Tag Archives: DreamWorks

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Wanna See Some ‘Me and My Shadow’ Concept Art & Test Footage?

  By Ju-osh M. • January 13, 2015 ,

mamsDreamWorks’ Me and My Shadow was going to be the studio’s first CG/hand-drawn hybrid. How to Train Your Dragon 2‘s head of story, Alessandro Carloni, was going to direct. The film was initially scheduled to be released in 2013, then 2014, and has since been removed from DW’s official release schedule. Bummer, eh? Ah, but there’s hope. Recently, rumors have begun swirling that the project may still happen. Until then, though, howzabout some CG concept art and hand-drawn test footage? It’s pretty, witty stuff. Continue reading

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Every DreamWorks ‘Art Of’ Book…Ever

  By Ju-osh M. • December 8, 2014 ,

tumblr_ng505g7kuy1ske259o1_1280Believe it or not, the DreamWorks ‘Art Of’ books are a great gift for DreamWorks detractors. While they may not be enough to change anyone’s mind about the artistic merits of Turbo, they DO give a gorgeous glimpse at what could have been. I mean, YES — Shrek Forever After was CLEARLY a corporate cash-in, but did you see the eerie-as-f*ck concept art depicting Shrek’s decrepit tree stump home?! It’s AWESOME! But the only way you’re ever going to see it is by flipping through a copy of The Art of Shrek Forever After. The movie version was…blah.

Compiled after the jump are the covers and ordering info for each and every one of these books. There’s a bunch, so make sure you view on a full wallet.

(P.S. I love me some DreamWorks, but even I think Turbo was trash.) Continue reading

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DreamWorks For Sale?

  By Ju-osh M. • September 28, 2014 ,

0The Hollywood Reporter reports:

“Japanese conglomerate SoftBank is in talks to acquire DreamWorks Animation in a deal that would value the company at $3.4 billion, according to a source with knowledge of the situation. [...] DWA founder and CEO Jeffrey Katzenberg would sign a five-year contract to remain with the company, according to the source, who says the DWA board held an emergency meeting Thursday to consider the offer.”

To read the whole article, click here.

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Netflix Announces Two New Seasons Of ‘DreamWorks Dragons’

  By Ju-osh M. • May 29, 2014

How+To+Train+Your+Dragon+2+Movie+2014The Wall Street Journal reports:

“DreamWorks Dragons, the children’s television series based on the How to Train Your Dragon franchise will air its new seasons on Netflix Inc.’s streaming service starting in spring 2015. [...] Netflix has picked up the third and fourth seasons of the show. [...] Each new Dragon season will have about 26 episodes, released on a staggered schedule.”

To read the full article, click here.

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Dean DeBlois Discusses DreamWorks’ Newest Dragon, Cloudjumper

  By Ju-osh M. • May 16, 2014 ,

100“Cloudjumper was designed to be surprising. We knew that we would have scenes in which Toothless and he would fly together, so we were looking for a bold statement to help differentiate them, even at a distance. I liked the idea of two sets of wings that form an X in the sky. They could be stowed into one another so as to create a surprise reveal.

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‘How to Train Your Dragon 2’ - Trailer 3

  By Ju-osh M. • April 10, 2014 ,

Looks like DreamWorks and director Dean DeBlois are going epic with How to Train Your Dragon 2.

If DeBlois can pull this trilogy off — and after seeing his work in Lilo & Stitch and the original HTTYD, I have faith that he can — Dragons could become the new face of DreamWorks. I don’t know about you, but I think it’s high time DW became famous for something other than Shrek.

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Rihanna Recording Album For DW’s ‘Home’

  By Ju-osh M. • February 26, 2014 ,

1211Jeffrey Katzenberg announced yesterday that Rihanna will create a concept album based on DreamWorks’ upcoming animated film, Home.

Katzenberg has been trying to build some sort of pop culture cross-pollination with Rihanna for a while now. Back in October, Radar Online wrote a piece about Katzenberg’s interest in Ri-Ri, quoting a DreamWorks “insider” as saying:

“He sees a huge amount of money to be made there and wants to capitalize before somebody else does. He’s making pop-friendly movies and wants her to be in them.” Continue reading

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Annie Award-Winner Shane Prigmore — The Interview!

