Taking the stage to talk at the Disney shareholders meeting, Studio head Dick Cook played up the upcoming releases from Walt Disney Pictures, including such tent-pole pictures as Hildago, The Ladykillers, Home On The Range, The Alamo, King Arthur, M Night Shyamalan's The Village, The Princess Diaries II and, of course, The Incredibles, to which the gathered crowd were treated to a rough full trailer. Looking ahead to 2005, Cook called Chicken Little an "outrageous comedy", again presenting rough trailer footage, as well as mentioning the upcoming A Day With Wilbur Robinson, Glen Keane's Rapunzel Unbraided and American Dog. Commenting on the controlling of the Pixar library of films, Cook announced "new and exciting movies and products based on those wonderful stories, including Toy Story 3, now in development at Walt Disney Feature Animation".

Sneak Peek at Pixar's The Incredibles
February 18, 2004
Source: Ain't It Cool News

Today, I managed to sneak into a special Walt Disney Feature Animation presentation, organized by Buena Vista International - Benelux and held in the humongous Pathé De Kuip theatre in Rotterdam, Netherlands

Unfortunately, Disney-lady didn't surprise us with the entire film (that probably would be impossible anyway), but she did show us a lot of exhilarating clips. Some spoilers ahead, so beware... The movie opens with a sequence that will OWN all us fanboys; the superhero marriage of Mr. Incredible (voiced by Craig T. Nelson) and Elastigirl (voiced by Holly Hunter). Every superhero in the world has come down to join the party and all seems to be going well, except for the fact that the reign of superheroes is about to come to an end. How? Well, with lawsuits of course. Hundreds of them. Superheroes all over the world are forced into hiding... changing their identity and trying to lead a normal life. So are Mr. Incredible and Elastigirl - now known as Bob and Helen Parr, living a quiet life in suburbia with their kids Violet, Dash and baby Jack Jack.

Needless to say, Bob isn't content with his new life. His job at an insurance company bores him to death, his lovehandles are growing by the day and his kids often times drive him insane. The 'family-scenes' I saw were hilarious - trademark Simpsons-humor from the guy who was responsible for some of the finest Simpsons-episodes ever. Just imagine young Dash (who has superhuman speed) irritating his sister by running circles around the dinner-table, sister herself (capable of becoming invisible and creating forcefields) using her powers to stop her brother and mother Helen stretching her arms around the living room, trying to keep her children from fighting.

Everything changes when Bob finds a secret message hidden in his suitcase. It seems superheroes are still needed and after accepting a 'job' and successfully completing it, Bob rediscovers the joys of his old, world-saving life. Only this time, he has to keep it a secret from Helen and the kids.

Strangely enough, saving the earth once again has made Bob a much better father. He feels happy again, spending more time with his kids, giving Helen the attention she so deserves and even getting rid of those love handles.

Bob even goes so far as to acquire a new superhero-outfit (his old one has holes in it). In a hilarious scene, which Disney-lady was kind enough to show us, Bob pays a visit to 'superhero couturier' Edna (E), voiced by Brad Bird himself! Bob discusses his new outfit with E, who - after reminding Bob that many superheroes have died in cape-related accidents - tells Mr. Incredible that the new suit should have "NO CAPE!"

The final sequence Disney-lady showed us was a rescue mission on a mysterious island, where Mr. Incredible was last seen. It goes without saying that his family discovers Bob's superhero-activities and decides to help him. One scene in particular, where Elastigirl takes out several guards in different rooms, is truly amazing.

Entertainment Weekly
January 17, 2004

Well, it's a little more exciting than actuarial tables. Pixar's newest CG adventure, "The Incredibles," starts as our nation's bravest heroes have been forced to trade in their capes for white-collar jobs, but villainy afoot allows a paunchy Mr. Incredible and his family of supersidekicks to suit up again and leave their ranch-house suburb to find tall buildings to leap over in a single bound.

Though you might expect an action stud like Vin Diesel or The Rock to be voicing the herculean Mr. Incredible, the superlead is played by...Craig T. Nelson. (Holly Hunter speaks for his wife, Elastigirl.) "There's a school of thought that you simply go out and get a bunch of celebrities, the bigger the better, throw some animation around them, and try to coast a little bit on whatever reservoir of goodwill the voice provider has," says writer-director Brad Bird ("The Iron Giant"), who couldn't possibly be alluding to bombs like last year's "Sinbad: Legend of the Seven Seas" with Brad Pitt and Catherine Zeta-Jones. "I imagine the characters first, and then try to find a voice for them. Craig's a terrific actor." Is this a nice way of saying Nelson has a face for voice-over?

