The Late Don Rickles Hadn't Recorded Any 'Toy Story 4' Dialogue

The untimely passing of renowned insult comedian Don Rickles this past Thursday has undoubtedly raised concerns about Toy Story 4...

Rickles, as many of you know, was the voice of Mr. Potato Head. The character, based on the classic toy of the same name, is no minor face. He plays a good-sized role in each of the three films in the Toy Story series, and was a big part of the TV special Toy Story of Terror!

Toy Story 4 has been in development for a while, and unlike its predecessors, it's taking quite a while for the Pixarians to get this one in fine shape. Announced in the fall of 2014 and slated for release this coming summer, it is now set to open in June of 2019. A new writer was recently added to the project, and the Hollywood Reporter states that the picture did indeed see some rewrites. Rickles' representative told THR that he had not recorded any dialogue for the film...

This isn't the first time Pixar has gone through this with franchises.

Jim Varney, the voice of Slinky Dog in the first two Toy Story films, died a year after the release of Toy Story 2. When Toy Story 3 entered active development in 2006, Pixar found a replacement in Blake Clark, who sounded pretty close.

With Cars 2, they went the other direction for one character. Two voice actors in the first film died two years after Cars came out: George Carlin and Paul Newman. Carlin played Volkswagon hippie bus Fillmore, Pixar got Lloyd Sherr - who voiced the character in a video game spin-off - to replace him. As for Newman... John Lasseter and crew felt he was irreplaceable, and it's quickly implied in the sequel that Doc - a 1951 Hudson Hornet - died. Weirdly enough, in the latest Cars 3 trailer, there's a voice in it that sounds eerily similar to Newman's. Is it an archive recording? Something from another car-centric (since he was a race car driver) movie of his? Or a really good soundalike?

There is no solid plan for Toy Story 4 concerning Mr. Potato Head. I have no idea whether the story is the same or not, or if the recent rewrites have really changed things. To my understanding, Toy Story 4 was going to be about Woody and Buzz - no one else - setting off on a road trip to find Bo Peep. It's said to be its own beast, something not really connected to the trilogy's whole storyline. Like a feature-length equivalent of the TV specials.

Another big Disney-owned franchise is facing a similar problem. Recently, it was reported that leftover footage of Carrie Fisher might be used to create Leia's storyline in Episode IX. Director Colin Trevorrow recently confirmed that the first draft script for that film is done. It could be a Furious 7 situation. Something similar might be done for Toy Story 4, as it has been reported that pre-existing Rickles tracks will be used for the character.

I have no idea how Pixar will go about all of this... I have no theories, but I will say this. I don't think you can write a character like Mr. Potato Head out of Toy Story. Unless Toy Story 4 is set in the far future where a much older Bonnie has - for whatever reason - sold off all of her toys, I don't think it can be done. Recasting? Don't think it can really be done, either. Maybe it's time to introduce a new toy gang and have the ensuing franchise entries - because you know Disney is going to want those - be about them. Woody and co will still be around in the form of the trilogy, the TV specials, the merchandise, and theme park attractions...

I really don't know...

What do you think will happen?

More The Merrier: Second Teaser/Short for 'Coco' Arrives

Well how about that? Another look at Pixar's upcoming original story Coco has been released!

A sort-of teaser/short film, it's a fun watch. There's lots of classic cartoony slapstick here, though I wonder if the movie itself will have that kind of humor. Maybe, maybe not.


Now this was actually shown in other countries. Someone leaked it onto YouTube (it was a recording in a movie theater, and it was in Spanish) a couple weeks back when the American teaser was released, so it's cool to see that Disney's marketing and Pixar have released it here.

Just a month in, and this campaign is pretty strong so far. Definitely a real 180 from how they marketed The Good Dinosaur, which like Coco, was a fall release in 2015 that came off the heels of a summer Pixar event - Inside Out. Coco is the fall Pixar movie this year, Cars 3 is the summer release. Looks like the same mistakes won't be made again.

Now, will they attach this to something in theaters? The next family-friendly Disney release is the Disneynature film Born in China, it could show up before that, but there's already a great teaser out so maybe not. Or maybe they'll combine the two, for Cars 3's first extended look combined the teaser and new footage. (And that "extended look" is rolling in theaters, I catch it frequently at the theater I work at.)

Who knows what they'll do.

UPDATE: I'm hearing it was shown before Beauty and the Beast. I didn't get to catch the preview reels for that at work.

What did you think of the short?

New Batteries?: 'Toy Story 4' Adds a Writer

It turns out that someone else might be playing with the toys...

When reporting on an upcoming Pharrell Williams-driven musical movie called Atlantis, Variety and various publications mentioned that the screenwriter of the project - Martin Hynes - is a writer on Toy Story 4.

Up until now, we knew that Rashida Jones and Will McCormack (Celeste and Jesse Forever) were handling the screenplay for this Pixar fourquel. Fresh outside voices that hadn't tackled one of the Emeryville studio's films before. Now it looks like Hynes (who wrote and directed The Big Split and The Go-Getter, and also played George Lucas in the short film George Lucas in Love) is in the sandbox. Funny how it usually somehow goes back to Mr. Lucas...

We know little beyond this, though. We don't know if he is rewriting the script, or if he's aiding Jones and McCormack. I have a feeling the former might be the case, because... Toy Story 4 was delayed twice after it was first announced. Pixar originally unveiled the project in November of 2014, and a summer 2017 release date was inked. Nearly a year later, the movie got pushed to summer 2018, Cars 3 took its original spot from it... But then last autumn, it lost the summer 2018 slot to The Incredibles II. It is now set to open in the summer of 2019, and no Pixar films have been slotted beyond that.

Now perhaps this happened because Cars 3 and The Incredibles II just so happened to surge ahead in development, and reached that "in good shape" state before Toy Story 4 could. The movie is still a good two years away, so at the same time I assume that these delays happened for another reason. It's no surprise, for Pixar is following up what is pretty much a perfect ending. Toy Story 3 ended everything on such a high note, making the series that rare trilogy where every installment in it is great.

We may have been told over time that Toy Story 4 wouldn't be a continuation of the "master story", as I like to call it, but that it would be its own standalone movie. Basically a feature-length Toy Story of Terror! or Toy Story That Time Forgot. I was fine with that, until they revealed that it was going to be about Woody and Buzz setting off on a road trip to find Bo Peep, Woody's long-lost love interest who was given away between the events of Toy Story 2 and Toy Story 3. Ever since that announcement, I've been unusually skeptical of this film... How could they bring her back into Woody's life without softening the bittersweetness of Toy Story 3?

What makes the Toy Story trilogy so great is that it deals with abandonment, among other great themes. Woody and Buzz and the gang know that, one day, Andy will grow up and will stop playing with them. This comes into play in Toy Story 2, and it's the main focus of the third movie... And Pixar, being the studio that they are, didn't sugarcoat things. They didn't make things all rosy-rosy, instead they made a rather melancholic movie! I remember some complained at the time that it was too dramatic, and that it wasn't funny enough. Andy ends up giving his toys to someone else, friends have disappeared over time, the villain has a bleak outlook on toy life, the Prospector was ultimately right in some ways...

