A new Soul short?

According to a press release for Disney+ Latin America, it looks like there’s new Soul short to look forward to: it will take place before the events of the movie, focusing on 22 in the Great Before. An official English title hasn’t been released yet, but 22 Contra la Tierra could become 22 Against Earth, or 22 Against The World, or something entirely different. Here’s the translated plot:

“Before the events of Pixar’s Soul, 22 refuses to go to Earth and creates a band of 5 new souls, with intention of rebellion. But the activities of the group give unexpected results: 22’s subversive plan could lead to a surprising revelation about the significance of life.”

The Disney+ Latin America press release stated an April 30th release date, but this has yet to be confirmed elsewhere.

No Short To Accompany Luca

At this point, there are no plans to release a Pixar short alongside Luca according to the film’s director, Enrico Casarosa, on Twitter. Having a short play before a Pixar movie feels like tradition at this point, but it hasn’t always been the case, and it’s understandable given the decision to opt for a Disney+ exclusive release. The SparkShorts program more than makes up for it anyway!

Finding Nemo‘s new namesake

It’s not often we get to talk about science and nature at Upcoming Pixar, so this is pretty exciting: Nemo has a new namesake! A recently discovered species of peacock spider has been named for the male’s orange and white colouration, giving it a look of our favourite little clownfish. Maratus nemo is also fittingly found in Australia, where much of the movie took place.

Ronnie Del Carmen developing a movie for Netflix

Ronnie Del Carmen, who has worked on many Pixar movies and co-directed Inside Out, is currently working on an animated movie for Netflix. The movie is going to be inspired by Filipino lore and mythology.

Quests of Yore board game release

The Onward role-playing board game Quests of Yore has been delayed due to COVID-19, but it now has a release date: April 30th 2021. And we can’t wait! Director Dan Scanlon teased an advanced copy on his Twitter last week:

The post Shorts, Board Games, and Pixar Spiders appeared first on Upcoming Pixar.

Pixar have earned an impressive 20 Annie Awards nominations, and 4 Academy Awards Nominations. Read on to learn when the winners are being announced, so you can add the dates into your diaries, and which categories Pixar have a chance of winning!

First up: the 93rd Academy Awards. Pixar have secured nominations in Best Animated Feature, Best Short Film (Animated), Best Sound, and Best Original Music, with Onward, Soul, and Burrow. The 93rd Academy Awards ceremony will be on Sunday 25th April. See the breakdown below:

ANIMATED FEATURE FILM

ONWARD
Dan Scanlon and Kori Rae
OVER THE MOON
Glen Keane, Gennie Rim and Peilin Chou
A SHAUN THE SHEEP MOVIE: FARMAGEDDON
Richard Phelan, Will Becher and Paul Kewley
SOUL
Pete Docter and Dana Murray
WOLFWALKERS
Tomm Moore, Ross Stewart, Paul Young and Stéphan Roelants

MUSIC (ORIGINAL SCORE)

DA 5 BLOODS
Terence Blanchard
MANK
Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross
MINARI
Emile Mosseri
NEWS OF THE WORLD
James Newton Howard
SOUL
Trent Reznor, Atticus Ross and Jon Batiste

SOUND

GREYHOUND
Warren Shaw, Michael Minkler, Beau Borders and David Wyman
MANK
Ren Klyce, Jeremy Molod, David Parker, Nathan Nance and Drew Kunin
NEWS OF THE WORLD
Oliver Tarney, Mike Prestwood Smith, William Miller and John Pritchett
SOUL
Ren Klyce, Coya Elliott and David Parker
SOUND OF METAL
Nicolas Becker, Jaime Baksht, Michelle Couttolenc, Carlos Cortés and Phillip Bladh

SHORT FILM (ANIMATED)

BURROW
Madeline Sharafian and Michael Capbarat
GENIUS LOCI
Adrien Mérigeau and Amaury Ovise
IF ANYTHING HAPPENS I LOVE YOU
Will McCormack and Michael Govier
OPERA
Erick Oh
YES-PEOPLE
Gísli Darri Halldórsson and Arnar Gunnarsson

And finally, the Annie Awards – specifically dedicated to animation. It’s no surprise that Pixar have picked up a fair few nominations here, but 20 is noteworthy! The 28th Annie Awards ceremony will take place on Friday 16th April, 7PM PST. We won’t include an exhaustive list of all the categories here with all nominees included, but you can find the full list here.

