The {{link http://www.nzherald.co.nz/entertainment/entertainmentstorydisplay.cfm?storyID=3575188&thesection=entertainment&thesubsection=film&thesecondsubsection=general New Zealand Herald}} has a brief report on the first day of shooting on Disney/Walden’s The Chronicles Of Narnia: The Lion, The Witch And The Wardrobe, which began its six months in front of the camera yesterday.

DVD Toons reports that Warner Home Video have {{link http://www.dvdtoons.com/news/611 finally announced}} the long-delayed Special Edition DVD of Brad Bird’s feature directorial debut, The Iron Giant. The 1999 film, originally announced for the SE treatment in mid-2003, has had to wait until now for Bird’s Pixar outing The Incredibles to be completed so that Warners […]

Though it’s been mentioned on a couple of other sites, we’ve only just jumped on the news that Beavis And Butt-Head and King Of The Hill creator Mike Judge has been {{link http://www.theonionavclub.com/feature/index.php?issue=4025 interviewed by The Onion’s AV Club}}, where he speaks about his animated projects and ventures into live-action with Office Space and the […]

Toon Zone reports that {{link http://forums.toonzone.net/showthread.php?t=114727 Disney in Concert: A Magical Night Of Music And Film}}, performed against large screen featuring film animation illustrating favorite fairytales, will play its European debut in the UK’s Roundhay Park in Leeds on August 14 and 15.

‘Muppet2004’ posts in the {{link http://animation.skyblueproductions.net/showthread.php?s=&threadid=492 AN Forum}} that the UK’s {{link http://www.skwigly.co.uk/ Skwigly Magazine}} is looking for online article submissions.

‘WolfTooth’, ‘Athena’ and ‘Anvil’ in the {{link http://animation.skyblueproductions.net/showthread.php?s=&postid=3644#post3644 Animated News Forums}} all point to various teasers and trailers available online for Miyazaki’s latest, Howl’s Moving Caslte.

Over at DVD Toons, Rand Cyrenne is happy to meet up with old friend {{link http://www.dvdtoons.com/reviews/313 Inspector Gadget}}, but is less impressed with the way he has aged on disc, while Rodney Figueiredo is left with a better impression of Marvel’s 1990s animated spin on {{link http://www.dvdtoons.com/reviews/314 Spider-Man Vs. Doc Ock}}. Gadget is out in […]

Robin Joseph, a student of animation currently going on to make his final year film, has let us know about his new site, {{link http://www.patchoforange.com/ Patch Of Orange}}. Check out his site for examples from Robin’s portfolio, concept art, links and caricatures, including Nightmare Before Christmas creator Tim Burton (right)!

Stop-motion animator Marc Spess has “finally got around to putting up a site” for his short film {{link http://www.zombie-pirates.com/ Zombie Pirates}}, started two years ago with a friend. Images, storyboards, an animated test video and news updates are available on the site, which the duo hope to use to raise enough funding to make their […]

Okay, here we go: {{link http://www.showbizdata.com/contacts/picknews.cfm/35921/JULIE_ANDREWS_SAYS_POPPINS_DVD_IS_SUPERCALIFRAGILISTIC Showbiz Data}} is the first to announce that the 2-disc Special Editon of Mary Poppins is going to be “Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious”. Speaking briefly to star Julie Andrews, she says that she was “staggered” watching the film again while recording an audio commentary. “It’s not at all creaky; it’s not at […]

Weighing in with their review of Disney’s {{link http://www.dvdtoons.com/reviews/312 Teacher’s Pet}}, DVD Toons agrees that it is better than than its box-office bomb nature suggests and deserves a second breath of life: “It’s refreshing to see good old-fashioned cartooning again, without the obvious CG distractions – everything here is refreshingly ‘lo-tech’. The story’s scope certainly […]

Toon Zone has a couple of interesting links up today, including news on {{link http://forums.toonzone.net/showthread.php?t=114570 Singapore’s upcoming Animation Nation}} festival for independent animation, and the {{link http://forums.toonzone.net/showthread.php?t=114574 announcement}} by Dark Horse Entertainment and Image Entertainment that will see the two companies join up to produce and distribute theatrical features, direct-to-video titles, animated content and soundtracks […]

{{link http://mag.awn.com/index.php?ltype=pageone&article_no=2135 Animation World Network}} has a report on the recent Licensing Show, with a look at the new TV properties, upcoming animated features and direct-to-DVD titles. Also on the site, reviews of three new animation-related {{link http://mag.awn.com/index.php?ltype=pageone&article_no=2137 books}}: Bill Plympton’s Sloppy Seconds, Gary Baseman’s Dumb Luck and Danny Fingeroth’s Superman on the Couch. Finally, […]

Following Fox’s release of Ralph Bakshi’s Wizards recently, it seems the director’s other fantasy epic, Fire And Ice, is also up for a DVD revival: independent company Blue Underground are listing the 1983 animated feature on their {{link http://www.blue-underground.com/future_releases.php Future Releases}} webpage. No details on specs, though BU are well aware of the collectors’ nature […]

