RATATOUILLE Tastes Better in 3D! Yes, Stereoscopic 3D Version May Be Coming!!

RATATOUILLE is my favorite Pixar movie to date, so when I heard from FirstShowing, who heard from Slashfilm, who heard from Bleeding Cool who heard from the original source Hey U Guys I had to pass on the great potential news! And yes, news this good spreads like wildfire on the Internet.

Hey U Guys interviewed Pixar's Stereoscopic Supervisor, Bob Whitehill, and this is what he had to say on the matter:

"Ratatouille is one that we’re exploring doing [3D conversion on] and Brad Bird is very open to some changes, you know, some very subtle changes but slight reframings. If a character’s reaching forward and a pinky goes off screen, we’ll adjust the camera and the character a little bit to have the hand on. So that said, if the director’s open to minor modifications on a library title then that’s wonderful and we’re really excited about doing that."

Obviously with TOY STORY 1 and 2 already converted and the cheese being out of the bag for RATATOUILLE as well, it is safe to assume their remaining library will be swapped over. Disney is already converting BEAUTY AND THE BEAST if you will remember. FINDING NEMO would look awesome in 3D.

Don't forget that since these animations were created in a digital 3D world to begin with, all Pixar/Disney has to do is just re-render them in 3D. There is nothing lost or artificially created. You can rest assured that Pixar will convert them the right way too!

ALICE IN WONDERLAND Joining Top Movies Of All Time: Passing $1B This Week!!

ALICE IN WONDERLAND is poised to enter the realm of $1 billion blockbusters! Disney has hit the jackpot with Tim Burton's 2D to 3D conversion and will have raked in 10 figures as of this week (most likely Thursday).

As of today, AIW has gathered $332m domestically and $665m overseas to bring about a near tidy sum of $997m! Its widest release was 3739 theaters and it still remains in 411.

Only AVATAR ($2.73b), TITANIC ($1.8b), THE LORD OF THE RINGS: THE RETURN OF THE KING ($1.1b), PIRATES OF THE CARRIBEAN: DEAD MAN'S CHEST ($1.1b) and THE DARK KNIGHT ($1b) have hit the $1b plateau - so it is indeed quite a feat.

Of course, 3D played another huge role in this success story and ALICE is the second highest grossing 3D movie of all time (Fox's ICE AGE: DAWN OF THE DINOSAURS is third with $887m and Pixar's UP is in fourth with $731m).

This one tiptoed up on me! I knew it was doing very well, but what a pleasant surprise to see it top $1 billion. When 3D conversion is done right, it can be very appealing. It may be some time before we see near native 3D quality, but ALICE IN WONDERLAND was done right given today's abilities. Congratulations Disney!

New TRON: LEGACY Photos!

Jim here. Disney has released new images for TRON: LEGACY including some impressive vehicles.

Click to enlarge.

I expect the photo onslaught to continue throughout the summer with some massive marketing hitting us at Comic-Con. Even 2009's Comic-Con had Flynn's Arcade powered up with the lightcycle on display.

Can't wait for the trailers to hit!

Another Photo From TRON: LEGACY!

Jim here. Got another photo from Disney's TRON: LEGACY and this one is awesome!

Click to enlarge.

To become a fan of TRON click here: http://www.facebook.com/tron

Look for TRON: LEGACY in 3D theaters this December 17.

New TRON LEGACY Trailer Online!!

Jim here. FINALLY. A trailer for TRON LEGACY is up for all to see! Check it out right here.

Apparently the link was decoded and the link was passed on to Alex over at FirstShowing. Thanks to jsayson15 for the heads up!

Let's heat up this marketing machine a bit! :-) LOVE THE TRAILER!!

Quick Post: ALICE IN BOX OFFICE WONDERLAND

Jim here. A quick tally of Tim Burton's ALICE IN WONDERLAND has Disney raking in $41m on Friday alone and potentially $110m for the opening weekend! This means that it will set a record for the largest first quarter opening ever. THE PASSION OF THE CHRIST previously held the mark at $84m.

AGAIN - S3D reigns king. I am taking it in tonight in IMAX - I don't want to be late! :-)

New Poster TOY STORY 3 Poster From Pixar

Jim here. Just a quick post with the most recent TOY STORY poster pic courtesy of YAHOO Movies.