Here’s the Annie Awards Pixar nomination rundown:

BEST FEATURE: Onward and Soul
BEST FX FOR TV/MEDIA: Lamp Life
BEST FX FOR FEATURE: Soul
BEST CHARACTER ANIMATION – TV/MEDIA: Lamp Life
BEST CHARACTER ANIMATION – FEATURE: Onward and Soul
BEST CHARACTER DESIGN – FEATURE: Soul
BEST DIRECTION – FEATURE: Soul
BEST MUSIC – FEATURE: Onward and Soul
BEST PRODUCTION DESIGN – FEATURE: Onward and Soul
BEST STORYBOARDING – FEATURE: Soul
BEST VOICE ACTING – FEATURE: Onward
BEST WRITING – FEATURE: Onward and Soul
BEST EDITORIAL – TV/MEDIA: Lamp Life
BEST EDITORIAL – FEATURE: Onward and Soul

Phew! That’s it. Good luck to the teams of Onward, Soul, Burrow, and Lamp Life in their respective categories! As ever, we’ll be keeping our fingers crossed that the Academy Awards feel more balanced, inclusive, and respectful this year, especially in relation to the animated categories. We’re still holding out for an animated feature to win Best Feature eventually one year.

The post Pixar’s Awards Season Rundown appeared first on Upcoming Pixar.

The discussion gave the directors the chance to answer engaging questions about filmmaking. It was a great opportunity to hear more from Pixar creatives who invested months of work into films like Burrow and Out, both of which are shortlisted for the 2021 Oscars’ Best Animated Short Film category.

With awards season in full swing, this month’s talk is turning towards contenders in feature animation. The directors of Soul, Pete Docter and Kemp Powers, and Onward, Dan Scanlon, will be attending the newest discussion.

The other directors attending are: Glen Keane (Over the Moon), Tomm Moore & Ross Stewart (Wolfwalkers), Joel Crawford (The Croods: A New Age), Walt Dohrn (Trolls World Tour), Kris Pearn (The Willoughbys), Gitanjali Rao (Bombay Rose), and Will Becher & Richard Phelan (A Shaun the Sheep Movie: Farmageddon).

The free-to-attend event is this Friday, March 5th, 2021 at 7pm CET, 10am PST. You can register here.

If you would like to submit questions you can do so before the event here. Guests are also welcome to donate to support the conference and other events like this in the future.

We still are waiting on the final nominees for the Oscars’ Best Animated Feature category. It’s strange to see this year’s award ceremonies presented virtually but it didn’t make this past Sunday’s win for Soul any less of a happy occasion. It was also heartening to see both of Pixar’s 2020 features nominated for the Golden Globes.

Our 2020 was a little less dark thanks to the incredible work produced by the animation industry. It will be exciting to hear from such a varied and talented group of directors. Going off of what we listened to last week, we expect this Friday’s talk to be another solidly enjoyable and informative discussion!

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Just what is Pixar Fest? Like the name suggests, it’s a festival, but a virtual one from the comfort of home! Every Saturday all month long, fans can tune in to watch a Pixar movie on Disney+ and livetweet with the studio’s official account. But that’s not all: fans can also win prizes, enter giveaways, and get exclusive merch inspired by Pixar Fest. New products will debut each week, so be sure to follow along for updates! (The alien remix ones are my favorites).

As Onward was the first in the series, take a look at the awesome plush collection.

Pixar’s livetweet of the film also included gorgeous artwork and behind the scenes facts.

Artist credit: Brittney (prismaviolet_ on Instagram)

Laurel concept art by Maria Yi

The bittersweet origin of Onward is captured lovingly in these illustrations by Dan Scanlon:

There’s yet another Onward first: a roleplaying board game! Quests of Yore was developed by The OP Games with lots of insight from Dan Scanlon and the film crew.

What makes this game so unique is that it is Barley’s copy – all of his notes are in it, and it was important that the game reflected his personality, particularly the way he encourages and supports Ian. Quests of Yore is also meant to inspire players in the same way. To learn more about the development of the game, check out this video with Game Design Manager Pat Marino and Dan Scanlon.

