During the last few weeks the major studios firmed up the dates for their 2008 releases. Here’s a look at how the year in animation is shaping up so far: • January 11 – The Pirates Who Don’t Do Anything – A VeggieTales Movie (Universal) • March 14 – Dr. Seuss’ Horton Hears a Who! […]

As with everything in Rumored Rumblings, take the following with a grain of salt. Several different web sites around the net are buzzing that Pixar’s slightly mysterious 2009 release, Up, may be a re-telling of Miguel de Cervantes’ classic 17th century story Don Quixote. Variety wrote in the summer of 2007 that Up was “about […]

BroadwayWorld.com reports that Disney Theatrical Productions’ three shows currently running on Broadway all set box office records for the week ending December 30, 2007. The Lion King, a six time Tony award winner now in its tenth year, set a new record at the Minskoff Theatre with $1,571,937. Mary Poppins set a record at the […]

The Digital Bits reports that Universal Studios Home Video will be releasing The Woody Woodpecker and Friends Classic Cartoon Collection: Volume 2 DVD on April 15th for $39.98. According to The Bits, the 3-disc set will include some 75 remastered shorts — though the actual titles are unknown at this time. For now, you can […]

After its first preview on Broadway recently, composer Alan Menken talked to with Rotten Tomatoes about the difficulties of bringing Disney’s classic film The Little Mermaid to the theatre. “I really hadn’t thought about Mermaid for the stage, for the challenge of being under the sea. As everyone knows, that was one of the difficulties. […]

Walt Disney’s Academy Award winning 1933 short Three Little Pigs has been added to the National Film Registry according to the head of the Library of Congress, James Billington. Each year the Librarian of Congress, advised by the National Film Preservation Board, selects up to 25 films that are culturally, historically or aesthetically significant to […]

The American Film Institute has announced the official selections for their annual AFI Awards. This year, Disney/Pixar’s Ratatouille was named one of the top films of the year. Unlike other award giving organizations the AFI awards are judged based on the “creative ensembles as a whole – those both in front of and behind the […]

The nominees for the 65th Annual Golden Globes have been announced. Here are this years’ animated entries. Best Animated Film: Bee Movie, Ratatouille, The Simpsons Movie Best Foreign Language Film: Persepolis Best Actress (Musical or Comedy): Amy Adams, Enchanted Best Original Song: That’s How You Know from Enchanted, Alan Menken

Variety reports that awards season has officially commenced this week with the National Board of Review naming the films winning its top prizes. Disney/Pixar’s Ratatouille takes home the award for Best Animated Film, while Persepolis wins the Bvlgari Award for NBR Freedom of Expression, which “champions the voices of maverick filmmakers”.

The nominees for the 35th Annual Annie Awards were announced today. In the feature categories, Disney/Pixar’s Ratatouille leads the field this year with 13 nominations including Best Animated Feature as well as individual nominations for directing, writing, character animation, animated effects (two nominations), production design, storyboarding, character design, character animation, music, and voice acting (three […]

Twelve films have been submitted for consideration for the Best Animated Film category of the 80th Academy Awards: Alvin and the Chipmunks, Aqua Teen Hunger Force Colon Movie Film for Theaters, Bee Movie, Beowulf, Meet the Robinsons, Persepolis, Ratatouille, Shrek the Third, The Simpsons Movie, Surf’s Up, Tekkonkinkreet, and TMNT Three films (Alvin and the […]

DreamWorks’ Bee Movie fell a bit short of the #1 spot at the box office this weekend but it did about as well as expected otherwise bringing in $39.1 million, according to Box Office Mojo. Disney’s 3-D version of The Nightmare Before Christmas brought in an additional $1.5 million over the weekend to bring its […]

Video Business reports that Disney/Pixar’s Ratatouille will be released on DVD and Blu-ray disc on November 6th, 2007. The film will join the previously announced Blu-ray release of Cars on the same day.

Blu-ray.com reports that the Pixar Short Films Collection will be made available on Blu-ray on November 6th for the first time in high definition. The disc will include all 13 Pixar short films, both theatrical and those that premiered on DVD.

Fox’s The Simpsons Movie opens today in 3,922 theatres according to Box Office Mojo. The film is winning over the critics with a very fresh rating of 89% on the Rotten Tomatoes Tomatometer. Time Magazine says, “It was worth waiting for”, for while the Washington Post says, “It’s really one of the best movies of […]

Ratatouille story supervisor Mark Andrews discusses the research that went into making the animated film with Leo N. Holzer at TheReporter.com. A trip to Paris was a must. “With Google, we could look at shots of Paris until our eyes bleed, but you don’t get a sense of the true light there. You don’t get […]

Cable channel Boomerang, Cartoon Network’s sister network, announced a special Independence Day marathon where they will air every episode of the first prime time animated series, The Flintstones, in chronological order. Kicking things off at 6am on Wednesday, July 4, will be the original pilot, entitled The Flagstones. The series finale will air Saturday, July […]

Disney/Pixar’s Ratatouille opens today in 3,940 theaters according to Box Office Mojo. The film is wowing the critics, garnering an impressive 94% on the Rotten Tomatoes Tomatometer, and a perfect 100% with the Cream of the Crop critics. The film is being gushed over for its look (Chicago Tribune: “you have never seen a computer-animated […]

Disney Consumer Products has revealed that not only will the 1959 Disney classic Sleeping Beauty receive the Platinum Edition DVD treatment in October 2008, they plan to release the film in high definition on Blu-ray disc next year as well. Sleeping Beauty was previously released as a 2-disc special edition in 2003. The only other […]

The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences has approved several new rule changes to take effect starting with the 80th Annual Academy Awards. Among them is a change in the definition of an animated feature film. The revision appears to have been made to avoid any possible controversy with motion capture technology now being […]

Charles Nelson Reilly, best known for his appearances on game shows such as Match Game and Hollywood Squares, died Friday due to complications from pneumonia, the L.A.Times reports. The Tony award winning actor did voice work for many animated projects during the last two decades of his life. He appeared in the films All Dogs […]

Paramount/DreamWorks’ Shrek the Third opens today in 4,122 theatres according to Box Office Mojo. The critics aren’t nearly as kind to the this outing of the franchise, with the Rotten Tomatoes Tomatometer showing “Rotten” with 43%. That shouldn’t slow down it’s haul; Box Office Report predicts a $101 million weekend.

Warner Bros.’ TMNT opens today in 3,110 theatres according to Box Office Mojo. The critics aren’t shelling out much praise for the film – currently at 25% on the Rotten Tomatoes Tomatometer. Entertainment Weekly says the film “is missing the goofy excitement of the old TMNT”, while The Hollywood Reporter believes “the movie seems driven […]