The D23 Disney Animation Panel: What We Learned

Every two year, Disney holds the D23 expo, a big event where they announce upcoming projects. And the 2017 D23 is happening right now. Here is what we learned from the Animation Panel today:

Disney Shares a New 'DuckTales' (Woo Ooh!) Teaser Art

The DuckTales reboot is starting to show more and more of its feathers, and hopefully we'll get a teaser trailer soon. But for now, let's admire this new teaser art, that was shared by Disney XD - where the show will premiere in 2017. See the whole thing after the break.

D23 Expo: What the Walt Disney Animation Studios and Pixar Revealed

Once every two year, Disney is holding a big event, where they announce and tease upcoming projects. And luckily for us, it's happening this year - more precisely, this very weekend. See what the Walt Disney Animation Studios and Pixar have in store in the upcoming few years after the break.

The A113Animation Podcast, Episode 4 - D23 and Despicable Me 2

Episode 4 of the A113Animation Podcast is a biggie - and you can download and/or listen to it right now! Our cast of co-hosts is once again in rotation, and joining William this week are Munir, Damien and, making her podcast debut, our Studio Ghibli writer, Mayra! This was a double feature episode, and in place of our normal news section, the four of us discussed solely the big animation news from Disney's D23 expo. Our film this week is Illumination Entertainment's minion-packed sequel, Despicable Me 2. As per, there's a bit of off-topic talk, with some discussion of the newest episodes of Breaking Bad, and the announcement of the twelfth Doctor. Forewarning, if you're listening to the podcast with youngish kids, there is some rather choice language, particularly in the Breaking Bad section - no F-bombs though.

As usual, enjoy the show, get in touch and, if you're particularly moved by the show, you could always help us out by heading on over to our Support page. The episode is available on Podomatic now, and will be appearing in our iTunes feed and Stitcher playlist very soon.

This Week on A113Animation (5th - 11th August, 2013)

Now I was actually away this week (until yesterday, that is), so firstly I want to extend a big thank you to the rest of the A113Animation superteam for keeping things running like clockwork in my absence! That said, it was a poor choice of weeks for me to take a holiday, because this has been a very interesting week for animation fans. Trailers for The Muppets and Thor, a clip from Frozen, Benedict Cumberbatch stuff, and all the goodness from D23! Add onto that your usual features and Nadine's review of Planes, and it's been a good week.

Live-Action News From D23 Expo

We all got pretty excited about the news from the D23 Expo on Day 1, so you can imagine how thrilled we were with more, live-action-y, updates from Day 2 yesterday.

Pixar Rethinking Finding Dory Ending After Seeing Blackfish?

Yesterday we got our first real info about Pixar's Finding Nemo sequel, Finding Dory, which takes place about a year after Nemo: joining the returning voice cast are Diane Keaton, Eugene Levy and Ty Burrell. We also got the lovely bit of concept art above. But yesterday also brought an interesting, potentially spoiler-filled, rumour that suggested Pixar higher-ups are considering changing the film's ending.

Disney and Pixar Tease Upcoming Movies at D23 Expo

The D23 Expo has just begun, and already big announcements are pouring in. Let's see what the Art & Imagination presentation had to offer.

Two Animation Cels from Disney's Get a Horse! Short

"Here Comes Trouble: Peg-Leg Pete interrupts Mickey Mouse and his favorite gal pal Minnie in this
 animation cel as they delight in a musical haywagon ride."

Disney have released two "vintage animation cels" from their beguiling new/old Mickey Mouse short, Get a Horse!, which is tipped to play before Frozen in November.

Brad Bird's Mysterious 1952 Officially Called Tomorrowland

Brad Bird is one of my favourite directors. Obviously. He directed three absolute animatred classics with The Iron Giant, The Incredibles and Ratatouille - as well as helping guide The Simpsons through its golden age and directing one of its best episodes - and proved his live-action chops with Mission: Impossible - Ghost Protocol. So I suppose I can't really hold it against him that he's not directing Star Wars: Episode VII, particularly when what he is directing is so intriguing.

With a new reveal today, Bird's next mystery shrouded project got a little less, and also enigmatically a little more, mysterious. D23 revealed on Twitter that 1952, the film which Bird is directing from a story and screenplay by Damon Lindelof (Lost, Prometheus) is now officially going by the name of Tomorrowland.

Disney Screens Wreck-It Ralph

Disney held recent test screenings for its latest animated feature film, Wreck-It Ralph. We've heard a lot of hype as of late for the film, with it being touted that it "does for video games what Toy Story did for toys".

One group of lucky people who got to see some footage from the film are the guys at The Rotoscopers, who seem rather taken with the film. Saying particular points of enjoyment from the, unfinished, footage were the cameos from real-life video game characters (a la Barbie in Toy Story I imagine), and the focus on Ralph's character driven motivation in the film. The Rotoscopers awarded the footage 4 stars, and an assessment of "Very Good".



I also found the above video from D23 last year. It may be slightly dated now, but it shows a mock-up video game that Disney had on hand of Fix-it Felix Jr., the game in which Ralph is the villain. It gives some interesting insight into the world of Wreck-It Ralph.

It looks promising!

Via Blue Sky Disney.

Disney Turns 88

88 years yesterday, on October 16, 1923, The Walt Disney Company was founded.

Starting off as the pipe-dream of brothers, Roy Disney and the eponymous, Walt Disney, as Disney Brothers Cartoon Studio, this was the studio destined to become the world's largest media conglomerate, changing the world forever, in terms of films, TV and in terms of all of the millions of lives it has touched.

