animated films, so Cloudy 2 is hotly anticipated here at A113Animation! Check out some plot details for the film over at Entertainment Weekly.

In the meantime, SPA's latest, Hotel Transylvania, is in cinemas; check out our interview with production designer Marcelo Vignali here!

Saving Mr. Banks: Tom Hanks on Walt Disney

Production is now underway on one of the most anticipated films of 2013, Saving Mr. Banks. The film focuses on the almost decade-and-a-half long struggle by Walt Disney to acquire the film rights to P.L. Travers' Mary Poppins book series.

Academy Award winner Tom Hanks, who already has a link to Disney, providing the voice of Woody in the Toy Story franchise, has the unenviable task of portraying the immortal Walt Disney on screen for the first time ever. Fellow Academy Award winner Emma Thompson will play Travers, with supporting roles being played by Colin Farrell, Ruth Wilson, with Jason Schwartzman and B.J. Novak as the musical Sherman brothers. John Lee Hancock (The Blind Side) is directing from a script by Kelly Marcel.

Hanks spoke briefly to The Hollywood Reporter about Walt Disney and his preparation for the role. Asked whether it would be a "warts and all" portrayal, the Forrest Gump star said:

“He wasn’t a warty guy. There was the labor issues that were in the forties and stuff like that. But by and large, no.” With THR adding 'A three-pack-a-day smoker, Disney died of lung cancer in 1966 and Hanks said he would chain smoke his way through the movie, but that’s about as close as the production will get to any controversy or conjecture surrounding the iconic animator.'

This is fast becoming one of my most anticipated films of 2013. Saving Mr. Banks arrives in cinemas on 20th December, 2013.

Apply to Monsters University Now! No, Really.

Damn Pixar, you know how to market a film.

Pixar have gone viral with the marketing of their next feature film, the prequel to 2001's Monsters, Inc., Monsters University. The studio have launched a super clever, super cool and - oddly - super believable website for Monsters University - the place, not the film. It has an admissions page, a list of clubs, professors (that presumably will feature in the film), a map (below), a student portal and even a functioning MU store! Pixar have really gone the whole hog on this one!

Check out more awesomeness after the jump break!

Vibrant Poster for The Croods

Moments ago we shared the new Wreck-It Ralph poster with you, and now we've got another poster for you. Via ComingSoon.net, check out the bright, vibrant and stylised poster for DreamWorks' The Croods!

The Croods was originally in production at Aardman, during their deal with DreamWorks, as Crood Awakening, and directed by Kirk DeMicco (Space Chimps), but DreamWorks and Aardman's parting of ways ended that incarnation of the project. Now directed by Chris Sanders (Lilo & Stitch, How to Train Your Dragon), and featuring the voices of Nicolas Cage, Ryan Reynolds and Emma Stone, The Croods will be the first picture in DreamWorks' 5-year distribution with 20th Century Fox when it hits cinemas on 22nd March, 2013 

Blue Sky Studios' Leafmen Gets a Title Change

20th Century Fox recently announced their upcoming slate of feature films, including sequels to Rise of the Planet of the Apes (titled Dawn of the Planet of the Apes) and X-Men: First Class, and - more topically given the theme of this blog - a title change to Blue Sky Studios' upcoming animated film, Leafmen.

Blue Sky's next animated release is the fourth instalment in their Ice Age series, Ice Age: Continental Drift, and following that, the newly renamed, Epic. It's hardly the most inspired title change in the world - it's a little blasé and vague; certainly a lot less magical sounding - and seems to be trying to piggyback on the simplicity of Pixar's Brave. But then again, a title means very little, and Blue Sky have a great track record, so let's hope the film turns out great nonetheless.

Epic is based on the book The Leaf Men and the Brave Good Bugs by William Joyce (co-director The Fantastic Flying Books of Mr. Morris Lessmore, author of the Guardians of Childhood series on which DreamWorks' Rise of the Guardians is based) and is directed by Blue Sky veteran, Chris Wedge (Ice Age, Robots).

