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Prepare to meet more tiny heroes with huge dramas in a new season of A Real Bug’s Life, the Disney+ Original series from National Geographic, is crawling back onto your screens. Narrated by Awkwafina, season two dives even deeper into the weird, wild and wonderful world of bugs, and proves that a real bug’s life is just as dramatic as their animated Pixar counterparts.

This season, get ready for more high-stakes battles, enchanting love stories and mind-blowing superpowers in a season packed with some of the most extraordinary tiny characters you’ll ever meet.

Bonus: Viewers will also get a special, behind-the-scenes look at the filming of this epic series spanning two seasons featuring 130 bug species across six continents with 450 experts and crew. Five new episodes of A Real Bug’s Life will debut on January 15 on Disney+. All episodes of the first season are currently streaming.

Inspired by Disney...

"Seven Samurai" by master Japanese filmmaker Akira Kurosawa might just be the most remade film ever. The 1954 film is, sure enough, about seven samurai recruited to protect a farming village from bandits. The setting, themes, and characters are Japanese, but the premise is evergreen. "The Magnificent Seven" is just "Seven Samurai" but with cowboys. "A Bug's Life" retold the story with, well, bugs. "Star Wars: The Clone Wars" episode "Bounty Hunters" recruits the seven from Jedi Knights and alien mercenaries. 

"Star Wars" creator George Lucas is a well-known fan of Kurosawa. (Lucas even helped him finance his 1980 epic "Kagemusha.") The galaxy far, far away isn't the only space franchise that can riff on "Seven Samurai" though. "Star Trek: Enterprise" aped the premise for its season 2 episode, "Marauders."

First, though, why are Kurosawa's films so often remade in spirit (besides them being so good)? One reason is ease of translation. Kurosawa...

Put the town on alert! The 1997 volcano film Dante’s Peak will be erupting into a new 4K Ultra-High Definition Blu-ray on February 11th. According to Blu-ray.com, the Universal Pictures film will be getting a new physical media release courtesy of Kino Lorber. The film comes from director Roger Donaldson, who is known for movies like the Kevin Costner suspense thriller No Way Out, the Tom Cruise bartender drama Cocktail, and the sci-fi horror Species. Dante’s Peak stars Pierce Brosnan, Linda Hamilton, Jamie Renée Smith, Jeremy Foley, and Elizabeth Hoffman.

The movie is a part of the often-occurring dual release of movies with similar plots, with examples that include Armageddon and Deep Impact, Antz and A Bug’s Life and White House Down and Olympus Has Fallen. Dante’s Peak would be released the same year as the other notable volcano film Volcano. Volcano would star Tommy Lee Jones and sport a...

Director Andrea Arnold (Big Little Lies, American Honey) reimagined her upcoming feature film Bird for Fontaines D.C.’s “Bug” video. The film — and now music video — stars Barry Keoghan.

Arnold’s Bird, out this Friday, is a coming-of-age film where Keoghan plays a character named Bug who is a troubled single dad to a 12-year-old daughter, played by newcomer Nykiya Adams. Arnold adapted scenes from the film for the video. This is Keoghan’s second music video appearance this year, having previously starred in girlfriend Sabrina Carpenter’s “Please Please Please” video.

The Incredibles Box Office: Revisiting The Film’s Inspiring Success( Photo Credit – Disney+ Hotstar )

Pixar Animation Studios’ The Incredibles franchise is one of the most popular animated film franchises. There are two movies, with a third one in development. Two of the films have grossed an incredible $1.5 billion+ worldwide. The first film was released twenty years ago, and to commemorate the film’s 20th anniversary, let’s take a quick look at the film’s box office reception. Scroll below for the deets.

A sequel to the first film came out over a decade later, and the National Board of Review named it the Best Animated Film of 2018. It was nominated for the Golden Globes and Oscars for Best Animated Feature Film. Until the release of Inside Out 2, this was Pixar’s highest-grossing movie.

The Incredibles, written and directed by Brad Bird, came out in 2004. It featured the voices of Craig T. Nelson,...

It has not been the most amazing of weeks for the Walt Disney Company's theme-park division, for two specific reasons. First, it unveiled a pilot program for something it's called the Lightning Lane Premier Pass, which enables a guest to skip the line at every major attraction at either Disneyland or Walt Disney World ... as long as you have a few hundred extra dollars per person to spare, per day and per park. Then, Universal Studios confirmed the online scuttlebutt: its newest Orlando theme park, Epic Universe, will open on May 22, 2025. Epic Universe, to be clear, isn't just some new land being added to either Islands of Adventure or Universal Studios Florida; it is an entirely new park with a handful of dedicated areas lining up with some of the biggest pieces of intellectual property under the Universal banner. Now, while the impending arrival of Epic Universe was no secret,...

Litmus Music has acquired Randy Newman’s music publishing and his stake in his recorded music catalog, the company announced Thursday. The deal includes both songs and film scores from throughout his entire career, which dates back to the 1960s.

