Big Changes and New Voices in 'The Good Dinosaur'

Pixar's The Good Dinosaur has gone through countless changes in production. The story was conceived by Pixar veteran Bob Peterson (co-director of Up), and the original release date was scheduled in May of 2014. Since then, Peter Sohn (Partly Cloudy) replaced Peterson as the new director of the movie, and the film will now arrive to theaters this November. Pixar's president Ed Catmull had the following words to say about the changes in The Good Dinosaur.

"Nobody ever remembers the fact that you slipped a film, but they will remember a bad film. Our conclusion was that we were going to give the film some more time."

The Good Dinosaur Concept Art

There have also been major story adjustments in The Good Dinosaur. In the original summary of the film, there is a traumatic event that changes Arlo's (the main dino character) community. In the new synopsis, the event changes Arlo's family instead.

The Good Dinosaur asks the generations-old question: What if the asteroid that forever changed life on Earth missed the planet completely and giant dinosaurs never became extinct? In theaters November 25, 2015, the film is a humorous and exciting original story about Arlo, a lively Apatosaurus with a big heart. After a traumatic event unsettles Arlo’s family, he sets out on a remarkable journey, gaining an unlikely companion along the way - a human boy. The Good Dinosaur is an extraordinary journey of self-discovery full of thrilling adventure, hilarious characters and poignant heart.

The Good Dinosaur Teaser Trailer

The cast for the movie has also gone through big revisions. Arlo, who was originally played by Lucas Neff, will now be voiced by Raymond Ochoa. Arlo's human companion who is named Spot will be voiced by Jack Bright. Both Ochoa and Bright are young voice actors and are credited for "additional children's voices" on Monsters University. Jeffery Wright (Beetee from The Hunger Games) has replaced John Lithgow as Poppa, Arlo's father, and Momma will still be played by the original casting choice, Frances McDormand. Child star Marcus Scribner (Black-ish) will play Arlo's brother, Buck. The character Buck was originally named Forrest, and was voiced by Bill Hader (the voice of Fear in Pixar's Inside Out). Arlo's two other siblings Cliff (Neil Patrick Harris) and Ivy (Judy Greer) are now completely cut from the film.

Arlo's Siblings Have Been Either Replaced or Cut

There are some Tyrannosaurus Rex's seen in the teaser trailer as well. A.J Buckley voices a T-Rex named Nash, Anna Paquin plays one called Ramsey, and Sam Elliot is the voice of a tenacious T-Rex named Butch. Another voice cast member is Steve Zahn, and he plays a pterodactyl named Thunderclap. The film's composer, which was initially Thomas Newman (Finding Nemo, WALL-E), has been replaced by Mychael Dynna (Life Of Pi). This is Dynna's first time doing the music for a Pixar movie.

Image From The Good Dinosaur Teaser Trailer

This is not the first time there have been director changes or production troubles at Pixar; all this is part of the creative process of the film until it arrives on the big screen. An example of this is when A Bug's Life was completed in the Fall of 1998, and Toy Story 2 was examined by John Lasseter and other directors. It was decided that it needed to be completely re-written. Pixar turned the production of Toy Story 2 upside-down and got the film done in less than a year. This story illustrates one of the great traits of Pixar, the artists there will always choose to do what's best for the story of the film, even if that means completely re-doing, delaying, or working overtime on the movie.

Image From The Good Dinosaur Teaser Trailer

The Good Dinosaur will hit the big screen this November on the 25th.

Source: Disney Insider

Watch Two New Clips From 'Inside Out'

Two new clips were just released starring the emotions from Riley's mind. The movie segemnts feature Joy and Sadness as they attempt to return to the Headquarters, and the introduction of Anger and Disgust into the film. Check them out below!

Inside Out recently (May 18) had its premiere at the prestigious Cannes Film Festival. The response to the film has been overwhelmingly positive and it currently holds a 100% rating on Rotten Tomatoes with thirteen review so far. Peter Debruge from Variety called it "the greatest idea the toon studio has ever had," and Katherine McLaughlin from The List raved that Inside Out has an "utterly magical coming-of-age story has a beautiful message for everyone, not just kids."

Jonas Rivera, John Lasseter, and Pete Docter at the Cannes Film Festival
(Source: Pixar Post.)

