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.

The L.A. Times has more about and reaction to the recent name change of Disney’s Rapunzel to Tangled. Ed Catmull, president of Disney and Pixar Animation Studios said, “We did not want to be put in a box. Some people might assume it’s a fairy tale for girls when it’s not. We make movies to […]

Dean DeBlois and Chris Sanders talk with the L.A Times about the 12 month deadline they faced when brought in to rework DreamWorks’ How to Train Your Dragon. The tight schedule meant the film became more of a director’s movie rather than a film by committee. DeBlois said, “It’s a model that allows for too […]

Pete Docter picked up the Oscar for Best Animated Film and Michael Giacchino won for Best Score for Disney/Pixar’s Up at the 2010 Academy Awards. Avatar picked up prizes for Cinematography, Visual Effects, and Art Direction. Logorama was the winner of the Best Animated Short Film Oscar. The full list of winners is online here.

Up won Best Animated Feature and Michael Giacchino picked up the Best Score trophy at the British Academy Film Awards. Avatar had a mildly disappointing night, losing in six of the eight categories it was up for, but taking home the Best Special Visual Effects and Best Production Design awards. Mother of Many won Best […]

The trailer for Waking Sleeping Beauty is now online at Apple. The documentary, which is financed and distributed by Disney, looks at the company during the turbulent period from the 1980s to early 1990s. But according to filmmakers and critics the film is no white-washed version of events. Read on to see what director Don […]

Family Guy creator Seth MacFarlane talks candidly about his three shows now airing on FOX, why there are no boundaries he won’t cross, and even gets into his personal life and how he got into animation in a long piece over at the Scottish Daily Record.

Aniboom and Sesame Street are sponsoring a contest to find talented animators who might get a chance to have their work air on the iconic children’s program. Entrants need to create a short preschool-aimed animation. Winners in five categories will get $5,000 and a grand prize winner will receive an additional $5,000. All winning animators […]

After watching the ten nominees in the Best Live-action Short and Best Animated Short Oscar categories, The Faster Times has a five-point hypothesis on what it takes to make an Oscar nominated short film. The tongue-in-cheek but funny-becasue-it’s-true “recommendations” range from “going with what works” as in A Matter of Loaf and Death, to “flattering […]

HBO will debut a new animated series starting February 19th based on the popular podcast The Ricky Gervais Show. Those unfamiliar with the podcast can get a more in-depth primer on it and the animated series from the Toronto Star, but the gist is three funny guys sit in a studio and riff about what […]

To help celebrate their 50th anniversary, the international animation festival Annecy has announced an online competition co-sponsored by YouTube. While open to everyone there are specific guidelines entries need to follow, which you can find on their website. The top winner will receive a week at Annecy 2010 (transportation to France, accommodations, and accreditation included) […]

Forbes has an interview with DreamWorks Animation Head of Worldwide Marketing & Consumer Products Anne Globe, where she discusses how the company markets their films.

Apple has the new trailer for Toy Story 3 available in resolutions for your iPod all the may up to 1080p HD.

Toy Story 3 director Lee Unkrich has been tweeting the past week that big news about the film would be announced this week. It appears to start today with the first of 14 new characters being revealed. Ain’t it Cool News has the first look at Barbie’s long time boy toy Ken, voiced by Michael […]

UPDATE: ComingSoon.net has retracted the story below based on Iger being misquoted. Cars 2 is still on track for June 24, 2011. Disney/Pixar’s Cars 2 has been moved to December 2011 from June 2011, ComingSoon.net reports. Disney President and CEO Bob Iger noted the change during the company’s first quarter 2010 earnings call on Tuesday.

According to Deadline Hollywood, Warner Bros is looking to possibly reboot the Superman franchise — with Batman helmer Chris Nolan taking the lead. While probably not directing the project, Warner Bros is hoping that with Nolan’s leadership as a sort of “godfather” they can “set it in the right direction with the critics and the […]

ABC News reports that Imagi Animation Studios has shut down. The parent company of the studio behind TMNT and Astro Boy is trying to stave off financial problems. But Imagi says will continue to develop movie ideas and then outsource work to others. The news does not mention the status of other Imagi projects in […]

Michael Barrier has a fascinating essay on the story behind the story of Dumbo. The first version of Dumbo was copyrighted in 1939, but not in normal book form. Instead the thing stated life on an odd and interesting device from the late 1930’s called a “Roll-A-Book”. Barrier’s piece goes in depth with lots of […]

Reuters reports that the second film in a three picture deal between Lionsgate and Crest Animation is slated for 2012 and is titled Norm of the North. The story features a polar bear forced out of his arctic home who finds work in New York. Later this year the two companies will release Alpha and […]

Some Oscar reactions from the directors behind the Best Animated Feature nominated Coraline and the Best Animated Short nominated French Roast follows: