Prehistoric Mysteries

The Good Dinosaur may not be out for another two years, but movement on it seems to be slow...

No new director has been named since the announcement of the removal in September; original director Bob Peterson was booted off of his prehistoric picture long before that. One could speculate that he was taken off of the project as far back as June, since he went on Twitter hiatus between then and the official announcement.

When Jan Pinkava was removed from Ratatouille in early 2005, Brad Bird took over right away, but this was probably because there were no plans to delay it. Pixar brass had confidence in the Incredibles director, and they felt that he could fix the story in time. And he did...

Cars 2 is a different story, the original director was removed at the eleventh hour. Brenda Chapman was removed a little too late from Brave as well. Both films kept their release dates, which was more detrimental to them more than anything. I don't think Mark Andrews "ruined" Brave at all, had he had another year to really sort things out, he could've turned out something excellent. (No, I don't believe that evil king John Lasseter had him retool the film/dumb it down so that it would suit him.)

I just find it odd that no new director has been named. Last we heard, Lasseter, Andrews and Lee Unkrich were working with co-director Pete Sohn (is he still co-director without a lead director?) to retool different sections of the film. But how long have they been doing that?

Maybe there is a new director in place, they just haven't said anything yet...

But why?

With two years to go, they ought to get one soon...

I also firmly believe that this will not be another Newt situation, because...

#1. When Newt was pushed out of its unspecified summer 2011 spot in late 2008, it was now just "summer 2012". When Brave took the spot, Newt was "to be determined". This film moved from its planned May 30, 2014 release date to November 25, 2015. A specific date.

#2. Word on Newt was scarce. Between the first announcement of its existence to its unfortunate cancellation, you heard nothing about the film. The Good Dinosaur had been detailed at the D23 Expo, and we've heard different things about it over the years such as plot details and whatnot.

Again, I just think the director removal and the delay are a result of an unreasonable one-a-year schedule. Andrew Stanton said so himself...

The other mystery concerns the now confirmed fake poster that hit the other day...

Think about it for a second. How in the world did the individual(s) who put this poster together get those designs? The same goes for the fake Frozen posters that leaked in February. I have a feeling that someone at Disney (flipping on conspiracy theorist mode) takes early designs and throws together fake posters, and then quietly gives them to some site. Remember how an Argentine movie site of all places got the Frozen posters first?

It's like they want to play this little game with the fans who are craving for the real look of the films, as opposed to pieces of concept artwork. As noted elsewhere, The Good Dinosaur's fake poster uses the foliage from the Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs 2 poster, plus that sky background looks like a stock image. The logo is poorly integrated into the poster, too. Of course, Pixar wouldn't reveal the look of the film itself this early, either.

Arlo and Spot are identical to what we've seen in the concept artwork, and bugs do play a role in the story but these are probably very early models. Frozen's posters had very strange-looking versions of Anna and Elsa (why some Disney consumer products are using this artwork, I don't know) set against a still of Arendelle with text, snowflakes and other things that looked like they were tacked on. They screamed "fan posters"...

But how did those posters come about? Who is making them? Who is getting the designs? Are they mock posters made in the studio just to get an idea of what the posters in question may look like? What do you think?

If anything, The Good Dinosaur's first legitimate teaser poster will show the bronto protagonist from a distance, and perhaps the kid as well. Who ever is making Pixar's posters (whether it's them or Disney marketing) is good at making teaser posters; the posters are minimal but yet they give you an idea of what the films will look like and feel like...