  By Ju-osh M. • February 11, 2014 ,

1.1Hot on the heels of our interview with Annie Award-winner Carter Goodrich comes this interview with his fellow Croods crewman and Annie Award-winner, Shane Prigmore. A couple of cool things to look out for in this interview: Prigmore’s anecdote about working on The Iron Giant and the two animal mash-ups that inspired the rest of The Croods‘ critter combos. Enjoy!

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Annie Award-Winner Carter Goodrich — The Interview!

  By Ju-osh M. • February 3, 2014 ,

screen-shot-2013-02-24-at-11-48-14-amThis past weekend, Carter Goodrich was awarded the Annie for ‘Character Design in an Animated Feature Production’ for his work on The Croods. This OFFICIALLY makes Goodrich a certified member of the A-list animation elite. You want to ask him for an autograph? An interview? A couple of bucks? Talk to his people, babe. From this day forth, the closest he’s gonna get to ‘the little people’ like us is a corner table in Club 33.

Lucky for me, before I did this site, I did a Croods-themed blog. And guess who I managed to interview for it? Mr. award-winner himself, Carter Goodrich.

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Steven Spielberg Suggests Bigger, Better Ending For ‘How to Train Your Dragon 2’

  By Ju-osh M. • January 23, 2014 ,

5Steven Spielberg is once again acting as the unofficial adviser to the How to Train Your Dragon franchise. An email posted yesterday on Icelaniceel.tumblr reports:

Steven Spielberg was [at DreamWorks] last Wednesday to give notes on How to Train Your Dragon 2. He liked the first Dragons a lot, and one of his kids is really crazy about the original. Steven’s been involved with the new movie for a while, he’s seen it three times.

Everybody thinks we’ve got a terrific film, but the third act needs to be a little bigger, have a bigger climax and a larger celebration at the end. We’re supposed to get a meeting about Steven’s notes tomorrow or the next day…

Fans of the original HTTYD may remember that Spielberg was an early, outspoken supporter of the film. He was also responsible for one of the most touching moments in the movie. In the DVD commentary, HTTYD‘s co-director Dean DeBlois recalled:

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‘Me And My Shadow’ Pencil Test Surfaces

  By Ju-osh M. • January 19, 2014 ,

DreamWorks animator William Salazar posted a pencil test he did for the studio’s long-delayed/probably cancelled film, Me and My Shadow.

Watching this brief bit of loose-limbed lunacy makes me pine for what could’ve been. Adding to my list of laments, Me and My Shadow was to be a Paperman-esque blend of CG and hand-drawn animation — heavy on the hand-drawn!

Me and My Shadow was intended as the feature film directing debut of How to Train Your Dragon 2‘s head of story, Alessandro Carloni. The film was initially scheduled to be released in 2013, then 2014, and has since been removed from DW’s official 2014-2016 release schedule. Bummer, huh?

For three GIFs clipped from this pencil test, click through.

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DreamWorks Unveils The ‘DreamTab’

  By Ju-osh M. • January 6, 2014 ,

tumblr_mywoj8qEYf1r3c3dgo1_1280DreamWorks Animation has partnered with Fuhu Inc. to create a new tablet, the DreamTab. It’s aim? To teach kids how to be their own animators.

The DreamTab will come equipped with Be an Artist, a program that “teaches kids how to create…animated characters in one-on-one video sessions with DreamWorks animators.”

Oh, and How To Train Your Dragon fans will be especially excited to know that the FIRST game that’s going to be released for the DreamTab is HTTYD themed…

(drooooooooooooooooooooools…)

For the full story, CLICK HERE.

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3 Quick Thoughts On Obama’s Mo-Cap Photo-Op

  By Ju-osh M. • November 29, 2013 ,

Note: This post has NOTHING to do with the President appearing for a photo-op at DreamWorks because Katzenberg donated millions of dollars to him over the past decade. That’s a post for a much more politically astute website. This post is about Katzenberg’s odd choice of taking the president to his animation studio, then showing him improvised, leotard-clad, performance art.

