The Big Cartoon DataBase reports on an alternative Disney investor meeting set up by Walt Disney Company dissidents Roy Disney and Stanley Gold. This meeting will be held in Philadelphia one day before the official meeting of Disney stockholders and is intended to educate shareholders on how “the House of Mouse has lost its creative […]

Be sure to tune in to CBS News tomorrow morning, February 8 at 9:00 am ET and at 7:00 am PT, for a report on the state of animation. Animators J. J. Sedelmaier and Gary Baseman, and animation studio Pixar are scheduled to be profiled. Thanks to Animation Insider for the alert.

On February 10, Buena Vista Home Entertainment will be releasing Disney’s The Lion King 1½ as a direct-to-video title in America and later on in other parts of the world. This is quite possibly the grandest and most ambitious animated feature to be released directly to video and will go a long way in helping […]

The preview for The Lion King II: Simba’s Pride DVD on the Lion King 1½ DVD shows that the animated short One by One will be one of the DVD special features. This short was previously thought to be part of the upcoming third Fantasia movie. Does anyone have any more information on this?

Animated News’ Christian just got back from the Buena Vista Home Entertainment DVD Presentation held in Hollywood and can say that it was a fun, eye-opening experience. The primary purpose of the meeting was to celebrate the wonderful DVD format and showcase how three upcoming Buena Vista releases (Spy Kids 3D: Game Over, The Haunted […]

The official Disney site now has a page for the soundtrack for The Lion King 1½ with 30-second clips from each song in RealPlayer or QuickTime format.

Jim Hill Media updates with three new articles today. The first one is all about “the Walt Disney Company’s attempts to get some positive press going in the wake of the Pixar contract debacle.” The second article “discusses what the Walt Disney Company could possibly do in order to turn around its somewhat toxic reputation,” […]

Animation Insider reports that there may now be new cartoons on the way based on Sabrina, Josie and the Pussycats and other characters from Archie Comics. “IDT Entertainment recently purchased a substantial branch of Archie Comics Entertainment, which gives them a respectable amount of distrubution and production rights; that amount of which, IDT plans on […]

Kristin has alerted us to an interview at Out Now! with Ruben Aquino, supervising animator of Denahi for Disney’s Brother Bear, who has also worked on such Disney classics as The Little Mermaid (Ursula), Rescuers Down Under (Jake the kangaroo mouse), The Lion King (adult Simba), Pocahontas (Chief Powhatan), Mulan (Captain Shan), and Lilo & […]

Jim Hill Media has got three thought-provoking new articles today. The first article is all about the dilemma the Disney company is finding itself in over the Oscar nomination that Destino recently received. Second is an article by Jackson King about the ins and outs of collecting antique animated toys. And the third article is […]

Hot off the cyberpress from Buena Vista Home Entertainment are several new images from Disney’s upcoming “interquel” The Lion King 1½. The first one is similar to an image posted a while back with Simba and Timon and Pumbaa sleeping, but this time with Simba all grown up. The second one shows the jungle buddies […]

Variety.com’s most recent e-mail newsletter reports “Brother Bear drew $560,000 on 29 in Hong Kong (second-highest debut by a traditionally animated pic behind Mulan) and $450,000 on 87 in Poland (BVI’s third best opening after Nemo and “Signs”). Bear has collected a dandy $41.3 million in 16 countries, highlighted by Mexico’s $12.4 million and Korea’s […]

Kristin alerts us to an article at The Orlando Sentinel website about some of the effects of Disney shutting down their Florida animation studio. “Disney’s current leadership can sputter all they want about the nature of animation evolving, about how they’re not “killing” anything, about the need to slash costs to boost a deflated stock […]

Check out Animation World Magazine for their exclusive interview with Gary Baseman, the creator of Disney’s TV series and recent feature film, Teacher’s Pet. There’s a lot of emphasis on cartoon history and the issues involved in bringing something to the big screen that was originally designed for the small screen.

