STACK New Zealand October Issue 67

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NEWS EXTRAS
#1 IN SOUND & VISION
With Minions now the second highest grossing animated movie of all time,
Illumination is emerging as a serious contender for Pixar’s crown.
Chris Meledandri’s animation house’s sixth
full length feature The Secret Life of Pets has
just opened in cinemas and is set to follow
on from the blockbuster success of Minions,
which arrives on DVD and Blu-ray at the end of
the month. A comedy about the lives pets lead
when their masters leave them alone each day,
the film boasts the voice talents of comic stars
Modern Family’s Eric Stonestreet, Louis CK and
Kevin Hart, together with the likes of Lake Bell,
Ellie Kemper and Albert Brooks. It is co-directed
by Chris Renaud, who helmed Illumination’s first
big hits Despicable Me and Despicable Me 2.
And Illumination already has an intriguing
line-up of titles in the pipeline. As well as third
Despicable Me film, work has begun on an as
yet untitled project from Garth Jennings (Son
Of Rambo), which will reportedly follow the
adventures of a koala called Buster, to be voiced
by Matthew McConaughey.
It is expected to be released next year, along
with a new adaptation of Clifford The Big Red
Dog, although things have gone a little quiet on
that front. Illumination has also been linked with
a number of new Dr Seuss projects, including
new takes on How The Grinch Stole Christmas
and The Cat In The Hat, although there have
been no formal announcements on those yet.
In the meantime, though, fans can look
forward to the release of Minions, which at
press-time was closing in on Frozen as the
highest grossing animated movie of all time.
More on the lovable villain sidekicks in next
month’s edition of STACK. The largest iPad yet, plus new versions of
the iPhone 6 were unveiled at Apple’s annual
September confab.
The iPad Pro boasts a 12.9 inch Retina
Display with 5.6 million pixels, the most ever
in an iOS device, and can be used with a new
take on the stylus, the Apple Pencil. The latter
will be sold separately, along with a new smart
keyboard, which attaches to the device’s Smart
Connector port.
New Zealand pricing and the release date are
still be confirmed, but the iPad Pro is expected to
be released in November, along with a souped
up new version of its streaming device Apple TV.
The computer giant has also just released the
iPhone 6s and 6s Plus, which are billed by Apple
as “the most advanced iPhones ever”.
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04 OCTOBER 2015
ILLUMINATING ANIMATION
i PAD GOES PRO
The Secret Life Of Pets
New CD/DVD/Blu-ray editions of The Beatles’
ever-popular greatest hits collection 1 are
being readied for release just in time for
Christmas.
The 27-track CD/DVD and CD/Blu-ray
pairs beautifully restored videos for each
song, with new stereo and 5.1 Dolby Digital
and DTS HD surround audio mixes. The
audio visual editions of The Beatles 1 have
involved extensive research and restoration
of the original promo films, classic television
appearances and other carefully selected
videos spanning the band’s history.
As well as the standard editions, there
is also a special deluxe version Beatles
1+ , which celebrates the Fab Four’s career
through 50 promotional films and videos. A
new CD only version is also available, along
with a double LP vinyl set.