Toy Story 3, Cars 2, Pooh & Bear Updates
Source:Empire
September 10, 2009
Disney's big D23 Expo kicks-off today at the Anaheim Convention Center, and ComingSoon.net will be covering the event, but it seems the studio has already made some of the biggest announcements before the show has even started. In addition to last night's news that Mandy Moore and Zachary Levi will voice Rapunzel, John Lasseter was also in London today to reveal news and show clips that were expected to premiere at D23 Expo.
Empire magazine attended the presentation in which Lasseter revealed that Timothy Dalton will voice a character call Mr. Pricklepants in Toy Story 3, "who's something of a luvvie and wears lederhosen." The magazine described a animation test they saw of the character and the trailer:
We saw a tiny animation test with Mr Pricklepants (who's cute in a spiky way), but the big news was a lengthy Toy Story 3 clip and trailer. The clip showed Andy packing from college, and emptying all his toys into a black bin bag for storage in the attic. He hesitates over Woody and Buzz, finally putting Woody in the box of things to take for college. But all the toys are panicked - especially Woody, who's worried for his friends. When Andy is distracted by his little sister and leaves the garbage bag on the landing instead of upstairs in the attic, his mother takes it out to the kerb - and a frantic Woody has to save his friends from a rapidly approaching bin lorry.
We also saw the as-yet unreleased trailer, which showed bits of the same scene, but developed the story. Clearly the toys end up being sent to a daycare centre, where they are horribly abused by the little kids - and after that it's time for a break-out attempt to find a safe haven, and hopefully a new owner, in a cruel world. It looks every bit as good as its titanic predecessors.
Empire also says Lasseter revealed the story for Cars 2:
The story sees Lightning McQueen (Owen Wilson), his pit team and new pit boss Mater head around the world for the Race of Champions, to take place in five different countries and involve the champions of different disciplines like Formula One and rally driving. First up is a race in Tokyo, starting at Mount Fuji and heading downtown (somewhat reminiscent of Mater's Tall Tales short about drift-racing, that); then there's a German race through the Black Forest; then "Porto Corsa" in Italy, which is based partly on the Monte Carlo Grand Prix; then a 24-hour race around Paris (so somewhat like Le Mans then) and finally a thrilling climax in London, approaching Buckingham Palace (where the guards appear to be Land Rovers).
But all this racing is not the only focus. Mater, who we know from the series of cartoon shorts Mater's Tall Tales (more on that in our blog in a minute) is prone to exaggeration, gets involved in a "Hitchcockian" case of mistaken identity, saves the life of a British secret agent called Finn McMissile (who looks a heck of a lot like an Aston Martin) and becomes embroiled in a huge spy thriller. Only no-one believes him. That too comes to a head at Buckingham Palace.
Along the way there are towtruck-abroad pictures to be taken at the Oktoberfest in Germany (where Mater wears "Materhosen") and harassing the aforementioned Palace Guards. Is it weird that Mater isn't annoying me at all any more, after being a bit of a pain at times in the first film?
Next up was a presentation on the new Winnie the Pooh movie that is in the works:
Lasseter followed that - and a series of gorgeous production stills - with Winnie-the-Pooh, which the studio is bringing back to the big screen in spring of 2011, and which we are assured will not just be for little kids. The writers went through the archives and the books of A.A. Milne and found five stories that had never been filmed, combining the plots of all five into a feature-length story. Burny Mattinson, an animator who's been at Disney for over 50 years and who worked with Walt on the original Pooh films, is working closely with directors Steve Anderson, Clark Spencer and Don Hall.
And lastly they saw concept art for The Bear and the Bow:
It's Pixar's first real attempt at a leading female character (and a female director in Brenda Chapman), and focuses on Merida (Reese Witherspoon), a princess in 10th century Scotland. She's something of a wild girl who's most at home in the Highlands rather than in the family castle, and is somewhat alienated from her family: King Fergus (Billy Connolly), Queen Eleanor (Emma Thompson) and her much younger triplet brothers. We don't know many details of the plot, except that it's less about finding a prince and more about Merida's relationship with her mother (Yay!), but we do know that there will be a baddie, who's a witch (she prefers "Wise Woman") and is voiced by Julie Walters. Only concept art for that one, but gorgeous concept art.