Among the more famous songs in Newman’s catalog that are part of the acquisition are “I Love L.A.,” “Short People,” “You Can Leave Your Hat On,” “Feels Like Home,” “Mama Told Me Not to Come” and “You’ve Got a Friend in Me.” His film scores include the four “Toy Story” films, “The Natural,” “Awakenings,” “Monsters Inc.,” “Cars,” “Ragtime,” “A Bug’s Life” and “Marriage Story.”

The company said it was entering a “creative partnership” with the musician. No price tag was publicly set on the deal.

Litmus launched in the summer of 2022 and made its first major acquisition the following December, buying Keith Urban’s rights to his master recordings.

Litmus Music said Thursday that it has acquired Randy Newman’s share of his recorded music and publishing catalog.

The deal includes rights to the scores of the composer-singer-songwriter’s Oscar-winning Toy Story and Monsters, Inc. movies and his decades of hits including “I Love L.A.,” which is still heard after every Los Angeles Dodgers home win.

No deal terms were provided by Litmus, which was co-founded by former Capitol Records and Warner Bros Records president Dan McCarroll and Hank Forsythe and is backed by Carlyle Group. The company has done similar transactions with Katy Perry, Benny Blanco and Keith Urban.

“Randy Newman is a unique and brilliant songwriter, composer, and performer whose body of work has proven him to be an artist for the ages,” said McCarroll. “There is absolutely no one like him, and his influence on the music world cannot be overstated. We couldn’t be more...

For Richard Kind, joining “Only Murders in the Building” Season 4 in the role of West Tower resident Vince Fish didn’t take too much convincing.

“They offered it to me. They said, ‘We’ll give you money if you play the part.’ I said, ‘Good, that’s good enough for me’,” the veteran actor of TV, film and theater told TheWrap in an interview when asked what drew him to the role. “If a show that’s produced by Dan Fogelman and John Hoffman, starring Marty Short, Steve Martin and Selena Gomez says they want you to work with them. You drop everything and you do it. I don’t care if they had me on the toilet reading the Yellow Pages. You do it. I am drawn to these creative people and I trust them because their talent cannot be contained to a page. They’re just spectacular.”

Kind...

For the past three decades, DreamWorks has been seen as the studio that challenged Disney and, in some cases, won. If you are still in business after so many years and are still making movies, then you are clearly doing something right. Originally founded on October 12th, 1994, by three innovators with different motivations, the studio has gone on to make some of the biggest franchises in film history.

Who founded Dreamworks?

Originally conceived by former Disney executive Jeffery Katzenberg, he sought the aid of fellow entertainment executives Steven Spielberg and David Geffen. The three would found DreamWorks Skg with the purpose of becoming a major force in the entertainment industry. The studio’s first release was The Peacemaker in 1997 with other films like Amistad and Mouse Trap releasing that same year.

Things really began to take off in 1998 with action films like Saving Private Ryan and Deep Impact, as well...

Freeform is giving big Disney energy all November long with so much goodness one can’t afford to miss a night. 30 Days of Disney returns with themed weeks that make it easy to kick back and enjoy the magic of Disney with friends and family.

The programming event features a lineup of beloved films from the entire Walt Disney catalog, including Disney Animated classics like Lilo & Stitch, Aladdin, and Beauty and the Beast and Disney-Pixar titles, including a Toy Story movie marathon, Wall-e, Inside Out, and modern fan favorites Soul and Turning Red.

Disney’s most beloved musicals will have viewers singing along to favorite songs this Nov. 4-8, with films like Aladdin, Moana, Encanto, and Frozen/Frozen 2. Favorite Disney villains will take evil to new heights, and they are beloved for it. From Nov. 11-15, watch out for Ursula from The Little Mermaid, Scar from The Lion King, and...

In 1994, Disney chairman Jeffrey Katzenberg resigned from the company and teamed up with Steven Spielberg and music executive David Geffen to form DreamWorks Skg, which later was rechristened DreamWorks Animation. Its first feature film, released four years later, was “Antz,” a brash, adult-oriented CGI production about a worker ant struggling to stick out in the communal colony he slaves away in. The film was successful — it was the first non-Disney animated movie to gross $100 million worldwide — but it was also overshadowed by comparisons to “A Bug’s Life,” Pixar’s film released that year which also focused on a misfit ant trying to save his ant colony.

That beginning encapsulates the perception of DreamWorks Animation in a nutshell — as the decidedly less ambitious, less artful cousin to Pixar. And it’s hard to say that reputation is totally unearned. DreamWorks is responsible for many lazily constructed, irritating animated movies, from “Shark Tale...

The legendary filmmaker behind Studio Ghibli, Hayao Miyazaki’s movies have enchanted audiences of all ages, going beyond the cultural barriers with their timeless themes and breathtaking artistry. Despite the universal appeal of his works, there was a time when Miyazaki found himself creatively exhausted, struggling to find inspiration. This period led to the birth of what is often considered his masterpiece, Spirited Away.

