News

It is a busy week on Disney Plus with families and fans diving into a mix of animation classics fresh reimaginations and a true story crowd pleaser. From fast cars to fearless heroes these are the titles viewers kept pressing play on over the past few days.

The lineup spans Pixar adventures Blue Sky favorites and brand new studio releases with fairy tale magic and spy thrills in the mix. You will see longtime favorites like ‘The Incredibles’ right alongside the 2025 versions of ‘Snow White’ and ‘The Amateur’ which are drawing plenty of attention right now.

10. ‘Cars 2’ (2011) Pixar

Lightning McQueen heads overseas to compete in the World Grand Prix...

Top 10 animated movies of all time ( Photo Credit – IMDb )

Let’s take a trip down memory lane as we explore a curated selection of the greatest animated films ever crafted. If your favorite isn’t included, don’t worry; there may be a follow-up if this piece strikes a chord with readers. Animated movies, particularly those tailored for young audiences, have traditionally been led by Disney and its offshoot Pixar. Despite their continuous reinvention of beloved tales, both studios have gifted us a wealth of timeless animated treasures. So, without delay, let’s begin our cinematic voyage through the enchanting world of animation.

10. Cars (2006) Director: John Lasseter, Joe Ranft (co-director...

Before Ewan McGregor fought against Anakin Skywalker in Star Wars: Episode III - Revenge of the Sith, he was a robot with big dreams in this 2005 animated classic. Robots was released back in March 2005, and 20 years later, it became a streaming hit on Hulu. This not only features the Star Wars star, alongside him are some big-name actors like Robin Williams, Halle Berry, Mel Brooks, and Amanda Bynes.

According to FlixPatrol, Robots ranked #7 on Hulu's Top 10 Movies worldwide, just between Operation Fortune: Ruse de Guerre and Ice Age. Robots is a children's film that takes place in a world filled with anthropomorphic robots, where it follows Rodney Copperbottom (McGregor), a robot with dreams of becoming an inventor. During Robots' theatrical run, it generated over $262 million worldwide and received a mediocre reception from fans and critics alike, earning a 64% critics' score and a 54% audience score on Rotten Tomatoes. But despite that,...

The Ice Age franchise, worth billions of dollars, is over two decades old, having been in existence since the release of the first movie in 2002. Created by Michael J. Wilson, the franchise has faced its fair share of criticism over the years due to its scientific inaccuracies; however, it remains a favorite among lots of viewers who grew up with it and never miss the chance to revisit the adventures of the Herd. Luckily, a major streaming platform is providing fans with the opportunity to enjoy a few of the franchise’s productions starting next month, which will soon be the highlight of this summer for many, even though it’s unclear how long the icy treat will last.

Five productions in the Ice Age franchise will be available onHulu starting August 1, including the first four consecutive main installments, as well as a TV special. These include 2002's Ice Age,...

Comedy has always been an extremely popular genre of cinema. It has consistently offered audiences a chance to laugh and escape from the troubles of daily life, with both slapstick classics and witty, dialogue-driven powerhouses achieving similar, dopamine-rushed results. Humor driven films have produced timeless gems that continue to resonate today, with few cinematic genres boasting such a rewarding appeal. As the world has just recently been greeted by 2025, now is the perfect moment to revisit some of the best comedy movies of all time that have just celebrated their 20-year milestone of life after release.

Comedy in 2005 was an era of its own. It rolled out numerous effective gut-busters while also flexing its deep variety, as shown through films like Wedding Crashers, Robots, and The Longest Yard. These films not only brought laughter but also checked off different boxes of comedy, striking an imperative balance between clever humor and heartfelt moments.

A sixth instalment of the Ice Age franchise – we’ll call it Ice Age 6 – is in development, with all the original cast returning! Sing hosannas.

Scrat the squirrel scrambling to cling on to his cherished acorn in the Ice Age films is one of the funniest running cinematic gags of the early 2000s. The sheer number of imaginative ways the writers and animators came up with to deny Scrat his prize was extremely impressive, with the set pieces gradually getting bigger in scale. They became a highlight of each film.

According to Deadline, a sixth Ice Age film is in development at Disney and 20th Century Animation.

The film seems to be moving forward at quite a pace too, with many of the original cast – Romano, Leguizamo, Latifah, Leary and Pegg – already signed on. (Read on to discover what all their first names are.)

There’s currently no writer or director attached.

Updated: Disney and 20th Century Animation announced Friday at D23 Brazil that Ice Age 6 is happening. The sixthquel will get a theatrical release. The original franchise was created by Blue Sky Studios, which Disney acquired through the 20th Century Fox merger, later shuttering the Oscar-winning animation division.

Original castmembers Ray Romano, John Leguizamo, Queen Latifah, Denis Leary and Simon Pegg are returning. The pic is currently being made.

