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It wasn't a phone call that Roger Deakins had ever expected to receive. This acclaimed English cinematographer -- best known for his Oscar-nominated work for the Coen brothers and Sam Mendes -- had strictly been working the live-action side of the street. But when Pixar Animation Studios reached...

How Pixar added depth to the Depths in "Finding Nemo 3D" Bob Whitehill is very particular when it comes to particulates. You know what particulates are, right? Suspended solids in liquid. They're those itty-bitty bits of matter that give sea water its unique color and clarity, which is...

With " Brave " opening at No. 1 this past weekend , that now makes it thirteen hits in a row for Pixar Animation Studios . A box office winning streak which has been applauded & envied by many in Hollywood for nearly two decades now. And speaking of thirteen in a row ... By doing the voice...

So how was your weekend? Mine ... was interesting. Take - for instance - how I spent my Saturday morning. While thousands of Official Disney Fan Club members were in the D23 area enjoying Rich Ross' "Building Worlds: Inside the Walt Disney Studios" presentation ... Copyright Disney Enterprises...

Look, I know it's been a lot of stuff in the news lately. Rising gas prices. Obama's long-form birth certificate. William & Kate's wedding. Those horrific tornadoes that touched down in Alabama. Bin Laden being blown away. The Mississippi reaching record flood stages. The ongoing strife...

Given that we now live in the age of DreamWorks 3.0 , with Walt Disney Studios distributing the films that Steven Spielberg and Stacey Snider will soon be producing, it’s kind of hard to remember the bad old days. When Jeffery Katzenberg was … … out to deplete Disney’s talent pool. He flattered Disney...

Let’s start with the obvious question: Is Lee Unkrich concerned that he’s going to be the guy who breaks Pixar’s now-10-pictures-long winning streak? When I got to talk with the director of “ Toy Story 3 ” as part of a roundtable session at Comic-Con last year, Lee admitted that – with each new hit that...

It’s been quite a month for the Mouse, don’t you think? Inside of one single 30 day span, The Walt Disney Company has: Revealed that it would be spending $4 billion to acquire Marvel Entertainment, Inc. and its library of 5000 characters At the D23 EXPO , the Studios announced a new production label...

According to John Lasseter, the folks at Pixar Animation Studios have been dying to make “Toy Story 3” for years now. But – that said – that doesn’t mean that it’s been all that easy to come up with a storyline that was a worthy follow-up to the much-beloved “Toy Story” & “Toy Story 2.” As John recalled...

It’s been kind of interesting watching the Pixar fan community react to Rich Greenfield ’s recent mea culpa in regards to “ Up .” Back in April, Greenfield (who’s this Wall Street analyst that keeps tabs on The Walt Disney Company for Pali Research ) expressed concerns about this Pete Docter film. Saying...

"It was 20 years ago today ..." Well, it was tomorrow actually. August 2, 1988 to be precise. That was the date when an incomplete version of " Tin Toy " first screened at SIGGRAPH and truly wowed the crowd in Atlanta. Given the overwhelmingly positive response that this John Lasseter film received ...

It's one of the main reasons that people just can't stop talking about " WALL-E ." And -- no -- I'm not talking about the opening weekend grosses for this new Andrew Stanton movie (Though -- now that we've broached this subject -- while "WALL-E" didn't earn the $70-million-plus that Mouse House officials...

Last week, the trades were full of stories about how Brad Bird was getting ready to make his live action debut. How the director of " The Incredibles " and " Ratatouille " would soon be helming the big screen adaptation of James Dalessandro 's " 1906 ." Now some animation fans had initially assumed that...

Hey, have you heard that there's a new " WALL * E " trailer up on the Net? Copyright 2008 Disney Pixar. All Rights Reserved As I understand it, this is the official theatrical trailer. The one that will run in theaters now through June 27, when this new Andrew Stanton film finally reaches the big screen...

It's the story that won't go away. How back in 2001, Michael Eisner reportedly told Disney's board of directors that he'd be postponing any further contract talks with Pixar Animation Studios . "And why would the then-Chairman & CEO of the Walt Disney Company do that?," you ask. Because Eisner had...

In response to this week's Toon Tuesday column , CC writes in to say: " Pixar wanted to produce a holiday special back in the 1980s?! Come on, Jim. You've GOT TO write an article about that." Ask and ye shall receive. But please keep in mind that the Pixar that I'll be writing about will not be the great...

Bernie W. writes in to say: Jim -- Can you please help me win a bet at work? A co-worker of mine says that WALL-E makes a brief cameo appearance in " Ratatouille ." More importantly, this guy has bet me $100 that I'll never ever be able to find that robot in this movie. Copyright 2007 Disney...