The post Pixar Fest Spotlight: Onward and Quests of Yore board game appeared first on Upcoming Pixar.

Nobody could have predicted that a deadly pandemic would sweep the globe this year, shuttering businesses, schools, restaurants, churches, and movie theaters. COVID-19 has halted life as we know it. So how could we have known that Onward‘s theatrical release would last just a week? What I could have predicted though, is the critical response. I was hoping that Dan Scanlon’s second film would avoid Monsters University‘s fate. How could it not? An “original” Pixar film, when most think the studio has lost what made it so exciting and innovative in the great before; a 1980s tinged fantasy adventure; and Pixar’s first with siblings.

Of course those elements aren’t enough to make a good movie. And Onward has a gem of its own to be one. I guess it’s going to join Pixar’s other offbeat treasures, the ones that are perfectly good but not apparently up to Pixar’s ultra high standards: A Bug’s Life, Cars, Brave, Monsters University, and The Good Dinosaur.

Some spoilers ahead!

Pixar films aren’t afraid to confront death. In Onward, the death happens offscreen, and is particularly tragic. A husband and father succumbs to an illness that left him bedridden in the hospital. There’s no magic in that, but a cold reality. He leaves behind his wife and two children: one of them only has faint memories of him; the other has none. This man is Wilden Lightfoot. He studied magic and acquired a phoenix gem that allowed him to create a visitation spell. Its purpose was for him to meet his sons. Ian and Barley recite the spell, but it’s Ian who has the true gift of magic and so he’s able to conjure Wilden. However, it’s only his bottom half that appears.

Now this might just seem like a clever gag, but as one of my good friends noted, it’s a lot more meaningful when you consider how Ian only knows a fragment of his father. It’s also worth pointing out that Ian resembles Wilden, who he never knew; he also doesn’t quite know who he is. Barley takes after their mother Laurel and is fairly confident.

Ian and Barley are wonderful! They continue the tradition of male Pixar characters with authentic and good masculinity. Our Pixar heroes never use force or strength to bully weaker people; the majority of them are softhearted and vulnerable; and they also show a version of fatherhood that all men should seek to emulate. Barley joins Woody, Bob Parr, Sulley, Doc Hudson, Carl, Marlin, Hector, Arlo/Poppa, and Chef Gusteau as flawed, but noble dads and father figures. He’s never bitter or jealous of Ian’s magical abilities. Instead, he believes in him so fiercely and refuses to give up on him.

And Barley is full of wisdom. When Ian is driving, terrified to merge into traffic, tiny Barley yells in his tinny voice: “You’ll never be ready! Merge!” That’s sound advice no matter what we might be facing. During the trust bridge sequence, Ian falls into the bottomless chasm, but Barley assures him: “Now you know the worst that can happen. So there’s nothing to be scared of.”

At the conclusion of their perilous adventure, the brothers and Laurel must battle a dragon. The visitation spell is finally completed, but it’s only Barley who is reunited with Wilden. Ian sacrifices the chance to meet his father so that Barley can say a proper goodbye. Before Wilden died, Barley was supposed to say goodbye, but he was too afraid. And it’s such a heartbreaking moment, when he describes seeing his father in the hospital hooked up to a lot of tubes. From that moment on, he vowed to never be afraid again. And he made good on that promise. We see the events of the film through Ian’s eyes and never get to meet Wilden either. It’s a bit disappointing, but was the best story decision. Ian realized that Barley was the father he never had. I don’t think it’s a coincidence either that Barley is constantly underestimated by the other characters, including Ian. He has a passion for roleplay games and is considered a screw up. But those things don’t define him; his love does.

It’s nice that people are finally waking up to how damaging a lie it is to be defined by your achievements. Onward, like Monsters University, embodies this message. There’s nothing wrong with ambition, but there’s nothing necessarily wrong with a lack of it either. So Barley doesn’t have grand plans for his life; so what? Maybe sharing his life with Ian is the grand plan after all.

The post The gem of Onward appeared first on Upcoming Pixar.