Through five movies, the Ice Age pics have grossed $3.2 billion worldwide, but like all franchises, the weight of gravity weighs down at the box office with each sequel. The most recent movie, 2016’s Ice Age: Collision Course, grossed $408.5 million globally.

There were various short pics and series starring a woolly mammoth, sloth, saber-toothed tiger and other pre-historic animals. There was also the 2022 spinoff The Ice Age Adventures of Buck Wild.

This Ice Age is the first pic in the franchise since Disney bought Blue Sky.

When you purchase through our links, we may earn an affiliate commission.

The Wild Robot is an animated sci-fi survival adventure comedy-drama film written and directed by Chris Sanders. Based on the 2016 novel of the same name by author Peter Brown, the 2024 film follows Roz, a service robot whose ship crash lands on an uninhabited island and now she must make herself familiar with her new surroundings and the local wildlife. Roz soon makes an unlikely connection with an orphaned goose named Brightbill. The Wild Robot’s voice cast includes Lupita Nyong’o, Pedro Pascal, Kit Connor, Bill Nighy, Stephanie Hsu, Mark Hamill, Catherine O’Hara, Matt Berry, and Ving Rhames. So, if you loved the vibrant visuals, emotional and hilariously heartwarming story, and compelling characters in The Wild Robot here are some similar movies you should check out next.

The Iron Giant (Rent on Prime Video) Credit – Warner Bros.

The Iron Giant...

A new Ice Age movie is in the works. The movie will be the sixth installment in the core computer-animated franchise about a group of prehistoric animals who unexpectedly come together during the Ice Age.

John Leguizamo, who lent his voice to Sid, a ground sloth, revealed the news in an interview with NPR. "We're about to do Ice Age six," he said, while discussing his career highlights. While he did not provide any additional information about the upcoming film, the movie could potentially reunite the main cast of the 2002 film, which also includes Ray Romano as Manny, Denis Leary as Diego, and director Chris Wedge as Scrat.

Related 10 Best Animated Movies Of The 2000s (That Aren't Disney)

Disney might be the most famous, but animation studios like DreamWorks, Blue Sky, and Sony produced some of the best animated movies of the 2000s.

Leguizamo went on to talk about how...

One of the most underrated classics in animation history has to be the Ice Age films. Despite its impact on pop culture, the millions of dollars it made Fox, or the multi-film saga that spanned over the years, it is constantly counted out time and time again. In the face of the massive and flashy productions of Disney, this series was more grounded in reality, so much so that it had talking animals.

A still from Ice Age | Credit: 20th Century Fox

However, it was not an easy task for the creators of the movie to get it made. With conversations about a sixth part being in the works, let’s take a look back at how the first film got greenlit in the first place. During an interview, the director of the film talked about how he was able to get it approved by the studio.

Fox Had One...

John Leguizamo is reflecting on the roles that got away.

In an interview with Business Insider, the actor was asked about movies he’s turned down that he now regrets. “Oh yeah, The Devil Wears Prada, the Stanley Tucci part [as Nigel],” Leguizamo revealed.

Other roles he regrets saying no to were parts in Mr. and Mrs. Smith and Happy Feet.

“I had my reasons,” said Leguizamo. “I mean, they’re stupid, but I had my reasons.”

When asked to elaborate further, he explained that he turned down the role of Brad Pitt’s character’s best friend, Eddie, in Mr. and Mrs. Smith because Pitt and Angelina Jolie were each getting $20 million while he would be paid on scale. “I felt dissed, and they probably weren’t dissing me, but I felt dissed,” he said.

Leguizamo continued, “Sometimes when you’re a person of color, you’re so used to being...

When Chris Wedge's animated film "Ice Age" first came out in 2002, it was considered novel and striking for many reasons. It was set in prehistoric times yet eschewed dinosaurs in favor of megafauna living in the Pleistocene Epoch. The three main characters were a sloth named Sid (John Leguizamo), a smilodon named Diego (Denis Leary), and a mammoth named Manfred aka Manny (Ray Romano), and they were engaged in a great migration to flee the oncoming Ice Age. The plot of their first movie apes John Ford's 1946 Western "3 Godfathers," as the three animals discover a human infant that they must keep safe and deliver back to the then-evolutionarily-novel homo sapiens living nearby.

The design of "Ice Age" was striking, aiming for broad, stylized characters that were markedly different from the friendly, big-eyed protagonists of Disney pictures. It certainly helped that the "Ice Age" movies featured a character named Scrat,...

The Ice Age movie series has made its home in the hearts of moviegoers of all ages with its sense of adventure, humor, and heart. One of the most famous animated franchises in the world, Ice Age has given us some of the most memorable characters of all time, such as Sid (John Leguizamo), Manny (Ray Romano), Ellie (Queen Latifah), Diego (Denis Leary), Shira (Jennifer Lopez), and Scrat (Chris Wedge).

