Toy Story 3

Toy Story 3 is a 2010 American 3D computer-animated Family comedy film, and the third film in the Toy Story series. It was produced by Pixar Animation Studios and distributed by Walt Disney Pictures. Directed by Lee Unkrich, the screenplay was written by Michael Arndt, while Unkrich wrote the story along with John Lasseter and Andrew Stanton, respectively director and co-writer of the first two films. The film was released worldwide from June through October in Disney Digital 3-D, RealD, and IMAX 3D. Toy Story 3 was the first film to be released theatrically with Dolby Surround 7.1 sound.
The plot focuses on the toys Woody, Buzz Lightyear, and their friends dealing with an uncertain future as their owner, Andy, prepares to leave for college. Actors Tom Hanks, Tim Allen, Joan Cusack, Don Rickles, Estelle Harris, John Ratzenberger, Wallace Shawn, Jeff Pidgeon, Jodi Benson, R. Lee Ermey, John Morris, and Laurie Metcalf reprised their voice-over roles from the previous films. Jim Varney, who played Slinky Dog in the first two films, and Joe Ranft, who portrayed Lenny and Wheezy, both died before production began on Toy Story 3. The role of Slinky Dog was taken over by Blake Clark (a friend of Varney), while Ranft's characters and various others were written out of the story. New characters include performances by Ned Beatty, Timothy Dalton, Kristen Schaal, Bonnie Hunt, Whoopi Goldberg, Jeff Garlin, Richard Kind, and Michael Keaton.
The feature broke Shrek the Third's record as the biggest opening day North American gross for an animated film unadjusted for inflation, and had a big opening weekend with an unadjusted gross of $110,307,189. It is also the highest-grossing opening weekend for a Pixar film, and was previously the highest-grossing opening weekend for a film to have opened in the month of June (surpassed by Man of Steel). This is the highest-grossing film of 2010, both in the United States and Canada, and worldwide. In early August, it became Pixar's highest-grossing film at the North American and worldwide box offices (surpassing Finding Nemo), and the highest-grossing animated film of all time worldwide (surpassing Shrek 2). Later that month, Toy Story 3 became the only animated film in history to make over $1 billion worldwide. It is currently the 11th-highest-grossing film of all time.
Toy Story 3 was nominated for five Academy Awards, including Best Picture, Best Adapted Screenplay, and Best Sound Editing. It was the third animated film (after Beauty and the Beast and Up) to be nominated for Academy Award for Best Picture. It won the awards for Best Animated Feature and Best Original Song.
==Plot==
Andy, now 17 years old is leaving for college, and his toys have not been played with in years. He takes Woody with him to college and puts Buzz Lightyear and the rest of the toys in a bag to be stored in the attic. Andy's mother mistakes the bag for garbage and puts it on the curb. The toys escape and, believing Andy intends to throw them away, decide to climb in a donation box with Barbie bound for Sunnyside Daycare. Woody follows them and tries to explain the mistake, but they refuse to believe him.
Andy's toys are welcomed by the other toys at Sunnyside, who give them a tour of the seemingly perfect play-setting by Lots-O'-Huggin' Bear (simply known as Lotso), Big Baby, and Ken, with whom Barbie falls in love. All of the toys choose to stay, except Woody, who attempts to return to Andy. Woody is found by Bonnie, one of the Sunnyside children. She takes him home and plays with him along with her other toys, which are well-treated. At Sunnyside, a group of toddlers roughly play with Andy's toys.
Buzz asks Lotso to have them moved to the older children's room, but is captured. Lotso, who controls Sunnyside with an iron fist, reveals he sends new toys to distract the toddlers to keep him and his henchmen safe, not caring whether the toys get broken in the process. Seeing promise in Buzz, he resets him to his original space ranger persona, wiping his memory. At the same time, Mrs. Potato Head sees Andy searching for the toys with her other eye that was left behind, and she convinces the toys that Woody told the truth. Before they can leave, Andy's toys are imprisoned by Lotso's gang.
At Bonnie's house, before Woody leaves to find Andy, he learns from a toy clown named Chuckles that he, Lotso and Big Baby once had a beloved owner named Daisy. When the toys were accidentally left behind by Daisy's family during a trip, they made their way back to her house, only to find that Lotso had been replaced with an identical toy, causing Lotso to become embittered.