New Onward deleted scenes

Onward is out on Disney+ in the US now. For those of us that are still waiting for it to release in other countries, I’m afraid the news is quite vague, but Disney+ is working as quickly as they can to try and make it available more internationally. Here is a quote from a Disney+ spokesperson (thanks to Metro):

‘There are operational complexities involved in delivering the movie and making it available across multiple platforms on a global scale. We are happy to be able to offer the movie in the US now, and will continue working to broaden availability as quickly as we can.”

Some deleted scenes were posted in celebration of the Disney+ release.

‘Sirens’: This deleted scene even features a central character that ended up being cut from the movie – Jenny.

‘Partnership’: We find out more about Jenny in this scene. In the end, the focus needed to be more on the brothers and their relationship, and seemingly Jenny just got in the way of that.

‘Training’: This training sequence ended up being incorporated into other scenes in the movie. It’s interesting seeing the staff functioning in a different way here – it using up different ‘elements’ is a fun idea.

‘Unstoppable’: THIS IS THE MOST EMOTIONAL ONE AND I’M NOT SURE I CAN EVEN TALK ABOUT IT IN DEPTH. Please watch it.

Pixar-themed video call backgrounds

With the world being thrust into this weird virtual reality where suddenly everyone is using video calls for communication with friends and family and for conference meetings, Pixar have had the great idea of posting some backgrounds that can be used. You can find out what’s on offer and how to use them here.

Some more insights into Onward

Director Dan Scanlon did a live-tweet ‘watch-together’ session for Onward last week, which gave us a real insight into how the story came about and why certain scenes played out like they did. Here are some of our personal favourites:

The lines said between Dad and Barley were recorded by @prattprattpratt and Kyle. Just incase we needed to hear some sound poke through. But we didn't. No one else has heard them or well. #PixarOnward

— Dan Scanlon (@MrDanScanlon) April 4, 2020

A Quest of Yore board game is going to come out later in the year! It will look and play just like Barley's game. #OnwardPixar https://t.co/UyN03pwK0R

— Dan Scanlon (@MrDanScanlon) April 4, 2020

The reason Dad's socks are purple is because I knew the sky was going to turn purple when the sun went down so we wanted to set up purple as Dad's color for this ending. #PixarOnward

— Dan Scanlon (@MrDanScanlon) April 4, 2020

Can’t wait to watch it again with all this newfound knowledge! And yes – A Quest of Yore is going to be a physical thing! It’s already a guide book which is currently available to buy at book stores, Disney Books, and Amazon. The board game is releasing later this year.

We hope everyone’s keeping safe and looking after each other and themselves during this difficult time! We’ll be aiming to post more regularly to keep people’s feeds filled with some more positive things.

The post Onward Deleted Scenes, Insights And – Video Call Backgrounds?! appeared first on Upcoming Pixar.

#PixarOnward is coming to the US tonight on digital download and will be streaming on #DisneyPlus on April 3rd. pic.twitter.com/FA8m8OR9Cp

— Disney and Pixar's Onward (@pixaronward) March 20, 2020

Given the current circumstances resulting from Covid-19, this is the best case scenario for a whole host of movies that, ideally, audiences would be continuing to enjoy in theatres at the moment. Households all around the world are being encouraged to stay indoors – let’s hope that Onward, and many other movies choosing this direction, will brighten up some days in this uncertain time.
In just two weeks (April 3rd), Onward will also be available on Disney+ in the US.
From all of us at Upcoming Pixar – stay safe, and look after yourselves! Remember that panic and worry spread more easily than empathy and kindness. Let’s all take things a day at a time. If any of you want someone to talk to, hop over to our Facebook, Twitter, or Tumblr page and one of us will gladly chat about Pixar movies with you!

Posted today by Onward story artist Austin Madison.

The post Early Digital Release for Onward appeared first on Upcoming Pixar.

photo by Alex Kang

visual development art by Huy Nguyen

photo by Alex Kang

an early sketch by Dan

The post A Q+A with Onward's filmmakers appeared first on Upcoming Pixar.

