Disney’s ‘Big Hero 6′ delights with new kind of Marvel star

LOS ANGELES | The huge cuddly white robot in “Big Hero 6″ could hardly be less like a typical Marvel superhero — and yet the Michelin man-style star could be a sure winner for studio giant Disney.

The movie, to be released on Friday in the United States, is Disney’s first based on Marvel comic book characters since it bought Marvel Entertainment Inc. in 2009.

Set in fictional San Fransokyo, the Japanese-themed film tells the story of young Hiro Hamada, a robot-obsessed nerd who is devastated when his older brother Tadashi dies in an accident.

Baymax is the inflatable robot Tadashi was working on before his death. He is designed to care for sick humans, which he promptly does for the depressed teenager.

Along with six friends, Hiro and Bymax embark on a dangerous mission to hunt down the thief who stole Hiro’s latest creation: tiny microbots which can form themselves into any shape and be controlled telephathically.

Hiro’s friends are voiced by a star-studded cast, with Jamie Chung voicing for GoGo Tamago, Damon Wayans Jr for Wasabi, Genesis Rodriguez for Honey Lemon and T.J. Miller for Fred.

The movie is directed by Don Hall, whose past credits include “Winnie the Pooh,” and Chris Williams, who co-directed “Bolt.”

It is produced in part by the team which won Disney’s first animated Oscar with princess blockbuster “Frozen.”

MANGA, KARATE AND KABUKI

The filmmakers submerged themselves in the world of manga, karate and kabuki theater to create “Big Hero 6,” and the cast is clearly proud of what they have made.

“It’s nice to see two very strong male Asian protagonists, characters, in an American production,” said Daniel Henney, who voices Tadashi and whose mother is American-Korean.

“It makes me very proud because for a long time I feel like we can be misrepresented at times in the media, and this movie is not doing that.”

At a roundtable discussion in Los Angeles before the film’s release, the cast underlined the strength of both its male and female characters.

“It’s very empowering for little girls. I remember I was a Disney princess my whole life… I was one of them, I wanted to be a part of that world,” said Rodriguez.

“I hope that this world is a little bit more attainable for them. These kinds of skills are realistic for a girl to want to be like.”

The film also unashamedly takes the side of tech geeks.

“These kids are not born with any superpowers, they’re just born like any normal kid. But they are just very studious and they fall in love with science,” Rodriguez added.

“They have very curious minds… so I hope that inspires kids to want to be curious and to want to explore the science and technology and to want to create and invent something new,” she said.

The band of diminutive heroes eventually hunts down the evil thief, but not without some plot twists, and plenty of cute action involving the bumbling Baymax, voiced by Scott Adsit.

Audience in preview screenings have been won over — the movie has a whopping 98 percent approval rating on film review site Rotten Tomatoes, while 87 percent of critics are positive.

“East meets West to immensely satisfying effect in the vibrant mash-up of an animated romp,” said the Hollywood Reporter.

Others were equally as glowing.

“It’s a movie that’s as fun to watch as it is funny,” said the Washington Post.

“(It) is fresh and inventive enough in every important way… to satisfy even the most jaded animation fan.”

source: interaksyon.com

3D fairy tale ‘Frozen’ overtakes ‘Catching Fire’ at North American box office

LOS ANGELES/NEW YORK | Walt Disney Co’s animated princess fairy tale “Frozen” heated up movie box office charts in the United States and Canada, displacing dystopian thriller “The Hunger Games: Catching Fire” as the top-earning film.

“Frozen” sold $31.6 million worth of tickets from Friday through Sunday during its second weekend in theaters to top domestic movie charts, while “Catching Fire” earned $27 million, according to studio estimates from Rentrak.

The weekend’s only new nationwide release, crime thriller “Out of the Furnace,” took a distant third place with $5.3 million.

Global sales for “Frozen,” a solid holiday season hit, climbed to $190 million through Sunday, Disney said. The 3D movie, inspired by “The Snow Queen” fairytale, features the voice of Kristen Bell as a Scandinavian princess intent on finding her sister, the Queen, who has the power to freeze anything with a touch and accidentally sets off a long winter that is destroying their kingdom.

“Catching Fire,” the second of the “Hunger Games” films based on novels by Suzanne Collins, brought its global total to a massive $673.4 million, according to distributor Lions Gate Entertainment Corp. The movie stars Jennifer Lawrence as heroine Katniss Everdeen, a skilled archer who provides hope for an oppressed society on the edge of rebellion.

