June Animation Tidbits [#2]

More animation tidbits! Looks like this month is picking up a bit! Oh, and check out that nice Frozen teaser poster...

Well how about that... The teaser for The Lego Movie has finally arrived! Just in time for a certain big animated film that's opening on Friday...



One thing I liked about the trailer was the beginning, parodying most trailers for big blockbusters and humorously implying a Justice League movie is what's in store. I also love the animation of the individual Lego people, it was almost stop motion-like in a way. But the film is said to be an all-CG production, hmmmm...

The jokes? A lot of them worked, but what really thrilled me was the look of it and the glimpses of the action. All in all, it looks like it'll be a whole lot of fun. 2014's animation slate just got more and more exciting...

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Speaking of 2014 animated films, a new image from DreamWorks' Mr. Peabody & Sherman. It's just another look at the titular duo, so hopefully we'll get a poster or a teaser sometime soon.

Here's hoping it's fun one! This DreamWorks production will hit theaters nationwide on March 7, 2014.

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Thanks to a recent press release from Disney, we now know what the Fall 2014 Diamond Edition title will be... Sleeping Beauty!

Though I had thought that Aladdin and One Hundred and One Dalmatians would follow The Jungle Book (Spring 2014), it seems like Disney will do whatever with this line now despite the fact that this title is already on Blu-ray unlike the other titles that haven't been released as Diamonds yet, sans Pinocchio. The home entertainment division is probably doing this because Disney's big budget tentpole Maleficent hits theaters in the summer of 2014, and the Blu-ray should hit stores in the autumn.

So basically, I have to revise my predictions!

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Animation Fascination and HitFix have some great details about Walt Disney Animation Studios' upcoming Mickey Mouse short Get A Horse!, which premiered at the Annecy eighteen days ago. The presentation was held by Disney legend Eric Goldberg and animator Adam Green. Hitfix's Drew McWeeny had this to say...

“Evidently, they opened the presentation by talking about how storyboards had been found for an unfinished Mickey Mouse short, and then the classics ‘Plane Crazy’ and ‘Steamboat Willie’ were shown. Perfect way to set the stage for what happened to those recently discovered storyboards. As Get A Horse! begins, it appears to be an actual 1928 Disney cartoon, but at some point, the screen shakes and a full-color 3D rendered Mickey Mouse appears in the cartoon. From that point on, the film mixes the ’20s style hand animation and modern cutting edge 3D work, with the beginning of Disney’s legacy colliding to what sounds like hilarious effect with the latest and most technically polished expression of Disney’s vision.”

McWeeny also states that the short will be attached to Frozen, though there hasn't been much of an official confirmation... Strange, considering that Disney announced that Paperman would precede Wreck-It Ralph in theaters.

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What do you think of the teaser for The Lego Movie? Are you anticipating the film? Or not? When do you think we'll get a trailer for Mr. Peabody & Sherman? Or better yet a proper first look? What do you think of Sleeping Beauty hitting Blu-ray as a Diamond Edition before Aladdin and One Hundred and One Dalmatians? Are you hyped for Get A Horse!?

Sound off below!

June Animation Tidbits [#1]

Though we're only seven days into the month, some bits and pieces have been announced concerning the major animation studios...

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First up, Disney has unveiled the official poster for their upcoming hand-drawn Mickey Mouse short film Get A Horse!, which is delightfully retro and very reminiscent of the posters for short subjects during the Golden Age.

The short is being touted as "never-before-seen", as if it was some lost Walt-era film that happened to be unearthed recently. Set to premiere at the Annecy on the 11th, Get A Horse! will be the first theatrical traditional-length Mickey Mouse short film since 1995's Runaway Brain. I'm hoping it's a great one! Now, if only Disney would tell us if it's being attached to Frozen or not... In my opinion, it would be unwise of them to not attach it to screenings of the film.

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Reel FX Creative Studios' debut theatrical animated feature Free Birds is slowly but surely being hyped up. After a neat theater display and some details, we finally got some images from the film itself. The animation looks pretty good and the character designs are overall fun. I'm just hoping it's not... You know... A turkey. This could either be a very funny film or an outright disaster.

These images indicate that we'll be getting a trailer soon. Good timing too, since Monsters University is right around the corner.

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A while back, it was announced that Kung Fu Panda director Mark Osborne was at the helm of a $63 million animated adaptation of The Little Prince, a classic and famously philosophical children's book by Antoine de Saint-Exupery. What studio will be making it? Apparently one in Europe, but the film now has a cast that includes Jeff Bridges, Marion Cotillard, Benicio del Toro, James Franco, Paul Giamatti and Rachel Adams. It's currently slated for release sometime in 2014, I presume it'll show up some time during the late summer or early autumn.

It's also going to be in 3D. Will it be a computer animated film or a stop motion film? I'm hoping for the latter, but it'll probably be the former. Here's hoping it's somewhat good!

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What do you think of the Get A Horse! poster? Do you think the short will be attached to Frozen? Or will Disney release it elsewhere? Do you think Free Birds can be a decent film? Or do you think it is a disaster in the making? Do you think the new adaptation of The Little Prince could work?

Sound off below!