Disney has released a new theatrical trailer for the upcoming animated film Planes.  The film features the voice of Dane Cook as Dusty, a crop duster plane that dreams of being a racer, but because he’s not built for it, instead turns to a seasoned naval aviator to help him take on the defending champ of the racing circuit.  This trailer draws a strong connection between Planes and Cars, even though Pixar had nothing to do with the development or production of Planes.  Nevertheless, the two films appear to exist in the same universe.

Hit the jump to watch the new trailer.  The film also features the voices of Val Kilmer,Anthony Edwards, Stacy Keach, Cedric the Entertainer, Teri Hatcher, Brad Garrett, Roger Craig Smith, Gabriel Iglesias, Carlos Alazraqui, Julia Louis-Dreyfus, John Cleese, Priyanka Chopra, Sinbad, Brent Musburger, and Colind Cowherd.  Planes opens in 3D on August 9th.

Disney has released a new promo video for its upcoming animated film Planes.  While not a trailer per se, the promo shows off a bunch of footage from the film but none of the dialogue.  Instead, we’re greeted with a sampling of composer Mark Mancina’s music from the film.  Originally slated for a direct-to-video release, Disney only recently made the decision to release Planes theatrically.  While it appears to take place in the same universe as Cars, Pixar is not involved with the pic creatively.  The most recent trailer was pretty painful and the notion of Dane Cook leading the voice cast isn’t exactly promising, but the visuals sure do look great in this new promo.

Hit the jump to watch the video.  The film also features the voices of Val Kilmer,Anthony Edwards, Stacy Keach, Cedric the Entertainer, Teri Hatcher, Brad Garrett, Roger Craig Smith, Gabriel Iglesias, Carlos Alazraqui, Julia Louis-Dreyfus, John Cleese, Priyanka Chopra, Sinbad, Brent Musburger, and Colin Cowherd.  Planes opens in 3D on August 9th.

Disney has released a new sneak peek at footage from its upcoming animated feature Planes.  If you weren’t already aware that Planes was originally destined for a direct-to-DVD release, this new bit of footage should clue you in.  From the incessant “rock” music to the cheesy dialogue, this one looks like it is aimed squarely at the kiddos and no one else.  That being said, airplanes are indeed a bit like magic when you’re a child, so one assumes this one will be a hit with the younger crowd.

Hit the jump to watch this new bit of footage.  Dane Cook leads a voice cast that includes Val Kilmer, Anthony Edwards, Stacy Keach, Cedric the Entertainer, Teri Hatcher, Brad Garrett, Roger Craig Smith, Gabriel Iglesias, Carlos Alazraqui, Julia Louis-Dreyfus, John Cleese, Priyanka Chopra, Sinbad, Brent Musburger, and Colind Cowherd.  Planes opens in 3D on August 9th.

New posters for a few upcoming films have made their way online.  Briefly:

• The Conjuring – The first poster for director James Wan’s insanely creepy-looking horror film teases the fact that the story is based on true events.  The film stars Vera Farmiga, Patrick Wilson, and Lili Taylor and opens on July 19th.
• Planes – The debut poster for Disney’s Cars spinoff teases the many anthropomorphized aerial vehicles that will be featured in the film.  The voice cast includes Dane Cook, Val Kilmer, and Anthony Edwards and opens in 3D on August 9th.
• Epic – A new batch of character posters for the upcoming animated film introduces the colorful cast of characters.  The film features the voices of Amanda Seyfried, Christoph Waltz, and Aziz Ansari and opens in 3D on May 24th.

Hit the jump to check out the posters and synopses for the aforementioned films.

Last month, we reported that Dane Cook would lead the voice cast of Disney’s Cars spin-off, Planes.  His character, Dusty, dreams of being a racer, but because he’s not built for it, he turns to a seasoned naval aviator to help him take on the defending champ of the racing circuit.  Today, Disney has announced the actors voicing the supporting characters.  It’s a surprisingly large cast that has Top Gun‘s Val Kilmer and Anthony Edwards voicing fighter jets, which is a nice touch.  The voice cast also includes Stacy Keach, Cedric the Entertainer, Teri Hatcher, Brad Garrett, Roger Craig Smith, Gabriel Iglesias, Carlos Alazraqui, Julia Louis-Dreyfus, John Cleese, Priyanka Chopra, Sinbad, Brent Musburger, and ESPN’s vile radio host Colin Cowherd.  Cowherd voices blimp “Colin Cowling”.  It is currently unknown if the blimp will engage in race-baiting.

