October 1, 2009
Watch John Lasseter Explain Buzz Lightyear's Origins
With the "Toy Story" double feature heading into theaters and "Toy Story 3" on its way, it seems like the perfect time for Disney to set up an online video channel -- where the studio can offer things like this John Lasseter explanation of Buzz Lightyear's origins.
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September 29, 2009
Exclusive: Mandy Moore Talks Rapunzel
Earlier in the month, John Lasseter took to stage in London to unveil a host of fresh Disney/Pixar announcements, among them the news that Mandy Moore would voice Rapunzel in a new Walt Disney Animation Studios adaptation of the Grimm fairytale. So when RT sat down with Moore, currently in London shooting Swinging with the Finkels with Melissa George and Martin Freeman, we couldn't resist asking about the project and its take on the classic fairytale. "She's definitely the quintessential sassy, young Disney heroine," Moore told us. "She's a bit of a spitfire too, and a very curious young woman. She's really curious about the world she's never really seen and she's coming into her own."
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September 10, 2009
Lasseter Announces New Winnie the Pooh Feature
Walt Disney Animation and Pixar COO John Lasseter took to London's Leicester Square this morning to present two hours worth of future Disney/Pixar animation and RT was there to take it all in. Amongst the presentations, news that Mandy Moore would voice Rapunzel and that Timothy Dalton had joined the cast of Toy Story 3, and the first half-hour of The Princess and the Frog. But the tastiest treat was the announcement of a brand-new Walt Disney animated film -- a fresh take on AA Milne's classic Winnie the Pooh. The announcement, Lasseter said, marked the first time in more than 35 years that a feature film starring the characters has been produced at Disney.
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August 13, 2009
Box Office Guru Preview: District 9 Invades Over Crowded Frame
With summer almost out of gas, studios toss five more contenders into the ring in hopes of catching moviegoers that just haven't had their share of multiplex entertainment yet. Having the best shot at reaching the top spot is the new science fiction alien pic District 9 which will skew male. Targeting adult women is the romantic drama The Time Traveler's Wife while teen girls will be offered the high school comedy Bandslam. Young men looking for laughs get The Goods: Live Hard, Sell Hard and kids fed up with 3D toons get the old school animation saga Ponyo. Overall, the marketplace looks to match last year's levels and could even surge higher.
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May 14, 2009
Cannes 2009: Up Takes Flight at After-party
It's not every day you see a house, held aloft by thousands of helium balloons, floating peacefully at the end of a pier, but last night's premiere after-party for Up was just such an occasion. A giant recreation of Carl Fredricksen's flying house (albeit still a scale model) flew like a beacon over the Carlton Beach on Cannes' infamous Croisette. Ticket in hand, RT strolled in to soak up the atmosphere, as the 2009 Cannes Film Festival got underway. Of course, fresh from the red carpet premiere and dressed in tux as opposed to his trademark custom Hawaiian shirt, John Lasseter led the charge for Team Pixar with Ed Catmull, while Up director Pete Docter seemed to spend most of the night receiving praise from an increasing-inebriated crowd of festival-goers.
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February 13, 2009
Inside Walt Disney Animation Studios - A Photo Tour
Welcome to Walt Disney Animation Studios headquarters in Burbank, California. Adjacent to the main Walt Disney studios lot where the live-action magic happens, and opposite the ABC building, this is Disney's most striking architectural creation. It's the house that the mouse built, with Mickey's tall, blue Wizard hat dominating the building's exterior and reminding all who pass through the front doors of the century's worth of history upon which Disney is founded. Join us as we find out how the Pixar effect is rubbing off inside Walt Disney Animation Studios.
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February 11, 2009
Video Exclusive: Bolt Behind the Scenes - Characters
Bolt, the story of a canine TV star who finds himself on a cross-country journey when he gets separated from his owner, arrives in UK cinemas this week after a Certified Fresh opening in the US. We're celebrating its release with a trio of exclusive Behind-the-Scenes videos featuring our interviews with Bolt's executive producer John Lasseter, directors Chris Williams and Byron Howard, producer Clark Spencer and supervising animator Clay Kaytis as well as voice talent John Travolta, Miley Cyrus, Susie Essman and Mark Walton. With Lasseter now at the helm of Walt Disney Animation Studios as Chief Creative Officer, we explore whether the company that brought us Bambi, Snow White and Aladdin are now in a position to get back to the business of crafting classics. In our third and final featurette, we explore the casting of the characters and what John Travolta and Miley Cyrus bring to the voices.
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February 10, 2009
Video Exclusive: Bolt Behind the Scenes - Story
Bolt, the story of a canine TV star who finds himself on a cross-country journey when he gets separated from his owner, arrives in UK cinemas this week after a Certified Fresh opening in the US. We're celebrating its release with a trio of exclusive Behind-the-Scenes videos featuring our interviews with Bolt's executive producer John Lasseter, directors Chris Williams and Byron Howard, producer Clark Spencer and supervising animator Clay Kaytis as well as voice talent John Travolta, Miley Cyrus, Susie Essman and Mark Walton. With Lasseter now at the helm of Walt Disney Animation Studios as Chief Creative Officer, we explore whether the company that brought us Bambi, Snow White and Aladdin are now in a position to get back to the business of crafting classics. In our second featurette we explore the story of the film and why it's the most important thing in the film's creation.
