As Walt Disney was fond of saying, “It all started with a Mouse”. Well that start came exactly 80 years ago today, in one small theater in New York, when Mickey Mouse burst onto the screen in Disney’s first cartoon with synchronized sound, Steamboat Willie. Although Mickey had debuted in May of 1928, his first […]

Over at Animated Views, we’ve just completed our celebration of Sleeping Beauty on DVD and Blu-ray by posting our extensive review of the new Platinum release, which joins several other articles on the film: • Mary Costa speaks about her role as Princess Aurora in an interview exclusive • Marc Davis’ Maleficent collaborator Burny Mattinson […]

The Hollywood Reporter today confirms that Anne Hathaway has accepted the role of the White Queen, a benevolent monarch who is deposed and banished by her sister and needs Alice to slay a creature known as the Bandersnatch, in Tim Burton’s Alice In Wonderland. Burton’s partner and frequent leading lady Helena Bonham Carter also has […]

Actor Paul Newman who, among many other roles including the iconic Butch Cassidy And The Sundance Kid, Cool Hand Luke, Fast Eddie Felson in The Hustler and his Oscar-winning sequel The Color Of Money, was the voice of Doc Hudson in Disney/Pixar’s Cars, has died from cancer at his home in Westport, Connecticut. He was […]

According to The Hollywood Reporter, the Monster House team of executive producer Robert Zemeckis and director Gil Kenan will collaborate again to bring Artemis Fowl author Eoin Colfer’s children’s adventure book Airman to the screen, using the same performance-capture technology as before. The plot concerns one Conor Broekhart, a “young man born in a hot […]

After joining John Denver for a family sing-song, foiling Ebenezer Scrooge’s humbugging of the festive season, and saving their Muppet Theater, the Muppets are getting set to hop back onto NBC again for the holidays with Letters To Santa: A Muppets Christmas. Kermit, Fozzie, Gonzo, Miss Piggy and the rest of the Muppet gang will […]

Well…not exactly, but in his first two months into his new television deal at Sony, director Barry Sonnenfeld (the Addams Family and Men In Black movies, and a producer on Enchanted) has projects set up at three broadcast networks, including The Nelsons for ABC. The premise may sound familiar to fans of Brad Bird’s The […]

Serbian Director Aleksa Gajic has announced that work on Technotise – Edith and I has been completed after its three year production, with a premiere planned for November 2008. The CGI film, shaded to approximate the look of traditional animation, is the first such feature film to be made in Serbia. Artwork, sound bites including […]

The Guardian online has run an obituary tribute to Pauline Baynes, the “witty and inventive children’s book illustrator” who drew for JRR Tolkien and in all seven of CS Lewis’ Chronicles Of Narnia books, who died on August 1 aged 85.

Over at Animated Views, Kung Fu Panda‘s directors John Stevenson and Mark Osborne speak to Jeremie Noyer about the making of their $60 million grossing movie! Also newly posted is Animated Views’ Toon Review of the film.

Elstree Screen Heritage strikes back again this year with Elstree Film Festival 3, another week-long celebration of the movies made at the historic studio just outside London in the UK. Topping the bill is a double feature matinee specifically geared towards a family audience, featuring screenings of Jim Henson’s 1981 directorial debut The Great Muppet […]

The Hollywood Reporter has revealed that Kim Richards and Ike Eisenmann, the featured child stars of Disney’s original Escape To Witch Mountain and Return From Witch Mountain movies, will cameo, as a waitress and sheriff respectively, in the Studio’s re-imagining of the first adventure, Race To Witch Mountain. Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson takes on the […]

As was inevitably always going to be the case, the last of Walt Disney’s fabled Nine Old Men – the artists he bestowed the legacy of his animation production to as he moved into other areas of entertainment – has passed away in Sequim, Washington. Ollie Johnston began his career at the Disney Studios in […]

Concluding Animated Views’ extensive Enchanted coverage, Jeremie Noyer speaks to the two men who made it all happen: director Kevin Lima and executive producer Chris Chase. The discussion is highlighted with some beautiful, never before seen development artwork chosen especially for us by them both, as they reveal how they finally brought the long on […]

Disney’s romantic part-animated musical comedy adventure Enchanted comes to DVD today, and we’re highlighting the release at Animated Views with a number of special articles, including exclusive interviews and never before seen artwork! • An interview with screenwriter Bill Kelly, Giselle’s Enchanted creator. • An interview with Disney executive Doug Short, who championed the project. […]

