The Post-Standard, via Coming Soon, indicates that Ben Burtt, sound designer for all the Star Wars and Indiana Jones films, has moved to Pixar Animation Studios. Though the Star Wars films provided three years’ worth of employment, Burtt was guaranteed nothing past that, seeing as how most employees at Lucasfilm work from project to project. […]

Disney’s PR department has forwarded to us the official obituary for the recently departed Marie Johnston, wife of legendary Disney animator Ollie Johnston.

Yahoo! Finance has the press release for the North American premiere of Walt Disney Studios’ and Studio Ghibli’s Howl’s Moving Castle, with the article noting the attendance of the film’s director, Hayao Miyazaki. In related news, Ain’t It Cool News is holding a special Saturday Morning Kids Club screening of Howl’s Moving Castle. Though admission […]

Jim Hill Media speculates how the lackluster response for The Muppets’ Wizard of Oz will affect the future of the Muppets, as Disney’s PR staff attempts to make the project look like a success. In addition, Jim Hill also speaks with Ken Plume, journalist and Muppet fan, who offers some advice concerning how to get […]

Exodus Film Group announces the addition of two new projects in the studio’s lineup: The Hero of Color City and Amarillo Armadillo. The two new projects come as a response to the industry buzz surrounding Exodus’ first CGI film Igor, which is still in production and scheduled for a 2007 theatrical release. All three films […]

The full soundtrack for Madagascar, now playing in theaters, can be heard online at AOL Music.

Providing an update to our “Bob sets off for MIPCOM” story from September 2004, Wendy Griffiths, the CEO of Dark Prince, Paris, has written in to speak about the current state of Dark Prince Productions, the intentionally small Parisian studio with two ‘hats’: producer and service studio. It is worth noting that GenerActor, the company’s […]

The print edition of Video Business Magazine this week carries an advertisement announcing the release of a {{link http://www.animatedviews.com/wp-content/uploads/archives/00002272.html Steamboy}} Director’s Cut on DVD. Featuring the voices of Anna Paquin, Alfred Molina and Patrick Stewart, Steamboy was released by Sony Pictures earlier this year. A fully in-depth 4-disc set was issued in its native Japan, […]

Toronto’s {{link http://www.tracepictures.com/ Trace Pictures}} intends to make its mark at the BDA design awards in New York City later in June. They are finalists in 5 categories including best demo reel. The studio has also swaped shop for a dedicated facility, increasing their work flow. Among the main companies they have created spots and […]

Quint at Ain’t It Cool News recently visited the set of Steven Spielberg’s War of the Worlds, coming to theaters June 29, 2005. Within this revealing two-part article is not only interesting information regarding War of the Worlds, but small details on Spielberg’s other upcoming projects as well. For instance, after discussing King Kong with […]

Ain’t It Cool News has a string of both good and bad news regarding the Last Unicorn live-action film. As it turns out, Continent Films recently paid $250,000 to go through with a buyout clause in their deal with Granada Media, owner of the rights to the 1982 animated movie. This payment shows the studio’s […]

TV Shows on DVD has the latest on a DVD release of Count Duckula. Following speculation that A&E would release the show to DVD, Jano Rohleder, webmaster of Duckula Online, has discovered that Capital Entertainment will release the DVD set in the USA. The Count Duckula DVD is rumored to be available this September.

Screencaps from the trailer for Open Season are online at JoBlo. Sony Pictures Animation’s CGI comedy Open Season, starring the voices of Ashton Kutcher, Martin Lawrence, Debra Messing and Paul Westerberg, is scheduled to hit theaters on September 29, 2006.

Dan Ritchie, responsible for the Project Dogwaffle Pro Digital Painter, has unleashed a free update patch for users of Project Dogwaffle Pro 3.x. Version 3.1a comes equipped with new tools for traditional animators, improvements on existing tools, and a few minor bug fixes. One can read the press release for the Project Dogwaffle Pro Digital […]

As {{link http://www.animatedviews.com/wp-content/uploads/archives/00000891.html we reported over a year ago}}, MGM is to complement the release of the upcoming Steve Martin-led remake of The Pink Panther in theaters with the re-issue of the original Peter Sellers films on DVD. The {{link http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/B0001AG01M/qid=1117450715/sr=1-1/ref=sr_1_1/103-7799063-0412607?v=glance&s=dvd five-film box set}} from last April leads the pack, with new individual releases of […]

Fans of Goscinny and Uderzo’s French comic book novels featuring Astérix, the power-juice guzzling Gaul, and his humongously strong sidekick Obelix, will be pleased to see the pair bounce back on the big screen in Asterix And The Vikings. Kinoo, in the {{link http://animatedviews.com/forum/viewtopic.php?p=5030#5030 Animted News Forum}} says that “the studio which did this movie […]

The first poster for Nickelodeon Movies’ Barnyard, coming to theaters on January 13, 2006, is up at The Internet Movie Poster Awards.