From the Golden Age of its animated films way back when, with films like Snow White, Pinocchio and Dumbo, through the Silver Age of films like 101 Dalmatians, The Jungle Book and more, and to the Renaissance of such modern classics as Beauty and the Beast and The Lion King and beyond to modern day; Disney has long been the gold standard of animation. Although accused of a dip in quality in more recent years (although currently undergoing a revival), Disney is, in essence, the company that made animation an art form.

From the debut of "Disney's folly" and Walt and his company proving to all comers that animation was, and is, a sustainable medium that can inflame the imagination and inspire the world, moving us all to laughter and tears, to today, there is rarely a person on the face of the world who hasn't heard of Disney and its famed mouse.

I'll try to keep this brief, as there is oh so much I could say about Disney, its influence on the world and on its influence on me, and more - particularly, of how, without it, it is questionable that Pixar would be the giant it is today.

Disney, in one word, means magic. At its best, nothing can touch Disney, the classics are unparalleled and without rival. Magic is imbued into every frame of so many Disney films, although Disney has rolled out several not so brilliant films, the fact that this is the company that brought us Bambi, Cinderella and The Little Mermaid more than makes up for that.

Simply put, I love Disney and I'd like to take this opportunity to say: thank you Disney. Thank you for the films, thank you for the music, thank you for the magic, thank you for the memories and thank you, most of all, for making my childhood as wonderful as it was.

Long live Disney!

New Lee Unkrich Film Underway at Pixar

Following on from the D23 announcements of two new Pixar movies - The Untitled Pixar Movie About Dinosaurs and The Untitled Pixar Movie That Takes You Inside The Mind - we now get a sniff of yet another Pixar movie in the works in Emeryville. As it turns out that Lee Unkrich, the director of the Best Picture nominated Toy Story 3, has just begun directing a new film.

Lee, an avid Twitter user, Tweeted on Thursday night "Tomorrow is a big day that may determine the next four years of my life. Wish me luck.", now, given that the creative cycle of an animated film at Pixar usually takes about four years, this would certainly point towards Lee pitching a new film to the Brain Trust.

The Pixar Times then tells us that he later Tweeted, before removing the Tweet, "Weekend: Relax. Monday: Get started on a new movie.”, so it appears as if the helmer of the highest-grossing animated film of all time's next project has been greenlit and I certainly can't wait to here more about it.

However, given that we have just passed D23 and the huge slab of news unveiled there, it is unlikely we will be finding out any substantial details about the film any time soon; other than the fact that, given an average of a four year production timeframe, the film will probably be released late 2015, or maybe pushed back to 2016 to allow more time. In my opinion, with Lee already being the director of the latest installment of the Toy Story franchise, it is highly likely that this film could be the ambiguously rumoured Toy Story 4, hinted at by Tom Hanks and John Lasseter. Hanks said he believed Pixar were working on it, he could have meant that Lee Unkrich was working on an idea for it, which has now been approved.

Now, I have often expressed my uneasiness about a fourth chapter in the Toy Story franchise, however many expressed similar concerns about Toy Story 3, and Lee did a stellar job with that, and I have no doubt he'd do the same with a fourth!

Awesome New Brave Poster Out of D23

Those of you that follow my Twitter will likely already now, as I tweeted it a few days ago, but we saw this cool and intense poster at the Art of Brave panel at the D23 expo.

Gets me even more psyched for Pixar's next film!

A Look at Monsters University: Updated Character Designs and More

Out of D23 yesterday, we learned a lot about Pixar's upcoming slate: big details on their 2 new films, as well as learning about a particular scene from Brave, but we also got a lot more light upon their first film in 2013, Monsters University.

Monsters U. is a prequel to the 2001 original, Monsters, Inc., set years before the events of that film, and described by Pixar and Disney CCO John Lasseter as an "animated college movie", as such the character designs had to be suitably adjusted. Both characters are said to be 18 in the film, so changes were needed, but (as you can see), the characters still look like the ones we know and love from Monsters, Inc., but in a slightly different light.

Mike is shorter, freckled, has smaller horns and is sporting a retainer.

Whereas, Sulley is thinner, hairier and shaggier.

The Pixar Times also reports that several actors were announced for the film, obviously John Goodman and Billy Crystal reprise their roles as Sulley and Mike respectively, Steve Buscemi also returns, to voice the villainous Randall. In terms of new talent, Dave Foley returns to Pixar (after previously voicing Flik in A Bug's Life) to voice a new character, and Peter Sohn (director of Partly Cloudy and co-director of the new dinosaur film), who voiced Emile in Ratatouille, also lends his voice to the film; Joel Murray and Julia Sweeney also star.

For more information and over 20 character images from the event, head over to The Pixar Times.

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.

Planes Voice Cast Increases



The Pixar Blog tells us that Disney announced at the D23 expo today that Jon Cryer, famous as Alan from Two and a Half Men, will lend his voice to the Disneytoon Studios Cars spin-off, Planes, as the main character, Dusty.

The film, whilst not created by Pixar, is a spin-off from Pixar's Cars franchise and is due for a 2013 straight-to-DVD and Blu Ray release. Cryer joins Brad Garrett (Everybody Loves Raymond) on the film.

Out of D23: Next Toy Story Toon named Small Fry, and more details

Courtesy of The Pixar Times' live blog from the D23 Pixar Shorts Panel, we now know that the next Toy Story Toon (due to play before The Muppets on November 23), will be called Small Fry and that it will be directed by Angus Maclane

The short is apparently a Prince and the Pauper story revolving around Buzz and that Glee's Jane Lynch will provide a voice in the short.

Still relatively little to go on, but if it's half as good as Hawaiian Vacation was, we're in for a treat.

Also, from this live blog, we have learned from La Luna director, Enrico Casarosa, that the short WILL be shown with Brave next year.



We also get the above video, a look at the Disney legends ceremony, including an interview with everyone's favourite frog.

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.

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.