animation news

Disney Release News

| Rachel's Reviews

I don’t often talk about news on this blog but a post appeared on twitter today that I just had to talk about.

All right. Let’s talk about each of these items

Untitled Disney Fairy Tale (live action)- We have all been wondering what the heck this was supposedly premiering in July. Well now it is next August but surprising they won’t just announce the title?

Ralph Breaks the Internet: Wreck it Ralph 2- Disappointed to hear this awful title is final but moving it from March to November is caused by the changes to Gigantic. This is fine for me.

Wrinkle in Time and Magic Camp- Wrinkle in Time is taking Wreck it Ralph 2’s spot. I love the book so I am soooooo hoping it will be good. Magic Camp is now officially announced and I’m very curious about it. I hope it will be fun!

Gigantic- Here’s the tragedy. Our update on Jack and the Beanstalk with music from Robert and Kristen Lopez is being moved from 2018 to all the way to 2020. I’m so sad 🙁

Star Wars: Episode IX- They are moving it from December to May and while I do like getting our Star Wars episodes sooner I kind of liked having a Star Wars surprise at Christmas. I wonder if we will get an animated Star Wars or something like that at Christmas? That’d be cool.

Indiana Jones- So this has moved to 2020. I bet this has more to do with Steven Spielberg than anything else with projects like Ready Player One working on right now. But seriously how old is Indy going to be in this movie!

Lion King (live action)- We have a date for this “live action” Lion King remake. The only weird thing is that another live action Disney movie is coming out the next month which seems very close together.

Frozen 2- I think most of us knew Frozen 2 was coming in 2019 but this is the official announcement and date. I know what I will be seeing Thanksgiving 2019!

The rest are all untitled projects so not much to say about them except I am curious what that Untitled Pixar Animation is!

No word on Disneytoons film which was previously announced for April 12, 2019. I still think it is going to be an Elena of Avalor movie because she is so popular but it could also be Star Wars. Who knows?

I am also surprised they announced this now and not at D23/Star Wars Celebration. It seems a little random but whatever.

The biggest bummer is Gigantic.  🙁

What do you think of these announcements? Would love to hear your thoughts

Summer 2017 Box Office Predictions

| Rachel's Reviews

Anyone who follows this blog knows I am notoriously bad at predicting the box office, but nevertheless it is still fun to take a crack at it- especially at the beginning of the big summer season. Last year I  got 6/10 right with misses from TMNT: Out of the Shadows, Independence Day Resurgence, Pete’s Dragon and Sausage Party.

Last year I just went with my gut feelings where this year I have actually done some research. It will be interesting to see which method fairs better.

My predictions are based on domestic grosses not international because many movies are released out of the summer internationally.

So here is my predictions for 2017 Summer Box Office:

  1. Guardians of the Galaxy vol 2- There is so much enthusiasm for this movie. People literally cheer in the theater when a trailer comes on. The first film did surprisingly well and this will do even better. I think it will open at 175 million similar to Beauty and the Beast and it will have legs. Baby Groot!
  2. Despicable Me 3- Summer 2014 only had 1 animated film in the top 10 and 2017 will be the same. Illumination has not had a miss at the box office yet and nearly every child I know is looking forward to DM3.
  3. Spider-Man Homecoming- The Amazing Spider-man 2 made $202 million despite it not being very good. This film is coming off of Civil War that people loved. It has Iron Man in it, Michael Keaton as the villain and a new younger Peter Parker. It will do very well
  4. Transformers 5- The last Transformers movie made $245 million domestic despite it being awful and having terrible predecessors. Last Knight has Transformers, King Arthur, Nazis and time travel so there’s no reason to think this will be any less successful.
  5. Wonder Woman- I know some are cynical about DC but despite the last 3 entries not being very good they still made a lot of money including Suicide Squad that was barely a movie. Wonder Woman has had good trailers and will hopefully appeal to both boys and girls
  6. War of the Planet of the Apes- The last Apes movie made $208 million and this looks fantastic. I can’t wait for it so I think it will do very well!
  7. The Mummy- This is a bit of a risk because Tom Cruise had a misfire with Jack Reacher 2 and Dracula Untold didn’t do well. But I’m thinking this will draw in the Mission Impossible crowd with its stunts and scope.
  8. Dunkirk- Interstellar made $188 million and this looks to be more of a traditional narrative from Christopher Nolan. He is the big draw here because it does seem like an odd release date for what should be an Oscar season movie?
  9. Baywatch- Last year the Rock did well for me with Central Intelligence so I’m betting on him again. He has so much charisma and promotes his films so much. A big factor on this film is if it is funny or not. We’ll see.
  10. Rough Night- There are 3 raunchy female-led comedies this summer, so I have to believe one of them will crack the top 10. My pick is Rough Night with Scarlet Johansson and Kate McKinnon. Bad Moms made $179 million and this will do similarly well.

Dark Horse Contenders- All Eyez on Me, Captain Underpants, Cars 3, Emoji Movie, Baby Driver, Atomic Blonde, Pirates 5, Snatched, Valerian and the City of a Thousand Planets, Alien Covenant 

Obviously it won’t make the top 10  but I am hopeful the documentary STEP does well for a documentary. They just released the trailer and it has a lot of hits for an indie doc. I just love it so much!

