Michael Giacchino, has been tapped to serve as the music director for the upcoming Oscar ceremony, the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences announced today. “Michael is an extraordinarily talented and versatile musical artist,” said telecast producer Laurence Mark and executive producer Bill Condon in a joint statement. “We couldn’t be happier that he […]

IMPAWARDS shares a poster for the stop-motion animated feature $9.99. Based on the Short Stories of Etgar Keret, in $9.99, an ad alters the life of Dave Peck, an unemployed, 28 years old and still living at home.

DVDActive reports that Sony Pictures Home Entertainment has announced DVD and Blu-ray releases of Open Season 2 for the 27th January. Extras on this release will include “How to Draw: Boog, Elliot & Fifi feature”, “deleted scenes”, “Who Let the Dogs Out music video”, “Going WILD! With the Voice Cast of Open Season 2 featurette”, […]

TheAge reports that the sequel to Academy award winning Happy Feet will be made at a new digital production facility in Sydney which will employ an average of 438 people over three years, including some 230 computer-generated imaging artists. The new digital production facility is also expected to provide a significant boost to the local […]

SlashFilm shares a batch of concept art and production photos from Wall-E to promote the release of the film on DVD and Blu-Ray. The article includes sketches of Wall-E and Eve, storyboards, and concept art for Trash Planet. Thanks to PixarPlanet for sharing the story.

Variety reports that a stop-motion animated version of Pinocchio is on its way to the big screen. Being made by the Jim Henson Co., the new adaptation will be co-directed by acclaimed children’s book illustrator Gris Grimly and executive produced by Guillermo Del Toro. The article suggests that the new stop-motion version will be a […]

Best Animated feature category gets a boost with 20 toons slated to receive qualifying runs in Los Angeles theaters by year’s end, encouraging the studios to enter more than one entry per Oscar season, reports Variety. While Disney has Wall-E and Bolt in contention, DreamWorks’ plans to launch campaigns that focus on the individual strengths […]

Variety reports that Steve Carell will voice the title character in Universal’s Despicable Me, an upcoming 3D animated film about a deplorable man Groo who masterminds the mother of all heists when he plots to steal the moon. Despicable reteams Carell, who voiced one of the characters for Horton Hears a Who, with the producer […]

UpcomingPixar has posted an interview with Ben Burtt, sound designer for Wall-E, best known for his works in Star Wars and Indiana Jones films. Burtt talks about heading the sound on Wall-E, the work process and also how he uses everything that comes into his life as part of the sounds he creates.

PixarPlanet shares four new publicity shots from the upcoming Pixar short, Burn•E which will be available as a bonus feature on the upcoming Wall•E dvd and blu-ray.

In an exclusive update, MTV.com reports that Leonardo DiCaprio would not star in the live action remakes of Akira and Ninja scroll and will only stay behind the scenes as a producer for the films. DiCaprio adds, “We’re waiting for the final draft of the script for Akira and Ninja Scroll. I know there a […]

IMPAWARDS shares a new poster for Coraline. Based on Neil Gaiman’s novella of the same name, the animated stop-motion fantasy is slated for a February 6, 2009 release.

AnimationMagazine reports that Fox has moved the premiere of The Cleveland Show from late spring of this season to fall of 2009. The show which features the African American character from Family Guy as the central character, has been voiced by Mike Henry who also serves as a writer and executive producer on the animated […]

According to Andrew Stanton, the Richmond, California based company has gone to extraordinary lengths to preserve precise details in its Blu-ray version of Wall-E, which will hit the shelves on November 18, reports IMDB. Stanton adds, “This is the first time where a format exactly represents how good a film looks in the building here…It […]

Wired.com hosts an exclusive behind-the-scenes video clip offering a sneak peek at the making of DreamWorks’ upcoming animated film Monsters vs Aliens. Directed by Rob Letterman and Conrad Vernon, 3-D animated comedy Monsters vs Aliens opens March 27, 2009.