Empire magazine attended the presentation in which Lasseter revealed that Timothy Dalton will voice a character call Mr. Pricklepants in Toy Story 3, "who's something of a luvvie and wears lederhosen." The magazine described a animation test they saw of the character and the trailer:
We saw a tiny animation test with Mr Pricklepants (who's cute in a spiky way), but the big news was a lengthy Toy Story 3 clip and trailer. The clip showed Andy packing from college, and emptying all his toys into a black bin bag for storage in the attic. He hesitates over Woody and Buzz, finally putting Woody in the box of things to take for college. But all the toys are panicked - especially Woody, who's worried for his friends. When Andy is distracted by his little sister and leaves the garbage bag on the landing instead of upstairs in the attic, his mother takes it out to the kerb - and a frantic Woody has to save his friends from a rapidly approaching bin lorry.
We also saw the as-yet unreleased trailer, which showed bits of the same scene, but developed the story. Clearly the toys end up being sent to a daycare centre, where they are horribly abused by the little kids - and after that it's time for a break-out attempt to find a safe haven, and hopefully a new owner, in a cruel world. It looks every bit as good as its titanic predecessors.
Empire also says Lasseter revealed the story for Cars 2:
The story sees Lightning McQueen (Owen Wilson), his pit team and new pit boss Mater head around the world for the Race of Champions, to take place in five different countries and involve the champions of different disciplines like Formula One and rally driving. First up is a race in Tokyo, starting at Mount Fuji and heading downtown (somewhat reminiscent of Mater's Tall Tales short about drift-racing, that); then there's a German race through the Black Forest; then "Porto Corsa" in Italy, which is based partly on the Monte Carlo Grand Prix; then a 24-hour race around Paris (so somewhat like Le Mans then) and finally a thrilling climax in London, approaching Buckingham Palace (where the guards appear to be Land Rovers).
But all this racing is not the only focus. Mater, who we know from the series of cartoon shorts Mater's Tall Tales (more on that in our blog in a minute) is prone to exaggeration, gets involved in a "Hitchcockian" case of mistaken identity, saves the life of a British secret agent called Finn McMissile (who looks a heck of a lot like an Aston Martin) and becomes embroiled in a huge spy thriller. Only no-one believes him. That too comes to a head at Buckingham Palace.
Along the way there are towtruck-abroad pictures to be taken at the Oktoberfest in Germany (where Mater wears "Materhosen") and harassing the aforementioned Palace Guards. Is it weird that Mater isn't annoying me at all any more, after being a bit of a pain at times in the first film?
Next up was a presentation on the new Winnie the Pooh movie that is in the works:
Lasseter followed that - and a series of gorgeous production stills - with Winnie-the-Pooh, which the studio is bringing back to the big screen in spring of 2011, and which we are assured will not just be for little kids. The writers went through the archives and the books of A.A. Milne and found five stories that had never been filmed, combining the plots of all five into a feature-length story. Burny Mattinson, an animator who's been at Disney for over 50 years and who worked with Walt on the original Pooh films, is working closely with directors Steve Anderson, Clark Spencer and Don Hall.
And lastly they saw concept art for The Bear and the Bow:
It's Pixar's first real attempt at a leading female character (and a female director in Brenda Chapman), and focuses on Merida (Reese Witherspoon), a princess in 10th century Scotland. She's something of a wild girl who's most at home in the Highlands rather than in the family castle, and is somewhat alienated from her family: King Fergus (Billy Connolly), Queen Eleanor (Emma Thompson) and her much younger triplet brothers. We don't know many details of the plot, except that it's less about finding a prince and more about Merida's relationship with her mother (Yay!), but we do know that there will be a baddie, who's a witch (she prefers "Wise Woman") and is voiced by Julie Walters. Only concept art for that one, but gorgeous concept art.
