TOY STORY Trilogy Goes 3-D

By: Jarrod Sarafin, News Editor
Date: Thursday, January 24, 2008
Source: Disney Press Release

Well, it will soon be a trilogy in any case. Disney has published a press release in regards to the first two installments and the upcoming Toy Story 3, which hits theaters June 18, 2010. Here's the announcement...

The Walt Disney Studios is taking the latest advances in digital 3-D technology "to infinity and beyond" with ambitious plans to debut new Disney Digital 3-D(TM) versions of Disney-Pixar's Toy Story on October 2nd, 2009, and Toy Story 2 on February 12th, 2010, it was announced by Dick Cook, chairman of The Walt Disney Studios. Both of these beloved animated features are being newly converted to 3-D in advance of the June 18th, 2010 release of Disney-Pixar's Toy Story 3, which is being produced as a 3-D motion picture and will represent the state-of-the-art for the genre. Veteran Pixar filmmaker Lee Unkrich (co-director Toy Story 2) is directing.

Academy Award®-winning filmmaker John Lasseter (director of the first two "Toy Story" films and chief creative officer for Disney and Pixar Animation Studios) will personally oversee the creative side of the 3-D conversions for Toy Story and Toy Story 2 with his acclaimed team of technical wizards handling all the necessary steps in the conversion process.

Commenting on the announcement, Cook said, "We are committed to bringing moviegoers the best and most exciting 3-D movie experience, and we think they're going to love seeing Buzz Lightyear, Woody, and all the wonderful 'Toy Story' cast of characters in an eye popping and dazzling way. John Lasseter and the animation team are putting all their passion and hard work into making this the greatest 3-D experience yet, and we're excited to share their efforts with audiences everywhere."

Lasseter added, "The 'Toy Story' films and characters will always hold a very special place in our hearts and we're so excited to be bringing this landmark film back for audiences to enjoy in a whole new way thanks to the latest in 3-D technology. I am sure that this is going to be nothing short of fantastic and people are going to be blown away by the experience. With 'Toy Story 3' shaping up to be another great adventure for Buzz, Woody and the gang from Andy's room, we thought it would be great to let audiences experience the first two films all over again and in a brand new way. 3-D offers lots of great new possibilities for the art of animation and we will continue to use this new technology to tell our stories in the best possible way."

In converting Toy Story and Toy Story 2 to state-of-the-art 3-D films, the technical team is retrieving all of the original digital elements and rebuilding them in 3-D.

Originally released by Walt Disney Pictures in 1995, Toy Story was the first feature film from Pixar Animation Studios and director John Lasseter. The film went on to receive Oscar® nominations for Original Score, Original Song, and Screenplay, and earned Lasseter a Special Achievement Award "for the development and inspired application of techniques that have made possible the first feature-length computer-animated film." Toy Story 2 was released in 1999, and reunited voice talents Tom Hanks and Tim Allen, in their roles as Woody and Buzz. The film became one of the most popular animated features of all time, and received an Academy Award® nomination for Original Song.

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Comments/Responses

jlfreund • Jan 24, 2008, 05:26pm •

"In converting Toy Story and Toy Story 2 to state-of-the-art 3-D films, the technical team is retrieving all of the original digital elements and rebuilding them in 3-D. "

Weren't all the original digital elements already conceived in 3-D? Hopefully this first retrieval step shouldn't take long.

mckracken • Jan 24, 2008, 07:40pm •

yeah... I Know, i know... it sounds stupid that a 3d CGI movie is being converted into a 3d spectacle but its just like Beowolf, 3d CGI in 3d ...with glasses.
the tech is here now folks... we no longer need glasses to enjoy 3d movies... Mitsubishi had one of their hologram TV's on display a few years back at the 3d show I attended.... it was pretty cool... less like traditional 3d and more like a hologram image that had depth.

MidNightFan • Jan 25, 2008, 12:31am •

they better have tom hanks and tim allen play woody and buzz. if they dont it will flop..

darkedge • Jan 25, 2008, 02:34am •

And the Disney raping of Pixars back catalogue to make more piles of cash starts.
Mind you considering Toy Story is their worst work, this does not interest me in the slightest.

