News Archive for Ben Simon

Cartoon Network, Adult Swim charity auction

The Gamm Theatre, a nonprofit theater company in Pawtucket, Rhode Island, is auctioning off two animation-related packages to raise funds for its artistic and educational work. Products based on programs from Cartoon Network and Adult Swim are open for auction until April 14.

Burton profiled

Trevor Hogg, of the UK’s Flickering Myth website, has just posted his final chapter of a comprehensive four-part profile on animator/director Tim Burton. The first part, with links to the continuation of the series, begins right here.

Your chance to see Last Chance

Animator Sami Nikki’s recently completed short, Last Chance, is now viewable online. In addition the Project Last Chance blog documents some of the creative process that has gone into creating the short’s unique painterly animation.

Tron3 and 4?

The Hollywood Reporter has revealed that Lost writers/exec producers Edward Kitsis and Adam Horowitz, who worked on Disney’s highly anticipated Tron: Legacy, have been asked to begin writing a sequel to the studio’s reinvented franchise. Although Legacy is itself a continuation of the original 1982 Tron, the project has been given the confusing working title […]

Paprikaas awarded Nickelodeon’s Kung Fu Panda series

Technicolor has issued an press release announcing that its Paprikaas Animation Studio, based in Bangalore, India, has been named as the facilities house that will handle the computer generated imagery for Nickelodeon’s Kung Fu Panda television series. Paprikaas previously built a relationship with the channel with its Penguins Of Madagascar show, based on another of […]

Laugh Wars”? Lucas adds comedy…

Robot Chicken creators Seth Green and Matthew Senreich are heading to the Skywalker Ranch: after their parodies of George Lucas’ Star Wars films, the duo have been tapped to mastermind more of the same, but this time get to play in Lucas’ backyard, with a commission to develop a new animated Star Wars series that […]

Titans Triumphs, But 3D Conversions Still Clash

Clash Of The Titans’ $61.4m opening weekend seemed to validate Warner Brothers’ decision to covert the film to the 3D process after the production had wrapped, says The Hollywood Reporter. But the quality of the conversion has been a sore point in reviews for the film and, in another article, THR reports that others in […]

Universal and Illumination ready to Hop

With Despicable Me still to come, Universal has announced that they are ready to develop their next project with animation studio Illumination. I Hop will be an live-action/CG hybrid with James Marsden and The Big Bang Theory‘s Kaley Cuoco set to star opposite the animated son of the Easter Bunny. Russell Brand will voice the […]

Godzilla stomps back onto the big screen

A press release announcing the legendary Japanese creature feature star is to return to theaters in a new major monster picture can be read here:

Waking Sleeping Beauty awakens…

Don Hahn’s refreshingly honest documentary on the “Disney Renaissance” of the 1990s, from its explosion to its explosive downfall, opens today on selected screens in New York, Los Angeles, San Francsico and Chicago. A poster and full press release, in which Hahn describes his film in depth, follows:

Toy Story Lego mural celebrates Blu-ray releases!

Pixar Story Supervisor Jason Katz and Lego Master Builder Erik Varszegi joined the children of the Boys & Girls Club of America to assemble a one-of-a-kind Lego mural in Hollywood on Tuesday, March 23, to promote the releases of Toy Story and Toy Story 2 Special Edition Blu-ray Discs yesterday. More details and photos can […]

The Disney Channel…in Russian

The Hollywood Reporter this morning reports that the Walt Disney Company is to launch a local, Russian-language version of The Disney Channel, and is looking to additionally produce two to three theatrical features for the market as well. Disney’s recent expansion into localized content has seen big rewards for the company with such hits as […]

Disney/Zemeckis’ ImageMovers split

After the high cost and unexpectedly low returns on Disney’s Robert Zemeckis-directed A Christmas Carol, the studio has announced the closing of the ImageMovers Digital facility in Marin County. Currently at work on the Simon Welles directed Mars Needs Moms, Disney also speculates that it may remain a distributor for IMD’s movies, which include the […]

Lionel Jeffries RIP

Caractacus Potts’ father has gone off for his last cup of tea with the maharajah: British actor and director Lionel Jeffries has died aged 83. Most remembered on screen for portraying Dick Van Dyke’s dad in Chitty Chitty Bang Bang, Jeffries was a fine actor, perhaps more famous for his comic roles (Two Way Stretch, […]

¡Andale! ¡Andale! ¡Arriba! ¡Arriba! Speedy Gonzales races to the big screen

New Line has announced, via The Hollywood Reporter, that George Lopez is set to voice a contemporary Speedy Gonzales in a new CG/live-action hybrid written by the Garfield duo of Alec Sokolow and Joel Cohen. Story details, which point to a plot that sees “Speedy befriending a gun-shy race-car driver”, and the producers’ take on […]

Deadwood‘s McShane set for Blackbeard

From western to pirate villain: British actor Ian McShane, who has also provided voices for Shrek The Third, Kung Fu Panda and Coraline, will step into Edward Teach’s shoes to play the legendary scalawag of the seven seas, better known as Blackbeard, in the fourth Pirates Of The Caribbean film, On Stranger Tides, reports The […]