Spirited Away | Credit: Studio Ghibli

At the 2012 Toronto Film Festival, Hayao Miyazaki revealed the story behind the creation of Spirited Away and how his slump period resulted in this epic story. Needless to mention, John Lasseter, the director of Toy Story and A Bug’s Life, also joined Miyazaki in this event as he personally chaperoned the release of Spirited Away in North America, serving as the executive producer and overseeing the English-language dub.

The Origin of Spirited Away: Hayao Miyazaki’s Slump Period

Hayao Miyazaki was...

This article contains spoilers for the "Toy Story" movies.

When John Lasseter's "Toy Story" was released in 1995, it was a coup for the industry. CGI had been used in films for a decade and there were myriad computer-animated short films, but the first theatrically released, fully-computer-animated feature changed the landscape. It certainly helped that "Toy Story" was a massive success, raking in over $365 million on a mere $30 million budget. The film was also highly acclaimed, sporting a novel concept (your toys are alive when you aren't looking), an excellent screenplay, and a first-rate cast.

After "Toy Story," it felt like the floodgates opened, and a shift from traditionally animated features to fully computer-animated features occurred within the next five years. One might even recall when Disney announced that it would be shuttering its traditional animation studio and only make computer-animated features going forward. This was slightly before its 2004 film "Home on the Range" flopped.

Sylvester Stallone has been a Hollywood staple for five full decades at this point. Dating back to his first turn as the underdog boxer Rocky Balboa in 1972's "Rocky," the actor has been a mainstay of the screen. Like any actor who has managed to stay in the game this long, Stallone has had his ups and downs, but he's still here and still relevant more than 50 years later. But what is the best movie that Stallone has ever been in? What is the defining moment of the actor's varied filmography?

Not that Rotten Tomatoes is the be-all, end-all for such a discussion, but the review aggregator is a measuring stick often used in the modern era. Well, according to Rotten Tomatoes, 2015's "Creed" stands tall above the rest of Stallone's films with a 95% approval rating. That is not all that surprising when we break it down (more on that...

When you think about where to head for Halloween favorites, Disney+ probably doesn’t immediately spring to mind. But just because Disney+ is free from blood-and-gore extravaganzas doesn’t mean it can’t scratch your spooky itch. In fact, far from it! There is a pretty robust amount of Halloween (and Halloween-adjacent) fair on Disney’s direct-to-consumer platform, including a bunch of new stuff that was recently added and so many classics, for every age group. Here are our choices for the very best Halloween movies and shows on Disney+ right now.

Frankenweenie (2012) Photo: Disney

Unlike other Disney remakes, which start out in animation before transitioning to live-action, Tim Burton decided to remake his oddball live-action short film (one of his “after school projects” that kept him busy while animating for Disney) in the form of a feature-length stop-motion animated film. Talk about a curveball! One of his most emotionally resonant and overlooked films,...

Among the "Dark Tower" fandom, the typical consensus is that the first four books were amazing, and the final three books were a step down. There are a lot of reasons for this view. The big one is that books 5 through 7 were each written in rapid succession; after taking his sweet time with the first four, a post-car accident Stephen King seemingly wrote the final three books in one frantic burst. There's a sloppiness to the writing (especially with some of the anti-climactic villain deaths in book 7) that seems like it could easily be attributed to King rushing his way to the finish line.

But despite the way the final three novels tend to clump together in readers' minds, the fifth book ("Wolves of the Calla") is still very much its own distinct thing, and deserves to be treated as such. "Song of Susannah" might feel like a total bridge novel,...

This article is part of IndieWire’s 2000s Week celebration. Click here for a whole lot more.

Pete Docter, Pixar’s chief creative officer and Oscar-winning director of “Up,” “Inside Out,” and “Soul,” first learned to face his fears on his debut, “Monsters, Inc.” (2001), the buddy comedy about monsters coming out of closets to scare kids. Docter’s obvious knack for channeling personal problems into universal stories helped propel the films to both Oscars and staggering box office. It also helped shape Docter as a person, something not unfamiliar to Pixar’s fans.

“When I started on the film, my wife and I had our first kid, and bringing him home was horrifying for me, because obviously kids are appealing and cute and all that, but I was thinking, ‘Oh my gosh, this thing is counting on me and my wife to take care of it,'” Docter told IndieWire during a recent interview.

Last year, we learned that "Toy Story 5" would be coming to theaters in 2026, but that was pretty much all we knew about Pixar's sequel to its longest-running and arguably most beloved film franchise. Thankfully, though, Disney and Pixar have revealed some more information about the upcoming follow-up at tonight's D23 Expo panel presentation in Anaheim, and /Film's Jacob Hall was on hand to experience it in person.