Michael Giacchino to score The Incredibles
November 27, 2003

According to Michael Giacchino's website, have reported that the news page at composer Michael Giacchino's website notes that he has been signed to score Pixar's The Incredibles. Giacchino's previous experience is almost completely in scoring video games. His most well known credit is for writing the music for the ABC TV show Alias.

From Shaft to superhero?
November 19, 2003
Source: http://www.tiscali.co.za

We caught up with Samuel L Jackson earlier this week, and chatted about the possibility of a comic book in the King of Cool's future.

TISCALI: So... Swat opening this weekend, premiere tonight and you've been playing golf all weekend?

SAMUEL L JACKSON: Yeah

TISCALI: How was that?

SLJ: Very cool. I had a great time.

TISCALI: And what did your group finish up - 20 under par?

SLJ: Yeah, we finished second…

TISCALI: None too shabby! Well, now... I've seen most of your movies, but I think the very first one I ever saw was 'Loaded Weapon I'.

SLJ: Oh really!

TISCALI: I've since gone back and seen your earlier films like Do the Right thing, Goodfellas, Jungle Fever, but I gotta ask… when are we getting a sequel to Loaded?

SLJ: Ha! If only that had made more money - I thought it was going to be a franchise picture too.

TISCALI: That was what, 10 years ago already?

SLJ: Yeah.

TISCALI: But then you went on to do a great many other films, which included an Oscar nomination for Pulp Fiction, and then onto bigger and bigger projects.

SLJ: Yeah, there's been a long run of good things, but not a lotta comedy in between.

TISCALI: What was in the briefcase?

SLJ: No idea. That's a question I get asked at least once a week.

TISCALI: Yeah, but it was the first time I’ve ever asked it! Was that the first interaction you had with Tarentino?

SLJ: Nah, actually I met Quentin originally when I auditioned for Reservoir Dogs...

TISCALI: And on the strength of that did he call you up and say...

SLJ: Um...let me think what happened ... I auditioned for Reservoir dogs, and then I didn't hear from him again, until I went to Sundance that year, I had a film at the festival, and they were doing the first screening of reservoir dogs, and I went to it, saw it, and I saw him afterwards and I went to him and he remembered my audition and said to me "How d'you like the guy who got your part?" and I said, it would have have been a better movie if you'd put me in it! And all of a sudden I get a phone call saying he'd like to have dinner with me one night, cos he had this thing he was writing, and when we had dinner we talked about how he wanted to write this part for me in his movie, and I was like, "good! yeah!" and he said it'll come soon in the mail, okay fine, I went off and then I got one letter from him in Virginia, and sure enough I got this script in a brown paper wrapper, that had the Jersey film logo on it, two old guys, funny little logo, two big guys painted on it - and he said if I show this script to anybody two guys'll come along and break your legs. And... it was pulp fiction.

TISCALI: So that part was written especially for you?

SLJ: That's what he told me then!

TISCALI: Has he since changed tack?

SLJ: Nah..

TISCALI: Instead he phones you up and says, Sam, we got this great role we've created just for you in Kill Bill [volume 2, as the organ player in the wedding scene]

SLJ: Actually he didn't tell me that, I just got hold of Kill Bill 'cos actually my wife was supposed to be in that, and I read her script, and as I was reading it I tried to find something for me to do - I mean, he didn't call me to do his movie, what's up with that?! - and then I realised, right, that it was all about these women, and then I while I was reading it, I was thinking, there's gotta be a cameo role for people who've been in his other movies, and I think it's right.... here! So I called him and I said 'Look, I want to be this guy right here who's at the wedding and he was like yeah, yeah cool, okay, and that's how I ended up in it. Now my wife's not in it, and I am!

TISCALI: And was she mad?

SLJ: Uh, kinda.

TISCALI: Pulp Fiction, then Shaft, going from cool to cool. I've often seen you referred to as The King of Cool.

SLJ: Yeah, me too - I wonder what that is? It's one of those kinda things where you're associated with the roles you play and guys that are confident and guys that say smart stuff, act tough and do all that kind of stuff, all of a sudden next thing you know it's kinda... Oh!

