News Archive for Christian Ziebarth

Mickey Mouse in Black and White: Volume Two menu shots

While it is unfortunate that the packaging is cheaper and not completely consistent with earlier waves, the upcoming Wave 4 of the Walt Disney Treasures series still has plenty of great content. Follow the ‘More’ link to view four menu screens from Disc 1 of Mickey Mouse in Black and White: Volume Two and stay […]

Only two animated films in the top twenty most viewed films of all time

The British site Sky News has posted a list recently of the Top 20 most viewed movies of all time. The list only looks at total viewings by UK citizens. It does not look at critics ratings or financial intake. Only two animated films (Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs at No. 3 and The […]

Frank Thomas remembered

Animation World Network has an exclusive new article collecting remembrances of animation great Frank Thomas from many of today’s heavyweights in the animation industry, including John Canemaker, John Lasseter, Leonard Maltin, Tom Sito, Andreas Deja, Gary Goldman, Ron Clements, Gene Deitch, and more.

Thankful for toons: Macy's parade site now up

Macy’s now has a page at their site dedicated to tomorrow’s Thanksgiving Day Parade with Sponge Bob and Chicken Little figuring in very prominently, amongst other animated characters.

Animated Pink Panther gets UK DVD release

Animated News reader Thorsten Hasenkamm writes in to inform us that, hot on the heels of the recent DVD release of the live action Pink Panther movies, The Pink Panther Cartoon Collection is now available from Amazon UK in a special 4-disc set. Maybe they will eventually release such a complete set stateside.

Art and Entertainment of Chuck Jones reminder

Just a reminder of the “Art and Entertainment of Chuck Jones” event going on tomorrow, November 20, at The Laguna College of Art and Design and the Chuck Jones Center for Creativity (see original Animated News article and the Cartoon Brew piece). Eric Goldberg will be presenting and speaking on some rare Chuck Jones material. […]

Grand Marshal Mickey Mouse

For the first time since 1966 Mickey Mouse has been chosen to be the Grand Marshal at the 2005 Tournament of Roses parade in Pasadena, CA, Yahoo! News reports. The only other non-humans to have led the parade in its 116 year history have been Kermit the Frog and ventriloquist dummy Charlie McCarthy along with […]

Pixar taken to court?

Getting a big head start on April Fool’s Day joking, the Dateline: Hollywood site has an interesting fictional piece about the eight major Hollywood studios suing Pixar for being continuously successful. As faux as the piece may be, it still seems to accurately reveal the Hollywood mentality. Case in point: “The complaint asks that a […]

Pixar's flirtatious future

In the latest edition of o-meon, an exciting new behind the scenes pop-culture and show biz news and information site, Editor C. W. Oberleitner talks about the future of Pixar Animation Studios and how it might have an impact on The Walt Disney Company’s search for a new CEO.

Toy Story 3 becoming a reality

Yahoo! News reports that Disney’s long-rumored production of Toy Story 3 without Pixar’s involvement is now under way. Apparently Walt Disney Feature Animation is “in the process of setting up a digital animation facility in Glendale — not far from the digs of its bitter rival DreamWorks Animation.” Let’s all cross our fingers and hope […]

DVD Toons reviews I Want A Dog For Christmas, Charlie Brown

Randall Cyrene at DVD Toons has posted a review of the DVD release of the most recent Peanuts special, I Want A Dog For Christmas, Charlie Brown. If Disney’s recent CGI-ing of its classic characters has disappointed some we can all be glad that the Peanuts characters are still lovingly rendered in traditional hand-drawn animation […]

The Incredibles DVD release date

BonusMage at the Ultimate Disney forums has scanned in an ad from the UK edition of the recent Mulan DVD revealing that the release date (at least in the UK) for The Incredibles DVD will be Easter 2005.

The Polar Express remains on track

Despite mixed reviews and being derailed at the box office by The Incredibles, The Polar Express is still able to claim the record of biggest opening weekend take for a Hollywood movie showing in IMAX format, according to The Big Cartoon Database. Previous contenders in this category include Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban […]

New law enforcement officer Shrek

In its Stupid Crimes and Misdemeanors section Court TV.com reports that an off-duty police officer in Alberta, Canada, dressed as Shrek caught a smalltime thief fleeing from a liquor store. After running from “Shrek” the criminal surrendered himself to “regular” police officers, mostly in an attempt to find safety from the temporarily ogre-like cop.

