Watch: A New 'Coco' Trailer is Out

It seems like it was announced decades ago, but the Pixar film based on the Mexican Day of the dead, Coco, is almost here. It will open in November in the US and a little bit later (erhm) in the UK, in January 2018. The film is directed by Lee Unkrich (Toy Story 3) and co-directed by Adrian Molina.
You can watch the new sumptuous trailer below. Warning: some shots may be considered spoilers.

Could Lee Unkrich's 'Dìa de los Muertos' be a Musical?

In an interview with veteran Pixar film composer Randy Newman, Classic FM got what could be an interesting bit of information regarding Lee Unkrich's upcoming Dìa de los Muertos. Here's what Randy Newman had to say:

I’m not so sure I don’t have a reputation for being a little trouble. Lee Unkrich isn’t going to use me, I don’t think. And not only that, Lee Unkrich had Toy Story 3 temped with my music and it was limiting to me. It was fine, the movie did great and everything and maybe I’m wrong and if I look back on it I won’t know the difference, but it didn’t fit hand in glove the way I would have tried to do. And he fell in love with the temp, very much so. Now he’s not going to use me to work with him again. He’s doing a musical now.

The Book of Life Review: Yes to the Colours, No to the Shape

The time of the year when everything becomes dark and spooky is upon us, and with it arrives its lot of death-themed animated features. This year's iteration is a special one though, as it doesn't deliver the usual Halloween folklore and instead takes us on a journey through Día de los Muertos, the Mexican day of the dead.
Director Jorge Gutierrez and Producer Guillermo Del Toro come up with a gorgeous-looking movie; ironically, from that great strength The Book of Life also suffers. Clarifications after the break.

Reel FX Pack In the Stars for The Book of Life

Reel FX are bursting onto the scene on 1st November, with their time-travelling turkey tale, Free Birds, and things are starting to take shape for the freshman studio's sophomore film now too. In Autumn 2014, the studio will release The Book of Life, based on the Mexican Day of the Dead (not to be confused with Pixar's film also based on the holiday - directed by Toy Story 3's Lee Unkrich - which is expected, but not confirmed, to release in 2016). And now we have an extensive star-studded cast for the film!

Disney and Pixar Slot Eight New Animated Releases In For 2016 - 2018

Box Office Mojo reports that Disney have nabbed release dates for a grand total of 8 new, untitled animated releases between 2016 and 2018. The site labels them as:

2016

• Untitled Disney Animation - 4th March, 2016
• Untitled Pixar Animation - 17th June, 2016
• Untitled Disney Animation - 23rd November, 2016

2017

• Untitled Pixar Animation - 16th June, 2017
• Untitled Pixar Animation - 22nd November, 2017

2018

• Untitled Disney Animation - 8th March, 2018
• Untitled Pixar Animation - 15th June, 2018
• Untitled Disney Animation - 21st November, 2018

Happy New Year: New Concept Art from Upcoming Pixar Films

Pixar have a wonderful New Year treat for us all, as they sent ComingSoon.net a card wishing them a Happy New Year, complete with exclusive concept art from three of their upcoming films!

Buffy and Mad Men Writer-Producer Joins Pixar!

It was announced today, at the Austin Film Festival, that Marti Noxon, best known as a writer and executive producer on Joss Whedon's Buffy the Vampire Slayer - as well as working as a writer and consulting producer on the second series of AMC's Mad Men - has joined Pixar to work on an unspecified project!

Pixar is a studio renowned for its exclusivity, in that all of its ideas come from within. Yet, in recent years, we've seen the Emeryville studio branching out: bringing in Michael Arndt (Little Miss Sunshine) to script Toy Story 3, and Irene Mecchi (The Lion King) for Brave - in fact, Joss Whedon even co-wrote Toy Story! It's worked very well in the past, and Pixar are clearly hoping for a similar performance by Noxon - announced today, by Pixar senior development executive Mary Coleman, to be collaborating with the studio on an upcoming film.

It's a little late in production for Monsters University for writers to start being brought in, and Michael Arndt is already attached to Pete Docter's Untitled Mind Film - and Victoria Strouse to Finding Nemo 2 - so it seems likely that Noxon (who most recently helped write Glee series 3) will be contributing to Lee Unkrich's Untitled Día de los Muertos film.

We'll keep you updated as we learn more, but, for now, we're pretty excited by this!

Via Indiewire.

Upcoming Disney Line-Up Dates Untitled Disney and Pixar Films; Phineas and Ferb and More!

