Tag: LucasFilm

  • D23 Expo 2013: Live Action (Part I, LucasFilm & Marvel)

    The second day of the D23 Expo was again led off by a presentation of upcoming studio releases.   While Friday’s day one presentation was focused on animation, the Saturday presentation was about live action films.   Again, the presentation was segmented by the studio: LucasFilm, Marvel, Disney Nature, and Disney features.   Part I of this post covers Marvel (and the tiny bit that was shared about LucasFilm).

    Bob Iger again kicked things off, but then quickly handed off to Alan Horn, Chairman of Walt Disney Studios, to talk about the upcoming films.

    Alan shared that Disney has grown its portfolio of studios quite a bit over the past years; with the acquisitions of Pixar in 2006, Marvel in 2009, and LucasFilm in 2011.

    LucasFilm

    Alan welcomed LucasFilm to the Disney family but disappointed the audience by saying there would be nothing new to share regarding LucasFilm projects.    He repeated some of what we already know — Episode VII will be released in Summer 2015; JJ Abrams will direct and is currently working on the screenplay with Michael Arndt; and John Williams will once again score.

    Marvel

    Marvel has been a very successful acquisition for Disney; they have two of the top 5 grossing films of all time with The Avengers and Iron Man 3.    Alan introduced Marvel Studios President Kevin Feige to cover the upcoming Marvel films.

    The Avengers was the culmination of Phase I of the Marvel cinematic universe.   We are now seeing Phase II  (which will conclude with Avengers 2).   Iron Man 3 was the first of the Phase 2 films.    There are 3 more Phase 2 films before we cap it off with Avengers 2.

    Thor: The Dark World will be the next release.    Director Alan Taylor took the stage and we got an extended first look at the feature.   (I believe this same footage was shown at Comic Con).   Cast members then came out on stage … Tom Hiddleston (Loki), Natalie Portman (Jane), and Anthony Hopkins (Odin).    Hopkins received a standing ovation; I think most of the audience was surprised he was in attendance.    Hiddleston did not sing for us this time.    We saw a new clip, of Jane’s first day on Asgard where she is suffering some sort of infection.   Odin insists that she be sent back to Midgard (Earth) where doctors there can take care of her.    She is fascinated by the technology being used (and appears to understand it far better than the Asgardians expect of someone from such a primitive place).   There is a good bit of humor in the scene while at the same time setting up a conflict between Thor and Odin regarding Jane that might be a significant plot point.

    Captain American: The Winter Soldier was up next.  We were shown two clips, both action-oriented fight scenes.  The first, taking place in an elevator, was shown previously at Comic-Con.    I believe the second scene, taking place (mostly) on a boat, was being shown for the first time; much of it was in pre-viz stage with very rough blocked-in CGI.   Cast members Chris Evans (Captain America), Anthony Mackie (The Falcon) and Sebastian Stan (Bucky / The Winter Soldier) were on hand to talk about the film.    Filming has been completed and the film is now being edited for an April 2014 release.

    And now for something completely different.   Guardians of the Galaxy is just underway (4 weeks into shooting).   We were shown some footage assembled from the first few weeks of shooting, but surprisingly some of the CGI characters looked very good for such early footage — so clearly they wanted to have something flashy to show for Comic Con and D23,  and it worked.   The characters of Groot (an Ent-like character) and Rocket Racoon (I think that one is self explanatory :-) ) look amazing.    This looks like it will be very humorous.   Release scheduled for August 2014.

    We were then shown a brief teaser trailer of Avengers 2: Age of Ultron.   There was nothing shown other than the face plate of the Ultron robot character.   The feature is scheduled for 2015.

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  • D23 Expo Preview: Panels and Performances

    Really tough choices in picking what to see and do at the D23 Expo.

    To some degree, I’m being guided this year by what things blew me away in 2011.   So the Legends ceremony in 2011 was incredible, and as a result I’m planning to do Legends this year even though it’s got some tough competition in the timeslot.

    This might change between now and show time, but as it stands now here are the things I plan to attend.

    Saturday:

    • Art and Imagination:  A preview of upcoming Disney and Pixar animated features.
    • Undiscovered Disneyland:  stories, film, and photos from the construction and early years in the park.
    • Marty Sklar:  Dream It, Do It.    Walt’s right-hand man for theme parks, one of several presentations Marty will be involved in this week
    • The Art and Artistry of Aulani – Disney Vacation Club’s Hawaiian resort
    • Broadway and Beyond – live performances from cast members of Disney’s various Broadway productions

    Saturday

    • Let the Adventures Begin:  A preview of upcoming Disney, Marvel, and LucasFilm live action features.
    • Once Upon a Time panel – a look at the ABC TV series
    • Disney Legends Ceremony – inducting this year’s newly named Legends
    • Crash Course in the Force:  Star Wars 101.   Curious to see if we’ll learn anything new about the upcoming features.
    • Richard Sherman and Alan Menken in concert — the Disney Songbook.

    Sunday

    • Working With Walt — an incredible panel of Disney Legends featuring Marty Sklar, X Atencio, Alice Davis, and Bob Gurr
    • To Infinity and Beyond:  Disney Interactive.   Need to finally figure out what this Disney Infinity thing really is.
    • Leading a Legacy –  Disney Imagineering panel
    • Leave ’em Laughing – Disney Imagineering panel

    I’m happy with those choices — but so many great-sounding presentations didn’t make it onto my final list, including

    • Behind the Scenes of Mary Poppins, with Dave Smith
    • Mayhem, Mischief, and Monkeys – the Mystic Manor attraction at Hong Kong Disneyland
    • Inside the Ice — a look at the upcoming Frozen animated feature
    • Voices of the Parks — the voices you hear throughout Disney theme parks share stories
    • The Art of the Good Dinosaur – a look at the upcoming Pixar feature
    • The DNA of Innovation – another Disney Imagineering presentation
    • Women of Pixar – the write-up on this doesn’t list the panelists, so not sure if they are primarily animators, executives, or a mix.
    • Craft of Creativity – another Disney Imagineering presentation

    I hope to hear from others who are attending these sessions so I can get a recap of what I missed.

    Panels and presentations are only a portion of what goes on at the Expo — there are also meet-and-greets, lots of shopping opportunities, artists, podcasters, and of course just meeting and hanging out with fellow fans.    More on all those things as the Expo gets underway, starting with the Sorcerer Preview day on Thursday August 8th.

    See ya real soon!