Lions Gate noted that the U.S. weather in recent days, with several winter storm systems in play, likely had an impact on box office results.

Third-place film “Out of the Furnace” stars Christian Bale and Casey Affleck as brothers in a working-class Pennsylvania steel town. When one of the brothers disappears, the other sets out to find him and enact revenge.

“Out of the Furnace” was distributed by privately held Relativity Media and cost $22 million to make. Critics were split on the film. As of Saturday, the movie scored a 51 percent positive rating among reviews collected on the Rotten Tomatoes website.

In a statement, Relativity called the “a daring story from a renowned director and an award-winning cast,” adding “While we had hoped it would perform better this weekend, we are all proud of this movie.”

Rounding out the charts, Marvel superhero sequel “Thor: The Dark World,” which stars Chris Hemsworth as the god of thunder, earned $4.7 million. “Delivery Man,” featuring Vince Vaughn as a sperm donor who fathers more than 500 children, finished fifth, grossing $3.8 million. Disney distributed “Thor” and “Delivery Man.”

Next weekend, theaters are expected to be busy with fans turning out for “The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug,” the second of three movies based on the fantasy novel by J.R.R. Tolkien. Last year’s blockbuster “The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey” earned $1 billion at theaters worldwide.

source: interaksyon.com

‘Meatballs’ sequel gobbles up US, Canadian box office

LOS ANGELES/NEW YORK | The sequel to “Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs” devoured the weekend box office competition.

The animated 3D “Cloudy With a Chance of Meatballs 2,” which tells the story of monster-sized fruits, vegetables and cheeseburgers that come to life as “foodimals,” earned $35 million at U.S. and Canadian theaters, according to studio estimates on Sunday, easily beating all competitors.

“Cloudy 2″ outpaced car racing drama “Rush,” which pulled in $10.3 million from Friday through Sunday to finish third, behind last week’s winner, drama “Prisoners” starring Hugh Jackman, which made $11.3 million.

The “Cloudy” sequel features the voices of Bill Hader and Anna Faris and is a follow-up to a 2009 hit that saw the fictional island of Swallow Falls attacked by giant food that plunges from the sky.

In the new installment, the food comes to life and evolves into “foodimals” that include a hippopotamus, eggplanatee and cheespider, a cheeseburger with sesame-seed eyes and french-fry legs.

Some forecasters projected “Cloudy 2″ would gross up to $45 million, though Sony said it expected a lower debut of between $30 million and $35 million. The movie cost $78 million to produce.

“This is just a fantastic start,” said Rory Bruer, Sony Pictures’ worldwide president of distribution.

“We knew that people really loved the film from our early screenings, and it’s one of those times that the sequel is better than the first one,” he said.

Bruer also predicted that the film would resonate with audiences overseas, saying: “I’m certain it’s going to do even better internationally.”

“Rush,” from Oscar-winning director Ron Howard, tells the story of the 1976 battle for the Formula One racing championship. Chris Hemsworth stars as Englishman James Hunt and Daniel Bruhl as his rival, Austrian Niki Lauda.

The movie expanded to nearly 2,300 theaters after a very limited debut a week ago. It was produced for $38 million by Cross Creek Pictures and Exclusive Media and distributed by Universal Pictures, a unit of Comcast Corp.

Nikki Rocco, president for domestic distribution at Universal Pictures, said: “Although we started out on the low end of where we thought we would be, strong exit polls and good word-of-mouth will help it find its niche in the weeks to come.”

“Rush” won strong reviews from critics with an 88 percent positive rating from compendium website rottentomatoes, and an A-minus grade from CinemaScore, which polls moviegoers.

“Prisoners,” starring Jackman as a father on a desperate search for his missing daughter, brought its domestic sales total to $39 million after two weekends. The movie, which topped box office charts when it debuted a week ago, was released by Warner Bros., a unit of Time Warner Inc.

New romantic comedy “Baggage Claim,” distributed by Fox Searchlight, a unit of 21st Century Fox and starring Paula Patton as a woman on a 30-day quest to find a mate, finished in fourth place with $9.3 million.

