The theory that audiences would wait for the tentpole movies of July before opening their wallets went down in flames this weekend as two all-original movies (R-rated ones at that) delivered stellar openings. Ted and Magic Mike bested Brave by taking first and second place: nearly doubling their pre-weekend projections and giving box office watchers a lot more to consider than the imminent arrival of The Amazing Spider-Man.

This weekend, Brave became Pixar’s 13th feature film, the latest addition to an impeccable body of work that started nearly twenty years ago with Toy Story.  Given the storied history of everyone’s favorite animation studio, I think this is the perfect opportunity to try out a new feature, By the Numbers.  Essentially, I will go one by one through each of the Pixar movies and provide a numbers-based snapshot of its place in the filmography by looking at the box office, critical reception, and miscellaneous facts.  Four thousand words later, I hope you’ll agree this is a comprehensive review of Pixar’s work over the last two decades.

Hit the jump for a detailed look at Toy Story, A Bug’s Life, Toy Story 2, Monster’s, Inc., Finding Nemo, The Incredibles, Cars, Ratatouille, WALL-E, Up, Toy Story 3, Cars 2, and Brave.

This weekend’s box office turned out to be pretty predictable. Brave, the thirteenth feature from fan-favorite Pixar studios, came out on top with an estimated $66.7 million from 4,127 locations. Easy to see that one coming. More of a question mark was Fox’s R-rated counter-programmer Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter. Many expected the film to crash in epic fashion; and while $16.5 million from 3,106 locations is not great, it is better than Rock of Ages and That’s My Boy managed last weekend so… yay?

Thirteen is looking like a lucky number for Pixar. Brave, the studio’s thirteenth release, will keep their perfect streak of number one debuts very much intact. From a Pixar-record of 4,164 locations (67% in 3D) Brave earned an estimated $24.5 million on Friday. That puts the PG-rated feature on track for an opening weekend of almost $70 million – slightly more than Pixar’s last movie, Cars 2, realized on this weekend in 2011. Projections are not quite as sanguine for Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter. Though Fox’s R-rated genre-bender should avoid becoming a Jonah Hex-sized embarrassment, it also looks unlikely that director Timur Bekmambetov’s latest will taste success. From 3,106 locations, Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter earned an estimated $6.3 million on Friday. Projections put the film just under $15 million for the weekend, though I wouldn’t be surprised to see that figure fall further. We’ll have full details tomorrow.

As the 84th Academy Awards move closer, we’re starting to get a better sense of how things will pan out. We recently shared the 39 songs that will contend for the Best Original Song category, and now the Academy has announced the 97 original scores eligible for the Best Original Score award. AMPAS is notoriously picky when it comes to eligibility in this category, and as we feared the scores for both Drive and Attack the Block have been deemed ineligible. Also disappointing is the ineligibility of Alexandre Desplat’s mesmerizing score for The Tree of Life.

While it’s upsetting to see some of the year’s best work side-lined, there’s plenty to be happy about. I was a huge fan of Howard Shore’s work in Hugo and Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross’s score for The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo, as well as The Chemical Brothers’ brilliant work in the criminally underseen Hanna. Hit the jump for the full list, as well as who I think will make the cut.

The Academy of Motion Pictures Arts and Sciences announced today that 39 eligible songs will contend for the Best Original Song Oscar this year. Important to note is that a relatively recent rule change states that songs must be judged in the capacity that they appear in each film. In early January the voting body will get together and watch clips from each eligible movie in which the 39 songs are featured, after which they will determine the nominees. The list of eligible songs include three tracks from The Muppets, Sigur Ros frontman Jonsi’s song “Gathering Stories” (which director Cameron Crowe co-wrote) from We Bought a Zoo, and composer/songwriter/eight-time Oscar-winner Alan Menken’s “Star Spangled Man” from Captain America: The First Avenger. I’m partial to Jonsi’s work or “Man or Muppet” from The Muppets, but we’ll see how the Academy’s taste stacks up towards the end of January.

Hit the jump to check out the full list of eligible songs. The 84th Academy Award nominations will be announced on January 24th.