TISCALI: Was that the kinda case with SWAT, where they said, well here we've got this movie which is pretty cool but we wanna make it really cool, so let's phone Sam Jackson

SLJ: Well that's possible, I was actually the first element in place, before they had a director or any of the other cast members, I was the first guy.

TISCALI: Ah, so when Colin Farrell came on board did you play any part in yes/no-ing the rest of the cast?

SLJ: Well I had cast approval, kind of funny - it's a whole new phenomenon that comes along with who you are at a certain point, yeah they called me one day and told me they were thinking of getting Colin, and I was like, Okay, who is he - and then I realised who he was, I called a couple of people that had worked with him, and they were all very positive about him, and then Clarke Johnson - they finally hired Clarke, Clarke was trying to talk Colin into doing the movie, and they called me on the phone and we talked and he said, well if you're in it, I'll do it. That's how it all happened.

TISCALI: And was he well behaved on set?

SLJ: Ah, he was great. Colin comes to work to work. He has a social life, that's well, it's Colin's social life. If I was young and good-looking and had access to all the girls he has access to, I'd probably live the same life he's living right now.. but when he comes to work, he comes to work.

TISCALI: I was surprised by how nicely it all clicked together.

SLJ: Yeah, Clarke did a good job - he's a veteran of solo, TV dramas. He was on Homicide Life on the Streets, as an actor, and then he started directing in the original of SHIELD episodes and THE WIRE on HBO. He's pretty savvy about cop drama, smart enough to know too, that there you've got these big set pieces and the gun fights, but there's gotta be a story there somewhere, makes sense, so it's got to be about these guys and their relationship, whatever, so he set that up quite well and it gives the audience a chance to get to know these characters quite well and how they feel about each other and all this other stuff, and also gives them the chance to figure out if somebody's going to be tempted by 100 million dollars, then they can try and figure out which one it might be...

TISCALI: Is it true that there was a real cop car chase through the set?

SLJ: Oh yeah! One night, while we were on the bridge, we were up there and all of a sudden they came through on the walkies, and we had to clear the bridge 'cause there was somebody coming through...

TISCALI: ...was it the bridge where the Lear Jet lands?

SLJ: Yeah, where the plane lands, yeah, so we're up there, the plane's up there the guys have got fires going off and all of that, and then this stolen car comes blasting through with about 8 cop cars behind it, and it was all over the news channels.

TISCALI: Get any decent footage?

SLJ: Ahh.. it wouldn't have worked for us, would have worked for the News that night... yeah, worked for the news. Great advertising for us too.

TISCALI: So, then. Mr Glass in Unbreakable, Mace Windu in Star Wars... are we ever going to see Samuel L Jackson as a superhero?

SLJ: A superhero? Hmmm. Um, I don't know.

TISCALI: Well, you know that Marvel comics has re-modelled one of their characters to look just like you!

SLJ: Yeah, I know! I've seen that... the guy from Shield.

TISCALI: Nick Fury

SLJ: Yeah, Nick Fury. I actually have those. Well... okay, I talked to them actually.

TISCALI: You chatted with Avi Arad and Marvel?

SLJ: I had a meeting a couple of months ago. And we were talking about trying to find the possibilities there. Actually, I am already a superhero - in an animated film.

TISCALI: Ah.. The Incredibles. But you play a bad guy in that, don't you?

SLJ: No! I'm a good guy! I'm Mr Incredible's best friend. I'm Frozon.

TISCALI: Do you have super powers or are you more of a batman-type gadget oriented...

SLJ: I've got superpowers, man! - I can make things freeze... Yeah, it was cool, spent about five, six months making that, off and on.

TISCALI: How do you find voice work like that?

SLJ: Yeah, it was fun, - specially 'cause you can't see ANYthing, not while you're doing it. All we had was the character picture on the wall, but they hadn't done the animation. It's like doing a radio play.

TISCALI: Right, now I gotta ask about Star Wars.. Mace Windu.

SLJ: Uh-huh.....

TISCALI: So you don't go out like a punk?

SLJ: No.

TISCALI: Blaze of glory?

SLJ: Pretty much yeah...

TISCALI: In that final death scene, is there a lot of action work?