Following the release of its first animated feature, Nimona, Annapurna Animation has brought on director Nick Bruno and producer Julie Zackary to join their creative leadership team while expanding its upcoming feature slate to include an adaptation of video game Stray, along with Foo, an original title from Ice Age helmer and Blue Sky co-founder Chris Wedge.

Based on Nd Stevenson’s graphic novel of the same name, Nimona began its life at Blue Sky, and moved to Annapurna after Disney shut down the production and studio following its acquisition of Fox, which owned the animation umbrella. Netflix released the well-received Nimona in June.

Bruno — a Blue Sky alum, who made his directorial debut with Spies in Disguise — is already developing and directing an untitled original feature for the studio, while developing additional originals. Zackary is joining the studio as head of animation production, having previously served as vp of...

There's no shortage of kickass cyberpunk movies out there, but these stories tend to be exclusively told from the perspective of humans adapting to a not-so-distant future filled with androids and lots of bisexual lighting. Sure, it's cool to see how lone-wolf adults adjust to a world like "Blade Runner," but what about families with children? What about rural areas far from overpopulated cities with a lack of resources? What about beloved family pets? In 2022, BlueTwelve Studio and Annapurna Interactive flipped the script and pivoted to an unconventional protagonist in a cyberpunk environment: an adorably stealthy cat in the adventure game "Stray."

The game has players taking on the role of a stray cat who ends up in a walled-off city filled with robots and mutant bacteria. With the help of a friendly drone companion named B-12, you as the cat must evade the antagonistic Zurks and Sentinels which want you dead,...

Dogs had their shot at the multiplex this summer with Strays so cats, continuing the age-old struggle are striking back. Feline-focused sci-fi adventure game Stray is in the works as an animated movie from Annapurna Animation.

Nick Bruno, who was co-director on the excellent Nimona is herding the pixellation puss cats for this one, which originated with game developers BlueTwelve Studio (and was published by Annapurna Interactive).

Stray puts players in control of a stealthy cat who must traverse an underground city populated by robots and mutant bacteria with the help of a friendly drone, B-12. We liked the game — you can find our review here.

"This is a game that's all about what makes us human, and there are no humans in it," Annapurna Animation co-chief Robert Baird tells Entertainment Weekly. "It's a buddy comedy about a cat and a robot, and there's such a hilarious dynamic. So, there's comedy inherent in this,...

We have news that will make cat owners and gamers purr with anticipation! Stray, the award-winning adventure game from the developers at BlueTwelve Studio, is getting a film adaptation from Annapurna! According to Entertainment Weekly, Annapurna’s Nimona is a significant hit for the studio, and now Annapurna Animation is giving the green light to multiple projects, including a new venture from Nimona co-director Nick Bruno and the Stray movie adaptation from Ice Age director Chris Wedge.

“Lost, alone, and separated from family, a stray cat must untangle an ancient mystery to escape a long-forgotten city,” reads the game’s official synopsis. “Stray is a third-person cat adventure game set amidst the detailed, neon-lit alleys of a decaying cybercity and the murky environments of its seedy underbelly. Roam surroundings high and low, defend against unforeseen threats, and solve the mysteries of this unwelcoming place inhabited by curious droids and dangerous creatures.

Annapurna Animation is kicking into overdrive, with director Nick Bruno (Netflix’s “Nimona” and 20th Century Studio’s “Spies in Disguise”) and producer Julie Zackary joining up.

They are also planning to expand their feature development slate, with the first flick being an adaptation of the acclaimed “play as a cat” video game “Stray.” Also on tap is a new film from Chris Wedge (“Ice Age”), an original called “Foo.” Along with directing an untitled original in development, Bruno is actively developing original ideas for Annapurna Animation.

“Stray,” an open-world adventure where you play as an ordinary cat, earned strong reviews and 2.5 million copies sold in the first month prior to even launching on Steam. The game came from Annapurna Interactive, so the synergy speaks for itself, and Annapurna plans to adapt more titles from its game library.

Wedge is an Academy Award-winning director and producer as well as a...

Annapurna Animation has ramped up the creative leadership of its team with the addition of Nimona director Nick Bruno and producer Julie Zackary. Zackary, a former Blue Sky Studios executive, will serve as Annapurna’s Head of Animation.

Also joining the division is Erica Pulcini as Creative Executive.

First out of the gate for the division is a feature take of BlueTwelve videogame, Stray.

Zackary will oversee all aspects of production throughout Annapurna Animation’s division. Zackary served as VP of Production Management at Sony Pictures Imageworks before joining Blue Sky Studios as Vice President of Production.

In Pulcini’s role as Creative Executive, she will help curate, develop and further define Annapurna Animation’s feature film slate.

Also in development is Foo, the next project from renowned director Chris Wedge.