ThePixarBlog shares three preview clips featuring some of the bonus materials from the upcoming Wall-E dvd and blu-ray. The clips titled Elbows, Reason for Bots and Building Worlds from the Sound Up feature director Andrew Stanton and other members share some insights and challenges in making the film. Wall-E will be out on dvd and […]

Variety reports that DreamWorks’ animated sequel Madagascar: Escape 2 Africa dominated the North American box office this weekend with a stunning $63.5 million from 4,056 theaters, far exceeding the $47.2 million weekend gross of the first film, Madagascar, in 2005. The film also scored the best opening of the year for an animated title, besting […]

LatinoReview takes an exclusive look at the live action remake of Katsuhiro Otomo’s anime classic Akira which is being turned into two live-action feature films, the first of which is being fast tracked for a summer 2009 release.

A number of items in the recently out Pixar’s Up trailer are being spotted that could possibly reference other Pixar works, reports UpcomingPixar. These include the Luxo ball, the toy airplane from Toy Story and also a stuffed toy bear which, the site suggests, could possibly reference to Pixar’s upcoming film The Bear and the […]

Movie-List has made available the very first trailer for the Dreamworks’ upcoming animated feature Monsters vs Aliens. Based on the horror comic book Rex Havoc, DreamWorks’ Monsters vs Aliens is the studio’s first movie produced using 3D technology. Directed by Rob Letterman and Conrad Vernon, the movie is slated for a March 27, 2009 release.

IMPAwards shares a one sheet poster for the upcoming stop motion film Coraline. Directed by Henry Selick, Coraline opens in theaters on February 6, 2009.

Pictures of the upcoming Wall-E 3-disc dvd packaging can be found at UltimateDisney forum wherein a user shares the pictures of “Earth (and Space) Friendly Eco-Packaging” alongwith the screencaps of the menus. Thanks to UpcomingPixar for the story.

/Film reports that Disney has launched a campaign to get Wall-E nominated for the Best Picture Oscar, an award never won by an animated film. Disney’s Beauty and the Beast remains the only animated film ever nominated in the Best Picture category. In addition, the website also shares the first advertisement featuring Disney’s campaign to […]

UltimateDisney reports that Walt Disney Home Entertainment has announced Mary Poppins: 45th Anniversary Edition DVD release on January 27, 2009. The two-disc set will include all bonus features from 40th Anniversary Edition DVD from 2004 and also add four new featurettes on the running Broadway musical.

AWN reports that veteran Disney and Hanna-Barbera animator and teacher John Ahern passed away Wednesday morning after a yearlong battle with leukemia. Ahern’s animation career started at Disney with movies such as Sleeping Beauty and Lady and the Tramp and going on up through Jungle Book. He also worked as a layout artist for Hanna-Barbera […]

Variety reports that Sony Pictures Entertainment and Paramount Pictures are in talks to co-finance the digital 3-D Tintin, the Steven Spielberg/Peter Jackson series based on the Belgian comics Tintin. The report suggests that the first film of the series will be directed by Steven Spielberg and is expected to be complete in time for a […]

IGN reports about a special screening of roughly half an hour of footage from the upcoming 3D stop-motion animation film Coraline which they attended recently. Based on the novella by Neil Gaiman, Coraline tells the story of the eponymous young girl who discovers a secret door in her new home that leads to an alternate […]

An early screening of Up, Pixar’s upcoming animated film, was attended by blogger Larryfile recently. According to the write up, the rough cut version of the film that was screened, was mixed with storyboard, rough and finished animation. The movie plot was completely original but somewhat dark with many adult themes. He finally adds, “I […]

UpcomingPixar shares a link to an interview with the Emmy-winning actor Ed Asner who voices the main character, Carl Fredricksen, in Pixar’s upcoming feature Up. Direct link to the interview can be found here. Up, a fable about a flying house, is slated to open in May 2009.

Variety reports that Warner Bros. has acquired rights to turn Yoshiaki Kawajiri’s anime classic Ninja Scroll into a live action feature. The film will be produced by Appian Way as a co-production with Mad House. Alex Tse, whose recent credits include Watchmen and The Illustrated Man, has been set to write the script.