But what mattered was that most of the gang was still together, and that someone Andy knows will take good care of them. That's life. It can't always be perfect. It was very similar to Up in that regard, Carl doesn't live his dreams with his wife, his childhood hero is a monster, and he ultimately ends up losing his house. To me, bringing back Bo negates a chunk of the series' emotional core. Now, I have said before that I'm willing to be wrong on this. I don't doubt for a second that Pixar's story team could make that story work, despite how I feel about all of it.

Maybe the delays and the addition of another writer suggest that they may have rewritten the story completely, or have worked very hard to make the return of Bo Peep an emotionally satisfying follow-up to a great trilogy. I don't know, I'm not a fly on the wall at Pixar, but it seems like development on this one has been pretty rocky. Of course I'm not too phased that we're not getting this movie in less than three months, because I'm used to animated movies getting release dates and then getting delayed. I'm also used to many cool-sounding animated movies getting cancelled. If they need a lot of time to make Toy Story 4 excellent, so be it!

What say you?

A New World: Teaser for 'Coco' Surfaces

It is finally here! The teaser for Pixar's new original tale, the Day of the Dead story Coco!


What a teaser this was!

Not only does it successfully establish the concept *and* some of the storyline itself, it also has a great atmosphere, a very nice retro vibe (VHS and LPs!), and lots of little subtleties. Pixar's take on the Land of the Dead is a country mile from The Book of Life's depiction of it. While Book of Life's was a painterly, visually amazing city... This is like a forest of town neighborhoods and highways, they almost look like individual trees with buildings wrapped around them. It's big, complicated, and stunning.

The music also sounds great, and also boosts the atmosphere. I think the teaser really shows how songs will be worked into the picture, and how the film won't be a more traditional break-out-into-song musical, as that has been emphasized long before this teaser was put together. I'm quite fine with this direction, though one day it would be cool to see Pixar take their crack at the classic "singing" musical.

The teaser is definitely a nice change of pace from jokes-jokes-jokes.

In fact, Pixar's teasers have been rather different as of late. Pixar actually sort of pioneered the gag-based animated movie teaser.

For their second feature, 1998's A Bug's Life, they made a teaser composed of animation made just for it that wouldn't be used in the film itself. Ever since that film came out, Pixar has done this for almost every subsequent picture of theirs. Now, for a long while, these were also very humorous teasers. WALL-E's teaser broke the mold a bit and Up's was a little cryptic, but it was back to the funny teaser after that. Then the teaser for Brave showed up. Not a joke in sight in that one, it was rather serious and it ended on an intense moment, not a gag.

Now... The current trend we're seeing began with, oddly enough, The Good Dinosaur. That film's teaser showed the film's opening minute with the asteroid missing Earth, and then a montage of clips from the actual movie - not special animation made just for the teaser - set to some pretty epic music, no dialogue at all. Finding Dory's teaser was an alternate version of a scene from the movie, this very version was going to be in the movie before the filmmakers decided that it wasn't up to snuff. (You can see this on the Blu-ray's selection of deleted scenes.)

Cars 3, their next feature, had a teaser that had maybe one line of dialogue... It was just shots of a race, and then Lightning McQueen crashing and flipping over in slow-motion. The race is also in the movie itself, though it was re-lit for the teaser. McQueen's climactic crash is actually going to take place at nighttime.

Now we've got this. This has got to be footage from the movie itself, all of it. If it isn't, I'll be surprised. There's very little humor in here, and it's all about story, Miguel's character, the atmosphere, and the premise itself. This is one of Pixar's best teasers yet...

What say you?

The Party Starts: Teaser Poster for 'Coco' Debuts

With its teaser debuting next week, a proper poster for Pixar's new original tale Coco is here!

It's a pretty interesting teaser poster. I love all the little hints at the story and such: The guitar, the flying petals, and the skeleton petting the xolo - appropriately named Dante. It definitely shows what kind of picture we're in for.

The teaser trailer is confirmed to be around a minute and a half long, and could quite possibly be the compilation of footage D23 attendees saw back in August of 2015.

Pixar and Disney marketing are going about this one differently...

This year marks the second year ever where Pixar released two pictures. 2015 was the first, and the placement was the same. One movie in mid-June, the second during Thanksgiving. In 2015, Inside Out was the June title and The Good Dinosaur debuted during Thanksgiving week. This year's models are Cars 3 and this.

So, 2015... Disney marketing began the campaign for Good Dinosaur in June of that year, did a teaser and a few trailers, some TV spots, some other stuff... It was an unusually sparse and vague campaign for a Pixar film that ended up sinking the overbudgeted film on opening weekend. From the looks of it, I think they'll treat Coco as more of an event, for Good Dinosaur was honestly kind of a hard sell, being a weirdo minimalist Western that starred cartoony-looking prehistoric beasts. The more I think of it, the weirder it is... For a Pixar movie, even! Coco has Day of the Dead, music, timely elements, and a lot of other cool stuff.

To me it just seems like a bigger movie. The teaser coming this early makes me think they're actually prepping this one to be a holiday season smash. I didn't sense that confidence with The Good Dinosaur's marketing.

But what's also weird is that many of the recent Walt Disney Animation Studios hits - all of these particular ones being November releases - didn't have this kind of rollout, either. All of Disney Animation's November releases since 2010 have had their marketing campaigns begin in the Junes of their respective years. Yes, even billion dollar smash Frozen! Again... March, for a November animated release - WDAS or Pixar - I think indicates confidence... And there's a whole other Pixar movie opening before this one, too.

Now I'm not saying this is the next Frozen in terms of the box office, I just think it'll be a hit and Pixar will have greater success this year than they did in 2015.

Anyways, I'm excited for the teaser. What do you think of the poster?

Amped Up: Another Spot for 'Cars 3' Surfaces

If the teaser, the US poster, and the extended version of the teaser didn't already spell it out... Pixar is apparently really sorry about the direction they went for Cars 2...

This new preview of the film, dubbed an "extended look" (though I'm sure it'll unravel in theaters, because that extended teaser shown during the National Championship is currently playing before Lego Batman and was spinning before a few other movies), is no different from its predecessors.


Again... No Mater, no humor whatsoever, just racing, racing, racing. The tone is pulse-pounding and intense, it's emphasizing the heck out of the fact that it's not going to be anything like Cars 2. It's almost like a loud apology... I think they get it. Heck, I'd laugh out loud if halfway through the finished movie, Lightning tells Mater, "Mater, we've been through this. That spy stuff was all just a dream!"

I'm not sure if this kind of marketing will really work in the film's favor or not, but I like the way they're presenting it... Now a little more dialogue and some story in the next full trailer, that would be cool.

