'Monsters University' Teaser Coming Wednesday!

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With Brave coming out this Friday, many fans were also eagerly anticipating the teaser trailer for Pixar's following film, Monsters University, to arrive in theaters on that same day. Now, Pixar has announced that we won't have to wait until Friday for this teaser, as it will arrive online this Wednesday!
Scheduled for release on June 21, 2013, Monsters University is the prequel to one of Pixar's most beloved films, Monsters, Inc., and follows Mike and Sulley during their days in college, when they weren't exactly the best of friends.
On Friday, the following message was posted on the official MU Facebook page:
"You’re about to discover a bit more about Mike and Sulley’s days at Monsters University."
It was accompanied by a picture with the text "5 Days" written in the iconic Monsters, Inc. lettering. Five days from Friday would be June 20, which is this coming Wednesday. I think the best guess at as to what is being released on Wednesday is the teaser trailer, don't you? After all, what else could it be?
This is actually quite an exciting event for Pixar fans around the globe, as it marks the first time we see Mike and Sulley since 2001 when the original Monsters, Inc. debuted. The teaser was screened a couple of months ago at CinemaCon, and there were reports that the whole audience had been laughing. We've heard that this teaser revolves around Sulley pulling some sort of prank on Mike, so the results ought to be hilarious.
Check back here on Wednesday (that's June 20) for the new teaser!

Brave Finally in Theaters!

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After months, for some even years, of counting down the days, Pixar's thirteenth animated feature film, Brave, has arrived in theaters!
Brave is quite an exciting film for the animation studio, as it marks the first time in Pixar history that a female protagonist leads the film, and it is also the studio's first fairy tale. But this isn't just your regular Disney-type fairy tale. This is a fairy tale done Pixar style.
Pixar's latest is now out, and I highly recommend going to see Brave this weekend, or if not, then sometime during its run in theaters! It seems like another lovely film worthy of the Pixar name.
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Sneak Peek at 'Finding Nemo' Blu-ray!

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The Pixar Times has nabbed some photos of the cover for the upcoming Blu-ray release of the Pixar classic, Finding Nemo. The film remains the only movie from the studio to not yet be available on the Blu-ray format, but that will change in December.
With the photos, we get a look at what super-awesome bonus features the new release of the film will have. If you decide to go for the 3D Blu-ray version (which includes a 3D Blu-ray, two regular Blu-rays, a DVD, and a digital copy), then you'll get the chance to enjoy the immersive HD Aquariums in 3D. I remember the virtual aquariums from the original DVD edition, and back then they blew my mind, so I can only imagine how spectacular they'll be in gorgeous high-definition and 3D!
Other special features include:

CineExplore

Reinventing The Submarine Voyage

Deleted Scene: Alternate Opening

A Lesson In Flashbacks

Filmmakers’ Roundtable Discussion

Knick Knack Theatrical Short

HD Art Review

Outtakes and Deleted Scenes

Pixar extras are always very exciting to watch, so I'm very much looking forward to seeing all these new additions. Also, the original bonus features from the DVD will likely also be included on the Blu-ray; the DVD was also jam-packed with fabulous bonus material.
Nemo swims onto Blu-ray on December 4 with a whole ocean of new special features! (Please excuse the puns, they're irresistable.)

Gallery of High-Res 'Brave' Stills!

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Brave has been playing in theaters for a little over a week now, and audiences seem to be quite enjoying Pixar's latest masterpiece. Here is a group of stills taken from the new film, all in gorgeous high-resolution. Which is your favorite?
















I'll have my reviews for both Brave and La Luna up later this week. For now, be sure to catch both films in theaters if you haven't already!

'Brave' Easter Eggs: Where Were They Hidden?

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Over the years, fans of Pixar have grown quite fond of the little "Easter eggs" that the studio hides in their films, which can make watching one of their films all the more exciting.
Some of these hidden surprises occur in maybe just one film, but others have grown to become traditional, legendary Pixar Easter eggs. These include some sort of reference to an upcoming film from the studio, and the famed Pizza Planet truck, which made its first appearance in 1995 with Toy Story and has appeared in every Pixar film since (excluding The Incredibles).
Pixar has not forgotten their little traditions in this year's Brave, although that's what you might think during your first time watching the film. After all, how are you supposed to put a pizza delivery truck into a story set in medieval Scotland? The Easter eggs in Brave are hidden very well, so Pixar has released official images and descriptions revealing to us where both the Pizza Planet truck and Sulley from next year's Monsters University appear in the movie.

ANCIENT DELIVERYThe Witch, an eccentric crone disguised as a woodcarver specializing in whittling wooden bear figurines and conjuring haphazard spells, showcases her mysterious and inexplicable knowledge of the future with a carved figurine of the infamous Pizza Planet truck, an iconic delivery vehicle that’s appeared in nearly every full-length feature film from Pixar Animation Studios since 1995’s Toy Story. Disney•Pixar’s Brave is in theaters now.


NO MONSTERS IN THE CLOSETA carving of Sulley, the lovable blue monster slated to return to the big screen in 2013’s Monsters University, appears on a piece of wood in the home of the Witch, an eccentric crone and woodcarver in Disney•Pixar’s epic action adventure Brave, in theaters now.
Still no word on where A113 shows up in the film, but we know it is there, as director Mark Andrews confirmed so a few months ago. If you found it, let us know in the comments!
Which did you catch the Easter eggs when you saw Brave?

