Month: January 2008 (Page 1 of 3)

According to ComingSoon, Pixar’s 2008 film, UP, will now be released in theaters 14 days earlier than it was originally announced. The new release date is now set for May 29, 2009. The film is directed by Pete Docter and written by Pete Docter and Bob Peterson and it tells a coming-of-old-age story about a seventy-something guy who lives in a house that “looks like your grandparents’ house smelled.” He befriends a clueless young Wilderness Ranger and gets into lots of altercations. “Our hero travels the globe, fights beasts and villains and eats dinner at 3:30 in the afternoon.”

Back in 2001, Michael Eisner reportedly told Disney’s board of directors that he’d be postponing any further contract talks with Pixar Animation Studios. Eisner had just come back from a work-in-progress screening of Finding Nemo and he supposedly told the board that it was the weakest thing that Pixar had produced to date.

Eisner believed that it would be far easier for Disney’s attorneys to get Steve Jobs to agree to much more favorable terms if Pixar were coming off of its first “failure.” Boy did that backfire on him. Pixar went back to the drawing board and fixed the problems, which included recasting the voice of Nemo’s father.

Head on over to Jim Hill Media and read the entire article of How Pixar fixed Finding Nemo. Another quality article by Jim Hill.

Upcoming Pixar has a brand new image of concept art from Pixar’s upcoming film Up, which is due in theaters June 12, 2009 from the director of Monsters Inc., Peter Docter.

The image is a picture of concept art taken at Disney’s Hollywood Studios in Orlando, Florida.

Imagi Studios announced today that Flushed Away director, David Bowers, will direct the CG-animated ASTROBOY, replacing previously announced director Colin Brady.

Bowers said, “I’ve had a lifelong affection for the original ASTROBOY, so I am looking forward to giving him the full action-adventure Hollywood treatment. His story is both emotional and spectacular, so it absolutely lends itself to the big screen. With the amazing crew that Imagi has assembled, I feel there’s an opportunity to create something very special — a film to surprise audiences, have them on the edge of their seats, and hopefully make them laugh, too.”

Based on the Japanese manga, ASTROBOY follows a young robot created by a scientist in the image of the son he has lost. Unable to fulfill the man’s expectations, AstroBoy embarks on a journey in search of acceptance before he returns to save Metro City and reconcile with the father who had rejected him.

ASTROBOY is scheduled for a worldwide release in 2009.

Via AWN

The complete list of 80th annual Academy Award nominations were announced Tuesday and Pixar’s Ratatouille did quite well with 5 nominations:

Original Screenplay: Diablo Cody, “Juno”; Nancy Oliver, “Lars and the Real Girl”; Tony Gilroy, “Michael Clayton”; Brad Bird, Jan Pinkava and Jim Capobianco, “Ratatouille”; Tamara Jenkins, “The Savages.”

Animated Feature Film: “Persepolis”; “Ratatouille”; “Surf’s Up.”

Sound Mixing: “The Bourne Ultimatum,””No Country for Old Men,””Ratatouille,””3:10 to Yuma,””Transformers.”

Sound Editing: “The Bourne Ultimatum,””No Country for Old Men,””Ratatouille,””There Will Be Blood,””Transformers.”

Original Score: “Atonement,” Dario Marianelli; “The Kite Runner,” Alberto Iglesias; “Michael Clayton,” James Newton Howard; “Ratatouille,” Michael Giacchino; “3:10 to Yuma,” Marco Beltrami.

What award hasn’t Pixar’s Ratatouille won? It was announced today that the film about a rat who’s dream is to be a chef was honored with the Golden Tomato award, awarded to the best-reviewed films of the previous year as determined by the Web site RottenTomatoes.com, which compiles reviews from print, online and broadcast film critics.

The Moldy Tomato, awarded to the worst-reviewed film of the year, was ‘awarded’ to some movie I’ve never heard of called “Because I Said So.”

For the complete list of winners, head on over to RottenTomatoes.

The British Academy of Film and Television Arts has announced the nominees for the 2008 Orange British Academy Film Awards. In the Animated Film category we have Ratatouille, The Simpsons Movie and Shrek the Third. The nominees in the Short Animation category include The Pearce Sisters, The Crumblegiant and Head Over Heels.

A complete list of nominees is available at BAFTA