News Archive for James R Whitson

Star Trek alum boldly goes to a galaxy far, far, away

George Takei, best known as Hikaru Sulu in the original Star Trek TV series and films, discusses his new role as part of another iconic sci-fi franchise with the Great Falls Tribune. Takei voices the character of Lok Durd, in Cartoon Network’s Star Wars: The Clone Wars. Besides discussing his role in the series, Takei […]

The Simpsons, South Park to broadcast in HD

Engadget reports that the long running Comedy Central animated series South Park and the even longer running FOX animated series The Simpsons will both start broadcasting in high definition in the coming months. The Simpsons will make the switch on February 15th while South Park will change over on March 11th.

2009 Oscar Nominations, WALL-E up for six awards

The nominees for the 81st Academy Awards were announced this morning. Bolt, Kung Fu Panda, and WALL-E were the picks for Animated Feature. WALL-E was also nominated for Original Screenplay, Score, Song (Down to Earth), Sound Mixing, and Sound Editing. WALL-E‘s six nominations ties Beauty and the Beast for most Oscar nominations for an animated […]

BAFTA nominees announced

The British Academy of Film and Television Arts has announced their film nominees and several animated films were nominated in several different categories. Perseopolis, WALL-E, and Waltz with Bashir were nominated for Best Animated Film. Perseopolis and Waltz with Bashir were nominated for Best Film Not in the English Language. WALL-E picked up additional nods […]

SpongeBob celebrates 10th year

Animation Magazine reports that Nickelodeon is kicking off a year-long celebration of the 10th anniversary of SpongeBob SquarePants. Among the events and projects scheduled are: a live cast script reading, a new website, new episodes, a TV movie, and a documentary.

Waltz with Bashir on Oscar Foreign Language shortlist

Nine films have been named to the Oscar shortlist for the Foreign Language Film category at the upcoming Academy Awards. Included in that list is the animated Waltz with Bashir. After additional voting the list will be narrowed to the five final nominees. The full list follows:

WALL-E, Waltz with Bashir pick up Golden Globes

The Hollywood Foreign Press Association has awarded Golden Globes to two animated films this year. WALL-E picked up the award for Best Animated Feature Film while Best Foreign Language Film went to Waltz with Bashir. Wall-E and Bolt lost out to The Wrestler in the Best Original Song category.

Batman, WALL-E, Simpsons winners at PCA

WALL-E was named Favorite Animated Movie at last night’s People’s Choice Awards, while The Simpsons won for Favorite Animated Comedy. The Dark Knight was the big winner picking up five trophies: Favorite Movie, Favorite Action Movie, Favorite Cast, Favorite On Screen Match-up, and Favorite Superhero.

Kimball to receive Oscar's Bonner Medal

Mark Kimball has been named this year’s recipient of the Academy’s John A. Bonner Medal of Commendation, which is awarded in appreciation for outstanding service and dedication in upholding the high standards of the Academy. Kimball worked at Walt Disney where he spent two decades working as the CAPS logistics system lead, a senior software […]

Disney announces 2009 animated Blu-ray slate, "Combo Packs"

Walt Disney Home Entertainment announced their slate of Blu-ray titles for 2009 today. In addition to the previously announced Pinocchio: 70th Anniversary Platinum Edition BD (coming March 17th), also being released in HD for the first time are Pixar’s Monsters Inc. and A Bugs Life (no dates announced yet), and Snow White and the Seven […]

Catmull to receive Oscar's Sawyer Award

Ed Catmull, currently the president of Walt Disney and Pixar Animation Studios, has been named this year’s recipient of the Academy’s Gordon E. Sawyer Award for “his lifetime of technical contributions and leadership in the field of computer graphics for the motion picture industry”. Catmull co-founded Pixar, as well as the computer graphics laboratory at […]

Seven films compete for Effects Oscar nods

The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences has announced the films that will compete for the three Oscar nominations in the Visual Effects category at the 81st Academy Awards: Australia, The Curious Case of Benjamin Button, The Dark Knight, Hellboy II: The Golden Army, Iron Man, Journey to the Center of the Earth, and […]

Producers announce nominations

The Producers Guild of America has announced the nominations for their annual awards. Bolt, Kung Fu Panda, and WALL-E will compete for the Producer of the Year Award in Animated Theatrical Motion Pictures.

Follow-Up: New character from Pixar's latest revealed

Following-up on this story from Saturday where it was revealed that one of the names of a character in Pixar’s upcoming film Up was “Dug the Talking Dog”, here’s a reminder that you can actually see what he looks like in this Animated News post from July.

2008 Best Song Oscar contenders announced

Forty-nine songs will compete for nominations in the Best Original Song category at the 81st Academy Awards, and four of them are from animated films: Barking at the Moon, from Bolt Down to Earth, from WALL-E I Thought I Lost You, from Bolt The Traveling Song, from Madagascar: Escape 2 Africa The Oscar nominations will […]

LAFCA names WALL-E Best Picture

Variety reports that the Los Angeles Film Critics Association has named WALL-E Best Picture. This is the first time the group has ever given the award to an animated film. Waltz With Bashir won the Animation award and was the runner up for the Documentary award.

