Friday, December 31, 2010

Rhapsody In Blue Sky (Part Two)...

Time is flying by soooooooo fast...




And we continue our look back at events/news that happened from a Blue Sky perspective...

Remember that early in 2010 Walt Disney Pictures high on the "Tron Legacy" film as a future tent pole for the various sectors of the company's entertainment divisions. While the question as to whether or not it'll lead to TR3N or the continuation of the "Tron Uprising" animated series is still out, back in the spring, the cross pollination was running high in the corridors of Burbank.

In April we reported that "Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides" was going to be shot in 3D, partially at least. Given all the aspects of filming in versus conversion, Rob Marshall and the Mouse took a middle road.

I love architecture and the design that Disney puts into something to reflect a period is very important. A great textbook example of how to not follow this long held belief has been on display in DCA.

The Marvelization of Disney XD, the boy version of Disney Channel has begun. Or was it just a continuation?

The Lamp through the Mouse finally made it official that "Monsters Inc. 2" was happening.

With that, many were wondering if Pixar had finally sold out with all of the sequels that have been announced since the acquisition into Disney.

Walt Disney Theme Parks still rule the market, despite growing competition with increasing quality, the Mouse dominates the world... at least when you factor in how many people visit them.

Not all changes are as dramatic as what is happening with Buena Vista Street, Cars Land and Mermaid in DCA. Some projects like the retheming of Grizzly River Run to a 50's era national park happen in small increments over many years.

More news from inside WDAS involving the slate of projects planned for 2013 and beyond.

We've done a lot of stories on Tokyo DisneySEA here and I wanted to compile a post where you could have access to all/most of them. Also, there are several links to other websites that have great info/pics as well.

Marvel already has a film division so it was only a matter of time before it developed a television division. Obvious, right?

With all the comic book craziness going on, Disney's rival to Marvel: DC Comics is moving ahead with their men-in-tights adaptations. Here are some of the properties that the Warner Suits may be putting on the front burner over the next few years.

With World of Color we finally started to see dramatic changes over at the Disneyland Resort's Second Gate. Here was Blue Sky's take on the matter.

And the park isn't the only thing getting a makeover at the resort. The Disneyland Hotel is in the process of a renovation. And when that's done there is still another addition that they could add.

With the growing global competition across the world, Walt Disney Parks and Resorts faces many challenges. One problem is there simply hasn't been enough work for those Imagineers that design some of these wonderfully immersive experiences. When that happens people get let go. Those people get hired by competitors and then they create things like this.

The Walt Disney Animation Studios was in a bit of a free fall over the last year as it tried to find it's identity. The success, or lack thereof of "The Princess and the Frog" gave many a feeling that the studio had lost its place. But Lasseter and company still have plans and we had a post discussing what some of those were.

I don't review films anymore, so here's my non-review review of "Toy Story 3" for those that missed it.

Comic-Con is always good for some nice surprises and this year was no exception for the Mouse. Along with all the "Tron Legacy" frenzy there was the announcement that there was another "Haunted Mansion" film coming out in a few years. This one was supposed to actually be good though.

Deadline Hollywood had a great "Geeks' Wish List" that I thought was rather interesting.

Slowly we started to see the kind of projects that Rich Ross was approving and I was not as horrified as I expected to be.

More news eventually started leaking out about Guillermo del Toro's "Haunted Mansion" project.

With each passing month we got a more fleshed out perspective of where Disney Animation was headed after 2012.

And that takes us up past the summer with some of what we did here at Blue Sky in 2010. Hard to believe how quick a year goes by, isn't it?

Stay tuned for the fall and everything after...

Wednesday, December 29, 2010

One Hundred MillTRON...




Walt Disney Pictures' "Tron Legacy" has passed the 100 million dollar mark...

The picture opened in first place, but slightly less than predicted (43 million versus 50 million), but has maintained a steady daily average. While it's not the blockbuster the Mouse had hoped, it's doing solid business, earning about 170 million worldwide so far. In the case of IMAX it's doing record setting business, with a quarter of the profit coming from those small amount of screens. While the future of this film is a franchise or not isn't known, the box office has been surprisingly steady. The merchandise, DVD/Blu-Ray/rental and animated series will determine if there's a TR3N.