SLJ: Yeah it was hard work, a lot harder than before. You get what you ask for sometimes, and it's ah, damn! So, I ended up in Australia, and then I guess I had to rehearse for 8 days before I actually shot it, and learned a 137-move sabre fight.

TISCALI: Wow.

SLJ: So it was crazy...

TISCALI: That'll take up a good bunch've minutes of footage!

SLJ: Yeah, it takes a while.

TISCALI: That's great... cos there's been a lot of warming up to it. In the first film you were like.. Oh, Mace Windu, wise elder-type, no real fighting

SLJ: yeah

TISCALI: In the second film, there's some kicking of butts in the gladiator scene.

SLJ: yeah,

TISCALI: going in for the kill and now is it Palpatine or Anakin that does you in?

SLJ: I can't tell you that! Now that, I can't tell you!

TISCALI: (damnation! reaching, grasping at straws) So no backstabbing by Anakin?

SLJ: Nah, it's full frontal.

TISCALI: Full frontal lobotomy?

SLJ: Heh, yeah...

TISCALI: Mr Jackson, it's been a pleasure.

SLJ: I appreciate that. You have a great day now

Incredibles Preview Next Week on ABC
October 5, 2003

There will be a preview of the The Incredibles on ABC on October 11 during The Wonderful World of Disney Toy Story. From the previews it appears to be the one already on the internet, but definately a must to see.

John Barry Confirmed as The Incredibles' Composer
Source: http://www.jimhillmedia.com
August 10, 2003

Jim Hill writes that "this Brad Bird film will be the very first Pixar production to feature a score by four-time Academy Award winner John Barry (Out of Africa, Dances with Wolves). The early buzz on this film is that The Incredibles could be the best Pixar picture yet."

Rumored Voice Cast for The Incredibles!

August 4, 2003

Finally! While nothing has been confirmed officially yet, Box Office Prophets reports that Craig T. Nelson will provide the voice for Mr. Incredible, while other cast members include Samuel L. Jackson as the main arch-nemesis, Jason Lee, Holly Hunter and Wallace Shawn. The site also adds that "the daughter of the family dates the son of the arch-nemesis, and Mr. Incredible is alarmed to find that the rotten kid has X-ray vision."

Sneak Peek at The Incredibles on Finding Nemo DVD!
August 4, 2003

Buena Vista Home Entertainment announced today that Finding Nemo, the biggest film of 2003 with $312.7 million so far, swims onto DVD November 4. Besides an exclusive sneak peek at the next Disney/Pixar film, The Incredibles, opening November 2004, Cinescape reveals that the Collector's Edition DVD will include the widescreen version of the film as well as a commentary track by director Andrew Stanton, co-director Lee Unkrich and co-writer Bob Petersen. The first disc will also include a documentary showing us how the film was created by Pixar; a look at the pre-production process and the artwork created during the development of the film; and a feature that let's you turn your TV set into a virtual aquarium, recreating some of the impressive underwater environments seen in the movie! The second disc features the fullscreen version of the film; a short film by underwater explorer Jean-Michel Cousteau showing us Australia's Great Barrier Reef, the setting of Finding Nemo; an encyclopedia that teaches you about the real fish the characters of Finding Nemo are based on; the early Pixar short film Knick Knack; Fisharades, an interactive game that lets you guess what words a school of fish are trying to spell; a read-along adventure starring Nemo as he enjoys a day at school; and a behind-the-scenes tour of Pixar Studios hosted by Alexander Gould, the young actor who provided the voice of Nemo. The two-disc Finding Nemo DVD has a retail price of $29.99 while the VHS is priced at $24.99.

Description of Two Characters from The Incredibles
July 23, 2003

'Timbone' describes at Animation Nation the character designs and storyboard animatics he saw this week at Pixar. "I must say that Brad Bird and the lads and ladies at Pixar really know what they're doing! A couple quick characters that I liked and made me laugh: Violet [is] Mr. Incredible's awkward, shy, teenage daughter. She speaks as little and as monosylabbically as possible. She has a very slight goth teenage rebel the-world-is-too-much-and-it-hates-me thing about her. Her superpower? Invisibility! How perfect is that? E [is] this short fiesty lady, [she] is THE superhero costume designer! Voiced by: Brad Bird! They couldn't find anyone who had the same attitude and inflections to make the character work, so Mr. Bird's voice stayed. E does a great run down of why she won't do superhero costumes with capes..."