Disney have revealed, through Box Office Mojo, their upcoming release date schedule, shedding light on when we can expect some of the company's most hotly anticipated films!

Starting from the start, Disney's highly anticipated chronicle of the acquisition of the film rights to Mary Poppins, Saving Mr. Banks is due on 20th December, 2013. The film, which will see Tom Hanks become the first man to ever portray the larger-than-life icon, Walt Disney, on-screen, and stars Emma Thompson as author P.L. Travers, is directed by John Lee Hancock (The Blind Side) and looks set to be one of the biggest films of next year!

John Lasseter Talks About Pixar's Upcoming Slate; Details on Día de los Muertos Film

Disney and Pixar Animation Chief Creative Officer, John Lasseter, recently sat down for an interview with Monsieur Hollywood, a French movie site, in which he discussed Pixar's upcoming slate of animated films, including shedding some light on Lee Unkrich's untitled film about the Día de los Muertos!

In the first part of the interview, John discusses Brave, how many firsts it represents for Pixar and what it means to him personally. However, the second part is arguably more interesting. In the second part (embedded above), the Toy Story director discusses (as well as the technical challenges of Brave and his favourite Disney characters) what we'll see from Pixar in the next 5 to 10 years. He doesn't offer up much, saying Monsters University (new images here) is "really funny", and merely mentions Bob Peterson's The Good Dinosaur; he speaks very enthusiastically about Pete Docter's "amazing story" for his Untitled Mind Film, however, the most interesting nugget of information was concerning Lee Unkrich's next film.

The Toy Story 3 director is working on a film about the Mexican holiday of the Day of the Dead, and speculation has been rife over what the story of the film would revolve around; whether it would be a more adult Pixar film. Lasseter shed a little bit of light on the matter saying it's a "fantastic story of family". So, we now know that, what will be, Pixar's 17th feature film will be family-centric - a normal family juxtaposed into fantastic situations perhaps, in the mould of The Incredibles or Brave maybe.

It'll be a while before we hear more from this project though, given that it doesn't even have an announced title or release date yet - expect it in 2015/16.

Need a Pixar fix in the meantime? Then check out our review of Brave, which finally arrives here in the UK in 9 days, on the 13th.

Via The Pixar Times and Pixar Post.

Lee Unkrich Speaks About the Untitled Pixar Movie About the Día de los Muertos

Out of CinemaCon last month we learned that Toy Story 3 director, Lee Unkrich, is working on a new film, about the Mexican Day of the Dead! The very unusual premise is certainly an interesting one, Toy Story 3 delved into dark territory and some aspects of mortality, but not until this film will Pixar have tackled death so explicitly in one of their films.

Speaking to L.A. Times yesterday, Unkrich acknowledged the great fanbase Pixar has in Mexico and that the studio wanted to give back to them in some way:

""Pixar movies do extremely well in Mexico," Unkrich said in mid-May, as he was waiting to offer notes to the filmmakers of the studio's next movie, "Brave," at a screening at the Skywalker Ranch in Marin County. "This will allow us to explore a really fascinating aspect of the culture there.""

Although the film, which is, like Toy Story 3, produced by Darla K. Anderson also, will likely explore sombre territory like Finding Nemo and Up did, Unkrich's next film will focus on "a very different view of death than the American one,", citing that "It's not spooky. It's celebratory."

We're a while off a release for the film yet, tentatively scheduled for a late 2015 release date, but we'll presumably be hearing more about it, as well as The Good Dinosaur and Pete Docter's Mind Film, once Brave is released this summer and advertising for Monsters University is underway.

On the subject of the, often harsh, Brain Trust feedback process, Lee said:

"The trick is, you have to be willing to contribute your own bad idea, so we can all get to the good ones,"

That seems to just about sum it up. Read the full story at L.A. Times.

Disney and Pixar News from CinemaCon 2012

Yesterday at CinemaCon 2012, at Disney's exhibit, the guests in attendance were treated to a plethora of exciting news pertaining to lots of upcoming films to be released under the Disney banner; including lots of exciting Pixar news.

Disney first:

• Although we already knew this, via screenwriter Nicholas Stoller, Disney have now given official confirmation that they're working on The Muppets 2.
• Fans at the event were also treated to the first few minutes of footage from Disney's 51st animated film, the video game themed, Wreck-It Ralph.
• They were also shown some new footage from Tim Burton's Frankenweenie.

Check out the Pixar news after the jump.