Trailer: Toy Story 3

I wouldn’t expect this to stay on YouTube long, but the first trailer for Toy Story 3 by Pixar is up now. If you went back and watched Toy Story and Toy Story 2 in the 3D double feature (as you should), you’ve seen this before but it’s still work another glance. If you haven’t been following the news, Andy is moving off to college (yes that makes me feel old) and his old box of toys is accidentally shipped off to a day-care center. The laughs and all the heart from the first two are here and I can’t wait for this to drop in June. The official trailer should be out next week, but enjoy this while it lasts. Trailer after the jump.

Poster: Toy Story 3 (Rex)

Pixar has released a poster for Toy Story 3 featuring Rex the Green Dinosaur (Wallace Shawn). Given the release of the film isn’t until next June, I would expect each character to get their own poster including Mr. Pricklepants. It’s Toy Story, I’m not going to try to hype this up, just give into that inner child you know it’s going to be great. Rex Poster from myspace after the jump.

Disney and Universal Pick New Chairmen

Disney Studios stayed in the news yesterday as the Mouse House officially named Rich Ross as the replacement for former Disney chairman Dick Cook. The move had been somewhat expected as the head of Disney Channels Worldwide emerged as the favorite shortly after Cook left the company.

According to Variety, Ross has been largely responsible for Disney’s branding efforts over the last five years, and is likely to focus on building franchises that can not only become tentpoles at the box office but transfer to other media. Ross will be in charge of the company’s live-action and animated feature labels, including Walt Disney Pictures, Touchstone, Miramax, Marvel Entertainment and Pixar. Ross will also oversee its music group and theater productions including Broadway and tours like High School Musical and Disney on Ice.

Strong, Purefoy and Haden Church All Set For Mars

One of the reasons that Pixar is viewed as the king of modern animation is in the fact that they come up with complex and creative ideas for their films, as opposed to Dreamworks, which simply finds an animal and makes them talk (usually latching themselves on to an already completed Pixar film). That said, when Pixar announced that Andrew Stanton, director of A Bugs Life, Finding Nemo and Wall-E, would be directing an adaptation of Edgar Rice Burroughs’ John Carter of Mars, the fear sunk in that they were scraping for ideas (a blasphemous thought that I kept mostly to myself). But as the cast list continues to grow, now with the addition of Mark Strong, James Purefoy and the confirmation of Thomas Hayden Church, and I remind myself how great the previous Pixar films have been, my confidence is shooting back.

Dick Cook Out At Disney, Could Johnny Depp Follow?

After a relatively quiet week in Hollywood, Disney dropped a bombshell Friday night as they announced Dick Cook was out as their chairman. The official company line maintains that Cook left the company as reported by THR, meanwhile Nikki Finke and others are reporting that the former chairman was forced out by President and CEO Bob Iger. I’m more inclined to believe Cook was fired, but this move is arguably more important for the impact it may have on Johnny Depp’s future in Pirates of the Caribbean as well as Pixar and Marvel entertainment.

Timothy Dalton Joins Toy Story 3

Toy Story 3 just got even better with the addition of the always entertaining Timothy Dalton to the cast. Let’s be honest, most of us had at least one toy that we gave a fancy British accent (or just me?) and Dalton fills that sorely needed role just splendidly, and I can only hope he does so with a monocle.

Disney To Buy Marvel Entertainment For $4 Billion

Wow.

Disney agreed to buy Marvel Entertainment in a deal reported by the New York Times for $4 billion. In their biggest deal since acquiring Pixar in 2006, once finalized, this would give Disney control of Marvel’s licensing, publishing and film branches for the stable of over 5,000 characters including the X-Men, Spider-Man, Iron Man and countless others.

Trailer: Toy Story 1 and 2…IN 3-D!!!!!!

As many of you may know, Toy Story 1 and 2 are scheduled to have a limited re-release for two weeks in October as a 3-D double feature. The two movies will be preceded by a trailer for Toy Story 3, which, as an avid fan of Pixar, I cannot wait for. Below is a trailer for the event featuring Woody, Buzz, Rex and Jessie (or Girl Cowboy as she is known in my short term memory.