{{link http://www.digitalentertainmentawards.com/ The Billboard Digital Entertainment Awards}}, recognizing “the cutting-edge developments and forward thinkers shaping the future of entertainment”, recently announced the winners in its first annual event. Pixar and Apple CEO Steve Jobs won one of the top awards of the night as “Visionary of the Year”. In the category “Best Use of Technology […]

Walt Disney Television Animation has named Meredith Metz Senior Vice President, Creative Affairs and has promoted Lisa Salamone Smith to Senior Vice President, Production, according to {{link http://news.awn.com/index.php?ltype=top&newsitem_no=12388 Animation World Network}}. Metz, formally Senior Vice President, Creative Affairs at Klasky Csupo, will oversee new and existing projects on Disney Channel and the JETIX block on […]

Follow the ‘More’ link to view six images of some of the popup book-style interstitials from Disney’s CGI holiday movie Mickey’s Twice Upon a Christmas, which is released today.

Apparently, it’s a well-executed story! Who’da thunk?! Skwigly Magazine has an intelligent, detailed article about the story dynamics behind the new Pixar film, guaranteed to give any reader a virtual “Story 101” in animated film! Thanks to ‘muppet’ from the A-N forums for the heads-up!

‘monkeyboy12’ alerts us via the A-N forums that Disney plans to up its investment in the video game market, according to Reuters. They’re specifically interested in hand-held devices, since they “appeal to a younger crowd than video-console games. [Chairman Andy] Mooney added that Disney would tie in video games to movies, and potentially launch games […]

DreamWorks Fansite has the word that the initial 3-day sales figures for the newly-released Shrek 2 home video have come in, and they estimate that the title generated $185 million dollars in sales this weekend. Of the 12.1 million units sold, a record 11 million were DVDs, up a long way from Shrek‘s 3-day sales […]

Dark Horizons has an exclusive first look at the teaser poster for Tim Burton’s remake of Charlie and the Chocolate Factory. Johnny Depp’s sinister Willy Wonka portends a darker, edgier side to this adaptation, which is claimed to be more faithful to Roald Dahl’s book than the 1971 original that starred Gene Wilder in the […]

Early reports indicated that Disney’s Aladdin sequels The Return Of Jafar and The King Of Thieves would be made available in a boxed set similar to the recent Lion King Trilogy and the UK’s Aladdin Trilogy releases. This first look at the artwork, found in the new issue of VB Magazine, proves that the two […]

Well, if you count puppets as animated, it’s a double header! Ain’t It Cool News’ own Moriarty has posted exclusive interviews with both Matt Stone and Trey Parker and Brad Bird. Check them out!

Not wanting to pass up a “big” promotional opportunity, new character balloons (and floats) will be featured in this year’s Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade in New York. “…nothing more American, and commercial,” writes Jerry Beck, some of the new balloons include Chicken Little and SpongeBob SquarePants, while new floats will feature Barbie and the Sesame […]

The bad “incredible” puns will never end for this new Pixar film! What’s far from bad, though, is the film’s projected gross on its first weekend – $70.7 million, according to Box Office Mojo. If these numbers remain at or above this estimate, this would mean that The Incredibles would be ahead of Finding Nemo‘s […]

Jim Hill has another excellent, albeit belated, edition of Why For?. He reveals another “coulda been” scenario this time around, detailing “details what Disneyland would have been like if the ‘Disney Decade’ plan had actually been followed…”

From November 5th to December 2nd, McDonald’s will include 8 character toys from the new Pixar film The Incredibles in their Happy Meals; featured are the entire Parr family, as well as Frozone, Syndrome, and the “Incredimobile.” Remember that you can purchase Happy Meal toys separately for about $1 to $2 – no need for […]

Ivor Wood, who brought Paddington Bear, The Wombles, Postman Pat and the original version of The Magic Roundabout to the small screen, has died. Paddington creator Michael Bond remembers Wood here, from The Guardian newspaper:

Animated News’ Christian just got back from the ASIFA-Hollywood screening of The Incredibles (one of the perks of membership . . . hint, hint) at the Writer’s Guild Theater in Beverly Hills. Brad Bird was scheduled to attend but couldn’t make it. Pete Docter (director of Monsters, Inc.) was there to fill in and in […]

The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences has announced that 11 animated features will be eligible for an oscar nomination. Here is the list: The Incredibles Shrek 2 Shark Tale The SpongeBob SquarePants Movie Home on the Range Teacher’s Pet Ghost in the Shell 2: Innocence Clifford’s Really Big Movie Sky Blue The Legend […]

We complete our series of excerpts from the production notes for The Incredibles today with parts 5 and 6, which discuss the breakthroughs in animation technology that were made during production and the movie’s ambitious musical score.

We reported yesterday that the first teaser trailer for Pixar’s 2005 feature \\Cars\\ was finally available online. Now {{link http://www.apple.com/trailers/disney/cars/ Apple has made the trailer available}} in high quality Quicktime format at four different sizes: Compact, Midsize, Fullsize, and SUV!

Lawrence Lin has obtained a clip of the new trailer for the latest Hayao Miyazaki film, Howl’s Moving Castle. Several formats of the same trailer have been made available at Thunder Zone, a Nausicaa.net mirror site. Click here to download an MPEG video, as well as an AVI video, a Windows Media video, and even […]

Access Hollywood has the full teaser for Pixar’s next project, Cars – set to come out November 2005. The teaser, along with the new Pixar short Boundin’, are currently attached to all prints of The Incredibles, which opens tomorrow. Thanks to ‘Eagle’ from the A-N forums for the tip!

On the eve of The Incredibles’ opening, websites begin to weigh in as to how much punch the Pixar flick will pack. Both Box Office Guru and Lee’s Movie Info believe The Incredibles will make around $70 million on its opening weekend, with the latter site suggesting a more detailed prediction of $71.1 million. However, […]

The Looney Tunes Golden Collection – Vol. 2 DVD gets a highly positive review from IGN DVD. Receiving scores of 10/10 for the feature collection, 8/10 for the video, 8/10 for the audio, and 10/10 for the extras, the disc earns a total, not an average, score of 9/10. The Looney Tunes Golden Collection – […]

According to IESB, Salma Hayek has joined Johnny Depp, Geoffrey Rush, Orlando Bloom, Keira Knightley, and Keith Richards in the sequel to Pirates of the Caribbean, which the website refers to with the oft-rumored title of Pirates of the Caribbean: Treasures of the Lost Abyss.

On the eve of its release, DVD Toons has posted the first online review for the {{link http://www.dvdtoons.com/reviews/345 Shrek 2 DVD}}, saying that, although the film “may not be an all-time classic, it’s a fun, fun movie whose infectious atmosphere and spirited performances warrant a purchase. Kids will adore it even more, with whom the […]

Ultimate Disney has a first glimpse of the disc art for the upcoming Bambi Platinum Edition DVD, which arrives in stores March 1st, 2005.

TV Shows on DVD has obtained a tentative release date for what’s described as a “Season 2” DVD release date for the original Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles tv series. According to an inquiry from Lion’s Gate, an April 26th date has been “penciled in” for TMNT, so it is by no means official. It’s good […]

Ultimate Disney has a review of the CGI direct-to-video sequel Mickey’s Twice Upon A Christmas, concluding that it’s “not a particularly inspired production, but it will entertain those who love these time-tested Disney cartoon characters and those who gobble up all the holiday viewing material they can. The film’s unspectacular but decent writing ultimately doesn’t […]

Getting back on track today after time and circumstance prevented postings earlier this week, we now present you with parts three and four of the production notes for Pixar’s The Incredibles. These segments discuss the voice casting and the visual design for the movie. Parts five and six will be presented tomorrow to complete the […]

A teaser trailer for what likely will be the final Disney/Pixar computer-animated comedy will be featured before their latest collaboration, The Incredibles, opening Friday. Hoping to parlay the public’s growing appetite for auto racing, Cars features the voices of track aficionado Paul Newman, who continues to compete at age 79, and NASCAR great Richard Petty. […]

The 90-minute CG movie X and I will be produced at the Bangalore-based Paprikaas Animation Studios (Pas) under the direction of Stanislao Pasqualini, an Italian director who has handled action movies. According to Pas president Srini R. Raghavan, the movie would be a major milestone for the nascent Indian animation industry. “We are doing the […]