The nominations for the 80th Annual Academy Awards have been announced. Come tell us your thoughts in the Animated News & Views Forum. The nominees for Best Animated Feature Film are • Persepolis – Marjane Satrapi and Vincent Paronnaud • Ratatouille – Brad Bird • Surf’s Up – Ash Brannon and Chris Buck The nominees […]

From now until January 30, Disney’s El Capitan Theatre is screening One Hundred and One Dalmatians leading up to its Platinum Edition DVD release on March 4. The new Goofy short How to Hook Up Your Home Theater accompanies the classic film. Read on for pictures from the opening night which featured a panel moderated […]

Variety reports that DreamWorks Animation has teamed up with Dubai based real estate company Tatweer to develop a range of tourism and leisure projects in Dubai, the highlight of which will be a theme park. The 5 million-square-foot DreamWorks Animation-branded park will see rides incorporate characters from DreamWorks titles such as the Shrek franchise and […]

“DreamWorks Theatricals and Neal Street Productions, Ltd. have announced that Shrek the Musical will play an exclusive world premiere engagement at The 5th Avenue Theatre in Seattle, August 14th to September 21st, prior to opening on Broadway in the Fall of 2008. Preview performances will begin in early November at a theater to be announced.” […]

Yahoo! Movies reports that due to the changes in the structure of society since the first appearance of the Smurfs, more female characters will appear in the upcoming CGI film. “There have been dramatic changes in socio-cultural values in the past 20 to 25 years,” explained head of Smurf’s rights holder Hendrik Coysman. “One of […]

DVDActive reports that Paramount Home Entertainment has announced theatrical and director’s cut releases of Robert Zemeckis’ Beowulf on 26th February. The only extra feature on the theatrical cut will be A Hero’s Journey: The Making of Beowulf featurette. The Director’s Cut will include that, along with a Beasts of Burden featurette, a Origins of Beowulf […]

Last Saturday Pixar’s Pete Docter delivered the commencement address to the graduating class of Animation Mentor, “the online animation school by animators for animators” (see our prior writeup). The following press release summarizes his inspirational remarks:

The Producers Guild of America has announced the nominees for their 19th annual awards. Getting nods in the Producer of the Year Award in Animated Theatrical Motion Pictures categoy are: Bee Movie, Ratatouille, and The Simpsons Movie. Winners will be announced February 2nd.

Animated Views welcomes a new kid on the block today, Media Magic’s Jérémie Noyer, who promises to maintain his continuing stream of warm and knowledgeable interviews, kicking off with an exclusive talk with Meet The Robinsons’ director Steve Anderson! Originally undertaken for the promotion of the DVD release of his movie back in October, the […]

Animatie Blog showcases the french teaser poster for 20th Century Fox/Blue Sky’s upcoming Horton Hears a Who. The computer-animated film, based on the 1954 childrens book by Dr. Seuss, will stomp its way to US theaters on March 14th, 2008.

Hidden inside the Walt Disney Company’s annual investors report lies the first “real” image of the studios’ 2009 animated feature, The Princess and the Frog, showcasing the film’s main character, Tiana. Meanwhile, David Gilson’s blog presents us with a high resolution, cleaned up version of the image. The Princess and the Frog will be the […]

Animation World Network reports that Pixar’s hit Toy Story will be adapted for the stage for audiences traveling on the Disney Wonder cruise ship. “Following the storyline of the original film, Toy Story – The Musical will give the audience a toy’s-eye view of life in Andy’s room, exploring the true meaning of friendship as […]

According to Variety, animated movies are big in Israel filling up six slots in their list of the top ten grossing movies at the box office for 2007 with Ratatouille and Shrek the Third topping the list and Bee Movie showing up as well.

Despite the writer’s strike shutting down their more usual glitzy awards show, the Hollywood Foreign Press Association handed out their annual Golden Globes awards tonight. Disney/Pixar’s Ratatouille picked up this year’s award for Best Animated Film. The animation prize has only been awarded since last year when Pixar also picked up the trophy, for Cars. […]

UpcomingPixar, via InTheNews.co.uk, reports that according to Tom Hanks, the third instalment of the Toy Story films is being prepared and has the full support of the actor, who voices one of the main characters Woody in the film. Directed by Lee Unkrich, Disney/Pixar’s Toy Story 3 is slated for a 2009 release.

UpcomingPixar has posted the first screenshots from the video game WALL•E. Published by THQ and created by Heavy Iron Studios, the video game is based on the upcoming Disney/Pixar’s feature WALL•E which is set to hit theatres June 27.

Over at The Hollywood Reporter‘s award season coverage, director Brad Bird is one of the six screenwriters sharing their experiences and approach to how they penned their nominated movies. Bird speaks about coming late to the production of Ratatouille, while of the other scribes, John Logan reveals what it was like adapting Stephen Sondheim’s Sweeney […]

Ghibliworld has an exclusive in-depth interview with Pixar storyboard artist Enrico Casarosa wherein he talks about Studio Ghibli, Pixar and how Hayao Miyazaki’s films have influenced his own work. According to him, “Miyazaki has this uncanny ability to add a childish sense of wonder to his stories. He’s able to make us feel like little […]

On Saturday, January 19th, a panel discussion devoted to character animationespecially as it relates to advancing animation technology will be held at the Ince Theater at Sony Pictures Imageworks. The panel will be moderated by Frank Gladstone and will include important guest panelists from several animation studios. More details follow: