Beginning May 17th, those who buy the Shrek 2 DVD will find a “Madagascar Activity Disc” and a ticket to see the new animated feature included. Meanwhile, good buzz continues to spread regarding Madagascar. At a Banc of America Securities conference in New York on Wednesday, executives of rival Pixar Animation “rolled with genuine laughter” […]

Speaking to analysts and investors at a media conference in New York this past Wednesday, DreamWorks Animation’s Chief Executive Jeffrey Katzenberg remarked that he does not see the animated film industry becoming too crowded, due to the variety of animated features being produced. According to Katzenberg, the “single greatest fiction” concerning animated movies is that […]

The US Postal Service has revealed new postage stamp designs for this year including ones featuring Jim Henson and the Muppets and another set featuring Disney characters (and there’s another one of the Northeast Deciduous Forest that sure looks like the cover for Maurice Sendak’s Where the Wild Things Are).

Cover art for Tarzan II, the “inbetween-quel” to its hit 1999 predecessor, is now up at Ultimate Disney. Tarzan II will swing to stores on June 14, 2005.

We mentioned yesterday that some more Star Wars animation was on its way but we’re not sure this is exactly what we meant. Anyways, M&M’s now have an animated commercial up advertising their new Darth Vader dark chocolate candies featuring colors that seem to be taken from the Dark Lord of the Sith’s robotic chest […]

Announced by Gamerz Edge, Kevin Munroe will write and direct a new computer animated Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles film. The movie is being produced by Tom Gray – who produced the live-action Turtles trilogy – and Galen Walker of Imagi Services, while Peter Laird, co-creator of the original 1990 Turtles feature, is executive producing. Already […]

TV Guide introduces readers to the newest Batgirl, featured in the Kids’ WB’s animated The Batman. Along with a shot of the ‘Dark Knight Damsel’, the article reveals her launch into the show. As Police Commissioner Gordon’s daughter, Barbara is a teenage Olympic gymnastics hopeful who takes on crime fighting with a cape and cowl […]

‘Plightyear’ in our Animated News Forum points us to an article at Coming Soon about plans for more animated Star Wars material including half hour episodes of Clone Wars.

Industry observer Chuck Oberleitner gives the rundown on the latest business move by The Walt Disney Company: CEO Elect Bob Iger’s dismantling of the Eisner regime’s Strategic Planning unit. While this may seem like a purely business move and not a creative one it is likely to have long range positive effects on Disney’s creative […]

From our “Not Necessarily Animation News” files we’d like to point out that there was a character named Jack Sparrow in an old Uncle Remus tale long before there was a character named Jack Sparrow in Disney’s Pirates of the Caribbean movie. Perhaps the Pirates of the Caribbean writers were inspired by the earlier story.

Animation World Network has a new article all about Disney’s direct-to-video empire. The article is quite comprehensive and discusses the history of the phenomenon from Return of Jafar all the way up to Stitch Has a Glitch and Kronk’s New Groove . . . and hints that maybe even the shelved Dumbo II will eventually […]

Nicktoons and Frederator Studios are holding their second film festival, this year renamed “Nextoons: The Nicktoons Film Festival”. The festival aims to showcase the diversity of independent animated filmmaking. Animators from around the world can submit entries from March 28th through June 17th. Entry forms can be downloaded on {{link http://www.nicktoons.com www.nicktoons.com}}. Keith Dawkins, General […]

DVD Answers has updated its pages for the DVD release of The Mask and Son of the Mask, now including menus. Both DVDs will hit stores on May 17, 2005.

Toon Zone has two reviews for the first two episodes of The Batman’s second season. The Batman, which suffered from less-than-favorable reviews in its debut, gets along somewhat better this time around, with critics saying that the newest season “offers small improvements” and is “off to a promising start”. The Batman comes on Saturday mornings […]

The teaser poster for Curious George can be seen at Black Film, while the film itself will not hit theaters until February 10, 2006.