Anyways, they finally hint at the late Doc Hudson's role in the film, though the trailers are seriously lacking new face Cruz Ramirez. The trailer also confirms that the crash takes place at night, which I already knew because I saw the leaked clip from the presentation at the International Auto Show in Detroit. Oh, and finally... The film's logo and not, ya know, "Summer 2017" on top of the film's signature hood ornament.

Yes, it looks good. The sequel we should've gotten, and I say that as someone that didn't mind Cars 2's silly spy stuff.

What say you?

February Bits: 'Cars 3' Cast Info, 'Spark' Gets Title Change, Chris McKay Lands 'Nightwing' Movie

A few little tidbits came about...

If what has been said about Cars 3 for the past two years hasn't driven home the fact that it's going to be like the first film in that series, then this announcement sure will. In addition to The King returning to the series, with the actual King - Richard Petty - voicing him, a host of other race car drivers will voice car versions of themselves in the film.

One of which is former NASCAR driver and the King's son, Kyle Petty. He'll voice Cal Weathers in the film, since Richard's car equivalent was named Strip Weathers. If only he was named Richard in the movie, with the son being Kyle... Then that would make Cars 3 the first Pixar film with a Kyle in it! So close!

Other racers, some of which are veterans, include Daniel Suarez, Ryan Blaney, Bubba Wallace, and Ray Evernham. Jeff Gordon, who did a voice cameo in Cars 2, is back as well. What about Lewis Hamilton? Sportscasters Shannon Spake and Mike Joy will star as well, returning faces include Howard "Humpy" Wheeler and Darrell Waltrip.

No different from the first one, really. The first one featured the voices of Mario Andretti, Michael Schumacher, Dale Earnhardt Jr., among other sportscasters and noted car enthusiasts.

Also, a new image...

Very, very nice.

Say it ain't so, the director of The Lego Batman Movie is looking to direct one of the DC Extended Universe movies, and a Gotham-based one no less... A Nightwing movie.

Yes, that's right, Chris McKay is set to direct a planned Nightwing movie for Warner Bros./DC. Maybe it'll actually happen, but given the way WB is and has been mishandling DC's cinematic output, I have my reservations. That means I'll be surprised if Matt Reeves ends up actually directing The Batman.

For those who are not in the know, Nightwing was Robin... In the comics, Dick Grayson ditched the Robin name and persona for Nightwing in the 1980s. Grayson/Robin is a major player in The Lego Batman Movie, so it all lines up quite nicely. This will be, if it happens, McKay's second live-action film. His first was a 2002 picture called 2wks, 1yr.

You guys know of Spark, right?

That space monkey movie that was made by ToonBox, the Nut Job creators? Completed a little over a year ago, the film was screened at a Toronto-based film festival back in April. Months later, Open Road Films got the distribution rights and announced that they would be releasing it this coming April... But no trailer has shown up, or an official poster (only the ones made for buyers/festivals), though we have a trailer for Open Road/ToonBox's The Nut Job 2, which was always set to open after this film. That comes out in August...

Where's all the marketing for this movie? Will it be pushed back? I have no idea, but...

Fandango's website has what looks like a new poster for the film... It looks like its title has been altered. It's now called Spark: A Space Tail. It appears that a spring release for the feature is still not out of the question.

Yeah, I think it's a dumb addition, but it could be just another tagline. Fandango, however, lists the movie as Spark: A Space Tail. Hopefully the movie itself is a bit of alright. I like the premise (space + animation + animals = count me in!), I just hope the writing stacks up. We don't want another Space Chimps with this movie, you know?

Update (2/25/2017): Spark: A Space Tail's trailer is set to debut in a week, according to the film's twitter page. I guess Open Road never saw much in this one... 

What say you on all of this?

Wing Spreading: Andrew Stanton Goes to TV, Heads for 'Stranger Things'

Andrew Stanton, long-time Pixarian and director of three Pixar smashes, is going down another avenue...

Stanton was actually one of the few recent animation directors that tried their hand at live-action. His debut live-action film was an adaptation of Edgar Rice Burroughs' Barsoom stories, John Carter of Mars. Done at Walt Disney Studios, the division - at the time being run by the boneheaded chairman Rich Ross - completely botched the film and plastered it with a bland title (I refuse to call the movie what it ended being titled: Just John Carter...), the movie flopped hard at the box office and Stanton got most of the blame. Some see his return to Finding Nemo in the form of sequel Finding Dory as Disney punishing him for the Mars-bound movie... Which actually wasn't all that bad. I'd argue it was pretty decent and deserved to do better!

As Finding Dory was coming out, Stanton had said in interviews that he wanted to pursue more live-action projects because of how time-consuming animation is. Now, he has a locked a big project... For the small screen!

Stanton will be directing two episodes of the upcoming second season of Stranger Things, one of Netflix's runaway smash hits last year.

I confess, I've never seen a single episode of Stranger Things, but it's a sin I'm going to redeem before the second season starts in October. It's cool to see Mr. Stanton spread his wings and try it all, and maybe somewhere down the line he'll find a happy medium and do some good-quality television animation. Now, I do hope he eventually returns to Pixar with an original, but I'm excited - as someone who likes and owns John Carter of Mars, to say nothing of his three Pixar films - to see what he brings to TV.

I always saw Stanton as Pixar's "epic" director, making movies that are huge in scope and are very atmospheric in ways. I wonder if he'll bring that to the show, as I felt he kept that tone in his John Carter of Mars.

What say you?

Who's Lou?: New Details on Pixar's Next Short Surface

Who is the star of Pixar's next short? None other than... Lou...

Now, we got word on this one a while back, when director Dave Mullins did a little sketch of the titular character and presented it on Instagram. Now, we have a better look at it thanks to USA Today.

Who is "Lou"? Or better yet, what is Lou? Apparently a living amalgamation of things in a Lost and Found box.

The thing in question goes up against a schoolyard bully who steals his classmates' toys and items. It conceals itself with a red hoodie, and has baseballs for eyes. The story sounds like a much weirder Toy Story, and I also like that it's set to deal with bullying, something a Pixar short hasn't taken on just yet.

It's based on the director's personal experiences, which is unsurprising given the personal nature of some of the latest Pixar shorts. Mullins moved a lot when he was a kid, and how he felt on the new playgrounds he found himself in. Here's what he had to say...

"You either feel invisible because you don’t know the other kids or you’re embarrassed and you want to be invisible. I thought it’d be really cool to have a character who could hide in plain sight..."

On the bully, J. J., he said...

"They’re usually just acting out because they’re awkward or young and don’t have their moral compass set. In a weird way, the bullies sometimes feel invisible, too... If you can find out what their motivations are, maybe you can solve some things. That’s what I like about Lou: True happiness comes from giving. He gets J.J. to understand that and through that, what J.J. wants really is to be accepted by the other kids."

