Mr. Peabody & Sherman Movie Standee

Mr. Peabody & Sherman, a photo by christianz1969 on Flickr.

Cloudy 2 Home Video Release

CLOUDY WITH A CHANCE OF MEATBALLS 2

The $100 Million+ Box Office & Critically Acclaimed Hit Debuts Jan. 28 on Blu-ray 3D Combo Pack, Blu-ray^™ Combo Pack, DVD & Digital*

Stuffed with More Than an Hour of Mouth-Watering Special Features Including Four Mini-Movies

CULVER CITY, CALIF. (Nov. 27, 2013) – Flint Lockwood (Bill Hader) and the Swallow Falls gang are back to dish-up a hippotatomus-sized adventure in Sony Pictures Animation’s CLOUDY WITH A CHANCE OF MEATBALLS 2, available Jan. 28 on Blu-ray 3D Combo Pack, Blu-ray^™ Combo Pack and DVD* from Sony Pictures Home Entertainment. Inventor Flint Lockwood thought he saved the world when he destroyed his most infamous invention -- a machine that turned water into food, causing cheeseburger rain and spaghetti tornadoes. However, he soon learns that his invention survived and is now creating food-animals, or "foodimals!"  Now, Flint and his friends must embark on a dangerously delicious mission to battle hungry tacodiles, shrimpanzees, hippotatomuses, cheespiders and other foodimals to save the world – again!

Fans hungry for more can indulge in a host of bonus materials on the CLOUDY WITH A CHANCE OF MEATBALLS 2 3D Blu-ray and Blu-ray Combo Packs, including four mini-movies directed by animation veteran David Feiss. The first all-new mini-movie, “Attack of the 50-Foot Gummi Bear,” finds Steve chasing a mischievous gummi that misused one of Flint’s inventions to grow into a 50-foot beast. In the second never-before-seen mini-movie, “Steve’s First Bath,” Flint must quickly alter his plans for a romantic date with Sam after his monkey-cleaning invention goes awry. Both Combo Packs come with two additional, previously released mini-movies, “Super Manny” and “Earl Scouts,” along with strawberry-scented scratch ‘n sniff packaging. 

The Combo Packs and DVD are also stuffed with filmmaker commentary, deleted scenes and seven behind-the-scenes featurettes, including candid interviews with the animators and voice talent, and a look at the stunning end credits and all-new,  making-of-the-music video from fan-favorite Cody Simpson.

*Includes Digital HD UltraViolet^™

Bill Hader (Night At The Museum: Battle Of The Smithsonian) leads the returning all-star cast including Anna Faris (House Bunny, Scary Movie franchise), James Caan (Get Smart, TV’s “Las Vegas”), Andy Samberg (TV’s “SNL”), Benjamin Bratt (TV’s “Law & Order”) and Neil Patrick Harris (TV’s “How I Met Your Mother”).   Newcomers include Kristen Schaal (TV’s “Flight of the Conchords), Will Forte (TV’s “SNL”) and Terry Crews  (TV’s “Brooklyn Nine-Nine”). The film is directed by Cody Cameron and Kris Pearn, and it was written by Phil Lord, Christopher Miller and Erica Rivinoja. The screenplay is by Erica Rivinoja, John Francis Daley and Jonathan Goldstein, inspired by the book Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs written by Judi Barrett and illustrated by Ron Barrett.  The film is produced by Pam Marsden and Kirk Bodyfelt, and executive produced by Phil Lord and Christopher Miller.  Music in the film is by Mark Mothersbaugh, with imagery and animation by Sony Pictures Imageworks, Inc. 

Synopsis:

Inventor Flint Lockwood thought he saved the world when he destroyed his most infamous invention – a machine that turned water into food causing cheeseburger rain and spaghetti tornadoes. But Flint soon learns that his invention survived and is now combining food and animals to create – "foodimals!" Flint and his friends embark on an adventurously mouth-watering mission to battle hungry tacodiles, shrimpanzees, hippotatomuses, cheesepiders and other foodimals to save the world – again!

