We have a couple of Pixar stories to kick off your day.  First up, 24 Frames has some brief news for The Good Dinosaur.  Details on the film, directed by Peter Sohn and Up co-director/”Dug” voice Bob Peterson, are being kept under wraps, but we know that the story is set in a world where an asteroid never hit the Earth, and dinosaurs continue to roam the planet.  Sohn says “The title is deceptively simple.  It has more meaning than it seems,” implying that if there are “good” dinosaurs then there must be bad ones as well.  Additionally, a piece of artwork shown off at last year’s D23 conference showed a small child standing next to a dinosaur, but the filmmakers won’t confirm if humans share the planet with giant creatures who are clearly at the top of the food chain.

Hit the jump for more details plus new posters for Brave.  The Good Dinosaur opens May 30, 2014.

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.

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.

Earlier today, we reported that Pixar had announced the release dates and directors of their upcoming films through 2014. This featured the triumphant return of Up and Monsters Inc. director Pete Docter and Up co-director Bob Peterson’s first feature flying solo. We now have more information on the original two flicks thanks to the Pixar presentation at Disney’s D23 Expo this afternoon.

Peterson’s film will be a contemporary-set pic featuring dinosaurs. The premise assumes that the storied asteroid missed Earth all those millions of years ago, and dinosaurs are now a part of everyday life. Docter’s film is a bit more cerebral, as it takes place “within the mind.” Hit the jump for more information, including the official loglines of each and the possibility of Toy Story 3 scribe Michael Arndt working on Docter’s pic.

Disney has spent the summer staking out release dates in the distant future, though details are scare on what they’re planning.  Today, we know more than we did yesterday.  Steve is at D23 right now, and saw a sheet with the men in charge of four upcoming Pixar movies.  Up co-director Bob Peterson and The Incredibles producer John Walker are listed for 2013 projects.  Up director Pete Docter and Up producer Jonas Rivera get their shot in 2014.

Still not much to go on, but the pieces are coming together. Monsters University is scheduled for June 23, 2013, directed by Dan Scanlon.  Pixar has a claim on November 27, 2013 as well, which will presumably either go to Peterson or Walker.  Is it possible Pixar will release three movies in 2013?  Either Docter or Rivera will premiere his movie on May 30, 2014—a Thanksgiving 2014 release for the other project seems likely.  We will update when the news is official (and clearer).  Hopefully, we can also update with names of the untitled Marvel films, if Disney is feeling generous.

When talking about the latest Pixar, it’s easy to fall into superlatives. Really, there’s only one modestly bad apple, and that’s Cars. The other film singled out as less than is A Bug’s Life, but that’s a solid film in its own right, and probably their most underrated. So is it fair to call Up a masterpiece? Yes. Yes it is. My review of Up after the jump.