Watch: A First 'Coco' Clip and a Featurette

We're getting really close to the Mexican and US release of Coco, the latest film from Pixar. So it's not a surprise that the studio is pushing the promotion: not one, but two videos related to Coco were released today on the Disney/Pixar YouTube channel. You can watch them after the break.

Watch: Tom Hanks Talks About Being Walt Disney for Saving Mr. Banks

Mary Poppins is inarguably one of Walt Disney's crowning achievements - up there with Steamboat Willie, Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs and Disneyland. Saving Mr. Banks tells the story of that story, and how Walt Disney acquired the rights to author P.L. Travers's original book. Emma Thompson plays Travers, and Tom Hanks is the first person to play Walt Disney; Hanks talked about the pressure and importance of taking on such a high profile role in a new featurette for the film, below.

Monsters University Extended Preview Gives Us Plot Details and New Footage

The guys over at the great animation podcast Animation Fascination have got an awesome extended preview for Pixar's next film, Monsters University, for us! Be warned, it contains some moderate spoilers.

I really like the first 30 seconds or so, with the nifty little "from the makers of" bit, and it gets even better from there! The featurette, which is apparently the one that'll show up on the soon-to-be-released Monsters, Inc. Collector's Edition Blu Ray, is introduced by Monsters U director Dan Scanlon (Mater and the Ghostlight) and introduces the film's premise, beyond just the college theme we've been drip-fed so far, and shows off some new concept art and a great new clip! It certainly seems this prequel is going to be just as funny as the original.

Pixar are the greatest animation studio - and, perhaps, film studio in general - on the planet, who very rarely put a foot wrong, so it's always exciting to see whatever they've got up their sleeves next! Monsters U is particularly exciting, given it's their first prequel and the first follow up to the beloved 2001 original. Monsters University will also be preceded by a brand new short film, The Blue Umbrella - check out the first look here.

So, it's going to be great fun enjoying all the hype and promotion as we roll on towards its 21st June release in the US, and its 12th July one in the UK.

Check Out Some New Rise of the Guardians Clips

The holidays are almost upon as, and DreamWorks rolls out its seasonal offering next week, the Peter Ramsey directed Rise of the Guardians. The film, based on William Joyce's Guardians of Childhood book series, sees childhood icons Santa, the Easter Bunny, the Tooth Fairy, the Sandman and Jack Frost join together to fight the malevolent Boogeyman, Pitch.



So, DreamWorks are in full promotion mode and have released three new clips from the film, and an interesting behind the scenes peek at the many looks of the film (above). Check out the clips after the jump break.

DreamWorks Release Spate of New Rise of the Guardians Featurettes

On the back of the release of the fantastic accompanying 'Art of' book, DreamWorks are hard at work promoting their latest animated feature film, Rise of the Guardians. Today, they bring us some fantastic new featurettes for the film, introducing us to each of the film's iconic characters; as well as one with words from the team behind them.



The featurette for Rise of the Guardians' reimagining of Santa Claus, North, voiced in the film by Alec Baldwin, is embedded above. Alas, DreamWorks have inexplicably disabled embedding for the remaining featurettes, so check them out at the links below!

• "Meet the Tooth Fairy"
• "Meet Sandman"
• "Meet Bunnymund"
• "Meet Jack Frost"
• "Making Dreamsand"

Sandy in particular looks like a whole bunch of fun, and the all-star voice cast lends the film a lot of character. As for the animation, it looks every bit as gorgeous as the concept art The Art of Rise of the Guardians shows off!

The Guardians - described in the "Making Dreamsand" featurette by director Peter Ramsey as "the original superheroes" - arrive in cinemas on 21st November (US) and 30th November (UK), and I can't wait!

More Wreck-It Ralph Clips and Featurettes!

With a week to go until the US release of their 52nd animated film, Disney aren't letting up with the marketing for Wreck-It Ralph, and today we get a couple of great clips, and a funny viral video ad.

New Wreck-It Ralph TV Spots as the Release Draws Closer!

