For those of you near San Francisco, Grubwithus is having a contest where you can win two seats to a dinner with Pixar co-founder Alvy Ray Smith — someone who seems to have been forgotten in the history of Pixar. If you’re a fan of the studio you might find this especially interesting as Smith […]

Awards season has begun! After the Annie nominations this morning, the New York Film Critics’ Circle has announced the winners of their annual prizes. And the animation award went to Disney and Tim Burton’s Frankenweenie. However, that may not be a harbinger of Oscar glory. Since the Academy started giving out an animated feature award […]

The International Animated Film Society, ASIFA-Hollywood, announced nominations today for its 40th Annual Annie Awards recognizing the year’s best in the field of animation. The nominees for Best Animated Features this year are: Brave, Frankenweenie, Hotel Transylvania, ParaNorman, Rise of the Guardians, The Pirates! Band of Misfits, The Rabbi’s Cat, and Wreck-It Ralph. Brave, Rise […]

ParaNorman had a weaker than expected opening, coming in third place for the weekend with $14 million according to Box Office Mojo. “Even with a unique concept and lukewarm competition, the movie still couldn’t break out of the standard stop-motion animation opening range, which reinforces how tricky this sub-genre is”.

Brenda Chapman, a former Pixar director and the original creative force behind Brave who was later replaced as director, has come out for the first time to explain her thoughts on what happened. In a piece for a New York Times series on How Can Women Gain Influence in Hollywood?, Chapman blames the “Hollywood Boy’s […]

Disney has ended production on an untitled Henry Selick project that had been slated for release in October 2013 due to it not being as far along as they needed it to be, according to Variety. They note that he still has the option to take the film to another studio.

As we get closer to the release of Feature Films/Laika’s ParaNorman this weekend the promotional tour is in full swing. Laika CEO and ParaNorman producer Travis Knight talks the rebirth of modern stop-motion animation and more with Dread Central. And Digital Facility has a running line of interviews with the filmmakers. Those posted so far […]

IndieWire reports that Pixar’s Brenda Chapman, the original director of Brave, has left Pixar for an unannounced project at LucasFilm Animation. Thanks to Lord Akiyama in the AV Forum for the tip.

The New York Times has a look at Laika, the company behind the upcoming animated film ParaNorman. The in-depth piece includes: a history of the studio, a look at some of their ground-breaking work in rapid prototyping and 3D and how the Laika aims to push the boundaries of stop-motion animation, a discussion with Henry […]

Wreck-it Ralph director Rich Moore talks with HitFix about pitching the film to John Lasseter, getting game studios on board for character cameos, Sarah Silverman’s involvement, creating the in-movie game, and more.

The Hollywood Reporter says Sony Pictures Animation acquired the rights to the 1980s sitcom ALF and is looking to make a film with the producers of the original show and last year’s The Smurfs movie. But before nostalgists get too excited, it appears they will retire the puppet prop and change the Melmacian alien life […]

DreamWorks is closing in on a September deadline to decide on a new distribution partner, according to the L.A. Times. With their 2006 deal with Paramount set to expire, DreamWorks is looking for more favorable terms with Sony and Fox.

The L.A.Times reports that DreamWorks has bought Classic Media for $155 million. DreamWorks Animation Chief Executive Jeffrey Katzenberg said, “Classic Media brings a large and diverse collection of characters and branded assets that is extremely complementary to DreamWorks Animation’s franchise business, and we plan to leverage it across our motion picture, television, home entertainment, consumer […]

Disney’s Comic-con panel had many revelations, two of which were about animated projects. Wreck-it Ralph had an extended 10 minute (non-continuous) video preview shown. In the discussion it was revealed that Disney tried to get video game character Mario included in the film but the price was too high. Also mentioned was that famed musician […]

DreamWorks had plenty of announcements to make at their Comic-con panel and Entertainment Weekly has the scoops. The Penguins of Madagascar will be getting their own feature film slated for 2015 according to Madagascar 3 director McGrath. Bill Damaschke, chief creative officer of DreamWorks Animation, admitted Kung Fu Panda 3 is in the works. Footage […]

The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences is screening the 1959 animated classic Sleeping Beauty as the second film in their series The Last 70mm Film Festival. Showtime is Monday, July 16, at 7:30pm at the Academy’s Samuel Goldwyn Theater in Beverly Hills. The film will be introduced by animator Andreas Deja and character […]

The New York Times reports that DreamWorks has made a deal with the company behind the United States’ biggest mall that would bring their characters to a new amusement park as part of a entertainment and retail mall in the New Jersey Meadowlands. Jeffrey Katzenberg said the park would involve the studio’s “characters, storytelling and […]

With the latest installment of the Ice Age franchise set to open this weekend, some of the new cast members are speaking to the press. Game of Thrones‘ Peter Dinklage, who stars as the antagnoist, a prehistoric ape named Captain Gutt, talks with the New York Daily News. Rapper Nicki Minaj, who plays a woolly […]

Thanks in large part to a big boost from The Avengers, Disney has become the first studio to surpass a billion dollars domestically at the box office this year according to Deadline.

In a move more and more studios have been employing recently to prevent a film from losing traction internationally when the US box office for the film is weak, Blue Sky’s latest title, Ice Age: Continental Drift, has already been released overseas. And the strategy is working as the film is a hit before it […]

ComingSoon.net reports on DreamWorks’ announcement of a new upcoming animated film. Happy Smekday!, based on the book The True Meaning of Smekday by Adam Rex, is slated for release in late 2014, and will star Emmy Award winner Jim Parsons and Grammy Award winner Rihanna. “In Happy Smekday! an alien race invades Earth and uses […]