Lee Unkrich

Marvel, Pixar, Disney and DreamWorks Live-Action CinemaCon Recap; Includes First 30 Minutes of BRAVE, WRECK-IT-RALPH, FRANKENWEENIE, More

by Steve 'Frosty' Weintraub    Posted: April 25th, 2012 at 12:06 pm

When Disney took the stage for their CinemaCon 2012 presentation yesterday afternoon, they didn’t mess around.  Loaded with footage, movie stars, filmmakers and information, the presentation was definitely aimed at letting exhibitors around the world know that the Disney umbrella (which now includes Pixar, Marvel, Walt Disney films, and distributing DreamWorks live-action films) is loaded with a lot of big properties and they have no intention of slowing down.  While some of the upcoming properties just had the stars and filmmakers talking about the movie (The Lone Ranger), others like Frankenweenie had Tim Burton on stage with Sean Bailey (President of Production at Disney) talking about why he wanted to make a stop-motion black and white movie, followed by the screening of a full scene.

In addition to what I just mentioned, Kevin Fiege from Marvel talked about Iron Man 3, Captain America 2, Thor 2, and The Avengers.  Pixar’s John Lasseter talked about their next four years of movies including director Lee Unkrich‘s untitled Dia de los Muertos movie, Bob Peterson‘s The Good Dinosaur, Pete Docter‘s untitled movie, Monsters University (including world premieriing the teaser trailer) and a clip of Finding Nemo in 3D and the first 30 minutes of Brave.  More after the jump.

Pixar Announces Animated Picture Based on Dia de los Muertos for 2015 with TOY STORY 3 Director Lee Unkrich Attached; More Release Dates Announced

by Dave Trumbore    Posted: April 24th, 2012 at 7:24 pm

At CinemaCon today, Disney/Pixar chief creative officer, John Lasseter, announced a few of the animated projects in the studio’s pipeline. Here they are at a glance:

• An animated project based on the Mexican holiday Dia de los Muertos (as of yet untitled) is slated for a 2015 release.  Toy Story 3 director Lee Unkrich is reportedly attached to direct with Darla Anderson producing. If Pixar decides to keep the decidedly dark-sounding title, perhaps it will be the studio’s first foray into something a bit more sinister. (And if Unkrich is involved, there are sure to be some references to The Shining.)
• The upcoming project directed by Bob Peterson is now called The Good Dinosaur; the picture is scheduled for a May 30th, 2014 release.
• The untitled feature directed by Pete Docter that will take a trip into the human mind has been pushed back until June 19th, 2015.

Hit the jump for more from Pixar.

Brad Bird, Andrew Stanton, and Lee Unkrich Tweet-Confirm Paul Thomas Anderson Shooting THE MASTER on 65mm

by Adam Chitwood    Posted: January 12th, 2012 at 3:17 pm

Despite being a sounding board for the woes and whines of anyone with a computer and/or phone, Twitter can actually be pretty cool sometimes. Case in point: last night Pixar directors/all-around awesome guys Brad Bird (The Incredibles), Andrew Stanton (Wall-E) and Lee Unkrich (Toy Story 3) participated in a Twitter conversation about the merits of 70mm exhibition and 65mm shooting. The conversation alone would have been enough to satisfy any cinephile, but a tidbit of exciting news came out of the back-and-forth. Stanton, who’s set to release his live-action debut John Carter this March, tweeted the following:

“The Master is indeed in 65. They nearly lost a camera shooting in the Bay.”

The Master is the working title of Paul Thomas Anderson’s highly anticipated new drama, and it appears he shot the pic in the high-resolution format. Hit the jump for more.

New TOY STORY Short Attached to CARS 2?

by Adam Chitwood    Posted: December 19th, 2010 at 9:53 am

While the Toy Story saga may have ended this year with the wonderfully perfect concluding chapter Toy Story 3, it looks like that may not be the last time we see the Toy Story gang in action. The short films that precede Disney/Pixar films usually garner nearly as much anticipation and excitement as the films themselves (and rightfully so), and it looks like the short that will play before next summer’s Cars 2 will be a Toy Story one. Disney animator Floyd Norman recently took to Twitter to give some details on the short, saying:

“Ken and Barbie want to go to Hawaii. I don’t know what it’s gonna be attached to. Fun stuff, however.”