As the US release of Wreck-It Ralph (2nd November) draws ever closer, the advertising is reaching frenzy levels, as Disney are going all out on promoting what promises to be a big hit for the Mouse House.

New Wreck-It Ralph Featurette and Clip Showcase New Footage

IGN have brought us a brand new featurette featuring the voice cast, musical talent and filmmaking crew of Disney's Wreck-It Ralph. The featurette has words from the cast and crew - including John C. Reilly, Jane Lynch, Sarah Silverman and Jack McBrayer, director Rich Moore, Skrillex and Owl City!

It features a lot of new footage, - particularly of Felix and "Sugar Rush" - it's just another great entry into Ralph's great marketing campaign. Check it out above.



We also get a new clip from the Halo-themed world of "Hero's Duty" that Jane Lynch's Sergeant Calhoun inhabits. You can definitely here Skrillex's... well, very un-Disney, music coming across. Less funny, but it shows the breadth of diversity that Disney's latest is going to have.

Finally, check out another Wreck-It Ralph viral ad here - this time for "Sugar Rush" itself!

Wreck-It Ralph is released on 2nd November in the US, and 15th February in the UK.

Finding Nemo 3D Featurette

A new featurette for Finding Nemo 3D has appeared on the Walt Disney Studios New Zealand YouTube channel. The video (above) features Pixar head honcho, John Lasseter, Nemo director, Andrew Stanton, co-director, Lee Unkrich, and some of Pixar's 3D experts, Josh Hollander and Bob Whitehill, talking about the supposedly brilliant 3D on the re-release.

Although I'm very much in favour of re-releasing classic films in 3D - because it means we get to see them on the big screen again! - sometimes the transition doesn't work that well, particularly if it's a hand-drawn film; not a problem seemingly with Nemo. Finding Nemo really does seem the perfect film for the 3D treatment, the immensely detailed, luscious ocean and the vibrant characters will, literally, just leap off the screen; John Lasseter speaks enthusiastically, also, about the brilliant stereoscopic effect of the particulate matter.

For me though, the most exciting prospect is one stated by Andrew Stanton: "The biggest thrill of Nemo going 3D, is it's an opportunity to get a whole new generation of kids to see it like it was originally seen."

Finding Nemo 3D hits US cinemas on 14th September with the Toy Story Toon, Partysaurus Rex, and arrives in the UK on 29th March, 2013.

Related news: Ellen DeGeneres in Talks to Return for Finding Nemo 2.

Madagascar 3 Now In US Cinemas - New Clips and Featurettes

DreamWorks' latest instalment in the Madagascar series, Madagascar 3: Europe's Most Wanted, is now out in the US, and things seem pretty promising so far. The first two films weren't particularly well received by critics (although the second was a definite improvement), but were commercial hits, garnering $532 million and $602 million respectively. This third entry looks promising so far, early projections expect Europe's Most Wanted to make in excess of $50 million this weekend, with many spectators saying it could beat Ridley Scott's Alien prequel, Prometheus, to take the weekend box-office crown. The critical report so far is also quite positive, with the film currently holding a 76% Fresh Rotten Tomatoes score, with the consensus reading:

"Dazzlingly colorful and frenetic, Madagascar 3 is silly enough for young kids, but boasts enough surprising smarts to engage parents along the way."

TIME's Richard Corliss praises the film, saying "In circus terms, it’s like a guy who’s shot out of a cannon and lands on a high wire in a perfect pirouette." in his review, and calling it a "Cirque de Berserk".

Also, seemingly as one last push to try and convince you to part with your cash, DreamWorks have uploaded several new clips and featurettes from the film onto their official YouTube account. Check them out after the jump break:

Go Behind the Scenes of Brave in a New Featurette

The latest in the recent slew of Brave promotional material is a brief, 2-minute behind-the-scenes look at Pixar's latest film. The video (above) acts as a taster for the kind of stuff you can expect to see on the DVD and Blu Ray releases of the film when it hits home media later this year, and features comments about the film's story and characters from co-director Mark Andrews, producer Katherine Sarafian and voice talent including Kelly Macdonald (Merida) and Billy Connolly (King Fergus).

