The Short Paired with Pixar's 'The Good Dinosaur' Is Called 'Sanjay's Super Team'

 

The LA Times just revealed what the short film accompanying The Good Dinosaur will be when it's released in theaters later this year. It's called Sanjay's Super Team, and it's directed by Sanjay Patel; based on his own experiences as a kid, the film will delve on what it's like to be an Indian American.

First Look: Still from Pixar's Latest Short Film, Lava

A little while ago, we heard that Pixar's next short film was going to be "a musical love story that takes place over millions of years," called Lava. Lava is directed by James Ford Murphy, is going to play before Pixar's next film, Inside Out, and is already winning rave reviews. And now we get our first look at it, with the whimsically charming still above! More details about Lava and its story below.

Pixar Begin Layoffs In Wake of The Good Dinosaur Delay

Credit: Stitch Kingdom

After the announced 18 month delay of erstwhile first-time director Bob Peterson's The Good Dinosaur, Pixar have announced an undisclosed amount of their 1200-strong workforce has been laid off, to accommodate the schedule reshuffle. The layoffs affect less than 5% of the staff, says an L.A. Times source.

Breaking: The Good Dinosaur Pushed Back to November 2015; Pixar Will Release No Film Next Year

Concept art for The Good Dinosaur, which stars the voices of Lucas Neff, Neil
 Patrick Harris and Judy Greer. It will now open November 2015.

When Bob Peterson was removed as director of The Good Dinosaur, particularly as we're so close to its planned 30th May, 2014 release date, it seemed incredibly unlikely that the film would be ready on time. In fact, it seems the situation is worse than anticipated, as Pixar have announced (via the L.A. Times) that they're pushing their fifteenth feature film all the way back to 25th November, 2015.

[UPDATED] Official: Bob Peterson No Longer Directing The Good Dinosaur

3 days ago we reported the story that, apparently, Pixar had removed Bob Peterson as director of their next film, The Good Dinosaur. We've been hoping and crossing all our fingers that this wasn't true, but, alas, The LA Times reports officially that the Up co-director has indeed been pulled off the project, with no immediate successor named.

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.

[UPDATED] First Look: Disney's Big Hero 6; And Some New Concept Art for Frozen

Well, it's official: Disney are marketing everything except for Frozen. In fact, today we got our first look at Walt Disney Animation Studios' 2014 release, the Marvel co-production, Big Hero 6!

Watch: Roundtable Discussion with Animation Directors

The L.A. Times have posted an absolutely enthralling roundtable discussion with five animated film directors, in anticipation of the very tight Best Animated Feature competition at awards season this year. Hosted by L.A. Times reporter Rebecca Keegan, the roundtable includes Mark Andrew (Brave), Peter Ramsey (Rise of the Guardians), Chris Butler (ParaNorman), Rich Moore (Wreck-It Ralph) and Genndy Tartakovsky (Hotel Transylvania).

It's not all too equal a discussion, Rich Moore and Mark Andrews tend to dominate it, and it would've been nice to see Brenda Chapman and Peter Lord in the mix, but it really is brilliant! The start's your general stuff: talk about your film, your studio, your team, etc..., but it really takes off in the last fifteen minutes or so, when the conversation turns towards animation as a medium, the problem with American animation, and the directors' shared interests in seeing more 2D animated films, more adult animated films, and the versatility of animation as a medium.

Check it out!

Via Cartoon Brew.

Andrew Stanton Confirms Finding Nemo 2; Talks John Carter

Rumour have been swirling over the past month or so, concerning the directorial future of Andrew Stanton. The two-time Oscar winner most recently directed Disney's famed mega-flop, John Carter. For one reason or another, the WALL-E director's passion project didn't find an audience and resulted in a $200 million write-down and executive shifts for the Mouse House. News broke last month though, that Stanton was returning to more familiar waters (pun intended) with a sequel to his 2003 mega-hit, Finding Nemo.

Since then, we've heard that Lindsey Collins was set to produce, Victoria Strouse had been penned to write the script, and Ellen DeGeneres was in talks to return as Dory, with a view to a 2016 release date. No word, though, had been heard from Pixar's camp, and nothing from Stanton himself, save a Tweet that seemed to deny the rumours. Until now.

