CNN reports that Caitlin Sanchez, the teenage actress who voiced Dora the Explorer for the past three years, and her family are suing Nickelodeon alleging she hasn’t been properly compensated for her work. They claim they were pressured to sign an unfair contract and that they are owed millions. Nickelodeon claims the allegations are baseless.

This post marks the 10,000th story posted to Animated Views since our launch (as Animated News) back in October 2003! We’d like to thank our readers and our forum members who have been with us since the beginning and all those who have joined since. We do this because of your loyalty, support, and our […]

The L. A. Times is reporting that Universal and Illumination Entertainment (the studio behind Despicable Me) have a Curious George film in the works. While Universal and Imagine produced a Curious George film only four years ago, this new outing will start from scratch.

Universal’s Despicable Me opens today in 3,474 theatres, according to Box Office Mojo. The film is receiving solid reviews, earning an 81% rating at Rotten Tomatoes. Box Office Prophets predicts Despicable Me will eclipse the latest film in the Twilight series to take first place with $50.2 million.

The nominees for the 2010 Emmy Awards have been announced. The list of animated entries follows:

Ilene Woods, the voice of Cinderella and a Disney Legend, has died at the age of 81 according to a post by D23. No further details have been released at this time.

The Addams Family looks to be headed back to the big screen according to ComingSoon.net. The site recently spoke with producer Christopher Meledandri who confirmed theananimated version is in the works, “with Tim Burton involved, hopefully to direct”. Other details at this early stage include the film will be stop-motion, possibly be shot in black […]

Stitch Kingdom has details and pics from Disney’s upcoming animated short Tick Tock Tale, recently screened at the 2010 Annecy International Animated Film Festival

Jodi Benson, who plays Barbie in the Toy Story movies but who is perhaps best known for her role as Ariel in The Little Mermaid, talks with Click on Detroit about her role as the famous doll, the new direction they took with the character, and her work process. “I never say, ‘Hey, this is […]

Disney/Pixar’s final installment in the Toy Story series hits 4,028 theatres today, according to Box Office Mojo. The film has a perfect Tomatometer score of 100% with an astounding 94 reviews in – the overwhelming consensus being that Toy Story 3 deftly blends “comedy, adventure, and honest emotion”, to make it a “rare second sequel […]

Composer Randy Newman received a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame Wednesday, according to AFP. Newman spent a highly successful 35 years in the business before scoring his first animated film — 1995’s Toy Story. Since then he’s become one of the most popular and honored animated film composers around. Ten of Newman’s nineteen […]

New Video has announced that they have acquired U.S. television, digital, VOD and home video distribution rights to the Oscar nominated animated film The Secret of Kells and will be bringing it to most of those platforms (including DVD and Blu-ray) on October 5th, 2010.

Variety, in a laconic story, reports that Ice Age 4 is in the works at Fox. Tentatively titled Ice Age: Continental Drift, it is scheduled for July 13, 2012.

DreamWorks has two new videos and a website out to promote the upcoming Shrek Forever After. First up is an viral-type infomercial posted at Trailer Addicts starring Rumpelstiltskin. In it the dwarf hawks his new website, RumpelDeals.com. Next up, ComingSoon.net has a video that introduces us to the Pied Piper who, in the Shrek world, […]

The L. A. Times makes the case against DreamWorks going the sequel route with their latest hit How to Train Your Dragon. Their thought is that DreamWorks should focus more on creating standalone new ideas rather than constantly mining successful past properties.

Social media has taken over the internet in the past year or two, and one of the cool things about it is movie-makers being able to connect directly to fans during the movie making process. Toy Story 3 director Lee Unkrich has been keeping fans up to date on the progress of the film through […]

Oscar-winning composer Michael Giacchino will be hosting “What’s Opera, Doc? Animation and Classical Music” on May 14 in Beverly Hills. The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences event will present “some of the most inspired and memorable uses of classical music in animation”. Also appearing are Academy Music Branch governor Bruce Broughton and director […]

DreamWorks How to Train Your Dragon continues to dominate according to Box Office Mojo. In it’s fifth weekend it has reclaimed the #1 spot. In total the film has brought in $178 million domestically and $355 million worldwide. Mojo says, “At its current pace, Dragon will vie with Kung Fu Panda to become DreamWorks Animation’s […]

Disney CEO Bob Iger is featured in a New York Times piece. “Widely dismissed” when he took over the top job from Michael Eisner, the new take on Iger is “blockbuster CEO”. The article discusses the many changes he’s made at the company (and the reactions to them), and follows him on “a day in […]

Upcoming Pixar linked to a cool video this weekend — a taped-to-VCR commercial purportedly from 1983 featuring the season’s hot new toy, Lots-o’-Huggin’ Bear. Obviously a Pixar job, the video is just the latest of several viral videos for Toy Story 3 from the studio. In addition, AV reader Grace points out that Barbie’s pal […]

Batman may soon be coming to a stage near you, according to ABC News. Tentatively titled Batman Live, the show would be “an elaborate arena production aimed at kids and families”. While no firm dates have been set, a 2011/2012 launch timeframe is being discussed.

Box Office Mojo reports that Pixar will be releasing a sequel to Monsters Inc. in November 2012 and that The Bear and the Bow has been renamed Brave and pushed back to June 2012.

Cinema Blend has a piece with the link-baiting title “5 Ways DreamWorks Animation Is Better Than Pixar”. The article isn’t nearly as contentious as the title would suggest, however, and does a good job of fairly pointing out the areas where DreamWorks excels over its rival.

Forbes delves into the world of celebrity voice acting to rank the A-list — a top 10 based on box office earnings and press attention.

Mashable discusses a talk Disney and Pixar Animation President Ed Catmull gave at the Economist Innovation Conference. He said Pixar’s success was due to being able to trust his managers, not being afraid of making mistakes and then having to fix them, and balancing the artistic with the commercial.

Disney/Pixar’s Up has picked up some more hardware, this time the feature film award at the Humane Society’s Genesis Awards, according to the L.A. Times. The Genesis Awards “honor media depictions of animal protection issues”.

IESB.net has a somewhat surprising rumor that George Lucas will be bringing the Star Wars franchise to preschoolers. They believe the new series, based on the kid-friendly line of Galactic Heroes toys, is to be titled Squishies.

Comics Continuum reports that a new animated Green Lantern direct to video film is in the works at Warner, timed to be released at thte same time as the live-action Green Lantern movie coming out in the summer of 2011.

The New York Times discusses the lighting and overall look of DreamWorks’ How To Train Your Dragon with director Chris Sanders and cinematographer and eight time Oscar nominee Roger Deakins. Deakins is most well known for his live action work (No Country for Old Men, The Village, A Beautiful Mind, The Shawshank Redemption) and had […]

Twentieth Century Fox Home Entertainment announced that it will launch director James Cameron’s Avatar on Blu-ray Disc and DVD on Thursday, April 22. The Oscar winning epic is the highest grossing film of all time, taking in over $2.6 billion in worldwide box office. Dates it will be released in other countries follow.