Month: February 2014

Animation Addicts Podcast #61: The Last Unicorn – Give Us More Pirate Cat!

Morgan, Chelsea, Mason and special guest host Whitney Grace come together to discuss Rankin-Bass’s 1982 film The Last Unicorn.

Oscar nominated animated shorts of 2013

This year’s Oscar nominated animated shorts range from the traditionally told to the metaphorical, from computer animated images to painted pages, and — like any awards list — from good to not-so-good.

Is Shrek 5 on the way?

Despite Shrek Forever After being marketed as “the final chapter” in the ogre’s saga, it appears we might be getting something along the lines of Shrek’s High Five someday. Collider is reporting that DreamWorks Animation honcho Jeffery Katzenberg is hinting at a continuation of the franchise. “We like to let them have a little bit […]

Everything continues to be awesome for The Lego Movie

Continuing to build on its box office success, The Lego Movie topped the charts for the third weekend in a row, Box Office Mojo is reporting. The critically acclaimed film had an impressive take of $31 million, bringing its total to a massive $183 million. Speaking of massive, Frozen continued to be in the top […]

DreamWorks diversification good news for investors

The Wrap says DreamWorks Animation has reached a pivotal moment in growth of the company — they “can get away with releasing movies that are not huge hits”. How? Diversification, including things like licensing, TV, toys, and theme parks. An investment analyst quoted pointed out that DreamWorks “has reduced its reliance on film performance by […]

Miyazaki talks about career and retirement

BuzzFeed talks with legendary animation director Hayao Miyazaki about his career, his latest film (The Wind Rises) opening in the United States, and his announced retirement. “I really felt that this was the maximum that I could give to produce an animated film. The work of animation is building up bricks and mortar, bricks and […]

Goldberg reveals Mickey’s de-evolution in Get a Horse

Jim Hill talks with Disney’s Eric Goldberg about how the studio evolved Mickey Mouse backwards for their short Get a Horse. “In order to make Get A Horse really look like it was something that it had been produced during that specific era in Hollywood history, the animators who worked on this short had to […]

Frozen inspirations, story problems, and… breathing issues?

The New York Times has posted several pieces about Frozen this week. First is a look into the changing story, which originally featured feuding sisters and a cast where “most of the characters were really unlikable”. Next is a piece about how the animators pushed to make the singing believable. Finally, a video that “goes […]

The Wind Rises enriches Miyazaki’s legacy

Time magazine profiles retiring director Hayao Miyazaki and reviews what he says will be his last film. “The Wind Rises may be a challenging end to a major artist’s career. But Miyazaki has retired before, after the 1997 Princess Mononoke, and he returned to make four more wonders, including this one, that immeasurably enrich his […]

CalArts class has huge impact on animation history

Vanity Fair has a fascinating article about how much of the best animation of the past quarter century has almost entirely come from one group of students at the California Institute of the Arts in the 1970s. “Their journey begins, and ends, with the Walt Disney Studios. As director and writer Brad Bird (The Incredibles, […]

Frozen, Gravity take BAFTAs

Frozen won the Best Animated Film prize at the BAFTA awards this past week, topping Despicable Me 2 and Monsters University. Sleeping With The Fishes won for Best British Short Animation. Gravity was the night’s big winner, picking up seven awards: British Film, Director, Visual Effects, Cinematography, Editing, Music, and Sound.

Lego Simpsons episode coming in May

TVLine reports that Fox has set an air date of May 4th for their upcoming Lego Simpsons episode. In “the animated series’ 550th episode, titled “Brick Like Me… Homer wakes up in a world where his family and everyone in Springfield are made of LEGOs. He then must ‘put together’ how he got there and […]

Animation Addicts Podcast #60: The Lion King – It’s SFX!

The people have spoken! The top requested film in 2013 was The Lion King! Go along with Mason, Morgan, and Chelsea as they talk about the iconic film from their childhood!