3D Blu-ray & Blu-ray Combo Pack exclusives include:

§  Four Mini-Movies*

o    “Attack of the 50-Foot Gummi Bear” – Flint’s mischievous gummi bear grows to 50-feet by using his new food-modifying invention while Steve is in charge. Steve must frantically chase the gummi bear and transform him back to normal size before Flint returns to the lab. 

o   “Steve’s First Bath” - Flint’s failed date with Sam is because of Steve’s mischievous ways.

o    “Super Manny” - Manny, the Jack of all trades, saves an adorable kitty with his many skills.

o   “Earl Scouts” – The Foodimals join Earl's scouting program but are very competitive.

§  Deleted Scenes

3D Blu-ray, Blu-ray and DVD bonus features include:

§  Filmmaker Commentary with directors Cody Cameron and Kris Pearn

§  Seven All-New Featurettes:

o   “Anatomy of a Foodimal” - Flamangos, Cheesespiders, Hippotatomuses! Oh my! Sit down with filmmakers to discuss the inspiration behind these wacky food-animal hybrids that have taken over Swallow Falls, and chat with the gang to find out how they came up with the Food-imal's creative and amusing names.

o   “Production Design: Back in the Kitchen” - Where do you go after it rains cheeseburgers all over Swallow Falls? Back to the kitchen of course! Hear from filmmakers Cody Cameron and Kris Pearn on how they came up with stories and jokes for the film.

o   “Awesome End Credits” - Dive into the end credit sequence with the filmmakers and discover how they used a mix of 3D, 2D, stop motion and live action.

o   “Cloudy Café: Who’s On the Menu?” – Hear from newcomers Will Forte and Kristen Schaal about what drew them (pun intended) to this animated feature and how they "discovered" the voices of Chester V and Barb. Then, sit down with Terry Crews, as he steps into the pair of size 12 shoes left by Mr. T to portray Officer Earl Devereaux. Plus, hear from all your returning favorites including Anna Ferris and Bill Hader.

o   “Building the Foodimals” - Animators discuss creating and animating the foodimals.

o   “The Sasquash “- Exploring all the places in the film that the sneaky Sasquash is hiding.

o   “Delicious Production Design” - Animators discuss the design of the film

§  Cody Simpson “La Da Dee” Music Video & Making of the video featurette

*Attack of the 50-Foot Gummi Bear and Steve’s First Bath are all-new mini-movies

Stream of Consciousness

It's 12:03 AM on November 23, 2013, and I'm doing a little Internet browsing. Somebody had just posted on my Facebook wall about the new book coming out by Ed Catmull called, "Creativity, Inc." Then I read about it on Cartoon Brew. In that post an excerpt from the press description gives some of Ed's nuggets of wisdom, one of them being the following:

Give a good idea to a mediocre team, and they will screw it up. But give a mediocre idea to a great team, and they will either fix it or come up with something better.

Then I checked an e-mail a friend sent me with a link to a video where two accomplished thespians re-enact an inane YouTube comment flame war and basically prove Ed's point correct (the language is not entirely safe for work):

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Rio: The 4-D Experience Trailer

This is a movie that plays at the Discovery Outpost at the San Diego Zoo.

The Return of Fat Albert

Yahoo! TV is reporting that Bill Cosby is hoping to bring Fat Albert back.

"It's got to be animated, every bit of it. Maybe except for yours truly saying, 'I told you this is going to be funny, and if you pay attention, you just might learn something,'" Cosby says, repeating the line he used to introduce episodes of the original series, which was released on DVD as "Fat Albert and the Cosby Kids: The Complete Series" in June.

Get a Frozen Horse!

Went to the ASIFA screening of Frozen on Wednesday night which was preceded by the new Mickey Mouse short, "Get a Horse!" Here's some quick thoughts on each:

Get a Horse!