Can you pick out anything interesting? One of the first things that I noticed was that Slink is stretched from top to bottom LOL. Love the peas in the pod. :-)

GUARDIANS OF GA'HOOLE Renamed *AND* New Titling For TANGLED

Jim here. Warner Bros has recently renamed GUARDIANS OF GA'HOOLE to LEGEND OF THE GUARDIANS in what I think was an expected move. Let's face it, Ga'hoole is a strange word. I suppose Na'vi is too, but somehow I don't think GUARDIANS is going to impact our society quite like AVATAR has.

September 24 is still the release date however. The voice cast includes Hugo Weaving, Helen Mirren, Sam Neill, Geoffrey Rush, Emily Barclay, Abbie Cornish, Emilie de Ravin, Ryan Kwanten, Jay Laga'aia, Miriam Margolyes, Richard Roxburgh, Jim Sturgess and David Wenham.

*AND*

Here is the new titling for Disney's TANGLED which was formally known as RAPUNZEL.

The teaser trailer looks enticing and in S3D I think the whole thing will come alive and vibrant. Looking forward to it - although I liked the original name much better. I'm afraid the branding will suffer because of it.

New TRON LEGACY IMAGES - Countdown To Trailer Is On...

Jim here. Disney has released two TRON LEGACY images through its Facebook page and will continue to do so every day until the new trailer shows in front of ALICE IN WONDERLAND this weekend. So far we have two new images and they are below - have a look!

Click images to zoom in a bit.

This should be the same trailer that was shown to advanced audiences in select theaters through their viral site Flynn Lives.

We are still some time away until the movie hits our 3D screens (Dec 17) so Disney's marketing machine is only getting warmed up! I expect many more surprises in the coming months.

TRON LEGACY Trailer Screened: Event Did Not Live Up To Expectations...

Jim here. Unfortunately it sounds as though Disney's TRON LEGACY event at various cities was a let down. Many were expecting an AVATAR Day type event where there was a significant chunk of footage shown. Instead it was a new trailer, but with some previously seen material. And a t-shirt.

Keep in mind however that this is NOT speaking of the quality of the movie which seemed to all to be top notch!

The trailer was not quite two minutes long according to some fans (others say 2.5 minutes) and not worth the wait. It was only screened ONCE. They had to check their electronics at the door and many shook their heads as to why after the event. One complained he spent more time in the line up to retrieve his cellphone than watching the trailer!

Here are some first hand reports exclusive to MarketSaw:
clogwyn wrote:

Just got back from the London (UK) IMAX screening..... We waited for over half an hour past the screening til 2pm...everyone very excited to see new footage etc. Were itold how lucky we were and that we were privileged to be the first audience worldwide to see this...and then they showed a 2 min trailer that I have already read about on this site or others (flynns son, visits flynn's arcade, finds den behind tron machine, gets zapped into teh system, then lots of quick shots of key characters and a few lightcycles racing, then coming soon title - thats pretty much it. Either something technical screwed up and they couldn't show us the supposed preview scenes from the movie (we were expecting around 10-15mins for our trouble, such as Avatar Day?) or that was it, just the trailer. Audience was confused / p*ssed off and left, no cheers, whoops or anything. Be very interested to see what NY and LA get. If the same treatment then I think Disney are treating a loyal Tron fanbase like muppets.

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Paul wrote:

Basically It was alot of hype for the trailer that WILL BE ON ALICE AND WONDERLAND NEXT WEEK. Like don't get me wrong, it was a great trailer. But it wasn't even two minutes. Starts out with Flynn's son. They say they got a call from the old arcade that has been closed for a long time. He goes to the tron machine. Gets through the secret passage way. Gets zapped in to the computer (we don't see it) then we get a bunch of great pics of the video game world. Definitely stuff to get excited at. I honestly don't feel the need to go into that much detail. Great images that will be better seen rather than written about. Is it as mind blowing as AVATAR. Not really simply because the world of AVATAR is so exspansive and inventive. But I also think with this trailer they are playing it close to the chest here. But then the trailer ended and that was it. Do we get a glimpse of the light cycles. Yes two very short very cool shots. Any DAFT PUNK? Nothing that I could really tell. I will say this though Olivia Wilde looks great in her suit. It also looks to not be related to the TR2N script that is floating around the internet. I read the first 20 pages and there doesn't seem to be any relation to that script (which is good) People traveled far to see this. I don't know if it was only for the screening, but a fan said he was from Toronto and another from Boston. ALL FOR A TRAILER THAT WILL BE ONLINE IN A WEEK. It was really indignant of them to play this event like it was something more. Checking cell phones at the door?! It was in 3d IMAX what could they have filmed? An insanely blurry image? Afterwards there was a mob of people trying to get their phones It was utter chaos. I spent more time in line for my cell phone than I did the trailer. I walked up to the studio representatives and told them how disappointed the fans were at the event. They thought it had been clear it was just the trailer. But no where in the sign up stuff did it say that. We cheered to have it shown again but there was nothing. They herded us out. I did get a 'Flynn Lives' t-shirt which was cool. But overall an insane disappointment in fandom. If you are going to put that much work at least show SOMETHING else besides a trailer. Don't feel like any of you missed out. Cause you didn't.