The voice cast was also unveiled by Fox, a voice cast that includes Beyoncé, Colin Farrell and Josh Hutcherson.

Epic is due out on 24th May, 2013, and it's a safe assumption that we'll see a teaser trailer with Ice Age 4 next month.

Via Kyle's Animated World.

Wreck-It Ralph Teaser Poster

After giving us our first look at concept art from Wreck-It Ralph a couple of months ago, today Disney have revealed the teaser poster for their 51st animated film.

The quite minimalistic poster (above) comes courtesy of the film's official Facebook page and sports an 8-bit design - reinforcing the film's retro game theme. Hopefully we'll see a teaser trailer for the film in the very near future.

Wreck-It Ralph is released in theatres on 2nd November in America, but alas, due to Disney's infuriating release schedule, won't hit UK theatres until February, 2013.

Despicable Me 2 Teaser Trailer

Ahead of the US release of The Lorax later this week, Illumination Entertainment have released a short teaser trailer for another of their upcoming films: the sequel to their first, immensely popular, animated film, 2010's Despicable Me.

The short teaser trailer (above) reveals no plot points, or really anything new, instead offering us up arguably the biggest hit in the original, the Minions, singing a Beach Boys song. Nonetheless, it does a good job of slowly building the hype, after all 2013 is a long way off yet, and if it's anything like the original, Despicable Me 2 promises to be great!

We also get the first new, also Minion focuses, poster the sequel (below).

Via Empire.

Disney's Snow Queen Now Titled Frozen - Pixar's Dinosaur Film Bumped Off Release Date

Disney recently unveiled the title for their November 2013 release, Frozen. This caused some confusion on Twitter yesterday, as the Novemeber 27, 2013 release date touted for Frozen is the very one that we had been told Up co-director Bob Peterson's Untitled Dinosaur Film would be released on. This in turn led to several reports that that film was now called Frozen; however, courtesy of /Film, we now know that that's not true.

/Film tells us that Frozen is the new name for Disney's The Snow Queen, the adaptation of the Hans Christian Andersen fairytale, a film which has been circling around Disney for years, being on and off the shelf time and time again. Speaking of on the shelf, this now means that The Untitled Pixar Movie About Dinosaurs has been bumped off its release date. This presumably means that we'll be seeing the film around 2014 - when The Untitled Pixar Movie That Takes You Inside The Mind is due out.

Whilst this means we'll have to wait slightly longer to see another Pixar film, it means The Snow Queen is finally back on track - for now.

Pixar News from D23 Day 2: 2 New Films

Pixar have released a huge slab of information on their upcoming slate at their panel's at D23 today, concerning Brave, Monsters University and the two unnamed films we have heard about.

Courtesy of Hypable, we get a detailed list of all you need to know about Pixar's D23 revelations; the expo revealed some more plot points and details on a scene from Brave, concerning Merida's courtship, and a little bit more light on Monsters University, all of which sound interesting. However, the real point of interest is that of the announcement of two new Pixar films.

These are the, until now, unknown films due out in 2013 and 2014 respectively.

The 2013 film is the long rumoured, but only just now confirmed, Pixar dinosaur film that has been on the cards since we first saw an image of a boy and a dinosaur (above) two years ago. Now, as if the dinosaur premise of the film wasn't enough to get excited about, we also learn that it is directed by Bob Peterson! The co-director/writer of Up is yet to direct a feature film, yet he is the Pixarian whom I most wanted to see direct a film. In terms of top-notch production talent, we now learn that it is co-directed by Peter Sohn (director of Partly Cloudy, the short film paired with Up) and produced by John Walker (producer of The Incredibles).

This sounds amazing enough, but the synopsis provided, giving us an alternate version of Earth, adds more excitement to that:

What if that life-changing asteroid missed Earth? Director Bob Peterson’s hilarious tale depicts a world where dinosaurs never went extinct.

I'm hooked already and can't wait to see that film on November 27, 2013.


The second film is the, also long expected, next Pete Docter film. The director of Monsters, Inc. and Up returns to the director's chair for "an inventive new film that explores a world that everyone knows, but no one has seen: inside the human mind".