Andrew Stanton, the Pixar veteran who directed animated movies like "A Bug's Life," "Finding Nemo," "Wall*E," and "Finding Dory," is officially returning to the studio to write and direct "Toy Story 5." This is a homecoming for him in more ways than one: He's spent the past several years directing live-action TV shows like "Better Call Saul," "3 Body Problem," and more, and Stanton was also one of the credited writers on the original "Toy Story" way back in 1995.

As for the plot,...

With “Inside Out 2” blowing the roof off the summer box office, Disney and Pixar are all steam ahead on the sequel train. Next up on the slate is a return to the IP that reshaped the world of animation, “Toy Story 5.” Disney CEO Bob Iger announced development on the new installment in early 2023, with a release date later being set for June 19, 2026. At the same time as Iger’s announcement came, Buzz Lightyear star Tim Allen also shared via X, formerly known as Twitter, that he would be lending his voice to the iconic character once again. Though it had been rumored Pixar brain trust member and creative mainstay Andrew Stanton would be directing the 5th entry in the long-running animated film series, his involvement was confirmed at D23 today, in addition to new details being revealed.

Stanton has contributed to every “Toy Story” script since the inception of the inaugural Pixar film,...

Pixar’s next installment of the “Toy Story” series is starting to take shape, as it was officially announced at the D23 Expo in Anaheim on Friday that “Finding Nemo” director Andrew Stanton will write and co-direct the upcoming project hitting theaters in 2026.

Stanton will co-direct with McKenna Jean Harris, who directed the Disney+ animated short “Ciao Alberto” based on the film “Luca.”

Stanton says that in the new film, Woody and the gang will find their jobs to make kids happy facing their toughest challenge yet: electronics. The crowd laughed at a concept art of all the toys looking sadly at a kid gazing a tablet from under the bed covers.

Stanton also revealed that there will be an army of Buzz Lightyear toys that are controlled by computers that will make things miserable for everyone.

Stanton is one of the founding fathers of Pixar, having served as writer...

Given the overwhelming successes of Illumination's The Super Mario Bros. Movie and Pixar's Inside Out 2, feature animation is currently enjoying a renewed position as a dominating box office darling. Not to rain on the parade, especially since any boon for movie theaters should be considered a Good Thing,...

From the creatives behind Toy Story, Cars, A Bug’s Life, and Shrek comes Spellbound, a whimsical animated adventure from Skydance Animation for the whole family! What happens when the rulers of a kingdom become magically transformed into monsters, and their only hope of being restored is their determined daughter and a population of frightened followers in the grips of panic? We’re about to find out, thanks to Skydance’s Spellbound trailer!

Here’s the official synopsis for Spellbound courtesy of Netflix:

Every kid has trouble getting along with their parents sometimes, but this is ridiculous. In the new animated adventure Spellbound, Ellian (voiced by Rachel Zegler) squares off with her mother and father, the king and queen of Lumbria. But this isn’t your typical family drama — a mysterious spell has transformed Ellian’s parents into massive, rampaging monsters.

Beneath all of the magic and mayhem, Spellbound is a human story,...

We’re obviously completely self-aware that we’re publishing this list the Monday after Deadpool & Wolverine made $205 million at the box office. That’s the whole point of being meta, right? Or if you want to get Merriam-Webster involved, something that “shows or suggests an explicit awareness of itself or oneself as a member of its category: cleverly self-referential.”

That said, when it comes to movies, this kind of self-awareness can cover a wide range of narrative devices. A character quietly acknowledging the audience can be meta. Other times, meta scenes can intentionally break apart a film’s reality. Meta doesn’t even necessarily need to be done for the sake of humor either, as plenty of movies — from Frederico Fellini’s 8½ to the horror thriller Funny Games — get meta without much humorous intention.

But for the purposes of this list, which Cracked writers Tim Grierson and Matt Solomon and...

Despicable Me 3Image: Illumination

With Run The Series, The A.V. Club examines film franchises, studying how they change and evolve with each new installment.

It was about time that DreamWorks got DreamWorks’d. That’s what some animation fans must have been thinking back in 2010, when Despicable Me, a...

With Inside Out 2‘s huge box office numbers re-establishing Pixar as an animation powerhouse, we figured now would be a good time to ask our readers what their favorite Pixar movie is. Do you prefer the early Pixar films like Toy Story or A Bug’s Life, or maybe something from their 2000’s heyday like The Incredibles or Wall-e, or is their more daring, recent output more your style? Let us know by taking the poll and leaving a comment.

What's Your Favorite Pixar Movie?Toy StoryA Bug's LifeToy Story 2Monsters IncFinding NemoThe IncrediblesCarsRatatouilleWALL-EUpToy Story 3Cars 2BraveMonsters UniversityInside OutThe Good DinosaurFinding DoryCars 3CocoIncredibles 2Toy Story 4OnwardSoulLucaTurning RedLightyearElementalInside Out 2VoteBack to vote

The post Poll: What’s Your Favorite Pixar Movie? appeared first on JoBlo.

