The late John McGrew, who served as Chuck Jones’ layout artist and whom Jones said was “a great student of film techniques, and he had very interesting ideas that I was willing to try” is celebrated over at {{link http://www.michaelbarrier.com/Interviews/McGrew/interview_john_mcgrew.htm Michael Barrier}}’s website. The newly posted interview, which comes from September 11 1995, touches on […]

According to Box Office Mojo, Brother Bear brought in $18,540,000 for the two-day nation-wide release this weekend, which averages to $6,118 per screen. The latest traditionally animated film from Disney placed second behind Miramax’s Scary Movie 3.

According to Movie Zone, Brother Bear opened on Saturday with an impressive $11.155 million, making its total box office gross nearly $12 million, including last weekend’s opening in select cities.

With the award season nearly upon us, the {{link http://www.bafta.com British Academy of Film and Televison Arts}} will award the winners of this year’s British Academy Children’s Film and Television Awards exactly one month from today, on November 30th, in London. The event is co-sponsored by Lego. Feature films up for consideration for Best Feature […]

Tony Bannister, a video graphics designer based in London, is looking to turn the offbeat series of J.P. Martin {{link http://www.amazon.co.uk/exec/obidos/ASIN/0099411415/qid=1067779443/sr=1-4/ref=sr_1_2_4/026-2398344-2705202 Uncle}} books into an animated television series, using the original Quentin Blake pictures as a starting point for the look of the show. Blake drew additional fame as the imaginative illustrator of Roald Dahl’s […]

The Moose Hole gives a very positive review of Disney’s latest traditionally animated feature, Brother Bear, complimenting the studio for “successfully revitalizing the traditional animation genre and bringing it back to its roots with memorable songs and delightful talking animals”. Brother Bear will need all the help it can get with only two days in […]

According to {{link http://www.variety.com/index.asp?layout=upsell_article&articleID=VR1117894889&categoryID=13&cs=1 Variety.com}}, Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson is lined up to become a real-life Johnny Bravo in a live-action feature film based on the Cartoon Network show. Though the casting has been rumored for a while, the hiring of screenwriters Matthew Berry and Eric Abrams confirms that the movie is being pushed ahead. […]

With the news that Don Bluth’s films for Steven Spielberg’s Amblin Entertainment, An American Tail and The Land Before Time, were due for release on DVD from Universal, I asked via the {{link http://www.donbluth.com Don Bluth Website}} about Amblin’s cutting ties with the Bluth Group, why they are not involved in the disc production process, […]

‘Jawad’, who runs the excellent {{link http://www.dreamworksfansite.com DreamWorks SKG Fansite}}, has expanded his online universe by announcing on the {{link http://animation.skyblueproductions.net/showthread.php?s=&postid=249#post249 Animated News Forums}} a new, specific {{link http://animation.dreamworksfansite.com/shrek2/ DreamWorks SKG Animation Fansite}}, featuring up to date news on next year’s Shrek 2. “Over the next few months this site will slowly expand featuring sections […]

The Big Cartoon DataBase updates with a report on the upcoming Tarzan Broadway musical from Disney and states that Phil Collins has already written six to eight new songs for it. No word yet on if Rosie O’Donnell will be reprising her role as Terk.

Animation World Network reports that Brother Bear’s Aaron Blaise, Robert Walker, and Chuck Williams are now under contract to produce a new animated feature for Walt Disney Feature Animation. While the report doesn’t explicitly state it, it seems likely that this will be a traditionally animated film, rather than a computer generated film, and to […]

Following our story yesterday that Home On The Range had been added to the {{link http://disney.go.com/disneypictures/main.html Disney website}}, visitors will today find that the link is now active to a {{link http://disney.go.com/disneypictures/homeontherange/main.html teaser site}}, priming audiences to “Bust A Moo – April 2”, featuring a full trailer for the movie! This new look at the […]

What happened to the days artist used a paint brush to fill in animation cells? I don’t know, but take a peek at Animation Artist‘s little tid bit about the Looney Tunes: Back In Action movie.

‘Guardstone’ over on the {{link http://animation.skyblueproductions.net/showthread.php?s=&postid=224#post224 Animated News Forum}} alerted us to the fact that Home On The Range has been added to the Walt Disney Pictures slate on their official website. There’s no link to a teaser site yet, but keep an eye on that space!

