Tag: Animation (91-100 of 191)

Jan 12 2012 05:43 PM ET

'Madagascar 3': Meet the new celebrity-voiced circus animals -- EXCLUSIVE

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Image Credit: DreamWorks Animation

In Madagascar 3: Europe’s Most Wanted (in theaters June 8), our 6,000-pound quartet of displaced zoo animals — Alex the lion (Ben Stiller), Marty the zebra (Chris Rock), Gloria the hippo (Jada Pinkett Smith), and Melman the giraffe (David Schwimmer) — finds itself joining a traveling circus in Monte Carlo as a way to hide from a relentless animal-control officer. EW can exclusively announce who’s voicing three of the new characters from the circus: Vitaly the Siberian tiger (voiced by Bryan Cranston), Gia the jaguar (The Help‘s Jessica Chastain), and Stefano the sea lion (Martin Short). READ FULL STORY »

Dec 30 2011 01:02 PM ET

Box office dips in 2011: A year-end analysis

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Image Credit: Warner Bros.

Box office junkies, unite! It’s time to break down the year that was at the movies using the thing that we love most — the numbers!

Blockbuster franchise films reigned supreme at the North American box office in 2011. Of the ten highest grossing movies, the top seven — led by Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows – Part 2 with $381 million — are sequels, Rise of the Planet of the Apes (No. 9, $176.7 million) is a prequel, and Thor (No. 8, $181 million) and Captain America: The First Avenger (No. 10, $176.7 million), while not sequels, are part of the larger Avengers franchise which Marvel will roll out next year.

All told, theatrical releases sold about $10.2 billion worth of tickets in 2011 (final numbers not yet available) at an average price of $7.96. (Ticket price via the National Association of Theatre Owners. Although, seriously, when was the last time anyone paid so little for a ticket?) That total marked a 3.5 percent drop from 2010, when the box office earned a yearly total of $10.6 billion, and attendance dipped by about 5 percent for the second year in a row. In fact, with 1.28 billion tickets sold, 2011 was the least-attended box office year since 1995.

What caused the dip? READ FULL STORY »

Dec 23 2011 02:50 PM ET

'MI:4' director on filming in IMAX and how Christopher Nolan is 'throwing down the showmanship' with 'The Dark Knight Rises'

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Image Credit: David James

Brad Bird wanted to be a filmmaker since the moment he learned to draw. “I didn’t realize this until later,” says the 54-year old director of Mission: Impossible – Ghost Protocol, “but the very first drawings I did when I was a kid at age 3 were sequential. They weren’t great drawings – they were just stick figures – but they were meant to be viewed in a certain order. So from the very beginning, I was trying to make films.”

The pictures have only gotten got more sophisticated — and larger — since then. Bird made a name for himself in animation with The Iron Giant, then won Oscars with two Pixar blockbusters, The Incredibles and Ratatouille, both of which he wrote and directed. His winning streak has continued with his first live-action effort: Ghost Protocol, the fourth installment in Tom Cruise’s signature spy-fi franchise — and the second to be shepherded by producer J.J. Abrams — has received rave reviews (EW’s Owen Gleiberman even has it on his 10 best of ’11 list) and is poised to be one of the biggest movies of the holiday season. (The film, which opened in theaters nationwide on Wednesday, grossed over $17 million during a 6-day run on 425 IMAX screens.) Bird took a few minutes to speak with EW about the animation-to-live-action-to-IMAX transition. READ FULL STORY »

Dec 22 2011 06:20 PM ET

Disney announces 'The Avengers' converting to 3-D, new title for Disney animated film

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Hulk smash! Right into the theater!

Walt Disney Pictures announced today that The Avengers will be converted to 3-D for its May 4, 2012 release. The news shouldn’t be a huge surprise — Disney is undergoing the same 3-D conversion process for John Carter, and director Joss Whedon expressed his love for 3-D at an EW-hosted Comic-Con panel in 2010.  READ FULL STORY »

Dec 16 2011 10:30 AM ET

Best of 2011: Top movie box office and DVD sales

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This year was all about a boy wizard, a Bumblebee, and a sparklevamp. Joining Harry, Sam, and Edward in 2011′s box office toppers were two groups of wedding-oriented train wrecks, several superheroes, and a bunch of upstart Southern domestics. Over in DVDs, a couple instances of horse power and some evil geniuses joined the fray. So which films topped the box-0ffice? Click through to see 2011′s most popular movies. READ FULL STORY »

Dec 7 2011 11:34 AM ET

A second trailer for 'Dr. Seuss' The Lorax': Just what the movie thneeded?

