Animated Views has been undergoing some maintenance this weekend. While most of the work is now done, you may notice some errors while we finish getting everything fully functional again. Apologies for any inconvenience.

FOX already dominates the market in late-night and prime time adult animation with Animation Domination on the Sunday night block. The Big Cartoon Database Blog reports that FOX is setting its sights on “cre­at[ing] a new unit to over­see the devel­op­ment and pro­duc­tion of alter­na­tive ani­mated series, shorts and user-adapted mate­r­ial for a brand new late-night ani­mated pro­gram­ming block and new dig­i­tal multi-platform net­work.” Nick Wei­den­feld, for­mer head of pro­gram devel­op­ment for Adult Swim, will run the new unit. It will be available on all digital platforms and fans will be able to submit their own content with the possibility of it being picked up by FOX for syndication. New talent will be able to open doors that they might have never reached through this new interactive venture.

The Visual Effects Society has announced the winners of their 10th Annual VES Awards, with Rango being the most honored project with four awards. The film won Outstanding Visual Effects in an Animated Feature Motion Picture, Outstanding Animated Character in an Animated Feature Motion Picture, Outstanding Created Environment in an Animated Feature Motion Picture, and Outstanding Virtual Cinematography in an Animated Feature Motion Picture. Hugo, Rise of the Planet of the Apes, and Transformers: Dark of the Moon all took home two awards in the Feature Motion Picture categories, while Boardwalk Empire and Game of Thrones each garnered a pair of awards in the Television categories. Stan Lee received the Lifetime Achievement Award and visual effects pioneer Douglas Trumbull received the Georges Méliès Award at the show. THe full list of winners and photos from the show are online at the VES website.

If you’re looking to get a jump on whatever Oscar pool you might be participating in (we would suggest this one!) several websites are showcasing the shorts portion of the Academy Awards list before the films are set to get in front of a wider audience. ComingSoon.net and The Wrap synopsize the nominees and gauge their chances. You can catch the films themselves as ShortsHD and Magnolia Pictures are set to roll them out in theatres, on TV video on demand services, and online via iTunes.

The Associated Press reports that Universal Pictures’ promotions for their upcoming film Dr. Seuss’ The Lorax are taking a different tack from the usual studio campaigns for animated movies. With partners that include the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and Whole Foods Market, the marketers are are being more selective with their tie-ins and are focusing on activities like planting trees and conserving energy.

Without much word from The Henson Company in the recent months, they have made some noise that Katherine Heigel might be the newest human to team up with the famous puppets. The Henson Company has been chasing around an idea about filming a puppet noir film, where humans and puppets inhabit the same world but the puppets are considered second class citizens. The movie is called Happytime Murders and sounds very oxymoronic.

In other Muppets news, Man or a Muppet is nominated for an Oscar, but it along with other Oscar nominee song may not be performed at the Oscars. The Academy hasn’t confirmed or denied this rumor yet. Thanks to ToughPigs for these news pieces.

A fun new poster for Aardman's upcoming animated comedy The Pirates: Band of Misfits! has been revealed by Sony Pictures, and can be viewed here. On a somewhat dissapointing note, the poster reveals that the film's release date has been pushed back an entire month. Originally set to set sail on March 30th, it will now open on April 27th, just one week before a little movie called The Avengers is released.

Disney is showing off some of the first look concept art of a few of the "video game worlds" in their upcoming animated film Wreck-It Ralph. The movie is currently slated to open November 2nd. The three images follow.

LA Times has posted an interview with Gary Rydstrom, director of the English language version of the Studio Ghibli film The Secret World of Arrietty. In the interview, Rydstrom talks about Arrietty, its English voice cast, and his love for Studio Ghibli. Based on Mary Norton’s The Borrowers, The Secret World of Arrietty opens in theaters Feb 17, 2012.

The winners of the 2012 Annie Awards were announced last night, with the Johnny Depp western adventure Rango winning the top prize for Best Picture. Adam and Dog won the award for Best Animated Short film, while The Simpsons was named Best Animated Television program for a General Audience. Disney's Peter Pan spin-off Jake and the Never Land Pirates won for Best Preschool Series, while Cartoon Network's The Amazing World of Gumball was named Best Children's Program. In the voice acting category, character actor Bill Nighy won the award for Best Performance in a Feature Film for his role as Grandpa Santa in Arthur Christmas. A full list of the night's winners can be found on the official Annie website.

Al Pacino is all set to make his first appearance in an animated film with Despicable Me 2, the sequel to Universal Pictures' 2010 hit, reports CinemaBlend. Al Pacino replaces Javier Bardem to voice the lead villain in the animated sequel directed by Chris Renaud and Pierre Coffin. Despicable Me 2 is scheduled for a July 3, 2013 release.

An insert in the upcoming Lady and the Tramp Diamond Edition Blu-ray teases a number of upcoming Disney animated Blu-ray releases for 2012 and beyond, reports Blu-ray.com. Titles include, two-movie package releases of Pocahontas / Pocahontas 2: Journey to a New World and The Rescuers / The Rescuers Down Under due out Summer 2012. The Aristocats is scheduled to see a Blu-ray release on August 7th, 2012 and Cinderella and Aladdin Diamond Editions have been slated for Fall 2012 and Spring 2013 releases respectively. The news item also mentions the release dates for Blu-ray releases of sequels The Lion King 1½ and The Lion King 2: Simba's Pride release dates as March 6th, 2012 and Lady and the Tramp II: Scamp's Adventure as Summer 2012.

Attention true believers, oh wait! That’s the wrong comic giant reference. Anyway, while DC Animated Universe fans waiting with baited breath for the newest release from Warner Brothers Animation: Justice League: Doom set to be on the streets February 2012, they can watch this clip from Toon Zone. If you can’t wait for the 28th, it is available for digital download on the 21st.