Just got a chance to see the Klein/Newton Annie Award Nominee Boys Night Out and can say that I wholeheartedly agree with Animation Blast’s Amid Amidi’s appraisal that it is a “cartoonist’s cartoon.” The feature is a dark comedy about a stepfather who has to reluctantly watch his stepson while his wife enjoys a little […]

The complete list of songs appearing in the upcoming Disney interquel The Lion King 1½ was recently released by Buena Vista Home Entertainment. It appears to be an eclectic mix of all new material, each of the five principal songs from the first movie, and several songs “borrowed” from pop music, classical music, Broadway, and […]

Here’s the last three of the ten recently released pictures from the upcoming DVD release of Disney’s interquel, The Lion King 1½. All three are from the Virtual Safari 1.5, “Timon’s version of a theme-park ride, which includes spoofs on famous Disney attractions, including It’s A Small World and Haunted Mansion.” The second image is […]

Laughing Place reports on upcoming McDonald’s Happy Meals featuring Play-Doh toys that will center around Lilo & Stitch: The Series. There will be six different toys and each one will “feature an interactive figurine, a container of vibrant-colored Play-Doh and a two-sided coin stamp. From sprouting hair and hula skirts, to protruding Stitch tongues and […]

Here’s four more pictures from the new batch of The Lion King 1½ promo materials from Buena Vista Home Entertainment. First is a picture of Simba and Timon facing off in a slug slurping contest. This image should be of interest to Lion King fans as it features Simba in the adolescent stage that we […]

Buena Vista Home Entertainment has recently released ten more images from The Lion King 1½ . Some appear to be promo art and some appear to be screen grabs from special features on the upcoming DVD. Featured today are a picture of Timon and Pumbaa lamenting the loss of their bachelor buddy Simba, Timon’s Ma […]

Jim Hill Media has three new articles today ranging from the supremely sad and exquisitely sublime to the almost religious and nearly ridiculous. First is a wonderful article where Jim relates some of his {{link http://www.jimhillmedia.com/articles/01152004.1.htm memories}} and personal experiences with Disney’s Florida animation studio. Second is a {{link http://www.jimhillmedia.com/articles/bookreviews/breview.01152004.1.htm book review}} of Dan Brown’s […]

Both Amid Amidi’s Animation Blast and Jerry Beck’s Cartoon Research alert us to what looks like a great animated short coming our way soon called Boy’s Night Out. The short was produced by husband/wife team Bert Klein (who has worked on Looney Tunes: Back In Action, Fantasia 2000, and The Lord of the Rings: Return […]

Our ever-lovable, dippy dog friend Goofy is only supposed to suffer mishaps in cartoons, not in real life. But, in a WFTV “News of the Strange” article pointed out by Mice Age, we find that a human, Eric Ford, onboard a Disney cruise ship suffered debilitating back injuries while playing the character three years ago […]

The ever ubiquitous Jim Hill Media updates with three great articles of interest to all animation and Disney fans. First off is their latest update on the Florida Disney situation, with actual WDFA-F artists writing in to give their viewpoints on the whole situation (which makes the whole Disney corporate machine appear rather Dilbert-esque). Seems […]

The Fabulous Disney Babe points out that Roy E. Disney and Stanley Gold have commented on Disney CEO Michael Eisner’s recent speech and have posted their comments at their rallying site, SaveDisney.com (which has updated quite a bit itself recently, including some very insightful, prophetic quotes from Walt himself). Also read about what the SEIU […]

Jim Hill Media has a new article written by an anonymous Disney insider giving us a privileged view within the walls of the company. One of the main points is the possible long term benefits of the potential closure of Disney’s animation studio in Florida.

Laughing Place points out a link to a presentation by Michael Eisner, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of The Walt Disney Company, given at the 14th Annual Smith Barney Citigroup Entertainment, Media and Telecommunications Conference. “During the presentation Eisner supported his assertions that the Company’s turnaround is now underway. He announced record attendance at WDW […]

The Big Cartoon DataBase reports on a new development from those ever-imaginative Imagineers at the Epcot Center in Lake Buena Vista, Florida. Apparently chefs there are using cucumbers molded into the iconic Mickey shape and serving them in salads at The Garden Grill Restaurant. Follow the link for more details and don’t be surprised if […]

On this day of looking forward with hope and anticipation to what the new year will bring it might also be wise to take a look back to the past and see where we have come from. While not necessarily a news item, I thought it would be helpful to point out a site that […]

Ain’t It Cool News updates with a letter from roving media reporter Jim Hill written to Hollywood sneak peek guru Harry Knowles with more insights into the Roy Disney/Stanley Gold/Michael Eisner situation. Does anyone have an easy, two- or three-word, catchy title for this “situation” yet? Until someone stops me I believe I will refer […]