Till then, the grid is still active...

Now That's A Lovely Lamp...

Puuuuuuurrrrrrty...







Pixar is known for making beautiful, well written films...

Leandro Copperfield has put together a montage of several of the most gorgeous scenes from the films that Disney North has done. Every time you turn on one of this Emeryville studios' lights you see something different and amazing.

Check it out and feel the love...

Hat Tip to /Film.

Monday, December 27, 2010

Rhapsody In Blue Sky (Part One)...

Out with the old, in with the knew...


Another year ends at Blue Sky Disney and another decade closes...

A lot of things happened in 2010 and it's time to do a recap of some of the main headlines. Let's take another walk down the months and start in where everything does: at the beginning.

The Walt Disney Studios got new management at the beginning of the year when Sean Bailey joined Rich Ross to guide the future of Mouse films. I enthusiastically supported this and feel that Sean is one of the good guys. He's someone that gets it and seeing him as one of the two most powerful film Suits is a message to fans that we can expect better days ahead.

Principle photography began on Walt Disney Pictures' 2012 blockbuster, "John Carter of Mars" almost a year ago and I hope that this project lives up to its potential. It could be Disney's answer to "Avatar." Although many that have never read the classic books could think that the Mouse is ripping off James Cameron, but actually it's the other way around.

Blue Sky was the first to report to you about the problems that Brad Bird was having getting the script for his dream project, "1906" made. Eventually, Bird realized he was going to have to prove to suits that he could make a live-action hit so they would trust him with the large budget his period disaster film would require. I guess making hundreds of millions of dollars in animation doesn't count to these guys? Anyway, the best "Mission: Impossible" now awaits us.

Anyone who read Blue Sky knows I loved "Prep & Landing." Back at the beginning of 2010 we broke the news that WDAS is thinking of turning this little television special into a theatrical feature, by way of "Winnie the Pooh." Confused? Read the post and you won't be.

Burbank was all worried about the "Princess Problem" that was perceived after the disappointment of "The Princess and the Frog" at the box office. We looked into some of the perspective of those in the Michael Eisner Building and the Hat Building.

You may not remember it, but Blue Sky was the first to report the name changing of "Rapunzel" to the more boy appealing "Tangled" back in February of last year. Amazing how a fear of princesses disappears with success, right?

The lack of a strong development slate caused many artist and animators to pack their bags and head for other work once the production of "Bolt" and "TPATF" was done. Sadly, many talented people that I've always admired have moved on to DreamWorks Animation as well as other studios. Hopefully with the success of that long haired girl we can stop worrying about the entrance to the Hat Building being a revolving door.

I poked fun at the decision of the Suits to change the name of their film to attract more male demographics in this post. I wondered what other Disney classics would be called if the names had been co-opted by the marketing department of the Mouse.

We broke the story about John Lasseter taking over the direction of "Cars 2" in early 2010 and gave everyone a peek into the problems that the Lamp was having with this sequel to a coming theme park land.

I love me some Pulp and hope that this production gets filmed even though it's not a Disney one.

Blue Sky was the first to tell you about fact that Henry Selick was working with Pixar on something, but not really sure yet what it was.

An early draft of "Tron Legacy" was reviewed on Blue Sky Disney by our very own Tron Unit and he didn't like it. Not that he liked what was actually filmed, but it's interesting to see what was different from what showed up on the silver screen.

Not bad, and we're not even through a quarter of the year yet...

Saturday, December 25, 2010

Happiness & Light...

Merry, merry, merry...








To all of you from all of us here at Blue Sky Disney...

Have a very, Merry Christmas! Here's wishing your hearts be warm and your home filled with good food, great friends and a loving family.

May Love and Joy come to you...

Friday, December 24, 2010

DirecTRON...

Action...


From the Grid...

Over at Collider, they've got a really interesting interview with Joe Kosinski about "Tron Legacy" that you might want to read. Lots of stuff about Easter eggs, deleted scenes, compromises that had to be made and intentions for the Blu-Ray and possible thoughts about TR3N.

Give it a click...

Thursday, December 23, 2010

20,000 Leagues Before A Remake...


Fifty-six years ago today Walt Disney's take on Jules Verne...

