Pixar held their panel at Comic Con yesterday, to talk about their upcoming slate, which includes next year’s Toy Story 3. The main announcement they had on that score was when director Lee Unkrich (Finding Nemo, Monster’s Inc.) said, “Barbie is back, and this time she plays a bigger role. So naturally we had to bring in her companion Ken this time. And we can announce today that he’s voiced by Michael Keaton. He worked with us on Cars, where he voiced the bad guy, and he was a blast to work with so we invited him back as Ken.”
The cinema is set to go Toy Story crazy in the next year, with the first two movies being re-released in 3D this autumn, before Toy Story 3 hits cinemas next summer. Indeed the whole Disney empire has gone a bit crazy with turning old 2D movies into 3D, with the likes of Beauty and the Beast also due moving into three dimensions and getting a new cinema release. From the clips shown at Comic Con, it seems the remastering works well, although it’ll be interesting to see whether the whole thing seems like a gimmick when we get to see the entire move.
And it’s not only Disney, as at a 3D panel, James Cameron confirmed that they’re working on a 3D version of Titanic. Apparently it’s going to take 18 months to convert the entire thing, and then it’ll get a cinema release. On the other hand, Peter Jackson said that at the moment there are no plans to turn Lord Of The Rings 3D. The director said that Warner doesn’t feel there are enough 3D screens out there yet to justify the expense, however with more being added all the time, that may change.