Pixar has made some of the most beloved and narratively fulfilling animated films for many years. The company is behind some of the biggest hits including the Toy Story franchise, A Bug’s Life, Monster’s Inc, and Inside Out. However, the past few years have not been great for the company with Elemental and Lightyear becoming box office disappointments.

Buzz Lightyear and Woody in 1995’s Toy Story | Pixar Animation Studios

There was decent hype around Lightyear as it was a spin-off of the Toy Story franchise centering on the beloved character Buzz Lightyear, who is turned into an actual human and not a toy. Unfortunately, the film didn’t connect with audiences and was a huge bomb. The creative head of Pixar, Pete Docter reflected on its failure and how they overestimated the audience’s nerd level.

Pixar Head Believes The Studio Went Ahead Of Itself With Lightyear

Lightyear bombed...

Exclusive: Animation veteran Jill Culton has joined Jon M. Chu as directing partner of the Warner Bros Pictures Animation adaptation of Dr. Seuss’ classic Oh, the Places You’ll Go! Pic is a big priority for the studio, being done with Dr. Seuss Enterprises and Bad Robot.

Benj Pasek and Justin Paul, whose work includes The Greatest Showman, Spirited and La La Land, will write original songs for the film adaptation. Rob Lieber (Peter Rabbit) is writing the screenplay based on Dr. Seuss’ final book. The book is the blueprint for a globetrotting animated musical following a young adventurer as they journey through the joys and heartaches, and the peaks and valleys, of life.

Bad Robot’s J.J. Abrams is producing along with Hannah Minghella, Bad Robot’s Head of Motion Pictures.

Culton is a 30-year veteran in the animated feature film space and is best known for both writing...

After Toy Story, Toy Story 2, and A Bug’s Life, John Lasseter directed his fourth film collaboration with Disney and Pixar, Cars (2006). By the time Pixar animated the story based on anthropomorphic cars, technology had advanced far from what they had used for their revolutionary first film in 1995. According to the reports, the computers used for animating Cars were 1000 times faster than those used in Toy Story.

A still from Toy Story | Pixar Animation Studios

However, the development of Cars began in 1998 right after the production of A Bug’s Life. It took years for Disney to come out with the film that had clean animations and used some advanced animation techniques. The efforts paid off handsomely as Cars became the sixth-highest-grossing film of 2006.

Why Did Cars Take More Time For Pixar To Make Than Toy Story Even With Faster Computers?

A still from Cars | Pixar Animation Studios

Making the 2006 animated...

Few feats in filmmaking are rarer that churning out a string of classics within the span of a few years. It's the cineaste equivalent of, I dunno, whatever sports metaphor you deem fit to slot in here. John McTiernan did it by delivering "Predator," "Die Hard," and "The Hunt for Red October" back-to-back-to-back, while Francis Ford Coppola did him one better by helming "The Godfather," "The Conversation," and "The Godfather Part II" within the span of two years before returning five years later with "Apocalypse Now." But for my money, fews runs can match that of Akira Kurosawa in the '50s, a time in which the Japanese legend gifted us with "Rashōmon," "Ikiru," "Seven Samurai," "Throne of Blood," and "The Hidden Fortress," all before the decade was over.

Now, in the latest bid to boost 2024's sagging box office with an exciting theatrical re-release, Janus Films is celebrating "Seven Samurai...

When Akira Kurosawa, Shinobu Hashimoto, and Hideo Oguni were writing the screenplay for their 1954 epic "Seven Samurai," they couldn't have predicted its lasting influence on cinema. Not only did Kurosawa's masterful direction alter and revolutionize the way action sequences would be shot, but the premise became a reliable and lasting template that multiple other filmmakers would employ in the ensuing decades. For those unlucky enough to have never seen "Seven Samurai," the setup is simple: a remote farming village is regularly looted by passing bandits, leaving them destitute. Unable to withstand another attack, the villagers gather up their modest means and hire seven rogue samurai to protect them. The samurai know that the job won't pay, but each one has their own reasons for joining the cause. Using their cunning and limited means, the samurai repel the bandit attack.

Most recently, the "Seven Samurai" premise was transposed onto Zack Snyder's "Rebel Moon.

For years many fans of Pixar films have become familiar with a particular voice in their movies. That voice is actor and comedian John Ratzenberger. While many growing up in the 1980s remember him as Cliff Calvin on the popular sitcom Cheers, children from the mid-1990s to the late 2010s have heard his voice in other places.

Starting in the 1995 animated film Toy Story as Hamm the piggy bank, the actor went on to appear in 23 films for the animation studio. He was P.T. Flea in A Bug’s Life, Yeti in Monsters Inc., The Underminer in The Incredibles, Mack the Truck in Cars, and many more. In essence he became the Stan Lee of Pixar.

However, in recent years, he has been noticeably absent. His last vocal appearance was in 2020’s Onward as Fennwick the Cyclops. There was apparently a cameo in 2020’s Soul, but it was more...

