Watch: The New Muppets Show Gets a Funny Trailer

We talked about this new Muppet TV show sometime ago, when it wasn't sure it would be picked up by ABC. But it was, and to celebrate the news, the network shared a trailer for the upcoming series. Watch it below.

The Muppets May Return on TV

THR reports that The Muppets will attempt a big come-back on American television soon, in a new TV show for ABC. Bill Prady (The Big Bang Theory) is co-writing the pilot with Bob Kushell (Anger Management).

Muppets Most Wanted First Scene and Song Online!

Boy do we have a treat for you! The first scene and song from Muppets Most Wanted is online!

New Trailer(s) for Muppets Most Wanted! It's Not Easy Being Mean...

We're all getting rather excited for the sequel to 2011's musical hit The Muppets here at A113 Animation. To keep up the excitement, we have a brand new trailer two brand new trailers for Muppets Most Wanted!

Monsters vs. Aliens Director and Muppets Screenwriter to Adapt Captain Underpants for DreamWorks

We heard a couple of years ago that DreamWorks had acquired the rights to adapt Dav Pilkey's bestselling (and really fun) Captain Underpants books. Now the studio has detailed the crew that will be bringing the bald, occasionally bipolar, scantily-clad superhero to the big screen!

First teaser for Muppets Most Wanted!

We get our first look at Disney's Muppets Most Wanted, as the first teaser has been released!

The Muppets Sequel Renamed!

The Muppets sequel, previously titled The Muppets… Again! and currently in post-production, a has new title.

Do These The Muppets...Again! Set Pictures Reveal How the Film Will Start? (Possible Spoilers)

The Muppets had a far better reception than anyone expected back in 2011, so, with The Muppets...Again!, expectations are running high. Set pictures taken from the filming of the sequel a couple of nights ago shed light on how the new film might start, and how it ties in to the previous one.

Plot Synopsis and First Promotional Images from The Muppets... Again!

Sorry for the blog-silence over the last couple of days - I've been severely under the weather. But we're back with some exciting news today: first of all, an official press release, plot synopsis and the first images from Disney's The Muppets sequel, now officially going by The Muppets... Again!

The sequel, whose human stars include Ricky Gervais, Tina Fey and Modern Family's Ty Burrell, began filming in London last week and is due for release on 21st March, 2014. Disney emailed us out the press release for the film, which includes the exciting synopsis - which reveals the roles of Gervais, Fey and Burrell - and you can check them, along with another image, out below.

Merry Christmas from A113Animation

Yes, the season is upon us once again. It may not be a white Christmas (not here, anyway), but it feels like it's going to be a good one. If there's one thing we can all agree on, it's that Christmas TV is a gift to us all; case in point, Lady and the Tramp is on BBC1 right now!

So, from all of us here at A113Animation, have a very Merry Christmas and a happy and loving holiday - no matter how you choose to celebrate it. Thank you for visiting us over the past year, and I look forward to wishing you the same seasonal joy this time next year. After all, as Kermit says, there's only one more sleep 'til Christmas.



God bless, and Merry Christmas from A113Animation.

An Open Letter to The Walt Disney Company

Cc: Hollywood

To Mr. Rober Iger, Mr. Alan Horn and whomever else it may concern,

Let me preface this by saying I am a huge Disney fan, it formed my childhood, and it and its subsidiaries continue to shape my present and, hopefully, my future. That said, there is one particular area of Disney that I am not a fan of: excessively delayed 'foreign' release dates.

A Trifecta of Non-Animation Disney News: The Muppets 2, Hanks as Disney and #Bird2015

Yes, this is A113Animation. But, hell, we're all nerds aren't we? And this is all Disney-linked at least...

More Details on The Next Muppet Movie

Despite the fact that the last Muppets film is only just out of cinemas (particularly here in the UK), it's certainly a great sign of Disney's confidence in Jim Henson's beloved creations that we are being bombarded by all manner of news and details regarding their next planned outing on the big screen.

Last week Nicholas Stoller, co-writer of The Muppets, treated us to some interesting details about the new Muppets film, and just a couple of days ago, we received some more.

After announcing that he won't be starring in the upcoming film, Jason Segel has now quashed the rumours that he would cameo as well. In an interview with The Playlist, the How I Met Your Mother star said:

"No, no cameo. It was a very distinct choice on my part. Of course I was asked to do it. I did exactly what I set out to do, if that makes any sense. My goal was never to take over the helm of ‘The Muppets.’ They have people who are better equipped for that. My only goal was to bring back the Muppets that I loved. And I did that. I kinda don’t know what I have left to do in that regard."

Also, appearing on a press tour for his current film Five Year Engagement, Nicholas Stoller confirmed (via The Muppet Mindset) that Walter will return in 'Muppets 2', and spilled some more details on what we can expect in terms of story:

"Walter will play a role in the next movie. It will be a complete story separate from the first movie, but there will be some "connective tissue." And having successfully reintroduced the characters, they're planning to concentrate on the comedy this time around."

It certainly sounds promising and, after last time, I have the utmost faith in the Muppets team at Disney.