Exclusive: Tintin 2 Details, "I'm not sure I'd put too much money on [Calculus Affair]"

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Last month, Stormbreaker author and Tintin 2 screenwriter, Anthony Horowitz, told this blog on Twitter, that, in Tintin 2 "You can expect to meet Cuthbert Calculus." This sparked some debate and consideration as to what books the sequel to last year's hit would be based on.

At the time I theorised an adaptation of one of the later Tintin books, the Calculus-centric, The Calculus Affair. Since then my idea expanded somewhat; I thought perhaps a combination of this and Red Rackham's Treasure - which the first film drew from slightly. However, when I proposed my theory on Twitter, Horowitz replied "I'm not sure I'd put too much money on that."

A double bluff? Maybe. But it certainly sparks more thought on the matter. Assuming that Horowitz isn't trying to throw us off the scent, we now know what Tintin 2 isn't based on. Horowitz also told BBC a while back "I think the second film is not going to be Prisoners of the Sun", adding though that "The good news is if [Prisoners Of The Sun] is not the second film it'll be the third film so actually I could end up with two Tintins under my belt."


So, given that that effectively rules out 3 books, and rule out also The Crab with the Golden Claws and Secret of the Unicorn - on which the first film was based - and factor in that, in the first film, Tintin's walls were adorned by newspaper clippings touting his previous success in various adventures, adventures that happened in Tintin in the Congo/Tintin in America, Cigars of the Pharoh, The Broken Ear and King Ottokar's Sceptre, then we have a reduced list of 15 books. Add to that that it's unlikely to be the rudimentary and oft-called insensitive Land of the Soviets or the unfinished Alpha-Art, and we're down to 13.

The Calculus Affair does seem somewhat unlikely in retrospect; why would Tintin and Captain Haddock (particularly Haddock) risk their lives to help save someone they barely knew? So, what are we left with? I discussed this with friend of the blog and our resident Tintin consultant, Damien, on Twitter, and we're in agreement that it still seems likely Red Rackham's Treasure - or elements of it - will be used. It's such a good introduction for the character, that it makes a lot of sense to borrow from it. The Moon books seem a little sci-fi-esque and too far removed from the first film to be fitting, and after the controversy surrounding Indiana Jones 4, it seems unlikely Steven Spielberg would opt for the alien infused Flight 714 - although elements of that could also be effectively used.

Peter Jackson (Lord of the Rings, The Hobbit), co-producer of The Adventures of Tintin: The Secret of the Unicorn and director of Tintin 2, said several times that The Black Island was one of his favourite Tintin adventures, so that is a strong possibility. But, the crux of this is: although we now have a better idea of what the film might be (or at least might not be) we're still a way off knowing for sure.

Tintin 2 is tentatively scheduled for release in 2014/2015.

UPDATE:
Damien pointed out that there is a newspaper clipping referencing The Black Island in the first film, so that probably rules that out as well.
And then there were 12...

First Look at Disney's Paperman

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A lot of hype has been surrounding Disney's latest short film as of late. Paperman, directed by John Kahrs, - who worked as an animator on a number of Pixar films, before moving to Disney where he acted as an animation supervisor on Tangled - has been received to a rapturously positive response by those privileged to see it already. The film screened at the Annecy International Animated Film Festival a few weeks ago and Tweets about it passed enthusiastic and bordered on frenzied.

The short film, which is set to precede Wreck-It Ralph later this year (or the start of next year in the UK), is making waves for its revolutionary animation technique, which fuses hand-drawn animation with computer animation, combining "the dimension and depth of digital animation with the abstract warmth of traditional line-art. The result is a world seemingly sculpted out of sketches."


That description comes via Entertainmexnt Weekly, who also provide us with our first look at the highly anticipated short, with 3 exclusive stills.

The article also offers up some insight into, and the inspiration for, the techniques behind the short's animation:

“Drawing can have a really powerful, visceral effect on the viewer. You can create anger and surprise or anguish with just a few lines of a pencil,” says director John Kahrs, an animator on The Incredibles and Tangled. “But it can’t just be the same thing it was. I think for 2-D to be revitalized, you have to figure out a way to make it new again.”
It also provides some insight into the animation software behind Paperman, Meander:
"Disney used new in-house technology called Meander to build the world of Paperman. First the characters and backgrounds were rendered digitally, and then hand-drawn art was layered over those shapes, giving the figures a kind of 3-D quality unseen in old-school animation. “What you’re seeing is a very stylized CG layer [underneath], but the feel of the image is very flat and lives in between the two,” Kahrs says."

Finally, I'll leave you with perhaps the most telling comment of all, from producer Kristina Reed:
“If this short had come out with The Little Mermaid, everyone would be excited about the CG,” says Reed with a laugh. “Now here we are in the early part of this millennium, and what we’re celebrating is going back to the handcraft.”
It's a fantastically rivetting read and Paperman promises to change a hell of a lot for animation at Disney! Be sure to read the full article over at EW.