Take Off

The poster for How To Train Your Dragon 2 is finally here!

To be honest, I thought those teasers that were unveiled yesterday were for individual posters. Maybe one with just Hiccup, and one with just Toothless, but no - both are on here. It's a nice poster, one that implies that the sequel will be much more action-packed and perhaps a little more serious. After all, Kung Fu Panda 2 was just that in comparison to the original. The plot synopsis hints at something epic, now that the dragon has been… Ahem… Trained. It should do what a good sequel does: Go all out now that you've established everything in the first one.

Now let's hope that a new trailer is coming soon…

Tease, Tease, Tease…

DreamWorks and 20th Century Fox are going about marketing How To Train Your Dragon 2 in some pretty interesting ways. First off, they unleashed a teaser that was a full sequence rather than a selection of parts from the film, doing what Disney used to do for trailers (think The Lion King and Pocahontas); though it's possible that the sequence won't be in the movie itself and that it's just a custom-made bit for the teaser, much like what's used in Pixar's teasers.

Still, it was a nice change of pace and the teaser did its job right, it made the movie look good. I have a feeling that this film's marketing will be the antithesis of the first film's shoddy marketing (the very marketing that brought in a $43 million gross as opposed to $60 million), coupled with the fact that many people saw the original and are anticipating the sequel.

Now, DreamWorks continues to go the mysterious route… Today they have released three teasers…

Of posters…

Yep, much like Marvel's "teaser of a teaser" strategy, DreamWorks is doing this with posters.

I assume the full posters will be unveiled tomorrow or sometime this week, and maybe a trailer is right around the corner! That would be awesome…

(via fellow Rotoscoper comrade Max de Hartog)

Poster Puzzle

Is this our first teaser poster for Pixar's The Good Dinosaur?

I'm going to say no. It would be weird for Pixar to release one this early, because the film is not even due out for another two years. Sure, Arlo and Spot's designs are very close to what we've seen in the concept artwork... But look at the way the title is integrated into everything, also all those jungle leaves and the sky background just seem like they were thrown in there. Something about it just seems fan-made, something like those Frozen posters where someone got the designs (or the prototype/near-finished designs) and built their own posters around them.

But I could be wrong, after all this could've been a teaser poster (or an early version of a teaser poster) that was prepared before the director removal and subsequent delay that happened to be released just now. It would be uncharacteristic of Pixar to release something this early for a film that they know won't be out for a while. Heck, I'm not expecting an Inside Out teaser poster until mid-2014 at the earliest! The delay was announced when physical production was beginning on the film, so I would assume that some designs were finalized. But I'm certain this is no different from those "leaked" Frozen posters. Some of my Pixarian friends think so as well...

What do you think?

September Animation Tidbits

More tidbits for ya... Some rather interesting ones, too...

Aardman's next feature-length stop motion animated film finally has a release date...

As confirmed by writer/director Richard Starzak on his Twitter, Shaun the Sheep (based on Aardman's long-running television series of the same name) will hit theaters on March 20, 2015...

Now first thing's first, is that the UK/Europe-only date? Or is this when it's supposed to open in the US as well?

Here in the states, DreamWorks' The Penguins of Madagascar opens the weekend after March 20th. Columbia essentially dumped Aardman's last film, The Pirates! Band of Misfits, in a spot where it would be eaten up by both 3D and family-friendly competition (shame on them) so if that's the US release date, I won't be surprised. I had last predicted that the film would hit theaters in April, but it looks like they're going for the mid-March spot.

I have a feeling that it will be an April release here in the states, what do you think? Either way, it's great to know that they finally have an idea of when it will be completed. Hopefully we get dates on other planned 2015 animated films, such as Ratchet & Clank, soon.

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It was announced today that Seth Rogen and Evan Goldberg are currently working on an R-rated animated comedy called Sausage Party.

Get this, it's about a sausage who goes on a journey to discover the "truth about his existence"... Where does this journey take place? In a supermarket... And the main sausage must get back to his aisle before the Fourth of July sale...

DreamWorks stalwart Conrad Vernon will direct with Greg Tiernan (bizarre choice, considering that his background is only direct-to-video Thomas the Tank Engine movies), and the film will be released by Columbia Pictures presumably sometime in 2015.

I'm not too sure about this one just yet. While it's nice to have a mainstream R-rated animated film come around, I have a feeling that this one will be no different from all of the "adult" animation that catches on in America. You know, the Family Guy and South Park variety. When are we going to start getting real "adult" animated films? Films that are mature to begin with, not ones that are raunchy and juvenile.