Oddball twist on a done-before premise, themes of bullying and selflessness... Yes, it's a Pixar short. I'm excited.

What say you?

Frontrunners: Best Animated Feature Nominees Announced

It has begun...

Five films have been nominated for the Best Animated Feature Oscar...

The choices are no surprise, really. Zootopia, Kubo and the Two Strings, Moana, My Life as a Zucchini, and The Red Turtle. Two are universally-acclaimed Disney animated features, one is a stop-motion adventure from a beloved house, another is a stop-motion film from a mainstay distributor, and the last one is a French production with help from none other than Studio Ghibli. In a year of strong mainstreamers and very strong indies, this batch isn't too bad.

We could perhaps argue that something like Your Name. or April, and the Extraordinary World deserved the last indie slot over The Red Turtle, or we could argue that Finding Dory was better than Moana, but overall I'm pretty content. Dory not making it is a bit bittersweet for me. I can acknowledge the movie's issues, at the same time it would've nice to see a film about disabilities at least be in the running. But a spade is a spade, I felt Moana had a tighter story structure and a little more verve. On the bright side, Life, Animated is up for Best Documentary, a film about how the Disney animated classics greatly helped an autistic boy through his life. Kind of evens things out, for me.

I'll be very happy if either Zootopia or Kubo take it home. One is Disney Animation at their greatest (I have it close to the Walt films I hold so near-and-dear), the other is a LAIKA masterpiece. Both near-perfect films, and of course the Academy Awards lived up to their predictability by not giving one of these two marvels a Best Picture nomination. I guess Toy Story 3's nomination will be the last time the Academy puts an inferior cartoon movie on the level of a "real", "legitimate" live-action movie... Despite having one more slot, but no. Nine it is. What else is new?

On the bright side, Kubo and the Two Strings broke some ground! It is the first caricature animation film to get a nod for Best Visual FX since The Nightmare Before Christmas... Way back in 1993, when there was no "Best Animated Feature" category. The Jungle Book is also up for that, though the movie is technically a 99% fully animated movie with one live-action element. Given the acclaim, it could've been up for Best Picture or Best Animated Feature, but the latter category is obviously for animated movies that aren't trying to be exact recreations of real life.

Best Animated Short... One mainstreamer (Pixar's Piper), a VR short by Feast director Patrick Osborne (Pearl), a film made possible by Pixar's Co-op program (Borrowed Time), and two indie entries (Blind Vaysha and Pearl Cider and Cigarettes). I'm rooting for Borrowed Time, not only because it was a great Western piece for adults that was smart (American adult animation not relying on gratuitous violence and sex?!), but because I heard from a reputable source that The Walt Disney Company gave Pixar guff over this project. I want it to win, even if it doesn't teach a lesson or two.

Anyways, it seems obvious that Zootopia takes home the feature statue. What takes home the other statue?

To recap, I'm rooting for:
Feature: Zootopia and/or Kubo and the Two Strings 
Short: Borrowed Time
Docu: Life, Animated

What say you?

Burning Rubber: Extended Sneak Peak for 'Cars 3' Debuts

Aired during the National Championship as expected, a new look at Pixar's next is now online...

Instead of being a proper full trailer, this is more an extended version of the teaser that debuted back in November. The very teaser that got folk talking! The first half is the whole teaser, the rest is all-new stuff.


No silly country bumpkin hijinks with Mater to be found here, no spots of humor, really. The trailer focuses entirely on McQueen and his millennial competition. We get a little peak at Cruz Ramirez, but the trailer shows off the antagonistic Jackson Storm. The trailer also confirms that this will be very different from its predecessors, and as a trailer, it has an overall intense and dramatic tone.

I want to point out that the nighttime crash that you see quickly in the second half of this is going to be the one in the finished film. The crash scene in the teaser? It's in the movie, but they re-lit it and made it look like it was set during the day. How do I know? Someone leaked the actual clip from the movie, which was only shown to those who attended the presentation at the International Auto Show in Detroit. The same shots and everything, but at nighttime. It was much more colorful, too... Almost as if the marketing people were jabbing at Hollywood's love for desaturated, grayed out, "gritty" movies.

That's the last thing most folk would associate with Lightning McQueen and pals. It's genius, really. The film will probably open higher than I expected it to at one, because of this. Long shunted aside as the "kiddier" Pixar series, the marketing is really making an effort to get adults interested. While the film itself looks more vibrant than the teaser, it still isn't as popping as the first two installments in the series. They've gone for something a little less candy-coated this time, and I think it'll work.

Anyways, I've been sold on it since the day they said it would be much like the first Cars. This new extended first look/trailer? I'm impressed. What say you?

Revving Up: New 'Cars 3' Cast and Character Details Revealed

Since it's getting a new trailer on the 9th, Pixar released some stuff from their next...

A new look at Cars 3 has been posted by Entertainment Weekly, indicating that the marketing for this film will definitely follow the route the ad campaign for the first Cars followed. Cars 2's marketing aligned with its far-removed-from-car-culture plot, but since Cars 3 is returning to what made the first film special, it makes sense that the promos will cater to gearheads.

We now have close-ups and more information on the two new characters: Main rival Jackson Storm and trainer Cruz Ramirez.


Jackson Storm will be voiced by Armie Hammer, which is definitely an unexpected choice but one I'm oddly very satisfied with. Not only will he be arrogant like McQueen was in the first film, he will also have this idea that racecars like McQueen are old-timers, and that they should be outmoded. Unlike Chick Hicks, who was really a frustrated vet longing to finally beat a legendary all-time champion in a race, this guy seems like he's got a real plan or two.

Cruz Ramirez is around the same age, but unlike Jackson, she respects the more seasoned types. It was previously reported that Cruz will be Lightning's trainer of sorts, and it's been revealed that she is also a long-time fan of McQueen.


Voiced by Cristela Alonzo, I'm a bit surprised by her design. I thought the supercar in the concept art from last year was going to be her...

... but I guess they decided on a new design. Either that, or the concept artwork is from a few years ago. I mean, I doubt that's Jackson in the artwork, why would Lightning be racing with him on the beach? That all being said, I prefer the new design. Looks luxurious yet powerful.

Anyways, it's great to see them giving the series a new and prominent female lead, and a Hispanic one at that. In addition to these new reveals, we have also gotten a better look at the current Lighting McQueen... You know, in pristine condition.


Less stickers... Interesting move to say the least.

Director Brian Fee, first-timer at Pixar said "Where the franchise goes from here, I have no idea what may be down the road, but I can tell you that for Lightning McQueen, as a character, I think by the end of the movie it’s safe to say that this is only the beginning for him."

Not surprising, as we live in a world where Toy Story 4 exists. I didn't think Cars 3 would be an ending to McQueen's story or anything, because he's very much a side character in Cars 2. Not like they have a master story to cap off, plus Cars is the very Pixar film that spawns billions and billions of dollars of merchandise. I think that they aren't ending it there.