Combine that with Toy Story 3 director Lee Unkrich confirming via his Twitter that a Toy Story short would, in fact, be attached to Cars 2, and it looks like we’ll be getting more of Ken and Barbie next summer (thanks to Stitch Kingdom for putting two and two together).  While it’s no Woody and Buzz, Barbie and Ken were one of the highlights of the concluding film, and basically anything Toy Story related is fine by me. Watch the trailer for Cars 2 here, and check out the full flick when it hits theaters on June 24, 2011.

Michael Giacchino’s LOST Music Set to TOY STORY 3

by Jake Horowitz    Posted: November 11th, 2010 at 5:24 pm

If anyone’s been feeling a bit inhuman lately and needs to show a little emotion, I dare you to watch this clip and say you felt nothing. Back in June we all got pretty teary over Toy Story 3, most notably the incinerator scene, and now thanks to YouTube we can experience it again. This time however, the clip features some of Michael Giacchino’s finest work from the score of Lost, and it’s impossible to not be blown away by it.

I’ll reserve my words for after the clip, so grab some Kleenex, hit the jump, and don’t say I didn’t warn you.

TOY STORY 3 Blu-ray Review

by Rob Vaux    Posted: October 29th, 2010 at 8:45 pm

Every filmmaker stumbles from time to time. Even the greats like Hitchcock and Kubrick have a few boners in their pantheon, along with other movies that do the job and not much more. Part of the ballyhoo over Pixar stems from the fact that they alone seem to have avoided that trap. Everything they produce stands head and shoulders above its competitors, throwing off the filmmaking curve like a genius in remedial English class. At worst, their efforts are pretty good, and at best? Well, at best they produce movies like Toy Story 3. Hit the jump for my full review.

TOY STORY Characters “Not Going Away Forever”; Will Appear in a Short Attached to CARS 2

by Ti Alan Chase    Posted: June 18th, 2010 at 7:02 am

Toy Story 3 wraps up Pixar’s flagship trilogy nicely and could have been a natural place to end the series completely.  But director Lee Unkrich confirmed in an interview with MSN that we haven’t seen the last of Woody and Buzz.  Although he insists that there are no current plans for another feature length Toy Story, Unkrich stated that Pixar is “going to keep [the characters] alive; they’re not going away forever.”

And where will they show up next?  They’re going to star in the short film attached to Cars 2, which hits theaters June 24, 2011.  I’m excited to see a Toy Story short, but the cynic in me sees this as Pixar trying to use their strongest franchise to boost their weakest.

TOY STORY 3 Review

by Matt Goldberg    Posted: June 18th, 2010 at 1:06 am

After the more outside-the-box family films of Ratatouille, WALL-E, and Up, Pixar is going back inside the toy box with Toy Story 3.  There’s nothing wrong with being inside the box when there are lots of toys, loads of fun, and plenty of jokes.  It’s wonderful to see Woody, Buzz, and the gang team up for another adventure (even if it’s the same rescue/escape narrative structure of the first two films).  But Toy Story 3 is so eager to entertain, that it almost never takes a moment to breathe.  Instead, it’s a movie that’s a roller coaster in the best sense of the term.  Set in the mold of a prison break movie, Toy Story 3 may not break with convention or out from under the shadow of the first two films, but it’s a welcome break from this dreary summer.

Director Lee Unkrich and Producer Darla K. Anderson Exclusive Video Interview TOY STORY 3

by Matt Goldberg    Posted: June 13th, 2010 at 9:49 pm

Last weekend, I had the incredible privilege of going to Pixar Animation Studios for the Toy Story 3 press day.  The experience was so fantastic that I can’t even believe I wrote that last sentence.  And then it somehow got even better as I got the chance to interview the cast and filmmakers.  I don’t want to spoil the movie, so I’ll just say that it’s probably the most action-packed and thrilling film Pixar has ever done.  This is one of the most highly-anticipated films of the summer and it absolutely delivers.

The folks primarily responsible for crafting the thrill ride?  Director Lee Unkrich and Darla K. Anderson.  Unkrich has been at Pixar since Toy Story and he co-directed Toy Story 2, Monsters Inc., and Finding Nemo.  Anderson has also worked on Pixar films since the first Toy Story and so these two are about as veteran as it gets.  Hit the jump for what they had to say about the flick and be sure to keep checking back as I’ll be posting a new interview every day this week.  Finally, click here for 5 movie clips and 18 high resolution images from Toy Story 3.

5 Movie Clips and 18 High Resolution Stills from Pixar’s TOY STORY 3

by Steve 'Frosty' Weintraub    Posted: June 11th, 2010 at 1:41 pm

With Toy Story 3 getting released next weekend, we’ve been given 5 clips and 18 high resolution images from the film.  Also, Matt was just at Pixar to do interviews with the voice cast and the filmmakers, so you can expect a lot more Toy Story 3 coverage next week.  Until then, check out the clips and images after the jump.