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February 5, 2009
Video Exclusive: Bolt Behind the Scenes - Design
Bolt, the story of a canine TV star who finds himself on a cross-country journey when he gets separated from his owner, arrives in UK cinemas this week after a Certified Fresh opening in the US. We're celebrating its release with a trio of exclusive Behind-the-Scenes videos featuring our interviews with Bolt's executive producer John Lasseter, directors Chris Williams and Byron Howard, producer Clark Spencer and supervising animator Clay Kaytis as well as voice talent John Travolta, Miley Cyrus, Susie Essman and Mark Walton. With Lasseter now at the helm of Walt Disney Animation Studios as Chief Creative Officer, we explore whether the company that brought us Bambi, Snow White and Aladdin are now in a position to get back to the business of crafting classics. In our first featurette, Bolt's creative team discuss the film's design and the approach they took in crafting the film's visual style and rich characters.
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September 25, 2008
Cars 2 Races for 2011 Finish
All kinds of news came out of the Walt Disney Showcase yesterday -- including John Lasseter's announcement that Pixar is bumping up "Cars 2" to 2011, and will begin airing a series of brief "Car-toons" on the Disney Channel.
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November 10, 2007
Lasseter Confirms Toy Story 3 and Upcoming Pixar Projects
John Lasseter usually doesn't reveal anything about upcoming Pixar projects. Even though Toy Story 3 has been a known project ever since Disney threatened to make it without Pixar, Lasseter always dodges it. Finally, Lasseter has once-and-for-all confirmed it and discussed turning over the original Pixar property to a new(ish) director.
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October 26, 2007
Apatow, Lasseter, Spielberg Among Top in Power List 2007
The movie biz loves its lists. While making countdowns of best-reviewed genre movies is our niche here at Rotten Tomatoes, categorizing human beings is a task we happily pass over to someone else. That's where Premiere Magazine comes in. They've just published the Power List 2007, their annual organized compendium of Hollywood's 50 most notable movers and shakers.
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October 23, 2007
Exclusive: John Lasseter on Pixar Past, Present and Future
Celebrating the enormous Tomatometer success of Pixar's films, ahead of the DVD release of Certified Fresh Ratatouille, the Chief Creative Officer of Pixar Animation Studios tells RT why the company he helped create is the most exciting place on earth to work at.
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March 9, 2007
"Toy Story 3" Leads Locked, Hand-Drawn "Frog Princess" Also a Go
Tom Hanks and Tim Allen are officially signed up to reprise their beloved roles in "Toy Story 3," which I believe is a sequel to "Toy Story" and "Toy Story 2." Also, it looks like Disney is making a return to hand-drawn animation with their (eventually) upcoming "Frog Princess." Cool!
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February 9, 2007
Zemeckis & Lasseter to Deliver CG "John Carter of Mars"?
OK, a whole bunch of bloggers are falling all over each other to report this "speculation," but if they're on to something, it's a pretty big story. Well, a big story for movie geeks, anyway. Not an important news story like a fire or a basketball game, obviously.
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July 31, 2006
Tim Allen Says He's In for "Toy Story 3"
Now that Disney and Pixar are pals again, we can probably expect a few sequels. Disney loves sequels, but Pixar always focuses on the quality, so hey, worse things could happen. And now comes word from Tim "Buzz Lightyear" Allen that he's ready to slide back into the spacesuit.
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June 10, 2006
Friday Box Office: "Cars" Raced to $19.3M Finish
Pixar's new animated feature "Cars" finished first on Friday with an estimated $19.3M, according to BoxOfficeMojo.com. Although not as well-reviewed as previous Pixar productions, this opening day gross is on par with the $20M debuts of their previous two features, "The Incredibles" and "Finding Nemo." Both of those films went on to finish their respective weekend with about $70M, which is probably the same number "Cars" will do when the weekend's over.
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June 8, 2006
Box Office Preview: "Cars" Battles "Omen" at Theaters
Racing into theaters across North America, the computer animated film Cars aims to take over pole position this weekend targeting family audiences. Those looking for a good scare can instead choose The Omen which already launched on Tuesday with some frightening results. The frame's final new wide release is the Robert Altman comedy A Prairie Home Companion giving the weekend a wide assortment of titles for all audiences.
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June 7, 2006
More "Cars" Pics to Rev You Up
We've got more exclusive "Cars" pics for your perusal! By now, we all know the story: Lightning McQueen is held against his will in an out-of-the-way town called Radiator Springs until he completes his community service by fixing a stretch of road he damaged during an unfortunate turn of events.
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January 24, 2006
Pixar's Board Says Yes to Disney
Pixar's board of directors has approved Disney's offer to acquire the company for $7.4 billion, the Los Angeles Times reports. Under the deal, Pixar CEO Steve Jobs will join Disney's board and will become the combined company's largest shareholder.
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January 24, 2006
Disney Close to Acquiring Pixar
According to the New York Times, Disney is close to acquiring Pixar in a stock deal worth about $7 billion. People briefed in the negotiation told the Times that the deal "could fall apart at any time."
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January 3, 2006
Disney & Pixar about to Kiss and Make Up?
According to Variety, the very successful partnership between Pixar Animation and the Disney Gang looks to continue unabated ... as long as everyone can agree to play nicely this time and share profits accordingly.
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November 28, 2005
Trailer Bulletin: Cars
Those who drove away a little underwhelmed by the inital teaser for Pixar's upcoming "Cars" should take a moment to click here and check out the newest trailer, which is a marked improvement over the previous clips and capably exudes that old-school Pixar magic. Plus it's got cars in it.
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