Day 2 - Part 1

Saturday - Day 2

The first announcement from Disney was that this day was sold out.  So whatever number of tickets were meant to be sold for this day, were sold.  Looking at the schedule I would compare this day to a Saturday at San Diego Comic Con (SDCC) where the stars come to play and present and the masses come in hordes for the opportunity to see and hear from the Hollywood brass.  Today was no exception.

I arrived at the entrance to the convention center at 7:45am, later than yesterday but I thought I would not be too bad of a problem as yesterday 7:45am was no issue.  Wrong!  There was a pretty good snake starting and I looked for the staff in red shirts to find the end of the line.  Well the end of the line was like a rattlesnake's tail.  It started in one place, moved to another, whipped around to another spot, and left me and others confused on where to go.  When everything got organized, I did not feel the chaos but felt that I was somehow moved further back and others were moved ahead of me.

Keeping up with the twitter feeds is a gift and a curse.  It helps when schedule changes occur and the up to the minute updates come at lightning speed.  However it is a curse when the bad news is delivered that "The Walt Disney Studios queue has reached capacity".  This was really the only thing I needed to do on my schedule, besides meet Larry Nikolai (Little Mermaid sculptor and artist) and watch Lion King in 3D.  I took my chances and waited in the line still.  Now keep in mind this update was given while I was still about 100 people from the convention center entrance and the time was 8:45am.  Next update at 9:15am, "The stand-by queue has reached capacity and has been capped".  Hmmm.  When I last got this info, I decided not to attend Dick Van Dyke and the Vantastix; others still got in.  However saviours come when you need them the most, and a little Disney magic doesn't help either.  I got my in the form of 2 (now 3 after meeting my friend's brother and then 4 and 5 after meeting their friends) friends happened to be in the line.  I make it into the panel.  I owe my friends big-time!

Great panel.  Rich Ross was mediating.  I started taking notes when John Lasseter started speaking and can't remember what showed before that.  Lasseter presented his Cars design Hawaiian shirt.  "All vehicles I see are people," was :Lasseter's mindset and after making Cars and Cars 2 the evolution was to make Planes.  The teaser reel was a true homage to Top Gun, had a few good laughs in there.  Lasseter also stated that the dialogue comes before the animation because the voice actor's input and personality are put into the character they will be voicing.  Sometimes scripts will be edited over 10 times.  The lead 1-propeller plane, (I believe named Dusty Cropmopper) will be voiced by "a star from two and a half men" (Chuck Sheen?) Jon Cryer.  Cryer was "geeked to be there and to take his 2 year old to see the film".  It will be out in 2013 and directed by Clay Hall.  Planes is promoted "from the world of Cars.  Insert above and it becomes the above world of Cars.

Next up was the original Wreck it Ralph.  It's the story of the lives of arcade video game characters and focuses on the life of the 8-bit bad guy, voiced by John C. Reilly (Talladega Nights, Step Brothers, etc.), and his struggles to being a bad guy for over 20 years.  Lasseter surprised the crowd by presenting a rough 4.5 minute clip of the beginning of the film, something that has never been done before for a public audience.  I don't want to go too much into it as a way to respect Lasseter's decision to show the clip but it has a touching storyline of bad guy wanting to be good, the game is called "Fix-It Felix", which is like a mix of Donkey Kong meets Rampage meets reverse Wrecking Crew.  Highlight of the clip was "Bad-Anon" an anonymous group for bad guys.  Directed by Rich Moore and released in 11-2-2012, in addition to John C. Reilly stars Jack McBrayer (30 Rock), Sarah Silverman (The Sarah Silverman Program), and Jane Lynch (Glee).  Silverman and McBrayer were presented onstage and provided a few words for the audience.  Silverman wore a vintage Mickey shirt "That is not vintage and crumbles just by touching it".  "I come down to Anaheim and don't go to Disneyland" she continued.  McBrayer was asked about voicing the character and he responded with "my voice irritates myself".  Silverman finished with, "I chose this role because this role and these movies make me feel, and I hate that they make me feel". (Side note: the quotes are as exact as my notes and memory can dictate.  If they are off please let me know and I will correct them.)

Now BRAVE.  I was waiting to eagerly for this presentation because It is the first real fairy tale from Pixar, the first period film, and most importantly, the first female lead of any Pixar film.  Staff did an extensive historical review of Scotland and felt a responsibility for historical accuracy.  The director and producer, Mark Andrews and Katherine Sarafian, Andrews in a kilt, describe the labor of love that was Brave.  The movie stars Kelly MacDonald (No Country for Old Men) as the lead Merida, Emma Thompson (Sense and Sensibility) as Queen Elinor, Billy Connolly (Gulliver's Travels) as King Fergus, Craig Ferguson (Late Late Show), Robbie Coltrane (Harry Potter films), and Kevin McKidd (Grey's Anatomy) as the three suitors of Merida; MacIntosh, Dingwall, and MacGuffin.  Kelly MacDonald and Kevin McKidd were brought onstage with McKidd speaking in indistinguishable Scottish, which MacDonald translated as "OK".  They showed an unfinished clip of Brave and asked that no spoilers be put on twitter or blogs or anything.  I will respect their wishes and not speak anything of the clip other than it was great and this will be a must see film next summer (6-2-2012).

Next is one dear and special to Lasseter, Monsters University.  Lasseter states that sequels are not made unless there is a need to tell the story further and felt it was necessary to focus on how Mike and Sully become such great friends, hence a Prequel focusing on their lives at the university working to become "scarers".  Dan Scanlan (who was the genius behind Cars Tractor Tipping concept) will direct.  Got the original voices of Billy Crystal and John Goodman as Mike and Sully, respectively, and added the voice of Steve Buscemi.  Many stills were showed of how the university would look and how they team did lots of research on various U.S. campuses.