Woody returns to Sunnyside and reconciles with his friends. That night, the toys attempt to escape, and accidentally reset Buzz to Spanish mode instead of his original persona. However, Buzz allies himself with Woody and falls in love with Jessie. The toys reach a dumpster, but are caught by Lotso and his gang. As a garbage truck approaches, Woody reveals what he learned about Lotso. Lotso says that he now believes toys are meant to be thrown away, leading an enraged Big Baby to throw Lotso into the dumpster. Lotso pulls Woody into the dumpster just as the truck collects the trash. Woody's friends fall into the back of the truck while trying to rescue him, and a falling television hits Buzz, restoring his memory and normal persona.
The truck deposits the toys at a dump, where they find themselves on a conveyor belt leading to an incinerator. Woody and Buzz help Lotso reach an emergency stop button, only for Lotso to abandon them. Believing the end is near, the toys accept their fate, but are rescued by the Aliens operating an industrial claw. Lotso escapes, but a garbage truck driver finds him and straps him to his truck's radiator grill. Woody and his friends board another garbage truck, driven by an adult Sid Phillips, back to Andy's house.
In Andy's room, Woody climbs into the box with Andy's college supplies, while the other toys ready themselves for the attic. Woody leaves a note for Andy and Andy, thinking the note is from his mother, takes them to Bonnie's house and introduces her to his old toys. Bonnie recognizes Woody who, to Andy's surprise, is at the bottom of the box. Though reluctant, Andy passes him on to Bonnie, and then plays with her before leaving. Woody and his friends watch Andy's departure before beginning their new lives with Bonnie.
During the credits, Woody and the other toys learn that Barbie, Ken and Big Baby have improved the lives of the toys at Sunnyside.
==Voice cast==
Several other characters (such as Bo Peep, RC, Etch, and Wheezy) are only seen in flashbacks or briefly mentioned. The character of Slinky Dog appeared to be in limbo after the death of his original voice actor Jim Varney on February 10, 2000, three months after Toy Story 2 was released. Varney was replaced by Blake Clark. After Clark was cast to play Slinky Dog, the producers realized that Clark and Varney had coincidentally been close friends since they appeared in the 1989 film Fast Food, making the transition a lot easier.
==Production==
According to the terms of Pixar's revised deal with Disney, all characters created by Pixar for their films were owned by Disney. Furthermore, Disney retains the rights to make sequels to any Pixar film, though Pixar retained the right of first refusal to work on these sequels. However, in 2004, when the contentious negotiations between the two companies made a split appear likely, Michael Eisner, Disney chairman at the time, put plans in motion to produce Toy Story 3 at a new Disney studio, Circle 7 Animation. Tim Allen, the voice of Buzz Lightyear, indicated a willingness to return, even if Pixar was not on board.
Screenwriter Jim Herzfeld wrote a script for Circle 7's version of the film. It focused on the other toys shipping a malfunctioning Buzz to Taiwan, where he was built, believing that he will be fixed there. While searching on the Internet, they find out that many more Buzz Lightyear toys are malfunctioning around the world and the company has issued a massive recall. Fearing Buzz's destruction, a group of Andy's toys (Woody, Rex, Slinky, Mr. Potato Head, Hamm, Jessie, and Bullseye) venture out to rescue Buzz. At the same time, Buzz meets other toys from around the world that were once loved, but have now been recalled.
In January 2006, Disney bought Pixar in a deal that put Pixar chiefs Edwin Catmull and John Lasseter in charge of all Disney Animation. Shortly thereafter, Circle 7 Animation was shut down and its version of Toy Story 3 was cancelled. The character designs went into the Disney archives. The following month, Disney CEO Robert Iger confirmed that Disney was in the process of transferring the production to Pixar. John Lasseter, Andrew Stanton, Pete Docter, and Lee Unkrich visited the house where they first pitched Toy Story and came up with the story for the film over a weekend. Stanton then wrote a treatment. On February 8, 2007, Catmull announced Toy Story 2's co-director, Lee Unkrich, as the sole director of the film instead of John Lasseter (who was busy directing Cars 2), and Michael Arndt as screenwriter. The release date was moved to 2010. Unkrich said that he felt pressure to avoid creating "the first dud" for Pixar, since (as of 2010) all of Pixar's films had been critical and commercial successes.
During the initial development stages of the film, Pixar revisited their work from the original Toy Story and found that, although they could open the old computer files for the animated 3D models, error messages prevented them from editing the files. This necessitated recreating the models from scratch. To create the chaotic and complex junkyard scene near the film's end, more than a year and a half was invested on research and development to create the simulation systems required for the sequence.
