Month: January 2014 – page 2

Arendelle travel posters

Planning a trip to Arendelle? The kingdom – known for its fjords, chocolate, and mild temperatures – is calling with these three beautiful travel posters. These images were originally posted by Disney a few months ago. Hopefully the weather hasn’t changed…

Peek behind scenes of Pacific Rim, Star Trek, Lone Ranger with ILM

Over the past two weeks (and probably in anticipation of the recent end of Oscar nomination voting) the Industrial Light & Magic YouTube channel has posted almost 30 minutes worth of behind the scenes videos of their visual effects work for Pacific Rim, Star Trek Into Darkness, and The Lone Ranger.

Frozen wins Golden Globe

Frozen picked up the prize for Best Animated Feature Film at the Golden Globes. Directors Chris Buck and Jennifer Lee thanked the “fans who have taken Frozen into their hearts” and John Lasseter and Ed Catmuill “who became our fearless leaders eight years ago… this [award] is because of you”. The other nominees were The […]

Animation dominates Japan box office in 2013

The Hollywood Reporter notes that seven of the top ten films in Japan during 2013 were animated. “A lack of the big local and Hollywood live-action franchises that have won over audiences in recent years… let the cartoons reign supreme in 2013, and left Hollywood struggling for market share”.

Frozen coming to Blu-ray on March 18th

Disney’s Frozen will cool off on Blu-ray on March 18th, Blu-ray.com is reporting. Unfortunately for fans, as has been the case with most of the studio’s recent animated features (with the curious exception of Pixar films), the release will be fairly light on extras, with The Making of Frozen, deleted scenes, three music videos and […]

DreamWorks and YouTube to collaborate on new web series

Variety reports that DreamWorks Animation and YouTube are teaming up in an “unusual collaboration” to produce an original daily series titled YouTube Nation. The show “is expected to provide a daily highlight reel of what content is trending on the Google-owned platform based on its own proprietary data in a syndicated newsmagazine-style format.”

P.L. Travers vs Walt Disney

Smithsonian Magazine’s website takes a look at how the real P.L. Travers fared against Walt Disney as “historian Amy Henderson searches for the spoonfuls of sugar-coated truth in the new film Saving Mr. Banks“.

Despicable Me 2 is People’s favorite

Awards season is in full swing. And the latest trophy was given to Despicable Me 2 which won the People’s Choice Award for Favorite Family Film this week. It was chosen over fellow nominees Monsters University, Oz the Great and Powerful, Percy Jackson: Sea of Monsters, and The Smurfs 2. The next major award show […]

The Simpsons spoofs Studio Ghibli

It doesn’t air until Sunday, but Simpsons fans can already check out the opening clip from the next episode of The Simpsons, which is a tribute to all things Studio Ghibli. The sequence features references from everything from Kiki’s Delivery Service to Howl’s Moving Castle. The episode, titled I Am Furious (Yellow), also features a cameo […]

Five 2013 animation filmmakers sit down for discussion… again

If this previously reported L.A. Times discussion got you wanting more, The Hollywood Reporter also had a roundtable with five of the filmmakers behind this year’s top films: Chris Buck, director of Frozen; Dan Scanlon, director of Monsters University; Chris Wedge, director of Epic and a Blue Sky Studios’ founder; Kristine Belson, producer on The […]

Frozen on Broadway?

Deadline looks at the success of Disney’s Frozen and the prospects of it eventually reaching Broadway. With the film still currently #1 at the box office and on the album charts, the studio is of course not focused there at the moment. According to Deadline, a top Disney official said “there’s been no discussion on […]

Andre discusses song written for Mr. Peabody and Sherman

The BBC notes that singer-songwriter Peter Andre has written on his website about a song he has created, titled Kid, and performs for DreamWorks upcoming film Mr. Peabody and Sherman. “I saw an early cut of the film and loved it – it’s a must-see for the entire family. It is great to be working […]

Interviews with producer Todd Lieberman, Miss Piggy, Kermit, Walter and new pictures from Muppets Most Wanted

Collider was bursting with new information about Muppets Most Wanted. First they have new interviews with Kermit, Walter, and Miss Piggy, where each reveals their personal experience working on the new film, then there are fourteen glorious, brand new photos from behind the scenes that will be sure to delight Muppet fans. If that was […]

Disney renews Sofia the First, Jake and the Neverland Pirates, and Doc McStuffins

Three of Disney’s children’s shows are doing so well that they have been renewed. Sofia the First and Doc McStuffins are both going into their third seasons and Jake and the Neverland Pirates enters its treasure-hunting fourth. The VP of original programming and general manager at Disney Junior Worldwide Nancy Kanter says that these three […]

