Randy Newman Scoring 'Monsters University'

Up until recently, the composer for Pixar's upcoming 2013 prequel, Monsters University, remained unknown. Last month, however, at the world premiere for Brave, Randy Newman, who has previously scored numerous Pixar films including the original Monsters, Inc., confirmed that he would be composing the music for Mike and Sulley's new adventure. He further elaborated saying that he'll be writing an original song for the film, just as he did for the monster duo's film debut in 2001.

Watch the interview here:

Monsters University will mark the seventh time Newman composes for Pixar, after Toy Story, A Bug's Life, Toy Story 2, Monsters, Inc., Cars, and most recently Toy Story 3. He won Oscars for the original songs he wrote for Monsters and TS3; "If I Didn't Have You" and "We Belong Together", respectively.

I am particularly fond of Newman's score for the original Monsters, Inc., so I am ecstatic to hear that he will be returning for the prequel, as I am sure he will add some delightful music to the franchise.

Pixar By The Numbers

Have you ever wondered how many people currently work at Pixar? Or how long it takes to make a Pixar movie? Or how many toys are in Toy Story 3? Well, I've gone around the Internet and read my Pixarpedia and tried to answer a lot of those curious questions as best as I could. A lot of the answers are estimates, because it would be almost impossible to get the exact answers to everything. So I encourage you to read on, and let all (or at least most) of your questions about Pixar be answered!

• Around 1200 employees...or more...work at Pixar Animation Studios.
• The average Pixar movie usually takes 4 to 5 years to create...or in other words, about 1460.97 to 1826.21 days.
• As many people know, Pixar has made 11 films up to date, and will release their 12th film, Cars 2, on June 24, 2011.
• Pixar's highest grossing film, Toy Story 3, earned an estimated $1,063,171,609 at the box office. It became the 5th highest grossing film of all time, the #1 animated film of all time, and the highest grossing film of 2010.
• John Lasseter has directed 4 of Pixar's films to this day, and is set to make his 5th debut as director this year with Cars 2.
• So far, there are 9 hilarious Cars Toons, and more will be released in the years to come.
• Randy Newman has scored 6 Pixar movies, including all 3 Toy Story films.
• John Ratzenberger, considered Pixar's 'lucky charm', has voiced 9 Pixar characters, including Hamm the piggy bank and Mack the truck.
• Ever since the Best Animated Feature Film award was introduced to the Oscars in 2001, Pixar has been nominated 8 times, and has won 6 times.
• Not only has Pixar made many fantastic feature films, but the company has created 19 ground-breaking short films, their most recent being Day & Night. Their 20th short, Hawaiian Vacation, will be played in front of Cars 2.
• Pixar has received 10 Academy Award nominations for their short films, and has won 3 times.
• Pixar was founded in 1986, so the company has existed for 25 years.
• Russel, the 8 year-old wilderness explorer from Up, has over 40 badges!
• In Pixar's Ratatouille, the word 'rat' is used 51 times!
• Sulley, the big, blue, furry monster from Monsters, Inc., has around 2,137,000 hairs in total!
• Carl Fredricksen from Up uses about 10,000 to 20,000 balloons to lift his house up into the air!
• In Toy Story 3, Andy only has 12 toys left...but at Sunnyside Daycare, there are probably over 100 toys!
• In Pixar's Cars, there are, of course, over 200 cars seen in the film...probably a lot more!
• There are exactly 96 days left until the North American theatrical release of Cars 2!!!

Of course, those are only a few of Pixar-related facts, because well, with numbers, Pixar always goes.........

To Infinity, and Beyond!

Oscar Nominations!!!

Yesterday, nominations for the 83rd Academy Awards were finally announced! Of course, Pixar's masterpiece from 2010, Toy Story 3, recieved several nominations! Five of them actually. I am super excited to see TS3 recieve so many nominations, and I am sure it will win at least one.

Toy Story 3 was nominated for the following:

- Best Picture (Darla K Anderson)
- Best Animated Feature (Lee Unkrich)
- Best Adapted Screenplay (Michael Arndt, John Lasseter, Andrew Stanton, and Lee Unkrich)
- Best Sound Editing (Tom Myers and Michael Silvers)
- Best Original Song ("We Belong Together" by Randy Newman)

Also, Pixar recieved a nomination for their spectacular short, Day & Night, directed by Teddy Newton.

Conratulations to everyone at Pixar for getting nominated for several Academy Awards for yet another year! Good luck to Lee Unkrich, Darla Anderson, Teddy Newton, Randy Newman, Michael Arndt, Tom Myers, Michael Silvers, and everyone else at Pixar when February 27 comes! Let's hope TS3 becomes the first animated film in history to ever win the Almighty Oscar.

Pixar News Lineup

There's been a lot of Pixar news going around lately, but I haven't been able to get on to the computer much with all the homework I've had. I don't like homework. At all.

-First up, it has been announced that composer Randy Newman will not return to score Cars 2. However, Up composer Michael Giacchino will be scoring the film. This should be great. Randy Newman would've done a great job, but Micheal Giacchino is just as talented.

-You may remember the "Chatter Telephone Tipline" video I posted not so long ago. It was about Pixar's secret code, A113. Well, a few more "Chatter Telephone Tiplines" have debuted on the Internet. One is about Lee Unkrich's one and only line in TS3. Lee voiced the Jack-in-the-Box that proclaims, "New toys!" when Andy's toys arrive at Sunnyside. There is also another "Chatter Telephone Tipline" about Sid's cameo in TS3. You may remember Sid as Andy's evil neighbor who tortures toys in the first Toy Story. Well, in TS3 he is a little older, and appears to have gotten a job in the garbage truck business.

-A few more sneak peeks of the bonus features which will be on the TS3 DVD/Blu-Ray have been released. One is a touching video featuring director Lee Unkrich and John Morris, voice of Andy in Toy Story, Toy Story 2, and Toy Story 3. Another one features interviews with Lee Unkrich, Tom Hanks, Tim Allen, Estelle Harris, and Jodi Benson. Only two days and two weeks until we bring all the action, heart, and humor of TS3 home!

Well, that's it for today, but keep coming back here for everything Pixar, the company that makes the best films in the world!

Note: My post about the Pixar cereal bar will be my next post. ;)