Brave hits US theatres in just under two weeks on 22nd June, and arrives here in the UK on 13th August.

New Brave Featurette: Triple Play

Pixar continue the onslaught of promos for Brave, with yet another featurette today, called "Triple Play". As opposed to yesterday, today's clip is not a parody, rather a brand-new clip showing Merida's mischievous triplet brothers Harris, Hubert and Hamish. Courtesy of Pixar Post, this new clip sees the three young boys reenact the story of how King Fergus won the hand of Queen Elinor.

The triplets are absolutely hilarious and its very easy to see why many people are citing them as the comic highlight of the film!

Brave is released in the US on 22nd June and in the UK on 13th August.

New Brave Featurette Gives Us Our Longest Look At The Witch

Pixar continue to roll out the clips for Brave - at this point I feel as if I've seen a decent portion of the film already - today in the form of another parody video. Following on from previous parodies, Kilt and Freedom Broch, today's featurette, titled Witch Brew (above), gives us our most extended look at the Witch so far!

The witch plays a very important and pivotal roll in the well guarded second act of the movie, and this clip should definitely be avoided if you want to try and go into the film knowing as little as possible - it's quite packed with potential spoilers.

That said, it is a very funny clip and the Witch is a wonderful character! She exudes life and a creepy charm, much like Mama Odie in Disney's The Princess and the Frog and is very well designed to that end.

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Also, I went to go see Men in Black 3 today (it's surprisingly good, Josh Brolin's great too, see it if you can) and was pleasantly surprised by the sheer amount of Brave advertising in place! You can see a snippet of some of the posters, boards and other advertisements that were scattered around our local Vue Cinema above and below, but it doesn't do it justice; it's not a huge cinema and it was jammed full of Brave stuff. There was hardly anything else!

It really hypes you up even more for the film. Brave is released on 22nd June in the US and 13th August in the UK.

New Madagascar 3 Clips

DreamWorks have been layering on the promotion for the release of their latest feature film, Madagascar 3: Europe's Most Wanted, over the past few weeks, and today I stumbled upon 3 new videos that were released three or so weeks ago.

Firstly, above you'll see one of two new clips from the film, titled "Human Cannonball", or more accurately: Sealion Cannonball, featuring Stefano the Sealion, a new addition to the Madagascar crew, and Marty. The clip (above) is pretty funny, and showcases the luscious, bright animation of the film - that is mixed with the very stylised look of the franchise. We also have another new clip, titled "I'm The Leader" (below), featuring a bit of a conflict between best-friends Alex and Marty - that storyline's starting to feel a bit overused now. The clip then segues into the shot of the zoosters sprawled over a poker table in a Monte Carlo casino that we've seen in previous trailers.

And finally we've got a mini-featurette (below) which gives us some words from the voice cast of the main 4 characters, on this latest instalment in the Madagascar franchise.



Madagascar 3: Europe's Most Wanted is released on 8th June 2012 in the US and 19th October here in the UK.

Another New Brave Featurette: Cutting Class

Disney and Pixar treat us to yet another featurette from Brave, this one is called Cutting Class. Cutting Class (above) features King Fergus giving Merida a "lesson" about the history of DunBroch. The King is absolutely priceless in his role here and the differing dynamics between the royal family looks to be one of the highlights of Brave when it hits theatres very soon!

Brave is due out in less than one month, on 22nd June, in America, whereas us unlucky fans in the UK have still got a few months until its 13th August release date here.

New Brave Featurette - Kilt

What we've seen from Brave in the past has been, with a few exceptions, very tense, very ominous, very eerie and very badass. However, what we're treated to today is a much more light-hearted, jovial advert for the film - a featurette satirising fashion adverts, selling Kilts. The advert may seem a little adult or low-brow for Pixar, but, in my opinion, this is a very needed move. As fantastic and exciting as Brave looks, up until very recently it's showed very little of its funny side - of the side that'll attract the majority of its audience: kids. Animation may be an art-form that perpetual children like myself enjoy, but the fact of the matter is, their key demographic is actual children, so comedy is an essential.