Jerry Beck, on his {{link http://www.cartoonbrew.com/ Cartoon Brew}} website, links to the list of animated cartoon shorts to be included in the upcoming Looney Tunes Golden Collection: Volume Two set, and says “wait’ll you see the list of bonus materials”! Also on the site, Jerry is promoting {{link http://www.asifa-hollywood.org./current.html#2D ASIFA-Hollywood’s 2D Expo}}, to be held […]

{{link http://www.joblo.com/index.php?id=4568 JoBlo.com}} reports that South Park‘s Trey Parker and Matt Stone are “hard at work on an R-rated action-animated spoof entitled Team America“. The only info on the film so far is the simple premise: “Marionette superheroes fight to end terrorism and put tired celebrities out of their misery”. Marc Shaiman, the duo’s musical […]

The {{link http://forum.bcdb.com/gforum.cgi?post=28466 Big Cartoon DataBase}} reports that, in its fifth week, Shrek 2 has overtaken Mel Gibson’s The Passion Of The Christ to become this year’s biggest film, also beating The Lord Of The Rings: The Return Of The King for sixth place on the domestic {{link http://www.boxofficemojo.com/alltime/domestic.htm top ten list}}. And with almost […]

Jerry and Amid’s {{link http://www.cartoonbrew.com/ Cartoon Brew}} links to another winner today: a Flash-animated short from director/animator Bruno Bozzetto. Be sure to watch until the very end of this Mr Otto cartoon, {{link http://home.datacomm.ch/marco.fernando/fla/bozzetto/olympics.swf Olympics}}, for some classic animation timing!

{{link http://mm.intizen.com/media/index.asp?uid=mu007 My Media’s Anima}} site has some hi-res shots of the cast of Blue Sky’s Robots, out early 2005.

Kelsey Shannon, a designer on Jimmy Neutron and GI Joe talks to {{link http://forums.toonzone.net/showthread.php?t=114015 Toon Zone}} about his return to the comic book business with Batman Adventures.

{{link http://www.skycaptain.com/ Sky Captain And The World Of Tomorrow}} is a souped up, highly stylized sci-fi adventure that places live actors in an animated environment. The creation of first-time director Kerry Conran (who spent eight years holed up in his bedroom coming up with the software and plan to make the film a reality), The […]

Ain’t It Cool News is back with a number of animated-related updates. Chief among them is {{link http://www.aintitcool.com/pixarloveseisner.jpg this pic}}, which takes a shot at the Pixar/Eisner relationship. Also new on the site: {{link http://www.aintitcool.com/display.cgi?id=17788 four new}} spolier-filled {{link http://www.aintitcool.com/display.cgi?id=17795 Spidey reviews}}, an audio clip featuring {{link http://www.aintitcool.com/display.cgi?id=17796 Ray Harryhausen}}, and new looks at the […]

Raven Tales, the first all Native American computer animated short film that we {{link http://www.animatedviews.com/wp-content/uploads/archives/00001550.html previously reported}} on, is about to have its production documented in a new book. Read Raven Tales Productions’ press release here:

“If we were to start over again, how would we want to learn?” So asks Pixar’s Bobby Beck, who with Carlos Baena and ILM’s Shawn Kelly, has founded {{link http://www.AnimationMentor.com Animation Mentor.com}}, an online animation school “designed by animators for animators”. Accessible by anyone in the world, AM’s launch is scheduled for the fall 2004, […]

NBC is previewing its primetime shows for this fall, and in among the group is a look at DreamWorks’ {{link http://www.nbc.com/nbc/Primetime_Preview_04_05/new_shows.shtml Father Of The Pride}}, featuring a behind-the-scenes clip on the show!

Donovan Cook, director of this August’s DVD premiere Mickey, Donald And Goofy: The Three Musketeers, has written to us with some good news for “hardcore Mickey” and “old-school Disney animation” fans. It seems Mickey’s new movie is getting a handful of preview and festival screenings, including the {{link http://www.kidflixflorida.com Florida International Children’s Film Festival}} (Tampa […]

The {{link http://www.disneydatabase.com/forums/viewtopic.php?t=72 Disney Database}} has a look at what images could appear on the limited edition lithograph available to pre-order customers of The Lion King II: Simba’s Pride online at the {{link http://disney.store.go.com/DSSectionPage.process?Merchant_Id=2&Section_Id=13532&Product_Id=160518&CLK=DS_11776_HPL3_TXT Disney Store}}.

After some lacklustre American teasers (and an admittedly exciting exclusive web trailer) for Fox’s upcoming live-action/CGI thriller I, Robot, a Japanese trailer has debuted online which has really got fans talking. Showing more of the effects shots and superb character animation of the robots themselves, check out the trailer by downloading it from the {{link […]

‘Monkeyboy12’ in the {{link http://animation.skyblueproductions.net/showthread.php?s=&postid=3375#post3375 AN Forum}} links to an intriguing new idea in Game Boy Advance technology. {{link http://www.gba-video.com/index.jsp GBA-Video}} will bring around 45 minutes of content to the console per title, with animated shows ranging from Pokemon, Spongebob Squarepants and Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles to Fairly Odd Parents, Jimmy Neutron and compilation Cartoon […]