Over at Animated Views, we’ve a selection of articles celebrating the arrival of Disney’s One Hundred And One Dalmatians in a new 2-disc Platinum Edition DVD, including several interviews with cast, crew and fans of Walt’s canine classic from our resident interviewer Jeremie Noyer: • Mel Leven’s son Bill Leven remembers his Cruella de Vil […]

The Hollywood Reporter has posted its review for Fox/Blue Sky’s latest outing, the Dr Seuss feature Horton Hears A Who!, calling the CG animated film “a delight, brimming with colorful, elastic characters and bountiful wit. The film captures all the charm of the book from its rhyming text to its themes and fantastical characters. This […]

Announcing their 2011 slate, Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures has revealed a host of sequels and franchise extensions that will power their movie year. As Dark Horizons reports, 2011 will see the return of Benjamin Gates in National Treasure 3 and Jack Sparrow in Pirates Of The Caribbean 4. Rumored but now finally confirmed sequels […]

The Hollywood Reporter has announced that Leonardo DiCaprio is developing a live-action take on the classic manga feature Akira. DiCaprio will produce the film, which will be distributed by Warner Bros.

Over at Animated Views, we have an official announcement and commentary on Disney’s just-revealed plans for an eighth wave of Walt Disney Treasures: Destino; Dr. Syn, Alias The Scarecrow Of Romney Marsh and The Chronological Donald, Volume 4, which should complete the duck’s animated shorts on DVD. The three titles are expected to come to […]

A project that had every animation-themed channel battling over who got bragging rights, it has been announced that Cartoon Network has landed the all-new CG-animated series Star Wars: The Clone Wars from creator George Lucas. A full press-release and new artwork follows:

The British Academy of Film and Television Awards were announced this Sunday evening in London’s West End. In the face of the almost concluded WGA strike, the ceremony proved to draw the glittering celebrities who might not have otherwise gotten a chance at walking down a red carpet had the Oscars not gone ahead later […]

Animated Views welcomes a new kid on the block today, Media Magic’s Jérémie Noyer, who promises to maintain his continuing stream of warm and knowledgeable interviews, kicking off with an exclusive talk with Meet The Robinsons’ director Steve Anderson! Originally undertaken for the promotion of the DVD release of his movie back in October, the […]

Over at The Hollywood Reporter‘s award season coverage, director Brad Bird is one of the six screenwriters sharing their experiences and approach to how they penned their nominated movies. Bird speaks about coming late to the production of Ratatouille, while of the other scribes, John Logan reveals what it was like adapting Stephen Sondheim’s Sweeney […]

The Hollywood Reporter has announced that after settling differences, Peter Jackson and New Line Cinema will co-produce the anticipated prequels to Jackson’s The Lord Of The Rings trilogy, in collaboration with MGM. Jackson had been battling New Line for his share of profits from the first Rings, The Fellowship Of The Ring, while New Line […]

DreamWorks’ animated festive offering, the Shrek special Shrek The Halls is set to play on UK screens this Christmas Eve at 6:35pm on BBC1. The studio’s sequel to the original feature film, Shrek 2 will play on BBC1 on Christmas Day at 4:40pm, while Shrek The Halls is repeated again on BBC3 on Thursday 27 […]

The PBS show History Detectives has an investigation on their hands and is calling for help! The show is trying to identify the character in a mystery cel and any information about where it came from. Although the cel has been sent around a host of animation experts, no one has been able to shed […]

Ratatouille has been munching its way across Europe over the past couple of weeks and today Disney/Pixar’s latest meal arrives in the UK. Xan Brooks in The Guardian has written an enthusiastic review, giving it a full five stars and making it the paper’s Film Of The Week, that adds to the generally positive comments […]

Get ready for the new T2 – in an announcement that will surprise nobody, work has begun on a sequel to one of this summer’s biggest blockbusters. The Hollywood Reporter states that all the primary cast and crew – from director Michael Bay and star Shia LaBeouf to executive producer Steven Spielberg – are in […]

The Hollywood Reporter has announced that Nick Park’s Oscar-winning claymation duo Wallace and Gromit are headed back for more adventures, though this time returning to the small screen where they started out. Entitled Trouble At Mill, it’s anticipated that Park’s new half-hour featurette will be completed next fall for screening on the UK’s BBC1, but […]