December Animation Tidbits [#2]

Another round of bits...

How To Spoil Your Dragon

A recently released image showing Cate Blanchett's
character.

How To Train Your Dragon 2's trailer is right around the corner, but we all may have to avoid it. I got word from a good friend of mine, who found a source suggesting that the trailer might spoil a major twist in the film. It's said to be all Fox's doing, and that the people at DreamWorks begged the marketing department not to spoil said "mystery".

Attention Animation Fans: There is a new HTTYD2 Trailer coming out soon. Don't watch it unless you want the story's big mystery spoiled.
— Mygames19 (@Mygames19) December 14, 2013

I know the source isn't exactly reliable, but for those who don't want to be spoiled, it's better to assume it is. http://t.co/W3ZUb99Wxl
— Mygames19 (@Mygames19) December 14, 2013

If this turns out to be true, all I can say is: Really Fox? Really?

People just don't have a clue when it comes to marketing animated films, do they? That teaser was so excellent, suggesting that Fox was going to market DreamWorks' films correctly since Paramount did poorly at doing so in their final years with the studio. I mean come on! This is a highly anticipated sequel to a highly acclaimed animated film, and this is what you're going to do?

I hope it's all a rumor…

Moana Madness

Like that logo for Walt Disney Animation Studios' upcoming Polynesian-set adventure? Well, it's fake. You can tell too, with the two swooshes above and below the "Moana" text looking so basic and the Disney logo being in white, which contrasts heavily from everything else.

Also, people thought that these were newly leaked pieces of concept artwork… They aren't…

And it seems like people are just discovering this upcoming Ron and John project. I don't mean to brag (if you've been reading prior to May, you have the same bragging rights), but I've known about this for a while.

The good thing is, people know it exists. It's presumably not due out until 2018 (going by Blue Sky Disney's notes), but it's good that the word has gotten out somehow. The only post-Big Hero 6 film that Disney has officially mentioned or announced is Zootopia, but they didn't outright say that the film is set to open on March 4, 2016. Smart move, because if you ask me, picking a date for an animated film very early on might be detrimental to the production.

Keane Gets Work!

Wow… Already! Apparently he's set to work on a commercial for Motorola, going by a mysterious email Cartoon Brew's Amid Amidi received.

Now, how long until it's announced that an animated feature enters development at Glen Keane Productions?

90s Revival

On January 20th, Cartoon Network will take us back to the City of Townsville with a Powerpuff Girls special titled "Dance Pantsed"…

As the poster implies, this special will be done in a completely different animation style and will also feature Ringo Starr as a character named Fibonacci Sequins, an over-the-top mathematician. Hmmm, I wonder if he'll sing a song! Oh wait, he will! "I Wish I Was a Powerpuff Girl"!

Color me excited.

Also, the premise…

In 'Dance Pantsed', why is Mojo Jojo kidnapping a mathematician, an opera singer and a badger? To steal Chemical X, of course, and to finally take over Townsville. But when the Powerpuff Girls thwart his plan, he invents an evil video game called “Dance Pants R-EVILution” to control their minds and bodies to fulfill his evil plot! The Professor must visit his dark dancing past to save his girls so they can save all of Townsville!

It's good to see Cartoon Network revisiting one of their classic 90s shows, and while the new art style might leave some fans upset, I'm certainly looking forward to it. Here's hoping the writing is as good as the original show. Plus, Ringo Starr… You can't go wrong.

~

Will you check out the How To Train Your Dragon 2 trailer when it comes out? Do you think it will end up being spoilerific? When do you think Disney will officially announce Moana? What do think Glen Keane will work on next year? Does the upcoming Powerpuff Girls special excite you? Or not?

Sound off below!

More Speed

Sega announced today that a new animated series based on their long-running Sonic The Hedgehog franchise is coming next autumn...

Sonic, like many video game characters from the 1980s and 1990s, has been in the world of animation before. 1993 saw the debut of two completely different shows - one the same day no less; the goofy and ready-made-for-parody Adventures of Sonic the Hedgehog and the much more serious, story-oriented, well-made Sonic The Hedgehog (often called Sonic SatAM). Things continued with an OVA in 1996 and then with 1999's Sonic Underground, and then an anime series called Sonic X (which took plot points from the Sonic game I grew up playing, Sonic Adventure) followed in 2003. Oh yes, and let's not forget his awesome cameo in Wreck-It Ralph!

Now this new series is called Sonic Boom, and unlike its predecessors, it's going to be done in computer animation.

Described as a "character-driven comedy", the show is set to premiere on Cartoon Network in the US. I think that's a fine idea, because I think Cartoon Network is actually a decent channel nowadays (I think they hit rock bottom in both late 2007 and mid 2009), with some good-to-great shows mixed with some competent shows and a lot of not-so-great stuff. A Sonic series like this could boost the network considerably, and be a decent show overall.

But more than anything, I'd like to see a computer animated Sonic film. Think of how sick that fast action would look and feel on the big screen! Reader MattNor91 said a while back that he'd like to see Walt Disney Animation Studios make one, and honestly that sounds like a great idea, since they gave us Wreck-It Ralph and they are experimenting with their future films; most notably with the Marvel adaptation Big Hero 6, which looks to have a strong anime vibe.

Anyways, what are your thoughts on this upcoming Sonic series? Also, what's with Knuckles?