"20,000 Leagues Under the Sea" came out in 1954 and was a huge hit for Disney. It showed his daring in willing to gamble on projects that could be financially ruining for his beloved Walt Disney Production. If this had failed, his other big project may have had to be shelved or possibly sold off in bits and pieces. That project was scheduled to open up the following year. What was it? Disneyland.

Now there are plans at work to remake the adaptation of the classic Verne novel with David Fincher at the helm. It'll be interesting to see Fincher's take on the story and what different direction Scott Z. Burns' script will take the film in.

Developing...

Tuesday, December 21, 2010

The Fairest Anniversary Of Them All...

Mirror, mirror on the wall...




Seventy-three years ago today "Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs" premiered in Los Angeles...

At the Carthay Circle Theatre, Walt Disney showed the world his dream of a full length animated film. A project that many thought would be a disaster, that Walt's rivals across town had laughingly dubbed "Disney's Folly" would go on to be the highest grossing film of the year.

They weren't laughing by the end of the year...

Monday, December 20, 2010

The Quiet One Passes...


On this day, Thirty-nine years ago Roy O. Disney passed away at the sprightly age of 78 years young...

He was the shy one that didn't like to be on camera. Roy was the one that held the company financially together while his brother Walt dreamed.

And with his devotion, he helped him realize that dream...

Friday, December 17, 2010

Longing For A Legacy...

You're messing with my zen, man...


by TRON UNIT

28 years, 161 days later, Tron's legacy lives on. Joe Kosinski's understated long-awaited sequel to Steven Lisberger's game changing electronic mythos is a visual triumph, a world unlike anything we've ever seen before, transforming the iconography of its predecessor into an awesome 3D spectacle, but it is an imperfect world, its breathtaking three dimensions propped upon the two dimensional pillars of its problematic plot and one that would be looked upon with the consternations of its biggest adversary who, ironically, is the one who nearly completely undermines and very nearly derezzes it… Clu.

The film's biggest special effect is also its biggest failure. The technology that I had hoped would be the promise of taking Tron once again to a new revolutionary cinematic level and breaking new technical ground in much the same way as the original film had ushered in a new era at the dawn of the digital film making frontier cannot raise the bar set by its own ambition and demonstrates that we still have quite a ways to go before digital actors can convincingly look indistinguishable from real human performers. The CGI animation used to make Jeff Bridges look 20 years younger metaphorically resemble the poor prosthetic makeup of a cheap rubber mask and rendered like cut-scenes from its video game counterpart Tron: Evolution. Having watched numerous films starring Bridges throughout his career I can tell you that he did not look at all like his poorly rendered doppelganger at that age. The eyes, the brows, the cheekbones, and the mouth have an unconvincing artificiality about them that betrays the illusion and takes us out of this fantastic visual world and Bridges raspy aged voice also betrays the effect. In a creepy sort of way it almost works for the character within the context of the story because he is supposed to be an artificial construct and we can almost buy that he doesn't look quite like a real human being, but during the film's opening scenes when we see Bridges in flashback playing younger Kevin Flynn telling bedtime stories to his son, Sam, it robs the moment between a father and his son of its already forced sincerity and dehumanizes it in a cold and unsettling way.

The plot is almost video-game like in its objective as the competing faction of Clu's militaristic forces must obtain elder Flynn's identity disc which is a master key to unlock the door to our world so that he and his army can take it over. It is never explained how exactly virtual programs existing in the digital world can somehow manifest themselves into tangible living matter in our physical world just as it does not attempt to explain why a User like Sam can bleed in its digital realm other than the fact he is simply a User and "he's different," nor does it attempt to explain how Kevin Flynn has aged 20 years trapped in his digital confinement when theoretically he shouldn't have physically aged at all as a digital avatar of himself. Narratively it misses the opportunity to explore such philosophical questions and complex idioms of science fiction as it so masterfully eluded to in the film's promising test trailer shown at Comic Con and either completely ignores or avoids those questions it raises and is the other major disappointment of the film. The original Tron explored such intriguing philosophical ideas around the religious beliefs of its programs and their creators but Tron Legacy's most astonishing revelation delivered by Alan when he tells Sam that his father was about to change science, medicine and religion in such a profound way is simply thrown away in a single line of expository dialogue. We never learn the real reason why Flynn created this world in the first place other than the fact that it was far out biodigital jazz, man.