Stainton Fires Coats

Chuck Oberleitner’s new site O-Meon has some fresh information on the very recent firing of Mulan producer Pam Coats from her post as Executive Vice President of Creative Affairs at Walt Disney Feature Animation. The firing was reported by one observer to be Stainton’s way of “clearing the field of potential replacements.”

The WDFA Rollercoaster Ride

Chuck Oberleitner, formerly of Jim Hill Media fame, writes in to point us to an article at his new site (O-Meon) about all the ups and downs in the last couple decades of Walt Disney’s Feature Animation division, with special emphasis on David Stainton’s involvement and the upcoming Chicken Little film.

Mickey's Twice Upon a Christmas 'freeze' frames

Follow the ‘More’ link to view six images of some of the popup book-style interstitials from Disney’s CGI holiday movie Mickey’s Twice Upon a Christmas, which is released today.

2D Pixar films still a possibility

Animated News’ Christian just got back from the ASIFA-Hollywood screening of The Incredibles (one of the perks of membership . . . hint, hint) at the Writer’s Guild Theater in Beverly Hills. Brad Bird was scheduled to attend but couldn’t make it. Pete Docter (director of Monsters, Inc.) was there to fill in and in […]

The Incredibles production notes excerpts: Parts V and VI

We complete our series of excerpts from the production notes for The Incredibles today with parts 5 and 6, which discuss the breakthroughs in animation technology that were made during production and the movie’s ambitious musical score.

The Incredibles production notes excerpts: Parts III and IV

Getting back on track today after time and circumstance prevented postings earlier this week, we now present you with parts three and four of the production notes for Pixar’s The Incredibles. These segments discuss the voice casting and the visual design for the movie. Parts five and six will be presented tomorrow to complete the […]

Save Disney at Halloween

Just a quick mention that if you’re looking for some more Halloween goodness on the web, Roy Disney and Stanley Gold’s Save Disney site has a Halloween theme at the moment and links to several interesting articles about the Haunted Mansion, The Adventures of Ichabod and Mr. Toad, and more.

Scene Progression from Incredibles

The AOL/Moviefone website has a little feature that shows the progression of one scene from The Incredibles from pen and paper concept art to a completed computer-generated image.

The Incredibles production notes excerpt: Part II

Next up in our series of excerpts from the production notes for Disney/Pixar’s The Incredibles is a segment that tells about the genesis of the story, Brad Bird’s story pitch to Pixar creative VP John Lasseter, and a glimpse at the technologically groundreaking aspects of the production of the film.

Iron Giant Reunion

Mark your calendars and let’s see how many people we can stuff into the comic store. On November 20, Golden Apple Comics (link via Toon Zone) is hosting an Iron Giant reunion with over two dozen members of the crew present with a Q&A session hosted by Jerry Beck of Cartoon Research and Cartoon Brew. […]

Halloween comes late this year: New Simpsons season begins with Halloween episode

Animation World Network reports that long-running television series The Simpsons is set to return for its sixteenth season with its fifteenth Treehouse of Horror episode (the first season of The Simpsons did not have a Treehouse of Horror episode due to starting in December and beginning with a Christmas episode as the series pilot) on […]

Snow White and the Seven Shaolin Monks?

VFX World reports that Walt Disney Pictures is in pre-production on a live-action, martial arts-based retelling of the Grimm Brothers fairy tale to be set in late nineteenth century China.

Schoolhouse Rock to rock again

For those of us who miss the animated and educational shorts of yesteryear, Animation Insider reports that Schoolhouse Rock will be returning to television November 1 on Toon Disney.

The Incredibles production notes excerpt: Part I – Intro

Starting today and going until Thursday of next week we will be presenting excerpts from the production notes for The Incredibles.

Get your Father of Pride questions answered

The producers of NBC/DreamWorks Father of Pride television series are allowing themselves to be interviewed by fans from all over the world. Questions can be submitted here. All questions must be received by 12pm ET, Wednesday, October 27, 2004. That means there’s just a few hours left.

Pics from the Incredibles premiere

Yahoo! News has made available some photos from the recent premiere of Pixar’s The Incredibles that took place October 24 at Disney’s El Capitan Theatre in Hollywood.