TOY STORY and TOY STORY 2 Blu-ray Reviews

by Andre Dellamorte    Posted: April 9th, 2010 at 8:39 am

It was less than fifteen years ago that Toy Story debuted for the Holiday season of 1995. At the time Disney was taking a chance with an entirely computer animated film, especially after their amazing resurgence and recent run of cel animated films – they were only a year off of The Lion King. Now, Pixar essentially runs Disney animation and cel animation is the experiment – completely out of fashion in part due to Disney ruining the brand name (and to some extent DreamWorks making equally mediocre films). But you can’t blame Pixar for being good, and it was the wild success of the Toy Story films that helped cement their legacy. They tell the story of Woody (Tom Hanks), a cowboy doll who is ousted from his position as the sole favorite toy by Buzz Lightyear (Tim Allen), and how the two go on an adventure in the real world. The sequel has the duo facing a toy kidnapper (Wayne Knight), who wants to send Woody to Japan with the toy line he originally came from while Woody confronts his own mortality. My review of Toy Story and Toy Story 2 on Blu-ray after the jump.

Steve Watches TOY STORY 3 at ShoWest – Video Blog Review Here

by Steve 'Frosty' Weintraub    Posted: March 16th, 2010 at 9:52 pm

Earlier today I was able to see the world premiere of Toy Story 3 at ShoWest in Las Vegas.  If you don’t know what ShoWest is, it’s the place where the movie studios and the theater owners and operators from around the world come together to discuss the industry and show off future products.  It’s also where the studios occasionally show big upcoming movies…like Pixar premiering Toy Story 3 today.

While we were asked by director Lee Unkrich not to reveal the plot of the movie beyond what’s in the trailer, he said we could tweet and post our reaction to the movie.  And that’s what Peter from Slashfilm and I decided to do as we recorded what we thought as a video blog.  So if you’d like to know what I thought of Pixar’s next movie…hit the jump.

Walt Disney Announces WonderCon 2010 Lineup – PRINCE OF PERSIA: THE SANDS OF TIME, THE SORCERER’S APPRENTICE and TOY STORY 3

by Steve 'Frosty' Weintraub    Posted: March 12th, 2010 at 3:55 pm

Walt Disney has announced their WonderCon 2010 lineup and it’s going to focus on their summer 2010 movies.  According to the press release Disney sent over, they’ll be pushing Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time, Toy Story 3, and The Sorcerer’s Apprentice.  And while you might think they’ll just show some footage and the presentation will be short, they’re treating this like Comic-Con and bringing along some big names like Jake Gyllenhaal, Jordan Mechner, Nicolas Cage, Jay Baruchel, Teresa Palmer – plus Filmmakers Jerry Bruckheimer, Mike Newell, Jon Turteltaub and Lee Unkrich. If you’re going to WonderCon in San Francisco, it sounds like you’ll see some cool stuff.

Disney says their panel is Saturday April 3rd.  Here are the times:

• 12:15 – 12:45 PM     PRINCE OF PERSIA: THE SANDS OF TIME
• 12:45 – 1:15 PM       THE SORCERER’S APPRENTICE
• 1:15 – 1:45 PM          TOY STORY 3

Hit the jump to read the press release.  A lot of the other studios will be at WonderCon.  We’ll post updates as we get them:

New Poster for TOY STORY 3

by Matt Goldberg    Posted: March 4th, 2010 at 11:37 am

Yahoo! Movies has premiered a new poster for Pixar’s Toy Story 3.  While the posters thus far have placed a single character next to the number “3″, the new poster is bright, colorful, and the gang’s all here, the gang being the toys from Andy’s room and the toys from the day-care center where the film takes place.

Hit the jump to check out the poster and the official synopsis.  Toy Story 3 hits theaters in 3D on June 18th.

TOY STORY 3 at Toy Fair – Take a Look at the Toys Disney-Pixar Will Sell You Later This Year

by Steve 'Frosty' Weintraub    Posted: February 15th, 2010 at 8:36 am

Disney-Pixar unveiled tons of upcoming products from Toy Story 3 at Toy Fair yesterday.  While I wasn’t able to attend the convention, thanks to the magic of the internet, I’ve been provided with TONS of pictures and an exact listing of what will be coming later this year.  Hit the jump to check out all the various toys as well as some cool stuff like a Lego version of John Lasseter.

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