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.

The LA Times has recently posted an interview with Disney's Bryon Howard and Nathan Greno, both of whom directed Tangled and the new short film Tangled Ever After. “The movie kind of buttons up, but the one thing we didn’t do in the movie was a wedding,” Greno says of the film. “There’d be a beautiful wedding of Flynn and Rapunzel, just like the royal wedding. It would be this big, grand event." The directors discuss over the course of the interview how that lead to the short's plot of Pascal the chameleon and Maxiumus the horse losing Flynn and Rapunzel's wedding rings on their big day. The short is currently playing in theaters with Beauty and the Beast 3-D.

Warner Bros. has jut announced that their animated movie Happy Feet Two will be released on DVD and Blu-Ray on March 13th, DVD Active is reporting. The extras will, apparently, only be featured on the Blu-Ray, will include interviews, sing-alongs and more. Meanwhile, Universal has announced that their live-action/animated Easter comedy Hop will be released on Blu-Ray on March 23rd. Extras will include a number of featurettes. Although Hop was a box office hit, the same can't be said for Happy Feet Two, which underwhelmed with a total gross of just $60 million against of a production budget of $140 million.

Universal’s upcoming animated movie The Lorax has been given a PG rating by the MPAA for “brief mild language,” according to ComingSoon.net. Dr. Seuss fans, of course, will remember how often the children’s book author used profanity in his stories…which would be never. Still, this isn’t the first time a Dr. Seuss movie was given a PG, with the live-action Grinch and Cat in the Hat movies both being given that rating. The Lorax opens everywhere in March.

Three brand new sneak peek clips from Nick's upcoming cartoon series Avatar: The Legend of Korra have been posted online and can be viewed here. The sequel to The Last Airbender takes place 70 years (!) after the original show, and follows the adventures of Korra, the next Avatar after the late Aang (Katara, however, is apparently still alive). Although highly anticipated by fans, the series is still without a premiere date.

If you’ve noticed the black bars on Google, Wikipedia, and other news websites, then you probably know about PIPA (Protect IP Act) and SOPA (Stop Online Piracy Act). These two bills are being debated in the US Congress as you read this post. These two acts have the power to censor, regulate, and shutdown millions of Internet sites, mostly user-generated content i.e. Facebook, Wikipedia, Youtube, that violate copyright or post unauthorized material; as decided by the Attorney General. AnimatedViews.com could be a potential victim because we bring you news and reviews about the animation industry. Keep us and other websites from disappearing like the first animated movie ever created. Cartoon Brew, has a video explaining PIPA and SOPA in great detail.

For the poor souls who didn't see The Muppets in theaters, the DVD is free for mass consumption on March 20, reports ToughPigs.com. Special features include the longest blooper reel ever made in Muppet history, eight deleted scenes, music videos, interviews, audio commentary, and easter eggs. The movie will be released in a DVD/Blu-Ray combo and if your order straight from Disney you will receive a commemorative Muppet lithographs.

A new Spanish poster for The Lorax has just been posted at the internet movie poster awards. Unlike previous ads for the film, it is the human characters who take center stage here rather than the Lorax himself. The new movie from the creators of the blockbuster hit Despicable Me comes to theaters in the states on March 2nd.

Announced well over a year ago, we haven’t heard anything about Disney’s live-action Tinker Bell movie since it was first talked about back in 2010. That changed today when star Elizabeth Banks talked with Movie Hole about the project, saying that the plot involves its title character getting “thrown out of Never Never Land, and it’s about where she goes and who she meets and the adventures she has.” The actress, however, is quick to point out that the movie is still a long way from actually getting made. “You might as well not even write it down because who knows, it might not even happen.” Not surprisingly, the film is currently without a release date.

Here's a project that has several big Hollywood names and animation veterans tied to it or at least the story development phase. The film in question will be based off poet Khalil Gibran's book The Prophet. Salma Hayek’s Ventanarosa Productions will produce the film and Roger Allers, The Lion King director, will helm it. Other members rumored to be on the creative team are: Tomm Moore (The Secret Of Kells ), Sylvain Chomet (The Triplets Of Belleville), John Stevenson (Kung Fu Panda), Marjane Satrapi (Persepolis), and Nina Paley (Sita Sings The Blues).