mckracken • Jan 25, 2008, 11:33am •

darkedge that was under the Eisner empire... Michael Eisner was ousted and now Pixar and Disney have merged. With Eisner out of the way its actually a GOOD thing... I'm hoping.
Disney still distributes Pixar Movies while producing their own CGI flicks like Meet the Robinsons (I still havent rented that one) and Chickenlittle...Pixar is still in control over their characters thank god.
so as for "raping Pixars back catalog" starting any time soon... hardly. even if it was a cash grab, why would Pixar wait through 2010 to produce Toy Story III? it looks like they have sat and actually dreamed up a good script, which is all anyone can hope for from Pixar... they havent had a box office Flop yet so have some faith in Pixar... the merger was a good thing without Eisner.

mlaforcer • Jan 25, 2008, 12:35pm •

jlfreund...Everything about animation is all done in 3-d animation software, well almost everything. They use Maya,Lightwave,Poser,Daz and a handful of others, now depending on which software program they use, depends on the pipeline they put together and how well that pipeline flows from one group of animators to the other group of animators or whoever is adding there little bit of creativity to the process...Now they more than likely stored everything they have to AIT's, LTO's or DLT's so retrieval should not be all that difficult...
I guess to answer your question the process of making an animated movie is completely different than that of turning a movie into 3-D...If that is what you were asking?

chocobar • Jan 25, 2008, 02:11pm •

I think this is a smart move on their part. By re releasing the films in theaters, they can get the young kids who weren't around ten years ago when they first came out, excited about the films.

Now if I remember correctly, Disney was originally making their own sequel without Pixar (or Tom Hanks and Tim Allen) because Pixar had ended their partnership (or contract expired, can't remember the circumstances). Once Pixar and Disney became freinds again, the Disney sequel was scrapped and Pixar started from scratch on Toy Story III. With Hanks and Allen I think, but again, not 100% sure.
Does this sound right?

mckracken • Jan 25, 2008, 02:34pm •

chocobar that sounds spot on.

I would hope that Allen and Hanks will reprise their characters voices again with Pixar helming theres a stronger possibility than with Disney's Eisner Regime.
heres some wikipedia facts on Eisner:

The Save Disney War and Eisner's ouster
In 2003, Roy E. Disney, the son of Disney co-founder Roy O. Disney, resigned from his positions as Disney vice chairman and chairman of Walt Disney Feature Animation, accusing Eisner of micromanagement, failures with the ABC television network, timidity in the theme park business, turning the Walt Disney Company into a "rapacious, soul-less" company, and refusing to establish a clear succession plan, as well as a string of box-office movie failures starting in the year 2000.

On March 3, 2004, at Disney's annual shareholders' meeting, a surprising and unprecedented 43% of Disney's shareholders, predominantly rallied by former board members Roy Disney and Stanley Gold, withheld their proxies to re-elect Eisner to the board. This vigorous opposition, unusual in major public corporations, convinced Disney's board to strip him of his chairmanship and give that position to Mitchell. However, the board did not immediately remove Eisner as chief executive.

As criticism of Eisner intensified in the wake of the shareholder meeting, Eisner's position became more and more tenuous. On March 13, 2005, Eisner announced that he would step down as CEO one year before his contract expired. On September 30 Eisner resigned both as an executive and as a member of the board of directors, and, severing all formal ties with the company, he waived his contractual rights to perks such as the use of a corporate jet and an office at the company's Burbank headquarters. Eisner's replacement was his longtime lieutenant, Bob Iger.

Eisner's struggle to maintain control of the legendary entertainment company was the subject of journalist James B. Stewart's bestselling book DisneyWar.

Post-Disney
On October 7, 2005, Eisner hosted The Charlie Rose Show, filling in for Rose. His guests were John Travolta and his ex-boss, Barry Diller[2]. Impressed with Eisner's performance, CNBC President Mark Hoffman hired Eisner in early 2006 to host his own talk show, Conversations with Michael Eisner. The show mostly features CEOs, political leaders, artists and actors. Eisner is also an executive producer of the show.[3]

Eisner has recently invested in an Internet video distribution network named Veoh Networks.[4]

In March 2007, Eisner's investment firm, The Tornante Company, launched a studio, Vuguru, that will produce and distribute videos for the Internet, portable media devices and cell phones. "The entire concept here is content is king," Eisner said in an interview. "What will drive traffic is interest in the subject matter." [5] Through these companies Eisner has acquired the rights to the internet series SamHas7Friends. The first series produced by Vuguru is Prom Queen, created by Big Fantastic (the same team behind SamHas7Friends), which launched on April 1, 2007.

Eisner, through Tornante, took over Topps Co., the well-known bubble-gum and collectibles firm in October 2007.

The College of Education at California State University Northridge is named in his honor.

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TOY STORY Trilogy Goes 3-D

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