Anyways, if you're new here, I've been anticipating Cars 3 since the day someone said something about the story. I love the first film, and this threequel looks to be more like it than the messy second film. I'm in.

What say you?

Strumming Pixar: First Image and More Details from 'Coco'

What a lovely Christmas present... A bit of Pixar's next original movie!

That's right, a lovely-looking image and some more plot details on Coco have been released. The film is set to open Thanksgiving week of this coming year.

The new look at the film from Entertainment Weekly sheds more light on the musical side of the picture. This will not be a Renaissance Disney-style musical, where characters break out into song. In director Lee Unkrich's words, the film is "set against the backdrop of musical performance." So, still a musical in some way, but not the kind of musical you may be thinking of. That's good!

When Pixar was making Toy Story back in the early-to-mid 1990s, the attitude was essentially, "Let's not make a modern Disney animated feature." Nothing with musical numbers sung by characters onscreen, nothing with "I Want" songs, the usual with Disney's early 90s juggernaut hits. Pixar didn't want to make the next The Lion King or Beauty and the Beast, and this is partially why Toy Story took off in 1995.

Years went by. Some Pixar films had songs that were sung offscreen (the Toy Story films, the Cars films), some incidental musical numbers (Brave's 'Song of Mor'du') showed up, but other than that Pixar has mostly avoided musical movies like the plague. So to see them doing a movie where singing is integrated in a more realistic way is quite exciting, showing that animated musicals can be more than just what may be accustomed to. They can be more than the dramatic types where characters break out into song.

The article went on to stress how Pixar is being very careful with this film, and how they didn't want to resort to stereotypes when telling a story based in another culture. Upon apologizing for Disney's attempt to trademark the Day of the Dead holiday, Unkrich said, "This is a story we want to share with the world, but it’s also been particularly important to us that when the Latino community sees the film, that it resonates and it feels like we got it right, and that’s what we’re really trying to do. We all feel the gravity."

This comes hot off the heels of the recent controversy that surrounded The Hollywood Reporter's misfired animation roundtable on diversity. Coco certainly got some sneers when it came on the scene, many folk being concerned about the film stereotyping and appropriating Mexican culture. Some even suggested that Pixar, an American studio and director Lee Unkrich - an American without a Hispanic background - have no right to tell stories like these. (Funny, I didn't see them say that about the Portland-based LAIKA and director/founder Travis Knight, when they were readying their Kubo and the Two Strings.) Others spoke out in support of the project, despite the fact that it's mostly being spearheaded by Americans. One of those very supporters is Jorge Guiterrez himself, the writer-director of the other Day of the Dead, music-flavored animated film The Book of Life.

About the Day of the Dead... A new plot detail reveals a little something neat. As we learned last time, the music-loving Miguel comes from a music-averse family. They ban it because the kid's great-great-great grandmother was abandoned by her husband, who jumped ship on the family to pursue a career in music. Ever since, everyone in Miguel's family won't allow it. One night, Miguel does a little well-intentioned grave-robbing of his long-decased musical hero: Ernesto De La Cruz. On the Day of the Dead... And that sends him to the Land of the Dead! His music-averse relatives are sure going to like the sound of that!

This report and the previous one reaffirm that this will be the kind of Pixar film that seems to gel with everyone. This won't be a deceptively simplistic film like The Good Dinosaur, nor will it be a traditional kind of story that Brave was. Films like those proved to be divisive, Coco looks to channel the beloved Inside Out and WALL-E more than those films. As someone who quite liked those "lesser" films, and as one who is tired of animation having to have plots that are "dizzying" or "complex", I'm still excited about Coco. That's not because it's "true Pixar", but because of what it's setting out to do and then some. I'm also excited to see Pixar branch out into other parts of the world, too! How long before we see films of theirs that are set in Africa, Asia, and whatnot?

What say you?

No Longer Bare Bones: 'Coco' Details Surface

After months and months of vague hints and minor announcements, we finally have learned a lot more about Pixar's next original movie...

Directed by long-time Pixarian and Toy Story 3 director Lee Unkrich, Coco will be the Emeryville studio's take on the Day of the Dead holiday. It's been talked about for years, and it got its concrete release over a year ago. A more detailed plot synopsis is one of the many great tidbits we got today.

"Coco follows the secret musical ambitions of Miguel, who resides in a lively, loud Mexican village but comes from a family of shoemakers that may be the town’s only music-hating household. For generations, the Riveras have banned music because they believe they’ve been cursed by it; as their family history goes, Miguel’s great-great-grandfather abandoned his wife decades earlier to follow his own dreams of performing, leaving Imelda (Miguel’s great-great-grandmother) to take control as the matriarch of the now-thriving Rivera line and declare music dead to the family forever."

It's interesting how music is going to be worked into this story, but it's been clarified that Coco won't really be a musical. Randy Newman, in an interview, described Unkrich's film as a "musical"... But I guess it's not the case anymore. I've heard hints before this that suggested it wouldn't be a typical musical, either. There will be singing from the cast, we'll hear traditional and original songs, but Pixar - according to Vanity Fair - isn't keen on calling it a musical.

In addition to the plot synopsis, we got a new piece of concept art that gives you a good idea how the final product will look. It is indeed gorgeous...

Voicing main character Miguel is a newcomer named Anthony Gonzalez, he'll be joined by Benjamin Bratt (who previously let it slip that he was part of the cast), Gael Garcia Bernal, and Renee Victor.

There's even more to the released synopsis...

"But Miguel harbors a secret desire to seize his musical moment, inspired by his favorite singer of all time, the late Ernesto de la Cruz (Bratt). It’s only after Miguel discovers an amazing link between himself and De la Cruz that he takes action to emulate the famous singer and, in doing so, accidentally enters the Land of the Dead.

In the beautiful underworld, it’s not long until Miguel encounters the souls of his own family — generations’ worth of long-dead but no less vivacious Rivera ancestors, including great-great-grandmother Imelda. Still, given the opportunity to roam around the Land of the Dead, Miguel decides to track down De la Cruz himself. He teams up with another friendly (and skeletal) spirit — a trickster named Hector, voiced by Bernal — to find De la Cruz, earn his family’s blessing to perform, and return to the Land of the Living before time runs out."

Vanity Fair describes Pixar's version of the Land of the Dead as "a dazzlingly vibrant, stacked metropolis inspired by the Mexican city of Guanajuato". I hope that the film experiments with different styles of CGI, not dissimilar to how The Book of Life threw the CG rule book out the window with glee.

Now right off the bat, this is a very exciting storyline and it has enough to differentiate it from Jorge Guiterrez's visually exciting animated Day of the Dead tale, and it looks to have all that heart and humor. While it all sounds a bit dizzying, let's hope they balance it all out and hopefully explore some dark paths, too. This is Day and the Dead, and the title? It suggests that the actual Coco will be involved, the Coco (one of a few spellings, to my understanding) is a Hispanic folklore monster/bogeyman.

