The Boston Society of Film Critics named Hayao Miyazaki‘s The Wind Rises as Best Animated Feature — but not without controversy, according to IndieWire. Before the vote Village Voice critic Inkoo Kang read aloud a statement calling out the film for being “morally egregious” in ignoring the atrocities committed during the war by the Japanese […]

The Hollywood Reporter looks at the “Tricky Tug-of-War” John Lasseter is in the middle of in running both Disney Animation and Pixar. “Borrowing a page from Pixar, Lasseter is hands-on at WDAS. He gives extensive notes, pores over story reels and even does the first reading with actors and directors. Initially, Pixar animators worried that […]

ASIFA-Hollywood has announced the nominations for the 41st Annual Annie Awards, which recognize the year’s best in animation. Frozen and Monsters University lead the field with 10 nominations each. The nominees for Best Animated Feature are: A Letter to Momo, Despicable Me 2, Ernest & Celestine
, Frozen, Monsters University, The Croods
, and The Wind Rises. […]

Nineteen titles have been submitted for consideration in the Best Animated Feature Film category for the 86th Academy Awards: Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs 2, The Croods, Despicable Me 2, Epic, Ernest and Celestine, The Fake, Free Birds, Frozen, Khumba, The Legend of Sarila, A Letter to Momo, Monsters University, O Apóstolo, Planes, Puella […]

Relativity/Reel FX’s Free Birds opens today in 3,736 theatres according to Box Office Mojo. The film is taking a beating from the critics, with a 12% rating on the Tomatometer — though it is faring better with their Top Critics. Box Office Guru projects an $11 million opening weekend.

Bleeding Cool has a few images from director Isao Takahata’s upcoming film Kaguya-hime No Monogatari. And Cinema Blend notes that the record for most Tweets sent in a second was set this month due to a TV airing of Hayao Miyazaki’s Castle In The Sky.

Collider has posted a video interview with Bret McKenzie, one half of Flight of the Conchords, a Middle Earth elf, and the Oscar winning song writer of The Muppets. While he is out promoting another project, a considerable amount of time is spent on the new Muppet sequel Most Wanted. He discusses: How winning the […]

If you want a visual wrap-up, ComingSoon.net has a slideshow of over 100 images from the recent D23 Expo. It includes peeks at Star Wars Orange Harvest, Marvel’s Big Hero 6, Avatar theme park, the Avengers Academy and more.

Deadline takes a look at the Emmy nominated TV series’ up for Best Visual Effects. Instead of focusing solely on the shows themselves, the piece talks about what goes into putting effects on screen in the more time-limited fashion required with TV schedules.

Disney’s Planes opens today in 3,702 theatres according to Box Office Mojo. The film isn’t winning over the critics, earning just 25% on the Tomatometer. Their consensus is that Planes “has enough bright colors, goofy voices, and slick animation to distract some young viewers for 92 minutes — and probably sell plenty of toys in […]

Disney’s D23 Expo begins today and the studio is expected to unlock the vault on a lot of upcoming projects. ComingSoon.net has a first look at some of Disney’s teases for Big Hero 6. The Rotoscopers have a clip from Frozen. Entertainment Weekly has a peek at The Good Dinosaur. And you can keep up […]

Disney’s Planes is getting ready to take off this week. (Be prepared to hear that pun everywhere for the next few days!) The Associated Press talks with comedian and the film’s star Dane Cook. Then Collider interviews director Klay Hall and producer Traci Balthazor-Flynn about switching the film from a direct-to-video to a theatrical release, […]

Reuters takes a look at the recent flurry of dealmaking being done by DreamWorks Animation. “In the last year, Dreamworks has bought a YouTube network aimed at teenagers and picked up a company that controls such iconic characters as Lassie and Casper the Friendly Ghost. It acquired the rights to the Troll toy franchise and […]

If you’re in the mood to settle in with a book, MiceChat has you covered for the rest of the year. They’ve compiled a list of books about Disney being released over the next several months. Titles include Disney Legend Marty Sklar’s Dream It! Do It!: My Half-Century Creating Disney’s Magic Kingdoms, Tinker Bell: An […]

Paramount Animation is trying to woo Blue Sky co-founder and Oscar winner Chris Wedge to direct a new animated project titled Monster Trucks for a planned opening on May 29, 2015, according to Deadline. The studio also announced that big screen sequel SpongeBob SquarePants 2 will open February 15, 2015.

DreamWorks Animation Television has hired 26 year Nickelodeon veteran Marjorie Cohn to run the division, according to Variety. She takes the helms of a group planning a big increase in output due to deals with Netflix and their purchase of Classic Media.