Posts Tagged ‘Pixar’

Disney/Pixar Presents a Video Introduction to Pixar Canada

Disney/Pixar Animation Studios recently opened a production studio in Vancouver, Canada to handle animated shorts, which will initially appear to be mostly the next generation of Cars Toons as well as the Toy Story Toons we speculated about back in March.

In the video, John Lasseter and Pixar Prez Ed Catmull are joined by Pixar Canada’s Creative Director Dylan Brown, CTO Darwyn Peachey and General Manager Amir Nasrabadi as they introduce the new complex and its expectations. Also along for the ride is a very clever mix of the Pixar Animation Studios family against live action footage of the studio’s new home.

‘Disney A to Z’ Supplement Delivers Bad Newts for Pixar Project

Although its demise has been rumored for some time — and with the usual disclaimer that nothing really means anything — it’s worth noting that the May 2010 update to the Disney A to Z: The Official Encyclopedia has removed its entry for the Pixar project by the name of Newt.

The entry previously read as follows:

Newt (film) An animated feature from Pixar, planned for a Summer 2011 release. The last remaining male and female blue-footed newts on the planet are forced together by science to save the species, and they cannot stand each other. Newt and Brooke embark on a perilous, unpredictable adventure and discover finding a mate never goes as planned, even when you only have one choice. Directed by Gary Rydstrom.

The monthly update also re-named the entry for The Bear and the Bow to Brave and adds the note that the former was a working title for the film.

Visiting Pixar Animation Studios: A Photo Tour by The Pixar Blog

Earlier this month, several bloggers from around the world were invited to Pixar Animation Studios in Emeryville, California. One of the lucky few chosen was Mike of The Pixar Blog and fortunately he has begun his photo-laden (when allowed) tour of the campus. In the first installment, Mike dives right in and shows photos from the atrium filled with props and concept art (including from Toy Story 3), Cafe Luxo and even the cereal bar. Evidently there’s a salad bar too, but the only green things you’ll find in Mike’s photos is Mike Wazowski and some Aliens.

The biggest surprise for me is that there’s a life-size model of Luigi and and Guido as I had previously only known about the existence of Lightning McQueen, Mater and Sally.

You can find the first chapter of Mike’s sweet tour of Pixar at The Pixar Blog.

Photo Gallery: Disney at the 2010 Nickelodeon Kids’ Choice Awards

Other awards for the Disney team last night included: Selena Gomez for Favorite TV Actress (Miley Cyrus also nominated); Miley Cyrus for Favorite Movie Actress (Sandra Bullock also nominated in part for The Proposal); UP for Favorite Animated Movie (A Christmas Carol also nominated); and Jim Carrey for Favorite Voice from an Animated Movie (A Christmas Carol).

With special thanks to Nickelodeon, we have photos from the red carpet, the awards show and even backstage, highlighting just some of the Disney favorites.

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New Toy Story 3 Characters Introduced: Dolly and Mr. Pricklepants

Animatie.blog.nl who has exclusively debuted two of the fourteen new characters from Disney/Pixar’s Toy Story 3 courtesy of Walt Disney Studios NL.

[SinglePic not found]First up is Dolly the Rag Doll (voiced by Bonnie Hunt). Here’s Dolly’s description from her manufacturer:

Dolly is a soft and sweet dress-up rag doll, and is the perfect gift for any young child! Her floppy body and sunny smile will make her an irresistible new member of your family. Dolly has purple hair, googly eyes and gently blushing cheeks. She comes with a pretty blue dress, but templates are included to create and sew your own outfits! Machine washable on gentle cycle.

AFTER THE JUMP: Meet another new Toy Story 3 character and see the character turn arounds

CONFIRMED: Disney/Pixar to Re-title ‘The Bear and the Bow’ as ‘Brave’

UPDATE: Following our initial report on the domain name and trademark registrations, Disney has also gone ahead and registered a few trademark applications specifically for DISNEY PIXAR BRAVE. Here’s an example. Note although the application was filed on March 12, it takes a few days for it to become accessible to us.

They did it to Rapunzel. Big signs are pointing to them doing it to Secretariat. And now it appears the next victim may be the Disney/Pixar original fairy tale The Bear and the Bow.

Once upon a time, it appears that Pixar director Pete Docter ’slipped up’ and referred to a project they were working on titled Brave. After much speculation then and what appeared to be much ado about apparently nothing, The Pixar Blog quoted a reliable source as noting Brave is simply an internal project name for The Bear and the Bow, as cryptic as one it may be. A Blue Harvest if you will.

