MTV and There.com just launched Virtual Laguna Beach, a new 3D social virtual world based on the hit MTV reality show Laguna Beach. Virtual Laguna Beach enables fans of the show to create online alter egos who can interact with each other in a virtual environment featuring many of the show’s landmarks, from the beach […]

Today, everyone’s a pirate as the world celebrates International “Talk Like a Pirate Day,” and to kick off the rabble rousing, Disney Home Entertainment announces the highly anticipated DVD release of Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man’s Chest. The action-packed worldwide film sensation will make its Disney DVD debut on December 5th. Starring Johnny Depp […]

“Droosan” in our Animated News Forums has posted his account of the Little Mermaid panel discussion held Thursday, September 7, at Disney’s El Capitan Theatre. Amid at Cartoon Brew has created a playlist of the five YouTube videos of the event including the live performance by Alan Menken and Jodi Benson of the song “Part […]

Following is the full press release from Starz Entertainment on their Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe sweepstakes running from now to October 23. The grand prize is a trip for four to the Walt Disney World® Resort near Orlando, FL.

Nominations are currently being accepted for the 34th Annual Annie Awards: Honoring excellence in the field of animation, the deadline for ASIFA-Hollywood to receive entry forms is October 6, 2006. ASIFA-Hollywood must receive materials for nomination judging October 27, 2006.

The call for entries to the Newport Beach Film Festival has recently opened. The organizers have said they intend to have a heavy focus on animation in 2007. The eighth annual Newport Beach Film Festival will run from April 19th through April 29th, 2007.

The TV Squad blog reports on three animated pilots that were up for consideration at the recent New York Television Festival, including End of the Line, Squid Dragon Legend and Strange Transmissions (via Netscape).

A guest reviewer at Harry Knowles’ AICN gives an optimistic sneak preview of his sneak preview of Warner Bros.’ Happy Feet. Maybe mo-capping tap dancing will become all the rage now.

ComingSoon.net announces a CGI Mr. Peabody & Sherman, to be produced by DreamWorks Animation and directed by The Lion King’s Rob Minkoff. “The bespectacled dog Mr. Peabody and his adopted pet boy Sherman were introduced in 1959 in a series of short segments as part of The Rocky and Bullwinkle Show. Together, they had more […]

Following up on our story yesterday on the coming CGI adaptation of Dr. Seuss’ Horton Hears a Who! we call your attention to two full-size stills from the film presented by ComingSoon.net. The imagery looks very true to the classic Seuss style.

NYC’s popular film festival, Animation Block Party, offers a free evening of shorts on September 19, 2006, at Club Sugar at 311 Church Street. All films featured in the end of summer screening were submitted by friends of Animation Block Party on MySpace.com. Happy hour will run from 5-7pm and the screenings will begin around […]

USA Today reports on Blue Sky Studios’ Horton Hears a Who!, giving the release date as March 14, 2008. The all-CGI/no live-action Dr. Seuss adaptation will be voiced by comedy powerhouses Jim Carrey and Steve Carrell, among others.

The Hollywood Reporter fills us in on the details of Universal Pictures’ The Tale of Despereaux crew, announcing Corpse Bride’s Mike Johnson as director, replacing The Triplets Of Belleville’s Sylvain Chomet, plus Justin Long, Dustin Hoffman and Kevin Kline as some of the voice actors. “Despereaux is the tale of three misfits — a banished […]

Clay Kaytis has posted the second part of his interview with longtime Disney animator Burny Mattinson. “In part two, Burny describes his transition from his short lived career as a full-fledged animator to a story artist and then to director. He also tells about the transition the studio made from Walt to the twilight of […]

A blog post at Cinematical.com reveals the movie titles that will appear first when Apple’s iTunes makes films available for download. Obviously, Disney and Pixar movies figure heavily in the mix. The list even mentions Toy Story 3 (but not W.A.L.-E.).

The ASIFA-Hollywood Animation Archive is now sponsoring the Disney Drawing Exhibit. This exhibit is free to all and features drawings by many master Disney artists including Milt Kahl, Bill Tytla, Freddie Moore, Grim Natwick, Les Clark, Ub Iwerks, Art Babbitt, Marc Davis, Preston Blair, John Lounsbery, Ward Kimball, John Sibley, and Norm Ferguson. “On display […]

In addition to those mentioned in our previous report as participants in the opening night panel discussion for the coming engagement of Disney’s The Little Mermaid at the El Capitan Theatre musical composer Alan Menken has recently been added to the roster. Gearing up for an October 3rd DVD release the theatrical screening will feature […]

Following is the full press release from Starz Entertainment LLC regarding the second set of their animated shorts series, The ‘Wood, “that pays homage to the unique characters that make up Hollywood,” including a link to its preview hosted at YouTube:

Though he prefers to be called a “cartoonist,” few other artists working in animation today can boast a career as diverse as that of Floyd Norman. From Sleeping Beauty and The Jungle Book to Monsters Inc., with stops along the way that included nearly ten years of creating the daily Mickey Mouse comic strip, The […]

Today marks the release of Brother Bear 2, direct-to-video sequel to Disney’s Brother Bear from 2003, which was one of their last hand-drawn theatrical features . . . for the time being. The official site features an eight-minute preview while Ultimate Disney offers an in-depth review. Following are ten screen shots from the film and […]

In a breakthrough for short film distribution Chris Mais’ animated student short SMILE, the runaway crowd favorite at last Thursday night’s Animation Showcase for the Newport Beach Film Festival, has been made available at Apple’s iTunes online audio/video store. The film is CGI and utilizes motion capture technology and a musical score provided by a […]

At last night’s Animation Showcase for the Newport Beach Film Festival it was announced that 2007 was going to be a big year for animation at the festival and it was advised that animators start prepping their entries for submission. The Newport Beach Film Fest supports all varieties of animation, including hand-drawn, computer-generated, stop motion, […]

BURBANK, CALIF – In reaction to news today that Pluto was demoted to the status of “dwarf planet,” the Seven Dwarfs issued their own short statement:

A new Walt Disney Pictures press release divulges the details of the upcoming two and a half week run of The Little Mermaid at the El Capitan Theatre from September 7-24. The opening night presentation will begin with a panel discussion featuring Don Hahn, directors John Musker & Ron Clements, Ariel’s voice actor, Jodi Benson, […]

Following is the final set of photographs taken at the El Capitan Theatre during the eight week engagement of Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man’s Chest. The film finishes its eight-week run at the theater on September 4. Both the theater and the adjacent Disney Soda Fountain and Studio Store are decked out in the […]

Animation Magazine reports on the recent performance at the historic Hollywood Bowl of excerpt’s from Disney’s Fantasia. The concert even included Fantasia outtakes Clair de Lune and The Swan of Tuonela, and Fantasia 2006 survivor spinoff Destino.

At o-meon Chuck Oberleitner brings insights into the debate of whether Disney/Pixar’s Cars qualifies as a flop or not. Highlighting all the ways in which the film has succeeded the article also highlights the tenuous relationship between art and commerce.

After lunching with animators Andreas Deja and Eric Goldberg and talking with them about their experiences and projects over the years at the Walt Disney Studios, Animated News’ Christian Ziebarth recently met up again with Goldberg, the famed lead animator of the Genie in Aladdin and co-director on Pocahontas and Looney Tunes: Back In Action. […]

Following is the full press release for this Friday’s tribute by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences to Scottish animator Norman McLaren:

Following are some more photographs taken at the El Capitan Theatre during the eight week engagement of Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man’s Chest. The film was originally scheduled for a four week run but due to the enthusiasm of the movie-going public its run length was doubled and continues through September 4. Both the […]