Empire Magazine just published a massive, nine page article about the How to Train Your Dragon trilogy. It’s a great read, encompassing the first film’s back-story, as well as what’s in store for audiences in HTTYD 2 and 3. We’re talking full-color film stills, cast & crew interviews, and countless minor and major spoilers. Oh, and the best part? Lots and lots of quotes from director Dean DeBlois!
Go, read!
You are currently entranced by Carpe Diem Carpe Noctem, Andy Hau’s tribute to Hayao Miyazaki’s Spirited Away. Prints of the glow-in-the-dark poster can be purchased for $40. Click here to order.
In a tweet dated March 23, comedian T.J. Miller announced that he will be voicing the character of Fred — a.k.a. Fredzilla — in Disney’s upcoming animated Marvel film, Big Hero 6.
For those of you not versed in the brief history of Marvel’s Big Hero 6 (roughly two dozen issues), Fred is a “quirky, weird, wannabe filmmaker…who may or may not be some sort of dragon.”
Animation fans may recognize Miller from his pitch-perfect voicing of How to Train Your Dragon‘s Tuffnut and Gravity Falls‘ sarcastic goth, Robbie. Comedy fans know Miller as a brilliant stand-up and the loudest, most energetic podcast guest EVER. (Apologies to Pete Holmes.)
Big Hero 6 hits U.S. theaters on Nov. 7, 2014.
Related: The Art of Big Hero 6
Shimoku Kio’s Genshiken is one of my all-time favorite comedy comics. It’s like a Robert Altman remake of The Breakfast Club, only instead of high school students in Saturday detention, it’s about college kids in an extracurricular otaku club.
Genshiken‘s large cast of characters comprises pretty much every factor of nerdom, from the geek chic to the geek elite to those unapologetically un-hip nerds who take pride in their outsider status. Reading their rambling conversations about comics, cartoons, cosplay and love (lots and LOTS about love!) is often as hilarious as it is cringe-worthy. Hilarious, because most comics/cartoons fans have had similar discussions. Cringe-worthy, because…do I really sound like that?! Continue reading
Click through for larger pics and product details…
Via: Ruined Childhood
Sorry to get political so early in the morning — and on a Monday, no less. (Via.)
“Animation reminds people of their youth. Nobody wants to grow old. Looking at animation art rings the bell of when they were younger and sitting in front of the television watching the shows that made them smile and laugh.”
— Joe Barbera in 1996.
Jon M. Chu (G.I. Joe: Retaliation) is set to direct Hasbro’s live action Jem and the Holograms movie. Jason Blum (Paranormal Activity, Insidious) will produce. Via.
(Cartoon confession: I used to watch this show. Daily.)
Click through for the full-size pics.
The only thing more confusing than comics continuity is comics film rights. For those of you still scratching your heads as to why there’s no Spider-Man in the Marvel Movie-verse, here’s a nice visual guide explaining which movie studio owns which Marvel characters.
The perfect summer t-shirt. Available on Cakeworthy.
At today’s WDC annual stockholders meeting, Bob Iger announced that Cars 3 and Incredibles 2 are officially in the works, although no released dates have been set. According to Iger, Incredibles 2 will be written by Brad Bird. Will he direct? WE. DON’T. KNOW. But what we do know is the top secret plot to Cars 3.
Curious?
Click through…
Since the Silver Surfer’s inception in 1966, the character has been an outlet for countless authors’ overwrought, over-written, middle-aged angst.
But is it any wonder why?
Unlike most of Marvel’s menagerie, the Silver Surfer isn’t a fast-talking teenager or a testosterone fueled he-man. He’s an intellectual alien prone to alliterate elegies and impassioned pleas for peace. If you’re a corporate comics writer with a flash drive full of unpublished poetry, you couldn’t ask for a better mouthpiece.
Walt Disney Animation and Marvel Comics’ Big Hero 6 arrives in theaters on November 7. According to the official WDA sales pitch, the CG animated film is “an action comedy adventure about Hiro Hamada, a brilliant robotics prodigy who finds himself in the grips of a criminal plot that threatens to destroy the fast-paced, high-tech city of San Fransokyo. With the help of his closest companion — a robot named Baymax — Hiro joins forces with a reluctant team of first-time crime fighters on a mission to save their city.”