Once again Jeff Bridges is the cement that holds the foundations of the Troniverse together solely with his strength and conviction of his performance as zen guru cyber-Jesus Flynn to his Judas megalomaniacal alter-ego Clu in some sort of virtual yin and yang. Garret Hedlund is surprisingly likeable as his son, Sam. Thankfully, he's no wooden Hayden Christiansen (although he would have made a much better Anakin Skywalker) and plays the cliched angst-ridden rebellious youth with convincingly noble admiration. Reciprocally, Olivia Wilde plays the character of Quorra with a truthful childlike innocence and wonder that demonstrates she has more to offer as an actress than just luscious fanboy eyecandy. Michael Sheen livens the film with his jestly rendition of David Bowie circa glam rock era Ziggy Stardust. And once again Bruce Boxleitner returns as Alan Bradley aka Tron… sort of. After all it's called TRON Legacy, right? Though, like the first film, the story is centered around Flynn's character and his legacy of which Tron is merely incidental to. The enigmatic character of Rinzler is Clu's badass henchman, one part Darth Maul wielding two discs, and one part Boba Fett as a mysterious tracker whose helmeted identity is concealed and it doesn't take half a nerd to figure out who he is.

As a 3D film Tron Legacy works perfectly in most part because its illuminated electronic visuals naturally lends itself to creating brightly rendered 3D images which has been the downfall of all other 3D films. Tron Legacy is by far the real Avatar. It makes the world of Pandora look like a cartoon by comparison. It's a place I would want to visit again because it is unlike anything seen in our world or any other. The brilliantly 3D rendered Disney logo showcasing the Magic Kingdom "Tronified" is appropriately memorable for setting the tone of the film which is then 2D until Sam is transported into Tron's colorful three dimensional illuminated world like Dorothy in the Wizard of Oz. As a first-time director Joe Kosinski proves that he has the technical prowess to design a fully immersive world much like Ridley Scott did with Alien and Blade Runner but his weakness is marshaling a cohesive script equally as interesting to support it, but then again the original Tron, to be fair, didn't have a strong script to support it either so in that sense they are both equal in that they are both great visual spectacles but lack any real cohesive structure and substance. The numerous homages to the original film are carefully and cleverly handled, however the cascade of homages to other sci-fi films like 2001, Blade Runner and Star Wars seem almost out of place in Tron's world. I could have done without the banal Lucasian dialogue of the Light Jet sequence with lines like "Here they come" and "I got him!" without expecting the next line to deliver a "Great kid! Don't get cocky!"

As a fan of the original Tron I am torn. Part of me is protective of its mythos and at the same time heartbroken that what was once a unique, groundbreaking film has now been rendered obsolete by its own sequel that has taken the technology and improved upon it in nearly every visual way. The Lighcycle and Disc Wars sequences, for example, are spectacularly exhilarating and render the graphics in the original film relics of the Atari age by comparison and why Disney has wisely kept the original film hidden away in its vaults and not releasing it on Blu-Ray yet. Fortunately as a sequel it delivers without the bitter disappointment of something like Star Wars or Indiana Jones. It's no Phantom Menace or Crystal Skull, thank God, but it's not the potentially epic masterpiece it could have been either but rather just another tent-pole blockbuster special effects film. If it performs well there will no doubt be more Tron films that confident Disney has stated they already have in development along with an animated TV show but as a film Tron Legacy can stand on its own without them but should there be would require the participation of Jeff Bridges and Bruce Boxleitner to make them work if they have any chance at all of succeeding. Without them, it wouldn't be a Tron film at all. Tron lives. He fights for the Users.

END OF LINE

Wednesday, December 15, 2010

The Dreamer's End...



On this day, fourty-four years ago, Walter Elias Disney passed from this world into the next.

The night before he had been visited by his brother, Roy Disney. Roy was relieved that his brother said he was feeling better and presumed that things would be taking a turn for the better. Walt even talked about work and returning to the studio, which he could see just outside the window of his hospital room after asking the nurses to turn his bed facing that way. He passed away the next morning. To the shock of everyone and the sorrow of his brother and family.

