Upcoming Pixar Blog

You’re looking at Stretch, the latest Toy Story 3 character reveal courtesy of On The Box!

It’s probably not a stretch (sorry, pun intended) to say that the glittery purple octopus is part of Lotso’s daycare gang. We can also infer from the trailer that Whoopi Goldberg voices the elastic toy.

Stretch’s official description follows:

"Stretch is a fun-loving under-the-sea octopus friend that shines in glittery purple. Kids can count her eight rubbery legs and dozens of sticky suckers that are sure to stand up to rough-and-tumble play and extreme stretching. Toss her high on the wall and watch her climb her way down! Clean in mild soap solution to remove dust and lint."

Honestly, I’ve always wanted a toy like Stretch but never got around to getting one. It seems like she would be fun to  play with, but will the gang from Andy’s room feel the same way?

How do you feel about Stretch? I’m guessing this character is an animator’s dream, with all the squash and stretch involved.

The big night is finally here!

Welcome to our definitive coverage of Pixar at the 82nd Annual Academy Awards! To quickly recap, the studio’s 2009 feature, Up, has been nominated in 5 Oscar categories including Best Picture.

Up’s nominations are listed below. If the film wins in a particular category, the description will move from the Nominated list to Winner.

—Winner—
• Best Animated Feature: Up — Pete Docter
• Best Music (Original Score): Up — Michael Giacchino

—Nominated—
• Best Picture: Up — Jonas Rivera
• Best Writing (Original Screenplay): Up — Bob Peterson, Pete Docter/Story by Bob Peterson, Pete Docter, Tom McCarthy
• Best Sound Editing: Up — Michael Silvers, Tom Myers

Click here to see the film’s competition. 
Check out the rest of the nominees here.

—Commentary—
All times Eastern.
8:10 – Scott P. Clark tweets "Keep your eyes peeled for Carl & Dug!" The Up animator prepared some animation especially for tonight’s show!
8:55 – Carl Fredricksen is interviewed with Dug about his Oscar nom!
8:56 — Pete Docter wins Best Animated Feature for Up. 6th nomination, first win. Great, concise speech. Mrs. Docter in tears. 5th Pixar win in category.
8:57 — Spotted: Ed Asner, Bob Peterson, Christopher Plummer and more!
9:15 — Best Original Screenplay is next. Up screenplay excerpted over final film. The Hurt Locker wins.
9:25 — Up music plays. Samuel L. Jackson presents Oscar Best Picture showcase montage for Up!!
9:30 — John Lasseter talks about short films! Clips from Cars and his Academy Award winning short, Tin Toy, shown!
10:25 — Morgan Freeman explains Best Sound Editing (Up nom) and Sound Mixing categories. The Hurt Locker wins.
10:45 — Dancing to Married Life from Up. Who knew it was robotic?
10:50 — Michael Giacchino takes home Best Original Score for Up! Encourages youth to pursue their dreams! First win, second nom for MG.
10:55 — Spotted: Jonas Rivera, Pete Docter!
12:00 — Best Picture goes to The Hurt Locker.

The 82nd Annual Academy Awards are presented by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences. Watch the Oscars today (3/7) starting at 8ET/5PT PM LIVE on ABC! International readers, please check your local listings.

Check back tomorrow for pictures, video, and articles related to Pixar’s presence at the 2010 Oscars! Current photo via Reuters.

Congratulations to the entire Up team on the wins/nominations!

The 2010 Academy Awards are finally upon us! But there’s some reading to do before you can watch the Oscars, mister…

Below you’ll find a selection of Oscar themed stories starring your favorite Pixarians.

John Lasseter Keeps Hopes Up For Oscar Gold: Did you know that it wasn’t just the analysts who were uncertain of Up’s success? Pixar’s Chief Creative Officer, John Lasseter, explains that Pete Docter’s latest made him the most nervous out of all of the studio’s films. That is, until he saw the Married Life sequence. In his latest interview with Reuters, Lasseter talks about Disney’s 2010 Oscar hopefuls, Up and The Princess and the Frog, and an assortment of other fun topics.

Two Dreams Come True for Up Producer: Jonas Rivera is a family man. But unlike most other dads, he’s got the distinction of being a Best Picture nominee this year for Up! Rivera spoke to the San Francisco Chronicle about his history at Pixar which has culminated in what he calls a "dream come true." The producer of Up has got quite a story to tell as Pixar’s first production intern back in 1994 and as the proud father of two daughters; both stories from SF Chronicle.