Inside Out is directed by Pete Docter (director of Monsters, Inc. and Up), co-directed by Ronnie Del Carmen (director of Dug's Special Mission), and produced by Jonas Rivera (producer of Up). The cast of the movie includes Amy Poehler (Joy), Bill Hader (Fear), Mindy Kaling (Disgust), Phyllis Smith (Sadness), and Lewis Black (Anger). The "major emotion picture" comes to theaters on June 19, 2015.

Pixar Is Developing a Pirate Movie

BREAKING: Pixar Animations Studios is currently working on a new original film, The Untitled Pixar Pirate Movie! This surprising news came from an interview with John Lasseter  this past week on NowMovies.com. Lasseter said that even though there a more sequels being made at Pixar then were were in the past, there are still several original movies in the works. He then went on to list such films: Inside Out, The Good Dinosaur, a movie about Dia de los Muertos, and a new pirate movie.

"Yarr!"

John Lasseter had more to say on the pirate movie:

"(The pirate film) follows the adventures of Spaniard pirate Lupita Sanchez, her husband Roberto, and their children as they search for a mysterious treasure. It's kind of like The Incredibles, but instead of a superhero family we have a pirate family. Lupita gets a little bored with being a pirate, and wonders if it's really all it's cracked up to be."

Lasseter also happily announced that the film would be directed by Mark Andrews (Brave) and Dan Scanlon (Monsters University), which is not normal for Pixar since they usually have one single director on a project. Nothing more was said about the movie except that they watched animated pirate films like The Pirates! Band of Misfits, The Pirate Fairy, and  Ice Age: Continental Drift for inspiration.

Some of the inspiration for the Pixar pirate movie

Because of the full schedule for upcoming Pixar movies, the earliest we'll see The Untitled Pixar Pirate Movie in theaters would mostly likely be in 2018.

The Co-Director For 'Toy Story 4' Has Been Announced

After the shocking announcement that Toy Story 4 is indeed happening last November, there have been barely any further updates about the film - until now. 

In the Variety article, "10 Animators To Watch" it highlights Pixar storyboard artist Josh Cooley. Josh was worked at Pixar since 2006 and the first feature he contributed to was Cars. Since then, he storyboarded for several other movies, as well as directed a few. Josh Cooley was the director of George and AJ, which follows the adventures of the two Shady Oaks Employees from Up, and he has directed a short film which will be included on the Blu-ray for Inside Out.

Josh Cooley's next project at Pixar is being co-director for a continuation of one of the most beloved movie series in the planet, Toy Story 4. Cooley is elated about his new endeavor and said that:

“To be co-director on Toy Story 4 with John, who brought the Toy Story characters to the screen 20 years ago, is a dream come true. When I first saw Toy Story I was amazed by the groundbreaking computer-generated animation. But it was the strong storytelling that kept me coming back. Toy Story 4 will continue that tradition and I couldn’t be more excited to be a part of it!”

Pixar's Chief Creative Officer John Lasseter is set to direct Toy Story 4 (he was the director of the first two Toy Story films),  and the screenplay will be from writing duo Rashida Jones and Will McCormack. Toy Story 4 will be produced by Pixar veteran Galyn Susman.

Pixar Story Meeting and Co-Director Josh Cooley

New plot details have also been recently revealed  about Toy Story 4. Collider reported that instead of a continuation of the first three films, Toy Story 4 will be it's own separate story. Pixar general manager Jim Morris revealed this tidbit in an interview with Disney Latino (the text below is translated):

"The third movie ended in a beautiful way and completed a trilogy. I think this movie is not part of this trilogy. It is a separate story, which in turn I do not know if will be continued. Never begin a project with that in mind. It is not a continuation of the end of the story of Toy Story 3.Temporarily it is, but it will be a love story. It will be a romantic comedy. It will not put much focus on the interaction between the characters and children. I think it will be a very good movie."

There you have it. Not only is Toy Story 4 a romantic comedy, but apparently it will focus much more on the toys than the humans.

Toy Story 4 Will Allegedly Be A Love Story

Toy Story 4  is set to be released on June 16, 2017.