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kevinC wrote, in response to clogwyn:

Just got back from the ny screening...it was the same footage which was just the new trailer...i disagree though and thought the trailer was pretty good ...seeing flynn prepared for battle looking 20 years younger than he is was pretty cool...i dunno if it was a digital recreation of him or what ala arnold in terminator salvation but he didnt look like some old man looking to fight...the lightcycles looked amazing and the faithfullness to the original is apparent and the visuals to me looked oustanding....seeing it at lincoln square on one of the biggest screens in the world definitely makes a difference though...the crowd here i believe was impressed with what was shown but dissapointed at the length of the footage shown....but taken at face value the footage itself ...i thought it was pretty damn good and am excited for the movie...but i do agree that going all the way to a theatre to see 2 and half minutes is absolutely ridiculous even if we did get a flynn lives t -shirt along with it.

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So mixed results, but mainly disappointing. I did not see the trailer so I can't comment on the content at all, but it sounds as though it could be worthwhile if I were seeing another movie right afterward. And, of course - I love a good t-shirt just like the next guy :-)

Could have been handled better by Disney Marketing though. Not sure why they wanted this viral. Hopefully there are much bigger and better things planned in the coming months. They have to be careful though - if you cry wolf too many times, audiences may not show up for the real deal! :-) Just sayin'.

TRON LEGACY Viral Site Announces Exclusive Events This Weekend!!

Jim here. The creative folks over at Disney have taken a page from the Fox marketing playbook and are hosting exclusive TRON LEGACY events this weekend. Odds are it is a special screening of small segments of the movie - ala AVATAR Day.

Here are the locations and times for the events:
New York
AMC Loews Lincoln Square IMAX - Sat., Feb. 27, 10:00AM EST

Los Angeles
IMAX Theatre at The Bridge - Sat., Feb. 27, 2:30PM PST

London
bfi London IMAX Cinema - Sat., Feb. 27, 1:30PM GMT

Toronto
Scotiabank IMAX Theater - Sat., Feb. 27, 11:00AM EST

Sydney
LG IMAX Theatre - Sun., Feb. 28, 10:00AM EDT

Tickets will be released on THIS SITE on February 25 at these times:
New York - 4PM EST
Los Angeles - 1PM PST
London - 9PM GMT
Toronto - 4PM EST
Sydney - 8AM EDT (*2/26)

You must also be a registered member of the FlynnLives website to be eligible to get tickets. So register now and hope you can get through when the designated time arrives in your home city!!

GOOD LUCK! Let us know if you get in... :-)

RAPUNZEL Sneak Peak...

Jim here. Got a glimpse of Disney's RAPUNZEL for you! Well it is not much of a shot, but things are starting to happen on the production.

As you may be aware, this is a Disney Animation effort and should be well received. Anticipated release of the stereoscopic 3D animation is Christmas 2010.

RAPUNZEL will be directed by Glen Keane and Dean Wellins. In this new telling of the classic fairy tale, "Rapunzel," audiences will be transported to a stunning CG fantasy world complete with the iconic tower, an evil witch, a gallant hero and, of course, the mysterious girl with the long golden tresses. Expect adventure, heart, humor, and hair … lots of hair, when Rapunzel unleashes her locks in theaters for the 2010 holiday.

Further, (via GeekTyrant) we have a piece of YouTube history with some test footage from the project (then entitled RAPUNZEL: UNBRAIDED) and some older concept art.

I am very enthusiastic about seeing how Disney will treat the classic tale. Though maybe it is because I have extremely short hair...