Despite a slew of animated titles hitting stores this month, one smaller animated film has found an audience thanks to Redbox kiosks: The Legend of Kung Fu Rabbit. If the title looks suspiciously similar to Kung Fu Panda, so does the film’s trailer and synopsis. The film also borrows actor Michael Clarke Duncan, who joins […]

IGN has the first trailer for Nickelodeon’s Monsters vs. Aliens TV series, a spin-off of DreamWorks Animation’s hit film from 2009. The series is co-produced by New Zealand-based Oktobor Animation, who also provided animation for the DreamWorks/Nickelodeon series The Penguins of Madagascar and Kung Fu Panda: Legends of Awesomeness. Nickelodeon will preview Monsters vs. Aliens […]

Disney Interactive has pushed the launch date of its new video game and toy initiative Disney Infinity to August 18. The project was originally scheduled to debut in June for Nintendo Wii, Wii U, 3DS, PlayStation 3, Xbox 360, PC and mobile. Infinity will feature activities inspired by Monsters University, Pirates of the Caribbean and […]

Clarius Entertainment will distribute Summertime Entertainment’s computer animated musical Legends of Oz: Dorothy’s Return in early 2014, says Variety. Originally titled Dorothy of Oz, the project had been scheduled for later this year. Directed by Daniel St. Pierre and Will Finn, Legends of Oz features Lea Michele as the voice of Dorothy, with songs by […]

Last December, Disney announced the Atlantis: 2-Movie Collection Blu-ray, featuring The Lost Empire as well as its direct-to-video sequel Milo’s Return, would hit stores this week, alongside Who Framed Roger Rabbit, Mulan, The Hunchback of Notre Dame and Brother Bear. But Disney quietly postponed the Atlantis Blu-ray in January, moving it to an unknown date. […]

Gaumont Animation has entered a development and production agreement with DreamWorks Classics and France Télévisions to produce the computer animated series Noddy, says Deadline.com. The series will focus on the title wooden boy who lives in Toyland, as conceived by author Enid Blyton in 1949. DreamWorks acquired the rights to the character Noddy when the […]

On its official blog, Rovio unveils its game plan for the first of 52 episodes of the new Angry Birds Toons animated series. Starting March 16, the initial episode will hit broadcast TV in international territories, including Australia, Brazil, Finland, France, Germany, India, Israel, Korea and Norway. On March 17, the series will be available […]

Disney has hired Joe Ahearne (Danny Boyle’s upcoming Trance) to script The Beast, a live-action 3D adaptation of Beauty & the Beast. But audiences should expect a film far different than the studio’s 1991 animated musical. In the same vein as Tim Burton’s Alice in Wonderland and Oz The Great and Powerful, The Beast will […]

The Los Angeles Times profiles Goro Miyazaki and his latest directorial project, From Up on Poppy Hill. The son of legendary Japanese animator Hayao Miyazaki, Goro “represents the new guard” at Studio Ghibli. In addition to tracing his past, the article also reveals his prediction of what lies ahead for animation. “To be honest I […]

Coming Soon delivers three new ads for Monsters University, each continuing the viral campaign to recruit monsters for the film’s fictional college. But it’s the new Japanese trailer posted by Movie Collection that’s garnering the most recent buzz, as it contains a bit more info than some people would prefer. On Twitter, Pixar animator Catherine […]

At UCLA’s annual entertainment symposium last weekend, Simpsons creator Matt Groening said that a sequel to the 2007 hit The Simpsons Movie will not happen any time soon. “It took us four years [to make] and it killed us,” Groening said during a keynote Q&A with the movie’s director, David Silverman. The movie “stole animators […]

Wreck-It Ralph hits stores today, in four-disc and two-disc Blu-ray/DVD combo packs. But director Rich Moore is already weighing ideas for a sequel, discussing a few of them with Collider. “What would happen if another Fix-It Felix, Jr. game was plugged in? Are there other Ralphs that are more contemporary?” asks Moore. “Is there another […]

Owl City and Yuna’s Shine Your Way for The Croods is now available to purchase at iTunes. The track was produced by Owl City’s Adam Young, film composer Alan Silvestri, and songwriter Glen Ballard, who also penned the Grammy-winning Believe from The Polar Express. Young is no stranger to animation, either: he wrote songs for […]

The Internet Movie Poster Awards showcases a new Spanish-language poster for Blue Sky Studios’ Epic. Distributor Twentieth Century Fox has also uploaded two internet-exclusive commercials to YouTube, each specifically targeting a different gender. Finally, CinemaBlend has a link to a new international trailer. As is the case with many international previews, the trailer might be considered […]