Instead of sending Tom Hanks, Tim Allen and John Ratzenberger scripts for their consideration in reprising their roles, a complete story reel of the film was shown to the actors in a theater. The reel was made up of moving storyboards with pre-recorded voices, sound effects, and music. At the conclusion of the preview, the actors signed on to the film.
Dolby Laboratories announced that Toy Story 3 would be the first film that will feature theatrical 7.1 surround sound. Thus, even the Blu-ray version will feature original 7.1 audio, unlike other movies which were remixed into 7.1 for Blu-ray.
==Release==
===Marketing===
The film's first teaser trailer was released with Up in Disney Digital 3-D, on May 29, 2009. On October 2, 2009, Toy Story and Toy Story 2 were re-released as a double feature in Disney Digital 3-D. The first full-length trailer was attached as an exclusive sneak peek and a first footage to the Toy Story double feature, on October 12, 2009. A second teaser was released on February 10, 2010, followed by a second full-length trailer on February 11, and appeared in 3D showings of Alice in Wonderland and How to Train Your Dragon. On March 23, 2010, Toy Story was released on Blu-ray/DVD combo pack, which included a small feature of "The Story of Toy Story 3." In addition, Toy Story 2 was released on the same day in the same format, which had a small feature on the "Characters of Toy Story 3." On May 11, 2010, both films had a DVD-only re-release which contained the features.
Mattel, Thinkway Toys, and Lego are among companies who produced toys to promote the film. Fisher Price, a Mattel Company, has released Toy Story 3 with twenty-one 3D images for viewing with the View-Master viewer. Disney Interactive Studios also produced a video game based on the film, Toy Story 3: The Video Game, which was released for Microsoft Windows, Xbox 360, Wii, PlayStation 3, Nintendo DS, and PSP on June 15, 2010. A PlayStation 2 version was released on October 30, 2010, as part of a PS2 bundle and separately on November 2, 2010 (the same day Toy Story 3 was released on DVD and Blu-ray). It was also the last Disney/Pixar game to be released on PlayStation 2.
Toy Story 3 was featured in Apple's iPhone OS 4 Event on April 8, 2010, with Steve Jobs demonstrating a Toy Story 3 themed iAd written in HTML5.
Pixar designed a commercial for the toy, Lots-O'-Huggin' Bear, and formatted it to appear as if it came from an old VCR recording. The recording was altered with distorted sound, noise along the bottom of the screen, and flickering video, all designed to make it look like a converted recording from around 1983. A Japanese version of the commercial was also released online, with the name "Lots-O'-Huggin Bear" replaced with "Little Hug-Hug Bear" (Japanese:ハグハグベアちゃん/Hagu Hagu Beya-Chan).
On Dancing with the Stars May 11, 2010, episode, the Gipsy Kings performed a Spanish-language version of the song "You've Got a Friend in Me," which featured a paso doble dance choreographed by Cheryl Burke and Tony Dovolani. Both the song and dance are featured in the film.
Toy Story 3 was promoted with airings of the first and second films on several channels in the upcoming weeks of the film's release, including Disney Channel, Disney XD, and ABC Family. Sneak peeks of Toy Story 3 were also revealed, primarily on Disney Channel.
====Oscar campaign====
Unlike most recent Oscar campaigns, Toy Story 3's "Not since..." campaign drew a lot of attention during the holiday season, emphasizing the film's uniqueness and tremendous critical acclaim.
===Short film===
The theatrical release of Toy Story 3 included the short film Day & Night, which focuses on what happens when an animated personification of Day meets his opposite, Night, and the resulting growth for both. It was also included in the Blu-ray and DVD release of the film.
===Home media===
Toy Story 3 was released in North America on November 2, 2010, in a standard DVD edition, two-disc Blu-ray, and in a four-disc Blu-ray/DVD/Digital Copy combo pack. Features include behind the scenes, including a sneak peek teaser for the upcoming Cars 2, the sequel to Cars. A 10-disc Toy Story trilogy Blu-ray box set arrived on store shelves on the same day. A 3D version of the Blu-ray was released in North America on November 1, 2011.
On its first week of release (November 2–7, 2010) it sold 3,859,736 units (equal to $73,096,452), ranking No.1 for the week and immediately becoming the best-selling animated film of 2010 in terms of units sold (surpassing How to Train Your Dragon). As of July 18, 2012, it has sold 10,911,701 units ($185,924,247). It has become the best-selling DVD of 2010 in terms of units sold, but it lacks in terms of sales revenue and, therefore, ranks second behind Avatar on that list. It also sold about 4.0 million Blu-ray units, ranking as the fourth best-selling film of 2010.
