Better than news about terrorist attacks, natural catastrophes, global warming, murders and other crimes, The Orange County Register has as its top story today a report on the Disneyland Finding Nemo submarine attraction set to open in June 2007.

Industry observer Chuck Oberleitner’s latest editorial sheds some more light on the recent removal of WDFA director Chris Sanders from his pet project, American Dog. “In animation, story is everything. At Pixar, story is practically a religion . . . “

The following promo image tells all about the Christmas movie marathon, including several animated films, airing on the Starz Kids & Family Network this coming Christmas Eve day, December 24:

Legendary animation producer Joe Barbera, of Hanna-Barbera fame, died Monday at 95. Along with Bill Hanna, Barbera was responsible for such animated classics as Tom and Jerry, The Flintstones, The Jetsons, Yogi Bear, Scooby-Doo, and many more. The Associated Press has more info, and Cartoon Brew is posting an expanding list of memories of Joe […]

MSNBC/Newsweek talks with Jerry Seinfeld about his work on DreamWorks Animation’s upcoming Bee Movie. “The movie . . . is animated and stars Seinfeld’s distinctly New York voice as Barry B. Benson, a bee who leaves the hive and discovers, to his horror, that humans have been stealing their honey. While out in the wide […]

Following is the official press release regarding this Saturday’s premiere of the Starz Kids & Family Network’s Eloise: Little Miss Christmas at the Arkansas Arts Center Lecture Hall:

Following are six screen shots from the direct-to-video premiere of Disney’s The Fox and the Hound 2. This could be one of the final direct-to-video sequel titles produced by Disney’s home entertainment division. Master animator Eric Goldberg even helped with the scene shown in shot #4 in which Copper encounters peanut butter for the first […]

The Sydney Morning Herald reports on the festivities and celebrities surrounding the Australian premiere of Warner Bros.’ CGI animated hit Happy Feet. The film opens in Australia on December 26. Thanks to Kristin for the heads up.

Muppet Central goes in-depth into Ahmet Zappa’s role as the writer of the upcoming Fraggle Rock. According to Zappa, the son of late musician Frank Zappa, “There are a lot of messages in Fraggle Rock that fans have kept close to their hearts, so we have to be respectful of the television show and very […]

To mark the highly anticipated DVD release of Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man’s Chest, fans of the film flocked to Grauman’s Chinese Theater to walk the plank and earn a copy of the two-disc Special Edition DVD. Fans walked the plank from a façade of Captain Jack Sparrow’s Black Pearl into a 10,000-gallon tank […]

Read on to find out what you can do tomorrow (Tuesday the 5th) for a chance to win a free copy of Disney’s Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man’s Chest at a special event being held tomorrow at the historic Grauman’s Chinese theater (UPDATE: Participants no longer need to dress like pirates to qualify. But […]

Following are seven shots of the menu screens from the 2-disc Special Edition of Disney’s Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man’s Chest DVD due out next Tuesday, December 5. Be to sure look for at least four Easter eggs.

The following is a promotional image with information relating to this Saturday’s broadcast of The Happy Elf on the Starz Kids & Family network:

SpielbergFilms.com reports that a long discussed, never-yet-realized Tintin film series may still eventually see the light of day. “A few years back, news of Amblin Entertainment’s reacquisition to the rights for the famous Tintin comic series created quite a stir online, yet recently, news of plans for the series had grown absolutely cold. While he […]

Following are six images from the concept art and promotional images bonus feature on tomorrow’s release of Disney’s Robin Hood: The Most Wanted Edition to DVD.

For those who can’t wait for The Simpsons Movie and can transport themselves to the master planned community of Irvine in Orange County Machomer, a one man play performed by Rick Miller acting out William Shakespeare’s MacBeth utilizing characters from long-running television animated comedy The Simpsons, is running today and tomorrow at the Irvine Barclay […]

From next Tuesday’s DVD release of Disney’s Robin Hood: The Most Wanted Edition comes four screen shots from a proposed alternate ending to the classic film:

From next Tuesday’s DVD release of Disney’s Robin Hood: The Most Wanted Edition comes five menu screens (with screen grabs of a deleted scene and concept art to come):

As pointed out by David in our Animated News Forum, Disney will be releasing the Salvador Dali/Walt Disney short Destino and many of the old Oswald the Lucky Rabbit shorts to DVD soon. These collections are being prepared under the watchful eye of Roy Disney. Check out the Disney Legacy page for more details.

This was certainly earlier than expected but AICN has a very early review of Pixar’s next summer release, Ratatouille.

While we didn’t receive the 60th Anniversary DVD of Disney’s Song of the South we’ve all been waiting for we can at least listen to Song of the South Radio at Live 365. This online radio station is run by Christian Willis of SongoftheSouth.net and features virtually every recording related to the classic film ever […]

AICN has a “way early review” of DreamWorks Animation’s Shrek the Third, shining a more positive light on it than prior reviews.

Here’s the World Premiere of the new trailer for The Simpsons Movie . . . in glorious 2D. Apple Trailers has it up in Hi-Def (as well as regular sizes). Humor abounds!

The London Times offers this article on the animation industry and CG films past, present and future. Features interviews with Sam Fell (director of Flushed Away), George Miller (director of Happy Feet), Julia Pistor (Nickelodeon) and Yair Landau (Sony). The verdict? Too many movies, too few ideas, too much product. As Miller observes, “The similarity […]

Brad Bird’s underappreciated masterpiece, The Iron Giant, will be broadcast on Turner Classic Movies, this Sunday, November 12. The TCM website gives plenty of information on the film, focusing on how it has received greater notice since its initial theatrical run ended.

Starz Family announces a family-friendly collection of television premieres and programming to air this holiday season. The line-up includes a little something for everyone: For animation fans, The Incredibles and Chicken Little; for fantasy nuts, The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe; for golfers, The Greatest Game Ever Played; and, last […]

Raking in over $19 million in last weekend’s box office, a close third place behind Borat and The Santa Clause 3: The Escape Clause, DreamWorks/Aardman’s Flushed Away made an impressive theatrical debut. The following are some new media items and clips from the movie made available by Paramount Pictures:

Jim Hill Media tracks the Walt Disney Company’s interest in L. Frank Baum’s classic characters, beginning with “The Rainbow Road to Oz” and ending right on the steps of Disneyland Paris’ Emerald City. Another fascinating behind-the-scenes story filled with the kinds of juicy details that only Hill knows how to dig up

The Hollywood Reporter reveals that Catherine Deneuve and Gena Rowlands have signed on to voice characters in the English-language version of the French animated film Persepolis. The movie, an adaptation of Iranian author Marjane Satrapi’s graphic novel autobiographies, will be released domestically by Sony Pictures Classics.

Disney and Pixar have set Wall-E, Andrew Stanton’s next film, for a release date of June 27, 2008. Not much is known about the plot of this movie, but it’s rumored to be about a robot. Stanton’s previous film as a director was Finding Nemo. He has been credited as a writer on Pixar’s Toy […]