• Very kinetic; audiences are going to love this and it will help everyone appreciate Disney history a little more.
• There's a Marvel tie-in in it.
• Hopefully this means more Mickey (and gang) shorts
• This makes very logical and efficient use of 3D; make an effort to see this one in 3D
• It's very deservedly up for an Oscar

Frozen

• Frozen advances CGI animation another step forward and also works in some handdrawn-style whimsy
• Animation aficionados will recognize a Tangled reference in it. The whole film has the same design aesthetic as Tangled, so much that I kept expecting Rapunzel to show up in it. Turns out she did.
• The story and characters have weight without weighing you down
• This one has a lot of singing, including a lot of Broadway-style singing; I think the soundtrack CD for it might even be two discs
• Pay attention to the credits
• There's also a little post-credits scene

Disney's The Jungle Book on Blu-ray Feb 11, 2014

Make Mowgli and His Jungle Family A Part of Yours When

Swings onto Blu-ray™, DVD and Digital on February 11, 2014

Film Synopsis:               Now for the first time ever on Blu-ray with glorious digital high definition, Disney’s Jumpin’ Jungle Classic has never looked so lush or sounded so good! Beloved characters, swinging music and new behind-the-scenes bonus features make this Diamond Edition Blu-ray a must-have for every family’s classic collection! 

Meet the most unforgettable characters and embark on a thrilling adventure with Mowgli as he journeys deep into the jungle and learns “The Bare Necessities” of life from happy-go-lucky Baloo the bear. Meet Bagheera, the wise old panther, and crazy King Louie, the orangutan. But watch out for the cunning tiger Shere Khan and Kaa, the ssssneakiest snake in the jungle!

Explore your family’s wild side as you venture into The Jungle Book for extraordinary adventures and a heartwarming tale that celebrates the true meaning of friendship. 

Voice Talent:                 Phil Harris (Robin Hood, The Aristocats) as Baloo the Bear; Sebastian Cabot (The Sword and the Stone, Winnie the Pooh) as Bagheera the Panther; Bruce Reitherman (Winnie the Pooh and the Honey Tree) as Mowgli the Man Cub; George Sanders (All About Eve, Rebecca) as Shere Khan the Tiger; Sterling Halloway (The Aristocats, Alice in Wonderland) as Kaa the Snake; J. Pat O’Malley (Robin Hood, Mary Poppins) as Col. Hathi the Elephant/Buzzie; and Louis Prima (The Continental Twist Hey Boy! Hey Girl!) as King Louie of the Apes

Producer:                         Walt Disney

Director                            Wolfgang Reitherman (The Jungle Book, 101 Dalmatians, The Aristocats)

Writers:                             Larry Clemmons (The Fox and the Hound, Robin Hood, The Aristocats)

Ralph Wright (The Many Adventures of Winnie The Pooh, The Aristocats)

Ken Anderson (The Rescuers, The Many Adventures of Winnie The Pooh)

Vance Gerry (The Many Adventures of Winnie The Pooh, Robin Hood)

**Inspired by the Rudyard Kipling Mowgli Stories.

Music:                                 Music by George Bruns, Songs by Robert B. Sherman and Richard M. Sherman.  “The Bare Necessities” by Terry Gilkyson.”

Release Date:                 February 11, 2014

All-New Blu-ray           Introductions by Diane Disney Miller and Richard M. Sherman

Bonus Features:           Alternate Ending – Mowgli and The Hunter

@DisneyAnimation: Sparking Creativity

Music, Memories & Mowgli: A Conversation with Richard M. Sherman, Diane

Disney Miller and Floyd Norman

Disney Intermission – Bear-E-Oke hosted by Baloo

Bear-E-Oke Sing A Long

I Wanna Be Like You – Hangin’ Out At Disney’s Animal Kingdom

DVD Bonus Features: All the Classic bonus features included in the original DVD release

Packaging:                       2-Disc Blu-ray Combo Pack  (BD + DVD + Digital Copy), DVD and Digital

Feature Run Time:     78-minutes       

Rated:                                 G in U.S. & Canada (Bonus materials are not rated)

Aspect Ratio:                 1.75:1 formatted for 16x9 TV screens

Sound:                                Blu-ray: 7.1 DTS-HD Master Audio (English); Original Theatrical Mix (English); Dolby® Digital 5.1 Surround Sound (French and Spanish)

DVD: Original Theatrical Mix (English); Dolby® Digital 5.1 Surround Sound (English, French and Spanish)

