Noted and influential anime director Satoshi Kon, known for such films as Perfect Blue, Tokyo Godfathers and Millennium Actress, has passed away at the age of 47, per this article from the Anime News Network.

Yahoo (via Reuters) reports that Toy Story 3 is now the highest-grossing animated film of all time. The final film in the Toy Story series has grossed US$920 million worldwide, surpassing Shrek 2‘s total worldwide gross of US$919.8 million.

Walt Disney Studios Home Entertainment has formally announced the DVD and Blu-Ray releases of Toy Story 3, set for release on November 2nd, 2010.

MTV.com’s “Splash Page” reports that Cartoon Network will air a new Thundercats series in 2011.

Cartoon Brew reports that Studio Ghibli’s 2006 film Tales from Earthsea will finally receive a North American release on August 13th, 2010.

Square Enix Co. Ltd. and Disney Interactive Studios announced today (via PR Newswire) that the latest game in their Kingdom Hearts series will arrive in North America exclusively on the Sony PlayStation Portable system on September 7th, 2010.

Fresh off of its wins for Best Animated Feature and Best Original Score at the 82nd annual Academy Awards, Disney/Pixar’s Up has received another major award nomination.

Michael Giacchino, the composer of the score of Disney/Pixar’s Up, won two of the three Grammy Awards he was up for at tonight’s (1/31/2010) ceremony, per an article from TrekMovie.com (via HitFix.com).

The winners of the 2009 TV DVD Awards have been announced, per this article from Home Media Magazine (original article here).

Patrick Stewart, known mostly for his roles in Star Trek: The Next Generation and three X-Men films but also for his Shakespearean stage career and as an occasional voice actor, has been knighted by Queen Elizabeth II in the United Kingdom for his lifetime of service to the world of drama, according to this article […]

Yahoo, via the Associated Press, reports that Roy E. Disney, nephew of Walt Disney and former vice-chairman of the Walt Disney Company, has died at age 79 after a battle with stomach cancer. UPDATE: • Statement from the Walt Disney Company• The Los Angeles Times has an in-depth obituary and a photo album• Disney fan community D23 […]

Studio Ghibli, the animation studio co-founded by Hayao Miyazaki (Spirited Away, Ponyo) has announced its next film, set for release in Japan in the summer of 2010.

As expected following its Friday gross report, Disney’s newest animated masterpiece, The Princess and the Frog made #1 at the United States box office.

On the heels of its Annie Awards and Grammy Awards nominations, there are more honors for Up.

On the heels of his Annie Award nomination, Up composer Michael Giacchino has received four Grammy nominations. However, in one category, he’ll have to compete against himself.

The Nikkan Sports newspaper reported today (Japanese-language article here) that legendary manga and anime creator Leiji Matsumoto is creating a music video for the legendary U.K. rock band Queen, per this article from the Anime News Network.

The Anime News Network reports that a work by the late manga and anime creator Shotaro Ishinomori will be made into a live-action and CGI (computer graphics imagery) motion picture in 2012.

According to the Anime News Network, Funimation Productions has confirmed that Evangelion 1.0: You Are (Not) Alone, a reboot of animator Hideaki Anno’s giant robot anime, has been disqualified from competition for the 2010 Academy Award for Best Animated Feature.

Home Media Magazine has opened up voting for their 2009 TV DVD Awards, honoring the best television series DVDs released this year. And animation is front and center in several key categories. The categories with animated nominees are listed below (specific animated nominees in bold print)–you can vote on the entire list here: