'The Croods 2' is Cancelled

Variety reports that DreamWorks Animation and Universal Studios have decided to cancel the planned sequel to the 2013 film The Croods. The Croods 2 was originally supposed to hit theaters in 2017, but was pushed back to 2018 earlier this year.

Watch: A Cute, Christmassy Teaser for 'The Secret Life of Pets'

Illumination Entertainment and Universal Pictures have released another teaser for their upcoming feature film, The secret Life of Pets. It's a rather cute one, but don't expect big revelations on the plot. In fact, expect nothing at all. This is just a nice little Christmassy video informing you that the film will arrive next summer.

Illumination Announce Pets Movie for 2016, Starring Louis C.K.

Deadline has the details on a brand new - original - Illumination Entertainment project, that will fill one of the studio's previously bagsied release dates. The film is currently going by the oh-so-catchy title of Untitled Pets Movie, and is set for release on 12th February, 2016. The film stars comedian Louis C.K. (Louie, American Hustle) as the lead dog.

Universal Slate Illumination's Despicable Me 3 and Grinch Remake for 2017

Universal had an incredibly profitable year with Illumination Entertainment in 2013; Despicable Me 2 made the best part of a billion dollars ($935m, in fact), and the company has just locked in 2017 release dates for two new films from the studio: Despicable Me 3 and a remake of Dr Seuss' How the Grinch Stole Christmas!

Despicable Me Spin-Off, Minions, Also Delayed to 2015

It's not quite as drastic as Pixar's 18 month delay on The Good Dinosaur, but yet another highly anticipated 2014 animated film has been pushed back to the already packed 2015. Variety reports that Illumination Entertainment have delayed Minions, their spin-off of the Despicable Me franchise, from the originally reported 19th December, 2014 release date, to one of 10th July, 2015.

New Despicable Me 2 TV Spots Online

Just over a week ago, three new, genuinely interesting and actually exciting clips for Illumination's to their 2010 original, Despicable Me. These twenty second, quick-cutting clips focus on Gru, three girls in his care, a lot of action, and a budding romance with Kristen Wiig's Agent Lucy Wilde. One such spot is above and the other two are just below.

New Despicable Me 2 Trailer Shows Gadgets, Girls and Gru

After a series of Minion vignettes, Universal have finally cranked out a trailer for Despicable Me 2 featuring its main character. iTunes Movie Trailers debuted the new trailer (embedded above) which returns Steve Carell to his role as the villainous Gru.

Laika's Next Film Is The Boxtrolls, Due 2014

Fresh off the critically acclaimed ParaNorman, Laika are looking to the future, and have just announced that their next film will arrive in October of 2014 and will be The Boxtrolls.

The Boxtrolls, per Laika's official press release, is "a 3D stop-motion and CG hybrid animated feature based on Alan Snow’s bestselling fantasy adventure novel Here Be Monsters." In our interview with Pete Oswald, a visual development artist who worked on ParaNorman, a few months ago, he mentioned that Laika's next film would be Here Be Monsters (which is now obviously going by The Boxtrolls), saying "While I was working on ParaNorman I saw some development art. It's fantastic." Check out one such instance of that development art down below.

The Good Dinosaur's Box Office Returns May Have Just Shrank

The future is going to be absolutely prehistoric! 2014 is set to be the year of the dinosaurs again.

In great news for Jurassic Park fans (well, unless they were particularly put off by 3) and presumably nerve-shredding news for Disney execs, Universal have officially given Jurassic Park 4 a release date: 13th June, 2014. That release date is just over a fortnight after that of Pixar's dino-film, The Good Dinosaur (due 30th May, 2014).

ParaNorman Blu-ray and DVD Release Date Announced (For the US)

Universal Studios Home Entertainment, who are in charge of the home media distribution of ParaNorman, have announced the (US) DVD and Blu-ray release date for Laika's second feature: 27th November.

