Looks like the accommodations at Hotel Transylvania may not have been up to snuff for Miley Cyrus. A rep for Sony Pictures has confirmed to EW that the singer is no longer set to voice Mavis, the daughter of Dracula (Adam Sandler), in the Sony Picture Animation production. The studio had no comment on why Cyrus was leaving the film, and Cyrus’ rep did not immediately return a request seeking comment. (E! Online first reported the departure.) READ FULL STORY »
Image Credit: Paramount Pictures Rango
Hugo, Rise of the Planet of the Apes and Transformers: Dark of the Moon all won two awards in the movies categories, while Boardwalk Empire and Game of Thrones also went home with a pair of awards each for TV. Stan Lee received the Lifetime Achievement Award and visual-effects pioneer Douglas Trumbull received the Georges Méliès Award at the show, which was hosted by Patton Oswalt. Click below for all the winners. READ FULL STORY »
Beginning Friday, audiences who go to see Journey 2: The Mysterious Island will be treated to a new original Looney Tunes adventure starring Daffy Duck and Elmer Fudd. In Daffy’s Rhapsody, Fudd heads to the theater dressed in a tuxedo but his night is turned upside down when his primal instincts take over at the sight of one certain expectorating duck. The short — which will play in 2-D and 3-D depending on the theater’s format — was inspired by an old Mel Blanc song, and director Matthew O’Callaghan (Curious George) had to craft a story to support the original recording. “‘Daffy Rhapsody’ was originally recorded in the early 1950s as part of a kids’ album,” says O’Callaghan, who has directed several Looney Tunes shorts, including the Sylvester and Tweety mini that recently played before Happy Feet 2. “But it was never animated.” Click below for an exclusive image: READ FULL STORY »
What happens to video-game characters after people stop playing with them? That’s the enchanting notion behind Walt Disney Animation’s Wreck-It Ralph, about the villain of a Donkey Kong-esque video game (voiced by John C. Reilly) who longs to prove that he’s actually a good guy.
To do that, he must escape his own game and travel through his arcade to other games to prove his worth, and EW has an exclusive first look at the concept art for three of the faux video games in the computer-animated film. Check them out below: READ FULL STORY »
Image Credit: Paramount
Rango – the animated hit starring Johnny Depp as the eponymous ne’er-do-well chameleon — won the award for Best Animated Feature at the 2011 Annie Awards on Saturday night. Kung Fu Panda 2‘s Jennifer Yuh Nelson won Best Feature Director. Rango took home three additional awards at the ceremony, hosted by Patton Oswalt at Royce Hall on the UCLA campus in Los Angeles. The Adventures of Tintin, Arthur Christmas, Rio, and Winnie the Pooh also earned some hardware.
Check out the feature film winners below: READ FULL STORY »
Image Credit: Jason LaVeris/FilmMagic.com
What made this time right for the cinematic coming-together of the Monty Python comedy troupe for the first time in 16 years? “I just like having friends around,” says Terry Jones, the Python vet who is directing John Cleese, Terry Gilliam, Michael Palin, and presumably Eric Idle (though that deal has not been inked yet) for the upcoming Absolutely Anything. EW spoke with Jones and producer Chris Chesser about the film, which centers on a pack of aliens who grant absolute power to an unwitting Englishman then sit back and watch what havoc he wreaks.
Image Credit: Lester Cohen/WireImage.com
One of the big stories of this week’s Oscar nominations was the announcement that, for the first time in history, only two songs have been given the nod in the Best Song category: Bret McKenzie’s “Man or Muppet” from The Muppets and the Rio number “Real in Rio,” which was co-written by legendary Brazilian musician Sérgio Mendes. Below, Bruce Broughton, who is chair of the Academy’s Music Branch Executive Committee, explains how just a brace of songs came to receive noms and why the situation might prompt a rule change.
Brazilian musician Sérgio Mendes has said that a sequel to last year’s animated, avian-centric hit Rio “looks like it’s going to happen.” Rio was released last April and grossed $143m at the U.S. box office. Yesterday, Mendes was nominated in the Best Song Oscar category for co-writing the Fox film’s song “Real in Rio.”
Mendes told the Associated Press that Rio director Carlos Saldanha may tie the sequel to the 2014 World Cup, which is being hosted by Brazil. “I think the plan is for the movie to come three or four months before the World Cup,” said Mendes. “Fox has been talking about [it] and it looks like it’s going to happen. We’re going to have a meeting I think next week and Carlos is coming to tell us the story, and it looks like it’s a go.”
A spokesperson for Fox confirmed the company was interested in turning Rio into a franchise but said no deals had been made at present.
Read more:
Oscars 2012: Why did only two tunes get nominated in the Best Song category?
‘Muppets’ songwriter Bret McKenzie talks about facing off against Sergio Mendes in the Best Song Oscar race: ‘I’m hoping we have a drum battle on the red carpet!’
There’s one thing that’s even less easy than being green: being nominated for a Best Original Song Oscar. For the first time in the history of the Academy Awards, only two tunes made the cut this year: “Man or Muppet” from The Muppets and the Rio track “Real in Rio.” “I thought it was going to be more songs,” says legendary Brazilian musician Sérgio Mendes, who co-wrote the Rio tune. “On the other hand, I’m glad it’s just two!” The two-tune showdown certainly increases his odds against Flight of the Conchords member Bret McKenzie, who penned “Man or Muppet.”
Image Credit: Paramount Pictures
Missed Gore Verbinski’s dark and quirky Academy Award-nominated Rango when it was in theaters last March? No worries, partner. Paramount announced shortly after the wonderfully weird CGI Western was named a Best Animated Film nominee (it will square off against A Cat in Paris, Chico & Rita, Kung Fu Panda 2, and Puss in Boots) that it will be returning to theaters beginning this Friday, Jan. 27 for a limited week-long engagement. The throwback film — which features the voices of Johnny Depp (as the crime-fighting-chameleon-with-an-identity-crisis Rango), Isla Fisher, and Timothy Olyphant — has already pulled in over $245 million worldwide at the box office and won Best Animated Film at the Critics Choice Awards.
Read more:
‘Rango’: A peek behind the scenes of Johnny Depp’s epic lizard western
Johnny Depp’s ‘Rango’: Its top six riffs on classic movies
Oscars 2012 nominations list
EW’s Oscars 2012 Central
