Merida Will be in 'Disney Infinity 2.0'

Even though the main focus of Disney Infinity 2.0 is bringing in the Marvel Super Heroes, there will still be non-Marvel characters available for the Toy Box mode. Disney just announced that Merida and Maleficent will join the cast of the Disney Infinity characters. Check out the trailer below:

Here's Merida's character description (From Inside the Magic): With her untamed fiery red locks, this headstrong Princess will definitely leave her mark in Disney Infinity. Between her sharp sword and bow combo attacks with ricocheting arrows, she can upgrade her aim with elemental freeze arrows, freezing enemies in front of her then following up with rapid shots showing off her impressive athletic skills as an archer and sword fighter.

Merida Disney Infinity figure with a Will-o'-the-wisp.

If you haven't played Disney Infinity yet, you can download the game to play on you PC. You can play with The Incredibles play set and the Toy Box for free, but it costs extra for more bonus content ($19.99 for The Ultimate Toy Box Experience and $64.99 for The Complete Play Set Bundle). 

Disney Infinity 2.0 will come out this fall.

Michael Giacchino Will Compose the Score for 'Inside Out'

At the Star Trek into Darkness - Live to Projection event on May 24 at KKL Luzern concert hall in Switzerland, composer Michael Giacchino said that he was going to write the music for Pixar's next movie, Inside Out (directed by Pete Docter). Giacchino has composed the music for several Pixar films including The Incredibles, Ratatouille, Up (also directed by Pete Docter), Cars 2, and most recently, Toy Story of TERROR! 

Michael and Pete battle with their Golden Globes

(Image from Michael Giacchino's website)

Click here to read the synopsis and more details surrounding Inside Out. The movie comes to theaters on June 19, 2015.

Source: Pixar Post

'The Radiator Springs 500 ½' is Now on 'Disney Movies Anywhere'

Pixar's newest Cars Toon, The Radiator Springs 500 ½, is now available to watch on Disney Movies Anywhere! (It's free to view; all you need is an account). This six-minute short film is part of the Tales from Radiator Springs series. In The Radiator Springs 500 ½, a gang of Baja Racers interrupt a celebration of Stanley, the founder of Radiator Springs, to challenge Lightning McQueen to a race. While McQueen and the Baja pros see who’s the fastest, Mater leads the rest of the gang through a leisurely Founders Day tour of Stanley’s original frontier route.

"By right you mean left?"

"The Enchanted Forrest" scene in the Cars Toon has very close similarities to a deleted scene in the first Cars movie. In the storyboarded clip below, Lightning McQueen attempts to get back to the interstate and discovers a graveyard full of rusted cars.

The Radiator Springs 500 ½ is the last film to be made by Pixar Canada, Pixar's subsidiary studio located in Vancouver, Canada. Sadly, Pixar Canada closed on October 2013 in order "to refocus operations and  resources under the one roof.” (Pixar's main studio in Emeryville, CA) Pixar Canada's other films include Air Mater, Small Fry, Time Travel Mater, Partysaurus Rex, and three Tales from Radiator Springs.

Pixar Canada: 2010 - 2013

The next Cars Toon from the Tales from Radiator Springs series is called To Protect and Serve.(@ThePixarTimes) It will be out sometime later this year.

'Toy Story of TERROR!' on Blu-ray this August

Pixar's first ever television special, Toy Story of TERROR!, will arrive on Blu-ray and Digital HD on August 19. The synopsis for the film reads: What starts out as a fun road trip for the Toy Story gang takes an unexpected turn for the worse when the trip detours to a roadside motel. After one of the toys goes missing, the others find themselves caught up in a mysterious sequence of events that must be solved before they all suffer the same fate in this Toy Story of TERROR!

"The roadside motel is a classic setting for a horror story."

The bonus features will include:

• Toy Story of Terror! Audio Commentary
• Team of Specialists with Director Angus MacLane
• 3 Deleted Scenes, with Editor Introductions:
• Pencil Topper Trilogy
• Travel Brochures
• Road Trip Roulette
• Vintage Toy Commercials, with Director Introductions:
• Old Timer
• Combat Carl
• Transitron
• Toy Story Toons Shorts, with Audio Commentaries:
• Hawaiian Vacation
• Small Fry
• Partysaurus Rex
• D23 Teaser

Here us the brand new Blu-ray trailer for Toy Story of TERROR!

