Pixar's Up launches balloons through Tower Bridge
Story by Jack Foley
FOR the first time in London’s history, Tower Bridge lifted its bascules and gave way to a hot air balloon in an aeronautical feat never tried before.
Weighing in at 150kg and built using 30km of thread, the event took place at sunrise on Friday, October 2, 2009, during high tide when the water mark allowed the UP hot air balloon to make its way upstream from Wapping, aided by the Thames river community, and dramatically fly through Tower Bridge.
The 10th smash hit comedy from Disney•Pixar, Up is the biggest animation of the year at the US box office and became the first animated film to open this year’s Cannes Film Festival.
Critics are unanimous in their praise for the film’s creativity, comedy and emotional depth with many claiming it is the best film of the year.
The Up balloon was designed and built in Bristol and has been travelling across Europe, visiting some of its most famous landmarks, bringing Up to life.
Up is an hilarious and heart-warming comedy adventure about 78-year-old balloon salesman Carl Fredricksen, who finally fulfils his lifelong dream of a great adventure when he ties thousands of balloons to his house and flies away to the wilds of South America.
But he discovers all too late that his biggest nightmare has stowed away on the trip: an overly optimistic eight-year-old Wilderness Explorer named Russell.
From the Academy Award®-nominated director Pete Docter (Monsters, Inc.), Disney•Pixar’s Up invites you on a hilarious journey into a lost world, with the least likely duo on Earth.
Up will be presented in Disney Digital 3-D in selected cinemas.
Watch footage of London’s Up Balloon over Tower Bridge or watch premiere footage