Now that sounds immensely intriguing, complicated and exciting all at the same time. In terms of production talent on this one; Ronnie del Carmen (director of Dug's Special Mission) co-directs and it is produced by Jonas Rivera (producer of Up), add onto that that IndieWIRE claim that 2 time Academy Award winner, and the writer of the Toy Story 3 screenplay, Michael Arndt is penning the script, and this, likewise, sounds like a winner.

And that exciting film hits cinemas on May 30, 2014.


Thanks to Hypable, The Pixar Blog and Pixarian, Austin Madison for the news.

I'm Back - A Collection of Things You May Have Missed

Apologies for the hiatus, I've been on holiday for the past few weeks, so - while I have been able to keep up to date on the latest animation news - I have been unable to post about the large slab of news that has been coming out (thankfully, though, I am back in time to cover all that happens at D23, starting today). So, to avoid spamming you with post after post, I'm compiling all of the news over the past couple of weeks into one big post here for you.

Firstly, news surfaced over a week ago (via The Hollywood Reporter and Box Office Mojo) that we can expect another Pixar film in 2014. Following only a few weeks after the announcement of a, as of yet unnamed, new Pixar feature coming on November 27, 2013, we were told that the 2013 film would be an original concept, so not a sequel; no such thing has been said of this 2014 release, giving credibility to the belief that this 2014 film could be the rumoured Toy Story 4.

Pixar, seemingly, are being a lot more secretive with their upcoming slate as of late, announcing less details about further off films, this could likely be to avoid another scenario like what we saw with Newt, where early announcements led to Pixar losing some face by having to cancel the project due to perceived similarities with Rio and Alpha & Omega. But we may get details on this, and the 2013 film, from D23.

This new Pixar film is scheduled for release on May 30, 2014.

But that's only a little bit of the news that I haven't covered over the past few weeks, read the rest after the jump break.

Details on DreamWorks' Turbo

Following on from last week where we found out some more details about DreamWorks' upcoming film, Monkeys of Mumbai, we get details on yet another animated film from DreamWorks' very busy upcoming slate.

Today, we learn more about a film named Turbo. The official Facebook pages for DreamWorks and for Turbo provide the following synopsis of the film:

"The story follows an ordinary garden snail who dreams of becoming the fastest snail in the world. When a freak accident gives him extraordinary speed, Turbo sets out to try to make his dream come true."

Directed by David Soren, written by Soren and Darren Lemke, with Ryan Reynolds voicing the title character; Turbo is due out, as of right now, on July 19, 2013.

I, personally, am liking this slate of upcoming DreamWorks films, I'm looking forward to this, Monkeys of Mumbai and The Croods amongst others and DreamWorks have definitely been heading in the right direction over the past couple of years.

Comic-Gone

Disney, Pixar and all other subsidiaries and affiliates will not be appearing at this year's Comic-Con. Instead, the companies major announcements will be made at this year's D23 expo.

D23, "the ultimate Disney fan event", is scheduled to take place in Anaheim, California, running from August 19 to 21, 2011. Major announcements from Disney, Pixar and Marvel will be made at Disney's own event, therefore they have opted out of this year's Comic-Con.

A floor schedule was recently released for the event, highlights of which (concerning Disney and Pixar animation, as well as Marvel) are below:


Saturday, August 20:

• The Walt Disney Studios —11:00 a.m. - 12:30 p.m.
  A fascinating behind-the-scenes glimpse at the exciting roster of projects on the horizon at The Walt Disney Studios. From exclusive video clips and live performances to filmmaker discussions and star appearances, this session will be hosted by Rich Ross, chairman, The Walt Disney Studios; Sean Bailey, president, Production, The Walt Disney Studios; John Lasseter, chief creative officer, Walt Disney Animation Studios and Pixar Animation Studios; and Kevin Feige, president, Production, Marvel Studios.
  