The Hollywood Reporter announces that DreamWorks has set the main cast for their upcoming film Me & My Shadow. Josh Gad, Bill Hader, and Kate Hudson have signed on to star. “Conceived in-house as an original film, Shadow centers on Stan, a shadow (Hader) who yearns for a more exciting life than being attached to a timid human named Stanley Grubb (Gad). When a crime in the shadow community puts both of their lives in danger, Stan is forced to take control of Stanley, thrusting both of them into an adventure featuring a shadowy villain, who intends to lead a rebellion to take over the human world. Hudson will voice Grubb’s potential love interest in the real world.” The CG/traditional animation film is being directed by Alessandro Carloni (head of story How to Train Your Dragon), with a screenplay by Tom J. Astle and Matt Ember based on a draft by Steve Bencich and Ron J. Friedman (Brother Bear, Chicken Little, Open Season).

HitFix handicaps the Best Animated Film Oscar race with a look at the nominees, who was snubbed, and who should and will win.

The popular mecha-themed franchise, Gundam, is now getting its own theme park. Anime News Network reports that Bandai has put up the money for a miniature theme park called Gundam Front Tokyo in Diver City Tokyo, right next door to the 59 feet/18 meters tall Gundam statue. The park attractions include a dome theater for immersive video, displays of rare production materials, archives on future and old Gundam projects, displays of models, and “photospots” to take pictures with Gundam characters. Appropriately themed souvenir shops and a cafe will open alongside the theme park. Diver City is located on the artificially created Odaiba Island. Park admission will run 1000 yen for adults, roughly $13 US dollars.

Hero Complex talks with DreamWorks’ Guillermo del Toro, who discusses the studio’s two Best Animated Feature nominees, his thoughts on live action directors crossing to animation and animation directors doing live action, how technology is being used in different ways and in different hands, and what he thought of The Hobbit trailer.

Several different sites have featured stories on this very cool look at rare test footage and artwork from a 1930's animated version of John Carter of Mars, from the Danton Burroughs Tarzana Archives. All the links above have some great takes on the project, with Geeks of Doom summing it up this way: "It's amazing to think that had Clampett and Burroughs' dream been realized John Carter of Mars would have been the first full-length animated feature produced for the big screen. Could that have changed the course of film history? Would more serious and memorable science-fiction films have been made in Hollywood earlier than the 1950s? The mind reels at the possibilities." Those looking for more should check out these pieces by Disney historian Jim Korkis from 2003 and earlier this year.

The Hollywood Reporter has a roundup of animation from the recent Sundance Film Festival. While several different styles of animation were represented the themes were more consistent with the bottom line being the “mixed bag of animated shorts was unusually focused on death and the universe’s indifference to man”.

Rio, the Oscar nominated film about bird smuggling set in Brazil, is set to have a sequel, says Cinema Blend. Director Carlos Saldanha is progressing on the potential film, which may be set during the 2014 World Cup. Fox hasn’t signed any script deals, but all signs are in Rio 2′s favor.

No Country for Old Men's Javier Bardem is no longer set to lend his voice to Universal's upcoming Despicable Me 2, Screen Rant is reporting. Bardem was set to play the new villain in the film, but that role is now apparently up for grabs now. It is not set to have any impact on the sequel's planned summer 2013 release date. Bardem, meanwhile, will still be seen on the big screen playing a villain soon, in this holiday season's upcoming James Bond adventure Skyfall.

A brief one minute promo for Studio Ghibli’s 2010 film, Arrietty, is now available for streaming. Via ANN the promo highlights the dub voice actors Bridgit Mendler and David Henrie; they play the leads in the film. Arrietty reimagines the 1952 British novel in a Tokyo suburb. It will be opening February 17 in the US.

The Sacramento Bee has two major headlines from DreamWorks. Gregg Taylor has been named the new head of development. Taylor started his DreamWorks animation relationship began with Shrek and prior to his promotion worked on expanding the How to Train Your Dragon, Penguins of Madagascar and television projects. Alex Schwartz is the new producer for the upcoming Mr. Peabody and Sherman. Schwartz is the current head of animation development and looks forward to working on the movie.

According to Deadline, Aardman Animation will be changing a scene shown in the trailer for The Pirates! Band Of Misfits after complaints from leprosy groups. The scene in question featured a character with leprosy demonstrating he has the disease by showing his arm falling off. An Aardman spokesperson told Deadline, “After reviewing the matter, we decided to change the scene out of respect and sensitivity for those who suffer from leprosy. The last thing anyone intended was to offend anyone and it is clear to us that the right way to proceed is to honor the efforts made by organizations like [the International Federation of Anti-Leprosy Associations] to educate the public about this disease”. The film is slated to open in March 2012.

The nominations for the 84th Academy Awards have been announced, and like all years, there were quite a few surprises. Nominated in the Best Animated Feature category were Rango, Puss in Boots, Kung Fu Panda 2, A Cat in Paris and Chico and Rita. Notably missing from the category were Arthur Christmas and The Adventures of Tintin, two critically acclaimed animated films that were expected to be nominated. Tintin did score a nomination for composer John Williams in the Best Musical Score category. And Man or Muppet from The Muppets and Real in Rio! from Rio were the only two songs to be nominated in the Best Original Song category.

Meanwhile, the Best Animated Short category saw nominations for Pixar's yet to be released La Luna, A Morning Stroll, The Fantastic Flying Books of Mr. Morris Lessmore and Wild Life. And Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 2, Hugo, Real Steel, Rise of the Planet of the Apes, and Transformers: Dark of the Moon were the selections for Best Visual Effects.

The winners will be revealed on February 26th.