As part of The Walt Disney Company and National Geographic’s ourHOME campaign, Earth Day 2024 will be commemorated with an unprecedented rollout of content celebrating ourHOME’s beauty and awe. The ourHOME campaign spotlights internal and external efforts that help protect, restore, and celebrate ourHOME by highlighting creators, storytellers, and cast members for their contributions.

Beginning April 19 through April 22, Earth Day-themed content will be spotlighted across ABC News, Disney+, Disney Channel, Disney Junior, Freeform, FX, Fxx, Hulu, National Geographic, Nat Geo Wild, and Nat Geo Mundo, with ourHOME collections on Disney+ and Hulu.

Branded ourHOME, the Earth Day lineup will include programming from some of our very best storytellers and content creators, inspiring viewers to fall in love with the planet with the best Disney content.

In addition, the ourHOME brand anthem, featuring Morgan Freeman‘s voice, will air throughout the Earth Day content rollout across the Disney networks, Disney-owned Television Stations,...

Exclusive: The Walt Disney Company and National Geographic have unveiled a slate of Earth Day-themed programming as part of their global cross-platform ourHome campaign. Beginning April 19 through April 22, Earth Day-themed content will be featured across ABC News, Disney+, Disney Channel, Disney Junior, Freeform, FX, Fxx, Hulu, National Geographic, Nat Geo Wild and Nat Geo Mundo, with ourHome collections on Disney+ and Hulu.

Morgan Freeman will be the voice of the ourHome brand anthem, which will air throughout the Earth Day content rollout across the Disney networks, Disney Owned Television Stations and select digital platforms.

Beginning on Sunday, April 21, ABC News will launch a special week-long series for ourHome, Power of Us: People, The Climate, and Our Future, featuring innovative solutions for climate change. The series will be led by ABC News’ chief meteorologist and climate correspondent, Ginger Zee, along with the ABC News weather and climate unit. Power of Us...

It's astonishing to look back at John Lasseter's 1995 film "Toy Story" and regard how rudimentary it looks by today's standards. "Toy Story" was the first widely distributed CGI-animated feature film, and it felt overwhelmingly revolutionary at the time. Many were astonished at how expressive and fun CGI characters could be, and the film's success effectively ushered in a sea change in the animation world. In 2024, traditional cel animation is incredibly uncommon, and CGI is the naturally assumed standard.

CGI characters are designed to essentially be "puppets," in terms of their elasticity. Animators, at least at the time, were forced to stay on-model, only able to expand eyeballs or raise eyebrows so high. It wouldn't be for years that CG characters could mutate, squash, and stretch the way hand-drawn characters could. "Toy Story" benefitted from being about, well, toys. Its characters were all made of plastic, so there was an...

There are some hardcore Trekkies in the world who consider Dean Parisot's 1999 comedy to be the best "Star Trek" movie. The main characters in Parisot's film are all struggling actors, still most fondly remembered for their work on a short-lived cult sci-fi series from decades prior. The in-universe show, called "Galaxy Quest," resembles "Star Trek" in several key ways, and the egotistical lead actor Jason Nesmith (Tim Allen), who played the captain of the starship Protector on "Galaxy Quest," was clearly modeled after William Shatner.

The plot of "Galaxy Quest" is amusing: a species of shapeshifting aliens, requiring defense from marauders, recruit the original "Galaxy Quest" actors to serve as their champions. The aliens assumed that rogue TV broadcasts they once saw were very real and have recreated "Galaxy Quest" in real life. The put-upon thespians don't have the heart to explain to the aliens that their show is...

Today, National Geographic announced that their groundbreaking, genre-defying natural history series A Real Bug’S Life has been picked up for a second season. Narrated by award-winning actress Awkwafina and produced by Plimsoll Productions, the series will take viewers on five new and exciting trips around the world to get up close and personal with insects and their moving stories. The new season will come to Disney+ this fall. Inspired by the World of Disney and Pixar’s A Bug’s Life, the new season of the genre-busting series will feature an all-new cast of insects including femme fatale firefly, bachelor luna moth, a real-life assassin ... Read more...

Chris Hemsworth returns with ‘Limitless with Chris Hemsworth’ season 2 (National Geographic for Disney+/Craig Parry)

National Geographic has renewed both Limitless with Chris Hemsworth and A Real Bug’s Life for second seasons. Season one of Limitless premiered on Disney+ in November 2022 and A Real Bug’s Life, narrated by Awkwafina, debuted in January 2024.

“Working on Limitless was an eye-opening experience that allowed me to reflect on my strengths, vulnerabilities and all the ways in which we as humans can plan toward longevity,” said Hemsworth. “For this next season, we are attempting to raise the bar and go even deeper in this exploration alongside health and wellness experts from around the globe.”

Filmmaker Darren Aronofsky and Ari Handel created the series and will return to executive produce the new season. Additional executive producers include Hemsworth, Tom Watt-Smith, Jane Root, Ben Grayson, Brandon Hill, Bengt Anderson, and Simon Raikes.

