According to a Reuters report, Disney will be expanding its layoffs to its studio and consumer products divisions. According to Reuters’ unnamed “two people with knowledge of the matter,” the layoffs will begin within two weeks and will primarily affect marketing and home video units, though the “animation wing” will also be affected.

It is unclear whether Pixar Animation Studios will be affected by the layoffs. Walt Disney Studios just announced this week that Pixar is creating a sequel to Finding Nemo due out in 2015, titled Finding Dory.

Reuters’ sources stated that Disney began conducting an internal review last year to identify jobs that have become superfluous due to technological improvements or recent acquisitions.

That question is now irrelevant, as Pixar has officially announced the sequel to Finding Nemo, titled Finding Dory. The movie will focus on Dory, the clumsy Pacific regal blue tang sidekick in Finding Nemo. Finding Dory will be directed by Andrew Stanton, who directed Finding Nemo as well as Pixar’s WALL-E. According to the new Finding Dory Facebook page, the movie will be released in November 2015.

Though the Nemo sequel has been rumored for some time, the official announcement came, fittingly, from the voice of Dory herself. Ellen DeGeneres made the announcement this week on The Ellen DeGeneres show.

“Disney Infinity introduces a new way to interact with the best of Disney on one game platform, both now and in the future,” said John Pleasants, co-president of Disney Interactive. “With this innovative approach to gaming, Disney Infinity will bring to life new characters, stories and environments from The Walt Disney Company over time in a way that will delight fans and gamers alike.”

The video game will integrate collectible figures that can be placed on an “Infinity base” to unlock new characters and objects in-game. At the game’s launch, 40 “Interactive Pieces” will be available to unlock content and 17 “Interactive Character Figures” will be available to unlock new characters. “Power Discs” will also be available to expand content. Disney will, of course, be releasing new characters and “Play Sets” in the future to expand the content of the game.

The game’s “Toy Box” mode will allow players to create their own environments and challenges, which can then be shared with other players. Also included are “story-driven” adventures in which players will confront puzzles and enemies in familiar Disney settings. The game supports 2 player co-op in the adventures and up to four player co-op in “Toy Box” mode.

“Disney Infinity combines prominent Disney and Pixar characters and scenarios in a way that mimics how kids play in real life,” said John Blackburn, vice president and general manager of Avalanche Software. “With our platform’s unique gameplay mechanics and innovative approach to user generated content within the “Toy Box” mode, Disney Infinity will spark imaginations and provide endless hours of fun and creativity.”

The starter pack for Disney Infinity will cost $75. “Disney Infinity Figures” will cost $13 each or $30 for a 3-pack, and “Power Discs” will cost $5. Additional “Play Sets” will cost $35. Three “Play Sets” have already been announced, encompassing the worlds of Monsters University, Pirates of the Caribbean , and The Incredibles.

Netflix and the Walt Disney Company have announced a multi-year partnership that will bring new films to the service instantly, inside the pay TV window. Netflix will be the only subscription service for first-run Disney films, including both live-action and animated features.

The studios covered in the deal are Disney, Walt Disney Animation Studios, Pixar, Marvel and Disneynature. The deal goes into effect in 2016, where Netflix will then receive all of the theatrically-released films to stream out on a wide range of devices.

“Disney and Netflix have shared a long and mutually beneficial relationship and this deal will bring to our subscribers, in the first pay TV window, some of the highest-quality, most imaginative family films being made today,” said Ted Sarandos, Chief Content Officer at Netflix. “It’s a bold leap forward for Internet television and we are incredibly pleased and proud this iconic family brand is teaming with Netflix to make it happen.”

Netflix and Disney made a couple of other deals today, such as extended a catalog deal that allows Netflix to stream some old favorites like Dumbo and Alice in Wonderland. Netflix will also receive Disney’s straight-to-video films starting in 2013.

This is a pretty big deal for Netflix, who will be able to boast incredibly popular titles as soon as they become available for the small screen. It’s definitely a shot across the bow for a company like HBO, ans Netflix is slowly moving into their pay window. But then again, we do have to wait until 2016. Bummer.

Pixar’s Junn Lee shared a photo of the building in a tweet:

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Junn Lee
@ijunns

Reposting a friends picture of the newly named building @ Pixar. ^^ Love you Mr. Jobs! http://t.co/pz5XZM8V

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1 day ago via Twitter for iPhone · powered by @socialditto

Jobs served as chief executive of PIxar, and became a board member for Disney, when the studio was acquired by the giant. Interestingly, Jobs acquired the computer graphics division of Lucasfilm, which was spun off as PIxar, and last week, Disney announced its acquisition of Lucasfilm.

[via Pixar Times]

Pixar has decided to open source their Subd evaluation code. It’s called Open SubDiv and it’s “a set of open source libraries that implement high performance subdivision surface evaluation on massively parallel CPU and GPU architectures.” With the release, Pixar hopes to “encourage high performance accurate subdiv drawing by giving away the “good stuff”.”

This is a huge deal for both Pixar and the development scene as a whole. By making their software open source, Pixar opens the doors to programmers of all backgrounds to help improve it and change the software.

It’s also big news for hobbyist animators and programmers because Pixar has released the code under the Microsoft Public License. Animators and programmers can release work made with Pixar’s code for non-commercial and commercial use. It wasn’t just enough that Pixar released their code, but they’re letting people make money off of it too.

The software is currently in beta, but Pixar will keep putting out new updates over time. The source code is available to all at GitHub. I can’t wait to see what amateur animators do with the software. If this release goes over well, they might start to release other software as well.

