MGM/Weinstein’s Arthur and the Invisibles opens wide in 2,247 theatres today according to Box Office Mojo. The critical consensus at Rotten Tomatoes is that the film (with a Tomatometer reading of 25%) “wastes its big-name voice talent on a predictable script and substandard CG animation”. Reviewers for Newsday and the Los Angeles Times are more […]

Lions Gate Films’ Happily N’Ever After opens this weekend in 2,381 theatres, according to Box Office Mojo. The film is being almost universally panned by the critics, scoring an abyssimal 5% on the Rotten Tomatoes Tomatometer – and a perfect 0% Rotten with their Cream of the Crop critics.

The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences announced Friday that seven films are on the shortlist for a nomination in the Visual Effects category at the 79th Academy Awards. The films are: Casino Royale, Eragon, Night at the Museum, Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man’s Chest, Poseidon, Superman Returns, and X-Men The Last Stand. […]

The Hollywood Foreign Press Association announced the nominations for the 64th Annual Golden Globe Awards today. Just established this year is a new category for Best Animated Film. President of the HFPA said, “Animated features have become an important component of the studio lineup so there was an overwhelming consensus that this new category be […]

Awards season gets into full swing this week, and Happy Feet has taken a head start on the competition. The New York Film Critics Circle and Los Angeles Film Critics Association have both named the film “Best Animated Film”, while the American Film Institute has selected it as one of the year’s top ten films. […]

The nominations for the 49th Annual Grammy Awards were announced today, and the three nominations going to animated entries this year were all from Disney/Pixar’s Cars. The film’s album was nominated for “Best Compilation Soundtrack Album”. Randy Newman picked up his 6th Grammy nomination, getting the nod in “Best Song Written For A Motion Picture” […]

The full list of nominees for the 2007 Annie Awards is now available. For the first time in Annie history, all voting for the 34th Annual Annie Awards will be cast online rather than by mail. A record high 3,700+ ASIFA-Hollywood members will be required to view judging material online for all nominees before casting […]

Various news outlets (including Cartoon Brew, The Hollywood Reporter, and the Associated Press) are reporting that nominations for the 2007 Annie Awards have been revealed. DreamWorks leads all studios with a total if 17 nominations, while DW’s Flushed Away and Pixar’s Cars lead all films with 9 nods. Full list coming soon… Best Animated Feature […]

ABC Entertainment announced that they have added a new DreamWorks Animation Christmas special to their library of holiday classics. Shrek the Halls will premiere in December 2007. The half-hour tv show will feature Mike Myers, Eddie Murphy, Cameron Diaz and Antonio Banderas reprising their roles from the theatrical feature films. Stephen McPherson, president of ABC […]

DreamWorks/Aardman’s Flushed Away opens today in 3,707 theatres, according to Box Office Mojo counts. The film is doing well with the critics, garnering a 76% on the Rotten Tomatoes Tomatometer. Bruce Newman of the San Jose Mercury News says the film is an “adventure that – in both its breathtaking ingenuity and breathless excitement – […]

Animation World Network, together with Paramount Pictures, has launched an exclusive micro-site dedicated to the production of DreamWorks and Aardman Animation’s first CG-animated feature collaboration, Flushed Away, which arrives in theaters on November 3. The site, online at flushedaway.awn.com, is geared towards fans and CG professionals alike. Features include: behind-the-scenes information via exclusive production diaries […]

DreamWorks unveiled the first preview of \\Bee Movie\\ last week on the \\Over the Hedge\\ DVD. Jerry Seinfled, who is writing, producing, and starring in the film, says “this is a world I can’t wait to tell you about”. \\Bee Movie\\ opens November 2007.

A trailer for Columbia/Sony Pictures Animation’s \\Surf’s Up\\ is now available online. Quicktime Low, Medium, High, HD, and iPod versions are available at the {{link http://www.apple.com/trailers/sony_pictures/surfsup/ Apple Movie Trailer site}}, while a PSP version is online (for Windows users only) at the {{link http://www.sonypictures.com/movies/surfsup/psp/popup.html Sony Pictures site}}. The trailer is done in a documentary style […]

Sony’s \\{{link http://www.sonypictures.com/movies/openseason/ Open Season}}\\ opens today at 3,833 theatres according to {{link http://www.boxofficemojo.com/counts/chart/?yr=2006&wk=39&p=.htm Box Office Mojo}}. The film has fared poorly with the critics, garnering only a 38% rating at {{link http://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/open_season/ Rotten Tomatoes}} where the critical consensus seems to be that “\\Open Season\\ is a cliched palette of tired jokes and CG animal […]

{{Link http://www.animationnation.com/cgi-bin/ultimatebb.cgi?ubb=get_topic&f=6&t=000344#000000 Animation Nation}} is {{link http://www.animationnation.com/ubb/ultimatebb.php?ubb=get_topic;f=1;t=011742 discussing}} an upcoming event sponsored by {{link http://www.animationguild.org/ The Animation Guild}} and {{Link http://www.seejane.org/ See Jane}} concerning the paucity of women in the field. “Animation Guild statistics show that only 16% of people working in creative or rendering jobs in animation are women”. The panel discussion, called “Where […]

{{link http://www.darkhorizons.com/news06/060927g.php Dark Horizons}} reports that Dimension Films has acquired the movie rights to the comic \\O.C.T.: Occult Crimes Taskforce\\. Actress Rosario Dawson, the co-creator and co-writer of the comic with David Atchison and Tony Shasteen, is slated to produce and star as a “New York City police detective who, after stumbling upon a gruesome […]

{{link http://www.comingsoon.net/news/indietopnews.php?id=16575 ComingSoon.net}} has an exclusive interview with \\Renaissance\\ director Christian Volckman. He talks about the unique animated look (“It’s all motion capture, and then the backgrounds are 3-D or matte paintings, but the whole of it is CGI”), his influences (\\Ghost in the Shell\\ or \\Akira\\. A lot of Manga stuff, Miyazaki, of course”), […]

\\Dungeons & Dragons\\ The Complete Series will be released on DVD December 5th according to BCI, the wholly-owned subsidiary of Navarre Corporation which has obtained the DVD rights to the original 1983 animated series. The five-disc boxed set will feature all 27 episodes for a suggested retail price of $54.98. The show is based on […]

From visual effects to architectural visualisation, computer games art to 3d computer animation, the {{link http://www.animex.net/awards Animex Student Animation Awards}} once again invites students from around the world to submit their work. You’ll need to hurry up though – they have issued a last call for entries. The deadline is October 1st. For more information […]

Hugh Jackman talks about one of the benefits of making animated films with {{link http://www.news.com.au/entertainment/story/0,,20472402-7485,00.html?from=public_rss News.com.au}}. “It is great to finally have something that my kids can see,” the father of two children, Oscar and Ava, stated. “Oscar has never seen any of my movies”. Jackman will voice the role of Roddy in DreamWorks/Aardman’s \\Flushed […]

\\{{link http://robotech.com Robotech: The Shadow Chronicles}}\\ won the Best Animated Sci-Fi Feature Award at the {{link http://www.horrorscifi.com/indexA.html 2006 International Horror and Sci-Fi Film Festival}}. President and CEO of {{link http://www1.funimationfilms.com:80/ FUNimation}} Gen Fukunaga said “This is an exciting award for \\Robotech: The Shadow Chronicles\\. It is a series that has a tremendous fan following, and […]

After an analyst upgrade, shares of DreamWorks Animation stock rose yesterday, according to the {{link http://biz.yahoo.com/ap/060926/dreamworks_mover.html?.v=1 Associated Press}}. Sanders Morris Harris Group analyst David W. Miller upgraded the company’s stock from”Hold” to “Buy” stating that the price was “too compelling to ignore”. Saying that “investors should now concentrate on 2007”, Miller pointed to several items […]

When Apple announced the addition of feature films to the iTunes store last week, Disney was the only studio on board – most others signed up to Amazon’s two week old movie download service, Unbox, presumably due to their fear of piracy and the tougher restrictions imposed by Amazon on its customers. Seven days later […]

{{link http://www.scifi.com/scifiwire/index.php?category=0&id=38150 Sci Fi Wire}} reports that the upcoming Warner Bros. animated film \\Happy Feet\\ will feature an original song penned by pop superstar Prince. Other singers with songs appearing in the film will include Robin Williams (with the Spanish version of \\My Way\\ heard in the teaser trailer), the singing debut of voice actress […]

\\South Park\\ is celebrating its 10th anniversary by airing “episodes that changed the world”, according to {{link http://news.awn.com/index.php?ltype=top&newsitem_no=17990 AWN}}. “Remember the episode when televised cussing almost brought about the apocalypse? How about the time Chef was brainwashed by an adventure-seeking cult? Nobody can forget the episode, “Trapped In The Closet,” where Tom Cruise and John […]

\\{{link http://www.ew.com/ew/report/0,6115,1535436_4_0_,00.html Entertainment Weekly}}\\ talks to \\American Idol\\ runner-up Katharine McPhee who addresses the rumors that she is at the top of the short list for the title role in Joss Whedon’s big-screen adaptation of \\Wonder Woman\\: “I’m not gonna deny it, or admit to it. But it’s funny because no one has even received […]

Now in its 30th year, the {{link http://ottawa.awn.com/ Ottawa International Animation Festival}} opens today and runs through Sunday. The festival is the largest event of its kind in North America and one of the most respected animation events in the world. The competitive film festival caters to industry executives, trend setting artists, students, and animation […]

\\{{link http://www.usatoday.com/life/movies/news/2006-09-18-pirates-DVD_x.htm USA Today}}\\ reports that producer Jerry Bruckheimer says that the third film in the \\Pirates of the Caribbean\\ trilogy, \\At World’s End\\, is “progressing nicely” eight months away from its scheduled release date. “We shot a lot of Chow Yun-Fat’s stuff already, and we should finish the principal actors by the beginning of […]

Butch Hartman, creator of \\The Fairly OddParents\\ and \\Danny Phantom\\, will be the featured guest speaker at {{link http://www.brookscollege.edu/events.asp Brooks College}} in Long Beach, California on September 20th. The event will run from at 6-8 PM.

Petaluma CA police arrested a Pixar finance manager last week after he sent sexually explicit images and messages from his office computer to an undercover detective posing as a 13-year-old girl, {{link http://forum.bcdb.com/gforum.cgi?post=68395 The Big Cartoon Database}} reports. The employee, who was given screen credit in several of the company’s films, was arrested at his […]