Animation | featured news

The animators at Walt Disney Co's Pixar unit will explore dinosaurs and the inner workings of the human mind in two upcoming movies, studio executives told a gathering of fans on Saturday.

Viacom's movie studio, Paramount Pictures, is launching its own animated division to make films with large budgets of up to $100 million each.

Pixar’s “Cars 2” overcame surprisingly negative critical reviews to overperform at the weekend box office, selling an estimated $68 million at North American theaters. That No. 1 finish extends Pixar’s perfect box-office track record — all 12 of its feature films have opened in first place. How sales hold up, however, will be watched carefully. “Cars 2,” directed by John Lasseter, chief creative officer at Pixar, represents an end to the studio’s perfect critical track record; only about 34 percent of reviews were positive, according to RottenTomatoes.com, by far the worst for any Pixar title.

On Friday, Pixar demonstrated its reliability again with the roll-out of Cars 2. The manufacturer's latest model posted an estimated $25.7 million out of the gate, but many moviegoers were hot for Bad Teacher as well. Riding on approximately 7,700 screens at 4,115 locations, Cars 2 delivered the second highest-grossing opening day yet for a Pixar movie, behind Toy Story 3's $41.1 million, and the talking car sequel is poised for a weekend gross in the Pixar-typical $70 million range.
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The Wall Street Journal's headline says it all: " 'Cars 2' Is a Dollar-Driven Edsel." OMG! Pixar's amazing critical winning streak is over. And in a big way. Until now, Pixar had released 11 movies, none of which had ever dipped below 70 on the Rotten Tomatoes fresh rating scale, which aggregates reviews from around the country. In fact, except for the original "Cars," none of Pixar's 11 films had ever ended up with less than a 90 score at Rotten Tomatoes, with the "Toy Story" threesome all earning either a 99 or a 100.

Sony Pictures Animation and Aardman Animations announced they've set Hugh Grant, Martin Freeman, David Tennant, Imelda Staunton, Jeremy Piven, Salma Hayek, Brian Blessed, Brendan Gleeson, Russell Tovey and Ashley Jenson to provide the voices in The Pirates! Band of Misfits, a stop-motion 3D animated pic that will be released March 30, 2012.

The 3-D cartoon about tropical bird was the top pick again with $26.8 million in ticket sales.The 3-D cartoon about tropical bird was the top pick again with $26.8 million in ticket sales.

Pamela McClintock Johnny Depp movie is the top non-holiday weekend. "Adjustment Bureau" No. 2 with a solid $20.9; "Take Me Home" disappoints.read more

Paramount and Nickelodeon Movies' quirky toon Rango -- voiced by Johnny Depp -- topped the Friday box office with an estimated $9.8 million from 3,917 theaters, a somewhat softer-than-expected start for the critically acclaimed film.

Tangled rid itself of any knots as it climbed to the top of the box office on Friday, grossing $5.1 million, according to early estimates. That’s a 74 percent drop from last Friday, which, mind you, was an enormous day for moviegoing. The PG animated musical should receive a decent bump on Saturday, as most family films do, and finish the weekend with about $21 million.