The marvellous stop-motion film from the studio behind Coraline will be released with the following great bonus features (via redOrbit):

• PRELIMINARY ANIMATIC SEQUENCES: With commentary from Director Sam Fell and Writer/Director Chris Butler.
• PEERING THROUGH THE VEIL: A special behind-the-scenes glimpse into the creation of the weird and wonderful world of ParaNorman from building the characters to voicing them.
• FEATURETTES: Seven short segments showcasing Norman and his extraordinarily unusual co-stars.
• FEATURE COMMENTARY: With Director Sam Fell and Writer/Director Chris Butler.

Not an awful lot of bonus features, but it promises to be an enlightening look at the wonderful film anyway! However, the 27th November release date is for the US and Canada only, as for when the rest of the world can expect it, Laika/house's Twitter says "TBD." Although, that same Twitter feed also Tweeted this:

Digital downloads will be out Nov. 27, too. RT @jimparkyn: when do we brits get our hands on it?!
— LAIKA/house (@LAIKAhouse) October 3, 2012

So, it sounds like we'll be able to nab it on iTunes on the 27th anyway! There's lots of great animated releases in November!

Be sure to check out our review of ParaNorman here.

Via THR.

Minion-Centric Despicable Me Spin-Off On the Way

This was kind of an inevitability. Illumination Entertainment, who most recently released Dr. Seuss's The Lorax, broke onto the scene back in 2010 with Despicable Me. The film was a big commercial hit, making $543 million worldwide, and well received by critics also - averaging 81% on Rotten Tomatoes - but arguably the biggest hit in the film were the minions.

The gibberish speaking yellow army were huge merchandise hits, received their own short films on the Despicable Me DVD and Blu Ray, and even their own theme-park ride! The minions are sure to feature prominently in 2013's Despicable Me 2 (which adds Kristen Wiig and Al Pacino to the voice cast)but they're going to get even more focus the year after, as the Minions are getting their very own spin-off movie!

Being produced in parallel with Despicable Me 2 with a view for a 2014 release, Deadline reports that Despicable Me co-director Pierre Coffin will direct and The Lorax co-director Kyle Balda will co-direct, from a script written by Brian Lynch (who has experience writing spin-offs, writing the script for DreamWorks' Puss in Boots, and working with Illumination, having worked on Hop). How great a Minions spin-off would be is questionable, but it's sure to rake in a lot of money, and this is sound business for Illumination's parent-company, Universal.

Despicable Me: Minion Mayhem

Back in 2010, Universal threw themselves into the world of animation, with the first theatrical release of their own dedicated animation department, Illumination Entertainment: Despicable Me. Despicable Me was a huge success, taking over $543 million worldwide and inspiring an upcoming sequel. However, arguably the biggest hits to come out of Despicable Me were the adorable minions.

Everybody fell in love with the minions and Universal clearly recognises that, as, following three dedicated Minion mini-movies on the Despicable Me home media releases, the minions are now even getting their own attraction at Universal Orlando!



The ride is called "Minion Mayhem" and, according to the official press release, sees you enter Gru's house to be recruited as a minion. Read an extract from the press release below:

"This brand-new ride combines the outrageous humor and memorable characters of Universal Pictures and Illumination Entertainment’s blockbuster film Despicable Me, with an all-new storyline, incredible new animation and the latest 3-D technology to create a wildly hysterical theme park experience.

Families will watch in amazement as they are transformed into minions, laugh together as they train to join Gru’s minion army and boogie down during the world’s-first minion-inspired dance party. Despicable Me Minion Mayhem is hilarious and heartwarming fun for the entire family."

You can see some photos from early runs of the attraction here, as well as a video (above) showing the mischievous minions causing havoc at Universal Orlando. "Despicable Me: Minion Mayhem" opens officially on 2nd July.

Also, you can check out a Facebook app with the minions, "Dance Party Marathon", similar in idea to Disney's "Mahna-Mahna" app for The Muppets a few months ago: you have 10 seconds to record yourself dancing. Hundreds and hundreds of such clips from around the world are then spliced together with some minion dancing (Universal seem really rather fond of making the minions dance) acting as an interlude.

Between this and Disney's Cars Land, studios definitely seem to understand how crucial good advertising and film-based theme park attractions are to business success!

