'Inside Out': New Trailer, Posters, and More

It's been a hectic couple of months for this blogger, so unfortunately I have not been able to update this blog as often as I would have liked to, but fear not, I should be back on top of things in the new year. The good news is that as 2015 approaches (it may have already arrived depending on where you are), the flow of Pixar news is returning to its regular pace with two new Pixar films on the way. Here are a few bits of news regarding Pixar's upcoming Inside Out you may have missed.

Of course, the first full-length trailer for the film was released this month, and if you haven't seen it, you're in for a treat. Check it out below:

Rather than following the standard trailer formula and showing brief clips from different parts of the movie, this trailer gives us a taste of Inside Out's look and feel through a quick scene from the film, showing a dinnertime exchange between the film's primary "setting", 11-year-old Riley, and her parents. We know the film will revolve around Riley and her emotions, but what's interesting about this trailer is that we also get a glimpse inside the heads of both her mother and father, making for a clever and hilarious scene. Also, notice how Sadness seems to be the driving force in the mother's mind, while in the father's mind Anger is the leader. In Riley's mind, however, there seems to be a lack of order and cooperativeness among the different emotions.

Pixar also released these colorful individual posters for each of the film's main characters; Joy, Sadness, Fear, Disgust, and Anger, as well as a short video for each of the emotions, which you can watch on the studio's official YouTube channel.

Source: http://instagram.com/p/xFQPbCwY-g/?modal=true

Lastly, two stills from the film (below) as well as a lovely piece of concept art (above) made their way online this week. Whether the film is good or bad (although I am quite confident that it will be the former), one thing is for sure; the film will be visually stunning, which is to be expected, of course, with it being a Pixar release and all.

With every new piece of promotion that is released for Inside Out I get more excited, and by the looks of it people around the world in general seem to be looking forward to the film as well. With the seemingly infallible Pete Docter at the helm, this film looks all set to become yet another classic in the Pixar library.

Inside Out hits theaters June 19th of this new year--happy new year, by the way!

'Toy Story That Time Forgot' Airs TONIGHT!

Just a friendly reminder; Pixar's second television special ever, and their first Christmas-themed one, Toy Story That Time Forgot, airs in just a little less than an hour on the West Coast (if you're on the East Coast, then you may have already seen it!). Tune in to ABC at 8 o'clock sharp and set your DVR. If you miss the special, don't sweat it - it will be be aired again throughout the holiday season.

Be sure to share your thoughts on Pixar's new holiday special here after you've seen it!

'Toy Story 4' Set for 2017 Release, Lasseter Will Direct

I think it's safe to say that this is one announcement no one saw coming. There had been murmurings of a fourth Toy Story on several occasions before, but most fans had taken them with a grain of salt. Millions of jaws smacked the ground hard today when Disney and Pixar confirmed that Toy Story 4 is indeed happening.

Disney CEO Bob Iger broke the news during an earnings call, and confirmed that Pixar and Disney Animation honcho John Lasseter, who helmed the first two Toy Story films, will return to direct the fourth installment in the series.

Toy Story 4 will arrive in theaters on June 17th, 2017 and will reportedly be a love story. Lasseter said this of Pixar's approach towards sequels in an interview the the LA Times:

"A lot of people in the industry view us doing sequels as being for the business of it, but for us it's pure passion. We only make sequels when we have a story that's as good as or better than the original. We don't just, because of the success of a film, automatically say we're going to do a sequel and then figure out what we're going to do."

John Lasseter and the crew behind Toy Story 4

In true Pixar fashion, Lasseter and studio veterans Lee Unkrich (who directed Toy Story 3), Pete Docter, and Andrew Stanton came up with the story for the film over lunch one day in his office, he told the LA Times. He and Stanton spent the past two years crafting the story and later brought in Rashida Jones and Will McCormack to pen the script, having seen their 2012 comedy Celeste and Jesse Forever. Galyn Susman, producer of last year's television special Toy Story of Terror and the upcoming Toy Story That Time Forgot, will produce the fourth full-length Toy Story film.

I leave you with a song from this year's Muppets Most Wanted which, funnily enough, predicted today's big announcement.

'The Good Dinosaur' Gets Its Director

When Pixar announced that Bob Peterson would no longer direct their upcoming film The Good Dinosaur over a year ago, they made no mention of who would be taking over the reins on the project. Soon after, the studio announced that the film would be pushed from its original release date of May 30th, 2014 all the way to November 25th, 2015, leaving this year Pixar-less. We had heard little else about Pixar's dino flick since, until last month, that is.

As many had suspected, former co-director Peter Sohn (story artist on several Pixar productions, director of Partly Cloudy, voice of Emile in Ratatouille and Squishy in Monsters University) has been named the new director of the film, as Pixar revealed via their Twitter account a couple of weeks ago. While many fans had assumed that Sohn had taken over directorial duties completely after Peterson's removal, this fun little video of the new director sketching the eponymous Good Dinosaur, Arlo, is the studio's first official statement regarding the film's new director.

Our director Peter Sohn can't wait for you to meet Arlo! #TheGoodDinosaur releases in theaters November 2015. https://t.co/i4J5X6tfhi
— Disney•Pixar (@DisneyPixar) October 20, 2014

The Good Dinosaur is just a little over a year away, and while that may seem far away, we have a whole other Pixar feature to look forward to coming in June! It appears as if 2015 will be the first ever year to see the release of two feature Pixar films. Once upon a time this was supposed to happen in 2011, but obviously circumstances did not allow for that. However, despite having experienced several bumps on the road during production, Dinosaur seems to be on the right track, and it's probably safe to say that next year we will at last have a year with twice as much Pixar goodness as we have come to expect.

The Good Dinosaur hits theaters November 25th, 2015.

Dazzling New Images from Pixar's 'Lava'

With 2015 fast approaching, the flow of Pixar news is gradually returning to the norm. Last week Collider debuted two magnificent stills from the studio's upcoming short Lava, as well as an interview with director James Ford Murphy. Check them all out below.

The new images just go to show how Pixar's artists are able to flawlessly merge realism and fantasy. Here, Uku the volcano, the hunchback whales, and the sea turtles all obviously have some cartoonish qualities to them but still feel very true to life.

Be sure to also watch Collider's interview with Lava director James Ford Murphy, as he talks about how he came to work at Pixar, the process of pitching a short film at the studio, and more.

And in case you missed it, Pixar also released a clip from the short a couple of months ago. Personally I have refrained from watching it as I like to walk into unspoiled, but feel free to do so yourself...

Lava arrives in theaters June 19th, 2015 alongside Inside Out.