The Lego Movie releases Blooper reel

For those of us who can’t get enough of The Lego Movie, Warner Bros. has released a blooper reel, featuring outtakes and flubs from The Lego Movie. The spoiler-filled, animated blooper reel features what seems to be genuine outtakes from the recording sessions. The Lego Movie is now playing in cinemas everywhere to much critical […]

Idina Menzel to sing Let It Go at the Oscars

To the delight of Frozen fans everywhere, Idina Menzel will perform at the Academy Awards on March 2, singing the signature song of her character Elsa. According to Collider, Let It Go is a frontrunner in the category. The Frozen album is the longest running number one soundtrack since 2003. Disney is capitalizing on the […]

Disney Interactive’s animates new short with Google

Despite all the negative news about layoffs, Disney Interactive has a new project that pairs it with search mogul Google. Disney and Google are launching a new animated short entitled: Blank: A Vinylmation Love Story. Disney memorabilia collectors will recognize Vinylmation as the line of figurines with mouse ears. It “is a stop-motion animated film […]

Lego Movie, Frozen hit box office milestones

Box Office Mojo reports that The Lego Movie opened this weekend with an estimated $69.1 million. That’s good for second all time in the month of February and fifth all time for a non-sequel animated film. Meanwhile, in its eleventh week Frozen continued to impress with a fourth place finish and $6.9 million. The film […]

The Lego Movie

The Lego Movie is an unexpectedly good film. And just like Legos themselves, it’s something that boys and girls, no matter their age, can all enjoy.

The Lego Movie opens

The Lego Movie opens today in 3,775 theatres according to Box Office Mojo. The film is receiving stellar reviews, earning an almost perfect 99% at Rotten Tomatoes. Their consensus: “Boasting beautiful animation, a charming voice cast, laugh-a-minute gags, and a surprisingly thoughtful story, The Lego Movie is colorful fun for all ages”. Fandango reports that […]

American trailer and poster for Ernest and Celestine now online

The Oscar-nominated Ernest and Celestine will be getting its US release soon, and Collider has a trailer for the English-language dub as well as the film’s American poster. The movie chronicles the unlikely friendship that takes place between a bear and a mouse, who are supposed to be sworn enemies. The cast for the English […]

Oscar nominated animated shorts profiled

The five animated short films nominated for an Oscar are being profiled by several sites around the web, including the Washington Post, the Boston Herald, the Huffington Post, and Crave Online. If you’d like to see the films for yourself, Shorts HD is once again bringing their Oscar Nominated Short Film program (Live Action, Animation, […]

Lego Movie soundtrack excerpts online

WaterTower Music, Warner Bros.’ in-house music label, has posted several tracks from the upcoming Lego Movie on SoundCloud for fans to listen to for free. If you like what you hear, the album is on sale at Amazon. Everything Is AWESOME!!!, Emmet’s Morning, Saloons And Wagons, and Cloud Cuckooland And Ben The Spaceman can be […]

The Lego Movie sequel already in the works

Though The Lego Movie doesn’t open theatrically until this weekend, Warner Bros. has already begun work on a sequel, reports TheWrap. Jared Stern (The Internship, Mr. Popper’s Penguins) and Michelle Morgan (Girl Most Likely) are reportedly working on the script for the followup. No word yet if Phil Lord and Chris Miller will return to […]

Animation Addicts Podcast #59: A Monster in Paris – Don’t Judge This Flea by Its Cover

In the latest edition of their podcast, Morgan and Chelsea jump right in to the discussion of the unconventional and under-appreciated French film, A Monster in Paris!

Annie’s award best of 2013 animation

Frozen took top honors for Best Animated Feature at the Annie Awards this year along with four other trophies: Directing, Music, Production Design, and Voice Acting. The Croods picked up three awards, for Animated Effects, Character Design, and Character Animation. On the TV side, Disney’s Mickey Mouse won three awards for Character Design, Music, and […]

Arthur Rankin Jr. of Rankin/Bass Productions passes away

Arthur Rankin Jr.–half of Rankin/Bass Productions–has passed away, The Hollywood Reporter tells us. Along with co-founder Jules Bass, the animator, writer and director was responsible for a seemingly endless number of animated TV productions. The most notable of these, of course, was 1964’s Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer, which approaches its 50th anniversary this year and […]

Studio Ghibli announces first ever TV series

Studio Ghibli is at work on its very first Anime TV series, Collider is reporting. Directed by Goro Miyazaki (From Up on Poppy Hill), the series will be called Ronja the Robber’s Daughter, and will focus on its titular little girl as she “gets to know the creatures of the forest, meets another kid like […]

Disney developing live-action Chip ‘n Dale: Rescue Rangers movie

In “Well, I didn’t see that coming” news today, ComingSoon.net is reporting that Disney is currently developing a live-action/animated movie based off of their Chip ‘n Dale: Rescue Rangers cartoon show. Airing in the late 80’s and early 90’s, the show imagined Chip and Dale as members of a secret organization that faced off against […]