DreamWorks has landed the domestic distribution rights to the Japanese science fiction action film \\Casshern\\, which it will release under the banner of its specialty film division, Go Fish Pictures. The film blends Japanimation and manga-inspired live action. DreamWorks says of the plot: “It is late in the 21st century. After 50 years of devastating […]

All the way from Japan, ‘Senator Ovaltine’ has sent Ain’t It Cool News a positive early review of the next Hayao Miyazaki film Howl’s Moving Castle. While he has a few minor quibbles, it was overall a great experience; hopefully this bodes well for the film when it arrives in U.S. theaters next year!

The reviews are in for \\The Polar Express\\ and according to {{link http://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/polar_express/ Rotten Tomatoes}} they are more good then bad! The tomatometer weighs in at a respectable 67%, with 32 Fresh reviews and 16 Rotten. The reviewers that liked the film say the story was what made this film work: “The film is not sheer […]

Michel Gagné, ambitiously continuing his Insanely Twisted Puppet Show pet project, has released a new teaser for the series, first reported about by Animated News on October 30th. This time around he gives us a much eerier and more tantalizing glimpse at what’s in store!

Be prepared for yet another new DVD line from Disney; this time with Walt Disney’s Classic Cartoon Favorites! Mimicking the Spotlight Collection series that Warner Bros. has utilized with the Looney Tunes, among others, these four single-disc DVD volumes will each contain an hour of classic Disney shorts – making the cartoons more widely available […]

Many thanks to Ultimate Disney for the exciting press release! Buena Vista has, at last, announced the release of three more 2-disc Special Edition DVDs of long sought-after Studio Ghibli films! In short – the good news is the release date is still February 22nd, 2005; it has not been pushed back further. The bad […]

{{link http://www.broadway.com/gen/Buzz_Story.aspx?ci=502193 Broadway.com}} reports that Disney Theatricals has named well known European director (and Broadway newcomer) Francesca Zambello as the director for the Broadway musical version of \\The Little Mermaid\\. Zambello worked previously for Disney on the theme park stage show \\Aladdin\\. She is best known for her work in opera and theatre, where her […]

{{link http://mag.awn.com/index.php?ltype=pageone&article_no=2285 AWN}} notes that the hour long \\Popeye’s Voyage: The Quest for Pappy\\ DVD released today will air on FOX on December 17, in a slimmed down 30 minute version.

{{link http://www.animationinsider.net/article.php?articleID=312 Animation Insider}} reports that children’s publisher Scholastic has signed an exclusive deal with Cartoon Network to publish books based on current series’ \\Codename: Kids Next Door\\, and \\Foster’s Home for Imaginary Friends\\, and upcoming shows \\Hi Hi Puffy AmiYumi\\ and \\The Life and Times of Juniper Lee\\.

{{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, […]