Bruno is already on tap to develop and direct an untitled original feature film, and he is actively developing...

The hit video game Stray is getting a feature film adaptation.

Entertainment Weekly reports that Annapurna Animation is moving forward with an animated movie based on Stray following the success of Nimona on Netflix. It's one of multiple new projects entering development at the company, as Nimona co-director has also lined up a new mystery project with Annapurna, as has Ice Age director Chris Wedge. It's noted in the report that there are plans to adapt multiple video games from Annapurna Interactive, though only Stray is named, as it will be the first to get the feature film treatment.

Related: Annapurna Interactive’s Stray Now Available on Xbox

"This is a game that's all about what makes us human, and there are no humans in it," Annapurna Animation boss Robert Baird told EW, teasing what the film will be like. "It's a buddy comedy about a cat and a robot,...

Stray, the 2022 adventure game that lets you play as a cat in a cyberpunk world, is getting an animated movie adaptation from Annapurna Animation, the studio announced on Monday. The movie will be co-produced by former Disney Animation executives Robert Baird and Andrew Millstein, who are also the co-heads of Annapurna Animation12.

Stray is a third-person cat adventure game set amid the detailed neon-lit alleys of a decaying cybercity and the murky environments of its seedy underbelly. The game follows the journey of a stray cat who befriends a drone named B12 and tries to find its way back home. Along the way, the cat encounters various challenges and mysteries, as well as other friendly and hostile animals. The game received critical acclaim for its immersive world, charming characters, and emotional story12.

Strays Trailer

Annapurna Animation is a newly launched division of Annapurna Pictures, which is known for producing and...

Watching the Ice Age movies in order is easy, as the franchise has a linear timeline with a simple storyline centered around Manny, Sid, Diego, and the popular character, Scrat. Despite being successful overall, the Ice Age movies have faced mixed reviews for its recent entries, with 2016's Collision Course being a disappointment compared to previous films. This could indicate a decline in audience interest, and future films will need to work hard to feel fresh. The Ice Age series includes short films that add humor and expand on the films' stories, with most of them featuring the fan-favorite character, Scrat. These shorts have been released as special features on DVDs and before screenings of other films.

Watching the Ice Age movies in order is a relatively simple task since the beloved animated franchise has followed a linear timeline with its releases. The original Ice Age was helmed by Chris Wedge...

Blue Sky Studios, known for popular films like Ice Age and Rio, was once a major player in the animation industry but closed in April 2021 due to a corporate acquisition and cost-cutting efforts during the Covid-19 pandemic. Despite not being as acclaimed as competitors like Pixar and DreamWorks, Blue Sky Studios received attention and awards, including an Academy Award for Best Animated Short Film and nominations for Best Animated Film. The closure of Blue Sky Studios was a result of Disney's acquisition of 21st Century Fox and the financial challenges of maintaining three separate animation studios. The studio's closure left 450 employees without work. However, Blue Sky's last movie, Nimona, was picked up by Annapurna Pictures and has been well-received by critics and audiences.

When people think of animated studios, they tend to think of Disney and its subsidiary Pixar. Other names that come to mind are DreamWorks animation and...

Invisible City (Cidade Invisível) is a series directed by Júlia Pacheco Jordão and Luis Carone. It stars Marco Pigossi, Alessandra Negrini and Jéssica Córes.

The Invisible City is a very original fantasy and thriller series that knows how to swim wonderfully between the waters of the spiritual and criminal worlds, between the supernatural and the detective genre, and it also has an original aesthetic proposal.

About the Series

A murder thriller that gets lost in local legends, in the world of spirits and magic, and then presents us with a message of environmental conservation.

Very entertaining, well handled and accomplished visual effects (CGI), achieving an attractive series on several levels and one that knows how to continue the successes of the first season in these five new episodes.

It handles the photography very well, and – without losing the fantastic “touch” – knows how to give us a good, entertaining thriller so...

Computer-generated special effects may be the dominant visual force in cinema right now, but it took years for the medium to even get a foothold in the industry. Before films like "Terminator 2," "The Lord of the Rings" trilogy, and "Avatar" convinced Hollywood of the capabilities of CGI, black sheep like 1982's "Tron" had to endure the pushback that often accompanies leaps in new technology despite trailblazing a revolution within filmmaking. Although critics recognized "Tron" for its technical achievements, the film had a lukewarm box office performance and couldn't even get the satisfaction of an Oscar nomination for Visual Effects due to "cheating."

Only about 15 minutes of "Tron" was actually CGI, but in 1982 this was a daring leap. The effects were a painstaking, laborious process, especially because computers couldn't create fluidly moving videos. Rather, the effects artists had to individually map out each frame digitally, paying careful attention to the coordinates of the moving images,...

From the very start, “Ice Age” transported audiences to a world of enchantment and hilarity. It has since become one of the most beloved and top-grossing animated franchises in cinematic history.