Raunchy comedy “Don Jon” debuted in the weekend’s No. 5 spot with $9 million. The movie stars Joseph Gordon-Levitt as a young man whose pornography addiction interferes with his relationship with a young woman, played by Scarlett Johansson. Gordon-Levitt also wrote and directed the film, which Relativity Media acquired for $4 million.

source: interaksyon.com

World's longest-running cartoon to go digital in Japan

TOKYO—The world's longest-running cartoon is to go fully digital, its Japanese broadcaster said Friday, abandoning hand-drawn celluloid-based animation after a run of 44 years.

Fuji Television Network said episodes of "Sazae-san" aired from October would be produced entirely digitally. The move will mean there are no hand-drawn cartoons left on Japanese television, according to the Association of Japanese Animations.

Until the 1990s many cartoons were created by artists working directly on celluloid, a painstaking process that meant characters had to be drawn in many different postures to give them impression of movement as the camera was repeatedly started and stopped.

Two decades ago, computer animations began to become widespread, slowly squeezing out the traditional method.

"Sazae-san", which first aired in 1969, revolves around the life of the Mrs Sazae of the title, a cheerful but klutzy full-time housewife who lives with her parents, husband, son, brother and sister.

The 30-minute episodes, which can readily garner more than one-in-seven Sunday evening viewers, tend to focus on tiny incidents in the family's everyday life and are dotted with seasonal festivals.

"Doraemon", a Japanese cartoon about a robot cat from the future that has a following across Asia went entirely digital in 2002.

"Sazae-san", whose broadcast denotes the end of the weekend for many Japanese, began the switch in 2005.

source: interaksyon.com

‘Finding Nemo’ sequel ‘Finding Dory’ set for November 2015 release

LOS ANGELES – A sequel to animated fish saga “Finding Nemo” is set to splash onto the big screen in North America in November 2015, Disney Pixar announced Tuesday.

“Finding Dory” will focus on the character brought to life by the voice of comedian and TV host Ellen DeGeneres, which swam its way into the hearts of young and old in the 2003 original animated hit.

“I have waited for this day for a long, long, long, long, long, long time,” DeGeneres said in a statement.

“But the time they took was worth it. The script is fantastic. And it has everything I loved about the first one: It’s got a lot of heart, it’s really funny, and the best part is — it’s got a lot more Dory.”

The film will be directed by Andrew Stanton, a Pixar veteran, who also wrote and directed “Finding Nemo” and “Wall-E.” The announcement suggests Disney has forgiven Stanton for directing the mammoth 2012 flop “John Carter,” which led to some $200 million in losses.

“Finding Nemo” won an Academy Award for best animated feature in 2004 and is the second most lucrative film in Pixar’s history after “Toy Story 3,” garnering some $865 million around the globe.

“Finding Dory” again stars Marlin, Nemo and the Tank Gang and is set about a year after the first rendition of the underwater adventure, according to the statement.

But there’s a teaser: “Set in part along the California coastline, the story also welcomes a host of new characters, including a few who will prove to be a very important part of Dory’s life.”

The next Pixar film, “Monsters University,” a prequel to “Monsters, Inc” (2001) is due out on June 21 in North America.

source: interaksyon.com

‘South Park’ takes aim at Lance Armstrong

LOS ANGELES – Animated TV comedy satire “South Park” is taking aim at a disgraced icon who seems a lot like seven-time Tour de France winning cyclist Lance Armstrong.

In a teaser clip released on Monday by Comedy Central, an episode titled “A Scause for Applause” shows residents of the fictional American town standing in line to get their yellow wristbands removed.

While the teaser for the October 31 episode does not refer to Armstrong by name, Comedy Central said in a statement that it deals with “the recent news of drug use by a beloved icon” and “the world is left feeling lost and betrayed”.

Armstrong, who was stripped of his cycling titles and banned for life earlier this month for doping, used yellow wristbands to promote his charity Livestrong.

In the “South Park” episode, the news has left the town enraged and upset as chubby foul-mouthed Eric Cartman, one of the show’s four lead children, declares “I can’t believe we all got duped”. Hapless schoolboy Clyde Donovan yells “lying jerk” and school counselor Mr Mackey sobs as his bracelet is removed, saying, “I don’t know what to believe in anymore”.

Armstrong, 41, who became a hero after battling cancer to dominate the world of professional cycling, has always denied allegations of taking performance enhancing drugs.

