303 replies to this topic

[Peter T Chattaway]

We discussed it some in the thread devoted to Pixar's first two Toy Story movies.

[Peter T Chattaway]

Coming in 2009 ... and it won't be directed by John Lasseter. (Which, given how Cars and A Bug's Life turned out, may be for the best.)

[Peter T Chattaway]

Michael Arndt, Oscar winner for Little Miss Sunshine, is writing the script.

[Overstreet]

Toy Story 3 is going 3D.

And so are the previous two.


Press release:

Burbank, CA – January 24, 2008 - The Walt Disney Studios is taking the latest advances in digital 3-D technology “to infinity and beyond” with ambitious plans to debut new Disney Digital 3-D™ versions of Disney- Pixar’s “Toy Story” on October 2nd, 2009, and “Toy Story 2” on February 12th, 2010, it was announced by Dick Cook, chairman of The Walt Disney Studios. Both of these beloved animated features are being newly converted to 3-D in advance of the June 18th, 2010 release of Disney-Pixar's "Toy Story 3," which is being produced as a 3-D motion picture and will represent the state-of-the-art for the genre. Veteran Pixar filmmaker Lee Unkrich (co-director “Toy Story 2”) is directing.

Academy Award®-winning filmmaker John Lasseter (director of the first two “Toy Story” films and chief creative officer for Disney and Pixar Animation Studios) will personally oversee the creative side of the 3-D conversions for “Toy Story” and “Toy Story 2” with his acclaimed team of technical wizards handling all the necessary steps in the conversion process.

Commenting on the announcement, Cook said, “‘We are committed to bringing moviegoers the best and most exciting 3-D movie experience, and we think they’re going to love seeing Buzz Lightyear, Woody, and all the wonderful ‘Toy Story’ cast of characters in an eye popping and dazzling way. John Lasseter and the animation team are putting all their passion and hard work into making this the greatest 3-D experience yet, and we’re excited to share their efforts with audiences everywhere.”

Lasseter added, “The ‘Toy Story’ films and characters will always hold a very special place in our hearts and we’re so excited to be bringing this landmark film back for audiences to enjoy in a whole new way thanks to the latest in 3-D technology. I am sure that this is going to be nothing short of fantastic and people are going to be blown away by the experience. With ‘Toy Story 3’ shaping up to be another great adventure for Buzz, Woody and the gang from Andy’s room, we thought it would be great to let audiences experience the first two films all over again and in a brand new way. 3-D offers lots of great new possibilities for the art of animation and we will continue to use this new technology to tell our stories in the best possible way.”

In converting “Toy Story” and “Toy Story 2” to state-of-the-art 3-D films, the technical team is retrieving all of the original digital elements and rebuilding them in 3-D.

Originally released by Walt Disney Pictures in 1995, “Toy Story” was the first feature film from Pixar Animation Studios and director John Lasseter. The film went on to receive Oscar® nominations for Original Score, Original Song, and Screenplay, and earned Lasseter a Special Achievement Award “for the development and inspired application of techniques that have made possible the first feature-length computer-animated film.” “Toy Story 2” was released in 1999, and reunited voice talents Tom Hanks and Tim Allen, in their roles as Woody and Buzz. The film became one of the most popular animated features of all time, and received an Academy Award® nomination for Original Song.

[Peter T Chattaway]

The big draw: Pixar power
One downside is a problem most computer users suffer -- hardware and software that's out of date all too soon. "To resurrect the Toy Story characters for the third Toy Story [due in 2010] we had to find an old machine somebody still had," Walsh says. "It was being used as a coffee table. If they hadn't saved it, we'd have lost the original Buzz and Woody animations."
The Independent, February 6

Big Media Companies Want Back in the Game
In Pixar's coming movie "Toy Story 3," Woody the cowboy and his toy-box friends are dumped in a day-care center after their owner, Andy, leaves for college.
Wall Street Journal, February 19

[Peter T Chattaway]

'Toy Story 3' Tale Of Superhero Redemption For One Porky Character
And one of those adventures may lead one favorite character to take center stage, revealed actor John Ratzenberger, who plays Hamm the Piggy Bank. “Hammy is a villain in the beginning of the movie,” he said. “[But then], Hammy becomes a superhero. You’ll see.”
MTV Movies Blog, June 24

[Peter T Chattaway]

Beetlejuice Cast in Toy Story 3!
Jodi Benson . . . also revealed to the IESB that her Barbie will be cuddling up to none other than Beetlejuice himself, Michael Keaton, as Ken in the new film.
Keaton worked with Pixar previously voicing Chick Hicks in 2006's CARS.
IESB.net, August 24

[Overstreet]

I am working on setting up an interview with Andrew Stanton, the fellow who brought us Finding Nemo and WALL-E.

The interview will explore Pixar's storytelling methods, hopefully give us some ideas about their brainstorming and the stories they look to for inspiration.

I'm very excited about the opportunity, and I want to make the most of it. Are there specific questions you'd ask him? Questions about specific Pixar projects, about him personally, about how to tell a good story that reaches children and adults?