In the U.K., it broke the record for the largest first day ever for animated feature, both on DVD and Blu-ray, in terms of sales revenue. Additionally, on its first day of release on iTunes, it immediately became the most downloaded Disney film ever.
==Reception==
===Critical reception===
Toy Story 3 received widespread acclaim from critics. The film review aggregation website Rotten Tomatoes reported that 99% of critics gave the film a positive review based on 264 reviews, with an average score of 8.8/10. The site's consensus was, "Deftly blending comedy, adventure, and honest emotion, Toy Story 3 is a rare second sequel that really works." On the all-time Best of Rotten Tomatoes list, it ranks fourth behind both its predecessors, and was the best-reviewed film of 2010. Another review aggregator, Metacritic, which assigns a normalized rating out of 100 top reviews from mainstream critics, calculated a score of 92 based on 39 reviews. TIME named Toy Story 3 the best movie of 2010, as did Quentin Tarantino. In 2011, TIME named it one of "The 25 All-TIME Best Animated Films."
A. O. Scott of The New York Times stated, "This film—this whole three-part, 15-year epic—about the adventures of a bunch of silly plastic junk turns out also to be a long, melancholy meditation on loss, impermanence and that noble, stubborn, foolish thing called love."
Owen Gleiberman from Entertainment Weekly gave the film an A, saying, "Even with the bar raised high, Toy Story 3 enchanted and moved me so deeply I was flabbergasted that a digitally animated comedy about plastic playthings could have this effect." Gleiberman also wrote in the next issue that he, along with many other grown men, cried at the end of the film. Michael Rechtshaffen of The Hollywood Reporter also gave the film a positive review, saying, "Woody, Buzz and playmates make a thoroughly engaging, emotionally satisfying return."
Mark Kermode of the BBC gave the film, and the series, a glowing review, calling it "the best movie trilogy of all time." In USA Today, Claudia Puig gave the film a complete 4 star rating, writing, "This installment, the best of the three, is everything a movie should be: hilarious, touching, exciting and clever." Lou Lumenick of the New York Post wrote, "Toy Story 3 (which is pointlessly being shown in 3-D at most locations) may not be a masterpiece, but it still had me in tears at the end." Michael Phillips of the Chicago Tribune gave the film 3 out of 4 stars, writing that, "Compared with the riches of all kinds in recent Pixar masterworks such as Ratatouille, WALL-E, and Up, Toy Story 3 looks and plays like an exceptionally slick and confident product, as opposed to a magical blend of commerce and popular art."Orlando Sentinel film critic Roger Moore, who gave the film 3½ out of 4 stars, wrote, "Dazzling, scary and sentimental, Toy Story 3 is a dark and emotional conclusion to the film series that made Pixar famous."
===Box office===
====Worldwide====
Toy Story 3 earned $415,004,880 in North America, and $648,167,031 in other countries, totaling $1,063,171,911 worldwide, earning more revenue than the previous two films of the series combined. It is the eleventh highest-grossing film, the highest-grossing 2010 film, the highest-grossing animated film, the highest-grossing film in the Toy Story series, the third highest-grossing Disney film and the highest-grossing Pixar film. In terms of estimated attendance, though, it still ranks fourth on the list of modern animated films, behind Shrek 2, Finding Nemo and The Lion King. On its first weekend, Toy Story 3 topped the worldwide box office with $145.3 million ($153.7 million with weekday previews), the third-largest opening weekend worldwide for an animated feature. On August 27, 2010, its 71st day of release, it surpassed the $1 billion mark, becoming the second Disney film in 2010 (after Alice in Wonderland), the third Disney film overall (the other being Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest), and the only animated film to do so.
====North America====
In North America, Toy Story 3 is the twelfth highest-grossing film, unadjusted for inflation. Adjusted for ticket price inflation though, it ranks 90th on the all-time chart. It is also the highest-grossing 2010 film, the highest-grossing Pixar film, the second-highest-grossing G-rated film, the third-highest-grossing animated film, and the fourth-highest-grossing film distributed by Disney. The film earned $41,148,961 on its opening day (Friday, June 18, 2010) from 4,028 theaters, including $4 million at midnight shows from about 1,500 theaters, setting an opening-day record for an animated film.