Pixar's next Toy Story television special is called Toy Story That Time Forgot and it will air this year during the holiday season.

'Inside Out' Details

Pixar's next movie, Inside Out, is directed by Pete Docter (Monsters Inc., Up) and is just over 400 days away from being released in theaters! Here's the original synopsis for the film:

From the tepuis of South America to a monster-filled metropolis, Academy Award®-winning director Pete Docter has taken audiences to unique and imaginative places. In 2015, he will take us to the most extraordinary location of all - inside the mind of an 11-year-old named Riley.

Some of the cast for Inside Out was announced at the D23 Expo 2013. Amy Poehler is the voice of Joy, Lewis Black is the voice of Anger, Mindy Kaling is the voice of Disgust, Phyllis Smith is the voice of Sadness, and Bill Hader is the voice of Fear.

Mindy Kaling in the recording booth for Inside Out

About one month ago, Pixar's website updated the synopsis with a lot more details.

Growing up can be a bumpy road, and it's no exception for Riley, who is uprooted from her Midwest life when her father starts a new job in San Francisco. Like all of us, Riley is guided by her emotions – Joy, Fear, Anger, Disgust and Sadness. The emotions live in Headquarters, the control center inside Riley’s mind, where they help advise her through everyday life. As Riley and her emotions struggle to adjust to a new life in San Francisco, turmoil ensues in Headquarters. Although Joy, Riley's main and most important emotion, tries to keep things positive, the emotions conflict on how best to navigate a new city, house and school.

Inside Out will be co-directed by Ronnie del Carmen, and produced by Jonas Riveras.

Inside Out concept art of Riley's mind

Fast Company has published an excerpt from Ed Catmull's excellent new book, Creativity Inc. In this passage, Ed takes readers inside a Pixar Braintrust meeting, revealing some more information about Inside Out. Here's Pete Docter's explanation of the emotions in the movie.

"We have our main character, an emotion called Joy, who is effervescent. She literally glows when she's excited. Then we have Fear. He thinks of himself as confident and suave, but he's a little raw nerve and tends to freak out. The other characters are Anger, Sadness--her shape is inspired by teardrops--and Disgust, who basically turns up her nose at everything. And all these guys work at what we call Headquarters."

Later on in the chapter Ed explains how the brain works in Inside Out. The memories are depicted as glowing glass globes and are stored in the brain; moving through a maze of chutes into an archive. When the memories are remembered, they would roll down another labyrinth of chutes, like bowling balls being returned to bowlers at the alley. 

Fear, Sadness, Joy, (she's holding a memory!) Disgust, and Anger

Pixar directors also had some things to say in the Braintrust meeting about the film. Here's Brad Bird's (The Incredibles, Ratatouille) praise for Inside Out.

"Pete, I want to give you a huge round of applause: This is a frickin' big idea to try to make a movie about. I've said to you on previous films, ‘You're trying to do a triple backflip into a gale force wind, and you're mad at yourself for not sticking the landing. Like, it's amazing you're alive. This film is the same. So, huge round of applause."

Inside Out comes to theaters on June 19, 2015.

Making 'The Dam Keeper'

'The Dam Keeper’ is an animated short film by Pixar artists Robert Kondo and Dice Tsutsumi. It tells the tale of a young pig encumbered with an important job, and the meeting of a new classmate who changes everything. Here is an early animation test by Eric Oh, with the characters Pig and Fox from the film. Check out this video to see Eric talk more about the animation in 'The Dam Keeper'

Go behind the music of the film with Zach Johnston and Matteo Roberts, the composers of 'The Dam Keeper,' and Minna Choi, the conductor of the The MagikMagik Orchestra. 

Watch Andrea Blasich talk about sculpting the characters for the short film. Andrea has worked as a sculptor for video games and some animation studios including Pixar, Disney, Dreamworks, and Bluesky. Visit his website here.

To watch the trailer and more behind the scenes videos of 'The Dam Keeper,' check out their YouTube channel.