The Los Angeles Times [free registration required] has an article today about the financial “conductors” behind The Polar Express. “To make the film, which uses new technology to insert actor Tom Hanks into a computer-generated Christmas fantasy, the fare for Warner Bros. and its financing partner, producer Steve Bing, came to $170 million. On top […]

The Animated News Forum has moved to a new home! The new address is {{link http://animatedviews.com/forum animatedviews.com/forum}}. We’d like to thank Jawad Mir for taking care of our old messageboard for the past year! He has done a great job with it. (You can see the {{link http://animation.skyblueproductions.net/ archives here}} until it is eventually taken […]

The Hollywood Reporter reports that Madonna will voice the role of Princess Selenia, a character who travels with Arthur to a mysterious forbidden city where an evil being dwells, in the CG-animated feature film Arthur. Directed by Luc Besson (The Messenger: The Story of Joan of Arc) and produced by his Europa Corp, Arthur is […]

Looks like superstar Bruce Willis will take the role of raccoon RJ in the upcoming DreamWorks CG feature Over the Hedge. The role was previously handed to Jim Carrey, but DreamWorks’ web page has silently updated the voice cast.

Animation legend Don Bluth has provided animation for New York based band Scissor Sisters’ music video Mary. Picked by the critics as one of the highlights of Scissor Sisters debut album, Mary, written by Jake Shears, has also become a live favourite. The animated sequence is a condensed version of Rapunzel, running a bit over […]

At Jim Hill Media, animation industry legend Floyd Norman has written another great column, with the focus being on Frank Braxton, America’s first black animator. Thanks to ‘coachmcguirk’ at the AN Forum for the notice.

Dark Horizons has new pictures from The Spongebob Squarepants Movie, coming to theaters on November 19, 2004.

The official website for the animated Kangaroo Jack: G’day USA! DVD is now online, featuring open “Gallery” and “About the DVD” sections, with clips on the way. One can also enter the Kangaroo Jack: G’day USA! Outback Sweepstakes, in which the grand prize is a seven-day trip to Sydney, Australia. The contest ends on November […]

IGN FilmForce takes a look at the Mulan Special Edition DVD. Giving the movie itself an impressive score of 9/10, the site gives the video a score of 8/10, the audio a score of 8/10, and the extras a score of 7/10. Overall, FilmForce gives the Mulan Special Edition DVD, coming to stores on October […]

The official website for The Incredibles has been updated, now including new video clips and a rather fun “Picture Yourself as a Superhero” game. Also, be sure to click on the television in “Bob’s Study,” located in the “Gallery” section, for an interesting video concerning lawsuits against superheroes.

Warner Bros. has provided IESB with an exclusive first look at the poster for the upcoming comedy Racing Stripes, opening in theaters on January 14, 2005.

Toon Zone reports that in celebration of the Looney Tunes Golden Collection, Volume Two DVD, Warner Bros. held a “Daffy Duck For President” press conference and campaign rally at the Sherman Oaks Galleria on Wednesday. “Daffy Duck for President,” a four-minute short based on Chuck Jones’ last book of the same title, will be included […]

Forbes has announced the top-ten fictional characters, with the combined characters grossing more than $25 billion in 2003. Although Disney and Viacom received most of that revenue, videogame makers, publishing companies, and toymakers such as Mattel and Hasbro cashed in, as well. Mickey Mouse tops the list, earning $5.8 billion this year; the remaining 9 […]

Comedy Central will air the first episode of this new animated series next wednesday at 10:30 PM. Drawn Together is the true story of eight characters, picked to live in a house to find out what happens when people stop being real and start getting animated. Presented as if it were a real Primetime reality […]

The recently released DVD of Garfield: The Movie contains an interesting featurette on the making of Robots. The 4:26 sneak peek is anamorphic widescreen and contains several clips from the movie.