Box Office Guru provides a Saturday update of the box office for Madagascar. On Friday, the CGI flick gathered an estimated $14.4 million. Considering that on holiday weekends, family films often gross less on Friday than they do on Saturday and Sunday, Madagascar should have no problem collecting $62-68 million over the four-day weekend, easily […]

The trailer for Vanguard Animation’s fun comedy adventure Valiant has {{link http://www.apple.com/trailers/disney/valiant/ just gone up}} in a number of high-quality sizes at Apple’s QuickTime Trailers site. The film will debut in the US through Walt Disney Pictures on August 19 2005. Don’t forget that the producers and creators of Valiant talk about the financing and […]

DreamWorks Animation’s \\{{link http://www.madagascar-themovie.com/ Madagascar}}\\ opens today. The film will debut in a staggering 4,131 theatres – making it the third widest released film of all time according to {{link http://www.boxofficemojo.com/ Box Office Mojo}}. While no one expects that the film will dethrone \\Star Wars Episode III\\, it should pull in a very impressive second […]

Following in the footsteps of the famous dance-off between Napolean Dynamite and Fender from Robots, the characters from Madagascar are the latest entries into the dance-off game. Be sure to vote for the best at the Ultimate Madagascar Dance-Off official site. Thanks to an e-mail from Buzz Lightyear (no, not that one) for the heads […]

Ultimate Disney points to Nausicaa.net, where Cindy Hewitt, Don Hewitt, and Rick Dempsey, supervisors for the English translations and releases of Studio Ghibli films, reveal the aspects of the dubbing process and plans for Region 1 DVD releases. Also included in the interview is the reason for the delay of My Neighbor Totoro’s Disney DVD […]

Seems Tom McGrath and Eric Darnell are really doing the online rounds, promoting their new DreamWorks comedy. The JoBlo.com website just posted a {{link http://www.joblo.com/index.php?id=7564 new interview}} with the duo about their careers and the film, as well as a {{link http://www.joblo.com/index.php?id=7540 discussion with the stars}} of the film, Ben Stiller, Chris Rock, Jada Pinkett […]

Chris Romano has written in to let us know that his short TIMEBOMB will be playing in some Los Angeles area theaters this summer (Cartoon Brew has more info on exactly where). By the way, last time I was at his Toonlets site I got addicted watching all the cool little videos, especially the Frankenberry […]

Academy Award-winning director Hayao Miyazaki (Spirited Away)’s latest film Howl’s Moving Castle will premiere at the El Capitan Theatre on Thursday, June 9, at 7pm. Already the film has collected over $200 million internationally. Click “More” to read the official press release for the event.

Variety [paid registration required], via Coming Soon, indicates that Kevin Lima (Tarzan, 102 Dalmatians) will helm the romantic fable Enchanted, a mixed live-action and computer animated feature from Walt Disney Pictures. The film’s plot outline is this: “A wannabe-princess [is] banished from the animated world of Andalasia to a place where there is no true […]

While not much has been said or written regarding the film, which may have led some to wonder if the production has been cancelled, The DreamWorks SKG Fansite reports that Kung Fu Panda is still in pre-production at DreamWorks Animation. The studio is hoping for a 2008 release for the movie.

Walt Disney Studios and EMI Music are teaming up to release four different soundtracks for The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe, Yahoo! Movies reports. One disc will contain mainstream Christian music artists, the second disc will feature both pop and rock, the third disc will contain Harry Gregson-Williams’ score and […]

Amazon.com has posted one of the first reviews for Tarzan II. Critic Lynn Gibson writes, “Despite the star-studded voice cast, there is a sense of re-tread ground here, and the story (loosely based on Edgar Rice Burroughs’ distinctive tale) shows signs of formulaic Disney. Nonetheless, Phil Collins’ trio of original songs livens the pace to […]