It’s easy to see why due to its thrilling adventures, lighthearted humor, meaningful messages, and iconic characters like Sid (John Leguizamo), Manny (Ray Romano), Ellie (Queen Latifah), Diego (Denis Leary), Shira (Jennifer Lopez) and Scrat(Chris Wedge).

The 2002 blockbuster hit “Ice Age” marked the pioneering, feature-length debut of Blue Sky Studios. This success spawned a series of Ice Age films and short animations that extended beyond the original story while introducing lovable new characters to viewers worldwide.

Unfortunately, Blue Sky Studios was forced to close its doors in 2021 after Disney acquired their former distribution partner 20th Century Fox. The good news is that Disney remains committed to continuing the beloved “Ice Age” saga, so fans can expect more...

One of Disney's many acquisitions from the $71.3 billion merger was Blue Sky Studios, the animation studio behind "Ice Age," "Robots," "The Peanuts Movie," and "Ferdinand." Blue Sky was founded 1987 by a team of computer animators including Carl Ludwig, Eugene Troubetzkoy, Alison Brown, David Brown, Michael Ferraro, and Chris Wedge, who directed "Ice Age" and "Robots" among others. After 17 years of making hit films, Blue Sky was shuttered by Disney in April of 2020, reportedly because of the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic. 

Apart from the 450 animators who had to begin looking around at the new company for jobs, one...

The post Nimona Faced Pushback From Disney Over Same-Sex Kiss, Say Former Blue Sky Studios Staffers appeared first on /Film.

Highly-celebrated animator Carlos Saldanha, a filmmaker at Bottlecap productions, and like-mind Fraser MacLean, a fellow animator who’s also an educator at Sae Mexico, met virtually on Wednesday morning to discuss Saldanha’s robust career for Ventana Sur’s Training Sessions panel

The conference offered an intimate peek into the steady rise of Saldanha’s animation career, touched on his experience in the field, and included commentary on Latin America’s global appeal and steps necessary to solidify it.

In an industry slowly leaning in to support creative talent and emphasizing the importance of giving them the resources they need to thrive, it was wholly interesting to hear from Saldanha, who seems the ultimate example of hubris and determination. Saldanha, who directed “Ice Age 2,” “Ferdinand” and “Rio” where he crafted a tender homage to his home country, is no stranger to the ever-transitory condition of the animation market.

The dialogue began as Saldanha quipped,...

Exclusive: Oscar-nominated Brazilian filmmaker Carlos Saldanha has signed with Range Media Partners. Saldanha is one of the principle creative forces behind the Ice Age and Rio franchises during his time at Blue Sky Studios, where his films grossed over $2 billion at box offices worldwide. He is a two-time Academy Award nominee, first for the animated short Gone Nutty and more recently, the animated feature Ferdinand.

Saldanha was one of the first animators to join the Blue Sky Studios team of artists. After three years, he was the Supervising Animator for the talking and dancing roaches in the feature film Joe’s Apartment, and served as director of animation for the computer-generated characters in Fight Club. Soon thereafter, he teamed up with Chris Wedge to co-direct Blue Sky’s first animated features, Ice Age and Robots. After the success of Ice Age, Saldanha took the directorial reins on Ice Age: The Meltdown...

Editor’s note: Before he founded and became CEO of the Universal-based animation factory Illumination, Chris Meledandri was tasked with building an animation division at Fox. Early on, the president of Twentieth Century Fox Animation in 1998 acquired Blue Sky Studios for the studio. The Westchester, NY-based animation company might have started as an adjunct to Fox’s Hollywood animation operation, but that changed when Meledandri gave Blue Sky the room to grow, and the result was the multibillion-dollar Ice Age franchise. Meledandri, who would start Illumination and hatch another multibillion-dollar franchise in Despicable Me. Here, he laments the decision by Disney to shutter Blue Sky and celebrates its origins.

Hearing the sad news of the closing of Blue Sky Studios brings back the memories of our journey together. It was 1996 and I was running the animation division at Fox.

Exclusive: Disney is shuttering Blue Sky Studios, the $5.9 billion global grossing former 20th Century Fox animation division which during its run churned out 13 features including the Ice Age franchise.

One can say that the writing was always on the wall for Blue Sky, especially after Disney acquired 20th Century Studios and its assets in March 2019. However, the past year has been challenging for Disney on many fronts, of course due to the pandemic, not just on the studio side but with theme park closures and cruise line dockings as well. Sustaining a third feature animation studio was no longer viable for Disney given the current economic realities caused by Covid. The last day for Blue Sky will be in April. The number of Blue Sky employees being impacted numbers 450. Disney will be working with the employees at the Greenwich, Ct based animation house to explore open positions at the other internal studios.

