Releasing the details via press release, Walt Disney Records is enjoying healthy business from the soundtracks to Disney’s three biggest hits this year: High School Musical, Cars, and Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man’s Chest. In that order, the titles currently occupy the top three positions on the Billboard Soundtrack chart, representing a label best. […]

The official websites for Transformers: The Movie (1986) and The Ant Bully have been updated. Noticed by Seibertron, the Transformers site continues to hint at its DVD cover, revealing a new puzzle piece for the image each weekday. Meanwhile, CGCHAR sees that Bully’s site has captured “plenty of stills, character/film information, and video.”

The Summer 2006 Convention of the National Fantasy Fan Club experienced a setback earlier today when head of the Disney Studio, Dick Cook, was unable to give his expected presentation, according to o-meon. “As he has done for the past two years, he was expected to present a brief overview, similar to the briefing he […]

As pointed out by Cartoon Brew, the annual Screenwriter’s Expo will host one day dedicated completely to Pixar’s storytelling art. “From the groundbreaking wonder of Toy Story and A Bug’s Life to the emotional depths of Finding Nemo and The Incredibles, Pixar Animation Studios has amassed a string of successful films that remains unparalleled in […]

Two actors who counted parts in a pair of Disney films among their prolific careers have passed away. {{link http://news.google.com/news?hl=en&ned=us&ie=UTF-8&q=red+buttons&btnG=Search+News Red Buttons}}, the famed song-and-dance comedian, was perhaps best known to animation fans as villain Jim Dale’s sidekick in 1977’s Pete’s Dragon and as the voice of Robespierre in Chuck Jones’ 1962 feature Gay Purr-ee, […]

Entering MSNBC‘s list of “The 10 least politically correct movies ever” are Song of the South and Team America: World Police. Regarding South’s inclusion, the article writes, “This isn’t exactly Birth of a Nation, but in terms of racial stereotypes, it’s in that ballpark.” As for Team America, its insertion is due to the opinion: […]

Defamer has acquired the company-wide e-mail Disney CEO Robert Iger sent regarding the success of Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man’s Chest. The composition praises folks from behind the movie’s scenes, stating, “I want to congratulate Dick Cook and everyone at The Walt Disney Studios. They put their hearts, souls and creative guts into this, […]

A large slew of animation-related DVD news has hit the web recently. First up, Ice Age: The Meltdown is targeted for a November 21st release date. Listed at DVD Active, the package’s extras range from commentaries by Director Carlos Saldanha, Producer Lori Forte and the film’s production team; a new Scrat short, entitled No Time […]

Available at Yahoo! Finance is the press release for Experience Music Project’s “Disney: The Music Behind the Magic” exhibition. Celebrating over 80 years of memorable tunes, “Disney: The Music Behind the Magic” examines the Studio’s musical legacy and “draw[s] inspiration from Disney animation, television programming, theme parks, live-action films and Broadway musicals in addition to […]

The Hollywood Reporter reports that joining the cast of Shrek the Third are Amy Sedaris as Cinderella, Amy Poehler as Snow White, Maya Rudolph as Rapunzel and Cheri Oteri as Sleeping Beauty. The group represents an “elite, ninja-like strike force of fairy tale princesses” called upon by Fiona and Queen Lillian to stop Prince Charming […]

Faster than Jack Sparrow can close his mystical compass back up The Walt Disney Studios has announced it will cut back its work force and cut down its production schedule from eighteen to eight films per year, according to Yahoo! Finance. No word yet on if or how this will affect their animation output or […]

Following yesterday’s report of the subject, Animated News has acquired an image from reader Teddy Ransay of the brand-new logo for Walt Disney Pictures, seen to the right of this text. For the time being, the picture is a smaller one. Nonetheless, it provides an adequate idea of the direction the latest logo takes. The […]

You Tube is home to eight television spots promoting the motion-captured creature feature Monster House: #1, #2, #3, #4, #5, #6, #7, and #8. Likewise, the film’s marketing has officially taken up residence at My Space. Audiences may enter the House on July 21st.

Courtesy of Box Office Mojo: 1. Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man’s Chest with $135,634,554, averaging $32,817 over 4,133 theaters (1st week) 2. Superman Returns with $21,815,243, averaging $5,366 over 4,065 theaters ($141,642,667 total; 2nd week) 5. Cars with $10,734,082, averaging $3,176 over 3,988 theaters ($205,908,484 total; 5th week) 13. Garfield: A Tail of Two […]

The Internet Movie Poster Awards has discovered an eighth one sheet for The Ant Bully. This Norwegian poster provides a taste of the international marketing campaign that Warner Bros. is fashioning for the computer animated adventure. The Ant Bully will pick on audiences this July 28th.