“Millions of viewers around...

Chris Hemsworth will continue testing his phyical and mental boundaries for Nat Geo.

The Disney-owned company has renewed Limitless With Chris Hemsworth for a second season, which like the first will stream on Disney+. The formal pickup comes more than a year after the first season debuted in November 2022.

Nat Geo and Disney+ have also renewed A Real Bug’s Life, the (partially staged) nature series that uses the 1998 Pixar movie A Bug’s Life as its inspiration. That pickup was much quicker, coming two weeks after the series premiered. Nat Geo announced both pickups during its time at the Television Critics Association press tour on Thursday.

Season one of Limitless followed Hemsworth as he explored — using himself as a test subject — scientific developments in helping people live longer, healthier lives. Season two will focus on “a series of physical and mental obstaclesthat people across the world face daily: mental agility, pain,...

“Limitless With Chris Hemsworth” has been renewed for a second season at National Geographic.

The news came during the network’s presentation at the Winter 2024 Television Critics Association Press Tour, during which “A Real Bug’s Life” was also renewed while greenlights were announced for a new “Shark Beach” special headlined by Anthony Mackie, a docuseries about Stéphane Bourgoin, and a documentary film about Sally Ride.

“Limitless” follows Chris Hemsworth as he attempts to find and demonstrate secrets to a living longer, healthier life. Season 1 featured the actor exploring topics like stress management and exposure to extreme temperatures, while Season 2 will see him continue the journey across Nepal, Italy, Australia and the U.K.

“A Real Bug’s Life,” inspired by Pixar’s “A Bug’s Life,” is narrated by Awkwafina. Per its logline, Season 2 will feature “an all-new cast of insects including femme fatale firefly, bachelor luna moth, a real-life assassin bug,...

They only come along every once in a blue moon: the dueling movies. 1998 was an especially unusual year in that it saw two of them hitting theaters, with killer asteroid films "Deep Impact" and "Armageddon" going head-to-head within the same 12-month span as the animated insect flicks "Antz" and "A Bug's Life." There haven't been too many since then, save for the clash of the White House action-thrillers in 2013 with "Olympus Has Fallen" and "White House Down." Now, 2024 is bringing us the next big showdown between movies with remarkably similar premises.

The unexpected shared theme? Imaginary friends.

Okay, fine, so John Krasinski's family-friendly "If" and Jeff Wadlow's horror thriller "Imaginary" seem to have almost nothing in common besides revolving around children's imaginary pals. Nevertheless, there's no denying it's a little strange that we're getting two films based on that exact same premise in quick succession. The former of...

How do you film something that’s only about 2.5 millimeters long? What about thousands of those little somethings—pavement ants, in this case—all working together to dismantle a hot dog, perched amidst on a New York City sidewalk? That’s a question Bill Markham and his team had to figure out when putting together National Geographic’s A Real Bug’s Life, available now on Disney+. Ostensibly a sort of “real life” tribute to A Bug’s Life, which celebrated its 25th anniversary last year, A Real Bug’s Life follows different bugs in their natural habitats, all in service of teaching viewers how they live […]

The post Endoscopes and Racing Drones: How a NatGeo Team Filmed A Real Bug’s Life first appeared on Filmmaker Magazine.

How do you film something that’s only about 2.5 millimeters long? What about thousands of those little somethings—pavement ants, in this case—all working together to dismantle a hot dog, perched amidst on a New York City sidewalk? That’s a question Bill Markham and his team had to figure out when putting together National Geographic’s A Real Bug’s Life, available now on Disney+. Ostensibly a sort of “real life” tribute to A Bug’s Life, which celebrated its 25th anniversary last year, A Real Bug’s Life follows different bugs in their natural habitats, all in service of teaching viewers how they live […]

The post Endoscopes and Racing Drones: How a NatGeo Team Filmed A Real Bug’s Life first appeared on Filmmaker Magazine.

The micro world is all around us, hiding in plain sight. A Real Bug’s Life, a new Disney+ original series from National Geographic, is set to zoom in on these oft overlooked miniature habitats from around the globe. And we witnessed it firsthand.

In early December, Den of Geek was invited to an exclusive early sneak peak of the series, inspired by Disney and Pixar’s 1998 animated film A Bug’s Life and narrated by Awkwafina, on location in Serengeti, Tanzania. The unique press junket immersed the media in the shooting locations of three series, the aforementioned Bug’s Life, the Jeremy Renner-narrated Incredible Animal Journeys, which is currently streaming on Disney+, and the upcoming series Queens, a spotlight on the matriarchies of the animal kingdom.

It was serendipity as I witnessed in person, during a hike in the expansive and breathtaking Ngorongoro Crater, nearly the exact same scenario that plays...

