As we're currently in the throngs of awards season, studios are combing through movie reviews to find the most beaming critiques to place in new "critics" TV spots to promote their films' Oscar clout -- look at ones for 'Gravity,' 'Dallas Buyers Club' and the like. Well, leave it to 'The Muppets Most Wanted' to come up with one that puts all the rest to shame.
During the third-annual D23 Expo, held at the Anaheim Convention Center in California, event host and Disney's chief creative officer John Lasseter debuted a brand-new 'Monsters University' short film, 'Party Central,' which will make its theatrical premiere in front of the upcoming Pixar film 'The Good Dinosaur.'
What happens when two new releases that look like sure-things smash into the unstoppable wall that is a Pixar movie? Well, you get one second place hit and one severe disappointment. 'The Heat' still looks good next to the continued success of 'Monsters University,' but it made 'White House Down' stumbling at the starting line look all the more horrible.
Zombies may be really hot right now, but there's one thing that is (and probably always will be) a bigger deal: Pixar. Brad Pitt's 'World War Z' performed quite well in its opening weekend, but even the biggest zombie movie of all time couldn't keep pace with 'Monsters University.'
One of the most surprising things about 'Monsters University' is just how much of a typical college movie it is. Granted, it's full of that typical Pixar warmth and charm, but the overall story revels in a template as old as 'Animal House' and 'Revenge of the Nerds.'
The monsters are coming, the monsters are coming! No, wait, the monsters are here! In one of the bigger weekend showdowns of the summer, we've got two different types of creatures facing off: the zombies of 'World War Z' and the, well, monsters of 'Monsters University.' So which film will get your hard-earned dough this weekend!
Pixar makes a lot of movies. A lot of great movies. So how do they do it? And more importantly, how do they keep doing it? We were invited to visit the Pixar campus in Emeryville, California to watch the 'Monsters University' team work and try to answer that very question.
First up is Story Supervisor, Kelsey Mann. He is responsible for all the storyboards for 'Monsters University,' which serve as