I also think it's the right step for Pixar to take. It looks as if they want to keep challenging themselves when it comes to original stories, especially after the reception the more traditional Brave got. The Good Dinosaur, to me, was more off the beaten path than some might believe. Of course, the inventive Inside Out was praised out the wazoo. Coco looks to be just as ambitious, but I love that they'll be focusing on another culture, because if there's one thing Pixar needs to do more, it's be diverse. So many American and a few European-set stories (Brave, Ratatouille), it's time to explore.

One slight downside for now? Michael Giacchino is doing the score. But wait a minute... Shouldn't I be excited that Giacchino is scoring it? I love Giacchino's work! But... I'd rather they get a Latin composer to do the job. With all due respect to Mr. Giacchino, he is one of the guys who normally scores Pixar's films. If it isn't him, then it's either Randy Newman or Thomas Newman. Few Pixar films used other composers; Patrick Doyle did Brave, and Mychael and Jeff Dana did The Good Dinosaur.

Anyways... I was always looking forward to this for obvious reasons. It's Pixar, it's an original story, it sounds exciting... Now I'm really geared up for it.

What say you?

Poster Rush: 'Cars 3' Teaser Posters Unveiled

Unusually arriving a little after the release of the teaser, the Cars 3 posters are here!

Both are, for the most part, not unusual for Pixar teaser posters. Minimal, not needing much, just a few images and such to get the point across. The American one and the international one are both radically different...

Our poster aligns with the film's much talked about teaser. McQueen's big wreck...

The international one is the beach scene that we saw in the great concept art earlier in the year.

Both are quite nice, the first is rather striking for some. For many who aren't all that fond of the Cars series, the rather gritty mood of the teaser and the US poster could be off-putting, almost laughable in a way. Others who are accustomed to Cars' lighter side have been surprised as well.

For me, I see the wreck itself as being no different from what Doc Hudson or The King went through. I'm seeing all this talk, all this "McQueen died!" talk, and I can only scratch my head. The Cars series may be lightweight compared to some other Pixar heavies out there, but for me the series didn't hold back on some rough stuff. Races can be dangerous, and death is a thing in the world of cars. Several autos are blown up or killed in Cars 2, Cars climaxes with the King getting in a very bad crash. The first Cars nearly had a sequence where McQueen ends up in a graveyard of broken cars after getting separated from Mack, and of course Stanley has been long dead.

As for the wreck, McQueen is essentially following in the tire tracks of Doc Hudson, and having him wreck makes sense for this kind of a story. We were told back in June that Cars 3 will have a lot of focus on the deceased Hudson Hornet. I can understand how the tone itself has shocked some folk, but you see... Disney marketing did their job! They got people talking! "A gritty Cars movie? What the heck?!" It's still buzz. I have a feeling the first full trailer for this thing will be the typical "gags-story-gags-story" ping-ponging.

The international poster eschews the grit, and focuses on vibrant colors and pretty scenery. No wreckage, no greyed out racetracks, just a pretty, sunny beach and a really cool shot of McQueen kicking up water. It's very nice to look at, and in a way it's not much different from some other Cars-related promo materials. One of the earlier posters for the first Cars was very minimal as well, it was Lightning covered in a tarp, and you could only see some of his smile.

Anyways, both are very cool. The US one doesn't show the film's proper logo, Disney has been doing this with posters and teasers these days. The teaser for Pirates of the Caribbean: Insert Super-Long Subtitle Here ends with the Pirates skull, but no logo. The poster itself doesn't have the logo, either. Guardians of the Galaxy, Vol. 2? That teaser just ends with "Coming Soon", but the poster shows the logo. I wonder if Spider-Man: Homecoming and Thor: Ragnarok's marketing will be similar.

What say you?

Big Vroom!: 'Cars 3' Teaser Goes an Unexpected Route

After quite a wait, the teaser trailer for Pixar's next is finally here!

For a while, we've heard that Cars 3 was not going to go the route of its maligned predecessor. It would go back to racing and the road and everything that worked about the first film. The teaser confirms that racing is indeed the main focus, and we get some glimpses of new characters of like Jackson Storm, the new sort-of antagonist of the picture.


Just look at it... The muted colors, the rather dramatic tone, the ending. This is far away from most Pixar teasers, this puts it more in line with Brave's humorless teaser. Pixar teasers are normally fun little skits with a few jokes here and there, these two are real anomalies, as is the teaser for The Good Dinosaur, which was a set-up of the premise followed a dialogue-less montage of scenes from the movie. I love this, it's to the point, and it establishes nicely in 50 seconds what it will be about: Lightning McQueen might not be to able stack up against all the new competitors in the field...

As I've said before, I love the first Cars, I don't mind the second one, and I'm looking forward to this third installment because of what's been said about it over the last few months. Now that the teaser is out, I'm in!

What say you?

Ready, Set, Go: The Eligible Films in the Animated Feature Race [UPDATE]

That time is upon once again folks...

The Oscar prelude...

Note: The real list was released today - November 11th... What follows is the original article, and then the update, for a lot of the films on the Variety list ended up being on the official list...

Variety has released the (note: unofficial, but still very likely) list of 21 eligible animated features aiming for the five nomination slots. As usual, I'll list them and some premature predictions. Alphabetical order, let's go!

First up is Rovio and Sony ImageWorks' The Angry Birds Movie, based on that app we all know. It wasn't all that well-received, it's not award winner material. After The Lego Movie's snub, I'm not sure the Oscars would consider another big brand-based movie, especially one whose critical reception was nowhere near the unanimous praise for the brick flick.

Next up is April and the Extraordinary World. GKIDS knows how to score with great independent animated features, as their other releases put up a good fight in previous Oscar races, even imported films that were around 2-3 years old! April and the Extraordinary World blended sci-fi, steampunk, and adventure into a beautiful traditionally animated story. With the way the Oscar nom-pickers are now, I can see this being a very strong candidate... But GKIDS has other strong contenders on hand.

Then we get to Finding Dory... Here's where things get a little tough... The Academy has shown little love for non-Toy Story Pixar sequels, but with one of them (Cars 2) the reasons are obvious. Monsters University on the other hand got good enough reception, but Disney themselves didn't push the Pixar prequel, they poured all the Oscar love into "grand event" Frozen from Walt Disney Animation Studios. Monsters University should've gotten into the race, not fluff like Despicable Me 2 and The Croods. Anyways, Finding Dory's critical reception, not to mention its box office, is significantly better. The film also explored disabilities, and was very resonant. And of course, it is Pixar in good form. Those right there guarantee it a nom, right?