Despicable Me 2 is released on 28th June, 2013 (UK) and 3rd July, 2013 (US), let's hope this pacifies us until then.

Bitesized Biographies #3 - Walter Lantz

I never tried to make a cartoon for a certain age bracket. I just tried to make entertaining pictures. That's why they still play and why they play so well in foreign countries."
—Walter Lantz

After looking at perhaps two of the most famous and prolific figures in all of animation, Chuck Jones and Matt Groening, with our first two Bitesized Biographies; it seemed very apt and fitting - given A113Animation's new year's resolution to spotlight classic cartoons and pay homage to the geniuses behind them - that this latest Bitesized Biography is dedicated to one of the less famed animation pioneers, Walter Lantz.

Discover the Forest with The Lorax

Universal Pictures and their animation division, Illumination Entertainment, have teamed up with Discover the Forest to bring us the above public service announcement. The 30-second clip promotes Illumination Entertainment's upcoming adaptation of Dr. Seuss's The Lorax, as well as highlighting its environmental messages and the importance of nature.

The video also displays some stunning and cool, previously unseen, footage from the film. The Lorax certainly looks set to be of the best animated films of 2012.

The Lorax is released in cinemas in the US on 2nd March, and in the UK on 27th July.

Video via The Lorax's official Facebook page.

The Corner - Week 7 - Heather Reviews Balto: Wolf Quest

Awooooooo-nderful film? Perhaps not...

I suppose I have some explaining to do, on this one. One of the reasons I bought this film was because wolves are my favourite animals. Admittedly, I was not searching for this film when I got it; I was looking for ‘Alpha and Omega’ which is, by the way, a pretty darn cool film-watch it if you get the chance. When Alpha and Omega was not available, and after much cursing under my breath, I spotted this film, wedged under a pile of Polar Express-es and Nanny McPhee-s. It didn’t look as good as A&O, didn’t sound as good and I was certain it wouldn’t please me as much. However, I was craving a wolf-orientated film, and so I made an impulsive £6 purchase.

A brief synopsis: Aleu is part-wolf, part-dog, and the only one of her litter who looks more wolf-like than pet material. Of course, what ensues is her quest to find out who she really is- old-school stuff, to be honest. As the blurb of the DVD says, it has the right ingredients to become a “spectacular, heart-warming adventure of courage, self-discovery and excitement that will live in [your] hearts forever”. However, like a cake-gone-wrong, to stick to the cake-baking theme, something goes wrong.

The characters are loveable, and established well. Aleu particularly struck a nerve for me: a young person rarely knows what’s going to happen in the future, and as a wolf, she seems to feel the same things I feel every day. For all the parents, Balto feels anguish and worry that’s almost palpable, and displays all the reluctance to let his daughter go that any father or mother would feel. The characters are one of the things that save this film from going down the drain it teetering over the edge of.

Produced by Universal Studios, I couldn’t possibly be expecting something as beautiful as Despicable Me (2010) because that’s too recent. Balto was released in 2001. Shoddy animation, especially when the sea is shown- they alternate between decent-looking-waves and absolutely rubbish excuses for waves. Seriously, I was appalled. But I soon got over that, because the wolves were so pretty. Yeah, pretty. Leave me be. I happen to know everyone has a weakness: WILLIAM’S IS PENGUINS, but shhh.

Having indirectly slated this film, it must have done something right, because there are three films: Balto, Balto II: Wolf Quest (2002) and Balto III: Wings of Change (2004). I have half a mind to watch the other two, not just for my love of wolves, but because in spite of how cheesy and badly put-together it is, there is something about the storyline that does capture the attention. Something that does appeal to that youthful side of me… I know that they say curiosity killed the cat, but… I want to compare the three movies!

If you're a sucker for all that gooey heart-warming stuff, go for it. Watch it, and try to ignore how bad the animation and picture actually is - I managed to after a while. It's relatively short, so there isn't too long to endure. If you're not all for animal-happy-happy-fun-time then never watch this- it may be the end for you.