June 20, 2003

More on the Premise of The Incredibles

Yahoo! Movies reports that "the Incredibles are a family of superheroes trying to live a quiet life in the suburbs (placed there by the Witness Protection program to hide them from one of their supervillains) who find themselves called into action to save the world, led by the pater familias, Mr. Incredible, whose better days as a superhero appear to be behind him."

June 12, 2003

NYC's Licensing Show

Select licensees were treated to a 45-minute presentation of the storyline of Pixar's The Incredibles yesterday. Little more is known at this point, I will post more when I find out any more additional information!

Incredibles Cameo Spotted in Finding Nemo
June 8, 2003

'Brady' tells us that, as you may have already read or realized, Mr. Incredible can be seen on the cover of a comic book that a young boy is holding in the dentist's waiting room while Darla is breaking loose. Nobody was able to identify the Cars cameo for sure yet even though many suspect it happens during one of the final escape scenes by the highway--the search continues!

June 6, 2003

Disney Baits DreamWorks

Bucking convention, Disney has slapped a November 5, 2004, release date on Pixar's The Incredibles--the same date previously picked by DreamWorks to release its animated feature Sharkslayer. And the calendar conflict is causing major problems for DreamWorks execs, who must time merchandising and licensing deals to the movie's release date. Now, despite having claimed the date last December, E! Online reports that they're fishing for another weekend to launch the CG franchise. But it won't be easy. The Friday before Thanksgiving is already tied up by another family friendly twofer, Warner Bros.' CG release Polar Express, and a big-screen adaptation of TV's SpongeBob SquarePants from Paramount. Could this turn back on Disney and make them the bad guys? Maybe, maybe not. Early November has been good to Disney and partner Pixar since the release of Monsters, Inc. two years ago. Ironically, Disney was forced to juggle its November 2001 schedule to avoid going up against Warners' Thanksgiving release Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone. That proven track record might explain the Mouse House's confidence. The company wasn't talking about its scheduling standoff except for a brief comment in Thursday's Variety. "It looks like the moviegoing public will have lots to choose from on November 5, 2004," said a spokesperson. Dreamworks did tell the trade paper it was amazed "that its diplomatic efforts to be the date's sole animated player were met with what appeared to be an abrupt and aggressive response." According to Variety, there are a couple of factors at work over the dueling date and they've got nothing to do with pleasing the moviegoing public. First, the well known rivalry between Disney CEO Michael Eisner and DreamWorks principal Jeffrey Katzenberg, who sued for millions in unpaid bonuses after quitting the Happiest Place on Earth in 1994 and was subsequently dubbed "the little midget" by his former boss, Eisner. Also at stake is Pixar's contract with Disney, which expires soon. Showing a little love for the successful animation studio, which is behind Finding Nemo, could be a top priority for Disney. Not on the Mouse's top priority list: showing any love for DreamWorks. In general, studios work to avoid the type of scheduling clashes that could cost box office dollars. But the 'toon market seems to have taken a particularly childish approach to the competition. In 1998 Katzenberg rushed Antz into theaters eight weeks before the release of A Bug's Life after Disney refused to budge Bugs's Thanksgiving release date which would interfere with Katzenberg's pet project, Prince of Egypt, which was later pushed back. DreamWorks continued the tit-for-tat rivalry in November 2001 when it launched the DVD of its pride and joy Shrek the same day Monsters, Inc. opened in theaters, even after Disney had staked out the date first.

June 4, 2003

Yahoo! Movies on The Incredibles Teaser

Webmaster Greg writes that "it was entertaining, though not uproariously so. What we see, basically, is a moment in the life of Mr. Incredible, retired (and now overweight) superhero, as he's called back into service, which means that he has to put his old costume back on... if he can. I think it might have been confusing for some moviegoers that the movie was called The Incredibles but we only see Mr. Incredible (ie, the teaser doesn't explain that the rest of the family are superheroes too). I also have heard comments from people baffled about why there's already a trailer in theaters for a movie that doesn't open for another 18 months, but really, that's fairly common for Pixar."

