Month: April 2004

Disney's Outrageous Fortunes

The ups and downs of Disney’s trials and tribulations are played out again tonight, when the UK’s BBC ONE repeats a 60-minute documentary (originally produced for Three) on the company’s recent woes. The series {{link http://www.bbc.co.uk/bbcthree/tv/outrageous_fortunes/disney.shtml Outrageous Fortunes}} “goes in search of the real stories behind the success of the biggest brands in the world […]

Eisner's to-do list

The Orange County Register has a new article today outlining what Disney CEO Michael Eisner must do to get out from under the gun of ouster campaigns, massive shareholder revolts, and takeover bids. Free membership required to read article online.

Sam Register talks Batman

UnderGroundOnline interviews Sam Register, Senior Vice President of Original Animation for Cartoon Network, about The Batman. Thanks to Toon Zone for the notice.

WB authorized Batman signing event

Peggy Villar, of the Wonderful World of Animation, has let us know about a signing event set to take place at the {{link http://www.comic-con.org/Pages/WCWhatsNew.html WonderCon}} this weekend in San Francisco. The WWA is an art gallery specialising in original animation art, and will have Alan Burnett, Paul Dini and Bruce Timm on hand to sign […]

UPDATED: Shrek's "Accidentally" appearing

“Accidentally in Love,” Counting Crow’s new song from Shrek 2, will hit radio airwaves on May 3, according to the group’s official website. The song’s music video will be an Access Hollywood “First Look” next Wednesday, May 5, with clips from the video premiering on the Monday and Tuesday (May 3 and 4) editions of […]

Another peek at the Shark Tale trailer

Valerio Mandova from Italy writes in to tell us about the Shark Tale trailer, which saw caught during a UIP (United International Pictures – DreamWorks and Universal’s worldwide distributor) presentation. Check out the description {{link http://www.cinemaplus.it/leggi-news.asp?id=220 here}}.

New Home for Lorenzo

Animation World Network reports that the Joe Grant-inspired Disney short, Lorenzo, about the cat with the possessed tail, which was originally supposed to be part of Fantasia 2006 and then was supposed to open in front of the Coen brother’s The Ladykillers has now been scheduled to open in front of Raising Helen, a film […]

University develops improvements in computer animation

The Daily Herald reports that researchers at Brigham Young University have created new techniques in which a computer will create animations more realistic and quickly. These researchers have come up with a new software technology which allows computers, through the use of artificial intelligence, to learn to animate computer-generated characters by analyzing examples given by […]

Garfield: The Movie official website update "meow" available

The official website for Garfield: The Movie has been updated, now including sections concerning the “story,” “crew,” and “production.” Also included is a “My Stuff” section which includes do-it-yourself wallpaper, icons, e-cards, a screensaver, and the trailer. Learn more about the characters in “Me and the Others,” play four games in “My Games,” or check […]

Official Site for The Incredibles Suits Up

In addition to the Chicken Little site, there is now a teaser site up for Disney and Pixar’s joint effort, The Incredibles, a computer animated feature about a family of superheroes. This site currently only sports the logo, a link to the teaser trailer (which can be viewed in Quicktime in “Incredisize”), and a mention […]

Official Chicken Little Site Hatches

The official site for Disney’s first completely computer generated (Dinosaur incorporated real scenery with computer animated characters), in-house animated feature, Chicken Little, is now up. The fledgling site currently only sports the logo, a link to the trailer (which can be viewed in Quicktime in “The sky is falling BIG” size), and the fact that […]

Animated DVD update

TV Shows on DVD has the official episode list for the Batman: The Animated Series Volume 1 DVD set, which will be available to own on July 6. Also on the website is the cover art for the Garfield and Friends- Volume 1 three-disc set. According to Mark Evanier, one of the show’s writers and […]

Simpsons Season 4 Cover Art

Amazon.com is now displaying the cover art for the Season 4 box set of the hit animated television series The Simpsons (large image here) and this may be the first Simpsons box set to feature Ralph Wiggum and Barney Gumble more prominently than the Simpsons themselves. This should be a popular set as this is […]

Clone Wars DVD at Amazon

TheForce.net reports that the Star Wars – Clone Wars animated series DVD is now listed at Amazon.com. While the listing does say, “The studio is currently not producing this title on DVD,” it does allow you to enter your e-mail address to be notified when it does become available, and by doing so your entry […]

Range set to make its "Home" at the bottom of the top ten?

Box Office Report predicts that Home on the Range will suffer a 30% drop, thus sending the film to the tenth spot in the weekend’s top ten movies. The website suggests that Home on the Range will collect about $2.5 million for the weekend, giving the animated film a total of $45.7 million. With little […]

The Mickey Awards winners announced

The Mickey Awards, the Disney-themed awards presented by Mickeyfans Website, has revealed its winners, as decided by website visitors who voted in categories ranging in theme park, television, and movie-related fields. Be sure to check out the list of Mickey Award winners, or view the Flash version of the award ceremony.