The French Incredibles fansite, The Indestructibles, has exclusive pictures of the French posters for The Incredibles, coming to theaters November 5, 2004. In addition, The Disney Database has added five movie screens for Mickey’s Twice Upon a Christmas, coming to video and DVD on November 9, 2004.

Check out DVD Toons for information on Balto III: Wings of Change, which is due for release on February 1, 2005. More Info

The Paramount Pictures Home Video site has announced that I Want a Dog for Christmas, Charlie Brown will be released on October 26. The running time is listed as 75 minutes, which makes it nearly twice as long as its broadcast version. Bonus features include Charlie Brown’s Christmas Tales and The Making of A Charlie […]

“Poor man – he’s addicted to heroism.” Richard Corliss of TIME Magazine gives a glowing review of Pixar’s latest film, The Incredibles; included, however, is a neat photo essay, as well as yet another reflection on the studio in general, attempting to examine what makes those crazy filmmakers tick. An intelligently written and free article, […]

The Orlando Sentinel has an interesting speculative article about the future of Pixar and Disney’s relationship, especially in the anticipated wake of Pixar’s latest film, The Incredibles. “In an interview, Jobs would not answer questions about the Disney-Pixar disagreements. He said the companies were focused for now on making The Incredibles a success. He did, […]

The New York Times [free registration required] has a new article about the more possibly profound themes in the upcoming film The Incredibles. “‘The challenge in the post-9/11 world is that the news provides plenty of examples of genuine monsters, so how do you compete with that?’ [Martin] Kaplan said. ‘One way is going to […]

Wondering where that Invader ZIM box set is that we mentioned back in January? Well, fear not! For TV Shows on DVD has the answers! The box, designed to look like Zim’s base, is empty save for a bonus disc of unfinished goodies from the cancelled second season, as well as a bonus figurine of […]

Skwigly Magazine speaks with Evan Spiridellis, the co-creator of Jib Jab, famous for such online spoofs as This Land is Your Land and Good to Be in DC. Thanks to ‘Muppet2004’ at the AN Forum for the heads up!

A number of trailers and video clips have been mentioned at the AN Forum. ‘MrSwaan’ announces that the trailer for Sprung! The Magic Roundabout is now online at CineMovies, while ‘anvil’ mentions that United International Pictures has the international trailer for Madagascar. In addition, ‘anvil’ also brings to our attention film clips for The Incredibles, […]

One may want to check out the Seward Street animation blog. As Clay Kaytis writes in an e-mail, “This one has a very positive vibe and most of the guys who frequent it comment on how it has reminded them of some of the reasons they got excited about animation in the first place.”

Following his Oscar-nominated 2003 short The Cathedral, Tomek Baginski’s second short animated film, Fallen Art, now has a new, redesigned, and updated website. Although using the same technique as in the previous film, stylistically Fallen Art is very different, as Baginski tried to create an animated short about the military with a touch of dark […]

Nielsen//NetRatings announced that traffic to political parody site jibjab.com jumped 493 percent for the week ending October 10. JibJab.com was also the fast growing site for that week, according to Nielsen//NetRatings. AtomFilms, which hosted the JibJab.com presidential election parody animation titled Good to be in DC, saw its Web traffic soar 341 percent to 2 […]

Cartoon Network has acquired The Super Milk-Chan Show, an irreverent, politically-incorrect anime series from ADV Films, which it will begin airing in November 2004. Mixing live-action with animation, this whacked-out series centers on the adventures of Milk, a selfish, foul-mouthed female superhero with no real superpowers. Far from the typical A-list superhero, Milk is assisted […]

Superhero Hype reports that Mainframe’s CG series featuring our favourite web slinger has been given a second life. The first season hired on MTV, scoring high ratings and is available on DVD. Apparently, another network will air the new series.

Variety [paid subscription required], via Dark Horizons, reports that CritterPix Studios and Regency Enterprises are developing their first computer-generated animated feature, based on the bestselling kids book Ollie the Otter, by Kelly Alan Williamson. The story focuses on a courageous sea otter who leads a group of domesticated sea park friends to open water to […]