• The Lion King 3D Exclusive D23 Screening—6:00 p.m. - 7:30 p.m.
  Disney fans will have access to an exclusive advance screening of The Lion King in Disney Digital 3D™, ahead of the film's highly anticipated theatrical and home entertainment releases. "The Circle of Life" takes on a new dimension as Simba, Mufasa, Nala, Timon, and Pumbaa grace the screen once again, this time in breathtaking 3D.

Sunday, August 21:

• Marvel Comics —10:00 a.m. - 11:30 a.m.
  An exclusive and unprecedented experience that will take you through the evolution of Marvel from its first comic book in 1939 to its current position as one of the most important creative forces in the world. During this presentation, which will include interactive Q&A segments, you will not only get an inside glimpse of the history of Marvel and its iconic Super Heroes but also discover why Marvel truly is the House of Ideas. This session will be hosted by Joe Quesada, Marvel's chief creative officer and one of the most respected and sought after writers and artists in the entertainment industry.

The event promises to be amazing, highlights will surely be getting a glimpse at Disney and Pixar's upcoming animation slate (including the unknown 2013 Pixar project and Disney's Wreck-It Ralph), as well as an exclusive screening of the 3D conversion of The Lion King. You can apply for tickets on the D23 website.

New Pixar Film Coming 2013

The Pixar Blog is reporting (courtesy of Nikki Finke at Deadline Hollywood) that an "original" Pixar film, ergo "not a sequel" is due out on November 27, 2013. There's no details on the film's title, theme or anything else for that matter. However, it is very likely that this is the project that Pete Docter is working on (after wrapping up Up - no pun intended - in 2009.

Also, as The Pixar Blog points out, and as I am inclined to agree, that this could be the Dinosaur film that has been setting the Pixar fan forums ablaze since hints at it were glimpsed way back in 2009.

Anything from Pixar is brilliant, however, a dinosaur film from the acclaimed Emeryville studio would be fantastic, and I absolutely love all of Pete Docter's work.

Regardless of the fact that we know nothing about it, I am already immensely excited at the possibilities. Although, since Monsters University is now due out in 2013, I find it likely that this anonymous film will be eventually delayed until 2014.

Wreck-It Ralph

Disney's animated slate was supposed to be blank in 2012, with their next feature, Reboot Ralph, coming in 2013. However, now that Pixar's Monsters University is pushed back to 2013, Reboot Ralph steps forward to 2012, under a new name, Wreck-It Ralph.

Disney's 52nd animated feature looks to continue the studio's recent run of success, and from what I've read of the film, it looks like it may edge us ever closer to being in the Third Golden Age. Looking to continue the recent success of Tangled and Winnie the Pooh, Wreck-It Ralph is a revolutionary film, exploring the world of video games from the inside. The film is set to be directed by Rich Moore, a former long time animation director on The Simpsons and Futurama, and stars the voices of John C. Reilly, Jack McBrayer, Jane Lynch and Sarah Silverman.

The offficial synopsis, courtesy of Disney's Press Release, is featured below:

Wreck-It Ralph (voice of Reilly) longs to be as beloved as his game's perfect Good Guy, Fix-It Felix (voice of McBrayer). Problem is, nobody loves a Bad Guy. But they do love heroes... so when a modern, first-person shooter game arrives featuring tough-as-nails Sergeant Calhoun (voice of Lynch), Ralph sees it as his ticket to heroism and happiness. He sneaks into the game with a simple plan -- win a medal -- but soon wrecks everything, and accidently unleashes a deadly enemy that threatens every game in the arcade. Ralph's only hope? Vanellope von Schweetz (voice of Silverman), a young troublemaking "glitch" from a candy-coated cart racing game who might just be the one to teach Ralph what it means to be a Good Guy. But will he realize he is good enough to become a hero before it's "Game Over" for the entire arcade?

The films sounds pretty solid to me, it seems like a great shift for Disney, both tonally and in terms of plot, and it's good to see the Disney animation department finally staying awake, after being stagnant for so many years.

Only time will tell, the film is due out on November 2, 2012 in North America, no announcement yet on when it will hit other countries around the world.