The ASIFA-Hollywood blog is now sporting some photos from last Saturday’s Animated Commercials from the 1950s & 60s program (original link via Cartoon Brew). The show was a sold-out success with a few people even having to sit on the steps in the aisles. Due to its success Jerry Beck has promised to put together […]

Riding on the upcoming Peter Jackson movie, Sony Music will release the animated King Kong tv series on DVD this November. The 4-disc set collects the 1966 TV series by Rankin-Bass and will retail for $39.95. TVShowsOnDVD.com has the full story.

The teaser trailer for Ice Age 2: The Meltdown has reappeared online, with its location this time being at MovieWallpapers.net.

The Sydney Morning Herald [free registration required], via Coming Soon, has a look at the set of Charlotte’s Web in Australia. One tidbit from the article is that unlike the 1973 Charlotte’s Web animated movie, the new film will be closer to the book. In other words, audiences should expect farm and animal life to […]

Tomorrow afternoon ASIFA-Hollywood and Cartoon Brew’s Jerry Beck will be hosting a program featuring animated commercials from the 1950s & 60s, television’s golden age. Come check it out because, “much of the material being screened on Saturday is not on video or viewable in any other format.” March 26th • 3:00pm The American Film Institute […]

While likely to be an early April Fool’s Day joke, somebody has gone to great lengths to explain why they need to auction off a plush Stitch toy on eBay that is supposedly possessed by a poltergeist or other restless spirit. Perhaps this is a Blair Witch-style marketing scheme on behalf of Disney to drum […]

JoBlo has the scoop that Brad Garrett (Everybody Loves Raymond, Finding Nemo) will play a chef in Pixar’s next film after Cars, Ratatouille, which tells the story of rodents living in a French restaurant.

In a new ad released at Ropes of Silicon, the cast for Universal Pictures and Imagine Entertainment’s Curious George has been revealed. Joining Will Ferrell are Drew Barrymore, David Cross, Eugene Levy, Dick Van Dyke, Joan Plowright and Ed O’Ross in the traditionally animated flick, produced by Ron Howard and Brian Grazer. Directed by Jun […]

Kristin writes in to point out that the image at Amazon.com for the DVD cover of the Rankin-Bass Easter special Here Comes Peter Cottontail mentions that there is a Peter Cottontail: The Movie coming Spring 2006. A look at its IMDb page confirms that this movie is in production and features several big name celebrity […]

“Bob Tucker Director Media Relations for the Disneyland Resort (DLR) has released a statement concerning the incident in Disneyland Park with author Jim Hill this past Sunday.”

After Rambo: First Blood Part II was released, Ruby-Spears Productions launched a Rambo animated series in April 1986, beginning with a 5-part mini-series. Starring the voice of Neil Ross (Transformers, G.I. Joe) as Rambo, the show continued to run in daily syndication with 60 more episodes starting in mid-September of that year. Now TV Shows […]

AWN reports that HIT Entertainment Plc. has agreed to a £489.4 million ($934 million) cash takeover offer from U.K. venture capitalists Apax Partners. HIT made the announcement following disappointing financial results for the six months ending January 31 and the firing of CEO Rob Lawes six months ago by the company’s board. HIT founder/chairman Peter […]

From March 18, 2005 – April 14, 2005, McDonalds’ Happy Meals and Mighty Kids Meals will feature one of eight retail-size action figures from each of Disney/Pixar’s movies. Characters include Mr. Incredible and Dash from The Incredibles; Nemo and Dory from Finding Nemo; Mike Wazowski and James P. Sullivan from Monsters, Inc.; and Buzz Lightyear […]

In honor of March being Women’s History Month, Wade Sampson at Jim Hill Media reflects on the all the women who, as the article’s introduction reads, “helped to make the ‘Magical World of Disney’ that much more magical”. Thanks to Cory Mitchell at the Animated News Forum for pointing the article out.

DVD Answers has the details on the DVD release of Father of the Pride: The Complete Series. Extras for the DVD include: the original unaired pilot, three never-before-seen episodes, the complete scripts for additional episodes, and audio commentaries. Father of the Pride: The Complete Series hits stores on June 7, 2005.