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"Discover a new world with Epic the Movie by Blue Sky Studios , a brand-new 3D animated film from the people who brought you Ice Age ." That's the message that the folks who work in promotions at 20th Century Fox have been hammering home for the past few weeks. As they try & make sure...

When the development team that was working of Disney's " Beauty and the Beast " wanted to get the look of the Beast's castle just right, what did they do? These artists toured the Loire Valley in September of 1989, visiting many of France's famous chateaus. And when the " Lion...

Here's kind of a depressing fact to start 2011 off with: 88% of all people will fail to keep their New Year's resolution . With 45% of those folks falling off the self-improvement wagon by the end of January. And why is that exactly? To be blunt, it's because a lot of us aren't willing...

With “Toy Story 3” earning over $365 million worldwide since this Lee Unkrich film was released on June 18 th (More importantly, with the “Toy Story” franchise having produced over $8 billion in global retail sales to date), it is sometime hard to remember that – just 15 years ago – there weren’t a whole...

If you read my March 16 th non-review of that Showest screening of “ Toy Story 3 ,” then you already know that I’m a huge fan of this Lee Unkrich film. But you know what truly impressed me about this Pixar production? That in the months leading up to the release of this acclaimed animated feature, no...

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...

Do you recall – just a few weeks back – how quick industry analysts were to write off “ How to Train Your Dragon ”? That – because this Chris Sanders & Dean DeBlois film “only” earned $43.3 million over its opening weekend (as opposed to the $59.3 million that DreamWorks Animation ’s “ Monsters vs...

You’ve probably seen a lot of Joe Ranft -related material popping up around the Web over the past few days. John Musker ’s excellent story reel-based tribute to his old pal (who was tragically killed in an automobile accident back on August 16, 2005 ). No to mention the first installment of Leo Holzer...

A few days ago, Lee Unkrich tweeted this phone message that he received from someone named Geordi. Who – upon learning that Lee was directing “ Toy Story 3 ” – actually left Unkrich voicemail which said : “Please, please don’t screw (this movie) up … Make it big. Make sure that something very important...

With its turn-of-the-century architecture, Gotham Hall has long prided itself on being that spot in New York City “ … where style meets sophistication.” Well, yesterday morning, all of that style & sophistication gave way to silliness. As Disney Consumer Products turned this seven-story-tall gilded...

So what are the odds that – all on your own – you’ll ever get to see the inside of Pixar Animation Studios ? To be honest, they’re not good. At an “Up” preview screening that was held in Hartford, CT. back in May of this year, Donald Evans (i.e. the Senior Vice President of Animation Marketing for Walt...

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...

Judging by the long lines at " Toy Story Mania " as well as the brisk business that "Hey Howdy Hey!" & the gift shop across the way have been doing, it would appear that Pixar Place has already proven to be a very popular addition to Disney's Hollywood Studios . The only problem with the studio theme...

There are some very happy people today at DreamWorks Animation this morning, given how well " Kung Fu Panda " did this past weekend. Copyright 2008 DreamWorks Animation. All Rights Reserved This Mark Osborne / John Stevenson took in an estimated $60 million over the past three days. Which not only gives...

Everybody knows about those " Hidden Mickeys " that Disney sometimes stashes in its motion pictures & theme park attractions. But have you ever heard about the "Hidden Lasseters" ? Yep. As a tribute to the creative Grand Pooh-Bah of Pixar , the folks who work at this Emeryville-based animation studio...

How many of you know the story of the blind men and the elephant ? I bring up this ancient Indian fable because ... Well ... I have to admit that I was highly amused by what happened last Wednesday. When the on-line animation community went completely bananas over those "Bolt" pre-release images . Copyright...

It's going to seem like "Old Home Week" at Hollywood's Egyptian Theater tonight. What with acclaimed filmmaker Leslie Iwerks sharing the stage with industry legend Roy E. Disney during the Q & A portion of tonight's screening of " The Pixar Story " at the American Cinematheque . You see, if it hadn...

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...