The Dreamer passed away, but the dream lived on and still does to this day...

Monday, December 13, 2010

Stranger Trailer...

Yo, ho, ho buckets of bootey...




The first trailer for Walt Disney Pictures' "Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides" has been released...

So you won't have to wait till you see "Tron Legacy" this weekend to view it.

I smell the beginning of a new trilogy, or maybe that's just the rum...

Sunday, December 12, 2010

City Of Dreams...

To Gotham City, Robin ole' chum...



You know I love the "Batman: Arkham Asylum" video game and look forward to the sequel...

"Batman: Arkham City" comes out late next year and I can't wait to get it, but for the most part the game has been shrouded in mystery. We know that there will be new villains (Mr. Freeze, yeah!) and a larger canvas on which to be the caped crusader, but other than some awesome looking stills, we haven't gotten much info until now.

Here is a teaser for the sequel to Arkham that reveals a little bit of the plot, with awesome graphics and the introduction of the villain, Hugo Strange. Oddly enough, the rumors are that Strange will be one of the main characters/villains in Christopher Nolan's "The Dark Knight Rises" in 2012. That is going to be one amazing year at the box office.

But until then, we can enjoy experiencing the City next year...

Saturday, December 11, 2010

The Real Reason "Newt" Got Canned

Nomorenewts...


A lot of people have bemoaned the loss of Pixar's "Newt" film when it was canceled last year...

Many Pixar fans were wondering why they would do something like this. The rants against sequels came up and several people wished that the film would be restarted. What most didn't pay attention to was the fact that Lasseter and crew took Gary Rydstrom's film debut and canceled it were the many similarities it had with a competing project: Rio.

The project from Blue Sky Studios(makers of "Ice Age") was about the last male of a species of bird that has to mate with the remaining female of the species. This along with the part of the story where they break free and go on a journey was considered too close to their own story. So much so that there was no way to retool the story unless it were to become something completely different than what they put into production.

Lasseter and Ed Catmull did not want another situation like what happened with "A Bug's Life" and "Antz" back when the Lamp was still new to the biz, having made only one film yet. And this time, they'd be coming after that film. This would look like they were deliberately copying Blue Sky, which Pixar had never ever planned or even wanted to do. They take pride in making films that have a particular stamp of individual creativity and the last thing John wants to be known for is ripping off someone else.

Well, a couple days ago, the second trailer for "Rio" came out and if you watch it you can clearly see the similarities that would have been compared to Pixar's own film. It shows how uncomfortable it would have been for the company to proceed forward with this project; investing tens of millions of dollars on something that the public could turn its back on since it had saw the film already. Rio, on the other hand, moved forward and will be released in April of next year. And Blue Sky's project looks to be a well crafted, fun story. The film looks breathtakingly beautiful and very entertaining. As for Disney North; there are plenty of projects in the pipeline in the coming years to enjoy.

Just none about the last male newt that existed...

Thursday, December 9, 2010

Thunderous Poster...

By Odin's beard...






Behold the one sheet, mortals...

The black and white, and red poster for Marvel Studios "Thor" is out. It looks nice enough, but I'm getting a little tired of seeing posters with the lead character looking over his shoulder at you. Drew Struzan where are you? How about a cool action scene from the film instead of just him standing there.

I wish this film all the best, but seeing a god drive a pick-up truck is a little hard to believe...

A Twenty-Five Year Old Lamp...




Twenty-five years ago today, Pixar was incorporated...

Although it would be a decade before it created the first computer animated film, the dream had already started. This was a formality to set business affairs in order. The company would go on developing its software, creating shorts and working toward the dream of creating the first computer animated film. The commercials were the way those in charge of this little computer software company justified all the money they made Steve Jobs put out. In the meantime, Jobs searched and searched for a way to make money on the software all the while Lasseter and his crew did their work and earned those Oscars. It would be close to half a decade more before Steve could be convinced of the road ahead that John and Ed wanted to travel.

A road that they've traveled to infinity and beyond...

Tuesday, December 7, 2010

Blue Sky Buzz: Past Imperfect/Future Unfinished...


