In case anyone who’s never been here before doesn’t know it, I - like many folks in the world - am simply a sucker for Pixar movies, so be warned you’re gonna build out a whole lot about “Wall-E” here that week until and possibly after I get to see it, probably Saturday dawn.

Sunday’s Arts & Leisure section of the New York Times had a very interesting interview with “Wall-E” director Andrew Stanton, which you can still read here. Why in the world it didn’t manufacture the cover I’ll never know, but citizens who invent a lot more money than I do construct those decisions.

Here are some of the highlights:

* Although I’ve seen a figure of $120 million listed, the Times commentary pegs the cost of “Wall-E” at $180 million, which must include marketing and various costs. No matter how you add it up, though, that’s a lot of cheese for a relatively silent movie about robot love.

* Stanton, ever the film geek at heart, says he drew on films from science fiction’s golden age - “1968 to ’81” he said. The second half or so of “Wall-E” promised to be an epicly fun space journey, and I just can’t wait to see it.

* And, in my favorite nugget of all, Stanton answers the question: What do you do when you need robot dialogue for a flick with very little of the human variety? Well, you get the guy who did the dialogue for R2D2

in “Star Wars” (and less excitingly, E.T. too), Ben Burtt. Stanton said he wrote a conventional script — “Hi, I’m Wall-E” — and Mr. Burtt essentially translated the dialogue into robot, something he calls “audio puppeteering.” How in the world can I get that job?

The headline of the commentary itself sums up the big storyline for “Wall-E”: “Pixar Gambles on a Robot in Love.” Following up “the rat movie” (my favorite movie of all of 2007, of course, “Ratatouille”) with that endearing oddity may be a bit of a “gamble,” but here’s hoping the Disney-owned Pixar continues to take chances.

One thing I found surprising in the NYT exposition was that “the rat movie” actually made substantially more worldwide than “Cars,” definitely not one of my favorite Pixar flicks. Here are the Box Office Mojo numbers:

“Finding Nemo”: $340 million domestic, $865 total.
“The Incredibles”: $261 million domestic, $631 total.
“Cars”: $244 million domestic, $462 million total.
“Ratatouille”: $206 million domestic, $621 million total.

None of those numbers, of course, would show a studio that’s really hurting in anyway, and I suspect that by the duration you add in worldwide numbers for “Wall-E” it will be back around “Nemo” territory. Judging from the response of all the tots who laughed all through the “Wall-E” trailer that preceded “Kung Fu Panda,” the kids are certainly ready to embrace the little robot, and I am too. Peace out.

Original post by Reel Fanatic