Compare animation knock-offs to the genuine Disney article

A tale as old as time is that smaller studios have been copying Disney movies since they realized they could turn a profit with cheaply made knock-offs. Disney has been known to sue some of these studios, but that does not prevent new ones from popping up. Cartoon Brew has generated a list of these […]

Frozen soundtrack tops Billboard 200

Another day, another news story regarding how well Frozen has been doing for Disney. Today the movie had the first motion picture soundtrack from an animated movie to top the Billboard 200 since 2006’s Curious George, the LA Times is reporting. It has also became the first movie soundtrack to top the charts since 2012’s Les […]

The minions, the musical, and the monsters earn BAFTA noms

The British Academy of Film and Television Arts has announced the nominees for their annual awards. Despicable Me 2, Frozen, and Monster’s University were nominated for Best Animated Film. Gravity, The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug, Iron Man 3, Pacific Rim, and Star Trek Into Darkness are up for Best Special Visual Effects. Everything I […]

How Frozen outlasted its competition

CSMonitor.com looks into how Frozen outlasted films that were released at the same time, like The Hobbit and Hunger Games sequels, to still be on top of the box office after seven weeks. One of the top reasons they cite is the movie’s “brilliantly terrible marketing”, or “the false under-sell”, “in short, the film was […]

New voice actor documentary playing on a TV near you

TV Guide reports that a new documentary about voice-over artists, titled I Know That Voice, has hit VOD platforms and iTunes this week. Producer and Annie Award winning actor John DiMaggio says he signed on to the film because “I want my peers to get a little bit of recognition. These are some of the […]

Larry D. Mann, voice of Yukon Cornelius, passes away

Larry D. Mann, the voice of Yukon Cornelius in Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer–arguably the most beloved animated holiday TV special of all time–, has passed away, Yahoo! TV is reporting. A Canadian actor who made appearances in dozens of television shows and films, Mann died from “complications of old age” at age 91. USA Today […]

Monsters University short to debut with Muppets Most Wanted

Party Central, the Monsters University spin-off short that was originally supposed to be shown in theaters with The Good Dinosaur, will now debut with Muppets Most Wanted, EW is reporting. In the short, “Mike and Sulley and their Oozma Kappa frat brothers try to throw a monster blowout party but are dismayed to find that […]

Animation Addicts Podcast #57: Best of 2013

Kick off the new year by looking back at 2013 and the best moments from the Animation Addicts Podcast. Also, the results of the 2013 Rotoscopers Awards are announced!

Frozen retakes box office crown in 7th week

Frozen has retaken the top spot at the box office this past weekend with $20.7 million, according to the AP. “It’s extremely rare for a film to lead the box office in its seventh weekend, a feat accomplished by the likes of Avatar… It’s rarer still for a film to retake the box-office lead so […]

The Best Of 2013: Unlucky, Or Lucky For Some?

It’s time once again for us to pick the best – and the worst – of the theatrical and home video year in animation! With a dearth of truly classic releases, what got our top scores and what were disappointments? It’s all in here…

DreamWorks enters the tablet market

DreamWorks is developing its own tablet, says the LA Times. The animation studio partnered with Fuhu Inc. to create the DreamTab, a device designed to teach children how to be animators. The tablet uses the 4.4 Kit Kat Android operating system and will allow its users to stream video and play games. It will retail […]

Great songs never die: how director Dan Lund is giving a new life to Aria For A Cow

Read how a “lost” Howard Ashman song is getting the opportunity to get the audience it deserves – by being made into an animated film.

Frozen tops New Year’s box office; beats Monsters University

Disney’s seemingly unstoppable Frozen kicked off 2014 by topping the box office with $8.7 million, THR is reporting. That brings the animated musical’s total to $271 million, topping the total gross of 2013’s Monsters University. With school out for most kids until Monday, the movie is now almost certainly a lock for $300 million.

Big Hero 6 adds director and producer

The Hollywood Reporter says that Bolt co-writer/director Chris Williams has been brought on as a co-director for Big Hero 6 alongside Don Hall. Tangled and Treasure Planet’s Roy Conli has been brought on as a producer. The film is scheduled to be released November 7, 2014.

Animator talks hand-drawn/CG transition

The St. Albert Gazette recently interviewed a hometown Disney animator named Brian Ferguson. In part one he discusses his early career. In part two he talks about the transition between hand-drawn animation and computer generated from the perspective of an animator who has been with the Mouse House since the early 1990s.

The Puppetoon Movie

George Pal’s amazing “replacement animation” shorts are now in HD. This two-disc set has three features, loads of bonus shorts, and a bevy of bonuses. This just could be the release of 2013!