I thought I'd respond to a few e-mails I've received recently about the Extreme Makeover...

I apologize for the lack of updates, but I've been caught up in matters involving the real world. Just a few notes here, not a major update, but I thought you'd like to know/have a little bit of clarity about what's going on at the Second Gate.

First off many are wondering about the stores near where the Maliboomer once sat. In all the artwork and models we've seen, the pier area has the Games of the Boardwalk (done) and the stores remade with new Victorian facades (not done). Not to mention that lovely front queue that the Fun Wheel was supposed to get (still crossing my fingers on that one). Well, as I'm sure some of you have heard, it's not being done for the present. Not that it won't get done, but it's not on the current schedule. The main reason is funding or budgeting of the park. There have been no cuts or skimping on attractions just so you know. Please don't roll your eyes and start to think that this is another case of bean counters cutting the budget (like they did when the took DCA's almost billion dollar original price tag and reduce it by a third to $650 million).

That's not the problem. The problem is doing all this construction in a working environment and doing it at all times of the day and hours to avoid disrupting the guest as the walk around the walls. That gets expensive. Really expensive and it eats away at budgets. Much more than anyone at Disney would like. So funding has to be shifted. That's the reason you didn't see that structure in front of Mickey's Fun Wheel. That's why you didn't see the new cover for King Triton's Carousel. And it's why the stores are still in the style of stucco and exposed beams.

See, the Imagineers have had to try and keep the budgets for certain high profile projects as high as they can and decisions were made to drop or postpone some theming so that the funding could be used for other, more important construction items. Ariel's Undersea Adventure, Cars Land and the Buena Vista Street projects were all considered the most import things to get done. All other projects would/could be done, but later.

So when 2012 rolls around, some of what was planned won't be there. The side of the Paradise Pier with Screamin' and the Carousel will look relatively the same. The shops along the pier near Ariel's Grotto may still look the same as it appears that funding for this particular spot is on hold as well. The Grizzly River Run area will have received a modest retheming, but the animatronics will likely not be there till after Cars Land opens and the Extreme Makeover is officially over. The Hollywoodland section will not likely see any transformation back to a 40's era other than the Red Car Trolley line that cuts down the street until the second phase of the expansion too.

But this isn't the end. This is the beginning of the end of the beginning of the makeover. Hopefully you followed that. But sometime after summer of 2012 the park will be basking in its rebranding. Backstage, park planners and Imagineers will be busy planning big and small projects that will enhance what has already been done. Sometime in 2013 we will likely see projects start to sprout up in various areas of the park. They won't be as big as most of the projects that we've seen over the past few years because most of the hard work and major construction will be done.

Over the next four for five years we're likely to see the completed transformation of the Paradise Pier into a Victorian representation, but it'll come in phases. The areas near the coaster, the carousel and then perhaps the boardwalk area. No definite time period has yet been set, but things are being planned. The area where the stores reside is being put aside until the budget and ideas are ready for another attraction. There is room for another ride back behind the Maliboomer area now that the park only has one parade. There are two parade buildings and one is behind this spot with enough land for a major attraction. The offices of the pier would have to be moved and some other structural altering would be needed as well, but that won't be a problem that DCA hasn't already gotten used to.

There's also going to be construction walls going up in January that will block off the access to the pier where the Maliboomer was. There's a lot of concrete that has to be cut out to make room for that garden and the meet and greet area of this little makeover.

Eventually the Hollywood section will change and be rethemed to the Golden Age of Hollywood. Most of this shouldn't cause harm, with the possible exception of the enclosing of the Hyperion Theater which could be intrusive to guests and shows, but once all this is done, the trolley line will certainly blend in far better.

The Grizzly section will hopefully get animatronics in late 2012/early 2013 to match the new uniforms and rethemed areas of the 50's Yosemite style national park that it is slowly becoming. One thing that you will notice soon is the retheming of the Redwood Creek area. Gone will be Brother Bear and in its place will be Russell and the crew from "Up" to delight kids all around.

Should Cars Land be the success that everyone thinks it will be (it will), then you will see the start of planning for an expansion of this land, but don't expect it before the latter part of the decade. There is room there for one or two new attractions depending on how well the land is utilized. When you examine the totality of it, there's a whole lot of construction still to be done. Just not the gargantuan plots of land that have been reworked/rebuilt over the past four years.