Languages:                      English, French and Spanish

Subtitles:                          English SDH, French and Spanish

To learn more visit:  Our Facebook page @ facebook.com/DisneyJungleBook

Follow us on Twitter at @ twitter.com/DisneyPictures

View our website @disney.com/junglebook

Star Wars Rebels Teaser Trailer

From CultFix

Marvel's Iron Man & Hulk: Heroes United

Clip 1

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Two of the biggest Heroes from the Marvel Universe team up in “Marvel’s Iron Man & Hulk: Heroes United,” the first full-length, direct-to-video CG animated feature from Marvel Animation Studios. Featuring the voices of Adrian Pasdar (TV’s “Heroes,” “Marvel’s Ultimate Spider-Man”) as Iron Man and Fred Tatasciore (TV’s “Marvel’s Hulk and the Agents of S.M.A.S.H.,” “Marvel’s Ultimate Spider-Man”) as Hulk, this groundbreaking Marvel movie experience is available only on Blu-ray™, DVD and Digital platforms December 3, 2013.

In this action-packed adventure, the invincible Iron Man and the incredible Hulk come together to save the Earth from its greatest threat yet! When two HYDRA scientists try to supercharge a Stark Arc Reactor with Hulk's Gamma Energy, they unleash a being of pure electricity called the Zzzax - and he's hungry for destruction. Together, Iron Man and Hulk are the only force that stands in the way of the Zzzax's planetary blackout. But first the Super Hero duo will have to get through snarling Wendigos, deadly robots and the scaly powerhouse, Abomination. Can two of Marvel's mightiest Heroes find a way to work together without smashing each other before time runs out?

Eric Radomski (TV’s “Marvel’s Ultimate Spider-Man,” “Batman: The Animated Series”) is Supervising Creative Director of “Marvel’s Iron Man & Hulk: Heroes United,” with Leo Riley (TV’s “Mad,” “The Ricky Gervais Show”) serving as Supervising Director. Executive Producers are Alan Fine (Marvel’s The Avengers, Thor, Iron Man 2), Dan Buckley (TV’s “Marvel’s Ultimate Spider-Man,” “Marvel’s Avengers Assemble,” “Marvel Hulk and the Agents of S.M.A.S.H.”) Joe Quesada (TV’s “Marvel’s Avengers Assemble,” “Marvel’s Ultimate Spider-Man”) and Jeph Loeb (TV’s “Marvel’s Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.”). Written by Henry Gilroy (TV’s “Animatrix,” “Batman: The Animated Series,” “Batman Beyond”) and Brandon Auman (TV’s “Iron Man: Armored Adventures,” “The Avengers: Earth’s Mightiest Heroes”)

Choosing Super Heroes: Developing “Marvel’s Iron Man & Hulk: Heroes United”

For the team at Marvel Animation Studios, the decision to pair Hulk and Iron Man together for the studio’s first feature-length, direct-to-video adventure, was largely inspired by current fan interest. The film’s Executive Producer and Marvel’s Head of Television Jeph Loeb states, “We tend to keep an eye on who folks want to see more of.”

Marvel’s decision to feature Iron Man followed the enormously popular appearance of the Hero in the “Iron Man” franchise and the blockbuster hit “Marvel’s The Avengers,” which currently stands as the third highest grossing film in U.S. history and the number one release from Walt Disney Studios.

The Hulk’s breakout role in last summer’s “Marvel’s The Avengers,” provided creators with the next Marvel Hero. Loeb attributes the overwhelmingly positive response to Hulk’s appearance in that movie to the fact that its creators finally gave long-time Marvel fans the opportunity to see the character as “a Hero, not a monster.” Loeb assures fans that, with this feature-length animated release, the Marvel Animation Studios team set out to depict Hulk “with that same kind of thought and expectation.”

A Smashing Duo: The Chemistry of Iron Man & Hulk

If the decision to pair these two enormously popular characters made sense on paper, the result is a smashing duo with combustible on-screen chemistry. The secret to this chemistry is, of course, the spark-inducing interactions between two heroes with nothing in common other than a shared capacity for heroism.

Loeb defines the fundamental difference between the two Heroes as follows: “Tony Stark is a man who thinks first and then acts second. He surrounds himself with technology and builds himself a suit of armor and any kind of tool and weapon that he needs. On the other side is his sort of polar opposite, and that’s the Hulk, who acts first and contemplates his actions later. He believes that the best way to handle things is through SMASHING. We’re talking about a character whose tremendous power comes from who he is without any kind of enhancements through technology,” the Executive Producer says.