The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences will screen a new digital restoration of Who Framed Roger Rabbit to celebrate the film’s 25th anniversary, on Thursday, April 4, at the Samuel Goldwyn Theater in Beverly Hills. Deadline.com has the details. Who Framed Roger Rabbit will hit stores with a special 25th Anniversary Edition Blu-ray […]

Marvel.com reveals that Iron Man & Hulk: Heroes United will arrive on Blu-ray and DVD this December 3. In the direct-to-video feature, the title heroes must work together to defeat Zzzax, a pack of Wendigos and Abomination. “It’s a universally accessible story – if you know Hulk and Iron Man, then you get to see […]

Before Planes hits theaters on August 9, French site Disney Next has already captured an early look at the logo for Planes 2: Fire and Rescue. Concurrently, Disney has relaunched the teaser trailer for Planes on YouTube, giving the first preview of Dane Cook as protagonist Dusty Crophopper. The almost identical 2011 version of the […]

To help start one’s week, The Hollywood Reporter delivers news of a good deed: The Animation Guild, Local 839 of IATSE, provided 64 pizzas for lunch Saturday for the employees of visual effects house Rhythm & Hues. Last month, Rhythm & Hues – whose artists won an Oscar this year for their work on Life […]

CINE 1 has collected six new international character posters for Monsters University. In addition to stars Mike Wazowski and James P. Sullivan, the posters present students Randall “Randy” Boggs and Scott “Squishy” Squibbles, Dean Hardcrabble and teacher Don Carlton. In other M.U. news, Wazowski is set to appear at EPCOT’s International Flower and Garden Festival, […]

Fox has released a sneak preview of the couch gag from this Sunday’s episode of The Simpsons, in which the show offers its own take on the Harlem Shake viral sensation. The video reveals the Simpson family trudging through a routine day, before their living room explodes into a dance party full of sight gags […]

Liam Neeson has signed on to voice a villainous raccoon in the computer animated comedy The Nut Job, writes The Hollywood Reporter. “His contribution fulfills that dramatic need in our comedy adventure,” said director Peter Lepeniotis. Neeson joins a cast that includes Katherine Heigl, Brendan Fraser, Will Arnett, Stephen Lang and Jeff Dunham. From ToonBox […]

DreamWorks Animation has teamed with Rovio Entertainment, the creators of Angry Birds, to release a mobile game based on the upcoming computer animated film The Croods. The game will debut globally on iOS and Android on March 14. View Rovio’s official press release here:

Miss Piggy will have some serious competition in The Muppets…Again!, says the creative talent behind the film. According to Tough Pigs, director James Bobin reveals in the newest issue of Empire Magazine that the sequel has hired original Muppeteer Louise Gold to revive her character Annie Sue, Miss Piggy’s rival from The Muppet Show. Meanwhile, […]

The cast of Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs 2 joins the ever-growing throng of people doing the Harlem Shake, as a seemingly mundane day at Ms. Crumbymuffin’s Cupcakes suddenly erupts into a dance party. Presented by Fandango, the video comes hot on the heels of the sequel’s first trailer premiering online last Wednesday.

Voice actor Carlos Alazraqui tells the Comedy Film Nerds about voicing El Chupacabra in the Planes trilogy, confirming that Disney is already planning two follow-ups to this summer’s Cars spinoff. The first sequel, Planes 2: Fire and Rescue, was teased last June. Alazraqui also notes that Roger Craig Smith, Grey DeLisle and Rob Paulsen have […]

Rovio’s weekly webseries Angry Birds Toons will launch on March 16, reports CNET. From the popular video game franchise, the colorful characters will work out their ornithological anger management as they take on the green piggies who want to steal their eggs. Watch the trailer for Angry Birds Toons here:

DreamWorks Animation CEO Jeffrey Katzenberg said Tuesday that 350 of the studio’s 2,200 employees will be laid off by the end of the year. “These things are very, very difficult to do,” Katzenberg told The Hollywood Reporter. “I would say it’s the hardest thing I’ve had to do since we started DreamWorks. We’ve never had […]

The Weinstein Company has settled the $50 million lawsuit filed by Escape from Planet Earth producers Brian Inerfeld and Tony Leech nearly two years ago. The distributor came to a settlement with the plaintiffs on February 15, the same day Planet Earth hit theaters nationwide. In March 2011, Inerfeld and Leech sued “out of control” […]