He was banned from the sport for life after 11 of his former team mates testified against him and the United States Anti-Doping Agency published a report which alleged he had been involved in the “most sophisticated, professionalized and successful doping program that sport has ever seen”.

“South Park” creators Trey Parker and Matt Stone are known for responding quickly to current affairs and taboo subjects for their raunchy comedy show, which has become a cult hit.

They previously landed in hot water after showing late Australian wildlife expert Steve Irwin with a stingray barb in his chest less than two months after his sudden death from a stingray attack, and drawing the Muslim prophet Mohammed dressed in a bear costume in a 2006 episode.

source: interaksyon.com

Dreamworks breathes fire into arena shows with ‘How To Train Your Dragon’

NEW YORK – To Ray Marino, $374 seemed a small price to pay to see flying dragons, a cast of wisecracking, back-flipping Vikings and the looks of wonder from his children as they watched a live stage show — not just a movie.

“You get to kind of feel it, rather than just watch it on screen,” Marino said at the intermission of “How to Train Your Dragon Live Spectacular,” a massive arena show that played recently in New York and is based on the 2010 film from DreamWorks Animation SKG Inc.

DreamWorks, the studio behind the “Shrek” and “Madagascar” film franchises, is transforming its popular family movies into stage productions, extending their product lives in a strategy used successfully by The Walt Disney Co with its “Disney on Ice” arena show and Broadway shows.

Dreamworks teamed up with theater production group Global Creatures — whose animatronics arm had already made another arena show based on dinosaurs — and promoter S2BN Entertainment to create the live show.

The response from Marino — who with his wife surprised their children, ages 7 and 10, with the front-section seats — is exactly what DreamWorks hopes to get in cities across North America. The show, which recently played at New York’s Nassau Coliseum, is now in Montreal. There are plans to continue to other U.S. cities through 2013, and makers of the show hope to tour next in Europe and Asia.

The show, which made its U.S. debut in June, tells of a Viking teenager named Hiccup and his tribe of dragon slayers. It uses 23 animatronically engineered dragon puppets, some with wingspans of up to 46 feet and weighing over 1.6 tons.

The story, in which Hiccup befriends a dragon and ends generations of war between man and fire-breathing beast, is loosely based on a popular children’s book by Cressida Cowell and follows the 2010 DreamWorks movie that made nearly $500 million at worldwide box offices.

Action scenes are created through projected animation surrounded by real smoke and columns of fire. Cable-suspended beasts lift off the stage to achieve what the show’s makers say may be its best feature, flying dragons.

“It’s almost bigger than Broadway because you can’t achieve what we do in … theater,” said Gavin Sainsbury, head of puppetry. “It’s the DreamWorks version of turning their amazing film into a live theatrical extravaganza.”

Makers of the production would not comment on ticket sales but pointed to full arenas, positive blog posts, and solid reviews as evidence of a good reception.

“We’re excited by the momentum the show has right now,” said Bill Damaschke, DreamWorks’ chief creative officer, noting the show was the company’s largest stage production yet and was still in the early stages.

In 2011, a live U.S. touring show based on the DreamWorks film “Madagascar” was cut short without a reason given by the company. And past DreamWorks stage productions have not been hits like Disney on Ice, which has played for decades, or Broadway stage musicals like “The Lion King” and “Beauty and the Beast,” both based on popular Disney films.

“The Lion King,” for instance, ousted “The Phantom of the Opera” this past April from its long reign atop of the list of all-time Broadway box office hits after generating gross ticket sales of just over $853.8 million, Disney said.

DreamWorks’ “Shrek, the Musical,” which has been playing in London’s West End for over a year, posted a second-quarter operating loss of approximately $5 million, according to the company’s last earnings call on July 31. That show cost $25 million to create, according to a person near the production.

The live “How to Train Your Dragon Spectacular” cost about $20 million, according to Damaschke.

The show’s ultimate success could be helped by a new television series, based on the books and movie, set for this fall on Cartoon Network. A film sequel is planned for 2014.

The challenge in getting people to come to the live shows, said show director Nigel Jamieson, is to get the word out that it isn’t just “people running around in foam suits with a few kites pretending to be dragons.”

The recent performance in the Nassau Coliseum was nearly full. Glowing Viking horns and sparklers punctuated the darkness as families waited after intermission. Children waved replicas of the dragons.

“It’s pretty awesome,” said Abby Marino, 7.

source: interaksyon.com