Don't let this detract you from the fact that come summer 2012 the Disneyland Resort will finally have a Second Gate worthy of the resort that won't be perfect.

But it won't be finished either...

Monday, December 6, 2010

Not So Secret Santa...

What the Elf is going on here...




Don't forget to watch the "A Charlie Brown Christmas" special to see the new "Prep & Landing" short tomorrow...

That new six minute short will be there to give you more of those cute little elves from last Christmas's holiday special. If you follow the blog then you know how much I love that special and thought it was the best thing WDAS had done since Lasster came on board. Of course this was prior to "Tangled."

Set your dial or set your DVR...

Friday, December 3, 2010

Mission: Impossible - 1906...

Should you choose to accept this mission...



I've seen a lot of people whining about Brad Bird going into live-action over the past year...

I don't see any problem with it. He's a genius and I expect anything he does in that format/medium to be just as entertaining as his animated works. I've never seen anything that was made with his name on it that I did not thoroughly enjoy.

Many people are wondering why Bird would do a film like "Mission Impossible," much less a sequel to someone else's franchise. They wonder why he's not doing a sequel to "The Incredibles" instead. Simply, the director has wanted to make a live-action adaptation of James Dalessandro's novel "1906" since the early part of the last decade. He was working toward that when when John Lasseter asked him to help out with "Ratatouille" and he put it on hold to help turn that film into the hit it became. Once that was done he went back to trying to get that film made. But it's going to be a big budget and it's going to be live-action. The executive over at Warner were nervous about handing such a large budget to a director untested in live-action. Despite many rewrites to finally bring the film down in budget, the Suits at Warner never could get the courage to greenlight it.

Brad realized he wasn't going to get to make this dream project unless he showed them he could make a successful live action film. Making a sequel to his animated superhero family would not have accomplished this. Tom Cruise and his people, having smoothed over some ruffled feathers with Paramount Pictures, set about talking about making another sequel to Mission: Impossible. After all, Hollywood would rather spend money on a safe bet than an unknown property. Even though it's not always the case, brand names/big stars tend to fill the seats in theaters. This dynamic has been changing in the entertainment industry with the way things are evolving over the last decade, but Tinsel Town is slow to change.

Cruise was looking for a new director since J.J. Abrams had decided against directing the film. He would still guide the story and help produce, but not be behind the screens. This presented an opportunity for bold choices and one of three choices that Cruise and his inner circle were mulling, was Brad Bird. They knew he was eager to direct his dream project, they knew he was wanting to do a live-action film. This was his opportunity to show the Warner studios that hold the rights to his passion project, that he could handle a film that was big and not animated. That is why he accepted the project. He's taken a project with a script by André Nemec and Josh Appelbaum, which Abrams developed and started working on creating something that would be a great resume for his entry into the live-action world.

Brad's worked with the writers and Tom over the course of pre-production to get it into shape for a film that he feels comfortable directing. Working beside/for Tom Cruise is different world from which Bird comes, but he's adapted and has planned on making a worthy sequel to the franchise that can actually stand on its own. One that could be seen by people that hadn't see the others and just happen to like action films or Tom Cruise films or even Brad Bird films. I know that they're setting up the series to have more equal parts, like the one for Jeremy Renner, but it's Tom's film until he decides to leave the series.

While I really enjoyed the last film, I wasn't a fan of the first two films and hated the second one (which says a lot since I love John Woo). It's my belief that this one will be the best of the bunch. A story by J.J. Abrams directed by Brad Bird? I'm there for "Mission: Impossible - Ghost Protocol." Tom Cruise was both smart and lucky to get Bird for this project. And it's one of my most anticipated films of next year simply because of his attachment. I expect great entertainment and Brad has never disappointed me. No sequel to The Incredibles doesn't disappoint me. If this film is a success then Bird will likely get his dream project made. And if it excites Brad, it excites me. The man has said he's not abandoning animation, just expanding his options in the filmic world. So a sequel for the Lamp may happen sometime in the future. Just not the near future.

But whatever Brad Bird creates will be incredible no matter what...