With "The Hunger Games" now sitting pretty among the top twenty domestic grossers of all time (it's about to overtake "Jurassic Park"), the fallacy that wide audiences won't go to action-oriented films starring a female lead seems to have been disproven. And we're about to get more helpings of this combination, with "Prometheus" and "Snow White and the Huntsman" both looking to be among the biggest likely hits of the summer, and both led by women. And yet the doubters still prevail. While box office prognosticators sniffed in the past that films starring rats, wordless robots and an old man could be monster hits for Pixar, the studio's latest, "Brave," is being downgraded by many due it to being the first of the company's films led by a female character.
We suspect that they'll be wrong just as they were on "Ratatouille," "Wall-E" and "Up," and further evidence has arrived thanks to a brand new trailer (presumably the final one) for "Brave." And despite some somewhat wonky editing, and a bland Celtic number on the soundtrack, it's the most promising so far, displaying humor, a sweeping scope and the strong emotional backbone the company have made their name with.
The exact nature of the plot is still under wraps, but those with eagle eyes might be starting to pick up the nature of what Disney is keeping secret (*spoiler* the original title was "The Bear King & His Daughter," which might be somewhat of an indication). But despite the misfire of "Cars 2" last year, we've got more than enough faith that Pixar will deliver once again, particularly with a voice cast that includes Kelly Macdonald, Billy Connolly, Emma Thompson, Julie Walters, Craig Ferguson, Kevin McKidd and Robbie Coltrane sounding in fine fettle. We'll find out how it turns out when it opens on June 22nd. Watch below (embed courtesy of First Showing), or in HD over at Apple.
