UP! box-office is flying hiiiiigh !

Believe it or not, but UP! is on its way to become not only one of the highest grossing Pixar movie but ALSO one of the highest grossing Disney movie of all time!!!

With $264 Millions UP! box-office rise above the B.O of: A Bug's life ($162 M), Toy Story ($191 M), Ratatouille ($206 M), Wall-E ($223 M), Cars ($244 M), Toy Story 2 ($245 M), Monsters Inc ($255 M) and The Incredibles ($261 M)! The only Pixar movie with a bigger box-office is Finding Nemo with $339 millions.

Also, UP! already did better than ANY Disney movie of the "new animation era", i.e since The Little Mermaid. Yep, better than Aladdin, Tarzan, Beauty and the Beast, and all the others except the Lion King who did $312 M.

Incredible, isn't it! And, considering that UP! was released only five weeks ago, we can reasonably think that UP! may do better than Nemo or The Lion King. With $339 M and all the upcoming summer blockbusters (Harry Potter, etc...) Nemo record may be hard to beat, but i wouldn't be surprised if UP! finally beat the $312 M of The Lion King.

Now, remember all these "prophets" who keep saying some weeks ago that with such a story (old man, etc...) UP! could be Pixar first failure? And not to mention toy manufacturer Thinkway who decided to don't produce ANY toy inspired by UP!
What a clear vision these guys have! Congratulations, folks! Next year, please keep for you any prophecy to avoid being ridiculous!

Anyway, i'm curious to see how long UP! will keep flying high, and of course i send my best congratulations (and without irony, this time) to Pete Docter, Bob Peterson, John Lasseter, and everybody at Pixar who worked on this wonderful movie!

Picture: copyright Disney Pixar

UP! Review !

I know you've all read UP! reviews on any Disney fan web site, but in France the movie won't be released before July 29. I had the opportunity to see it two days ago, and so here is my review. And also a rare picture above, not from the movie.



Almost all the reviews of the movie are good, and there is a good reason for that: UP! is a new Pixar wonder! It's a wonderful movie, really. Pete Docter said recently that he was proud of the editing at the beginning of the movie of the scenes showing the meeting and the life of Carl and Ellie, and he can indeed be proud as it is simply perfect...



All the movie is perfect, in fact. Great characters and story telling, and the movie goes from one kind of emotion to another. The animals characters whether it's Kevin the female bird or the talking dogs are simply hilarious. And the action scenes are brilliantly edited. I don't want to tell too much about the story itself to my Europeans readers as the movie is not released yet in most European countries, but all i can say is this: expect something different than the others Pixar animated movies and you won't be disappointed.



You know that Pixar animators are huge fans of the work of Hayao Miyazaki, and after i saw UP! i thought that, of all the Pixar movies, UP! was the closer of Miyazaki's world. I won't be surprised if it was an unofficial tribute to him. By the way, John Lasseter himself was in Japan last week, for a visit at Miyazaki's Studio Ghibli...



Just before UP!, i saw "Partly Cloudy" the short animated movie, and it's also wonderful. There, too, it's totally different from the previous one, "Presto", but it's a delightful little short, now available in HD on the U.S ITunes Store...or see it eventually on Youtube.



Finally, i want to add that i saw UP! in 2D, not in 3D so i can't make any comments on the 3D effects, but, from what i've heard the 3D effects are subtle. Anyway, whether you can see it in 2D or 3D , don't miss it as, really, frankly, UP! is a wonderful movie and i won't be surprised if UP! receives next year the Best Animated Picture Academy Award, as it fully deserves it!

All pictures: copyright Disney-Pixar

UP! Production Featurette !

A very interesting "behind the scenes" UP! Production featurette has been released. From concept-art to storyboards to animation, voice acting and music, the featurette show different stages of UP! production.

The 15 minutes long video is here in three parts, and please beware of possible spoilers!
















Hat Tip to IESB.

Video: copyright Disney-Pixar

New UP! clip " Pursuit " !

And one more clip from UP!, one! As you will see the UP! scene of this one is not as contemplative as yesterday's clip... Okay, action!