As it's Pixar, the film will undoubtedly be a deft blend of comedy, pathos and emotion, but it's a smart idea - marketing wise - to try and get that across in its advertisements.

The featurette (above) parodies the oftentimes ridiculous fashion adverts we're regularly subjected to; advertising the traditional kilts that populate Brave. It, as well as being very funny, features a decent amount of previously unseen footage - including a shot of Merida's father, King Fergus, fighting the demon bear, Mor'du.

Brave hits US theatres on 22nd June, and arrives here in the UK a couple of months later on 13th August (up slightly from its previous due date of the 17th).

Via iTunes Movie Trailers.

Brave: Eyes on the Pies

Today, we were treated to the latest and final trailer for Pixar's Brave, and a couple of days ago we received another video in the series of Brave featurettes, again focussing on Merida's triplet little brothers Hubert, Harris and Hamish. We are now pleased to share with you this newest featurette, entitled Eyes on the Prize (above).

The video is funny and reinforces what we've been hearing that the triplets are one of the best bits about Brave - they certainly seem to be the funniest at least.

Brave hits UK theatres on 17th August; released in the US slightly before, on 22nd June.

Brave: Family Portrait

Following on from last week where we treated to the first (of what we assumed are many) Brave Stories, showcasing Merida, the main character of Pixar's next feature film, Brave, Fandango today debuted the second  Brave Stories style featurette, this one entitled: Brave: Family Portrait.

The focus of this featurette is on Merida's hyperactive little brothers; the triplets: Hamish, Hubert and Harris. The trio don't speak in the entire film and, from the accounts of those who've seen an early version of the first half hour, are riotously funny.

The clip (above) also gifts us with a lot of exciting new footage from the film as well as shedding some light on the darker and more ominous second act of the film.

Brave Stories: Merida

We're getting to that time of the year again; the time where nearly every story covered on this site will be based on Pixar's next feature film, as Pixar are, once again, going into advertisement overdrive, this time, for their first fairytale, Brave.

The studio have released a brand new featurette (via Yahoo Movies) showcasing, once again, the Mother-daughter clash that will be central to Brave's story, as well as highlighting the mystical, ominous side to the film that sets it apart from what we've seen before. However, the clip also debuts a lot of new footage that we haven't seen before, which looks as stunning and impressive as we've come to expect from Pixar. Brave certainly looks set to be one of Pixar's best films yet!

Watch the featurette above.

Via The Pixar Times.

A Smorgasbord of Pixar Stuff

We have seen a lot of new Pixar tidbits emerge have emerged this past week, including new details and posters on several upcoming Pixar projects:

Firstly, we get our first look at the official logo for Pixar's new Toy Story Toons (above), the logo is visible at the end of the new international Cars 2 trailer, which is currently airing in front of Pirates of the Caribbean 4 amongst other films.

We also, courtesy of Izaac at Pixar News Australia, can see the specific logo for the first Toy Story Toon - Hawaiian Vacation -, which will play in front of Cars 2 (above) as it was on the bottom of the newest Australian Cars 2 poster.






Secondly, we have two awesome must see videos (above), the LEGO version of the Cars 2 trailer, which just, simply put, has to be watched. I can't imagine the painstaking hours that must have gone into making it; we also have a new Cars 2 Featurette, showing off some great new Cars 2 footage. Both are great and really funny, however, watch out for some minor spoilers in the Cars 2 Featurette.

Finally, it has been confirmed that Cars 2 will see a return to Pixar tradition, as we will see a teaser trailer for Pixar's next project, Brave, before the film, along with the Toy Story Toon, Hawaiian Vacation.

Jeesh, that was a lot, but at least we are now kept up to date with the hottest Pixar news.