'Finding Dory' Will Take Place At a Marine Life Institute

Pixar's general manager Jim Morris gave new information about the plot for Finding Dory at the CCXP - Comic Con Experience in Brazil today (Dec. 8). He also revealed concept art, unfinished scenes, and showed off a new software that helped create schools of fish. Here's what the movie's about (via ComicBookMovie).

The story of the movie will follow Dory, Marlin and Nemo as they set off on a journey to find about Dory's past and parents. The movie will be mainly set in the Marine Biology Institute of California, a huge complex of rehabilitation for marine life. Dory learns that she was born and raised there and was released in the ocean when she was a kid. We will see new characters, like an octopus, sea lions, a beluga whale and others.

Finding Dory Logo

It was first rumored over a year ago that Finding Dory would take place in an aquarium type attraction when The LA Times reported that Pixar directors John Lasseter and Andrew Stanton viewed the documentary Blackfish with it's director Gabriela Cowperthwaite. According to Louie Psihoyos, director of the documentary The Cove, at the end of Finding Dory some marine mammals were sent to and aquatic park- kind of like a Sea World environment. He went on to say that after seing Blackfish, a documentary that shows the injustice and problems within the sea-park industry, the Pixar directors  retooled the film so that the sea creatures now have the choice to leave that marine park. Gabriela Cowperthwaite said that Pixar employees were deeply impacted from her film, but Pixar declined to comment on the Blackfish story.

Finding Dory Concept Art

New characters for Finding Dory include Dory's parents Charlie and Jenny who will be voiced by Eugene Levy and Diane Keaton. Ty Burrell will also lend his voice to the film, he will be playing a beluga whale named Bailey. Ellen DeGeneres (Dory) and Albert Brooks (Marlin) will return for the Finding Nemo sequel as well.

"Oh boy! This is going to be good, I can tell."

Finding Dory is directed by Andrew Stanton (Finding Nemo, WALL-E) and will be released on June 17th, 2016.

BREAKING: 'Toy Story 4' Will Be Released In 2017

The Toy Story trilogy is the most beloved movie series on the planet. So when the third one ended so perfectly when Andy gave his toy collection to Bonnie, Pixar had decided that the Toy Story films were complete, right? Nope.

"So long, partner."

Toy Story 4 is indeed happening and it is set to be released on June 16, 2017. John Lasseter who directed the first two Toy Story movies will return and direct the fourth film. Here's Mr. Lasseter's comments on the fourth installment in the Toy Story series: “We love these characters so much; they are like family to us. We don’t want to do anything with them unless it lives up to or surpasses what’s gone before. Toy Story 3 ended Woody and Buzz’s story with Andy so perfectly that for a long time, we never even talked about doing another Toy Story movie. But when Andrew, Pete, Lee and I came up with this new idea, I just could not stop thinking about it. It was so exciting to me, I knew we had to make this movie—and I wanted to direct it myself.” John Lasseter is referring to Andrew Stanton (director of Finding Nemo and WALL-E), Pete Docter (Monsters, Inc. and Up), and Lee Unkrich (Toy Story 3). Writing duo Rashida Jones and Will McCormack are also working on Toy Story 4, and it will be produced by longtime Pixarian Galyn Susman (producer of Toy Story of TERROR!).

Image Source: De todo un poco.

There's a lot of skepticism whether this film is really needed, and that it is just being made for the money. After all, Disney's CEO Bob Iger did announce the news the same day that Disney reports their record fiscal year results. John Lasseter denies naysayers and had this to say: "A lot of people in the industry view us doing sequels as being for the business of it, but for us it's pure passion. We only make sequels when we have a story that's as good as or better than the original. We don't just, because of the success of a film, automatically say we're going to do a sequel and then figure out what we're going to do." He also told The LA Times that 'Toy Story 4' will be a love story and will pick up where 'Toy Story 3' left off, when Woody, Buzz Lightyear and the rest of the series' toy chest of characters were handed down to a little girl named Bonnie. 

Toy Story 4 will be a love story?

The next Toy Story film to be released is a 22-minute holiday television special. It is called Toy Story That Time Forgot and it will air this December 2nd on ABC. The synopsis for the short film is: During a post-Christmas play date, the Toy Story gang find themselves in uncharted territory when the coolest set of action figures ever turn out to be dangerously delusional. It's all up to Trixie, the triceratops, if the gang hopes to return to Bonnie's room in this “Toy Story That Time Forgot.”

