The upcoming SpongeBob SquarePants movie finally has a name, a website, and a poster. The name for the followup to the 2004 film is The SpongeBob Movie: Sponge Out of Water and the website is at www.spongebobmovie.com. ComingSoon.net has a first look at the poster, which appears to feature CG animation rather than the hand […]

Sega’s video game icon Sonic the Hedgehog is coming to the big screen according to The Wrap. Sony Pictures Entertainment and Marza Animation Planet are teaming up to create the hybrid CG-animated/live-action feature, written by Evan Susser and Van Robichaux and produced by Neal H. Moritz. Columbia Pictures’ president of production Hannah Minghella said, “There […]

In 2006, the newly launched AV started an MIA-DVD campaign to “compile the most concise listing we can of American and international feature films and cartoon short series as yet unavailable” on DVD. Den of Geek now asks why aren’t these 18 great animated films available on today’s HD disc format? “Sadly, there are some […]

The Disney Insider blog has revealed the title, concept, and some art from Disney Animation Studios’ latest short film. Titled Feast, and helmed by Paperman head of animation Patrick Osborne, the short “is the story of one man’s love life as seen through the eyes of his best friend and dog, Winston, and revealed bite […]

Variety looks at the career of composer John Powell. “Twenty of his 54 features have been animated. And with a resume that also includes a 2010 Oscar nomination for his soaring How to Train Your Dragon score and music for such hits as Happy Feet, three of the Ice Age movies, two Dr. Seuss entries, […]

Deadline reports that Sam Register has been promoted from EVP Creative Affairs to President of Warner Bros Animation. Peter Roth, Warner Bros Television Group President and Chief Content Officer said, “Sam has done an outstanding job shepherding Warner Bros Animation over the past six years, reinvigorating one of the most storied and accomplished animation production […]

The animated movie musical is back in vogue, according to the Los Angeles Times. The biggest sign of the change has been on the music charts. “For the first time in 20 years, a soundtrack from an animated film has been No. 1 on the Billboard charts for 10 weeks. This week, Disney’s fairy tale […]

Entertainment Weekly reports that Fox is ending its Saturday night animation block Animation Domination HD on June 28th. “Affiliates are not sorry to hear the block is going away. In addition to under-performing in the ratings, some stations have apparently received complaints about the risque content of the programming, which targeted young male viewers with […]

Rio 2 just missed winning the weekend box office, taking in $39 million to the Captain America sequel’s $41.4 million. Box Office Mojo notes its take was “essentially identical to the first Rio’s $39.2 million debut around the same time in 2011. Among recent animated movies, it’s noticeably higher than Cloudy with a Chance of […]

Blue Sky’s Rio 2 opens today in 3,948 theatres, according to Box Office Mojo. Critics are split with most leaning the wrong way, according to the Tomatometer where the film currently sits at 47%. Their consensus: “Like most sequels, Rio 2 takes its predecessor’s basic template and tries to make it bigger – which means […]

The New York Times covers a story that was a long time coming — Disney staffers celebrating an animated feature winning an Oscar. “The gathering at Walt Disney Animation here was supposed to be a giddy celebration. The studio had achieved the ultimate validation for its hard-fought creative rebirth: Frozen, its Nordic tale of two […]

Ernest & Celestine co-director Benjamin Renner talks about the genesis of the film with the Wall Street Journal. The “24-year-old fresh out of film school… got a phone call that would change everything. Didier Brunner, the French producer behind Oscar-nominated films The Triplets of Belleville and The Secret of Kells, had liked one of Mr. […]

The Pixar team that came into Disney Animation in 2006 believes their work at changing the culture at the then-struggling studio has paid off over the last few years, according to the Wall Street Journal. Disney and Pixar president Ed Catmull said, “When we came to Disney eight years ago, it was to bring the […]

Box Office Mojo reports that Frozen hit a major milestone this weekend, becoming just the 18th movie to ever take in $1 billion worldwide. They also note it’s only the fifth non-sequel movie to reach that number. They’re projecting Frozen could eventually land in the all-time worldwide top ten list, which would put it past […]

Gravity was one of the big winners at the 76th Annual Academy Awards, taking home seven Oscars, including Best Director, Best Visual Effects, and Best Score. Frozen beat out Despicable Me 2, The Croods, Ernest and Celestine, and The Wind Rises for Best Animated Feature. The song Let It Go from Frozen won the award […]

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 […]

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 […]

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 […]

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 […]

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 […]

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 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.