Emeryville’s most famous tenant (besides Draymond Green?) will release its fifteenth movie overall and its first since 2013’s Monsters University. ‘Inside Out’ tells the tale of Riley, a hockey-loving, 11-year-old Midwestern girl whose family moves to San Francisco. Riley’s five emotions of Joy, Sadness, Anger, Fear and Disgust are acted out in her mind through animated characters and try to guide her through this difficult, life-changing event.
Inside Out is directed by Pixar vet and ‘Up’ Director Pete Docter. Inside Out has drawn critical acclaim (in fact a 99% critic score on Rotten Tomatoes), yet it is projected by The Wrap Hollywood news source to be the first Pixar movie to not debut No. 1 at the box office because of the competition with Jurassic World. Inside Out is still projected to gross around $60 million in first-weekend sales.
Watch the trailer:
[youtube id=”u6p0RXyNO9E” width=”620″ height=”360″]
Their upcoming ‘Good Dinosaur’ feature film was delayed amidst the layoff of 80 employees and removal of director Bob Peterson. Peterson was replaced by Korean-American animator Pete Sohn who’s only director credit is the 2009 “Partly Cloudy” short. Good Dinosaur is slated to premier on Thanksgiving this year.
Pixar once held screenings for their films through the EmeryEd Fund for residents through a charitable donation. This tapered off when they were acquired by Disney in 2006. Pixar’s relationship with the city has been strained as of late, something we detailed in this 2013 Op-Ed, Post Disney Era, Is Pixar still a Good Corporate Citizen?“. Pixar were once huge contributors to the EmeryEd Fund, making contributions of $80,000-$100,000 annually. In the 2006-07 fiscal year, it was revealed they did not in fact make a contribution opting to fundraise for sources outside of Emeryville. The status of the EmeryEd Fund appears to be in limbo as their website has been taken down and recorded phone message stating the closure of their office “through January 2015”. Executive Director C. Phillip Powell resigned from the position at the end of 2014. [Update] After conferring with EUSD Superintendent John Rubio, he confirmed that the EmeryEd fund was still active but “transitioning to a volunteer based board member organization”.
Pixar excited for debut of ‘Inside Out’
By Claudine Wong
It has taken five years, but Pixar’s latest animation creation “Inside Out” hits the big screen on Friday at theaters across the country.
The Bay Area-based computer animation studio’s latest film takes audiences into the mind of an 11-year-old girl.
“The main characters are the emotions inside her head,” explained production manager Dana Murray.
In the movie, 11-year-old Riley moves from the Midwest to San Francisco with her family and isn’t sure how she feels about the major life change. Thus begins the journey into her brain where we meet emotions joy, fear, anger, disgust and sadness.
“It’s very heartfelt. It’s extremely funny and it’s very different from any story premise,” said Effects Supervisor Gary Bruins. “We have a town that’s made from clouds. We have a floating island that is born from light emitting energy. We have a train and track system where the tracks are generating themselves magically in front of the train.”
Read More on KTVU.com →
‘Inside Out’ Will Be First Pixar Movie Not to Debut at No. 1
The animated film drew rave reviews in Cannes and scores 100 percent on Rotten Tomatoes, but “Jurassic World” looks too tough to beat on its opening weekend
Despite unanimous critical acclaim and a Cannes Film Festival premiere that drew raves, “Inside Out” will be the first of 15 Pixar Animation features not to open No. 1 at the box office.
Blame that on the big lizards of “Jurassic World,” the Universal sci-fi sequel that is expected to pull in around $100 million in its second weekend, a little less than half of its record-breaking three-day $208 million debut. The PG-rated family film “Inside Out” will come in with a very solid $60 million, analysts say. The Sundance hit “Dope” also opens Friday, and distributor Open Road Films would be happy to see it hit $10 million.
Read more on The Wrap →
Annecy: Pixar Reveals Evolution of Troubled Toon ‘The Good Dinosaur’
“At Pixar, we ask a lot of ‘what ifs,’” the studio’s Pete Sohn told a crowd of cartoon devotees (a mix of animation students, professionals and fans) at France’s Annecy Intl. Animated Film Festival: “What if the toys come to life when we leave the room? What if the monsters really were real inside the closet? What if a rat became a world-famous French chef?”
So far, those hypotheticals have yielded “Toy Story,” “Monsters Inc.” and “Ratatouille,” respectively, but according to Sohn, “With (‘The Good Dinosaur’), we would ask the biggest ‘what if’ of all.” With that, he cued a clip in which a gigantic asteroid misses the Earth, narrowly averting a mass extinction event: What if instead of being wiped off the Earth, dinosaurs had continued to evolve?
That’s the hypothetical that audiences will see answered when the film opens later this year, just in time for Thanksgiving, on Nov. 25. But internally, Pixar was asking another question: What if you scrap the original director of your upcoming dino movie and plug someone new in his place? In this case, Peter Sohn replaced “Up’s” Bob Peterson — the similarity between their names providing an added irony to the swap.
Read more on Variety →
Saw it tonight. Mediocre at best. Maybe better if you have young teen kids.
Best part of the movie for a local: the repeated bashing of a pizza place which bears an unmistakable resemblance to (and can be none other than) Arizmendi.
[…] streak of debuting #1 at the box office may have come to an end with its recent release of Inside Out (thanks to stiff competition by the Hollywood blockbuster “Jurassic World” which more […]
[…] perfect streak of debuting #1 at the box office may have come to an end with its recent release of Inside Out (thanks to stiff competition by the Hollywood blockbuster “Jurassic World” which more […]