Pixar Boss Pete Docter Admits the Studio ‘Trained’ Families to Expect Disney+ Debuts, Says Bad ‘Elemental’ Buzz at Cannes Was ‘Confusing’

Jazz Tangcay Artisans Editor Start your engines and mark your calendars for July 28. “RuPaul’s Drag Race Down Under” is back for a third season with 10 fierce and fabulous queens. RuPaul will be hosting the series with returning judges Michelle Visage and Rhys Nicholson. “Australasian drag is filled with heart and humor, and I’m thrilled to share my Season 3 queens to the world, for all to see their charisma, uniqueness, nerve, and talent,” RuPaul says. The 10 queens hail from across New Zealand and Australia. This season promises to be filled with thrills and maxi-challenges galore as the queens go head-to-head to snatch the crown.

Jazz Tangcay Artisans Editor When composer Thomas Newman was having early conversations about the music of Pixar’s “Elemental,” he looked for a connecting thread between the film’s imaginary world, where elements are characters, and the human world. “I looked for similar issues of otherness and how that could be reflected in music, and how we would identify with that through our human ear,” says Newman. His approach to cracking the score was about applying a “musical color,” and association to the universal themes. When he looked at scenes and the vibrant colors of “Elemental,” what did his ears hear sonically, and did that match what his eyes were seeing?

Jazz Tangcay Artisans Editor “Saturday Night Live” production designers Leo Akira Yoshimura and Keith Raywood work at breakneck speed under extraordinarily tight schedules to ensure sets for the timely satire are camera-ready each week — with changes being added right up to the very last minute. Raywood, who began as a production designer on the show in 1985, will often start crafting sets late on Wednesday nights. “This show is writer-driven. It all starts with the script,” he says. “One show can haveless complexity to it and fewer special effects are involved, but we never know until it’s handed to us on Wednesday night.” Other sets will be used for two to three scenes. When Yoshimura introduces people to the show, whether it’s cast or friends visiting, they always comment on the stage size — Studio 8H is just over 6,000 square feet, including space for audience seating — or remark on how swiftly the crew shifts scenery.

Jazz Tangcay Artisans Editor REO Speedwagon’s “Time For Me To Fly” plays out in the very last scene of the final episode of ABC’s long-running sitcom “The Goldbergs.” The 1978 hit plays as the titular family gather together and imagine what the future will bring. Mojo co-founder and COO Peter Shane acquired REO Speedwagon’s publishing catalog in 2019, and because of longstanding relationships with both the band and “The Goldbergs” music supervisor Ann Kline, the process to clearing the song was a swift one. Having been in the business for over 25 years, Shane’s closest collaborations are with music supervisors. “We work with them at all stages,” he says. “The beginning, middle and end, when music is being considered for projects.”

Jazz Tangcay Artisans Editor Transforming Disney’s award-winning animated feature “Encanto” into a live experience at the Hollywood Bowl in front of an audience of 17,000 people was no easy feat, with factors such as the pandemic, limited access to the venue and unexpected weather conditions all in play. But the production team, cast and crew pulled it off in under 72 hours, delivering a Broadway-quality experience. Unlike a Broadway show, the original voice cast, scores of dancers and production team did not have the luxury of rehearsing at the Bowl. Gabe Turner, executive producer of the event, said, “We could only gain access to the Bowl for four days before we were due to welcome our dancers, orchestra and cast into the space.”

Disney was the final studio to present here at CineEurope in Barcelona, highlighting 17 upcoming films and bringing A Haunting in Venice star/director Kenneth Branagh to town, as well as a live performance of “This Wish” from animated adventure Wish which releases in November.

Jazz Tangcay Artisans Editor Composer Sherri Chung admits she was late to the “Gremlins” party — only because she was too young and found it too scary. But when she grew older and was reintroduced to the movie, she thought “it was the greatest thing ever.” The 1984 film, as well as Jerry Goldsmith’s score, became a key inspiration for her. So when she got the opportunity to score Max’s new animated series “Gremlins: Secret of the Mogwai,” directed by Tze Chun, she decided to “lean into the scary and the fear, but also the emotion” with her music. The series is an origin story that gives a partial explanation as to how Gizmo ends up in a Chinatown antique store at the beginning of 1984’s “Gremlins.” To add a Chinese element to the score, Chung used bamboo flutes, but the meat of the score came from the erhu, a two-stringed bowed musical instrument sometimes referred to as the “Chinese violin.”