Doc[ter] Hollywood: A trip to Hollywood from Northern California has become routine this time of year for Up’s director Pete Docter. But would he have imagined such a life back when he was growing up in a small Minnesota town? A local NBC station recently spoke to the Doc himself for comments on his recent Academy Award nominations and everything Pixar. He said he’s always loved the industry, but would rather shy away from the cameras. In the article, his parents and family comment on his success as well.

Update: Check out one of the latest For Your Consideration ad promoting Up featuring Ellie in her last moments with Carl. Again, the studio has been shying away from Best Picture and focusing on more attainable goals like Best Animated Feature and Best Original Score. Via Awards Daily.

The 82nd Annual Academy Awards will be presented on Sunday, March 7th, 2010 starting at 8ET/5PT PM LIVE on ABC! Watch the Upcoming Pixar blog and Twitter feed for updates on everything Pixar at the Oscars including sightings, wins and commentary.

An upcoming short series based on Toy Story is coming soon, at least, according to Disney’s latest domain name purchases.

Stitch Kingdom is reporting that TOYSTORYTOONS.COM is the URL, revealing the title at the very least. It’s also a safe bet that these shorts would be longer than the previously released Toy Story Treats which were commonly less than 30 seconds.

Judging by Cars Toons, the Toy Story shorts would be five minutes long or less and be versatile enough to work for TV, internet, home video, or theatrical releases. Speaking of the Cars interstitials, Heavy Metal Mater and Monster Truck Mater still don’t have solid TV air dates and now there’s even more to look forward to!

Anyway, this could be the first production coming from Pixar Canada in Vancouver. If that’s the case, we can’t expect them too soon because the studio is still setting up. Can’t wait to see what’s in store for Toy Story Toons!

What do you think about the rumored shorts? What exactly will they be and when do you think we’ll see them?

The final Toy Story 3 poster, bringing together much of the new cast with the series’ classic stars, has just been made available by Yahoo! Movies!

Notice that many of the characters featured in this one-sheet have yet to be formally revealed. If you’d rather be surprised, don’t click on the image. But how can anyone refuse to admire such a cheerful and exciting new poster? Click to view larger.

I’m sure I’m not alone when I say that I love the poster’s set up, posed by the sequel’s supervising animator Bobby Podesta. Buzz and Woody are prominent but don’t steal the show and somehow, the poster manages not to seem too busy. Poor Slinky is being stretched and squished, though.

Something that isn’t new is that Pixar chose to keep with the ‘3’ trend as opposed to spelling out Toy Story. Also, in the upper right hand corner you’ll notice a classic Pixar reference. There appears to be a ball of some sort behind Twitch and Lotso… Little in-jokes like that are the greatest!

What’s your favorite part of the final Toy Story 3 poster?

CNN is doing a fantastic job of bringing Pixar related stories up front as the 82nd Annual Academy Awards approach this Sunday!

Last month the news group brought us Pete Docter’s reaction to his film’s multiple nominations, including Best Picture, on that fateful Groundhog Day. Today, CNN.com has a great interview with Carl Fredericksen himself, Ed Asner and musician extraordinaire Michael Giacchino!

The piece on Ed reveals that the 80-year-old actor hadn’t actually seen a Pixar film until WALL•E. The good news is that when he did go out to see the Lamp’s 2008 masterpiece, he absolutely loved it. Of course, Asner was instantly excited to be working on the next Pixar film!

Ed’s only objection; he doesn’t feel Disney/Pixar’s marketing team clearly exemplify how mature the film’s themes can be which, as it happened in his case, cause many adults to miss out on great rides. Asner did note that he’s always loved cartoons and believes that they should be treated as equals to every other film medium.

There’s much more in the full interview, but it doesn’t stop there. CNN spoke with Michael Giacchino, the composer of Up who has secured the Best Original Score category in every major awards show this year (including Grammys and Golden Globes) as far as I can tell. I don’t see why this will change anytime soon at the Oscars. In this particular interview MG talks about keeping the "movie theme" alive and how he implemented it in Up.

Check out the video interview below:



This isn’t Michael’s first time being nominated for the Oscars; he previously got a nod for Ratatouille. I wish him the best of luck this year. In fact, everyone mentioned in this post deserves a big congratulation for the noms!

The 82nd Annual Academy Awards will be presented live on Sunday, March 7th, 2010 on ABC! Keep it here for Pixar centric coverage.

The folks over at WDWNewsToday have relayed some fantastic Toy Story 3 images coming straight from Disney’s Hollywood Studios in Florida!

