Cloudy With A Chance Of Meatballs, Coraline, Fantastic Mr. Fox, The Princess And The Frog, and Up are the nominees for Best Animated Feature at the upcoming Golden Globe Awards. Avatar picked up nods for Best Picture, Director, Score, and Song. And Michael Giacchino got a nomination for scoring Up. The HFPA has more.

Disney’s long awaited return to hand drawn animation,The Princess and the Frog, opens today in 3,432 theatres according to Box Office Mojo. The film is getting good reviews from the critics, scoring a solid 83% at Rotten Tomatoes. The critical consensus is that “The warmth of traditional Disney animation makes this occasionally lightweight fairy-tale update […]

If you’re not a Twitter user you’re missing out on a really cool tool to connect with friends and strangers around the world. And some of those strangers are actually celebrities who talk about what they’re up to. Case in point — today Toy Story 3 director Lee Unkrich (@leeunkrich) is tweeting and posting updates, […]

Variety reports that actor Jack Black, partner Ben Cooley, and writer Jason Micallef have successfully pitched an untitled animated film to Illumination Entertainment, who are currently in production on Despicable Me. The story is about cryptozoology.

The Fox TV network, already home to more prime time animated series’ than any other network, is adding two more to the lineup. Variety says Fox won the bidding on the Matthew McConaughey produced Rooster Tales, based on the life of the actor’s real life brother. “”My brother’s life is so unbelievable, we had to […]

ASIFA-Hollywood has announced the nominations for the 37th Annual Annie Awards, which recognize the year’s best achievements in the field of animation. The Best Animated Feature nominees are Cloudy With a Chance of Meatballs, Coraline, Fantastic Mr. Fox, The Princess and the Frog, The Secret of Kells, and Up. Walt Disney Animation Studios’ The Princess […]

A new extended trailer for the next Family Guy Star Wars spoof — Something, Something, Something, Dark Side — premieres today on the iTunes Store and the Apple Trailers website.

Fast Company has an extensive and frank piece with DreamWorks’ Jeffrey Katzenberg who, among many other interesting quotes, says, “Michael Eisner firing me is the best thing that ever happened in my career”.

The directors of The Princess and the Frog, Ron Clements and John Musker, are on the promotional circuit for their new film. You can check out interviews with the two at AWN and the L.A.Times.

With the upcoming The Princess and the Frog giving Disney its first black princess, some say that Walt Disney would be spinning in his grave since he was really a racist — a charge detractors have leveled over the years. The L.A Times takes an in-depth look at the history of the man and finds […]

Planet 51 opened yesterday in 3,035 theatres according to Box Office Mojo. It’s Tomatometer rating at Rotten Tomatoes is an abysmal 16%, though the Cream of the Crop critics give it a slightly better 27% and the RT Community is loving it with an 81% score. Box Office Prophets predicts a 5th place opening with […]

AMPAS has announced the 10 animated short films that will compete for Oscar nominations. Thirty-seven pictures had originally qualified in the category. The shorts shortlist follows:

The Animation Blog reports that Disney bought the cover of Daily Variety last week to promote Up not only for Best Animated Feature, but for Best Picture as well. The L.A. Times says Fantastic Mr. Fox’s impressive showing during it’s qualifying run and it’s critical success may make it a strong contender for an animated […]

With awards season getting ready to kick off, it might be fun to discuss some of the best animation of all time. Entertainment Weekly recently put out their take, and if you’ve ever complained that these kinds of lists are too American or Disney-centric you might want to check this one out. On the other […]

The Oscars aren’t the only awards show expanding. The Hollywood Foreign Press Association has announced a new rule for the Golden Globe Awards that would allow five nominations in the Best Animated Feature category when there are at least 12 eligible films — which is the case this year. The past three years have had […]

Disney is pulling out all the stops to make sure The Princess and the Frog is a success. The News and Observer looks at the big reasons why and focuses in on some of Tiana’s theme park appearances. Yahoo Finance looks at the major merchandising push and what’s available. And (as we reported previously) Disney […]

Just a reminder (since it is over a week until Thanksgiving and you might not be expecting Christmas specials already!) that DreamWorks’ Merry Madagascar airs tonight at 8pm ET on NBC. The Washington Post has a preview. The verdict? While the reviewer would prefer to “move-it, move-it” to December, “there are laughs to be had”.

Disney’s The Princess and the Frog got a celebrity-filled red carpet premiere in Burbank Sunday, according to Variety. IESB.net has a gallery of photos from the event.

The winners of Nickelodeon’s Animation Festival have been announced. Select entries will be showcased on Nicktoons from November 16 through November 20, and will also be featured on their website. Check out Toon Zone for the full list of winners.

The BBC reports that the Slesinger family is taking Disney back to court again over Winnie-the-Pooh. In a case just a few moths ago the judge ruled the Slesinger’s can not claim claim infringement since they transferred all of their rights to Pooh to Disney (who must still pay royalties). The family now says they […]

Victoria Beckham may be joining the cast of DreamWorks’ Madagascar 3, according to Aceshowbiz. The film hits theatres on May 25, 2012.

ComingSoon.net has the trailer for the upcoming animated film Dante’s Inferno. To be released on DVD and Blu-ray in February 2010, the film is an offshoot of the video game of the same name, also coming early next year.

InteractiveTV Today reports that Sony will let owners of their Bravia brand HDTVs and BD players with networking capability rent their studios’ Cloudy With a Chance of Meatballs a month before its January DVD release date. The catch (besides having to own certain Sony TVs)? The price — $24.95. Hiro Kawano, SVP of Sony Electronics’ […]

AMPAS announced today that 20 films have been submitted for consideration in the Animated Feature Film category for the 82nd Academy Awards, though 7 still await their qualifying runs. If at least 16 animated films qualify, there could be up to 5 nominees up for the big prize — a level that has only been […]

US distributor GKIDS has announced they will be bringing Irish director Tomm Moore’s animated film The Secret of Kells to U.S. audiences. Opening March 12, 2010, the film will first get an Oscar qualifying run in LA starting December 4. “Magic, fantasy, and Celtic mythology come together” in the story of young boy who meets […]

ASIFA-Hollywood has announced the 2009 recipients of the Winsor McCay Award, “one of the highest honors given to an individual in the animation industry in recognition for career contributions to the art of animation.” Those being honored with the prize at the 37th Annual Annie Awards are: Tim Burton, Bruce Timm, and Jeffrey Katzenberg. ASIFA-Hollywood […]

Awards season is creeping up on us, and ABC News has the story on how animated films might factor into the Oscars. Up obviously could get Best Picture and Best Animated Film nominations, but could that hurt the film’s chances at getting either? Also discussed are the chances of the Best Animated Film category getting […]

FirstShowing.net has the latest on Disney’s social/viral marketing campaign for Tim Burton’s Alice in Wonderland. The Mad Hatter has posted a new poster on his Facebook page. He’s offered to post more when he reaches 7,500 people giving the image a “Like”. He’s up almost 6,000 now so check back later to see what else […]

Newsarama has a two-part interview with Pete Docter and Bill Peterson, who (not so coincidentally!) are the men behind today’s DVD and BD release of Up. The piece goes into a lot of details about the inspiration, motivation, and construction of the film. “The first pitch to John Lasseter made him cry…with no visuals! Did […]