Then again, I loved This Is The End so this could be very, very funny. The concept though... Talking food? That's... New...

Well, for an animated feature-length film that is...

Update (9/25/13): Cartoon Brew confirmed that the film is being produced by Canadian animation house Nitrogen Studios, and the film will be computer animated.

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Europe got four Frozen posters today... And boy do they beat the domestic one. Well not by much, but still...

The UK one on the left? Sven seems too front and center here. The one on the right is a bit better, even though it still makes the film look like a goofy comedy.

The one on the left? Great! Finally, some focus on Elsa for a change! The one without Elsa? Ehhhhh...

Oh, and I already saw the trailer that we're getting on Thursday. It's no great shakes, though the footage looked beautiful. I do anticipate seeing it in good quality this come Thursday but it doesn't come anywhere close to the short Japanese teaser. Typical of Disney's North American marketing...

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And that's it... Some animation tidbits. What do you think of the international Frozen posters? What's your take on Sausage Party? Are you excited about Aardman's next film - a stop motion one no less? Sound off below!

More Ice Breaking

In preparation for the official trailer for Walt Disney Animation Studios' Frozen, the company put out a new poster... And it doesn't really deliver...

This poster probably misrepresents the whole film... I mean, the complex and troubled Elsa happily covered in lots of snow with our heroes? The poster just goes to show that Disney either has no idea how to make their films look like events that are different from the competition's offerings... Or they cynically think that audiences want this kind of marketing for their animated films. After all, it worked for Tangled! People guffawed at the teaser for this film, and I will admit I found it to be cute... But the upcoming trailer will probably make the film look silly as well. I don't want these films to look silly from the trailers, I want them to look exciting! Wreck-It Ralph was an anomaly last year, as its teaser was actually great and better than the trailer - and the overall marketing was above average.

Just for once, I'd like to see posters, trailers and other stuff making the films from this great studio look like grand must-see events. I've ranted about this before, but this poster just goes to show that Disney needs to change the way they market their animated films. Again, just take a look at the international marketing for this film - and Tangled's overseas marketing as well - and it's just shocking how much better it's done in other countries. On top of that, Disney doesn't tastelessly assume that young boys in other countries will avoid "girly princess movies". But despite my whining, this marketing will probably unsure a $50 million opening weekend gross. After all, people went to go see Tangled despite the pretty bad marketing that more than made many animation fans cringe.

On the brighter side, co-director Jennifer Lee confirmed on her Twitter that the new trailer will debut just in time for the release of Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs 2. A longer wait than usual (we should've gotten it last week), but I probably won't watch it because I've had it with Disney spoiling their animation studio's films and Pixar's films with their trailers. Monsters University was the last straw for me.

Hopefully we'll get a better poster for this film in the coming weeks. After all, Tangled got one that at least showed our leads in the typical animated film poster fashion. None of this everyone's-half-covered-in-snow-because-funny nonsense. This film is about a young girl and her troubled sister, the goofy snowman is a comic relief side character. Imagine if The Lion King's poster was just Timon and Pumbaa hogging up the whole thing, ditto posters for Tarzan being dominated by Terk, the list goes on...

Anyways, what are your thoughts on this poster? Good? Bad? Meh? Sound off below!

Monsters and Meatballs

That's right... Two new posters for two animated films coming out this year. Both of them are lovely.

I love the Monsters University one already. From time to time, we'll often get posters for Pixar's films which contain almost all of the main cast plus minor characters on them. Finding Nemo had an excellent one, ditto Cars and Toy Story 3. Also, ComingSoon.net confirmed that a new trailer for the film has been classified!

The question is, when will we get that said trailer? I think we'll get it sometime next month, not before Disney's own Oz the Great and Powerful, but maybe before DreamWorks' The Croods. Here's hoping it's a decent trailer that gets audiences fired up for the film, and maybe even win over the skeptics who keep telling themselves that Pixar is no longer good.

The Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs 2 poster is also unexpectedly nice, but at the same time, we knew it was going to look good because the concept art was pretty and the few images we got and this poster do boast some very nice work.

The tagline reminds me of the film's working title: Cloudy 2: Revenge of the Leftovers. I don't know why they changed the title, because the tagline implies that the film will be about these "leftovers" getting their revenge. Anyways, the food creatures look great and the color work is nice, so I have no doubt that this will be a colorful bonanza like its predecessor.

What do you think of these two posters?