Nicholas Stoller Drops Some Details on The Muppets Sequel

Just a few months after we got official confirmation that Disney has green(pun intended)lit a sequel to The Muppets, the smash-hit return to the silver screen for Jim Henson's beloved creations, we now get several exciting details about the film!

Nicholas Stoller, the co-writer of The Muppets, who is working on the sequel with the director of The Muppets, James Bobnin, speaking to Collider about his new film, Five-Year Engagement, splashed some exciting new details about the nature of this sequel, what we can expect and when we can expect it.

The salient points from the interview are these:

• The Muppet Sequel is going to be a comedy caper.
• Disney really wants the sequel and they want it as soon as possible. Stoller says Disney wants to release it summer 2013 but he doesn’t think that’s realistic.
• Jason Segel might cameo.
• The sequel will introduce new Muppets.
• Bobin and Stoller started writing the script yesterday. They wrote 13 pages after outlining the entire movie over the past few weeks.

So, there you have it, not only is Disney pushing like crazy for the film (fantastic gratification for all Muppets fans), but we can expect is as soon as 2013 - although probably later. And though he shan't be starring prominently or involved creatively, we may see Jason Segel's Gary crop up; although the film sounds more likely to follow in the footsteps of The Great Muppet Caper, rather than act as a direct sequel.

Very exciting!

Read the full interview over at Collider.

Via The Muppet Mindset's Twitter.

Muppets Sequel Greenlit

Given the enormous popularity of Disney's newest film starring Jim Henson's famed creations, The Muppets, this should come as no, great surprise, but should nonetheless be a huge thrill to die-hard fans and passers-by alike: a sequel to the recent revival of The Muppets is currently being worked on.

Original co-writer Nicholas Stroller and director James Bobin have been announced as the co-writers for the hotly anticipated sequel. Although nothing has been announced yet, it seems likely that Bobin will return to the director's chair as well. Auspicious by his absence however, is the other co-writer, and one of the stars of The Muppets, Jason Segel. The actor who co-starred as Gary in The Muppets has prior engagements to How I Met Your Mother and several film roles, so will unfortunately likely be unavailable to write or co-write the sequel; although there's always the chance we'll see him return in an acting role.

Now, I think it's fairly evident how much I loved The Muppets, so it shouldn't surprise you to hear that I'm ecstatic at this announcement, and I know that an awful lot of people will be too.

Via Empire.

84th Academy Awards Nominations Revealed

Earlier today, the nominations for the 84th Annual Academy Awards (to be hosted by Billy Crystal) were announced. The reveal, as expected, saw a glut of nominations for Martin Scorsese's Hugo (11 nominations) and silent film (and Best Picture frontrunner) The Artist (10 nominations), however it also saw some controversial decisions, and the animation category was no exception.

The nominees for Best Animated film are:

• A Cat in Paris
• Chico & Rita
• Kung Fu Panda 2
• Puss in Boots
• Rango

Now, the Academy does often throw some lesser known, critical hits into the mix, so it shouldn't be too great a surprise that Chico & Rita and A Cat in Paris have cropped up. However, what is somewhat of a surprise, is the omission of The Adventures of Tintin. This isn't simply due to personal preference (although I think you all know by now how much I enjoyed Tintin) but Tintin recently took home the Golden Globe and the Producers Guild Award in the same category - as well as being nominated for the BAFTA - so the Oscar omission is somewhat bizarre. Also of note is the absence of a Pixar film on the list - the first time since the award's conception in 2001 that the Emeryville studio haven't snagged a nomination - and whilst it isn't too great a surprise to see Cars 2 missed off (although it would definitely have been deserving in my eyes), it is weird to not see Pixar as a frontrunner this year.

It now seems likely that Nickelodeon and ILM's Rango will take home the coveted prize, although I'd like to see DreamWorks' Kung Fu Panda 2 get some recognition.

Also, in terms of animation, the nominations for Best Animated Short Film are:

• Dimanche (Sunday)
• The Fantastic Flying Books of Mr. Morris Lessmore
• La Luna
• A Morning Stroll
• Wild Life

Whilst it's a shame that the Looney Tunes short, I Tawt I Taw a Puddy Tat didn't make the cut, it's nice to see Pixar get at least some presence at the show.

Also, 'Real in Rio' from Blue Sky Studios' Rio is one of only two nominations for Best Original Song this year - competing with 'Man or Muppet' from Disney's The Muppets.

This year's Oscars will be broadcast from the Kodak Theatre, Hollywood on February 26.

Christmas Thoughts - 2011

I hope you've all had a wonderful Christmas and that you all had a wonderful day yesterday. I thought I'd, as I did last year, share my thoughts on some animation related gifts I received.

At the top you can see the vast majority of them, I was incredibly overjoyed to receive these presents, as you can see, and as you can probably tell from reading my blog, I quite like animation, so these presents were fantastic for me.