But a recent move by the Disney Trademark department might suggest otherwise. Granted ‘Brave’ could be applicable to most anything and certainly may have nothing to do with the film from Pixar Animation Studios, but the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office experienced a flurry of Brave applications very recently — we counted fourteen (so far) — covering the full gamut of products and applications. Here’s just one example.

If we seem like we might be jumping the gun — er, bow — on this one, we won’t deny it. But while we often get the clue when Disney goes to register domain names, the recent activity is very reminiscent of the many trademark applications Disney also recently made for Tangled and Disney Tangled. For those of you playing along at home, however, it turns out that Disney did in fact register BRAVE-MOVIE.COM and BRAVETHEMOVIE.COM back on October 31, 2009 and to-date has registered ZERO domain names related to The Bear and the Bow according to our sources.

Dolby Announces New Surround 7.1 Audio Format to Premiere Alongside ‘Toy Story 3′

At ShoWest 2010, Dolby Laboratories, Inc. (NYSE:DLB), announced it is working with Walt Disney Pictures® and Pixar® Animation Studios to deliver a new audio format, Dolby® Surround 7.1. Disney® and Pixar have stated that Dolby Surround 7.1 will be launched in select theatres with the release of Toy Story® 3 in 3D this June.

“For 40 years Dolby has not only provided content creators with the tools to create a more realistic audio experience, but has also enabled the exhibitor to deliver audiences the ability to experience the content as the creator intended,” said Page Haun, Senior Director, Marketing, Cinema Market Segment, Dolby Laboratories. “The release of Toy Story 3 in a discrete 7.1 mix will raise the bar for movie theatre owners and their patrons.”

Dolby Surround 7.1 brings a more exciting sensory experience to audiences for 2D and gives content creators control over audio placement in a theatre when mixing 3D movies. The ability to compose audio with visual elements of 3D allows content creators to immerse the audience deeper into the movie with dramatic realism.

Dolby Surround 7.1 provides content creators four surround zones to better orchestrate audio channels in a movie theatre environment. The four surround zones incorporate the traditional Left Surround and Right Surround with new Back Surround Left and Back Surround Right zones. The addition of the two Back Surround zones enhances directionality in panning 360 degrees around the theatre.

Dolby Surround 7.1 format comprises 8 channels of audio and has the following channel layout: Left, Center, Right, Low-Frequency Effects (LFE), Left Surround, Right Surround, Back Surround Left (new), and Back Surround Right (new). In order for exhibitors to deliver the new format, Dolby will be providing Dolby Surround 7.1 playback capabilities in the Dolby CP650 and Dolby CP750 digital cinema audio processor lines.

At ShoWest, Dolby is demonstrating to exhibitors a discrete 7.1 mixed demo reel of past Pixar movies to showcase the advanced audio solution. After the show, exhibitors will be able to access the content to test and demonstrate in their theatres.

Pixar Announces Details on Animated Short for ‘Toy Story 3′

On its official Facebook page, Disney/Pixar has announced the details for its animated short that will play before the theatrical release of Toy Story 3. Titled Day & Night, the synopsis for the short is as follows:

When Day, a sunny fellow, encounters Night, a stranger of distinctly darker moods, sparks fly! Day and Night are frightened and suspicious of each other at first, and quickly get off on the wrong foot. But as they discover each other’s unique qualities–and come to realize that each of them offers a different window onto the same world — the friendship helps both to gain a new perspective.

Pixar President Ed Catmull to be Honored at 2010 VES Awards

The 8th Annual Video Effects Society (VES) Awards, which takes place on Sunday, February 28, will honor Walt Disney Animation Studios and Pixar President Dr. Ed Catmull with the Georges Méliès Award for Pioneering. Dr. Catmull helped pioneer the 3D animation process at a division of Lucasfilm which would eventually become Pixar and was a key developer of RenderMan, the software environment which made films like Toy Story possible.

The VES Awards will air on the ReelzChannel on March 5 at 10 pm ET/PT with replays on March 6 at 7 pm ET/PT and March 7 at 3 pm ET/PT.

Sneak Peek of Toy Story 3 Now Available Online (Video)

This past weekend, ABC Family presented a sneak peek at the upcoming Toy Story 3 along with a brief introduction by director Lee Unkrich. The clip, just short of two minutes, shows the beginning of the film where Andy, who is now preparing to head to college, needs to decide which toys to keep, which to store in the attic and which get thrown out. This is basically the same clip that we saw during the Toy Story 3 presentation at the D23 Expo (in 2D) and I remember being shocked when Andy makes one of his decisions. Check it out below, courtesy of Disney/Pixar.