Next up are two new original Pixar films.  The first by John Walker and Director Bob Peterson is called The Untitled Pixar Movie about Dinosaurs (can't read my notes but I know that I'm missing a word or two in that title).  It will be released in Winter of 2013 and a single art still was shown of the movie.  The only information of the movie was "what if the asteroid that made the dinosaurs extinct (but not the birds) missed and dinosaurs continued to live."  The second film was presented by Pete Docter is called The Untitled Pixar Movie that takes you inside the mind.  There was no clip or still shown but was described as trying to understand the inner workings of the mind and how decisions are made and what happens when something changes.  The Pixar section ends with Rich Ross bringing out all Pixar staff that was present to celebrate the 25 years of existence.  Woody and Buzz come on stage with a colorful 8 foot tall cake and Ross said every celebration should have cake and they presented the entire Arena audience (4,000 people) with cupcakes and confetti was spread over the lower audience.  Yumm!

Now on to the Live action portion of the presentation.  Enter Sean Bailey, President of Production at Disney.  He promises, "no cupcakes, but good movies".  The first is John Carter,  and Director Andrew Stanton and producer Jim Morris present a teaser clip and after announcing the main cast of Taylor Kitsch (Friday Night Lights), Lynn Collins (X-Men Origins: Wolverine), Willem Defoe (Fantastic Mr. Fox), and Samantha Morton (The Messenger), bring Kitsch, Collins, and Defoe on stage.  Stanton comments how he wanted to experience how Defoe would be providing the voice for a 9 foot four armed green alien so made him and Morton don stilts and MoCap suits in 100+ degree heat to get the full experience.  There were many teleprompter problems during this presentation and it appeared that Lynn Collins was rather nervous or anxious to be presenting onstage.  Kitsch commented on how great it was to work with Stanton and can't wait to work with him again (Sequel?)

Tim Burton presents Frankenweenie.  Stop motion, black and white, and 3D.  One of Burton personal projects which actually tells a story close to a 17y.o Tim and his dog.  Allison Abbate and Don Hahn take the stage and present a package clip of production and name to voice actors, Martin Landau, Winona Ryder, Martin Short, Catherine O'Hara.  Music by Danny Elfman.  Basically a lineup of usual suspects for Tim Burton, minus J. Depp.  As an added bonus, Abbate and Hahn bring out an actual Spanky model that they posed.  Hahn said, "he is 4 inches tall and made of silicone, just like the girl from jersey shore.

The next two movies are The Odd Life of Timothy Green and Oz: The Great and Powerful.  The first firm stars Jennifer Garner (Alias), Joel Edgarton (Warrior), and C.J. Adams as Timothy Green.  A clip was shown and Jennifer Garner was brought on stage (BTW she stills looks very good) to comment on this film.  "This film is about being a parent."  This is a very touching story and does exactly what a Disney family drama should do, pull at the heart strings and make us feel!  The latter tells the story of The wizard before he gets to Oz and what happens once he gets there.  Production started literally a month ago and a clip of that day and the actors responses to the film were played.  Without much to go on other than scene sketches, the film looks good and stars a brilliant cast (James Franco, Rachel Weisz, Mila Kunis, Michelle Williams, Zach Braff) and Director Sam Raimi, this is sure to be a hit.

The Muppets Movie.  Jason Segel and Kermit the Frog are brought on stage sitting on a bench and have great reactions to the crowd.  They tease two clips but are worried Miss Piggy is not in the clips.  Cue Miss Piggy coming on stage riding a motorcycle sidecar.  A little more banter and two clips of the movie were shown.  The latter clip was a great homage to the 80's with "We Built This City" by Starship playing over a cleaning montage.  Great laughs.  Also helps that the first clip has Kermit in a fancy rich house and is being served by the robot in Rocky IV.

Disneynature presents its latest feature Chimpanzee, the story of an orphan chimp and the chimp who will take care of it.  Definitely touching but if this weren't an animal story but humans would CPS be involved or the camera crew just take over and reunite the chimp with his/her family.  Just a thought, but again very touching and has that Disney feel to it.

Finally the moment I (and probably most in the Arena) was waiting for, The Avengers.  An initial teaser clip was shown showing the development of the Avengers storyline from the original modern movie Iron man to the most recent Captain America.  What gave me chills was seeing the comic book stills of the actual Avengers in their brilliant comic glory.  Side note: I say original because I am a comic geek/nerd and am still a little torn that the Avengers movie is missing two founders of the team, Henry "Hank" Pym (Ant Man/Goliath) and Janet Van Dyne (Wasp).  I understand given the artistic liberty of the story but would have still loved to see these characters in live action (maybe Pym played by Nathan Fillion and Wasp played by Eva Longoria).  Back to the presentation.  The clip is awesome.  It shows the main cast, even get a few seconds of Maria Hill at her command post, and see Nick Fury in a more dominant role.  I'm not gonna describe the clip too much, I'm sure it's online somewhere.  Then in order, Tom Hiddleston (Loki), Cobie Smulders (Maria Hill), Jeremy Renner (Hawkeye), Scarlett Johansson (Black Widow), Chris Hemsworth (Thor), and Robert Downey Jr. (Ironman) all take the stage to a roaring ovation, standing room only.  Downey makes a comment and says to play the clip again.  They did and then the cast left the stage.  A little sad that there wasn't more to be said from the others, especially Smulders who is new to the entire cast and story line.

That was my morning at D23 Expo Saturday.  I am very tired and will have to do a part two after tomorrow.

Thanks for reading!