As divisive as his films tend to be, many can agree that Zack Snyder's career has always been that of a trendsetter. When the filmmaker's distinct grasp of visual style and flair (developed while working in the music video scene early on) brought Hollywood knocking at his door, Snyder spent the next several years bringing various concepts to life that most considered "unfilmable." His groundbreaking adaptation of the graphic novel "300," which arguably redefined blockbuster action in pop culture throughout the early aughts, directly led to Snyder getting his hands on the holy grail of "Watchmen" in 2009. Although superhero movies moving forward would generally opt for the airy tone of Marvel's "Iron Man" rather than Snyder's grand and operatic take, the seeds were planted for the DC superhero world that would consume him for much of the next decade -- and eventually lead to darker, more cynical, and self-reflexively...

No one really asked for a prequel to "Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory" that focused on the origin of a future psychotic child murderer -- especially if it meant losing a third Paul King "Paddington" movie. Even fewer people could have predicted that "Wonka" would end up being a pretty great film. As our own Ethan Anderton wrote in this review, the film has a "well-thought-out story that doesn't even lean heavily on nostalgia or cheeky references to the classic film adaptation."

Indeed, the film is a riot. Paul King delivers a whimsical, colorful holiday film for the whole family that features a fantastic ensemble that steals every scene they're in, and there's a sense of whimsy that is reminiscent of King's "Paddington" movies. Timothée Chalamet finds the right balance between homaging Gene Wilder and doing his own weird little chocolate-loving psycho. There are even hints of some of...

As the end of the 20th century came to a close, traditional 2D animation seemed to be dying along with it. But while Disney Renaissance films are often remembered by nostalgic Millennials as the last great ride of hand-drawn animation, their grand, sweeping scale was actually made possible by blending old-school techniques with brand new technology. In the ballroom scene from 1991's "Beauty and the Beast," a hand-drawn Belle and Beast waltz against the spinning backdrop of a CG-animated ballroom; the heart-stopping stampede in 1994's "The Lion King" has a traditionally-animated Simba fleeing from computer-animated wildebeest.

The balance soon tipped over in favor of the completely CG animation that dominates today. But somewhere between the release of "Toy Story" and "Shrek," a British studio called Aardman Animations ambitiously embarked on its first feature film: a poultry-themed spin on "The Great Escape" called "Chicken Run." With a final tally of $227.7 million at the global box office,...

President John F. Kennedy and First Lady Jacqueline Kennedy are pictured while on the campaign trail in San Antonio, Nov. 21, 1963.

National Geographic’s 2023 fall and winter programming kicks off with JFK: One Day in America, the second installment of the network’s One Day in America series. Nat Geo’s slate also includes documentaries narrated by Angela Bassett, Jeremy Renner, and Awkwafina, as well as Photographer – a series spotlighting the work of iconic photographers.

Additional winter programming includes the premieres of Science Fair: The Series and Arctic Ascent with Alex Honnold. Returning series include Explorer: Lake of Fire, Lost Cities Revealed with Albert Lin, Trafficked with Mariana van Zeller, and Cesar Millan: Better Human Better Dog.

JFK: One Day In America – Premieres Nov. 5 on National Geographic; Nov. 6 on Disney+ and Hulu

To commemorate six decades since the assassination of President John F. Kennedy on Nov. 22, 1963, the Emmy Award-winning, critically...

National Geographic has released trailers and announced premiere dates for key upcoming programs, including “Incredible Animal Journeys” (narrated by Jeremy Renner), “A Real Bug’s Life” (narrated by Awkwafina) and “Arctic Ascent with Alex Honnold.”

The trailer for “Incredible Animal Journeys,” narrated by Jeremy Renner, features Renner giving a glimpse of his narration as zebras race over tall grasses and polar bears trudge across icy terrain. The series will follow the migrations of animals.

“Every day, countless animals travel across the globe through danger and doubt, perils and perseverance, through hardships and homecomings,” states Renner in the trailer. “Some journeys will last a lifetime. But they all begin with a first step.”

“Incredible Animal Journeys” will premiere Nov. 19 on National Geographic, to be followed by a Nov. 20 streaming debut on Disney+ and Hulu.

“A Real Bug’s Life” explores bug worlds, based on Disney and Pixar’s 1998 film “A Bug’s Life.” The trailer features bug-on-bug violence,...

Gearing up for the holidays, Disney+ series “The Santa Clauses” has dropped the trailer for its second season.

Set after the events of “The Santa Clause” films, the Christmas television series has Tim Allen reprising his role as Scott Calvin/Santa, who decides to retire from the “Santa” position in season one and find a new replacement. However, the end of the first season saw Scott fail to find an individual worthy of the “Santa” title. This time around, Scott is determined to train his son, Cal (Austin Kane), to be the perfect Santa successor.

“The best part of Christmas is spending time with your loved ones,” Scott says in the new trailer. “Which is why I’m so geeked to turn Santa into a family business.”

All doesn’t go smoothly for the Calvin family, though, and there’s a new “Mad Santa” (Eric Stonestreet) who was previously exiled...