A couple weeks ago, in a post from the Animation Guild Blog, veteran Disney animator Floyd Norman made mention that: “Oh, and ‘Newt’ is dead.”
“Newt” was scheduled to be Disney/Pixar’s big summer 2012 film and the directorial debut of visionary sound designer Gary Rydstrom (“Star Wars,” “Terminator 2,” “Minority Report,” “WALL*E”). Its plot centered around two endangered blue-footed newts. The male newt (named Newt) is trying to woo the female newt (named Brooke) through the use of an instructional chart that’s plastered on the wall (they’re in a community college science lab), but the last step of the process is obscured by a coffee pot, so Newt never knows how to, you know, seal the deal and save his species.
All in all it sounded like a charming, offbeat little romantic comedy, something like an animated Woody Allen movie; basically, the kind that Pixar could have elevated to something really special and fun.
But apparently, that’s not the case anymore.
While Floyd Norman refused to go into further details, citing solidarity with his northern California brothers, speculation has already run rampant as to what could replace “Newt” in that choice summer 2012 slot, that will most likely also be home to “The Avengers,” “Star Trek 2,” “Battleship,” “Madagascar 3” and the new “Spider-Man” film.
Common wisdom would have “The Bear and the Bow,” Disney/Pixar’s Viking movie that was written and directed by Brenda Chapman and originally slated for Christmas 2011, as the replacement. However, considering that, despite favorable reviews, both high profile Disney animated releases “The Princess and the Frog” and “Christmas Carol,” didn’t exactly topple the box office when released this past winter, pausing the release of “The Bear and the Bow” seems even more likely.
Of course, there are those that are jumping to the conclusion that Disney/Pixar will somehow have a proposed (but not officially announced) “Monsters, Inc.” sequel ready to go by then. But even if they were working on it, they wouldn’t be able to crank it out that quickly.
Other speculation has been pointed in the direction of some mysterious pre-production artwork on a short film (or feature) that has a young boy interacting with a long-necked dinosaur. This was first spotted on the special features of “Up” and now people are saying (on sites like the Pixar Blog) that it’s from a forthcoming short film called “Night and Day,” most likely attached to “Toy Story 3,” directed by longtime Pixar character designer Teddy Newton and featuring music from Michael Giacchino.
While Floyd Norman is an industry vet who knows his shit (and we’re right to believe him), there’s been some other, unfounded Pixar rumor mongering going on at the amateurish website Screenhead, which reports that director Brad Lewis has been removed from “Cars 2” and been replaced by original “Cars” director (and current overseer of virtually all things Disney and Pixar) John Lasseter.
We call bullshit on this one.
While the “Cars 2” concept seems fairly creatively bankrupt and Brad Lewis, the first film’s producer, stepping in doesn’t put a whole lot of excitement in our tanks, it does make sense. Lewis is good at managing people and he can bring in the film on time and on budget so that Disney can sell a whole lot of “Cars 2” related merchandise, which is the reason “Cars” was greenlit in the first place.
Lasseter, on the other hand, is incredibly busy. Like we said, he basically runs the creative side of Disney right now, everything from traditional animation like “Princess and the Frog” to theme park rides, like the massive, multi-billion dollar reconstruction of Anaheim’s Disney’s California Adventure Park. To think that he has time to direct a new film seems positively laughable. He may be taking a more active role in its development, but homeboy just doesn’t have the time.