Disney's massive investor day announcements flowed for hours, from all of the studio's major labels. One of the, perhaps, smaller announcements was for a spin-off from an animated franchise hatched by its recent acquisition, 20th Century Studios. The animated movies in the Ice Age franchise have been successful in their own right, if not by core Disney animation standards. A spin-off from that series, Ice Age: Adventures of Buck Wild will get an exclusive premier on Disney+.

The Ice Age Adventures of Buck Wild is the next installment in 20th Century Studios' Ice Age franchise. It stars three favorite characters: prankster possum brothers Crash and Eddie, and swashbuckling weasel Buck voiced by @simonpegg. Coming to @DisneyPlus in early 2022.

— Disney (@Disney) December 10, 2020

There is very little known about the Ice Age story lines, other than the series will center on the prankster possum brothers, Crash and Eddie, and the swashbuckling weasel,...

UK singer-songwriter Olly Murs has joined the voice cast of upcoming Fox animated movie Spies In Disguise with Will Smith, Tom Holland and Karen Gillan.

Murs, in his first feature, plays the cameo role of Junior Agent #1 and said, “I loved being a junior agent for Will Smith! What a great job, and it was a lot of fun. Maybe if I’m lucky I can graduate to a fully-fledged agent next time!”

Murs first came to attention for coming second in the sixth series of The X Factor in 2009. He has sold more than 25 million records across his 10 year music career, including six albums, and four No.1 singles. He’s currently a coach on ITV1’s The Voice UK alongside Will.i.am, Sir Tom Jones and Meghan Trainor.

The film, released later month, sees the world’s best spy rely on his nerdy tech officer to save the world after...

The latest trailer for Spies in Disguise is here. In addition, 20th Century Fox and Blue Sky Studios have revealed new character posters and the latest single promoting the animated comedy. The spy comedy stars Will Smith and Tom Holland as they become an unlikely team to help take down crime. The first single for the movie is performed by Mark Ronson and Anderson .Paak and it's pretty catchy, to say the least. You can get a tease of the song below.

The title of the new single from the Spies in Disguise soundtrack is "Then There Were Two." It was written and performed by Mark Ronson and Anderson .Paak, with production by Ronson who has worked with many artists over the years. Ronson has worked behind the boards for Lady Gaga, Amy Winehouse, and Queens of the Stone Age, to name a few. The soundtrack album, Mark Ronson Presents...

During a research trip to Spain for Fox/Blue Sky’s Ferdinand, Brazilian director Carlos Saldanha found inspiration, not only for the animated feature’s production design, but also for his title character — a gentle bull (voiced by John Cena) who would rather smell the flowers than fight — when he found himself recoiling at the sight of a bullfight.

The film has garnered Blue Sky’s first Academy Award nomination since 2002’s Ice Age, which was directed by Chris Wedge with Saldanha as co-director. Ferdinand also marks the second Oscar nom for Saldanha, who was cited in 2004 for Gone Nutty, an...

Mark Harrison Jan 30, 2018

Paramount Pictures has faced a tougher time than most studios of late. What, though, does it have planned next?

In any given year, the top ten highest grossing films at the worldwide box office are mostly made up of franchise films or adaptations of existing intellectual property. Around the world, the movie business is a franchise game right now, and of the traditional 'big six' studios, Paramount Pictures seems to be falling behind its rivals.

See related Moral interpretations of Mario Kart Mario Kart 8 review Mario Kart 8 Deluxe Switch review

After an almost unbroken string of box office flops and underperformers in 2017, the studio has recently been in the news after selling international distribution rights to Alex Garland's hotly anticipated second feature Annihilation to Netflix, and are reportedly looking to do the same on the long delayed third Cloverfield film.

To briefly take inventory of their competition's big hitters,...

Venezuelan actor Edgar Ramirez had been working quite steadily with small roles in films like Steven Soderbergh’s Che and Paul Greengrass’ The Bourne Ultimatum. Things really took off for Ramirez when he was cast in Olivier Assayas’ television mini-series Carlos, playing a ruthless kingpin. The five-hour film allowed Ramirez to show a wide range of what he could do as an character, earning him Golden Globe and Emmy nominations.

Since then, Ramirez has worked with David O. Russell (Joy), Kathryn Bigelow (Zero Dark Thirty) and starred as boxing great Roberto Duran in last year’s Hands of Stone.

Now, Ramirez appears opposite Matthew McConaughey in Gold, the Stephen Gaghan-directed film, in which he plays geologist Michael Acosta, who is pulled into the schemes of McConaughey’s Kenny Wells in trying to find gold in Indonesia. The plan almost kills them as they spend days in the hot, tropical...

The Eagle Huntress is a brilliant fusion of Pixar’s Brave and Dreamworks’ How to Train Your Dragon. Except it’s all real. This is a tale of a young girl battling against sexist tribal elders to become the first eagle huntress; besting her rivals, proving herself against the elements and battling against the odds.

