Saturday, October 27, 2012

New Mystery Pixar Film Due In 2015


A short while ago, the Walt Disney Studios unveiled their upcoming release schedule, which included not only some approaching entries into the Marvel Cinematic Universe, but also an all-new project from Pixar - but is it really all-new?

The press release didn't give any title for this upcoming Pixar feature; it simply stated that a new untitled animated film from Pixar is scheduled for release on November 25th, 2015. If this release date actually remains untouched until 2015, then it mark the first ever year in which the studio releases two new movies. Of course, this was originally supposed to happen in 2011, but has been postponed over and over again each year. Only time will tell whether 2015 will be the year or not.

While this new project is now set for late 2015, Lee Unkrich's new Día de los Muertos film, however, still has not been given a release date - unless, of course, that this "new" film is in fact Lee's film. After all, Día de los Muertos takes place at just about the same time as Halloween, so November 25 wouldn't be that far away from the holiday itself.

So whether this is the new Lee film or a brand-new one, we can't be sure yet, but hopefully Disney and Pixar will clear it up for us real soon. Let's keep our fingers crossed, because I don't know about you, but this is going to be bugging me until I know for sure.

Saturday, October 20, 2012

Home Video Update - Trailers for November Releases


Time flies, and we're already more than halfway through October, which means that pretty soon it'll be November and both Brave and the Pixar Short Films Collection - Volume 2 will be out on Blu-ray and DVD!

Pixar recently released one short trailer for each of next month's releases on their official YouTube channel. The one for Brave may contain certain bits of footage that you may want to avoid if you haven't already seen the movie. In the trailer for the Shorts Collection, you can listen to a couple of Pixar veterans talk about their early short films, which will be included on the new release.




Expect to see these on store shelves on November 13, right before the hustle and bustle of the holiday season!

Will you be getting Brave or the Shorts Collection - Vol. 2?

Sunday, October 14, 2012

New Seasonal Header: Halloween 2012

This week, I put up this year's brand-new Halloween header for the blog, as you may have noticed. Paul Robin, the fantastic artist that provides all the seasonal headers for Pixar Corner, never fails to impress with his artwork.

In last year's Halloween logo, the classic Pixar luxo ball was replaced by a jack o' lantern with the face of Mike Wazowski. This year, however, the ball seems to have acquired a couple of pimples, a large, ugly, crooked nose, and to top it all off, a pointy witch's hat. Perhaps it is taking on the form of the witch from this year's Brave.

Paul Robin has also put up a new adventure on his personal blog, where he and his friend Timmy Worm dress up as the Dynamic Duo! Be sure to check out his blog and suggest your very own Paul Robin adventure!

We hope you like the header; look forward to seeing even more phenomenal Paul Robin logos on this blog very soon!

What will you be dressing up as for Halloween this year?

Thursday, October 11, 2012

Watch 'Partysaurus Rex' Online!


After premiering on the Disney Channel Monday evening, Partysaurus Rex was uploaded to Disney's official website the following day, much to the delight of Pixar fanatics across the globe.

If for some, strange, bizarre reason you haven't gone and seen Finding Nemo 3D, and therefore have not seen the short, then now is the perfect time to enjoy it in the warmth of your home right on your computer.

You can join the party on Disney's official website, (or the official Toy Story website), but if you're outside of the US and Canada, watch it right here via Daily Motion (thanks A113Animation).



Tuesday, October 9, 2012

Boo! 'Toy Story of Terror' Coming to TV in 2013!

A work-in-progress logo for the upcoming Toy Story television special

Back in June, we were told that two new Toy Story TV specials (along with three Toy Story Toons) were being worked on at Pixar, but not much details were given on the projects. So far, we've gotten the fantastic short Partysaurus Rex, but we have yet to find out what the other two Toons will be and when they will be released. What about the specials? Well...

Animation World Network dropped the news yesterday that the first of the two television specials, scheduled for October of next year, would be, of course, a Halloween special featuring the beloved characters from the franchise. The special is entitled Toy Story of Terror! and will involve the toys going on a road trip that soon goes awry, leading to a catastrophic turn of events following the disappearance of one of the toys.

It sure sounds like it will be a ton of fun, and what's great is that it will be a whole lot longer than a regular short, so there is plenty of room for almost any clever idea that the minds at Pixar can dream up.

The special will probably air on either the Disney Channel or on ABC; or both. It may even be posted online soon afterwards, who knows. Maybe it could also eventually get a home video release, like some of DreamWorks' television specials have gotten in the past.

The only bad thing: we'll have to patiently wait until next Halloween to see Toy Story of Terror!

Monday, October 8, 2012

Check Out Awesome Monsters University Website!


Every once in a while, I am reminded of why I have grown to love Pixar so much.

The studio is kicking off their (brilliant) viral marketing campaign for their 2013 release with an absolutely amazing website for Monsters University, the academy that monsters Mike and Sulley attend in the prequel to Pixar's smash hit from 2001, Monsters, Inc.


The website makes you think that MU really is a real, functioning college, and is jam-packed with incredibly detailed (and clever) pages on just about everything you need to know about the school. You can learn about the campus, the university's history, see who the teachers and mentors are, decide which clubs you should join...the list continues. The site is also wonderfully topped off with gorgeous visuals and images from the school grounds.