Speaking to the LA Times, Stanton spoke candidly about the production of, and response to, the adaptation of Edgar Rice Burroughs' 100 year old novel, and Nemo 2. Check it all out after the jump break:

Genndy Tartakovsky Talks About Coming Aboard Hotel Transylvania

Sony Pictures Animation's latest film, Hotel Transylvania, directed by Genndy Tartakovsky, is almost upon us. But it wasn't always directed by Genndy Tartakovsky. If you've followed the production of Sony's latest, you'll know it's been a troubled one; Tartakovsky is actually the sixth director to try his hand on the troubled film, one that thankfully seems to have got the job done. The Samurai Jack creator spoke to the LA Times about coming onto production this late on, the hostilities he faced, and the film in general.

Check out some interesting points, courtesy of the LA Times, after the jump break.

Brave is Now in Cinemas! - In the US Anyway

Pixar's latest animated feature, Brave, is now out in US cinemas (although those of us in the UK - and indeed several other places in the world - will have to wait a while yet). As such, the reviews are now rolling in, and Brave currently stands at a 72% Fresh rating on Rotten Tomatoes, with a much better consensus than some early reviews might have indicated:

It may not live up to the lofty standards of the Pixar brand, but Brave offers young audiences and fairy tale fans a rousing, funny fantasy adventure with a distaff twist -- and surprising depth.

Roger Ebert, who seems to be on a roll of awarding Pixar films 3 stars - after doing so with Toy Story 3 and Cars 2 - awards Brave 3 stars, echoing most of what we've heard up until now:

"Unlike such brightly original films as "Toy Story," "Finding Nemo," "WALL-E" and "Up," this one finds Pixar poaching on traditional territory of Disney, its corporate partner."

In addition, the L.A. Times' Kenneth Turan says:

"If the Walt Disney Studios logo were the only one on "Brave,"this film's impeccable visuals and valiant heroine would be enough to call it a success. But "Brave" is also a Pixar Animation Studios film, and that means it has to answer to a higher standard."

No one seems to have particular gripes with the film, just that it doesn't live up to Pixar's self-imposed standards as much as we've come to expect. The review that I find myself most nodding my head approvingly to is that of Rolling Stone's Peter Travers, awarding it 3.5/4 stars, best summed up by:

"No one seems to review a Pixar film without comparing it to other Pixar films. OK, Brave isn't The Incredibles or Toy Story. So? It's still a rousing, gorgeously animated good time."

That addresses a lot of my problems with the majority of the Cars 2 reviews; judge it on its own merits, folks. I'm hoping that Brave's Rotten Tomatoes score grows, hopefully into the 80s at least - I'm predicting around the 81% mark - as Pixar truly deserve it.


Going to see Brave this weekend, stateside readers? Already seen it? Share your thoughts below or with us on Twitter (@A113Animation)!

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As a brief aside, also be sure to check out the (finally) newly revamped, and suitably wonderful, Pixar website; chocked full of great behind-the-scenes videos and interviews!

Bob Peterson Talks About The Good Dinosaur

Pixar's upcoming slate is, for all its exciting premises, shrouded in mystery, with very little being known about anything past this summer's Brave. However, today, Bob Peterson (co-director Up, voice of Dug in Up and Roz in Monsters, Inc.) shed some light on his highly anticipated directorial debut, The Good Dinosaur.

The film, set for a 30th May, 2014 release, explores a world in which the asteroid that caused the dinosaurs to go extinct, never hit the Earth, and dinosaurs now share the planet with mankind. Speaking to the LA Times, Peterson, as well as the film's co-director Peter Sohn (Partly Cloudy) and producer John Walker (The Incredibles) gave us some details on the film's inspiration, as well as whetting our appetite in terms of what we can expect to see in the film.

The LA Times says:

"Peterson, who served as codirector and writer on "Up," said the inspiration for the movie came from a childhood visit to the World's Fair where he was awed by some dinosaur animatronics."

With Peterson stating that "It's time to do a movie where you get to know the dinosaur, what it's really like to be a dinosaur and to be with a dinosaur".

Those of you that follow Bob Peterson's Twitter will know that he's been undertaking the writing of the film's script over the past few weeks, stopping at various spots around California in his car when inspiration strikes, and Walker says:

"So if there's a bunch of dinosaurs in a Whole Foods parking lot in this movie, you'll understand why,"

The Good Dinosaur sounds incredibly interesting, and I can't wait to see what Peterson does as a director!

Read the full story at LA Times.

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.