While not many films about professional partners doing their jobs together tend to make audiences sit back and wonder, geez, I wonder what these two were like in college?, not many films about professional partners doing their jobs together came with the sort of sweetness and humor that Pete Docter‘s Monsters, Inc. did. Next year’s prequel to the Pixar hit, Dan Scanlon‘s Monsters University, takes us way back into the early years of Sulley (John Goodman) and Mike Wazowski’s (Billy Crystal) friendship and matriculation at, you guessed it, Monsters University. Lucky for us, the project has started to roll out some teaser posters (and they are OMG adorable, squeee), including an international one up top and a domestic one after the break. Who knew college could be so totally charming?

For more than fifteen years, Pixar has represented the gold standard in computer generated films. Since the studio’s early days of making groundbreaking short films to producing Oscar-winning feature-length movies, Pixar has become a brand associated with quality animation and adorable characters. There have been some bumps along the road, from a love-hate-owner relationship with Disney to some questionable sequels, but few studios can boast such a consistent level of quality and innovation. This week, Pixar will be releasing its 13th full-length feature, Brave, with an entire new cast of characters different from any other Pixar film. This gives us a chance to look into Pixar’s past and remember some of the favorite characters from their films.

If there’s any outfit that celebrates the team sport aspect of filmmaking, it’s Pixar. What began as the Graphics Group at LucasFilm has evolved into its own behemoth of wonder and magic. Not just pioneers of technology, they’ve sought to invent in order to put stories out into the world – using computer animation for the ancient purpose of spinning tales and crafting characters. Led by Ed Catmull, the production house (which was bought by Disney in 2006) boasts luminaries like John Lasseter, Brad Bird, Pete Docter, Andrew Stanton, Lee Unkrich and many more. There newest film, Brave, is in theaters this week, so here’s a bit of free film school (for fans and filmmakers alike) from RenderMan and company.

During all the festivities of CinemaCon in Las Vegas this week, the folks at Pixar announced several things. One being that their latest film Brave would help test Dolby’s Atmos format, a revolutionary new sound system that we reported on yesterday. The other — perhaps bigger — announcement is that they gave updates on three upcoming projects, all from original stories and all featuring Pixar veteran directors. Can’t wait to hear about Up co-director Bob Peterson’s dinosaur movie? How about Pete Docter’s trip inside the human mind? Or maybe you’re interested in Toy Story 3 director Lee Unkrich’s film about Dia De Los Muertos. It’s an interesting slate, about which we’ve compiled all the available details just after the jump.

There’s a lot going on at D23 (which I spent the last two weeks thinking was the new Eminem super group), but so far the most interesting development has been from Pixar and Pete Docter. With the money-making albatross of the Cars franchise off their necks, the studio is set to release Brave next summer, followed by Monsters University the summer after that, an untitled movie about dinosaurs over the Holidays of 2013, and then a concept from Docter the summer of 2014. Essentially, there’s a lot of Pixar to enjoy before we get to it, but /film is reporting that the untitled movie will be set inside your head. Here’s the official synopsis: “Pixar takes audiences on incredible journeys into extraordinary worlds: from the darkest depths of the ocean to the top of the tepui mountains in South America; from the fictional metropolis of Monstropolis to a futuristic fantasy of outer space. From director Pete Docter (“Up,” “Monsters, Inc.”) and producer Jonas Rivera (“Up”), the inventive new film will take you to a place that everyone knows, but no one has ever seen: the world inside the human mind.”

Nine years after the hugely successful Pete Docter directed Monsters, Inc. hit theaters, new chairman of Walt Disney Studios Rich Ross announced a second installment slated for November 2012 at a media event on Thursday.

Even with South by Southwest (SXSW) only a week away, we’re already looking ahead to April 8th-16th and the Dallas International Film Festival. In its first year free from the title of the AFI Dallas Film Festival, Dallas IFF is pulling out some big guns as it announced today its first 12 titles, as well as a big award being given to one of animation’s most impressive directors, Pixar’s Pete Docter.

It’s Academy Awards time again, and even though we all know the awards are basically an irrelevant exercise in mutual masturbation it’s still fun to watch. This year sees a wide variety of films gain entry into Oscar history via nominations for Best Screenplay, Original and Adapted. Some deserve the honor, while others are based on the novel “Push” by Sapphire.

I’m back with more fun stuff to celebrate this major release, including additional facts about the film — as well as an international Q&A with director Pete Docter.

Hey kids, it’s time for a very special edition of This Week in Blu-ray dedicated to the three releases from Walt Disney Home Entertainment, a trifecta of beautiful Pixar movies coming at you in 1080p.

With today’s release of Up on DVD and Blu-ray, there is also some news from Pixar central about director Pete Docter and his next project.

As you might have learned from Rob Hunter’s This Week in DVD column this morning, the masterwork known as Pixar’s Up has hit DVD and Blu-ray today. And with that, we have this very cool little list of facts…

This week’s round of drunken shenanigans is a special one, that gives you two options for downing booze while watching new releases. Just know that if you’re drinking during Up, you won’t want the kids in the room.

Since it is likely that many of you have had the chance to see Pixar’s latest gem Up — and if you’re like me, you may be heading out to see it again today — it is time to have a little discussion.

Up director Pete Docter and his producer Jonas Rivera visit the University of Cincinnati to talk about the latest film from Disney/Pixar.

Kevin Carr reviews this week’s new movies: Up and Drag Me to Hell.

The unprecedented has happened in the Magical Studio in the Sky. Not only has Neil seen as many movies this week as Kevin, but they also seem to agree on everything. Surely, this is a sign of the apocalypse. But have no fear. Kevin and Neil will be back with fighting words next week.

There is something about the craft of great storytelling, the truly magical nature of a tale so perfectly executed that just grabs the heart strings of its audience and never lets go. It’s rare, but something we should be used to from Pixar.

A favorite reader of ours, Joe P., sent us in these seven awesome new images from Pixar’s next adventure Up, and we’ve since come to find out that they originated from a little Pixar fansite called Buzz & Cie. No matter where they came from though, the point is that they are absolutely gorgeous photos. It is fitting, as Up is a beautiful film — beautiful story, beautiful animation, beautiful everything. Just beautiful, top to bottom. And if you can’t tell, I’m also in the midst of writing a very glowing review of the film, as I had a chance to see it last night. But that is another discussion altogether. While you’re staying tuned for my review, please enjoy these great new photos. Up hits theaters on May 29, 2009. Click to enlarge any of the photos below.

Walt Disney Pictures has unleashed the full press kit for the upcoming Pixar film Up, which hits theaters on May 29th and will be making its world premiere at the Cannes Film Festival tomorrow, May 13th. Inside said press kit they’ve included the final batch of images, 38 in total.