Hit the jump to check out images of all the supporting characters.  Planes opens in 3D on August 9th. [Updated: We've added a press release, which contains details on the new characters]

Disney has announced that Dane Cook will voice the lead character “Dusty” in the upcoming Cars spin-off, Planes.  Dusty dreams of being a racer, but because he’s not built for it, he turns to a seasoned naval aviator to help him take on the defending champ of the racing circuit.  Cook previously did voice work in Farce of the Penguins, Mr. 3000, and an episode of the TV series, Duck Dodgers.  Cook had a pretty crummy run of feature films in the mid-2000s, but he did a treat turn in the little-seen Detention (“I make 40 ‘G’s’ a year plus dental. You may not have a Skittle.”), and he probably endeared himself to some folks for his guest spot on Louie.

Hit the jump to check out the press release.  Planes opens in 3D on August 9th.

Disney has released the first trailer for their Cars spinoff, Planes.  The film was originally set to go directly-to-DVD, but now Disney is sending it to the big screen.  The story focuses on Dusty, “a small town dreamer who longs to enter the most epic around-the-world air race… despite his fear of heights.”  The original plan to send the film direct-to-DVD isn’t necessarily a bad sign.  Toy Story 2 was originally set to go to straight-to-video, and that’s one of Pixar’s crown jewels.  However, Planes comes from Pixar’s two weakest films, and the studio has no involvement in the spinoff.  Still, Planes will probably serve its main purpose, which is to keep the Cars merchandise train rolling.

Hit the jump to check out the trailer.  Planes opens August 9th. [Update: Disney has informed us that this is the same trailer that played at the D23 Expo last year, and thus is not new. Expect an official theatrical trailer soon.]

As we approach the end of 2012, it can be a little daunting to look ahead at all the great films coming up in 2013. So today we’ll break down the 2013 releases for Disney, including Walt Disney Animation Studios, Disney/Pixar and Marvel Studios. As usual, the Mouse House has a line-up full of live-action movies like Oz the Great and Powerful and The Lone Ranger, superhero features Iron Man 3 and Thor: The Dark World and animated films such as Monsters University and Frozen. There’s even a 3D re-release of the classic The Little Mermaid next year. Hit the jump to see the release date schedule for Disney’s 2013 films.

It’s officially official: Disney’s Cars spinoff Planes is getting a theatrical release after all.  Though the film was initially set for a direct-to-DVD release, hints started surfacing this past summer that Disney was considering releasing the film theatrically instead, as John Lasseter had grown particularly fond of the pic.  Today, Disney announced that Planes will indeed open in theaters on August 9, 2013.  That puts it opposite Neill Blomkamp’s sci-fi film Elysium and the Jennifer Aniston/Jason Sudeikis comedy We’re the Millers.

As one can surmise, Planes takes place in Cars‘ terrifying world of anthropomorphic vehicles and centers on an eclectic international cast of the aerial variety.  The story focuses on Dusty, “a small town dreamer who longs to enter the most epic around-the-world air race… despite his fear of heights.”  Essentially it’s a cross between Cars and the atrocious Cars 2, but with planes.  The film is not, however, being produced by Pixar.

Our first look at the logos for The Avengers 2, Thor 2 and Captain America 2 have landed online, as well as a new logo for Iron Man 3.  The logos were unveiled during a presentation at Ciné 2012 in Riccione, and a timeline for Disney’s theatrical releases also provides further evidence that the Cars spinoff Planes may be headed to theaters after all.  Initially planned for a direct-to-DVD release, a poster from last week hinted that the film could be headed to theaters.  Here’s a brief rundown of the development statuses for the Marvel films:

• Iron Man 3 – Directed by Shane Black, opening in theaters on May 3rd, 2013.
• Thor 2 – Directed by Alan Taylor, opening in theaters on November 8th, 2013.
• Captain America 2 – Directed by Joe and Anthony Russo, opening in theaters on April 4th, 2014
• The Avengers 2 – No director or release date has yet to be announced.