No, actually... Ever since the changes to the Oscars were implemented, things have been different in animationland. After 2013, the folk who pick the nominees for Best Animated Feature made it their mission to make more diverse choices. This is why The Lego Movie got left out of the 2014 race, and why LAIKA's stop-motion film The Boxtrolls - a pleasant but unspectacular film - got in. It also made room for great films like Song of the Sea and The Tale of the Princess Kaguya. Finding Dory, being a "good" mainstreamer and a sequel in this new climate, was already not quite locked. In 2011, it would've been.

Disney also has two other animated biggies, both from Walt Disney Animation Studios. Zootopia I think is a guaranteed lock given the film's quality and the fact that it tackled timely issues, it's one of the best-received movies of the year. Some have worried that the Oscars could last-minute view it as a Lego Movie-type, but I don't think so. In a year where most of the mainstreamers have been good enough, Zootopia has quite a few advantages. Moana is the one to look out for, for it is a big musical in the Renaissance tradition, it's about a princess (and the marketing is emphasizing the "girl power"), it has all those ingredients they love, is sure to be a box office smash. Oh, and the guy behind Hamilton was a driving force in the film's soundtrack.

(Okay, I guess we can ignore alphabetical order from this point onward...)

If Moana gets Frozen-level reception or higher, I think it's a lock. Zootopia and Moana getting into the race could squeeze the Pixar sequel out, for the three other slots need to go to films that would normally get pushed out by mainstreamers. Since the likes of Kung Fu Panda 3 and The Secret Life of Pets weren't spectacular, there's lots of room. Sing could be a potential candidate. No Illumination film has gotten unanimous praise yet, and early buzz on this feature - screened at the Toronto International Film Festival a few months back - is quite good... But will it be loved enough to get a nod? Since both aren't out yet, Moana and Sing are kind of up in the air, though I think the former has higher chances at locking a slot than the latter. Kubo and the Two Strings is definitely a lock. LAIKA, stop-motion, it's excellent. It's in.

GKIDS is loaded. They have acclaimed films from all around the world, like Phantom Boy and Miss Hokusai. My Life as a Zucchini, a stop-motion film from France and Switzerland, shouldn't be counted out either for it tackles some weighty themes. The last of the GKIDS releases is Mune: Guardian of the Moon, which is definitely more kid-oriented and cutesy. I don't think one really has a chance.

Sony Classics is readying The Red Turtle, which goes wide in January 2017. That's a co-production with Studio Ghibli, so that has a very good chance at getting in. Your Name is the current anime sensation, a blockbuster in Japan that has gotten lots of praise. That is being brought here via FUNimation. Shout! Factory has the 2D Long Way North, which could get in, but the other indies seem stronger. The Little Prince got lots of love, is thankfully eligible, and it's stop-motion... But I still feel that others have a greater chance at getting in.

The rest are the mainstreamers. Ice Age: Collision Course? Nope. Sausage Party? Nada, despite the aggressive push it's getting. Trolls? Nope. Secret Life of Pets? Not really. Ratchet & Clank? Forget it. Storks? Also not really. The Jungle Book is not counted, despite the fact that everything in that movie except Mowgli is CG. I must give the animation branch props for focusing on animated movies that know they're animated, not VFX trying to emulate real life... But still, it's kind of a contradiction, and this is coming from someone who didn't love the film.

Anyways...

The Angry Birds Movie - 5% chance
April and the Extraordinary World - 90% chance
Finding Dory - 80% chance
Ice Age: Collision Course - 0% chance
Kubo and the Two Strings - 100% chance
Kung Fu Panda 3 - 50% chance
The Little Prince - 70% chance
Long Way North - 70% chance
Miss Hokusai - 80% chance
Moana - depends on quality, will update
Mune: Guardian of the Moon - 10% chance
My Life as a Zucchini - 75% chance
Phantom Boy - 90% chance
Ratchet & Clank - 0% chance
The Red Turtle - 90% chance
Sausage Party - 50% chance
The Secret Life of Pets - 50% chance
Sing - depends on quality, will update
Storks - 50% chance
Trolls - 50% chance
Your Name - 80% chance
Zootopia - 100% chance

Buckle up, I think it's going to be a wild race...

Update...

The real list is here, as of November 11th... It includes a record twenty-seven animated features...

Here are the ones I missed, all which are foreign/independent features:

Bilal - From last year, a UAE-produced animated feature based on the real-life Bilal ibn Rabah.

Kingsglaive: Final Fantasy XV - Based on the long-running video game series, this opened theatrically in Japan this past summer.

Monkey King: Hero is Back - Another entry that is actually over a year old. The Chinese animated feature that at one time held the record for biggest animated movie in that country.

Mustafa & the Magician - Apparently an Indian production. Can't seem to find much on this one.

Snowtime! - Another 2015 film, from Canada. I've heard good things about this one.

25 April - A New Zealand production about the 1915 Gallipoli Campaign. This also came out at festivals last year.

I can't say much about these inclusions, because I feel their changes at getting in are similar to some of the other indies that I already went over.

You'll also notice that Norm of the North, The Wild Life, and Ratchet & Clank are completely absent. Not submitted, I see...

Reviews for Moana are already pretty good, so I think it's chances are very high at getting in, but some reviewers seem a bit dissatisfied with the story. From now on, I think this and Finding Dory will compete for a second slot for The Walt Disney Company. I think Zootopia easily locks one, so for the other slot, it's either Disney Animation's Oceanic odyssey or Pixar's return to the big blue. Who gets in?

Anyways, revised:

The Angry Birds Movie - 5% chance
April and the Extraordinary World - 90% chance
Balil - 25%
Finding Dory - 80% chance
Ice Age: Collision Course - 0% chance
Kingsglaive: Final Fantasy XV - 25% chance
Kubo and the Two Strings - 100% chance
Kung Fu Panda 3 - 50% chance
The Little Prince - 70% chance
Long Way North - 70% chance
Miss Hokusai - 80% chance
Moana - 80% chance
Monkey King: Hero is Back - 15%
Mustafa & the Magician - 15%
Mune: Guardian of the Moon - 10% chance
My Life as a Zucchini - 75% chance
Phantom Boy - 90% chance
Ratchet & Clank - 0% chance
The Red Turtle - 90% chance
Sausage Party - 50% chance
The Secret Life of Pets - 50% chance
Sing - depends on quality, will update
Snowtime! - 25% chance
Storks - 50% chance
Trolls - 50% chance
25 April - 25% chance
Your Name - 80% chance
Zootopia - 100% chance

The plot thickens...

Dashing to the Front: 'The Incredibles 2' Moves Up!

Talk about a big switcheroo, Pixar has played musical chairs with two of their upcoming sequels.

The Incredibles 2 and Toy Story 4 have swapped spots. The Incredibles 2 is now set to open on June 15, 2018, while Toy Story 4 - being pushed back for the second time - will open on June 21, 2019...