Sounds pretty cool, doesn’t it? Well, why wait ’til November to see what Disney & Marvel have in store? The eager, the impatient and the enlightened know that you can get an early glimpse of the film via the official ‘Art Of’ book. Click here to pre-order.
Masami Hata’s Little Nemo: Adventures in Slumberland was released in US theaters in 1992. But did you know that at one point, Studio Ghibli was set to make the film?
S’true! Way back in 1984, Hayao Miyazaki and Studio Ghibli created this lovely “test pilot” for what was then being called Little Nemo in Dreamland. Unfortunately, after years of “development hell” (imdb), Miyazaki and his team left the project. Still, the short film that they created is pretty amazing, eh? Studio Ghibli fans will surely be reminded of the flying scenes in Porco Rosso, Kiki’s Delivery Service and pretty much every other Miyazaki movie!
When I was a kid, I spent hours staring into my View-Master. Back then (the 1980s), 3D was a rarity. Hollywood had abandoned it years before, and the few 3D comics you could find were usually crap. But View-Master? They never gave up on the ghettoized gimmick. In fact, with their gorgeous models and immaculate eye for color and composition, they damn near transformed ‘stereo photography’ into an art form.
My favorite View-Master reels were always the Disney and Hanna-Barbera ones. Instead of just pulling frames from the actual animation, the folks at View-Master would recreate key moments using beautiful, handmade miniatures. The results were as enchanting as they were enthralling. I know it sounds silly now, but as a little kid staring into my red, plastic View-Master, it kinda felt like I was peering through a magic portal into a world where cartoons were real. Continue reading
Embarrassing admission #1: I spent waaay too much time trying to cram my first attempt at an X-Men/cat pun, ‘purr-Snikt!-kitty‘ (read: persnickety), into the title, only to finally realize — Hey, not very funny!
Embarrassing admission #2: Turns out I found a way to fit it in anyway — via simulated shame!
X-Men Origins: Wolverine Cat by Kaipo Jones
“Disney ruins the classic fairy tales!”
It’s the go-to gripe in every anti-Disney arsenal. This, despite the fact that none of the gripers have actually bothered to READ all of the books that Disney has based its animated features on. Hell, I’m a Disney fanatic, and even I haven’t gotten around to it. We’re talking ‘s 33 titles — and counting! You’re gonna have to forgo a lot of great television, movies, comic books, sexual encounters and, yes, other books and cartoons if’n you want to complete this syllabus.
Think you’re up for it? Well, it just so happens that I’ve cobbled together a COMPLETE LIST of the books used as the basis for Walt Disney’s animated films — including some super-cool cover art!
Sony Pictures Animation has announced THREE new Genndy Tartakovsky cartoons — Hotel Transylvania 2 (co-written by TV Funhouse‘s Robert Smigel), a CG Popeye (insert exaggerated groan here), and Genndy Tartakovsky’s Can You Imagine? (pictured above, and described as “a fantastic journey through one boy’s imagination”).
Me, personally? I think Tartakovsky is amazing. His early animated take on The Clone Wars (vol. 1 & 2) remains my third favorite Star Wars release (after the first two films). His Samurai Jack is another bit of brilliance, pairing great writing with even better visuals.
That said, I wasn’t wild about Hotel Transylvania. I liked it, but I didn’t love it. And is it just me, or does the description of Can You Imagine? sound a lot like Pixar’s upcoming Inside Out? Here’s hoping the input of Smigel and the deep pockets of Sony will provide Tartakovsky with everything he needs to make a string of stellar flicks.
“The ‘Big D’ is back and adjusted for inflation with TWO princesses, TWO goofy sidekicks, and THREE different orphans! [...] And who could forget the completely unnecessary, completely unexplained, magical troll rocks?”
So many pointed jabs, so many inarguable truths — and I LIKED Frozen!
“When disaster strikes, watch Anna save the day by teaming up with her sister, a merchant, a hot guy and a snowman to defeat villains like her sister, a merchant, a hot guy and a snowman.”