June 1, 2003

John Lasseter on The Incredibles

The Pixar founder explained to the Calgary Sun that "it takes 96 frames of film to create one second of movie and at our peak we're lucky to complete five seconds a week. This is why the films are expensive and time-consuming, but we feel it's all up there on the screen. Our goal now is to release a new feature every year. We're able to manage one every 18 months, but we hope to start the one-a-year by 2006. [Next year's The] Incredibles is a superhero movie from Brad Bird, who created The Iron Giant. It's going to be Pixar's first movie with humans as the major characters. It's very challenging for computer animation because of the clothing, skin and hair. Creating a Buzz Lightyear is infinitely easier to do."

May 28, 2003

AICN Describes The Incredibles Teaser!

"The teaser trailer begins with various memorabilia of Captain Incredible, hero for all and all around swell guy I take it. First thing you notice about Captain Incredible’s press photos is his physique He is chiseled of stone like a steroid blonde Jay Leno with a two foot chin. A paragon of hero-hood. The music think On Her Majesty's Secret Service! Yeah baby! Gah-Roove! Then without warning The Incredible Phone, with the patented lit up Incredible Logo. The hand of a God lifts the receiver--There is an Emergency. Only Captain Incredible can save them. The call has been made! --- The rest. Well, I wouldn’t ruin the rest for all the tea in China."

The Incredibles on Pixar's Walls
May 7, 2003

Steve Jobs explained during the First Quarter 2003 Earnings conference on May 7, 2003 that "the current Disney agreement gives us creative control when the director of the film has directed a previous Pixar film that has achieved box office over a certain amount; we have directors now that have creative control of their films. But Brad Bird being a director directing his first Pixar film did not qualify for that, so we had joint creative control with Disney and that has not been a problem. There has been zero issues with Disney about it and I think they really love the movie. We are targeted for holiday 2004 release, Disney is fully onboard with that. You might want to check with them for the release of Home on the Range, but I think you will find that holiday 2004 is wide open for The Incredibles."

May 2003

Andrew Stanton revealed in a May 2003 interview with In Focus Magazine that animating human beings was "very, very daunting--and man, it’s going to pay off." He specified that Pixar animators are "going for a little bit more stylism" than they have in the Toy Story movies." Finding Nemo co-director Lee Unkrich also says that "we have an Incredibles cameo of sorts in Finding Nemo. I think that will become a little tradition now--to catch a little glimpse of the next film in each previous film."

April 15, 2003

The original title for this project was The Incredibles. It was later changed to The Invincibles, before being switched back to The Incredibles in April 2002.

April 2003

An April 2002 press release described the newly retitled The Incredibles as "a fantastic new action-adventure comedy: in this clever comedy, a family of undercover superheroes, struggling to live a quiet suburban life, is forced into action to save the world."

March 15, 2003

Terrific Early Buzz on Brad Bird's The Incredibles!

From Animation Nation "just saw some stuff from this film today, including some animation tests and a rough version of the teaser due out soon. It is *awesome*. I cannot wait for this one. Tony Fucile did the designs on Incredibles and much of Iron Giant. The guy is simply one of the very best in the industry, and a really nice guy to boot. The character design on this film is a real departure from the 'standard' Pixar fare, as is the animation philosophy. The facial animation alone is a huge step forward. And the teaser is hilarious. Pixar has raised the bar yet again."

March 8, 2003

Brief Teaser, Not Full Trailer, for The Incredibles This May

Harry Knowles corrects at AICN that "last time, I told you that a trailer for The Incredibles was going to be attached to every print of Finding Nemo. Wellllll, got a call today from Steve Jobs, who wanted to clarify and not have expectations over-shot. There will be a very brief teaser for The Incredibels attached to Finding Nemo, but as he stated, the film will be 15 months away from release when we see Finding Nemo, so they won't have much rendered by that time, and instead what we'll get is a taste, a treat, a bit of chocolate with a tad of coconut, but we shan't be getting the almond quite yet. So don't think you're going to be getting a 3-minute trailer for The Incredibles, cuz you ain't."

March 5, 2003

AICN confirmed what Animated Movies reported last month: a trailer for Brad Bird's new movie will indeed be attached to the front of Finding Nemo this May! The site further reveals that Nemo may be "the first Pixar movie to get a PG rating." After a moderate early buzz, the film is getting rave reviews from its ShoWest screenings: "This is [a] better movie than expected," writes the AICN spy.