Honestly, I'm not surprised that The Incredibles 2 has surged ahead in development. Director/writer Brad Bird is a lightning-fast problem solver, a skill that he probably got from his days on The Simpsons. Exhibit A is the first Incredibles, which he worked on for four years, most Pixar films take longer journeys to the big screen. Exhibit B is Ratatouille. In early 2005, the Pixar brass removed Jan Pinkava from the 5-year-old project, and that was around 2 1/2 years before the picture's summer 2007 debut. Bird turned it around so fast, and the resulting movie... You wouldn't even think for a second that it had all those troubles!

The Hollywood Reporter implied that Bird's Walt-like method was indeed the reason why these two sequels were swapped. An "accelerated production schedule", the insiders say.

Toy Story 4, with its new summer 2019 date, will nearly coincide with the 20th anniversary of Toy Story 2. Some are reading the delay as a bad sign, thinking that Toy Story 4 is having multiple story troubles and might be beyond saving. I get that a lot of us don't want Toy Story 4 (I wouldn't flinch if it were cancelled tomorrow), but I think it's simple: Incredibles 2 surged ahead, Bird knows what he's doing, and there's a huge demand for a sequel. Toy Story already got two sequels and spin-offs, this is the first Pixar-made Incredibles anything in years. They probably figure that we can wait for another Toy Story, and that a lot of folk have been waiting a long, long, long time for an Incredibles follow-up.

The old D23 poster, I know.

Toy Story 4, should it keep its current release date, will have taken 7 years to make. That's not unusual for a Pixar film. Let's keep in mind that WALL-E, counting all its early iterations, took fourteen years to get to the big screen. Some projects come together faster than others, and if Pixar needs more time to really make what is actually one of their riskiest film, that's fine. Toy Story 4 has a tall order to fill, and that's living up to one of the rare perfect trilogies, and being the follow-up to what was such a perfect ending. Maybe a whole story change is in order right now (I'll be brutally honest, I don't really dig the whole idea of Bo Peep being pushed back into the story), or they're trying their damnedest to make something impossible work.

Or maybe, as a friend of mine suggested, it's because of director John Lasseter. Lasseter, ever since the acquisition ten years ago, has been a super-busy man. Not only is he running Pixar, but also Walt Disney Animation Studios, DisneyToon Studios, and he's also a key person in the theme parks and elsewhere. I was shocked when he said he was directing the film, because he really doesn't have all the time for that... Or does he? I know he directed Cars 2 from his iPad in less than a year, and that movie was a mess. To be hands-on, he'd either have to put some duties aside, or really multi-task like a pro.

Before anyone brings it up, I'm aware that Josh Cooley is a co-director on the picture. At Pixar, however, a co-director is not necessarily a second director. It's more like the director who handles things on the lower deck of the ship. Lasseter's Walt Disney Animation Studios uses this model, but often times, more than one person is a main director. Take Zootopia for example: Main directors were Byron Howard and Rich Moore, and there was one co-director: Jared Bush. Perhaps Toy Story 4 needs a second "main" director, so why not move Cooley to the position?

Who knows.

What say you?

The Banjo of Pixar: 'Borrowed Time' on Vimeo For Limited Time

For a while, we've heard about a little project called Borrowed Time...

It's a short film from two Pixarians, Andrew Coats and Lou Hamou-Lhadj. They were working on it for five years while working on the studio's feature-length pictures. Shown at various film festivals since last year, it is not a family film by any means, and is something that Pixar - and before anyone assumes, I do love Pixar and I think they excel at making family films - would probably not think of making.

Before I go on, here's where you can watch it. It's on Vimeo for a limited time, as it is now a Staff Pick. What follows are spoilers...

It's a Western, albeit a very grizzled and moody one. Poignant and very direct, it's about a sheriff who visits the very cliff where his father died. Through brief flashbacks to a wild wagon chase, we see that the sheriff - in attempting to save his father - was responsible. It comes as a shock, but yet none of it ever feels so forced. The short's aesthetic rings similar to Pixar's house style, but very detailed yet very abstract. The humans feel like they're from a Pixar film, but an unmade, PG-13 Pixar film.

Coats himself emphasized the significance of the darker tone, saying "In America, animation has largely become synonymous with kids’ films, whereas elsewhere around the world it’s celebrated as a medium that can be used to tell any story. We feel this cultural difference limits the potential audience and range of themes in American animation, and is a large part of why we chose to make Borrowed Time."

Beautifully said. When I clamor for more adult-oriented animated features here in America, this is the kind of thing I'm asking for. Not lowbrow, middle school-level raunchfests like Sausage Party, or a good chunk of what passes as "adult animation" on television.

Hamou-Lhadj adds, "Having worked on family films with a lot of heart and comedy, we wanted to do something outside of our comfort zone: a serious, action drama. We knew this would be a huge challenge for us."

In a way, this short kind of reminds me of Don Bluth's Banjo the Woodpile Cat. He pitched it during his time at Disney, it got turned down, so he and a couple of the young animators worked on it outside of the studio for roughly four years. It attempted to explore what early-to-mid 70s Disney was staying away from (more classical animation, legitimately perilous situations, less comedic tone), things Bluth pushed for before his exit. Eventually, Disney revisited the bite and the gusto that made the Walt films work, Pixar however has yet to go for the subject matter of something like Borrowed Time. Will they ever? Probably not, but perhaps - hopefully - another American animation studio can do the same. Someone smaller maybe, like Reel FX.

It'll be offline in roughly two weeks...

Weekend Box Office Report: Billion Dollar Dory, 'Storks' Still Flies

Estimates for now, weekend actuals to be posted on Monday...

Another relatively quiet weekend, but some things are happening here and there...

Storks fell 37%, and is now sitting at $50 million domestically and $104 million worldwide. Certainly not the drop Open Season - the best we can compare this movie's run to - had on its third weekend, as that was at $59 million domestically by that point. Again, Storks cost $70 million, it's not too far from doubling that. Should it make above, around say, $180 million worldwide, it should be a success for Warner Bros. I've been watching Storks in particular, because I think it could set a new precedent.

Next in line is Sausage Party, which rose 139% because of an expansion, apparently extra footage was added to the film's ending. My theater didn't get this re-release. It's at $97 million domestically, $129 million. Quite the hit.

Notably, Finding Dory jumped 10 spaces up and rose 136%. Still at $484 million domestically, it has finally topped $1 billion worldwide. Amazing that it'll finish behind an all-original animated movie that came out a few months before it...

We did it... A calendar year where two all-animated pictures topped $1 billion worldwide...

Right behind it is The Secret Life of Pets, falling only 26% and landing at $365 million here, $848 million worldwide. Illumination really, really scored with this one. Watch Pets 2 be a potential candidate for highest grossing animated feature.

Kubo and the Two Strings is pretty much disappearing, falling 54%, the climb to $50 million may be a bit of a struggle from here on out. Even then, if it doesn't reach it, it still had incredible legs. It's at $63 million worldwide.

The Wild Life still lingers, going up 12%, but $8 million will be this one's final domestic gross. $30 million worldwide.

And so we wait for the trolls...