[Peter T Chattaway]

Variety had a story on Pixar's "chaotic" story development a while ago.

There's a famous anecdote about how Michael Eisner saw a rough cut of Finding Nemo and came back to his office and said this would be Pixar's first big flop, it would be their first big "reality check", it would put Pixar in a weaker position when it came to renegotiating their contract with Disney, etc. And this anecdote has been passed around as evidence of how out-of-touch Eisner was. But it turns out the rough cut he saw had a LOT of stuff that didn't make the final cut, so Eisner wasn't really all that out-of-touch after all. Jim Hill posted some details on this back in January, when there was some negative advance buzz about WALL*E. Pixar had made changes to their film and overcome the buzz before, and he figured they would do it again.

[Peter T Chattaway]

Will Paul Newman's Character Return For 'Cars 2'?
Lasseter is adamant, however, that the decision will ultimately be beholden to story, and not tradition, confessing he's not averse to recasting the role with a sound-alike actor, similar to what the company decided to do with Slinky Dog, a character voiced by Jim Varney in "Toy Story" and "Toy Story 2" before the actor's death in 2000.
"In 'Toy Story 3,' for instance ... we found actually an old friend of [Varney's] who sounds an awful lot like him - another actor that's going to be doing that voice," Lasseter said of the character's return. "It'll be hard to replace Paul Newman, but we don't know yet."
MTV News, November 18

[Peter T Chattaway]

M. Dale Prins wrote:
: Another mediocre Pixar trailer for another (probably) great Pixar movie. And does Pixar not realize that Woody & Co.'s handmade logo was much more interesting than Buzz's generic one?

Word.

[Peter T Chattaway]

Incidentally, the "villain" in Toy Story 3 was revealed in a scene in Up that also appeared in the trailer for that film. (This is similar to how Nemo had a cameo in Monsters Inc. a year and a half before Finding Nemo came out.) I'm sure you can figure out who it is and where the character pops up if you Google the relevant terms.

[Overstreet]

Thank you for moving my post of the trailer. The search tool didn't help me track down this thread (although I suspected it existed.) I'd prefer to have moderators combine duplicate threads, though, rather than have my posts disregarded.

Another mediocre Pixar trailer for another (probably) great Pixar movie. And does Pixar not realize that Woody & Co.'s handmade logo was much more interesting than Buzz's generic one?

Indeed.

But I don't mind trailers that do their job: To announce an upcoming project. No, it's not a home-run, but I find it refreshing and, frankly, a relief that they're not teasing us with plot points. At least this trailer doesn't give us any provocation to start speculating about the quality of the movie we can't yet see. But it does assure us that the key voice talents are back on board, and the smile-worthy sense that these characters live on.

Edited by Overstreet, 29 May 2009 - 01:25 PM.

[Peter T Chattaway]

Overstreet wrote:
: Thank you for moving my post of the trailer.

Yer welcome. I almost posted a much lower-resolution version of the trailer that was making the rounds yesterday, but figured I'd hold out for a better one.

: The search tool didn't help me track down this thread (although I suspected it existed.)

When the search tool fails, there's always Google. (I also linked to this thread, along with the threads for other upcoming Pixar films, in the thread I started a few days ago for The Bear and the Bow.)

: I'd prefer to have moderators combine duplicate threads, though, rather than have my posts disregarded.

I agree -- provided that the moderators fold new threads into the old ones, and not vice versa. You want the URLs for the brand-new threads to vanish, rather than the URLs for the threads that have been around for years and have had time to accumulate any number of links from within A&F and from other websites altogether. (Though if the vanished threads automatically redirected to the existing threads, then it might not matter so much. Still, better safe than sorry.)

: I find it refreshing and, frankly, a relief that they're not teasing us with plot points. At least this trailer doesn't give us any provocation to start speculating about the quality of the movie we can't yet see.

Heh. No, for that, you have to see the Up trailer and the sneak peek it gives us of the Toy Story 3 "villain".

[Josh Hurst]

Any guesses as to who that is voicing the brief little grunt from Slinky?

[M. Dale Prins]

Any guesses as to who that is voicing the brief little grunt from Slinky?

My guess is it was pulled somewhere out of TS or TS2, or perhaps from Varney's outtakes from those films.

Dale

[Peter T Chattaway]

Josh Hurst wrote:
: Any guesses as to who that is voicing the brief little grunt from Slinky?

Don't know the name, but we have a basic idea:

"In 'Toy Story 3,' for instance ... we found actually an old friend of [Varney's] who sounds an awful lot like him - another actor that's going to be doing that voice," Lasseter said of the character's return.

[Josh Hurst]

Ah, okay; I had missed the news that they had cast someone in that roll, and assumed it was something more like what Dale suggested.

[Overstreet]

Another fine bit of casting:

Speaking at a Disney presentation in London’s Leicester Square, John Lasseter announced that Timothy Dalton is amongst the cast for their hotly anticipated threequel, playing a toy porcupine called Mr. Pricklepants. Yep. And even better still, Mr. Pricklepants fancies himself as something of a thespian. Score another big gold star on the Pixar perfect casting chart.