John Lasseter—he of the illustrious, awe-inspiring career with Pixar Animation Studios—has produced some truly great films for that studio over the years, not least of which were the Toy Story films.  This shouldn’t come as a shock to anyone, of course, seeing as how Pixar’s the gold-standard as far as cinematic animation goes these days, but it’s also not to say that Lasseter’s above making missteps.  Prior to seeing Cars 2 (recently out on Blu-ray), I wasn’t convinced that this was a sequel worth making, as the original Cars—beloved as it is by kids and Larry The Cable Guy enthusiasts everywhere—simply wasn’t my cup of tea.  So, is Cars 2 a misstep, or is it another fine addition to the Lasseter canon?  Hit the jump for my review of Cars 2 on Blu-ray.

Continuing on with our look at the 2012 Oscar race, today we delve into Best Animated Feature and the technical categories. As Pixar’s Cars 2 was the studio’s worst-received feature to date (it currently sits at 38% on Rotten Tomatoes), we’ve got ourselves an actual competition in the Animated Feature category. Not only that, but if all 18 films that were submitted to the Academy are deemed eligible, we’ll have a total of five nominated films. This leaves us to debate the merits of Rango and The Adventures of Tintin against the likes of Puss in Boots and Arthur Christmas.

Additionally, we’ve taken a stab at Best Original Screenplay, Best Adapted Screenplay, and the technical categories. As these are incredibly tricky to predict this far out (and my picks would be doomed to haunt me come February), I’ve simply listed a couple of frontrunners in each category instead of going in depth. Though it’s still early, we’ve got an overall picture of how things look like they’ll stack up; so hit the jump to check out the state of the race so far. If you missed our previous preview articles, be sure to take a look at our picks for Best Supporting Actor and Best Supporting Actress, and Best Actor and Best Actress.

I’m going to bypass my usual opening paragraph musings this week and simply wish everyone a Happy Veterans Day weekend. Given that I don’t have any immediate family or friends who serve, I won’t claim to know the first thing about the sacrifices that each serviceman/woman and their respective families and friends are continually asked to make. I reap all of the benefits of their service without any of the concessions. As a result, I owe a debt of gratitude to each and every one of them.

In this week’s “Top 5″ installment you can find the first trailer for Snow White and the Huntsman, a cornucopia of interviews for Immortals and Cars 2, new set images from the set of The Expendables 2 featuring Jean-Claude Van Damme, and a look at the road that led Billy Crystal and Brian Grazer to the top of the 2012 Oscars. Hit the jump for a brief recap and link to each.

Judging by the comments on the previous Cars 2 DVD/Blu-ray coverage, the film seems rather divisive with a lot of you – most bemoaning its failure to live up to previous heights of Pixar yore. I’m not sure the comparisons are necessarily fair – as Cars 2 doesn’t intend to have the same gravitas as other Pixar films. It’s the lightest of the studio’s fare and the most freewheeling narratively. The movie’s not afraid to go off on silly tangents – like the extended wasabi joke or the master of disguise jet plane sequence. Do all the jokes land? No. Does the movie feel like it could lose twenty or so minutes. Sure, it does. But  the thing that really irks me – those that use Cars 2 as a sign of the Pixar-Apocalypse, waving their pitchforks proclaiming ‘Hear ye, hear ye – this be the moment Ol’ Glorious Pixar sold out. Now The End is Nigh”. It’s one film. ONE. Let’s hold off on the judgment at least until Brave…

In the fifth and final interview (taken part at Pixar headquarters in Emeryville, CA), Cars 2 producer Denise Ream discusses how to budget/schedule an animated feature, what inspired her to get into the animation field and the differences between producing live action (as she previously worked at ILM on the Star Wars prequels) versus animation. For all this and more, hit the jump.