To go through the presents one by one, I got, which is probably my favourite present, 'The Art of Pixar: The Complete Color Scripts and Select Art From 25 Years of Animation'. The book which touts colour scripts from all of Pixar's 12 feature films, as well as from some of their shorts and includes several pieces of art made for each film, is fantastic. Authored by Cartoon Brew co-founder, Amid Amidi, the book is rather scarce on text, but what there is is rich in detail and history. However, as it should be, the main focus of the book is the fantastic, jaw-dropping, beautiful artwork from the artists of Pixar; and if they included the level of detail in the text we see in the individual 'Art of' books, this one would be substantially larger than the 300-odd pages it is at the moment. The book is a brilliant read and I would definitely recommend it. I will likely publish a full review of the book in the coming week.

In terms of DVDs, I got a decent amount of animated films this year, including Cloudy With a Chance of Meatballs (a fun and quirky animated film that was one of my favourites from 2009), Rio (which isn't pictured, as the box is somewhat trashed, as the security stopper wasn't removed for some reason, so we had to pry the box open) and Kung Fu Panda 2 (which seems even more awesome than it did when I first saw it). While I loved these films and would have been more than content with these, two of the best presents I got were in the form of the Disney classics, Peter Pan and 101 Dalmatians, two of the films that helped form my childhood; utter classics in every form, it meant even more as a present, given that they had to be, not cheaply, purchased second hand as they're in the Disney Vault at the moment.

In terms of other knick-knacks and whatnots, I also received official Wallace and Gromit slippers and an alarm clock, and Muppets socks and a T-shirt (not pictured), all of which were just brilliantly fun and quirky presents to receive.

As I'm sure you can tell, I loved these presents and this is just the animated portion of them, it was a great horde of gifts to receive this Christmas and one that I fully appreciated.

Feel free to share your own lists of presents and what you're thankful for this Christmas, I hope the season treated you all well.

Small Fry Bios

The second Toy Story Toon, Small Fry, is currently playing with Disney's The Muppets in the US and while those of us here in Europe and the UK will have to wait until February to see either, Disney and Pixar are promoting Small Fry now by revealing bios for some of the new characters that the short introduces on the official Toy Story Facebook page.

In Small Fry, Buzz is left behind at a fast food restuarant and finds himself in a support group for abandoned kid's meal toys, so Pixar have released some bios and images of these extremely eccentric characters (below).

Neptuna, Queen of New Nautica
For centuries, Queen Neptuna ruled the peaceful ocean kingdom of New Nautica.
When her undersea home was defiled by corporate industrial waste and discount chain stores, Neptuna formed The Mermaid Battle Squadron to protect the ocean from future pollution and exploitation.

T-Bone, Leader of the Steak Force
Fearing the healthy, life-extending agenda of the evil Vegitenarians, the government established the Steak Force, a commando squad of heroic robots dedicated to mandating a meat option for every meal. Sponsored in part by The American Meat Council.

Funky Monk
Spiritual mentor to Rappin' Robin and Lil' Juan, Funky Monk always keeps it real and on the down low. Be it a rap battle between his boys and Producer P John or hooking up a guest-spot on the next MC Maid Marion single, Funky Monk has got your back. See Funky Monk in the CGI animated film "Rappin' Robin in the Hood 3D," only in theaters.

Condorman
When comic book artist Wiley Wilkins is given the opportunity to act out the pages of his greatest cartoon creation, “Condorman,” he jumps at the chance! Will Condorman defeat the evil Krokov and win the heart of the beautiful Natalia Rambova? Find out when Condorman swoops into theaters, Summer 1981.

Bozu, The Ninja Clown
Circus clown by day, 15th century ninja from feudal Japan by night, Bozu is a master of silent entertainment. Armed with his balloon katana and a cream pie, this Ninja Clown is sure to have even the grumpiest Circus audience members in stitches!

More are likely to follow, so stay tuned.

New Small Fry Images and Interview With Director

Following on from the release of the first clip and look at Pixar's next voyage into the world of Toy Story, the Toy Story Toon, Small Fry, we get a couple more images courtesy of IGN. With The Muppets now hitting theatres in the US (although those of us in the UK will unfortunately have to wait until February 2012), audiences who go to see it will be treated to the 7 minute short, that sees Buzz left behind at a fast-food restaurant and the gang inadvertently taking home a happy-meal-like toy instead.

The images give us a sneak peak at the scaled down, toy characters and how they'll slot into the Angus Maclane directed short. Speaking of MacLane, IGN also managed to catch a few words from the Pixar veteran on the short, its voice cast (including Glee's Jane Lynch and Pixarian Teddy Newton) and its genesis, which is definitely worth a read.

Via The Pixar Times.

Short Fry Clip

With the release of Disney's The Muppets edging ever closer, after recently premiering, (although it, annoyingly, doesn't open until February over here in the UK), Disney and Pixar are looking to promote the Toy Story Toon that goes along with it.

Short Fry, the follow up to the Toy Story Toon, Hawaiian Vacation, (which showed with Cars 2) will be opening soon and, following on from some images and words from the short's director a few days ago, we now get a thirty-odd second clip. The short looks very funny and very good, as is to be expected from Toy Story and from Pixar; we also get our first proper look at Glee's Jane Lynch's character.