It’s okay. You can laugh. It’s a scientific fact: Multiple Academy Awards > the pain inflicted by YouTube parodies.
If you’ve watched even the briefest bit of the amazing anime, Attack on Titan, you should already be scratching your head over this odd piece of tie-in merchandise. I mean, A COLOSSAL TITAN PLAYSET?! How creepy is that?
Making this “playset” all the weirder is the official sales pitch, which enthusiastically boasts the following bonus items: “The Titan that ate Carla…and one other secret titan are also included to help bring out the tense atmosphere. Miniature villagers and soldiers and even a broken wall are also included!”
For more pics of the playset (and a handful of other Attack on Titan items), click through. Continue reading
Literally! (Via: tio-skrillex)
The NY Times has posted a beautifully written article about an autistic boy who slowly learned to interact openly and honestly with his family via the dialogue and facial/body expressions in Disney cartoons.
If you make cartoons, watch cartoons, love cartoons or have ever had even the smallest emotional epiphany due to something you’d seen in a cartoon, I wholeheartedly recommend you read it. The article is adapted from the upcoming book Life, Animated by Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist — and father of the titular “son” — Ron Suskind.
WARNING: When you get to the part about “sidekicks,” you WILL tear up. Click here to read!
As a young boy, Disney story artist Bill Peet used to spend hours at the circus, drawing everything he could.
“I did have hopes of doing something with it. In those days, my secret ambition was to be an illustrator of animal stories.”
When Peet began his career at Walt Disney Studios in 1937, he felt his “secret ambition” had been achieved. Unfortunately, this feeling didn’t last long. Peet quickly discovered that animating and illustrating were two VERY different disciplines.
Click image to enlarge, or click through for a typed-out version. (Via.)
I recently interviewed War of the Worlds: Goliath director — and science fiction fanatic — Joe Pearson for Animation Scoop. (Click here to read.) The intended topic was WofW:G (now available on iTunes!), but as I’m an animation junkie always looking for a fresh fix, I decided to use my last question for purely selfish reasons:
“What SF cartoons would you recommend to animation fans exploring the genre?”
Three months ago, Skunk did a detailed ‘First Look’ post for Jack & The Cuckoo-Clock Heart. It was packed with posters, pics and production info. The only problem? The trailer was in French. Well, the English language trailer has finally arrived. Enjoy, mono-linguists!
The stop-motion films of Laika just seem to be getting better and better. First there was quirky, captivating Coraline. Then the spooky, silly ParaNorman. Now Laika’s dropped a tantalizing trailer for their next pic, The Boxtrolls. I’m really digging the film’s grimy, grotesque, European arthouse aesthetic. It kinda reminds me of a stop-motion City of Lost Children!
The Boxtrolls hits U.S. theaters 9/26.
Directed by Joe Pearson (Rocko’s Modern Life, Phineas and Ferb) and starring Adam Baldwin (Firefly), War of the Worlds: Goliath is set 15 years after the events of H.G. Wells classic, The War of the Worlds, and tells the tale of the Martians inevitable return.
The film is a gripping, grandiose, alien invasion extravaganza, beautifully realized via a surprisingly seamless blend of CG and hand-drawn animation. Yes, HAND-DRAWN ANIMATION. Lots of it!
I got to interview writer/director Joe Pearson last week for Animation Scoop. Pearson not only shared a bit of the back-story for War of the Worlds: Goliath, he also detailed his long and illustrious career in the animation industry, as well as his path for breaking into the biz.
Or: Benedict Cumberbatchman, The World’s Greatest Detective²
I L-O-V-E these tees! Blending the logos from Bruce Timm’s 1990s Batman cartoons with the silhouettes of Sherlock and Watson was an inspired idea, and the results are as iconic as they are eye-catching. Both shirts are available on Amazon:
Adela Dazeem — er, Idina Menzel — and The Legendary Roots Crew restored the luster to Frozen‘s Oscar-winning ballad last night with a charming, chills-inducing, pitch-perfect rendition of Let It Go — orchestrated with kids’ instruments!