You'll even find a detailed map of the campus, along with a Monsters U store, where you can actually purchase t-shirts, hoodies, hats, mugs, and even a spiffy MU pennant via the Disney Store. Of course, t-shirts and hoodies are also available with four sleeves for the multi-armed.


Everything on the website is completed and detailed, and there is plenty of material to keep you entertained for hours. That, my friends, is something you only get from a studio like Pixar.

I assume we'll soon be getting a new trailer for Monsters University, possibly playing in front of Disney's Wreck-It Ralph in theaters. In the meantime, enjoy all that the sweet new MU website has to offer!

Monsters University hits theaters June 21, 2013.

Thursday, October 4, 2012

The Future of Pixar


I recently published this article over at Disney Dose, be sure to check them out for the latest Disney-related news.

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After the release of last year’s Cars 2 (Pixar’s first feature film to not receive critical acclaim), many people began to question, “Could Pixar possibly be losing their touch?”
I’m here to try and silence those with a profound belief that the beloved animation studio truly is “dead”.

Well, first let’s do some brief analysis. Granted, Cars 2 wasn’t the finest film to ever come out of the studio, but I personally believe that it was a very fun and enjoyable film. I know many may disagree with me, but the truth is, Cars 2 could have been a lot worse, and I’d say it turned out alright considering all the production problems it went through. And this has been said countless times before by other Pixar fanboys, but despite that it was probably Pixar’s weakest effort so far, it was a heck of a lot better than a lot of the junk we get from Hollywood these days. Plus, this has been the studio’s only so-called “bad” film out of the thirteen they’ve produced; how, again, does that mean that they’re “losing their touch”? Would anyone mind clearing that up for me?
Then there was this year’s Brave. A mighty fine film if you ask me, but somehow it didn’t seem to please critics and some audience members as much as, say, Up or WALL-E. It scored a solid 77% on Rotten Tomatoes, but would it have gotten the same response had Cars 2 never happened? I loved Brave and thought it was worthy of standing up there with previous Pixar classics, but I suspect that critics and audiences alike are becoming more biased when it comes to Pixar because of the dreaded Cars sequel. Yes, it’s a messed-up notion, but it sure seems like that’s what is happening.

Now let’s take a look at Pixar’s list of upcoming projects:
Monsters University – June 21st, 2013
The Good Dinosaur – May 30th, 2014
“The Untitled Pixar Movie That Takes You Inside The Mind” – June 19th, 2015
“The Untitled Pixar Movie About Día de los Muertos” – TBA

Now, in order to prove my point, I’ll briefly go over each of these upcoming films and explain how there is little chance that Pixar will be running out of good material anytime soon.
Monsters University – Well, the original Monsters, Inc. has always been one of my absolute favorite films from Pixar, since the very first time I saw it (and I was two back then). I can’t see why this shouldn’t be pure Pixar magic, seeing as the teaser trailer released in June was brilliant, so imagine just what there will be to marvel at in the actual film. Furthermore, this is a chance to revisit some of the most beloved animated characters in film history and discover just how they transformed their rivalry into friendship. Sure, it sounds a tiny bit like Toy Story, but I think the filmmakers would have realized if they were making a remake of their very first feature except this time with monsters.
The Good Dinosaur – Dozens of people have been going on about how ever since Disney bought them back in ’06, Pixar has been producing a significantly higher amount of sequels and is no longer cooking up more of the fabulous originals that we’ve grown to love so much. Well, in case you’re one of the people who hasn’t already heard about this project, get a load of this. Directed by none other than the hilarious Bob Peterson (co-director of Up), The Good Dinosaur tells the story of what our Earth would have turned out like if the life-changing asteroid that supposedly took out the dinosaurs had never struck the planet. Definitely not a sequel/prequel of any sort, and it sure sounds like a gosh darn interesting andoriginal story.
“The Untitled Pixar Movie That Takes You Inside The Mind” – Peter Docter (Monsters, Inc.Up) is back in the director’s chair for this one, and if that isn’t enough to get you to go and watch it, this new tale will immerse you in the complex and mystifying world of the human mind. Docter and the Pixar crew could literally go anywhere with this, much like with the original Monsters, where possibilities were endless. One thing’s for sure though; you will be blown away by whatever they come up with, and it will be unlike anything you have ever witnessed – so get ready.
“The Untitled Pixar Movie About Día de los Muertos” Toy Story 3 director Lee Unkrich will helm this highly-ambitious project that “delves into the vibrant Mexican holiday of Día de los Muertos”, which will be released presumably sometime around 2016. Lee proved to us two years ago that he can successfully lead a spectacular film across the finish line, so I have very high hopes for this one. An interview with John Lasseter revealed that one of the film’s central themes will be family, but at the same time it could turn out to be Pixar’s darkest, spookiest film to date, since one of it’s central themes is death. Unkrich cleared up recently, however, that Mexico has “a very different view of death than the American one…It’s not spooky. It’s celebratory.”, so I guess only time will tell what this movie will turn out like, but expect nothing less than a total masterpiece.

Well if you ask me, that’s one heck of a schedule. Monsters in college, dinosaurs, and exploring both the human mind and the holiday of Día de los Muertos? Count me in. We haven’t seen any of these movies yet, but I just really, strongly, immensely feel that assuming Pixar is out of gas when they have all this in production is a tad silly. Don’t you?