A 'Brave' Move for Pixar - Brand New Teaser Trailer Released

The trailer above is for Pixar's next animated feature, "Brave" which tells the story of 'Merida', a young Scottish Princess who defies her parents by defying an old age custom sacred to the lords of the land.

This film will be Pixar's first fairytale and its first film to feature a female lead. It was originally titled "The Bear and the Bow" and was also originally going to be directed by Brenda Chapman (Little Mermaid, Road to Eldorado) but has now been replaced by Mark Andrews (One Man Band, Jack Jack Attack) and although Brenda Chapman is no longer working on the movie she will be credited as co-director.

It's good to see Pixar giving the lead to a female character. Kelly McDonald is supplying the voice of Merida. She has replaced Reese Witherspoon. The official line from Disney/Pixar with regard to the replacing of Reece was due to scheduling conflicts but I am not so sure. Recording voice characters is not quite the same as filming is it ? I think it was more of a case of Reese not being able to portray a believable Scottish accent. Regardless of that the cast list looks strong featuring the acting talents of Robbie Coltrane, Julie Walters, Emma Thompson and Billy Connolly.

Brave is released in June 2011. Keep an eye out here at 'The Production Diaries' for more information and art as we receive it. So far though it looks pretty good to me.

Rise of the Planet of the Apes - First Full Trailer

I am very excited by this trailer. The first glimpse of 'Rise of the Planet of the Apes' from 20th Century Fox. This is a prequel to the original 1968 film starring Charlton Heston and Roddy McDowall.

The prequel stars James Franco (127 Hours), Freida Pinto (Slumdog Millionaire), Tom Felton (Harry Potter) and Andy Serkis playing Ceasar in a motion capture role. Directed by Rupert Wyatt who previously directed the very underrated 'The Escapist' starring Brian Cox and Damian Lewis and special effects from Weta Digital (Lord of the Rings, King Kong and Avatar) this promises to be something special. It will also be the first Apes film to feature completely CGI apes and if Weta's King Kong is anything to go by, and with all the advances in CGI in recent years, then we should be in for a real treat.

Also involved in the production are Director of Photography Andrew Lesnie (Lord of the Rings, King Kong, Lovely Bones, The Hobbit), Composer Patrick Doyle (Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire, Eragon) and Editor Conrad Buff (Titanic, Tears of the Sun, and Training Day) so some veteran professionals have been employed by the look of it.

Well done for 20th Century Fox for re-booting the Apes franchise. Most people though Tim Burton's "re-imagining" in 2001 put the nail in the coffin once and for all but I'm guessing enough time has passed now for Fox to try again. The biggest surprise for me is this is the first trailer for this film with an August release date. This could mean either there have been a lot of production problems and re-writes so there hasn't been much to show yet or the simple fact that Weta have only just completed some of the effects on the apes (which is probably more likely as is common for CGI heavy films.)

Role on August !