Lasseter Reveals Exciting New Details About the Studios’ Upcoming Animated Film Slate During London and D23 Expo Presentations
John Lasseter, chief creative officer, Walt Disney Animation and Pixar Animation Studios, made several announcements regarding upcoming animated motion pictures while presenting at the Odeon Leicester Square in London (9/10/09) and at the D23 Expo at the
Anaheim Convention Center (9/13/09).
The news coming out of Lasseter’s presentations at both events include:
Timothy Dalton, Ned Beatty, Bonnie Hunt, Whoopi Goldberg, Jeff Garlin and John Morris joining the talented voice cast of Disney-Pixar’s Toy Story 3 along with Tom Hanks, Tim Allen, Joan Cusack, Don Rickles, Wallace Shawn, John Ratzenberger, Estelle Harris, Laurie Metcalf, R. Lee Ermey, Jodi Benson and Michael Keaton. Directed by Lee Unkrich and produced by Darla K. Anderson, this comedic and heartwarming adventure in Disney Digital 3D(TM), brings moviegoers back to the world of Woody, Buzz and our favorite gang of toy characters as Andy prepares to leave for college. “Toy Story 3″ opens in theaters June 18, 2010.
Walt Disney Pictures’ Rapunzel has found its lead voice in singer/actress
Mandy Moore (“Saved,” “American Dreamz”) starring in the title role along with Zachary Levi (hit TV series “Chuck,” “Big Momma’s House 2″) as the dashing bandit. This action-packed, swashbuckling, animated musical comedy about the girl behind 70 feet of magical, golden hair who takes off on a hilarious, hair-raising escapade with the help of a dashing bandit directed by Byron Howard and Nathan Greno, produced by Roy Conli with music by Alan Menken. This Disney Digital 3D(TM) adventure opens in theaters Holiday2010.
Disney-Pixar’s Cars 2 combines thrills, intrigue and high octane comedy as
Lightning McQueen and his trusty-but-rusty friend Mater race across five
countries – England, France, Germany, Italy and Japan – where they face a host of new and worthy competitors. “Cars 2″ is being directed by the producer of the Oscar-winning animated feature “Ratatouille” Brad Lewis and produced by Denise Ream. This Disney Digital 3D(TM) race begins in theaters June 24, 2011.
The fifth film in Disney’s enormously popular fairy film franchise is Tinker
Bell and the Race through the Seasons. Veteran Disney writer/producer/director Bobs Gannaway (“Stitch! The Movie,” “House of Mouse”) is set to direct. The second entry in the popular direct-to-DVD and Blu-ray series, “Tinker Bell and the Lost Treasure,” is due for release on October 27th, 2009. In this latest adventure, all the fairy talents compete in a challenging and traditional leap year race through the four seasons of Pixie Hollow. With Tinker Bell’s help, Clank and Bobble enter the race and all the hopes of the Tinkers rest on their shoulders. But the pressures of competition and Bobble’s desire to impress a beautiful lightning fairy threaten Clank and Bobble’s longtime friendship. In the end, will Bobble place winning a race above losing a best friend?
Winnie the Pooh marks the first time in more than 35 years that a feature film
staring Disney’s beloved characters is being produced at Walt Disney Animation Studios. Under the supervision of John Lasseter and producer, Clark Spencer (“Lilo & Stitch,” “Bolt”) the movie is due out in theaters spring 2011. Steve Anderson (“Meet the Robinsons”) and Don Hall (head of story on “The Princess and The Frog”) will co-direct this heart-warming motion picture that reunites five stories from the original books by A.A Milne with Disney’s classic, hand-drawn art style. Tidbit: Burny Mattinson, who worked as an animator on the original “Winnie the Pooh and the Honey Tree” featurette in 1964, will serve as the lead story artist on the project.
“Unidentified Flying Mater,” the latest in a series of Disney-Pixar animated
shorts called Cars Toons, is set to debut on Friday, November 20th on Disney
Channel, Disney XD, and ABC Family. Directed by Academy Award(R)-winner John Lasseter with Rob Gibbs co-directing, the film stars Lightning McQueen’s loyal pal, Mater. Additional shorts – “Monster Truck Mater,” “Heavy Metal Mater,” and “Tokyo Mater” will debut in 2010.