It was ten years ago this weekend that audiences were first treated to Tim Burton’s amazing stop-motion animated film {{link http://disney.go.com/disneyvideos/animatedfilms/nightmare/intro.html The Nightmare Before Christmas}}, a magical tale that tells of what happens when Halloween meets Christmas! The big Disney holiday season feature offering was originally going to be King Of The Jungle, a small […]

{{link http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&cid=794&ncid=790&e=8&u=/eo/20031030/en_movies_eo/12815 E! Online}} reports that the Disney sold 3 million copies of \\The Lion King\\ in its first two days of release. Most surprising was the fact that DVDs accounted for 92% of initial sales, rare stats for a “children’s” title but a growing trend. The original VHS release remains the best selling video […]

The forum at the Big Cartoon Database has a report on an upcoming animated segment featuring rapper/rocker/country artist Kid Rock and his version of the perennial yuletide favorite “The Twelve Days of Christmas.” The segment will air December 14 on VH1 as part of A Kid Rock Christmas. No word yet on whether his girlfriend […]

The forum at the Big Cartoon Database has a report on a Disney box set that collects everything from the first two waves of the Walt Disney Treasures series and is allegedly showing up at Costco stores all over the country. The set is not in a nice numbered tin as the initial volumes were […]

Box Office Mojo predicts that Brother Bear will take second place at the box office with approximately 22 million.

Concerning Brother Bear‘s performance at the box offce, Box Office Guru says, “Last year around this time, Disney released Treasure Planet, another 2D animated film, and it flopped pretty badly, opening to $12M and finishing with $38M. However, earlier during the summer, Disney released Lilo & Stitch which opened to $35.2M on its way to […]

In addition to calling Finding Nemo “Pixar’s best,” FilmForce gives the DVD an overall score of 9 out of 10 points.

Fox has registered the web domains “{{link http://www.easywhois.com/index.php?domain=iceage2themeltdown.com&next.x=0&next.y=0 iceage2themeltdown.com}}” and “{{link http://www.easywhois.com/index.php?domain=iceage2themeltdownmovie.com&next.x=0&next.y=0 iceage2themeltdownmovie.com}}”. Could \\Ice Age 2: The Meltdown\\ be the title of the sequel? Thanks to MusicFan in the {{link http://animation.skyblueproductions.net/showthread.php?s=&threadid=44 Animated News Forum}} for the scoop.

Amid Amidi of {{link http://www.animationblast.com/ Animation Blast}} has an unconfirmed rumor that Cartoon Network’s Genndy Tartakovsky, creator of \\Samurai Jack\\ and \\Dexter’s Lab\\, may be leaving to join the new Lucasfilm Animation divison we {{link http://www.animatedviews.com/wp-content/uploads/archives/00000075.html reported}} about last week. “Genndy, of course, is also the director/producer of Cartoon Network’s highly touted forthcoming \\Star Wars: […]

According to Yahoo! News, “Rupert Murdoch’s Fox News Channel threatened to sue the makers of The Simpsonsover a parody of the channel’s right-wing political stance, the creator of the hit US television show has claimed. According to [Matt] Groening, Fox took exception toward a Simpsons’ version of the Fox News rolling news ticker which parodied […]

In order to promote Brother Bear, Michael Clarke Duncan willl apear on the Tonight Show With Jay Leno tonight, while Phil Collins will sing a tune from Brother Bear on The Wayne Brady Show tomorrow.

Lord of the Rings star Elijah Wood tells Sci Fi Wire about Happy Feet, a new animated movie from director George Miller (Mad Max, Babe): “Wood describes Mumble as a penguin who can’t sing. ‘Basically, penguins in life and in the film can sing,’ he said. ‘We’ve used that idea, and so each penguin has […]

DVD Fanatic takes a first look at the upcoming DVD, due for a December 2 release.

Based in Singapore, Animax Asia is a 24-hour network outside of Japan dedicated to popular anime from Japan. Animax was launched in Japan, June 1998 as a partnership between Sony Pictures Entertainment (SPE) and four major anime studios including Toei Animation, Sunrise, TMS Entertainment, and Nihon Ad Systems. Animax Asia will be broadcast region-wide through […]

{{link http://www.michaelbarrier.com Michael Barrier}}, the author of {{link http://www.michaelbarrier.com/books.htm Hollywood Cartoons: American Animation In Its Golden Age}} and a commentary contributor to the new Looney Tunes DVD, offers up his interpretation of long-time Disney artist and imagineer John Hench’s book {{link http://www.michaelbarrier.com/Commentary/Hench/Hench.htm Designing Disney: Imagineering and the Art Of The Show}}. Hench was also recently […]