If you haven’t yet seen the clip in question, please watch it, then continue. If you’ve already watched it once…well, once was more than enough, wasn’t it?

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VFX Artists Planning Presidential Protest

  By Ju-osh M. • November 25, 2013 ,

1Variety reports: VFX Artists to Protest Obama’s DreamWorks Visit

As President Obama visits DreamWorks Animation’s Glendale campus on Tuesday, visual effects artists, frustrated by the outsourcing of jobs to foreign countries that offer generous subsidies, are planning a rally outside the DreamWorks Animation campus in Glendale.

An effort also is under way to get those attending the speech — largely restricted to studio employees — to wear green shirts in solidarity on the issue and to call the president’s attention to the problem. The green shirts represent a blank greenscreen — the message being “This is your movie without visual effects.”

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HTTYD2: Everybody Has The Poster.
Skunk Has The Concept Art

  By Ju-osh M. • November 25, 2013

6It’s a fact: Skunk & Burning Tires posted last week’s How to Train Your Dragon 2 poster HOURS before Cartoon Brew, Animation Scoop and Animation News Network. Didn’t matter. Folks went elsewhere.

The same thing happened on Friday with the bad news about about the Good Dinosaur layoffs. We reported it HOURS before the bigger sites. The cartoon community’s response? A Google Analytics flatline.

Don’t get me wrong. I GET IT. Skunk is the ugly upstart. We’re new, untested, unfamiliar. Not only that, but humans are creatures of habit. Until Skunk becomes a regular part of your daily browsing, an integral link in your RSS feed, an irrefutable compulsion on par with a Tourette kid’s cussing, you’re gonna go elsewhere.

So here’s what I’m gonna do. I’m gonna woo you. I’m gonna drop you little love notes (news, reviews and the occasional op-ed pieces). I’m gonna give you little gifts (posters, trailers and links to cool ish). I’m gonna lift my metaphorical skirt high enough to pique your literal interest, and then I’m gonna mentally hump your physical brains until I make Skunk & Burning Tires your second (maybe third?) favorite animation website on the net

But for now, howzabout I just give you that HTTYD2 concept art? Continue reading

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HTTYD 2 Poster Premiers!

  By Ju-osh M. • November 21, 2013 ,

0DreamWorks has released the new poster for 2014′s How to Train Your Dragon 2. The film’s director, Dean DeBlois (Lilo & Stitch, HTTYD), described his plans for the sequel at this year’s Comic-Con, saying:

We get to start when the first movie left off, which is now Vikings can fly on the backs of dragons and the entire world is open to them for exploration. Hiccup can now push beyond the known world and expand the map in every direction, and inevitably he has to come to some sort of conflict out there where dragons and humans are at war. We get to the idea that an encroaching threat will find its way to Berk.

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Fearsome Night Fury Captured On Film!

  By Ju-osh M. • November 12, 2013 ,

0Here they are, the FIRST TWO PHOTOS of the elusive Night Fury!

While rumors persist that a young boy from Berk has not only captured, but TRAINED one of these deadly beasts (YEAH, RIGHT!), these are the only known photographs of one in flight.

The team of dragonologists who captured these miraculous pics believe the fearsome Night Fury will pass over North America in the next few weeks. All signs point to NYC on Thanksgiving morning.

Related: THERE’S GOING TO BE A TOOTHLESS BALLOON FOR THE THANKSGIVING PARADE! WHEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!

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Chris Sanders & Kirk De Micco Discuss ‘The Croods’ - pt. 1

  By Ju-osh M. • October 30, 2013

acOkay, so you’ve all had a chance to see The Croods by now. If you’re an animation aficionado (or just have kids), you’ve probably seen it a number of times. Does that mean it’s safe to post this spoileriffic sitdown that I had with the film’s directors, Chris Sanders and Kirk De Micco? Will anyone complain if I share their behind-the-scenes anecdotes, insider info and — to reiterate — all-caps SPOILERS?

No?

Great! Then let’s begin!

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