Image from Toy Story That Time Forgot.

What are your thoughts on 'Toy Story 4'?

Source: Disney Insider

'The Good Dinosaur' Has Been "Dismantled and Re-imagined"

The Good Dinosaur has gone through a series of ups and downs in its production. It was originally directed by Bob Peterson (Co-directer of Up), and last year he was replaced by members of the Pixar BrainTrust: John Lasseter (Pixar's Chief Creative Officer), Lee Unkrich (Director of Toy Story 3), and Mark Andrews (Director of Brave). Peter Sohn has always been the co-director for The Good Dinosaur, and he is still working on the movie. Bob Peterson remained positive about him leaving the film and announced that he is on to future projects.

Less than a month later, The Good Dinosaur was pushed back from its original release date. It was going to come out last May, and now it will arrive in theaters on November 25th, 2015. Pixar's President Ed Catmull had this to say about the release date change: "Nobody ever remembers the fact that you slipped a film, but they will remember a bad film. Our conclusion was that we were going to give the film some more time."

The official logo for The Good Dinosaur

Collider recently interviewed John Lithgow and threw in a couple questions about The Good Dinosaur. (John voices one of the characters in the film). Here's what he said:

“I recorded the entire role in Good Dinosaur.  They have now dismantled it and completely re-imagined it, and it is a fantastic new story.  So I’m gonna record again on it within the next month.  Don’t worry.  It’s coming and it’s gonna be better than I ever imagined.”

How much has the movie been re-imagined? One wonders if it will be drastically different from the original question that drove the story of the film: What if the cataclysmic asteroid that forever changed life on Earth actually missed the planet completely and giant dinosaurs never became extinct? The Good Dinosaur's original synopsis pronounced that The Good Dinosaur was about an 70-foot-tall teenage Apatosaurus named Arlo. After a traumatic event rattles Arlo’s tranquil community, he sets out on a quest to restore peace, gaining an unlikely companion along the way—a young human boy named Spot.

The Good Dinosaur concept art featuring Arlo and Spot

John Lithgow went on to say that he was still the voice of Poppa Dinosaur (Arlo's father) and that Frannie McDormand as sill playing Momma Dinosaur. Does this mean that some of the other voice actors have been replaced or changed? At D23 2013 it was announced that Lucas Neff would be the voice of Arlo, and his siblings are going to be played by Bill Hader, Neil Patrick Harris, and Judy Greer.

The Good Dinosaur presentation at D23 last year

This is not the first time there have been director changes or production troubles at Pixar; all this is part of the creative process of the film until it arrives on the big screen. An example of this is when A Bug's Life was completed in the Fall of 1998, and Toy Story 2 was examined by John Lasseter and other directors. It was decided that it needed to be completely re-written. Pixar turned the production of Toy Story 2 upside-down and got the film done in less than a year. This story illustrates one of the great traits of Pixar, the artists there will always choose to do what's best for the story of the film, even if that means completely re-doing, delaying, or working overtime on the movie.

The Good Dinosaur will arrive in theaters next year on November 25th. This is the first time Pixar will have released two movies in the same year, the first one being Inside Out (June 19th, 2015).

Pixar Summer Movies To Go

Do you have a Disney Movies Anywhere (DMA) account? No? Then I suggest you create one right now! It's free to sign up and you get The Incredibles as a bonus gift. This summer, a collection of brand new Pixar themed videos are premiering on DMA. Watch John Lasseter "rev up" "Pixar Summer Movies To Go," learn interesting facts from Pixar's lucky charm, John Ratzenberger, about Cars and The Incredibles, take a behind-the-scenes look at Pixar's annual car show, Motorama, and check out Pixar's newest Cars Toon, The Radiator Springs 500½.

Each week a new Pixar movie will be featured for your digital movie collection, along with a filmmaker introduction and a bucket-load of bonus features. The Pixar movie highlighted this week is Cars, and it's being sold for $14.99.

Watch the promotional trailer for the "Pixar Summer Movies To Go" event.