Retro video game fever: A still from "Wreck-It-Ralph"
It’s the 25th anniversary of Pixar Animation Studios, the obscenely-successful cartoon company that has pretty much revolutionized the animation business. The company began in 1979 as the humble Graphics Group, once part of Lucasfilm; then it was snagged by Steve Jobs over at Apple in 1986, before finally being bought by The Walt Disney Company in 2006. Value at time of sale? $7.4 billion. According to Business Week, the transaction made Jobs the largest shareholder in the Disney empire.
Anywho, Pixar has continued its forward march into blockbuster heaven with this summer’s Cars 2, which despite mixed reviews has already reached the $500,000 worldwide gross mark. Yee haw.
At D23 expo, Disney’s own Comic-Con-like, fanboy/girl event that wrapped up Sunday in Anaheim, California, production company big-wigs announced the line-up of animated Disney films for the next two years, 2012-2014.
As reported on BuzzSugar, Pixar projects in the pipeline include:
The Untitled Pixar Movie About Dinosaurs: “What the world might have been like if dinosaurs were never wiped out by a giant asteroid, but continued to exist on Earth.” Holiday 2013 release.
The Untitled Pixar Movie That Takes You Inside the Human Mind: “explor[ing] the reasons why we get songs stuck in our head, why we dream, and even why we remember.” Spring 2014 release.
Scottish heroes: A still from the Pixar movie "Brave"
Brave: “Pixar’s first female-driven film stars Boardwalk Empire’s Kelly MacDonald as Merida, a princess set on escaping her fate of an arranged marriage to one of three idiot clan leaders.” With Billy Connolly and Craig Ferguson. June 22, 2012 release.
Monsters University: A prequel to Monsters Incorporated “that will take us back in time to show how Mike and Sully became buddies.” Billy Crystal and John Goodman return. 2013 release.
And here are two releases not technically from Pixar, but from DisneyToon Studios and Walt Disney Animation Studios, which like Pixar are overseen by cartoon god John Lasseter, but are separate and independent studios within the Disney animation empire:
Wreck-It Ralph: “Inside the world of retro, 8-bit video games” with a look that apparently “stay[s] true to the look of classic video games.” With the voice talents of John C. Reilly and Sarah Silverman. 2012 release, from Walt Disney Animation Studios.
Planes: Cars but with airplanes. “The only non-Pixar animated project debuted at D23, Planes stars John Cryer as Dusty, a cropduster who decides to take off an adventure around the globe.” Spring 2013 release, from DisneyToon Studios.
Clearly, even at the ripe old age of 25, Pixar shows no signs of stopping.