Pretty as a picture: Chuck Jones retrospective

The Chuck Jones Center for Creativity has announced that Chuck Amuck: A Legacy Of Laughter, a retrospective exhibition of art and artifacts, will open with a free-to-the-public opening night reception on Friday, February 26, 2010 at Tempe Center for the Arts in Arizona, and remain on display through June 18th. Full details follow:

War Of The Animated Worlds

The Asia-Pacific edition of Animation Express reports on the release of War Of The Worlds: Goliath, a new 2D/3D animated feature set for DVD and limited theatrical engagements. Produced in the “steampunk” style that meshes Japanese anime with a Western visual approach, the film has been executive produced by Heavy Metal magazine publisher Kevin Eastman […]

1978 Rings deluxe cover art

Timed to the release of Peter Jackson’s The Lord Of The Rings trilogy coming to Blu-ray on April 6, Warner Bros. is also upgrading director Ralph Bakshi’s 1978 animated feature edition of the first half of the story as a BD/DVD combo pack for $29.99. Newly released cover art for the set, which will include […]

Pigeon: Impossible hits YouTube

In production for over four years, Lucas Martell’s six-minute animated short Pigeon: Impossible has finally been posted to YouTube in its high definition entirety. Since May 2008, Martell has been posting monthly podcasts on the making of his film – about a “rookie secret agent faced with a problem seldom covered in basic training: what […]

Harryhausen returns to Clash again

As a tie-in to the upcoming mega-budget Warner Bros. remake of Ray Harryhausen’s Clash Of The Titans coming to theaters on March 26, a motion comic-animated sequel story to the original film is about to be unleashed by Eagle One Media. A press release and artwork for Wrath Of The Titans, which was created from […]

Sleeping Beauty nods off back to the vault

In addition to the previously announced Disney titles retiring from their current DVD pressings, the Studio has added The Jungle Book (DVD) and Sleeping Beauty (DVD and Blu-ray) Platinum Editions to the list of films that will be discontinued from this January 30. The titles will remain on shelves until stock runs out.

Spidey Vs…?

The Hollywood Reporter announces that the fourth Spider-Man movie under Sam Raimi has hit another stumbling block after the director and the producing studio Sony couldn’t agree on which villains Spidey would face. Raimi wants the Vulture while Sony is after the Black Cat, a situation the two partners have faced before when Sony forced […]

Avatar, Up among PGA nominations

The Producers Guild of America have announced their nominations for their Darryl F. Zanuck Producer of the Year Award in Theatrical Motion Pictures, reports The Hollywood Reporter. Avatar alphabetically fronts the list, which also names District 9, An Education, The Hurt Locker, Inglourious B******s, Invictus, Precious, Star Trek, Up and Up In The Air. Up […]

Not so magic new year for Disney family

It was an unfortunate start to 2010 for Walt Disney’s grandson Patrick Disney Miller, son of Walt’s daughter Diane Disney Miller and the Disney Company’s former CEO Ron Miller, when the 42 year old pleaded not guilty to weapons charges. He was arrested after police found multiple illegal guns and other items at his Los […]

Disney/Marvel brings Stan Lee into the fold

As well as announcing the closing of the deal to purchase Marvel Entertainment, The Walt Disney Company has also “expanded its ties” with Stan Lee’s POW! Entertainment, with which it already has a first-look deal. Lee was the creator of many characters in the Marvel stable, and this new agreement will bring him closer to […]

Animated Rings gets Blu upgrade

Timed to the release of Peter Jackson’s The Lord Of The Rings trilogy coming to Blu-ray on April 6, distributors Warner Bros. will also upgrade director Ralph Bakshi’s 1978 animated feature edition of the first half of the story to the high definition format as a BD/DVD combo pack for $29.99. The film, notorious in […]

12 Days of Cartoon Network’s Holiday Programming

As the run-up to Christmas continues, Cartoon Network has mined its vast animation library to present a large number of classic and modern Christmas specials that appeal to viewers of all ages. Included among the offerings are several programs new to Cartoon Network this year: Gotta Catch Santa Claus, The Marvelous Mis-adventures of Flapjack: Low […]

The Lord Of The Blu-Rings

The original theatrical editions of Peter Jackson’s epic Lord Of The Rings trilogy will make their anticipated debut on Blu-ray next April 6, from Warner Home Video. The $99.98 nine-disc set will feature more than seven hours of supplements drawn from previous DVD versions of the three films, including featurettes from the LordOfTheRings.net website, plus […]

Actor Cuyle Carvin becomes a cartoon

Fred M. Grandinetti, author of Popeye: An Illustrated Cultural History and Jack Mercer: The Voice of Popeye and 17-year host of the New England cable TV show Drawing With Fred, an award-winning throwback to the old ‘Uncle’ hosted shows of the 50s and 60s featuring many classic cartoons, has announced the cartoon caricatured style Cuyle […]