TOY STORY 4 TO EXAMINE THE ROMANCE OF TOYS
That’s romance between toys, not romance with toys, just so we’re clear. Many were sceptical when Disney/Pixar announced that they were doing Toy Story 4, seeing as the previous instalment did such a good job in wrapping things up for those characters. Those concerns can be put to rest somewhat now, with the president of Pixar announcing that they are taking the series in a different direction with this film.
According to Pixar president Jim Morris, Toy Story 4 “is not a continuation of the end of the story of Toy Story 3” where Andy left his toys behind and young adults worldwide wept openly. Morris went on to say “It will be a romantic comedy. It will not focus much on the interaction between the characters and the children.” Saying that it does not continue the story of Toy Story 3 seems to leave it ambiguous whether Buzz, Woody et al will be back at all, but surely they’re not going to continue without their most beloved (and marketable) characters?
It does illuminate a little more why Rashida Jones and Will McCormack were hired to write the screenplay, their previous screenwriting collaboration being the rom-com-drama-thing Celeste and Jesse Forever. We’ll have to wait and see if Toy Story 4 will be Buzz and Jesse Forever or if we’ll be given a whole new batch of toys to play with.
WILL THE BARBIE MOVIE BE A DOODLE THAT CAN’T BE UNDID, HOMESKILLET?
With Hasbro and Lego movies making so much money that they could entomb an entire country under a dome of bills, it was only a matter of time before Mattel looked to get in on the action. Working with Sony, they will be seeking a money dome of their very own with a live-action Barbie film they’ll be hoping to turn into a successful franchise. As Deadline has revealed, Diablo Cody of all people has now been hired to do a rewrite of the script.
Cody, whose previous credits include the Oscar-winning but sorta annoying Juno, Jennifer’s Body and Young Adult, might seem like an unusual choice at first, but as a confident, successful screenwriter, she does fit the empowered woman message that Barbie goes for these days. Director Walter Parkes said “Diablo’s unconventionality is just what Barbie needs. It signals we’re going for a legitimately contemporary tone. We’re bringing her on because she had great ideas, but more importantly, she truly loves Barbie”. As long as the contemporary tone doesn’t involve anybody saying “honest to blog”, we should be fine.
HARRISON FORD IS OKAY
When news came through on Thursday evening that Harrison Ford had been in a plane crash and was ‘critical’, naturally everybody was on high alert. Updates to the story revealed gradually moved Ford’s condition from ‘critical’ to ‘serious’ to ‘stable’ until finally a tweet from Ford’s son described him as ‘battered, but ok’. He’ll probably be ten years younger with the strength of 40 men by the end of the weekend. Regardless, he’s relatively okay, allowing an entire Internet to breathe a sigh of relief. Oh, and I’m sure people actually close to Ford were happy as well.
Ford crashed his vintage WW2 plane at a golf course in Venice, California, meaning that he had the good fortune to be treated on the scene by doctors. He was able to walk away from the crash, presumably while putting on sunglasses as the plane exploded behind him in slow motion. Now we’re all free to make as many jokes we want about how the plane belongs in a museum and how you should never tell Harrison Ford the odds etc, etc, but coming on the back of his broken leg on the set of Star Wars it’s a timely reminder that we should enjoy the time we have left with nerd culture’s surly grandpa while we still can.