During its opening weekend, the film topped the box office with $110,307,189, setting an opening-weekend record among Pixar films, among films released in June, (surpassed by Man of Steel) and among G-rated films. The film also achieved the second-largest opening weekend for an animated film, and the fourth-largest opening weekend for a 2010 film. Its average of $27,385 per venue is the second highest for a G-rated film and the second highest for an animated feature. Its opening-week gross (Friday-through-Thursday) of $167.6 million is the largest among animated films, the largest among 2010 films and the 13th largest of all time. It also achieved the largest 10-day gross among 2010 films. It topped the box office for two consecutive weekends and scored the 10th-largest second weekend, with $59.3 million.
====Outside North America====
Toy Story 3 is the 17th highest-grossing film, the third highest-grossing animated film, the third highest-grossing film of 2010, the highest-grossing Pixar film, and the sixth highest-grossing Disney film. It topped the box office outside North America three times, on its first ($35.0 million), second, and sixth weekend (which was its largest).
Its highest-grossing market after North America is Japan ($126.7 million), where it is the second highest-grossing U.S. animated feature (behind Finding Nemo), followed by the U.K. & Ireland and Malta (£73.8 million - $116.6 million), where it is the fourth highest-grossing film, and Mexico ($59.4 million), where it is the second highest-grossing film. It set opening weekend records for animated films in Ecuador, Colombia, Mexico, China, Argentina, Hong Kong, Spain and the U.K. It is the highest-grossing animated film of all time in the U.K., Ireland and Malta, in Mexico, in Hong Kong, and in Egypt. It is the highest-grossing 2010 film in Argentina, Bolivia, Chile, Colombia, Hong Kong, Mexico, Spain, the U.K., Ireland and Malta.
===Accolades===
On January 25, 2011, the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences announced that Toy Story 3 was not only nominated for Best Animated Feature, but also for Best Picture. This makes Toy Story 3 not only the first only animated sequel in history to be nominated for Best Picture, but also the third animated film to be nominated for Best Picture (following Beauty and the Beast and Up), with Toy Story 3 becoming the second Pixar film to be nominated for both awards. Toy Story 3 also became the first ever Pixar film - and the first animated feature film since Shrek - to be nominated for the Academy Award for Best Adapted Screenplay, though six of Pixar's previous films were nominated for the Best Original Screenplay: Toy Story, Finding Nemo, The Incredibles, Ratatouille, WALL-E, and Up. In 2011, it was nominated for a Kids' Choice Award for Favorite Animated Movie, but lost to Despicable Me.
==Music Soundtrack==
The film score for Toy Story 3 was composed and conducted by Randy Newman, his sixth for Pixar after Toy Story, A Bug's Life, Toy Story 2, Monsters, Inc., and Cars. Disney did not release the soundtrack album for Toy Story 3 on Compact Disc (CD). It was only available, initially, as a music download in lossy formats such as MP3 and AAC. This was the second instance where Disney did not release the award-winning soundtrack of a Pixar film on CD, the first beingUp. In January 2012, Intrada released the Toy Story 3 soundtrack on Compact Disc.
In addition to the tracks included in the soundtrack album, the film also uses "Dream Weaver" by Gary Wright, "Le Freak" by Chic, and Randy Newman's original version of "You've Got a Friend in Me."
In addition, tracks "Cowboy!" and "Come to Papa" included material from Newman's rejected score to Air Force One. The song "Losing You" from Newman's own album Harps and Angels was also used in the first trailer for the film.
The Judas Priest song "Electric Eye" was used in the temp score for the opening scene of Toy Story 3. The aliens are playing the tune in their sports car. However, the song was ultimately replaced by another piece of music.
==Potential sequel==
According to an article on NOLA.com, Toy Story 3 director Lee Unkrich has confirmed that a Toy Story 4 sequel currently is not being planned. "Well, we don't have any plans for Toy Story 4," Unkrich said. "I'm flattered that people ask about it—it reminds me how much people love the characters, but it was really important to me with this film that we not just create another sequel, that it not just be another appendage coming off of the other two." However, he did say, "there may be opportunities for Woody and Buzz in the future, but we don't have any plans for anything right now." It has also been reported that Hanks and Allen have signed on for a Toy Story 4 if Pixar ever decides to produce one. In a BBC interview in 2011, Hanks said that he thought Pixar was working on a sequel. However, Disney has since denied these rumors saying, "nothing is official."
Category:Films
Category:Toy Story