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While there’s still Ted (voiced by Zac Efron) on his quest to find a real tree (as is the pitch-perfect music from The Polyphonic Spree,) the brand new trailer for Dr. Seuss’ The Lorax has a little bit more to offer than the initial preview. Particularly in terms of introducing the Big Brother villains, kid-baiting action sequences, back story about the mythical Lorax (the equally mythical Danny DeVito), and those seemingly extinct trees (not to mention the coveted last seed). Plus — hipsters rejoice– Vampire Weekend songs! Watch the second trailer below: READ FULL STORY »

Dec 6 2011 09:07 PM ET

John Lasseter says new Pixar film 'takes place inside of a girl's mind'

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Image Credit: Disney

While appearing on Charlie Rose last Friday, Pixar and Disney animation guru John Lasseter let slip a tantalizing new detail about one of Pixar’s upcoming films. Previously, director Pete Docter (Up, Monsters Inc.) announced at Disney’s D23 expo in August that his new film would take place in “the world inside your own mind.” Last week, Lasseter revealed that the mind in question will be one of a young girl.

“Pete Docter, from Monsters Incorporated and Up is doing a new film that takes place inside of a girl’s mind,” Lasseter told Rose, “and it is about her emotions as characters. And that is unlike anything you’ve ever seen.” The Cars 2 director also noted that Pixar’s slate after next summer’s Brave will first be Monsters University, “how Sully and Mike met at college, and it has a whole new set of monsters”; and after that will follow a dinosaur film, directed by Bob Peterson (who co-directed Up) and Peter Sohn (who’s worked as an artist at Pixar since Finding Nemo). At D23, Peterson explained his film will imagine an Earth in which a giant asteroid did not wipe out the dinosaurs 65 million years ago.

Read more:
Disney’s D23: Pixar goes joyfully weird with two new animated movies
Disney’s D23: Sulley and Mike slim down for Pixar prequel ‘Monsters University’
Pixar’s ‘Brave’ trailer: There are kilts, so you know someone’s getting mooned

Dec 6 2011 10:00 AM ET

EW's special tour of Disney's archives (see items from 'Pirates,' 'Lost,' 'Snow White') and studio backlot -- EXCLUSIVE

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We can all recall fondly the episode of Lost in which Hurley clutched his winning lotto ticket in disbelief. Or when Johnny Depp first appeared as the Mad Hatter in Alice in Wonderland, with his wildly ornate top hat. Or when the title heroine of Mary Poppins caused a pile of wooden blocks to come alive and stack themselves inside the toy chest. But what happens after these iconic props are finished playing their parts?

They end up settling in for a cozy retirement at the Walt Disney Archives, a treasure trove of paraphernalia for pop-culture fiends that ironically must remain closed to the public, lest these objects become irreparably damaged. But EW was granted exclusive access to the facility, along with a rare tour of the Walt Disney studio backlot in Burbank, Calif., joining members of Disney’s D23 Official Fan Club. After speaking with these hardcore Disney enthusiasts — who are the only members of the public granted access to the studio’s lot — I got to check out some instantly recognizable objects from Lost, Pirates of the Caribbean, Alice in Wonderland, Mary Poppins, and Enchanted. But by far the coolest moment was when the archivists unveiled some never-before-seen items from one of the crown jewels of the Disney canon, Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs, which is about to celebrate its 75th anniversary. Check out my video report below: READ FULL STORY »

Dec 5 2011 01:29 PM ET

'Kung Fu Panda 2,' 'Puss in Boots,' 'Rango' lead Annie award nominations

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Image Credit: DreamWorks Animation

DreamWorks Animation’s Kung Fu Panda 2 picked up 12 nominations for the 39th Annual Annie Awards — announced today by the International Animated Film Society, ASIFA-Hollywood — including Best Animated Feature and Best Director. DreamWorks’ Puss in Boots and Paramount’s Rango won nine nods, and Pixar’s Cars 2 earned seven. Steven Spielberg’s motion-capture The Adventures of Tintin won five nods, including Best Feature; the last animated film built from performances by live actors to earn a nod for the top prize at the Annies was 2006′s Monster House.

Curiously, Cars 2 did not earn nominations for director John Lasseter, the film’s screenplay, or any of its voice talent. Last year, Disney and Pixar boycotted the Annies over a dispute concerning its voting practices (although Disney and Pixar films were still eligible for nominations), but both companies rejoined the awards this year.

Winners will be announced on Feb. 4, 2012, at a ceremony held at UCLA’s Royce Hall. Check out a list of the top nominees below:  READ FULL STORY »

Nov 20 2011 02:13 PM ET

Box office report: 'Twilight: Breaking Dawn' barely misses franchise record with $139.5 mil weekend

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Image Credit: Andrew Cooper

Although it didn’t set a franchise record, The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn — Part 1 had one of the best openings in box-office history by debuting to $139.5 million, according to studio estimates. That’s the fifth-best opening weekend ever, behind Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows — Part 2, The Dark Knight, Spider-Man 3, and The Twilight Saga: New Moon, which held on to the franchise record.

New Moon debuted to a slightly better $142.8 million on the same November weekend two years ago. What’s interesting is how closely Breaking Dawn followed New Moon‘s trajectory. New Moon grossed $72.7 million its first day, and then dropped 42 percent on Saturday and 34 percent on Sunday. By comparison, Breaking Dawn earned $72 million on Friday (the third-best opening day ever), and then fell 44 percent on Saturday and a projected 34 percent today. READ FULL STORY »

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