Aardman News 7 - How Will The Pirates! Sail in America?

Aardman's latest film, the fantastic The Pirates! In an Adventure with Scientists, has just been released state-side, where it's branded as The Pirates! Band of Misfits. Despite critical praise and a strong box-office showing here in the UK, Aardman's home territory, how it'll fare in America is far less certain.

The pirate theme to the film may broaden the film's appeal to US audience, who have never quite got Aardman's trademark British wit, but if opening sales are any indication, that may not be enough. The Pirates! clocks in Aadramn's weakest US opening to date, taking an estimated $11.4 million, compared to $12.1 million for last year's Arthur Christmas. The fact that the film is being released in accordance with Sony Pictures Animation, who are much better known in America, and the film's fairly strong advertising campaign - focusing on Aardman's Oscar success and the film's comedy - may also work some way to help boost sales - although by how much will remain to be seen.

Aardman can probably expect a decent, if unexciting, box-office report for The Pirates! - although hopefully good word of mouth will drive the masses in. Large box-office receipts are going to be pretty necessary if the talk of a sequel is going to go anywhere - I'd certainly love to see a sequel.

Director Peter Lord said the following to BBC News on the subject:

"My attitude is one of hope. We do what we do and we hope the rest of the world will come to the party. I shall now be going around North America and beating a drum and wearing a sandwich board to get them to come to the cinema.

We'd be interested in doing a sequel for this film because I'd love to re-explore this bunch of characters but it entirely depends upon box office business.

This is a really rash thing to say, but most of the rest of the world I am quite confident about. We always do really well in places like France and Germany, but America is the tricky one, and that's because I think our brand of comedy is less familiar to them."

Here's hoping the film does well - it deserves too. A note to any American readers: go see it! You won't be disappointed.

Seth MacFarlane's Flintstones Reboot Shelved

It was reported around this time last year that 20th Century Fox had acquired the rights to reboot The Flintstones from Warner Bros. The reboot was being handled by Seth MacFarlane, creator of Family Guy, The Cleveland Show and American Dad, a purported super-fan of the series. The reinvisioned version of the beloved Hanna-Barbera show was due out in 2013, but has now been delayed for the foreseeable future.

The show has been put on hold, with no mention of when production may resume again, to accommodate MacFarlane's insanely busy schedule. In addition to the previous trifecta of Fox shows, MacFarlane is also working on Cosmos: A Space-Time Odyssey - a successor to Carl Sagan's Cosmos - and awaiting the release of his first feature film, Ted. So, it's no surprise that he would find it difficult to accommodate time for The Flintstones in there - even though the reboot is said to be a passion project for him, given his lifelong love of the show.

In addition, sources indicate that the script hasn't gone down all too well so far, with Fox Entertainment President Kevin Reilly telling MacFarlane that he liked it, but didn't love it. Whilst the show hasn't been scrapped, it has been postponed indefinitely, until such a time that MacFarlane has room in his schedule to work and rework the show's script. Several staff members have been let go, with MacFarlane looking into finding places at American Dad for others.

The idea seemed a little bizarre from the start: an animator and director renowned for his raunchy and often offensive humour, tackling the remake of such a beloved and revered show; but MacFarlane's love for the series is blatant and it would've been interesting to see where this went. Here's hoping it's back on track soon.

Via The Hollywood Reporter.

Bob Peterson Joins Twitter

Such is the reputation that Pixar has built up, with its unprecedented string of box-office and critical successes, that its staff are treated like rock-stars. Avid Pixar nerds like myself will obsess over and worship everyone from the individual animators to the huge-personality directors who helm their features - hell, I follow their pool.

So, it's always a huge event when a new Pixarian joins Twitter, and today, Bob Peterson joins the huge social-networking site. The co-director of Up, who is directing Pixar's upcoming 2014 release, The Good Dinosaur, marks the longest in a long line of Pixarians to join Twitter - following Brad Bird, Brenda Chapman and Andrew Stanton's return to the site.

Follow the very talented animator and film-maker @Bob__Peterson (yes, that is two underscores).

On a related note, our Twitter name has officially changed, from @WilliamA113, to the much more obvious @A113Animation.

Mission Accomplished!

After months of hard work and dedication, including several interviews with this blog, the great folk at The Road to Pixar have finally arrived at Pixar. The team recreated a real life replica of the famed Pizza Planet Truck that first appeared in Toy Story in 1995. Today, they completed the fantastic journey by driving the truck all the way up to the gates of Pixar and beyond. Above you see the truck residing in the courtyard of the famed studio's Emeryville campus.

The team Tweeted upon arrival, and this great occassion has also been Tweeted by WALL E and John Carter director, Andrew Stanton, and the official Pixar Twitter feed.

Congratulations to the entire team, they certainly deserve the recognition they're getting and I'm proud to have been able to speak to them!

For more on the fantastic endeavour, visit the group's website.

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.