Animated Grammy nominations

The nominees for the 51st Grammy Awards have been annouced, and Disney has the only nominees from animated projects. While the Annie Award voters may not have thought WALL-E worthy, the Grammy Award voters thought differently with the film picking up three nominations. Enchanted received two nods while the musical version of The Little Mermaid […]

WALL-E wins NBR awards

Awards season has started as the National Board of Review has announced the winners of its annual prizes. WALL-E won the award for Best Animated Feature and was also named one of the Top Ten Films of the year. Waltz with Bashir was named one of the Top Five Foreign Films of the year.

Kung Fu Panda leads 36th Annie Awards nominations

The nominations for the 36th Annie Awards were announced today, and Kung Fu Panda leads all films with 17 nominations. Bolt was second with 9 nods, and WALL-E third with 8. Those three, along with $9.99 and Waltz with Bashir were tapped for Best Feature. Winners will be announced on Friday, January 30, 2009, at […]

WALL-E contest ending soon; review online now

Disney/Pixar’s latest, instant classic WALL-E comes to DVD and Blu-ray on November 18, but we have a copy for one lucky winner to grab thanks to Walt Disney Studios Home Entertainment! Simply add your details to this form and you’ll be entered into the giveaway draw! The closing date is release day, November 18 at […]

Academy announces films under consideration for animated Oscar

The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences has announced that 14 films have been submitted for consideration in the Best Animated Feature category for the 81st Academy Awards: Bolt, Delgo, Dr. Seuss’ Horton Hears a Who!, Dragon Hunters, Fly Me to the Moon, Igor, Kung Fu Panda, Madagascar: Escape 2 Africa, $9.99, The Sky […]

Clone Wars, Fly Me To the Moon open today

In a rare occurrence, two animated films open on the same day. First up is Warner Bros.’ Star Wars: The Clone Wars. The film opens in 3,452 theatres according to Box Office Mojo. Critics say the force is not strong with this one — it scores 18% on the Tomatometer, and an abysmal 5% counting […]

Animated News & Views Comic-Con 2008 Report

Three of the founders of Animated News & Views recently returned from California where they all met up for the very first time at Comic-Con International 2008. You can read their accounts of the meet-up, the convention itself, and their vacation-in-a-vacation at Disneyland in their report — filled with a ton of photos — over […]

ASIFA announces Winsor McCay recipients

At a private ceremony at Comic-Con, ASIFA-Hollywood announced the recipients of the Winsor McCay Awards – given for a lifetime of achievement in animation. John Lasseter, Mike Judge, and Nick Park will be honored with the award at the 2009 Annie Awards. Antran Manoogian, ASIFA-Hollywood president, said “Their career achievments and outstanding contributions to the […]

2008 Emmy nominees announced

The nominees for the 60th Primetime Emmy Awards have been announced. Here are the animated entries: Outstanding Animated Program (for Programming Less Than One Hour) • Creature Comforts America • King Of The Hill • Robot Chicken • SpongeBob SquarePants • The Simpsons Outstanding Animated Program (for Programming One Hour Or More) • Blue Harvest […]

Character from Pixar's Up revealed

Apparently gone unreported (as far as we can tell) since it’s release in November 2007, there is a bit of news about Pixar’s next film, Up, on the Blu-ray version of Ratatouille. In a scene where Remy is running through the walls of a building towards the rooftop he is chased by a dog, who […]

Disney announces ten animated films through 2012

The Walt Disney Studios unveiled an ambitious slate of 10 new animated feature films from Walt Disney and Pixar Animation Studios to be released through the year 2012 at a New York press conference held today by Dick Cook, chairman of The Walt Disney Studios, and John Lasseter, chief creative officer for Walt Disney and […]

UPDATE: Ice Age 3 trailer online – now in HD

The teaser trailer for Ice Age 3: Dawn Of The Dinosaurs can now be viewed online in QuickTime high definition exclusively at AOL Moviefone . Ice Age 3 is set to hit theaters on July 1st, 2009, and stars the voice talents of Ray Romano, John Leguizamo, Denis Leary, and Queen Latifah.

Cartoon Network announces 2008 programming

Cartoon Network announced its programming line-up for 2008 at its annual Advertising Upfront Presentation in New York City today. Filmmaker George Lucas made a guest appearance and introduced a new clip reel from the upcoming animated series, Star Wars: The Clone Wars. The new series will help launch a new programming strategy for the network, […]

Every South Park episode free online

Full episodes of South Park are available to view for free online at the show’s official website according to AWN. The site includes video clips and every episode of the show. The video can be fast-forwarded and rewound, excluding the embedded commercials that can not be skipped. The beta site also includes an avatar maker, […]