Rebecca Rubin Film and Media Reporter Pixar’s chief creative officer Pete Docter recently told the press that he doesn’t “think of Pixar as making children’s programming.” By the look of box office returns for the studio’s recent animated offerings, it would appear that kids have taken notice — and haven’t been so inclined to watch those movies in theaters. Over the weekend, “Elemental” collapsed at the domestic box office with a $29.5 million opening, by far the worst debut in Pixar’s 28-year history. Even forgettable Pixar adventures, like 2015’s “The Good Dinosaur” ($39 million), 2020’s “Onward” ($39 million) and last year’s massive money-loser “Lightyear” ($51 million), managed to fill more seats in their opening weekends.

Elemental,” is a charming drama about family and identity, centering the story of two elements, Ember and Wade (voiced by Leah Lewis and Mamoudou Athie, respectively), who fall in love with each other. Many different themes are tackled within, from questions of personal identity to the struggles of immigration. But at a certain point Ember talks about how, as a fire element who can cause things to ignite just by standing next to them, the “world is not designed for me.”My ears immediately perked up when I heard that line.

Jazz Tangcay Artisans Editor Lady Gaga‘s concert film for “The Chromatica Ball Tour” is well on its way, according to the pop singer and actor. On Friday evening, Gaga confirmed the news via Instagram as she gave fans an in-depth explanation of her creative process as of late, also sharing what she has recently been working on. She wrote, “I have been running my start-up Haus Labs, doing philanthropic work, and additionally have been working on The Chromatica Ball film edit.” She added, “Here’s a photo of my working on The Chromatica Ball film edit (that’s a frame from the film behind me) — I can’t WAIT for you to experience it.”A post shared by Lady Gaga (@ladygaga) The long and detailed caption also notes that she’s been writing and producing music for a “special project.”

Jazz Tangcay Artisans Editor The story behind Pixar’s latest animated feature “Elemental” is a personal one to filmmaker Peter Sohn. The opening shows a family arriving at the fictional port of Elemental City, which closely reflected the immigration story of Sohn’s parents from Korea to New York. The story breathes life into the earth elements of fire, water, land and air, depicting them as residents of Elemental City. When Ember (Leah Lewis), a fiery young woman, meets go-with-the-flow water being Wade (Mamoudou Athie), they discover that, despite their conflicts, they have a lot in common. As the two fall in love, Ember is faced with the internal conflict of being with Wade or following in her parents’ footsteps and running the family business. As the son of first-generation immigrants, Ember’s struggle reflected not only Sohn’s personal experience, but that of many of the animators and storytellers behind the scenes.

's title character and EVE,'s Woody and Bo Peep, or (get your tissues ready)'s Carl and Ellie. But not until has a Pixar movie focused so directly on a love story between the central couple, drawing inspiration from beloved rom-coms of the past to shape the chemistry between its main characters: Ember Lumen (Leah Lewis), a young, headstrong fire element, and Wade Ripple (Mamoudou Athie), a fun and sensitive water element.Lewis and Athie joined ET's Matt Cohen at Pixar Animation Studios in San Francisco recently to discuss more about their characters and the upcoming film, which has been seven years in the making for director Peter Sohn, who previously directed  for Pixar. takes place in Element City, in a universe where different elements — fire, water, earth and air — traditionally keep to themselves, sometimes facing xenophobic attitudes as they strive to live alongside one another.

on Rotten Tomatoes) and little being sold beyond “Hey, it’s the next Pixar film!”), the Peter Sohn-directed flick could struggle to match the $29 million Fri-Sun debut (amid a $39 million Wed-Sun launch) of “Toy Story” back in 1995, let alone the over/under $39 million Fri-Sun debuts of “The Good Dinosaur” in 2015 and “Onward” (which opened a week before COVID shut down the world) in 2020.Just running the numbers, if “Elemental” legs over the weekend like “Lightyear” ($51 million from a $5.2 million Thursday), it’ll open with just $23.5 million by Sunday night. Being more optimistic, however unlikely, if “Elemental” legs like “Cars 3” ($53 million/$2.6 million), well, then it opens with $49 million and you can ignore the next few paragraphs of doom-n-gloom.Generally speaking, animated movies tend to make less of their money on Thursday night, since general audiences are more inclined to wait until the proper weekend to take their kids.