The raw material of isolated Mongolian eagle hunters makes for a potent cinematic cocktail: not just authentic and uplifting, but inherently visually exciting. It’s perhaps no wonder that Ice Age director Chris Wedge has signed on to direct an all-star animated adaptation of the same story.

With its subject’s snowballing fame (and high hopes for the film in awards season), its humble origins are increasingly faintly surreal. It began with photographer Asher Svidensky heading to Mongolia to document the lives of Kazakh eagle hunters, a trip which produced a striking picture of a...

Chicago – A four year old walks into a room with a great idea for a movie, and unfortunately his father is president of a “motion picture group.” Millions of dollars and four years later, this child’s idea became “Monster Trucks,” one of the strangest movies ever conceived.

Rating: 2.0/5.0

The father was Adam Goodman, who in 2013 put the green light on the picture (the story may be a bit exaggerated, there are other reports that Goodman merely observed his son playing with trucks, and came up with the concept himself). Filming began and was wrapped in 2014, and then the slow painful slog of the movie Paramount Studios didn’t want to release started its painful journey to the 2017 debut in January (Friday the 13th, appropriately enough). The result is a overworked and strained effort to deliver the descriptive, “trucks are powered by actual monsters.” Aimed toward the kids, but also...

Wamg is giving away Monster Truck Run-Of-Engagement passes and Spin Master toys to celebrate the release of the film.

Check out more cool Monster Trucks toys from Spin Master, available only at Toys R Us!

Directed by Chris Wedge Monster Trucks opened in theaters January 13, 2017.

The movie stars Lucas Till, Jane Levy, Holt McCallany, Barry Pepper, Tucker Albrizzi, Danny Glover, Amy Ryan, Rob Lowe, Frank Whaley, and Thomas Lennon.

Looking for any way to get away from the life and town he was born into, Tripp (Lucas Till), a high school senior, builds a Monster Truck from bits and pieces of scrapped cars. After an accident at a nearby oil-drilling site displaces a strange and subterranean creature with a taste and a talent for speed, Tripp may have just found the key to getting out of town and a most unlikely friend.

Melding cutting edge visual effects and state-of-the-art CGI,...

As far as the box office is concerned, the Martin Luther King holiday weekend might better be dubbed Memorial Day, as six new wide releases are weak or dying. Despite a wide array of product which should have boosted totals, this weekend looks to be down 19 per cent from last year.

On the other hand, Oscar contenders “Hidden Figures” (20th Century Fox) and “La La Land”(Lionsgate) continued to surf cresting audience enthusiasm to place first and second for the three day weekend.

School vacation Monday results may boost Universal’s “Sing” and possibly Disney’s “Rogue One: A Star Wars Story” to higher positions. Animated musical “Sing” is holding well, with a 33 per cent drop. “Rogue One,” though now the top-grossing 2016 domestic release, is falling far faster than juggernaut “Force Awakens” a year ago.

The Top Ten

1. Hidden Figures (20th Century Fox) Week 4 – Last weekend #1

$20,450,000 (-10%) in 3,286 theaters (+815); PTA...

Originally slated to be released at the tail-end of last year, “Monster Trucks” has surreptitiously (and unceremoniously) slid into theaters this weekend across the country. The ominous January release date is typically a bad omen and telltale sign of a film’s quality. Of course, there are exceptions to the rule. Case in point: “Monster Trucks.” “Ice Age” director Chris Wedge’s first foray into live-action cinema is an oddly charming story that delivers on the promise of its title. There are monsters, and there are trucks. Plenty of them. Written by a squadron of screenwriters (Derek Connolly, Matthew Robinson,...

First, a confession: I was almost rooting for Monster Trucks to be bearable. Why? Because Paramount Pictures, which is releasing the film, took a $115 million write-down against anticipated losses before it even opened. It's like having your parents write off your college tuition because they know you'll never amount to shit. Talk about lack of faith. So what a kick it would be if this family film actually turned out to be fun, right? Dreams can come true, kiddies. Just not this time.

Monster Trucks is a wreck, fueled by...

Even though its several months till the temps rise to signal the start of blockbuster kid-friendly entertainment time, the multiplex chefs are ready to whip up something that will satisfy the appetites of the pre-teen crowds. Here’s a tasty mash-up, much in the vein of other blended concoctions. Several years ago some far-sighted studio marketing exec thought, “Hey, kids love their doggies and they love sports, so how about a pooch that plays basketball?”. Air Bud proved to be quite the franchise, so this new flick should be another “slam dunk”. The tots love their weird creatures (as long as they’re not too scary) and they adore those big-wheeled behemoths that flattened everything in their path. Have some animation veterans sprinkle a bit of magic and slapstick, and you’ve got a candy coated respite from those somber award season contenders. Clear the way for the Monster Trucks.