February 12, 2003

The Incredibles Trailer Confirmed

Source: http://www.animated-movies.com
It's now semi-official: we should be able to catch a first glimpse at Brad Bird's next film come May 30! 'Steve' writes that "the reported information about The Incredibles trailer being attached to Finding Nemo was revealed in Pixar's latest earnings report." Also, on the CG Channel confirms this, quoting "reliable sources." This tale of a dysfunctional family of superheroes will be released on Thanksgiving 2004. The early buzz on the movie is already very positive according to the Z Review, as Pixar insiders feel it "will come close to attaining the heights of Toy Story 1 and 2."

February 11, 2003

Rumor About The Incredibles Trailer

Over at animated-movies.com, it was rumored that "apparently The Incredibles trailer will be screened before Finding Nemo on May 30th."

February 2003

Steve Jobs announced during Pixar's earnings press conference in February 2003 that "early animation on The Incredibles [is] looking, incredible, like nothing anyone has ever seen before. You'll be able to see a glimpse of it yourself when we release a teaser trailer for The Incredibles with Finding Nemo's theatrical release on May 30th."

January 6, 2003

Will The Incredibles Be Victims of Internal Frictions at Pixar?

The fact that Brad Bird brought his own 2D team to work on this CG project indirectly hurt the movie's production according to a post by 'drawer' at the Animation Nation Bulletin Board. The problem? The artists from the 2D Iron Giant are not 3D experts, and the older Pixar artists are not willing to help and reveal their "CG modeling secrets" to the traditional animators unless they also become part of Brad's team. "So everytime [Brad] would ask some of the Pixar CG modelers to model a design they tell him that 'it can't be done, its too complex, too hard to model'. When Brad goes out of the studio and tries to hire people that think outside the box, Pixar doesn't want to bring in outsiders, they want Brad to use the staff Pixar already has. The current Pixar staff doesn't want to help Brad's team create great new groundbreaking CG designs, THEY want to do it. THEY want in on Brad's team. I'm not saying its so bad that people just hate each other, but there definitely is some tension there behind closed doors."

November 15, 2001

Animator Michel Gagné mentioned on his Web site that Pixar flew him over on November 14 and 15, 2001 in order to "consult on Brad Bird's new movie. I sat down with the art director, the technical directors and Brad and talked about designing stylized FX for his new movie. I had a look at the reels and brainstormed with the team. Very busy 2-day schedule. Everyone was super nice. (...) Looks like I will be back to Pixar sporatically to design and animate on Brad's picture."

From April 21, 2001 Press Release

In the 2004 holiday season, audiences will see "The Incredibles," an action-adventure comedy from director Brad Bird ("The Iron Giant"). It centers on a family of superheroes who save the world while living a quiet suburban life.

According to Ain't-It-Cool-News on February 17, 2001:

This project has been rumored to be about "The Incredibles", story of a multi-generational super-powered superhero family living in a world of miraculously powered beings.

From www.corona.bc.ca
Monday, August 13, 2001 (1:15 PM, PST)

In February 2000, when Brad Bird signed a deal to come work for Pixar Animation, speculation was rampant about the projects Bird would be working on. A title was mentioned, The Invincibles, and the rumor was that it somehow involved superheroes. Coming Attractions has been able to confirm that The Invincibles is in full-blown development in Pixar, with Bird slated to direct and co-write the project. Two scoopers have stepped forward to tell us what they know about this secret project; Pixar has yet to confirm its existence. We're told that the project is currently in the design stage, with Pixar's art/storyboard department working hand-in-hand with the company's research and development department, testing out how they can push the animation to the next level. The company is currently also running full bore working on Finding Nemo, Pixar's next animated film after Monsters Inc., slated for release in 2003. Our source tells us that the art team is really pumped about working with Bird on The Invincibles after seeing what kind of magic he created on The Iron Giant, and that they're "...learning a lot about storytelling." ['Lupin III' has the superpower of flight, but only up to two feet off of the ground.] Our next insider told us the logline for The Invincibles as it currently stands right now. The movie will follow the adventures of a dysfunctional family of high-profile superheroes; Mom, Dad, superpowered kids and possibly grandparents. The comedic spin comes into play when their family disagreements start manifesting during their superpowered battles with bad guys. What are you supposed to do when your superpowered teenage daughter starts to date the son of your arch-nemesis, and the juvenile delinquent has x-ray vision? There's talk of even including a cameo from Jerry Springer as he shows the audience some really dysfunctional superheroes.

Inside Pixar's "Invincibles"
Monday, August 13, 2001 (1:15 PM, PST)