Kung Fu Panda Sequel
Kung Fu Panda was the first non-Pixar computer animated film that I really enjoyed. When I saw the film a few months back, I said to one of my friends “This is gonna be huge, lets hope they don’t f**k it up by making a sequel.” Well guess what… A story crew has already begun early work on a Sequel, according to a posting on the TAG Blog. The original film has garnered great reviews across the board and made over $229.7 million worldwide in its first 19 days of release.
The Tale of Despereaux Movie Trailer
Universal has released a trailer for their pcoming computer animated film The Tale of Despereaux. I always find it fascinating when similar films are released close together: Armageddon and Deep Impact, Ants and A Bug’s Life, and now Ratatouille and The Tale of Despereaux - two computer animated films with European settings, about rodents who aren’t afraid of the human world which they are trained to be afraid of. And I’m not saying that Universal copied Pixar, or Pixar copied Universal. It’s just interesting that similar ideas are realized at the same time. The Tale of Despereaux is actually based on a book which was published in 2003, and the film was announced a year later. Pixar began developing Ratatouille in 2000. But it also doesn’t help that the teaser begins with a Chef in a kitchen.
Official Plot Synopsis: Once upon a time, in the faraway kingdom of Dor, there was magic in the air, laughter aplenty and gallons of mouthwatering soup. But an accident left the King broken-hearted, the Princess filled with longing and the townsfolk without their soup. Sunlight disappeared. The world became gray. All hope was lost in this land…until Despereaux Tilling (Matthew Broderick) was born.
A modern fairy tale, The Tale of Despereaux tells the story of four unlikely heroes: Despereaux , a brave mouse banished to the dungeon for speaking with a human; Roscuro (Dustin Hoffman), a good-hearted rat who loves light and soup, but is exiled to darkness; Pea (Emma Watson), a Princess in a gloomy castle who is prisoner to her father’s grief; and Mig (Tracey Ullman), a servant girl who longs to be a Princess, but is forced to serve the jailer.
Tiny and graced with oversized ears, Despereaux was born too big for his little world. Refusing to live his life cowering, he befriends a Princess named Pea and learns to read (rather than eat) books—reveling in stories of knights, dragons and fair maidens. Banished from Mouseworld for being more man than mouse, Despereaux is rescued by another outcast, Roscuro, who also wants to hear the tales. But when the Princess dismisses Roscuro’s friendship, he becomes the ultimate rat and plots revenge with fellow outsider Mig.
After Pea is kidnapped, Despereaux discovers he is the only one who can rescue her…and that even the tiniest mouse can find the courage of a knight in shining armor. In this tale of bravery, forgiveness and redemption, one small creature will teach a kingdom that it takes only a little light to show the truth: what you look like doesn’t equal what you are.
Watch the trailer in High Definition on Yahoo. The Tale of Despereaux is scheduled to hit theaters on December 19th 2008.
Sneak Preview of Disney’s Bolt
Movie Surfers has a short look at Disney’s upcoming computer animated film Bolt. Miley Cyrus gives us a sneak preview at her character and in production footage from the upcoming film. Rumor has it that the first trailer for Bolt will be attached to Pixar’s WALL-E, which hits theaters on June 27th.
For super-dog Bolt (voiced by John Travolta), every day is filled with adventure, danger and intrigue – at least until the cameras stop rolling. When the canine star of a hit TV show is accidentally shipped from his Hollywood soundstage to New York City, he begins his biggest adventure yet – a cross-country journey through the real world. Armed only with the delusions that all his amazing feats and powers are real, and with the help of two unlikely traveling companions – a jaded, abandoned housecat named Mittens (voiced by Susie Essman), and TV-obsessed hamster in a plastic ball named Rhino – Bolt discovers he doesn’t need superpowers to be a hero. Miley Cyrus (“Hannah Montana”) brings her vocal talents to the role of Penny, Bolt’s human co-star on the television series.
Bolt will hit theaters on November 26th, 2008 in Disney Digital 3-D™.
Smurfs Prepare Comeback Tour
Children of the ’80s, take note: There’s something smurftastic brewing in Hollywood.
Columbia Pictures and Sony Pictures Animation have scooped up the big-screen rights to the Smurfs and are on track to develop a hybrid live action/animated film based on the three-apple-high beings.
Papa Smurf, Smurfette and the rest of the blue-hued crew will be computer-rendered in the flick, which filmmakers hope launches a movie franchise.
Created by Pierre Culliford, aka Peyo, in 1958, Les Schtroumpfs began as minor comic-book characters before branching out into ubiquitous merchandising efforts and as NBC’s Emmy-winning Smurfs cartoon, which ran from 1981-90.
Davids Stem and Weiss, the family-friendly scribes behind Shreks 2 and 3, Jimmy Neutron: Boy Genius and The Rugrats Movie, are in talks to write.
Sounds positively smurfsational!