Picture and video: copyright Pixar

UP! Characters now at Disney's Hollywood Studios !

At WDW, UP!Characters made a surprise visit to Disney's Hollywood Studios yesterday. The three characters Russell, Carl Fredricksen, and Dug the dog pose in front of the park's Sorcerer Hat icon but beginning May 15, they will will make regular meet-and-greet appearances for guests inside DHS "Magic of Disney Animation" attraction!



Pictures: copyright Disney

UP! After Party at Cannes Film Festival !

I've promised you yesterday evening that if i had pictures of the UP! "After party" at Cannes Film Festival i will post them immediately, and here they are! You will see everything, just like if you were there!

There we go! Let's have a look at the decor before the guests arrived - great decor, as you will see and the food looks excellent, too!












Here comes the guests! You will recognize on the pictures below: Executive Producer John Lasseter and his wife, Director Pete Docter and his wife, director Bob Peterson, producer Jonas Rivera, singer and actor Charles Aznavour, actor Tom Trouffier, Edwin Catmull, president of Walt Disney Animation Studios and Pixar and Chairman of the Walt Disney Studios Dick Cook









Special guests were invited. Below, India Bollywood super-star (and gorgeous) Aishwarya Rai and Abhishek Bachchan




Actress Elizabeth Banks was there too....charming John Lasseter?




Oooops...Mrs Lasseter, come back quiiiiick!! (just kidding, John!)

Other guests arriving at the party...




John Lasseter, Pete Docter, Bob Peterson and producer Jonas Rivera, all on the same picture!



John Lasseter and his wife with Dick Cook, Chairman of the Walt Disney Studios



Everything was going fine, until...






Oh, okay, this psycho-drama was only for the photographer!

And the UP! After Party Award goes to......John Lasseter!



All pictures: copyright Getty Images 2009

UP! Grand Premiere at Cannes Film Festival ! 14/5 : Updated with Videos!

It is the big evening for UP! at Cannes Film Festival. As you know UP! is the opening film of the 62nd Annual Cannes Film Festival and it's also the official premiere of the movie!

What you will see below happened only three hours ago, but Disney and more already have the pictures for you! Let's begin by the afternoon photo call. On the picture below: Director Pete Docter, director Bob Peterson, producer Jonas Rivera, singer and actor Charles Aznavour, actor Tom Trouffier, Executive Producer John Lasseter, Edwin Catmull, president of Walt Disney Animation Studios and Pixar and Chairman of the Walt Disney Studios Dick Cook attend the "Up" Photo call at the Carlton Pier.

Charles Aznavour, famous french singer/actor (big friend of Frank Sinatra, Sammy Davis Jr, Liza Minelli and many more) is here as he is the one doing the voice of Carl Fredricksen in the french version.



More pictures of this photo call on the Carlton Pier.



On this last one, Pete Docter and John Lasseter stands with Charles Aznavour.



And here is a video of this photo call !



Some hours later, at 8 pm exactly, it was time for the famous Cannes Red Carpet!






Lot of balloons were given to the people in the crowd looking at the arrival of the stars.




More pîctures of all the crew on the famous "red" steps.




Top of the world! And certainly lot of fantastic and memorable emotions for all of them!






Here is avideo of this memorable moment. You can also see another video HERE.



The big press conference happened this afternoon and you can see it! It's in english, of course, the crew is answering questions from journalists coming from all over the world, and it is a fantastic document, don't miss it! You can watch it HERE.

But there is more for Disneyland Paris fans as John Lasseter during this press conference announced officially that Toy Story Playland will open summer 2010 at DLP. We all knew about it, but it hadn't been officially announced. Now it IS official and if it's John Lasseter himself who announce it, i think we can take it for sure!

Let's end with a video with the - excellent - reactions of journalists as they exit the afternoon press screening. In the first one you can see the specially designed 3D glasses!





Meanwhile at Cannes legendary Carlton Hotel they were preparing the "after" party. If i find any pictures or videos of the party, count on me to post them on D&M!



All Pictures: copyright 2009 Getty Images