Latest Headlines:
Rooney Mara Spotted on the Dragon Tattoo Set
Jan de Bont to Direct Zhang Ziyi in Mulan
Michael Douglas is Quite the Bear in This Wall Street Clip
New Clip From Never Let Me Go
Newt Concept Art Online
Jesse Wigutow Plans an Osterman Weekend
A Second Clip From Devil Hits
Narnia: The Voyage of the Dawn Treader Set Visit - Part 1
New Images From Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows
Jock's Dune Concept Art Online
Olivia Thirlby Cast in Judge Dredd
Ridley Scott Offers Alien Prequel Hints
Tom Hardy Replaces Fassbender in Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy
Unbreakable 2 Story to be Used for Third Night Chronicles
First Clip From Let Me In
Liam Neeson Goes Grey
Jamie Bell Also Joining Man on a Ledge
HEADLINES
Microsoft Still Interested in Making Halo Movie
Rooney Mara Spotted on the Dragon Tattoo Set
Jan de Bont to Direct Zhang Ziyi in Mulan
Michael Douglas is Quite the Bear in This Wall Street Clip
Jesse Wigutow Plans an Osterman Weekend
Narnia: The Voyage of the Dawn Treader Set Visit - Part 1
New Images From Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows
View More
MOST ACTIVE
Microsoft Still Interested in Making Halo Movie
Rooney Mara Spotted on the Dragon Tattoo Set
Jan de Bont to Direct Zhang Ziyi in Mulan
Michael Douglas is Quite the Bear in This Wall Street Clip
Stallone Wants Willis as The Expendables 2 Villain
Nickelodeon Greenlights The Legend of Korra
COMMENTS (22)
I had wondered the same thing, but my guess is that even though the Incredibles was the better movie, grossed more money at the box office, and has more sequel potential, Cars was likely a gold mine for Pixar in terms of merchandising deals. Sort of the same reason why Toy Story sequels make so much sense for them. They can sell old classic toys like hotcakes every time they release a new movie!
'Oh, a movie about talking cahrs? How ridiculous. How childish. If Pixah had any common sense, they'd do more animated pe-pull. Not...talking cahrs.'
And Brad Bird has said numerous times, that a sequel will be made for The Incredibles ONLY if he can find a good story to tell. See? That's why PIXAR succeeds where others fail. They're not making films with the idea to produce 2 or more sequels or a TV show.
I'm more than content just watching 'The Incredibles' and not worrying about sequels. It told a great story, and has good replay value.
*end of rant*
I think "Toy Story 3" is gonna rule, and the new Pixar thing sounds interesting, but Pooh and Cars 2 are gonna have to convince me.
Does anyone really want Cars 2? It is widely known as the weakest Pixar movie. I wonder who pushed for this one. On second though, Car merchandise outnumbers Wall-E merchandise 10-1.
This is the first I've heard of the Bear and the Bow, but it looks good. I don't really know why they chose Reese Witherspoon, I hope she doesn't try to do an accent. I find it hilarious that Emma Thompson is playing the Queen and Julie Andrews is playing the Witch. That's a fun switcheroo.
"I work at a theatre and I hear more people comment about wanting a Cars 2 then another Toy Story. These movies are more about and for the kids not older people. My son who is only 3 has watched Cars so many times he has almost wore the disc out. I have tried to get him to watch Toy Story but he doesn't get into it. This tells you where the fan base is for little kids."
For one, most people in the public don't know about "Toy Story 3" being made plus a "Toy Story" film hasn't been in theatres in some time. Second off, your statement about Pixar films being more for kids is so ill-advise & wrong it's laughable. John Lasseter has made it clear that Pixar films are for everyone & not just for kids plus the last few films that Pixar has released were aimed more at adults then kids. Now last but not least, just because your son can't sit through a "Toy Story" film which I must say is just odd for a little kid (maybe he has A.D.D.?) doesn't say anything about the entire fan base for little kids. The Toy Story franchise is one of Disney's biggest franchises & best selling films. Trust me when I say this, "Toy Story 3" will do better business then "Cars 2". Once word starts getting out about "Toy Story 3" it will be huge if not the most successful Pixar film.
ADD COMMENTS