SOURCE Walt Disney Studios
Tim Burton and Robert Zemeckis to Appear at D23 Expo
Disney announced on their Official D23 Twitter page the following EXCITING news!!
BREAKING EXPO NEWS! Tim Burton & Robert Zemeckis to appear at Chairman of the Walt Disney Studios Dick Cook’s presentation Friday.
Definitely amazing news! But heart-breaking as well, since we are unable to attend the D23 Expo in Anaheim, CA.
Check out the official Expo schedule.
On the official D23, Disney is asking that if you’re coming to the D23 Expo, to help those in need and bring canned food items to help The OC Food Bank.
And we’re asking those that are going to the D23, to send us in reports from the Expo.
Call the voice mail line at 206-350-2422!!!
E-mail us at podcast@magicneverends.
Send us a Twitter update at twitter.com/MagicNeverEnds!!
Be our on-the-scene correspondent!
Comic Con Interview with Cast and Crew of ‘Tron Legacy’
At the 2009 San Diego Comic Con, MoviesOnline caught up with Jeff Bridges, Garrett Hedlund, Olivia Wilde, Sean Bailey, Joe Kosinski, Steven Lisberger and Oren Aviv to talk about Tron Legacy.
Tron Legacy is the sequel to the 1982 sci-fi movie Tron. So naturally, the interview’s first question is about the 30 year time gap between films.
Oren Aviv, president of Walt Disney Studios Motion Picture Production, says it’s not a goal of his to reinvent Disney classics, even though the studio is putting out Alice in Wonderland, A Christmas Carol and Tron Legacy. He says that “a great story and a great storyteller, that we can combine to come up with something that is fresh and unique” is what excites him.
Jeff Bridges wouldn’t talk much as to why his younger self appears in the sequel only to say that the technique used to pull off this trick was a challenge.
Steven Lisberger, director of the 1982 Tron and producer on the sequel, assures both old and new fans alike:
“This movie takes place in 2010 but accepts the history of what happened between 1982 and 2010 really happened. I guess it heavily considers the original and accepts the events of the original as true fact and back-story, for our story, but our story is a stand alone story.”
I’m excited about this new movie, and from the cast and crew’s interview, it sounds like they are as well! Most importantly, they seem to recognize that they need to pay homage to the loyal Tron fans but given the three decades gap, they need to make it assessable to new fans.
‘Tron Legacy’ Revealed by Disney at SDCC and on Facebook
Today, simultaneously at the 2009 San Diego Comic Con and on Facebook, Walt Disney Pictures reveals the official name and logo for the Tron sequel: Tron Legacy.
Announced at the Comic Con panel is that the new movie is still about a year away from completion. Concept art of the new lightcycles and car versions of the lightcycles were revealed.
I’m glad the earlier reports of the new movie just simply being called Tron were incorrect. Tron Legacy sounds cool. And since it’s been 27 years since the original movie, the “legacy” name could really work.
What do you think? Are you excited for Tron Legacy? Do you like this official name? Tell us what you think!
Disney Reveals Synopsis for new ‘Tron’ movie
Walt Disney Pictures reveals new Tron movie to be simply called Tron, not Tron 2, Tron 2.0 or Tr2n as previously reported.
The studio will screen footage from the new film the 2009 San Diego Comic-Con on Thursday July 23 at 11am.
This is the official synopsis for the Tron reboot:
“TRON is a 3D high-tech adventure set in a digital world that’s unlike anything ever captured on the big screen. Sam Flynn (Garrett Hedlund), the tech-savvy 27-year-old son of Kevin Flynn (Jeff Bridges), looks into his father’s disappearance and finds himself pulled into the same world of fierce programs and gladiatorial games where his father has been living for 25 years. Along with Kevin’s loyal confidant (Olivia Wilde), father and son embark on a life-and-death journey across a visually-stunning cyber universe that has become far more advanced and exceedingly dangerous.”
For those that crave spoilers, jump on over to CC2K for an Advanced Script Review. SPOILER WARNING!
