Monday 15 October 2007

Will Pixar ever really fail?

We all love Pixar. As the big Hollywood studios go Pixar is one of the very very few who stays true to the magic of movie going.

They have a few movies coming up in the next few years that will cause excitement.
“Up” is a "coming-of-old-age story" about a seventy-something guy who lives in a house that "looks like your grandparents' house smelled." He befriends a clueless young Wilderness Ranger and gets into lots of altercations.

They we have the hotly anticipated “Toy Story 3” which will hopefully fall victim to the threequel slump of 2007.

And I know we are all excited about WALL-E (I am giddy like a schoolgirl in love…very very Angela Chase post Jordan Catalano kiss) so any news of up coming Pixar is greeted with open arms.

Since the animation studio constantly kick the arse of every other studios animation department the news that they will be trying their hand at live action may ‘cause a collective gasp.

The studio has now announced that it plans to make a trilogy of Edgar Rice Burroughs' John Carter of Mars.

The creative team of Andrew Stanton (Director), Mark Andrews (Screenwriter) and Jim Morris (Producer) made the announcement while on a research trip to Burroughs' archive. They didn't confirm what shape the trilogy might take, but said the first would likely appear before 2012.

Various people have been trying to bring John Carter to the screen. The John Carter saga was first published in 1917, with Princess of Mars, and told of a Civil War veteran who travelled to the red planet and found a race of huge barbaric green creatures, who know Mars as Barsoom.

Ray Harryhausen once wanted to adapt it but didn’t and recently Robert Rodriguez had a bash. Then Jon Favreau came very close to realising it at Paramount, until it proved very expensive and the option expired.
Now Pixar will give it a whirl and who better I say? I know nothing of the story, but in their illustrious history, they have only one(ish) dud.
When you look at their eight feature length films. Only one (“Cars”) scored a low R.T. meter reading (76% good reviews – not too shabby). Five scored over 90% while the two “Toy Story” films scored a rare 100%.
That is an amazing track record and one that does warrant no doubt.

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