After years directing animated movies for Blue Sky Films--the original Ice Age, Robots and Epic were three of his movies--Chris Wedge decided to follow the route of many animation directors before him and do a live action movie.

Along came Monster Trucks, possibly one of the simplest high concept premises ever turned into a film, and Wedge somehow found a way to use that idea to put a twist on the “boy and his car” movie that was done so well in Michael Bay’s original Transformers movie.

It stars Lucas Till (MacGyver) as Tripp, an outsider in his North Dakota town, who spends his time at the garage working on a beat-up pick-up truck that just needs an engine. When an explosion at a nearby oil drilling site unleashes a creature that lives under the earth, its quest for life-sustaining oil leads it to Tripp’s garage and...

The year is off to a strange start, even at the box office. Last weekend saw “Hidden Figures” win in a rare race among three titles for the top spot, but this weekend looks even more complicated. Multiple films will vie for no. 1 — and “Rogue One” isn’t one of them.

Among last weekend’s top grossers, the only one in the hunt is “Hidden Figures.” It will likely will drop to the high teens, and the most likely challenger is the first national expansion of “Patriots Day.” There will also bean even wider break for the major crossover success that is “La La Land,” with “Live By Night” and “Silence” also expanding, if to considerably less effect.

Three new films will open with Paramount’s “Monster Trucks,” Stx’s “Bye Bye Man,” and Open Road’s “Sleepless.” All told, that’s seven films moving into more theaters, a traffic...

The story of a hunky high school senior who discovers an oil-guzzling sea beast (think “Sesame Street” meets the Kraken), and then knots its tentacles around the chassis of his custom jalopy in a perverse attempt to pimp his ride, “Monster Trucks” seems like such an impossibly stupid idea for a movie that it’s easy to forget how it derives from a rather proud history of Hollywood entertainment. After all, there have been any number of studio spectacles about a young boy, or a teenage boy, or — in this case — an obviously grown-ass man doing a hilarious job of pretending to be a teenage boy — whose frustrated small town existence is turned upside down when he befriends a strange and unexpectedly sweet creature that teaches him about growing up or whatever. “Monster Trucks,” however aimless and confused it may be, rolls down a road paved by verified hits like “E.T.,...

Monster Trucks is pure, child-first cinema that’s energetically staged to wow younger audiences (and entertain older chaperones). Didn’t see that coming, did ya? We’re talking about a film that Viacom publicly took a $115 million write-down for and buried away with little-to-no hype. As a critic, these scenarios typically spell a 15-car-pile-up kind of disaster – yet Monster Trucks is no such dumpster fire.

As legend tells, former Paramount film president Adam Goodwin fell in love with an idea co-spawned by his four-year-old son. From there, Ice Age/Robots director Chris Wedge was offered his first feature outside animation, with screenplay duties going to Safety Not Guaranteed/Jurassic World writer Derek Connolly (story by Glenn Berger/Jonathan Aibel/Matthew Robinson). No joke. All these people were tasked with making a child’s cinematic dreams come true, and that’s exactly what the film feels like – a wide-eyed, enthusiastic slice of fun-filled kiddie entertainment.

Chicago – In the latest HollywoodChicago.com Hookup: Film, we have 50 pairs of advance-screening movie passes up for grabs to the new action/adventure “Monster Trucks” starring Lucas Till and Jane Levy!

“Monster Trucks,” which opens on Jan. 13, 2017 and is rated “PG,” also stars Rob Lowe, Danny Glover, Amy Ryan, Barry Pepper, Thomas Lennon, Holt McCallany and Frank Whaley from director Chris Wedge and writers Derek Connolly and Matthew Robinson.

To win your free passes to “Monster Trucks” courtesy of HollywoodChicago.com, just get interactive with our social media widget below. That’s it! This screening is on Saturday, Jan. 7, 2017 at 10 a.m. in downtown Chicago. The more social actions you complete, the more points you score and the higher yours odds of winning! Completing these social actions only increases your odds of winning; this doesn’t intensify your competition!

Preferably, use your computer to enter rather than your smartphone.

If...

MaryAnn’s quick take… What if “monster trucks” actually meant — wait for it — that there were monsters in the trucks? From an idea by a four-year-old (really), and it shows. I’m “biast” (pro): nothing

I’m “biast” (con): nothing

(what is this about? see my critic’s minifesto)

What if “monster trucks” actually meant — wait for it — that there were monsters in the trucks? Cute monsters, of course. Nice monsters. (Duh! Nobody likes bad monsters.) The kind of monsters that a boy could be friends with and drive around with and do daring deeds with. Wouldn’t that be cool?

A monster in a truck is the least ridiculous thing amidst a story that is often illogical and morally hugely problematic.

Apparently — this will shock you — Monster Trucks was developed from an idea by former Paramount president Adam Goodman’s four-year-old son. Seriously. They didn’t actually...