Hidden Joe

If you are not familiar with Joe Ranft you better read his wikipedia.  You could also read this book:

Then watch Waking Sleeping Beauty.

Anyway the guy is one of the best story men of all time.  He worked on every Pixar film from Toy Story to Cars.  Sadly he passed away in 2005, but obviously he has not been forgotten.

Cars and Tim Burton's Corpse Bride were both dedicated to him.  Henry Selick even gave him a cameo in Coraline.

Joe's cameo is in the opening scene, his brother plays the other mover.

Quick post today.  I'm going to New York tomorrow to see Pee Wee Herman! Expect to hear about that soon.

The Hundreds x Disney

In my last post I used some pictures from Bobby Hundreds Blog.  If you are not familiar with the Hundreds it is a street wear clothing company based out of California.  They just released an awesome collaboration they did with Jim Davis; the creator of Garfield.  You can check that out here.

Well a few years ago they did an even better collaboration with Disney.  Im actually surprised that Disney would work so closely with a street wear brand, it seems like a lot of corporate red tape would get in the way.  Anyway, The Hundreds compare themselves to the Lost Boys so what better characters so use than them:

They even used Skull Rock as the inspiration for their San Francisco shop.

 

I love how they modernized (street weared?) these characters that have just been collecting dust in the Disney vault since the 50's.  If you want to purchase any The Hundreds x Disney stuff...sorry it sold out right after they released it.  So if you like The Garfield stuff jump on it now!

Will Tron be the hit Disney is expecting?

So yesterday I was listening to the radio (which I usually never do but I had borrowed my Grandma's truck to pick up a Christmas tree).  The DJ says "If you're the 9th caller we will give you two free tickets to see a preview screening of Tron."   I decided to give it a whirl and wouldn't you know it the phone started ringing.  My first thought was that I had misdialed and was about to ask a random stranger if I had won Tron tickets.  Then someone picked up "Hello, Mix 96.5 you're caller 8." So close....

Disney's marketing campaign for Tron is one of the biggest I have ever seen them do.  When Wall-e came out I couldn't find a Wall-e toy until months after the film opened, and that's including the Disney Store.  There has been a Tron section at the Disney Store close to my house for over a month.  They have every Tron toy or shirt you could want.

It has me thinking, is Tron really going to be that big of a hit?  The first movie was a box office flop that eventually built up a cult following.  I doubt the same advertising money would be spent on a Howard the Duck sequel.  Walt Disney World has Tron monorails and Disney's California Adventure has the ElecTronica show. Rumor has it there is also a third movie planned.

Bobby Hunderds even went to a Tron pop up shop where they had Tron/Hurley apparel on display:

This brings me to my second question.  Why did the original Tron not get a special DVD release before the sequel opened?  Tron has not been released on DVD since 2002, you'd think they would re-release the original version so people new to the films would understand the concept. The trailer basically explains it all to you but still why not a new DVD or Blu Ray release?  It's not like Disney did not have time to get it together.  

My opinion is they do not want people seeing the old Tron.  Who is the target audience for this film?  I'd say teens and nerds.  You already have the nerds excited for it because they all love the original Tron.  If you show a 16 year old kid the original Tron he's going to laugh at the computer graphics and not want to see Tron Legacy (remember the original was a box office flop)  I think Disney is taking their chances with showing this awesome new Tron trailer and keeping the original tucked away in the vault until they see how the Tron Legacy does at the box office.  That way if the sequel is a success "If you loved Tron Legacy you'll love the original!" "See how it all started" "Relive the magic"......

What do you think? (For the record I'll be there opening day to see it)

The Archive Series: Design

It's just a review kind of week.

How can you not love John Lasseter?  Yeah, he's the only Pixarian who has not responded to one of my letters, but he was probably busy making wine or buying hawaiian shirts so I can't really blame him.

Walt Disney Animation Studios Archive Series Books are his brain child.  Design is the third in the series.  The first two are Animation and Story.  Design is full of concept art and back ground paintings from artists like everyones favorite Mary Blair and my boy Tyrus Wong.

What's great is that these books go in chronological order, Design even has art from Tangled in it (if you're into that sort of thing).  Don't worry though because The Archive Series mainly focuses on the old Walt classics.  You will not find any Chicken Little here!  Sadly you won't find The Wind in the Willows either......

The Archive Series books DO NOT have any words in them, so if you are looking for Disney history you will not really find it.  They do tell you who drew each piece and there is always a forward from John Lasseter.

If you have not picked these up I really suggest you do!