Last week in conjunction with the release of Cars 2 on DVD/Blu-ray, I was able to travel up to Pixar headquarters (Emeryville, CA), to tour the grounds and speak with the team behind the sequel. In today’s installment (the fourth of five interviews): I speak with supervising animators Dave Mullins and Shawn Krause. Mullins has been working with Pixar since 2000 on projects as varied as Finding Nemo, The Incredibles, and Cars; whereas Krause dates back to 1994 having served as animator and layout artist on Pixar’s first film – Toy Story. Both bring an experienced and well-learned perspective to how the animation process has changed over time and Pixar’s role in it.

In the following interview with the two, they also discuss what separates a “good” animated mouth from a “bad” one, who their favorite character to design in Cars 2 was and how to imbue inanimate talking cars with human characteristics. For the full interview, hit the jump.

Under consideration for the Academy Award for Best Animated Feature will be 18 contenders, some of which have yet to have their qualifying runs on screen. Major features include The Adventures of Tintin, Rango and Cars 2. Disney/Pixar has won 6 out of 10 years, while winning the last four in a row, but with DreamWorks’ Kung Fu Panda 2 and Puss in Boots in the running, it could very well be their turn. Though there are some dark horses in the mix.

Submitted films must satisfy the category’s qualifying rules, including their theatrical release, in order to continue the submission process. In order to activate the award category at all, no fewer than 8 animated features must be released in theaters in Los Angeles County within the calendar year. If these films meet requirements for other categories, including Best Picture, they may be eligible for those awards as well. Hit the jump to see the full list.

John Lasseter has a firm handshake. You see a guy in a Hawaiian shirt and shorts and your first thought is this must be one of those free thinking who cares what the world thinks? I’m gonna wear what I want and dance to my own drum type people. But the handshake says differently. It sizes you up, puts you in your place. Tells you it belongs to a man who knows what he wants, who’s in complete and total control. This is what makes John Lasseter such a compelling figure: at once one of the leading creative minds in animation (Toy Story, A Bugs Life, Cars, Luxo Jr.), whilst at the same time the shrewdest of businessmen (Lasseter is the largest shareholder in Disney; Pixar is valued upward of 7.4 billion).

In the third of five interviews running this week (in conjunction with the release of Cars 2 on Blu-ray/DVD today), I speak ever so briefly with the big man himself – John Lasseter (I was only allotted two questions). Click through to watch as Lasseter explicates on the fish-out-of-water dynamics of the Cars series and what he finds so darn fascinating about inanimate talking objects.

In all honesty, one of the more striking aspects of Cars 2 is the simple rising of an ocean wave in its opening moments.  It’s weird to think that animated water could leave such a mark – but the water in this little toon was more “real” and majestic than many an ocean I’ve seen in so-called live action films or, you know, in person. It’s one of those strange moments when fiction overtakes reality. I almost forgot I was watching an animated film – that was until the talking cars showed up.

So it was serendipitous that my interview with FX Technical Director John Reisch and Effects Supervisor Gary Bruins began simply enough with them showing me through the process of creating ripples in a wave. In the second of five interviews conducted at Pixar headquarters in Emeryville, California, the twosome also discuss their favorite segments from the film, the development of the animation process over time and why FX work isn’t just EXPLOSIONS!!!  The Cars 2 Blu-ray/DVD hits shelves tomorrow.

Last week I was invited up to Pixar Studios in Emeryville , CA to interview the animation team behind Cars 2. Upon leaving the confines of the studio, one journalist said to another: “You know that Jay Shuster – he’s a cartoon character in and of himself”. With long sideburns and a trademark grey cap, Shuster is an (ahem) animated conversationalist. He may be the only person I’ve met who gesticulates more often than I do. It’s really not much of a stretch to picture Shuster in cartoon form. More importantly though, Shuster is one of the main character-designers for Pixar – specializing in (as I would learn) robotic and environmental designs. He’s the guy responsible for Wall-E and Lightening McQueen – which makes him just about the most talented cartoon-character-come-to-life I’ve yet encountered.

In the first of five interviews conducted in conjunction with the Blu-ray/DVD release of Cars 2 (which gets released Tuesday), Shuster discusses when he first comes into the animation/development process, characters that didn’t make the final cut of Cars 2 and the very first thing he ever designed as a boy. For the full interview, hit the jump.