The schedule for this year’s {{link http://www.comic-con.org/index.php San Diego Comic-Con}} has just been released and there’s a whole bunch of stuff to get worked up about for animation and film fans. Check the link for the full exhaustive program, including the official announcement of an extended edition of Peter Jackson’s King Kong, while some bite-sized […]

{{link http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/thr/film/article_display.jsp?vnu_content_id=1002802054 The Hollywood Reporter}} online takes a look at what went into the planning of the new Walt Disney Pictures logo upgrade and reveals rather surprisingly that the new 30-second clip was actually animated by Peter Jackson’s Weta Digital effects outfit. The new logo premiered at the beginning of the studio’s current huge hit […]

Deadwood star Ian McShane chats with Coming Soon about his upcoming animated appearances. Apparently, the actor will voice a “sad Russian giant” in Henry Selick’s stop-motion Coraline, while also speaking for Captain Hook in Shrek the Third. Likewise, McShane will join Angelina Jolie for DreamWorks’ Kung Fu Panda. He will voice the evil snow leopard […]

Disney’s \\Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man’s Chest\\ took in a record $132 million in its opening weekend, easily topping the previous best of $114.8 million by \\Spider-Man\\ in 2002, {{link http://www.cnn.com/2006/SHOWBIZ/Movies/07/09/box.office.ap/index.html CNN}} reports. \\Pirates 2\\ also gets the distinction of being the only movie to ever top $100 million in just two days. \\Superman […]

Ultimate Disney confirms that a 4-disc extended edition of The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe is coming soon. Footage from the “director’s cut” version of the film will be previewed at this month’s Comic-Con in San Diego, on Saturday, July 22th, at 3:45 in Hall H. Furthermore, attendees will receive […]

With a $55 million earning on Friday, Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man’s Chest broke the record for largest one-day take at the box office, previously held by Star Wars: Episode III – Revenge of the Sith. The film looks on course for a weekend gross of at least $120 million, reports The Associated Press […]

Opening July 28th, The Ant Bully finds itself with three television advertisements, currently playing on the tube and You Tube: #1, #2, and #3. Meanwhile, from Wikipedia comes the rumor that the film may include cameos from Scott Speedman, Larry the Cable Guy, David Schwimmer, Kevin Kline, and Luke Wilson.

Yahoo! News teams with Reuters to explain some of the amazing visual effects found in Superman Returns. Noticing a hefty budget and a demand for detail, the piece lends some brief insight into how the Man of Steel’s latest foray was brought to life.

The Internet Movie Database’s Studio Briefing reveals that Hayao Miyazaki, director of the Oscar-winning Spirited Away and the Oscar-nominated Howl’s Moving Castle, has been invited to join the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences. He is one of 120 actors, directors, producers, composers and other industry members recently asked to fill positions left by […]

James Cameron speaks on his upcoming adventure Avatar, with “follows a paraplegic war veteran who is brought to another planet inhabited by a humanoid race at odds with Earth’s citizens.” The film, set for a summer 2008 release, will make heavy use of the same performance capture technology that the upcoming Monster House employs. “It’s […]

Greek Geek has collected several pictures from last week’s Cinema Expo, held in Amsterdam, The Netherlands. Animated movies promoted at the event included The Ant Bully, Cars, Monster House, and Open Season.

As noticed by the DreamWorks Animation SKG Fansite, covers for numerous books based on DreamWorks/Aardman’s Flushed Away are now available to view at Amazon.

Toon Zone lists the animation-related nominations found in the 58th Annual Primetime Emmy Awards, scheduled to air Sunday, August 27th, on NBC. The honorees include:

The Year Without a Santa Claus, Bass-Rankin’s 1974 stop-motion classic, is experiencing a live-action redo, courtesy of NBC. Variety, via Coming Soon, reports that the remake will star Ethan Suplee as Jingle, Eddie Griffin as Jangle, Chris Kattan as a devious head elf, and Carol Kane as Mother Nature. John Goodman will play the jolly […]

Moviehole indicates that Jim Belushi and Patrick Warburton has joined the cast of Disney’s Underdog. While Belushi may be seen in the film, Warburton will only be lending his voice to the flick, which likewise stars the voices of Jason Lee and Amy Adams.