Composers lined up for animated projects

Coming Soon has the details on which composers will be scoring various upcoming live-action and animated projects. The Nightmare Before Christmas composer Danny Elfman will provide the music for the dark animated fairytale The Corpse Bride, which, like Nightmare, will also be produced by Tim Burton. Pirates of the Caribbean composer Klaus Badelt will lend […]

Cartoon characters reveal inner strengths

An anonymous e-mail has revealed that this week’s issue of Woman’s World contains an article for animation enthusiasts. “What’s your inner strength? Just ask you favorite ‘toon!” shows that one’s favorite cartoon entertainer may hold the key to one’s most ideal quality. Cartoon characters featured in the article include Mickey Mouse, Tweety, Bullwinkle, Snoopy, Homer […]

Animated video game news

GamerFeed points out that a Garfield video game is in the works, as the site states, “The world’s favourite cat, Garfield, will be appearing on PlayStation 2 and PC thanks to an agreement between worldwide publisher Hip Games and Jim Davis’ licensing company, Paws, Inc.” Meanwhile, GameSpot has the first footage made from the video […]

Multiple lamps…

The UK is to see a lot of that lad with the lamp, Disney’s Aladdin, on DVD later this year. As well as the Special Edition of the original 1992 film, {{link http://www.dvdanswers.com/index.php?r=0&s=1&c=3855&n=1&burl= DVD Answers}} is reporting that the DTVs Jasmine’s Wish and Jasmine’s Greatest Treasure will also debut on October 4th, with video sequels […]

Garfield marketing his way to theaters

Business Wire reports that Twentieth Century Fox has lined up an impressive marketing plan for Garfield: The Movie, with national promotional partners including Pepperidge Farm, Wendy’s, Ashley Furniture, Valpak, and Dole. Meijer, Wal-Mart, Blockbuster, Cookies by Design, and Pocket Billiards via the c-store channel will serve as retail promotional partners. Fox’s “wide-reaching in-theatre” promotional partners […]

The Triplets Of Belleville: full DVD review

DVD Toons have just posted their review for Sony Pictures Classics’ release of Sylvain Chomet’s {{link http://www.dvdtoons.com/reviews/293 The Triplets Of Belleville}}: “The overall melancholy feel of Belleville is one of its major strengths, and it is certainly a film that should be seen this year by anyone remotely interested in animation as an art form […]

The Triplets Of Belleville (Sony US Edition)

Sylvain Chomet’s debut feature is truly like nothing you’ve seen before: a wonderful “silent” movie that uses the animation medium in an innovative and cinematic way.

Tron to interface again

No word yet on the highly anticipated film sequel to Disney’s 1982 computer fantasy Tron, but good news in from Toon Zone, who report that the original film will be getting an {{link http://forums.toonzone.net/showthread.php?t=109710 archival re-release}} from May 10th at Disney’s El Capitan theater in LA for ten days! Tickets for the opening night will […]

It's official: Mickey owns Kermit

{{link http://forums.toonzone.net/showthread.php?t=109703 Toon Zone}} reports that Disney CEO Michael Eisner has officially announced that The Jim Henson Company’s Muppets and Bear In The Big Blue House properties are now part of the Mouse House family of characters. Disney has already begun integrating these characters into the company, though no news on the rumored Muppets Wizzard […]

Delgo's Fathom Studios dress up their epic

Now that Freddie Prinze Jr has been revealed as the voice of the hero in new independent CG movie Delgo (not that exciting after all, was it?), the studio behind it, Fathom Pictures, is starting to build awareness for the film. The company, and producer/co-director Marc Adler, are profiled today at {{link http://edition.cnn.com/2004/SHOWBIZ/Movies/04/27/delgo/ CNN.com}}, where […]

The making of Garfield: The Movie

{{link http://www.darkhorizons.com/2004/garfield.php Dark Horizons}} has posted some new stills from the upcoming June 11 Fox release of Garfield: The Movie. Over at {{link http://movies.channel.aol.com/movie/main.adp?_pgtyp=pdct&tab=main&mid=14955 Moviefone}}, there’s a whole bunch of stuff on the movie, including cast bios, the trailer, and a new “making of” clip. Some features require registration or the downloading of America Online […]

Where is the Canadian special edition of The Triplets Of Belleville?

George Cepeda writes in to ask about the 2-disc edition of Sylvain Chomet’s The Triplets Of Bellville that was rumored for release in Canada. “There’s no listing. The DVDs out on May 4 and May 18 are identical! Something screwy is going on,” says George, referring to the US edition through Sony Pictures and the […]

Chronicles of Riddick: Dark Fury trailer now available

Dark Horizons has the trailer for Chronicles of Riddick: Dark Fury, the animated prequel to this summer’s The Chronicles of Riddick.

New Shrek 2 review!

Ain’t It Cool News has a very enthusiastic early review of Shrek 2, in which the critic states, “All in all, I can’t say anything negative about this film. I found it sweet, funny and entertaining in many ways. I’ve tried to find something critical about this film, some minor flaw to discuss, but it […]