[h/t: The Register]

Many thanks to Vincent for correcting a few errors.

“Finding Nemo”, which hits theaters this September in 3D, stars actor Albert Brooks as a dad who goes on a quest to find his missing son. Although the film isn’t my favorite Pixar endeavor — that honor currently goes to “Wall-E”, though it could change at the drop of a hat — I think there’s definitely interest from the masses for a sequel. I guess its fate will depend upon how well the 3D version of the original film does during its theatrical jaunt later this year.

As far as “Toy Story 4″ is concerned, it’s really a no-brainer. The franchise has enjoyed a fair amount of success over the years, with the most recent entry snagging a lifetime gross of $415,004,880, which is certainly nothing to sneeze at. Back in 2011, Tom Hanks hinted that the studio was working on another installment of the wildly popular series, which makes these recent rumors sound a bit more believable.

Sadly, all of this sequel talk indicates that Pixar isn’t interested in developing any new properties at the moment. Although recent efforts such as “Wall-E”, “Up”, and “Brave” have made a fair amount of scratch at the box office, they haven’t come close to securing the sort of revenue as “Toy Story” and “Finding Nemo”. Since crafting films of this nature takes a long time, it might be a while before Pixar delivers anything original. That’s kind of a bummer.

“Monster University”, the highly-anticipated sequel to Pixar’s 2001 hit “Monsters, Inc.”, opens in theaters on June 20th, 2013. Check out the teaser below.

Disney-Pixar’s “Brave”, which was directed by Mark Andrews, Brenda Chapman, and “Sam & Max” creator Steve Purcell, follows the adventures of a young princess (voiced by Kelly Macdonald) who embarks on an epic quest to end a curse that has plagued her kingdom. Presently, the film is enjoying a “fresh” rating over at Rotten Tomatoes with a combined rating of 75%. Audience approval rating, meanwhile, is 85%.

Hanging out further down the cinematic totem pole is Ridley Scott’s “Prometheus”, which has slipped down to fourth place with $10 million in ticket sales. “Rock of Ages” and “That’s My Boy” continue to leave audiences uninterested, generating admittedly pathetic sums of $8 million and $7.9 million, respectively. This has to come as a particularly hard blow for the likes of Tom Cruise and Adam Sandler, two Hollywood powerhouses that aren’t accustomed to having their films flounder in such a manner.

Rounding out the top ten were “Snow White and the Huntsman” (sixth place, $8 million), Joss Whedon’s “The Avengers” (seventh place, $7 million), “Men in Black III” (ninth place, $5.6 million), and the Steve Carell dramedy “Seeking a Friend for the End of the World” (tenth place, $3.8 million).

Next weekend should prove interesting, as a number of high-profile summer comedies are tossed into the mix. In addition to the Mark Wahlberg flick “Ted”, which was co-written and directed by Seth MacFarlane, audience will have an opportunity to take in “Madea’s Witness Protection”, and “Magic Mike”, as well as the drama “People Like Us”.

Coming in a second was third week offering “Madagascar 3: Europe’s Most Wanted” which made $20.2 million to bring it’s total to an impressive $157.5 million. 3rd place featured the slightly disappointing “Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter.” The (awesome idea for a vampire movie) movie brought in a disappointing $16.5 million in its first week. The alien prequel titled “Prometheus” comes in at 4th. The sci-fi movie featuring Charlize Theron pulled in $10 million in its 3rd week to bring its total to $108.5 million. Rounding out the top 5 is Tom Cruise’s Rock Opera titled “Rock of Ages.” The movie made $8 million bringing its total to $28.7 million which probably doesn’t even cover Cruise’s payday for making the movie.

Here is a synopsis of the movie “Brave” from Rotten Tomatoes:

“Merida is a skilled archer and impetuous daughter of King Fergus (Billy Connolly) and Queen Elinor (Emma Thompson). Determined to carve her own path in life, Merida defies an age-old custom sacred to the uproarious lords of the land: massive Lord MacGuffin (Kevin McKidd), surly Lord Macintosh (Craig Ferguson) and cantankerous Lord Dingwall (Robbie Coltrane). Merida’s actions inadvertently unleash chaos and fury in the kingdom, and when she turns to an eccentric old Witch (Julie Walters) for help, she is granted an ill-fated wish. The ensuing peril forces Merida to discover the meaning of true bravery in order to undo a beastly curse before it’s too late.”

Here is the trailer for Disney Pixar’s “Brave” :

We all know that 3D animation can be a trying task for all of the digital artists involved. Luckily, they make the big bucks for their efforts, but how difficult can it really be. If the production notes and DVD commentary are a good indicator, they are nearly impossible. Every little detail must be accounted for to insure the audience stays in the moment and continues to suspend disbelief.

The bushy, fiery red hair of the films protagonist, Scottish princess Merida, is one of those instances where everything had to be perfect, even if that meant rendering 1,500 individual curls of hair to make it look believable. That’s what The Wall Street Journal is reporting. We also found some interesting tid-bits (courtesy of Holy Kaw!) about some of the other obstacles that had to be overcome in past Pixar films. Here’s a hint – Hair can be really tricky.

3,473,271
Individual animated hairs on the Lots-o-Huggin Bear from Toy Story 3

2,320,413
Individually animated hairs on Sully in Monsters, Inc. It took 11 to 12 hours to animate a single frame featuring Sully.

270
Types of food created for Ratatouille.

1,150,000
Individual hairs rendered on Ratatouille’s hero, Remy

From the looks of Brave, all that extra effort and attention to detail was well worth it. These trailers are gorgeous to behold.