That’s not to say that these two distinct characters don’t influence each other’s heroic styles during the 72-minute run time of “Marvel’s Iron Man & Hulk: Heroes United.” Loeb assures fans that, during the course of their first feature-length pairing, the two “learn a little from each other and borrow tricks from one another.” Together, Hulk’s brute strength and Iron Man’s high-tech intellect combine to form an ultimate avenging force that’s ready to take on whatever villains - or should we say villain-z - that come their way!

Villainz with a “Z”: Foiling Iron Man & Hulk

In their first feature-length animated pairing, Iron Man and Hulk take on fan-favorite villains from the Marvel Universe. The principal antagonist is long-time Hulk enemy Zzzax. “We’re very excited because this is the first time that we’ve been able to do an entire storyline centered around him,” says Loeb.

The fact that Zzzax is a being composed of energy allowed the film’s creative team to hint at real world environmental and energy issues. According to Loeb, “There’s a little bit of a moral story that’s being played out, given what’s going on with our own Earth, but that’s just a little fun Easter egg for people to find as they go along.”

Other villains featured include the scaly green monster Abomination, a creature with twice the strength as Hulk, and the Wendigos, massive, fur-covered humanoid beasts with fangs and razor sharp claws.  

Super Heroic Voices: Casting Iron Man & Hulk

To capture Iron Man’s sardonic wit and Hulk’s roaring power, Marvel relied on the voice talents of actors Adrian Pasdar and Fred Tatasciore. Like the choice to pair Iron Man and Hulk, the decision to cast these two long-standing members of the Marvel Animation Studios family was easy.

Loeb traces each actor’s rich history bringing their respective characters to life: “Adrian Pasdar, who’s been playing Iron Man since about the fifth episode of ‘Ultimate Spider-Man,’ is one of our regulars in the Marvel animated universe, so we’re delighted to have him on board. Similarly, Fred Tatasciore, who plays Hulk, has probably played the character more than any other person who’s ever played Hulk and we know that that’s a role that’s been around a long time, going all the way back to Bill Bixby. Fred’s been our Hulk on everything from ‘Ultimate Spider-Man’ through ‘Marvel’s Avengers Assemble,’ ‘Hulk and the Agents of S.M.A.S.H.’, as well as numerous other projects that were worked on prior to Marvel Animation Studios forming in the first place.”  

A Marvel Animation First: Computer Generating “Marvel’s Iron Man & Hulk: Heroes United”

The production of “Marvel’s Iron Man & Hulk: Heroes United” marks the historic first occasion Marvel Animation Studios has completely utilized computer generated technology in order to create a Super Hero adventure. The use of CG animation results in a visually groundbreaking tale that brings stunning and vibrant new life to the animated Marvel Universe.

The decision to use CG technology was made after the film’s Supervising Creative Director, Eric Radomski impressed his Marvel teammates with a test demonstrating the effect of combining CG technology with 2D mapping. According to Loeb, “The test that Eric showed us was extremely promising and we green-lit it off that - no gamma pun intended - in order to move forward.”

Loeb expresses enthusiasm for continued use of CG animation going forward. “It’s exciting when we get to use a new kind of format and see where we can go. What we’ve learned from this first experience is going to really show up with some neat stuff in the future as well.”

Something to Cheer About: Experiencing “Marvel’s Iron Man & Hulk: Heroes United”

Amidst all the holiday cheer this December, Marvel fans everywhere will be cheering for the blockbuster pairing of two of the most iconic Super Heroes Marvel’s first completely CG-animated feature, “Marvel’s Iron Man & Hulk: Heroes United.”

Executive Producer Jeph Loeb promises fans “a huge epic story with great characters and an awful lot of fun. They’re two of Marvel’s most popular characters going up against great villains. It’s a terrific looking feature. It’s not often we get to do full-length animated projects and this is a 72-minute epic that we know people will not want to rent, but own.”

Loeb also hints at the possibility of a surprise at the end of the movie. “I can tell you that, as Marvel fans know, it’s always worth staying until after the credits and that holds true even on this made-for-DVD.”

“Marvel’s Iron Man & Hulk: Heroes United” is available only on Blu-ray™, DVD and Digital platforms on December 3, 2013.