Disney's 'Rapunzel' is Now 'Tangled'

Rapunzel, the Disney CG flick scheduled for release later this year, has been re-named. It will now be called Tangled. This is because Disney wants to market to both boys and girls, especially after the somewhat disappointing performance of The Princess and the Frog at the box office. I guess the execs figure a boy would rather see Tangled than Rapunzel...

You can see the new logo for the film, released earlier today. The film is being directed by Byron Howard and Nathan Greno (the co-director and head of story on Bolt, respectively). This classic fairy tale with a twist will take audiences “to a stunning CG fantasy world complete with the iconic tower, an evil witch, a gallant hero and, of course, the mysterious girl with the long golden tresses. Expect adventure, heart, humor, and hair, lots of hair.”

The leading lady will be voiced by Mandy Moore, while the "dashing bandit" Flynn Ryder will be voiced by Chuck's Zachary Levi. It is scheduled to hit theaters around Christmas of this year.

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Lasseter's Oscar Interview

Reuters did a really great, brief interview with John Lasseter about Up at the Oscars, and about Pixar's success in general. I highly recommend reading it. It doesn't give any information I hadn't known already, but it is a great way to get excited about the mountain of Oscars that Up is sure to win! I think that Lasseter's most interesting answer was this:

I believe in research. Each movie at Pixar involves research with college professors or taking trips to learn as much as we can about a particular subject matter...I have met a lot of top chefs around the world during my travels. Each one of them has said "Ratatouille" is their favorite movie and the only movie that truly captures what they do. Auto Week called "Cars" the best car movie because the details were spot on.

Read the full interview here.
(Photo courtesy of Reuters)

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'Alice' Suffering Due to DVD Release Date

Burton's Alice in Wonderland is not your typical movie. This isn't due to the creepy Chesire cat, Helena Bonham Carter's warm pig bellies or aching feet, or even Johnny Depp's make-up job. Of course, these things help, but Disney has decided to cut the time between the film's theatrical release and the DVD release from 17 weeks to only 12 weeks, hoping to boost DVD sales. And that is very out of the ordinary.

Now, this may seem harmless enough, but the theaters around town certainly wouldn't agree. Exhibitors around the world are stating their disapproval of Disney's announcement since it will severely cut into their businesses.

Two exhibitors in the UK, Odeon Cinemas (108 theaters) and Vue Entertainment (68 theaters), have already vowed to boycott the film once it is released on March 5. Odeon recently told Variety that they have "invested considerable sums of money, especially in the U.K., over the past 12 months to install digital projection systems in our cinemas. The proposed reduction in the window on a high-profile 3-D title like Alice in Wonderland undermines the investment made."

But that's not all. AMC Entertainment, one of the largest theater companies in the world with 4,500 screens, has not yet agreed to show Alice in Wonderland in any of their theaters. And, with only two weeks until the film's release, no one is quite sure what will happen. It is believed that AMC and Disney may be in negotiations, since the lack of distribution through the AMC theaters would be a major blow to Alice's box office numbers.

I'm wondering if Disney regrets changing the dates around. It seems like they are taking a lot of heat for just 5 weeks. If I were them, I'd simply push it back. My guess is they'll make more money that way. They may have poorer DVD sales, but at least they'll get back the majority of the world's exhibitors.

Alice in Wonderland is being directed by Tim Burton and comes out in a few weeks on March 5.

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More Pixar Dinosaur Concept Art [Updated]

Remember a few months ago when we saw Greg Dykstra's workspace at Pixar and it showed a bunch of sculptures and drawings of dinosaurs and things? Well, we've gotten more information regarding it. The above photo was sent anonymously to Pixar Talk, and it shows Ricky Nierva standing in front of some new concept art, which includes a large mosquito, a crocodile, and a winged dinosaur.

I am almost positive that these pieces of concept art and sculptures belong to the short film attached to Toy Story 3. They always announce what the short film will be several months before a feature's release, and we're almost there. This production looks like quite an extravagant one, which makes part of me want to call it a feature. However, Pixar puts every inch of effort they can muster into each and every production, so I think it's a safe bet to call it a short.

We'll see if I'm right in the coming months... Read more about it at the original post here.

Update: /Film reports that the short is, indeed, attached to Toy Story 3. It also reports that the short will be called Night and Day, will be scored by my favorite composer Michael Giacchino, and is directed by a Pixar character designer named Teddy Newton. Read more here.

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New 'Despicable Me' Trailer

Above you will find the new trailer for Despicable Me. It will be, obviously, an animated feature, have an all-star cast featuring Steve Carell, and be released later this year.

I am still not quite sure what to make of this movie. So far, it appears that all they have is a premise. And an unoriginal one at that: a supervillain is the story's main character. The presence of the usual crutches that replace a weak story are also all in place: an all-star cast that is being flaunted more than the actual film, one-liner jokes, and, of course, the all-too-familiarly embarrassing pop culture references. This film screams Monsters vs. Aliens--no story, just decent animation, 3D, and jokes.

But I could be wrong. It could be that the one creating the trailers happened to like Monsters vs. Aliens (I know, I know, it is hard to believe that somebody liked it). After all, trailers can be deceiving. The animation in the trailer was, actually, pretty great. And it was funny, I'll give it that. However, you know me; I want story. Story is what's important, and story is what I haven't seen anything of yet.

Let's hope we start seeing a strong story when the next trailer comes out...

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The Lots-o'-Huggin Bear Hits Store Shelves Soon (UPDATED)

On Lee Unkrich's Twitpic page, he has just posted the above photo, a Lotso Bear. Up until now, we have not known if they were going to be selling a Lotso Bear as a new part of the Toy Story merchandise collection, but now we know that indeed they are.

Not only that, but we also know that this bear will have "over 45 different sayings," and will "respond to hugs, tickles, and your voice." A very, very odd feature of this toy is that it is "strawberry scented." I am wondering if this feature will play a part in the film...

The label in the upper right also shows that this is a creation of Pixar's favorite toy manufacturer, Thinkway Toys.

I cannot wait to get one. He looks very soft and very much like his virtual counterpart. I'm guessing it cost be around $40.00, and should be available in the coming months in preparation for the film's release on June 18.


Update: Above is another picture from Lee's Twitpic page. It is Ned Beatty, the voice of Lotso the Bear, holding the aforementioned toy version of the character. This gives us a feeling of the toy's scale, and it also shows us the uncanny resemblance between the character and who's doing his voice...


Update 2: Apparently, this Lotso toy was announced along with hundreds of other new toys at the American International Toy Fair in New York City earlier today. It was announced by John Lasseter, Lee Unkrich, Darla Anderson and John Ratzenberger. The new line of Toy Story 3 merchandise stole the show at this year's event, along with Lasseter being inducted into the Toy Hall of Fame. Read the full press release, along with plenty of product descriptions, here.

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John Lasseter made of LEGOs

Briefly: Unkrich has just posted the above image in his Twitpic page. It is a sculpture of John Lasseter's head made out of LEGOs. And it is pretty darn cool. It is a great likeness, and I especially like the very stylized Woody and Buzz stranding next to him.

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