Hit the jump to check out the logos.

Just the other day, we got our first look at James Franco in Sam Raimi’s Oz the Great and Powerful by way of a sheet of promo posters.  The image was only a close-up of the Franco poster, but the full sheet actually gives us a look at a promo poster for Iron Man 3 and hints at a theatrical release for Disney’s Cars spinoff Planes.  All the films included on the sheet are slated to be released theatrically, and Planes is included in the bunch.  Rumors have been swirling that John Lasseter is so fond of the film that he’s keen on giving it a theatrical release instead of its originally planned direct-to-DVD distribution, and this poster seems to suggest that Planes is indeed headed to theaters after all.

Hit the jump for more, including the promo posters for Planes and Iron Man 3.

Last year, we reported that Disney was developing Planes, a direct-to-DVD spin-off to their hit franchise Cars.  However, Pixar would not be creating the film and instead Disney would be using Disney Toon Studios, the folks behind films like The Lion King 1½ and other direct-to-DVD sequels.  John Lasseter, in his capacity as Disney Animation Studios Chief Creative Officer, said in 2007 that he was stopping the direct-to-DVD animated sequels after viewing a work-in-progress version of a Tinkerbell movie.  But apparently that policy didn’t last because there have been five Tinkerbell movies since 2008 and now a teaser trailer for Planes has gone online.  I like how the teaser uses the intro to White Zombie’s “More Human Than Human” when the actual song starts with the track being overlayed with the sounds of a woman having an orgasm.

Hit the jump to check out the trailer.  Planes is set to arrive on DVD and Blu-ray in spring 2013.

As we reported last July, Disney is planning a Cars direct-to-DVD spinoff called Planes.  Pixar won’t be involved in the spin-off and the film will be handled by DisneyToon Studios, whose previous movies include The Lion King 1 ½ and Bambi II.  Disney has now officially announced Planes and provided an official synposis:

PLANES takes off with an international cast of the fastest air racers around, in a comedy packed with action and adventure starring Dusty, a small town dreamer who longs to enter the most epic around-the-world air race … despite his fear of heights.  With the help and support of a fleet of new and hilarious characters, Dusty wings his way into the biggest challenge of his life.

Hit the jump for comment on the project by Disney/Pixar Chief Creative Officer and Cars director John Lasseter.  Planes is set to be released on DVD and Blu-ray in spring 2013.

Last week, we reported that Pixar was possibly getting into the direct-to-video business by spin-offing Cars into a home entertainment movie called Planes.  While the success of Cars made a spin-off seem like a reasonable business decision, Bleeding Cool reports that Pixar is not actively working on the movie.  Instead, the movie is being developed over at Disney Toon Studios.  They’re the folks best known for making disposable, direct-to-video sequels like Bambi II and The Lion King 1½.  Pixar isn’t doing the animation and the extent of their involvement is unknown regarding the story.  Bleeding Cool notes that Pixar and CCO John Lasseter are protective of their franchises, so they may serve as consultants in some capacity.  But overall  it looks like Planes won’t really be flying under Pixar’s banner.

Pixar is reportedly developing a Cars spin-off called Planes for the direct-to-video market.  With Cars 2 set to arrive next summer, it makes sense that the studio would try to build on that momentum by releasing a spin-off project around the same time.  Of course, when you consider that Toy Story 2 and 3 were both originally considered as straight-to-DVD project, it’s possible that Pixar may eventually want to release Planes will into theaters.  But as Movieline points out, Cars wasn’t a huge smash not at the box office, but with its merchandising.  Keeping that in mind, it doesn’t make much sense to send the spinoff into theaters when the goal is to push more toys, bedsheets, etc.  I’m going to assume that the success of Cars 2 at the box office will also factor into Planes‘ future.

While the past several years had Pixar releasing its most challenging and original movies with Ratatouille, WALL-E, and Up, the studio is currently moving towards established properties.  In addition to this year’s Toy Story 3 and Cars 2 for summer 2011, the studio is also working on Monsters, Inc. 2 for 2012.  But just because Pixar is trying to expand its coffers, doesn’t mean that any of these projects, including Planes, is going to be a slapshod production that’s unworthy of the Pixar name.