Animated News 3/24/16

| Rachel's Reviews

Hi guys!  It’s time for another week in animated news. Here’s the video with all the latest:

Major points I cover-

  1. Zootopia takes 3rd top spot at box office dropping only 25.9% from last week (typical drops are 50%).  It made $38 million in the states and $64.8 internationally creating a combined total of $591.7 million.  I am thrilled to see it do so well because I really loved Zootopia.
    1. If you haven’t checked out my in depth discussion of Zootopia with  my friend AJ click here
  2. Little Prince is picked up by Netflix.  Last week we discussed Paramount’s bizarre drop of The Little Prince a week before its US release.  This week we learned that Netflix has optioned the film and it will be available to stream sometime this year.
  3. Bubbles MJ project- the makers of Anomalisa have announced a new stop motion project that will revolve around Michael Jackson’s pet chimp named Bubbles.  I can’t even imagine this project but it has a script co-written by Dan Harmon, creator of Community and other funny shows, so who knows?
  4.  April and the Extraordinary World Voice Cast- We learned the English voice cast for April and the Extraordinary World.  This includes Paul Giamatti, Tony Hale, Susan Sarandon and JK Simmons. April debuted this weekend in LA and NYC and will come to Utah April 22 (The reviews are great on April so I am getting very excited).
  5. Lego Batman trailer-

      All you lovely Lego Movie fans we got our first peak at the spinoff movie Lego Batman today.  This will feature Will Arnett, Rosario Dawson, Ralph Fiennes, Michael Cera, Zach Galifianakis, Maria Carey.  I liked the trailer a lot.  I think I am particularly anxious for this film with the superhero overkill I’m currently feeling.  I can’t wait to have some of the same hilarious writing of the Lego Movie skewering comic book movies.  I wish it was out today!

  6. Alex Hirsch show- Last news is Gravity Falls creator Alex Hirsch is developing a new animated show for Fox for next year.  I can only assume this will be part of their Sunday animation line up and I’m really excited.  I loved Gravity Falls and am curious to see what his sensibilities are like in a more grown up non-Disney platform.

So there you have it.  What do you think of these news items?  Are you excited by the Lego Batman trailer?

I hope you all have a wonderful weekend.  🙂

Also if you ever hear of news I should include tweet or email me at smilingldsgirl@yahoo.com.  That would be so helpful.

Animated News 3/17

| Rachel's Reviews

I just posted this week’s episode of Animated News!  I would love if you guys took a look at it.  I’m still learning but I think it is getting better.

Here’s a run-down of the news

  1. Zootopia grosses 50 million- only dropping 33% from week 1 and that is really good.  The film has made 83 million overseas, 288 foreign total, 431 total.
  2. Storks Trailer- For some reason all of these comedies I’m liking the teasers better than the full trailer but this looks ok. A little generic but ok.
  3. Wild Life Trailer- This was a new film I learned about and I must say not that impressed.  It’s being distributed by Lionsgate who gave us Norm of the North.  Hopefully it will at least be better than that. Robinson Crusoe on an island run by animals- the idea has potential. 
  4. Long Way North Trailer- Another project that was new to me, but this one I’m really excited about.  From animator Remi Chaye who worked on Secret of the Kells.  It looks beautiful and sounds like a good story. I predict this will be in the running come Oscar season.
  5. Sausage Party Trailer- I’m not impressed with the humor or animation in this adult comedy. To me it looks very lazy. Won’t even share the video with you guys but if you want to watch it here is the link https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9VoNgLnjzVg
  6. April and the Extraordinary World- I’m very excited for this film that comes to my cinema 4/22.  It has a cool steampunk look to it.  The 2D animation looks great and I think the story sounds interesting.
  7. Little Prince Gets Dumped- In a bizarre action Paramount Animation has dumped the US release of The Little Prince a week before it was to premiere.  Even though I had issues with the film, it certainly deserves to be seen by American audiences.  I can’t fathom why they did this?
  8. Power Puff Girls- The new reboot of Power Puff girls debuted at SXSW film festival to great reviews.  The intro and other clips I’ve seen look promising.

What in this news interests you? What in all those independent trailers looks the best to you?  Why do you think Paramount dumped Little Prince?  Are you a Power Puff Girls fan?  If so, what do you think of this reboot?

Put in the comments section here or on the video and let’s talk!  🙂  And if you like my video please give it a thumbs up!

Animated News 3/10/16

| Rachel's Reviews

Hey guys!  I’m excited to share with you a new video series I am trying out. It’s a video where I cover all the news in both animated TV shows and movies.  I thought of this because I don’t really like reviewing trailers, so it seemed like a good way to cover the trailer but also other topics that I think are interesting.  I figured I could make my viewers aware of smaller projects or shows that might be off their radar.

There are obviously going to be room for improvement but I think it is a pretty good start.  Let me know if you have any suggestions.

Also, what do you think of this week’s news?  In the video I cover:

Box office for Zootopia and Boy and the Beast

Trailers for Kubo and the 2 Strings and Red Shoes and the 7 Dwarves

Movie announcements for animated Ghostbusters and Surfs Up 2: Wave Mania

Utah release of Boy and the World and Only Yesterday

Aaron Springer Billy Dilly Show

Ducktales reboot image review

Cancellation of Wander Over Yonder

Tangled Before Ever After series

Big Hero 6 series announcement

Does any of this news interest you?  Let’s discuss it in the comments section here or on the youtube video.  If you feel so inclined give it a thumbs up!  Thanks so much. 🙂