Victory for Disney/Pixar in Cars lawsuit

Self-proclaimed British screenwriter Jake Mandeville-Anthony has lost his frivolous lawsuit against Disney and Pixar.

The case was dismissed in its entirety yesterday.

In his complaint, filed in March, Mandeville-Anthony alleged that Pixar stole the idea for the Cars franchise from him, thereby infringing his copyright.

After reviewing the facts of the case, the presiding judge dismissed the suit "with prejudice", preventing it from going to jury trial or ever being refiled.

"Defendants have sufficiently shown that the Parties' respective works are not substantially similar in their protectable elements as a matter of law," wrote U.S. District Court Judge Valerie Baker Fairbank in her ruling.

Translation: Disney’s attorneys proved that Mandeville-Anthony’s works, reportedly riddled with crude language and dialogue and highly offensive racial stereotypes, were very different from Cars.

Michael Giacchino joins Twitter

The amazingly talented Michael Giacchino joined Twitter yesterday, @m_giacchino.

As one of Pixar's regular composers, look for some of his tweets to touch on his work with the studio.

Though Giacchino's account hasn't yet been officially Verified, he did receive a big Twitter welcome from Toy Story 3 director Lee Unkrich and others.

Giacchino currently has just over 5550 followers.

By the way, if you're still not following @The_Pixar_Blog, what are you waiting for?!

Mater not lost in translation in Cars 2

Pixar faced a big challenge when translating and dubbing Cars 2 into nearly 45 foreign languages: Mater.

Larry the Cable Guy's 'American bumpkin' wouldn't translate right.

"Mater's kind of a redneck, but that means nothing to anyone overseas because they don't have that particular vocal culture," says Rick Dempsey, senior VP of Disney Character Voices, which oversees foreign voice casting.

"So we had to figure out what region of Germany, for example, has more of an uneducated population without being offensive."

Sounds risky, doesn't it?

Read the full story at ABC News.

Lasseter teases Toy Story 4

That's right! More 'TS4' news for y'all!

John Lasseter was on BBC Breakfast Monday morning to discuss his work directing Cars 2, which opens in the UK on Friday.

The conversation eventually shifted to Toy Story 4, with

Lasseter being a

sked about the remarks made by Tom Hanks on the same program last month.

"I found that very interesting too", he says with a mischievous smile worthy of an 8-year-old who's just raided the cookie jar.

"Yeah, it was really interesting! Well, w

e haven't announced anything yet."

"Would you like to?" ask the presenters.

"No."

In as playful a manner imaginable,

Lasseter quickly changes the topic back to Cars 2 and its London scenes.

Watch the video here and return with your vociferous comments.

If you haven't yet picked up on my gleeful hints, I do want to see a Toy Story 4.

I haven't been shocked at the negative reaction—because everyone really cares about the series—but I think the concerns are massively overblown.

This is Pixar we're talking about, and if they feel they can do right by these characters a fourth time, I tend to trust them on that.

Toy Story 4 coming in 2015?

The Internet Movie Database (IMDb) is listing Toy Story 4 as being in development at Pixar for release in 2015.

While IMDb can be grossly inaccurate, the listing of a Pixar project usually foreruns the proper announcement. For example, "Monsters, Inc. 2" was listed nearly a year before Monsters University was revealed.

More importantly, this comes on the heels of Tom Hanks' authoritative comments last month that he 'understands Toy Story 4 is happening'.

Are you ready for another big screen adventure with Andy's Bonnie's toys?

Pre-order Cars 2 on Blu-ray/DVD

Less than a month after its theatrical release, Cars 2 is already up for pre-order on Blu-ray and DVD at Amazon.com and other online retailers.

No release date has yet been announced, but expect it to be sometime in early November.

Cars 2 will be available in both a deluxe 5-disc combo pack, which includes the film on Blu-ray, Blu-ray 3D, DVD, and digital copy, and a regular 3-disc Blu-ray/DVD pack.

The 2-disc combo pack will be sold in both Blu-ray and DVD packaging, but content will be the same. The release on Blu-ray 3D will be the first for a Pixar film (the Toy Story trilogy won't be far behind).

It seems that Disney will be waiting a while before releasing the film on single-disc DVD—their latest move to spur adoption of the superior Blu-ray format.

Winnie the Pooh in theatres today

There hasn't been much Pixar news lately, but look on the bright side: Disney's new Winnie the Pooh feature is playing at over 2,400 theatres today!

Executive produced by John Lasseter, Pooh is Disney's best treatment of these beloved characters and stories in years. A must-watch for animation lovers.

Read my review of the film at The Disney Blog and share your comments there.

John Carter teaser debuts

The first teaser for Walt Disney Pictures' John Carter, directed by Pixar's Andrew Stanton, has arrived online at iTunes Movie Trailers.

The trailer should dispel the idea that the live-action adaptation of Edgar Rice Burroughs' series is a Pixar project, as once assumed.

John Carter is clearly a whole different animal—more Avatar (in some ways) than Finding Nemo.

Cinematography and music in the teaser are epic, but some of the dialogue worryingly falls back on old cliches.

We shall see how it turns out March 9, 2012.

Pixar at 2011 D23 Expo

Putting an end to a brutally slow week for Pixar news, Disney announced their programming line-up for this year's D23 Expo, the official Disney fan event.

Pixar chief creative officer John Lasseter will join other Disney VIPs onstage on Saturday, August 20 to provide "a fascinating behind-the-scenes glimpse at the exciting roster of projects on the horizon at The Walt Disney Studios."

While today's press release doesn't expressly mention any Pixar-specific presentation, I have a feeling this is where Pixar's secret November 2013 feature is going to be announced. You heard it here first.

The D23 Expo takes place August 19-21 at the Anaheim Convention Center in Anaheim, CA.