UP: What are you most excited about in the film?

photo by Alex Kang

Kelsey Mann: I would say a lot and then very little. The part I’m most excited about is the very little. Initially, we didn’t have anything and then Dan started to think about his own experiences and what makes him unique. Part of it was growing up without a father. His dad passed away when he was just a baby, so he has no memory of him. So he started to think about how that shaped him and this is where we start with a lot of these movies. We look inward. “What have I felt in my own life? What are the things I’ve learned?” And he came to this realization about himself. He thought that would be a good thing to make a movie about and that’s really the reason we’re making this film and what he’s learned in his own life. At the first screening, we storyboarded that ending, and that ending has remained the same since day one. That is unique. I can’t think of a film I’ve worked on where we knew where we were headed from the beginning. Everything else changed a lot but not the ending.

KM: Maddie worked a lot with Ian and his introduction. Every screening, we had a different Ian. It wasn’t until halfway through – “There he is!” There’s a perception that we had the movie figured out because we always had that ending.

visual development art by Huy Nguyen

UP: What was it like balancing the silly with the heartfelt?

KM: That’s the type of film Dan wanted to make; that’s Monsters University and the films he made before he came here; that’s the way he usually makes films. He really wanted to make a fun comedy that hits you with emotion.”

UP: How did you come up with the concept of the unicorns?

KM: That was Dan’s idea early on.

photo by Alex Kang

Maddie Sharafian: It’s funny but it’s also sad. You can tell with the world, something’s a little bit off. You’re laughing at it but you also wish there was something better, which is sort of the way that Ian stands in his life. He wishes he had his dad but something’s not quite right.

UP: Was Onward more challenging to direct than Monsters University because it was a personal film or did that make it easier?

Dan Scanlon: They have their own challenges and benefits. Doing a sequel was nice because people love those characters and were excited to see them. Doing an original was nice because you could change the characters drastically to fit the story and even get rid of them if you needed to, and in a sequel you’re beholden to what you have. So it really became this push of benefits over losses for the two. And I don’t know that I can say that one was harder than the other. It’s nice to have a little experience under our belts for this one.

Kori Rae: Having done Monsters University really helped us have a little more confidence.

UP: Not that science and technology are bad, but the movie seems to be criticizing our world where people don’t care about finding whimsy or having an imagination.

DS: It’s more about finding balance. You’re right. It is more about making sure that we’re still challenging ourselves; still finding the potential in ourselves; still enjoying the nature around us and not getting too comfortable in every day things. It’s not meant to be a hard social criticism – certainly there’s some of that in there and it reflects Ian; the fact that he is too scared to get out of his comfort zone; afraid to take risks. He just wants to blend in and throughout this journey he comes out of his shell and I think the world mirrors that.

UP: You two have been a duo since MU; what’s it like working together?

KR: On the first film we were figuring each other out and as we figured the film out, we’ve always had great respect for one another and I think on this film we were able to teach one another what our areas of expertise were. I was super interested in story and being in the story room and Dan was interested in how the production works.

DS: General leadership and inspiring people and artists. We started to learn from each other.

KR: We got to know each other better working this closely together.

DS: We knew that we wanted to work together again, so from day one, Kori and I were talking and working on ideas and getting her support to make sure we could grow this story. It’s interesting because we’ve learned a lot from the other film and it’s nice to continue to grow and learn and I think the film benefits from it.

UP: Besides the lion for Corey the manticore and horses for the centaurs, what were the other animal references?

DS: That’s a good question.

KR: Goats for the satyrs.

DS: Antelopes too. With Blazey the dog, they looked at – she’s so cartoony but she has a lizard-y, snake quality to her. The fun of this movie is that fantasy characters are treated pretty realistically and this was fun to get a more cartoony take.

As an aside, Blazey the dragon is a girl! Everyone thinks she’s a boy.

UP: Did you find it difficult to strike a balance between the silly and more heartfelt moments?

DS: I think life is so funny and so emotional and – this is going to sound really pretentious – but they’re the same thing. The reason something is emotional is because it was funny first. The reason you love a character and you cry is because they made you laugh. I feel like it’s all interwoven. You cry because they said something funny. To me, emotion and comedy always stick together.

UP: What was the most difficult thing about directing this film?

DS: The story is always hard. We always had our ending, but trying to earn that ending. It meant a lot to us to get this point across. I think the burden of wanting to honestly and entertainingly get audiences to that point was really hard. You take it home when it’s a personal thing.

Read our review of Onward here, and be sure to spread the love for this very wonderful movie!

an early sketch by Dan

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