Elemental” has several classic film inspirations behind it, ranging all the way from the 1967 romantic drama “Guess Who’s Coming to Dinner” to 1974’s “Godfather 2” (you read that right). For director Peter Sohn, no film was off-limits for a story that held deep personal connection to him.

McKinley Franklin editor It’s time to take a dive into the Communiverse.  Disney and Pixar have released the first official trailer for the upcoming animated science fiction feature “Elio,” which is set to debut on March 1, 2024.  “Elio” spotlights the story of an underdog character of the same name who suddenly finds himself transported into the Communiverse, a world encompassed by out-of-this-world, extraterrestrial characters. Upon arrival, Elio is mistakenly identified as Earth’s ambassador, a role in which he’s not quite ready to take on. “For centuries, people have called out to the universe looking for answers — in Disney and Pixar’s all-new movie ‘Elio,’ the universe calls back! Elio must form new bonds with eccentric alien lifeforms, survive a series of formidable trials and somehow discover who he is truly meant to be,” reads the film’s official logline.

There’s something particularly tragic about a boring Pixar movie, especially one that hardly carries any of the tenets that have made the animation company so legendary. It’s unfortunate when any good-willed film is bad, of course, but with all the good graces previously engendered by Pixar, watching the culmination of years of animation hardly add up to a memorable experience is a bummer.

Karen Idelson While debates about the use of A.I. take center stage across the entertainment industry, the technology has been quietly assisting animation and visual effects crews for years. It had made some of the most astonishing visual images possible when artisans have been asked to do what was previously thought impossible. When helmer Peter Sohn wanted characters based on the elements of fire, water, air and earth for his new film “Elemental,” VFX supervisor Sanjay Bakshi and his team at Pixar looked to A.I. to make the process smoother. The look of the characters depended on adjustments that would align them with Sohn’s vision. “We used A.I. for a very specific kind of problem, and we used a machine learning algorithm called neural style transfer,” says Bakshi. “Our animation is so highly scrutinized. We go through so many review cycles for every shot and the animators are really handcrafting it and there’s not a lot of places where machine learning is applicable in the current form.

Jazz Tangcay Artisans Editor Production designer Patrick O’Keefe drew inspiration from brutalist architecture, graphic artist Syd Mead and British punk band The Sex Pistols when animating the world of “Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse.” As Miles Morales crosses path with different Spider-People from other dimensions, it was up to O’Keefe and his team of animators to create visual worlds that reflect those counterparts. With Variety, he breaks down the looks of each world and shares his favorite easter eggs that pay homage to the Canadian animators who worked on the film. “Whenever it comes to developing anything for the film, I’m always asking myself, whose point of view are we seeing this from? And what does it need to do?

Jazz Tangcay Artisans Editor Composer Daniel Pemberton pushed a few boundaries and “made something really creative and different” when he scored 2018’s “Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse.” When he returned to score the sequel, “Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse,” he knew he would have to “push it as far as we can go.” Pemberton says he had to build the score from the ground up, which was complicated. “You’re trying not to make a score that sounds like other film scores. You’re trying to invent your own language.” Inventing that language took experimentation, research and failure. He explains, “I spent two years researching and developing this score, going through ideas, coming up with concepts and throwing them out.”

Jazz Tangcay Artisans Editor Ruth Carter doesn’t need the prefix “costume designer” in front of her name; she is a household name. Carter made Oscar history when she became the first Black woman ever to win two Oscars,thanks to her work on the “Black Panther” films. With credits that include “Selma,” “Malcolm X,” “Coming 2 America” and being Spike Lee’s go-to, Carter has stories to tell.