brave

We finally get to see something new from Pixar after their brief trend in making sequels. Pixar’s first original story animation after ‘Toy Story 3′ and ‘Cars 2′, ‘Brave’ will be a princess fairy tale taking place in the Scottish highlands. Some of the talent actors signed to do voices are Reese Witherspoon, Billy Connolly, Emma Thompson,  Julie Walters, and of course, John Ratzenberger.

(via Collider) The impetuous, tangle-haired Merida, though a daughter of royalty, would prefer to make her mark as a great archer. A clash of wills with her mother compels Merida to make a reckless choice, which unleashes unintended peril on her father’s kingdom and her mother’s life. Merida struggles with the unpredictable forces of nature, magic and a dark, ancient curse to set things right.

Considering that all we have seen so far is the official logo (pictured above), Pixar has already made a few changes for the film.

1. Originally titled ‘The Bear and the Bow’, Pixar canned it for a simpler title, ‘Brave’. I think I would rather watch Brave over The Bear and the Bow. Good call Pixar.

2. Director Brenda Chapman (The Prince of Egypt) was signed for Brave, but since than she has been dropped for ‘One Man Band’ animated short director, Mark Andrews. No clue why Chapman was dropped. Maybe thats just how Pixar rolls.

3. Originally scheduled to be released during the holidays this year, the release date has been changed from July 22 to July 15th, 2012. Pixar must be “Brave” to go up against Timur Bekmambetov’s ‘Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter’ that same weekend.

Brave seems to be Pixar’s first attempt at a “princess fairy tale” movie and we” see how it stacks up against Disney’s like ‘Tangled’. I’ll put my money on Pixar.

201012toystory300

Do you want to know how filthy rich Pixar has gotten due to their newest release, Toy Story 3? Milo has created a snazzy and informative chart representing Pixar’s Toy Story 3’s financial success compared to their past releases. I would think that racking in over 1.5 billion dollars would consider you a success.

Fifteen years after we met the motley crew of adventurous but noble toys, the game returned via the third installment of the Toy Story film series, proving that they still have it in them. Let’s review the success of Toy Story 3 -through the numbers.

Fun factoids such as Toy Story 3’s theatrical success, merchandising, DVD sales, etc. is all on this handy little infographic. Hit the jump to check out Milo’s inforgraphic ‘Toy Story 3 By the Numbers’

Read the rest of this entry »

201012pixarwarrior00

What happens if you were facing a challenge to speed paint a Pixar character in a warrior theme? Well, for a trio of friends, it is a challenge that resulted in awesomeness. Carlos Villagra, Chad King, and Jorge Lacera created some epic fan art of Buzz Lightyear from Toy Story, Wall-E from Wall-E, and Russell from Up!. Considering, 100% of Pixar’s movies and cast of characters is very tame and G rated, it is nice to see some muscle and grit in these classic characters. I could imagine Buzz cutting off some poor sucker’s head during an intergalactic war. It is pretty amazing that these guys were able to create these works of art on a whim and produce such vibrant art. There is no details on how long each piece took, but the result was magical. My favorite has to be the jousting Russell considering many people have said that I look like him. /sigh

Hit the jump to check out their awesome work!

Read the rest of this entry »

20091113heartheworld

Awesome. Grumpy and the ever so adventurous Carl Fredricksen from Pixar’s Up is the newest celebrity to grace the cover of Hear the World. Hear the World is a publication that is owned by Phonaks (a manufacturer of hearing aid devices) that promotes hearing loss awareness.

Phonak is pleased to announce that Carl Fredricksen has agreed to become the 36th ambassador for the Hear the World initiative. In this role, Carl is joining the likes of Plácido Domingo, Harry Belafonte, Diane Kruger, Bryan Adams, Moby and Annie Lennox – to name but a few.

Carl Fredericksen will be the first fictional/virtual individual to grace the cover of Hear the World, however, he is in good company as past celebrities that were feature includes singer icon Rod Stewart, actress Maggie Gyllenhaal, and D-list everything, Lindsey Lohan (there’s always a bad egg in the bunch). You can check out a PDF version of the article on Carl, free of charge.

Article download: “Plan “B” for “balloon” – or: An old man takes to the skies to find happiness”

[super punch > pixar blog]

20 October 2009 Eric Kwun | Posted in: This is Epic!, Watch It!

20091020pixarmurder

Beware of the adorable, homicidal lamps.

I knew this was going to happen sooner or later. Pixar’s infamous desk lamp mascot’s constant brutal attacks on the letter “I” has finally taken its toll and now Luxo Jr. must pay for his crimes. Does the death sentence seem suitable for the crime committed? I sure think so. Luxo killed a beloved vowel for gawd sakes! I say give you letter killer the chair and get it over with. John Lasseter must be crying after realizing what kind of monster he has created all those years ago. It’s always the bright ones that turn out to be screwed up in the end (see what I did there? Yeah, I’m lame). Hit the jump to see the crime AND punishment in action.

Read the rest of this entry »

20091012toystory3

Our little Andy is all growns up…

Pixar finally released a real trailer for their upcoming feature, Toy Story 3! Unlike the previous teaser where all we see is the toys build the Toy Story 3 logo, this time we get a glimpse of what the story will have in store for us. It is quite brilliant to see the advancements in Pixar’s visuals since Toy Story and Toy Story 2. Unfortunately, it is saddening to see that Andy turned out to be a ungrateful bastard to Buzz, Woody, and the rest of the toys by tossing them aside instead of keeping them. You would figure that these toys were with the kid for all those years, he would have kept them as a keepsake. You can NEVER be too old to play with toys (or at least thats what I tell myself…). It is great to get another Randy Newman song. Hit the jump to see the epic trailer!

Read the rest of this entry »