The display (some of which is featured to the right) is housed at my favorite non-ride, The Magic of Disney Animation! This particular attraction includes a preview of upcoming Disney and Pixar ‘toons and it looks like the building recently switched The Princess and the Frog’s display with art from the Toy Story series.

Yes, that includes never before seen art from the highly anticipated sequel! The glass cases pictured in WDWNT’s article contain everything from concept art, color scripts, and storyboards to memorabilia, movie stills, and even some really cool Buzz and Woody statuettes made in a 3D printer! There’s also a great retrospective of the last two films. 

I’m especially impressed with the character studies Pixar did for teenage Andy; check out all those hairstyles they tried. It’s also interesting to see the development that went into many of the new characters that are actively being revealed. After seeing all of this, I’m more than excited to find out what other goodies will be included in The Art of Toy Story 3!

You’ll definitely want to take your time when looking at each photo! Everything I mentioned above (and much more) is available at the original post; note that you’ll have to scroll through other DHS pictures.

Have any of you seen this Toy Story 3 display in person? If not, have you been to this particular attraction in the past?

It’s a man! It’s an insect!
No, it’s… both?

Twitch is the latest Toy Story 3 character to be rolled out by Disney/Pixar in their ongoing campaign! Although his character shot and description have recently been made available by SlashFilm, it has not yet been revealed who will be voicing the insect toy — or if he’ll speak at all.

You may remember Twitch from brief moments in the latest Toy Story 3 trailer. Among other appearances, his most memorable would probably be when Mrs. Potato Head is swept of her feet by the insectoid’s "powerful wings and impenetrable exoskeleton", causing a certain spud to get a little jealous. He’s also seen conspiring with the daycare group…

SlashFilm notes that Twitch has some similarities to the real life toys, He-Man and Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles. I can definitely see that, especially with the "battle staff" and "chest armor" included. I don’t think he necessarily needs those weapons though; it seems his musculature isn’t just for show…

What do you think about Twitch?

What would happen if a group of world class toy artists were visited by beings from another planet?

The Disney/MINDstyle Pixar Alien Invasion project would be born, of course! The "claw" has selected a group of creative minds to put their own spin on the iconic Little Green Men from Toy Story! Basically, they will receive a blank cast of the alien and go crazy with it! Revelations are set for May or June of this year.

The Alien project comes right off the heels of another highly successful collaboration with MINDstyle and Disney, Experiment 626 Project, featuring modified Stitch molds. You may remember the company as the same designer toy label that is working to bring us the Pixar Short Films vinyl figures. MINDstyle has also hinted that they’ll be releasing Toy Story 3 products; probably limited edition goodies!

What do you think about Alien Invasion? Would you buy a custom LGM?

(via Stitch Kingdom)

As far as I can tell, no special effects are needed for you to believe that Pixar dominated at the 8th Annual Visual Effects Society Awards.

The studio’s latest theatrical release, Up, took home three awards last night including one for the film’s iconic, elderly protagonist! Wins like this continue to be exciting, especially with the outstanding climate for ‘toons in 2009.

More on that later. The full list of VES accolades for Pixar follow:

• Outstanding Effects Animation in Animated Feature
For Up: Alexis Angelidis, Eric Froemling, Jason Johnston, Jon Reisch

• Outstanding Animated Character Award
Carl Fredricksen: Carmen Ngai, Brian Tindall, Ron Zorman and Ed Asner

• Outstanding Animation in an Animated Feature Motion Picture
For Up: Gary Bruins, Pete Docter, Steve May and Jonas Rivera

As previously announced, Pixar co-founder and President, Ed Catmull, was also honored with the Georges Méliès Award for Pioneering by the Visual Effects Society! I don’t think there’s anyone out there more deserving.

As I’ve said time and time again, Up’s wins are extra special because the film is competing against an assortment of diverse mediums in a year with an unusual number of positively reviewed feature animated films. Icluded in that list are Coraline, Fantastic Mr. Fox, Ponyo, and Cloudy With a Chance of Meatballs. But one must not forget that these awards are given for amazing visual effects, something that Monsters Vs. Aliens and Ice Age: Dawn of the Dinosaurs certainly didn’t lack.

As far as "live" action films go, the usual suspect, Avatar, also took home three awards. The film’s creator and Titanic director, James Cameron, even left the ceremony with a Lifetime Achievement statuette.

Check out the full list of winners here including those for TV and commercials!

Congratulations to all of the above on these well deserved wins! Your thoughts?

(via CGSociety)