\\{{link http://www.thehollywoodreporter.com/thr/search/article_display.jsp?vnu_content_id=1000865912 The Hollywood Reporter}}\\ reviews \\Valiant\\, the Disney/Vanguard Animation film which has already opened in England and is slated to for an August 19th US release. \\THR\\ says that “despite a voice cast of big-name British stars including Ewan McGregor, Ricky Gervais and John Cleese, the movie almost certainly will head south for the […]

Recently named writer and director of the long-in-development \\Wonder Woman\\, Joss Whedon (\\Toy Story\\, \\Titan AE\\, \\Atlantis: The Lost Empire\\) plans to take the superhero back to her roots, according to {{link http://www.mtv.com/movies/news/articles/1498869/03222005/story.jhtml MTV.com}}. “I think she sort of sprang out fully formed, much like Athena herself. And, you know, it’s a question of really […]

Henry Selick (\\The Nightmare Before Christmas\\, \\James and the Giant Peach\\) is attached to direct a film version of the children’s novel \\The Wall and the Wing\\ for the independent animation company Vinton Studios according to a \\Variety\\ story reported by {{link http://comingsoon.net/news/topnews.php?id=8751 ComingSoon.net}}. In part one of an interview with \\{{link http://www.animationmagazine.net/article.php?article_id=3757 Animation Magazine}}\\ […]

{{link http://www.cartoonbrew.com/ Cartoon Brew}} has posted a CalArts student film from the late 1980’s by longtime \\The Simpsons\\ director Jim Reardon. A parody of the “heart-warming holiday” \\Peanuts\\ specials, \\Bring Me the Head of Charlie Brown\\ has Linus, Lucy, and the rest of the gang trying to bump Charlie Brown off to collect a bounty […]

Nicktoons and Frederator Studios are holding their second film festival, this year renamed “Nextoons: The Nicktoons Film Festival”. The festival aims to showcase the diversity of independent animated filmmaking. Animators from around the world can submit entries from March 28th through June 17th. Entry forms can be downloaded on {{link http://www.nicktoons.com www.nicktoons.com}}. Keith Dawkins, General […]

Fox/Blue Sky’s \\Robots\\ opens today in 3,776 theatres according to {{link http://www.boxofficemojo.com/counts/chart/?yr=2005&wk=10&p=.htm Box Office Mojo}}. The film has received fairly positive reviews, with 28 out 42 fresh reviews for a respectable 67% rating at {{link http://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/robots/ Rotten Tomatoes}}. The critics range from “Robots is in high gear from start to finish” (Jeff Strickler, \\Minneapolis Star […]

\\Pooh’s Heffalump Movie\\ opened a little below expectations in 5th place with $6 million according to {{link http://www.boxofficemojo.com/weekend/chart/ Box Office Mojo}}. The film is getting good reviews however, with a 75% freshness rating on the {{link http://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/poohs_heffalump_movie/ Rotten Tomatoes}} Tomatometer.

According to \\{{link http://www.latimes.com/business/printedition/la-fi-pixar11feb11,1,7547317.story The L.A. Times}}\\, Disney CEO Michael Eisner and Pixar CEO Steve Jobs have been publicly sparring with each other this week. When asked about Disney’s computer animation efforts during an investor conference last week Eisner “described as ‘pretty pathetic’ the computerized human characters created by Pixar, compared with the ones Disney […]

Former Lucasfilm Digital President Jim Morris has moved to Pixar where he will be producing one of the post-Disney films coming after Cars’ release in 2006, according to a {{link http://pixaranimation.blogspot.com/ Luxo}} report of a \\Variety\\ story. While at Lucasfilm Digital, Morris “oversaw effects and sound divisions of Industrial Light & Magic and Skywalker Sound. […]

Nominations for the {{link http://www.oscars.com/nominees/nominees.html 77th Annual Academy Awards}} have been announced. As expected \\The Incredibles\\ was the big animated winner with four nominations, including Best Animated Feature and Best Original Screenplay. DreamWorks got two of the three Best Animated Feature award nominations, for \\Shrek 2\\ and \\Shark Tale\\. And \\The Polar Express\\ ended up […]

Get in on the discussion of the 2005 Academy Awards at the Animated News Forum! If you’re not a member it only takes a few minutes to join. Oscar nominations are set to be announced in less than two days. What films will be nominated for Best Animated Film? Who should win? Who was robbed? […]

Animation didn’t fare well at the 62nd Golden Globe Awards with all three animated nominees losing. \\The Incredibles\\ lost for Best Picture (Musical/Comedy) to \\Sideways\\. \\Shrek 2\\’s “\\Accidentally In Love\\” and \\The Polar Express\\’ “\\Believe\\” both lost in the Best Original Song category to \\Alfie\\’s “\\Old Habits Die Hard\\”. Better news went to Robin Williams […]

{{link http://comingsoon.net/news/topnews.php?id=7913 ComngSoon.net}} reports that Disney will be remaking the 1982 film \\Tron\\. Brian Klugman and Lee Sternthal have been hired to write the script. “We are contemporizing it, taking these ideas that were ahead of the curve and applying them to the present, and we feel the film now has a chance to resonate […]

\\{{link http://www.detnews.com/2005/autosinsider/0501/09/A01-54477.htmThe Detroit News}}\\ has an in depth article with \\Car’s\\ director John Lasseter and Ford’s chief designer J Mays, who became friends during the production of the upcoming Pixar film. The article gives a ton of information about the film, including this about the film’s genesis and an overview: “This is a very personal […]

As the awards season marches on, the latest group to toss their hat into the ring is the {{link http://www.visualeffectssociety.com Visual Effects Society}}. The nominations for the {{link http://www.vesawards.com/ 3rd Annual VES Awards}} were announced yesterday in Los Angeles. Winners will be announced on February 16, 2005 at the Hollywood Palladium. Since almost every category […]

\\{{link http://www.sun-sentinel.com/news/local/florida/sfl-0105disney,0,1880058.story?coll=sfla-news-florida The Sun-Sentinel}}\\ reports that at this past week’s Orange Bowl college football national championship game Disney gave every member of the 72,000 member crowd a free Disney theme park ticket to promote the 50th anniversary of Disneyland. Disney spokesman Duncan Wardle said, “It is the biggest giveaway ever for our company”. If every […]

\\{{link http://film.guardian.co.uk/news/story/0,12589,1384368,00.html The Guardian}}\\ reports that in a major surprise the Producers Guild of America nominated \\The Incredibles\\ for their prestigious Best Picture award. As the PGA awards are presented by film producers, the very people who receive the trophies for Best Picture at the Academy Awards, they are considered a good indicator of Oscar […]

In separate stories, the \\Orlando Sentinel\\ notes that Disney may be tweaking two popular rides. {{link http://www.orlandosentinel.com/business/orl-bizmissionspace04010405jan04,1,4829075.story Mission: Space}}, which in its first eight months sent six people to the hospital for more than a day, has only had one person in the last six months visit the hospital for an extended stay. Disney says […]

{{link http://news.awn.com/index.php?ltype=top&newsitem_no=12764 AWN}} reports that Buena Vista Interactive and video game developer Capcom will release two video games this year based on \\Tim Burton’s The Nightmare Before Christmas\\. \\Oogie’s Revenge\\ will be released for PlaySation2 and Xbox, while \\The Pumpkin King\\ will be available for Game Boy Advance. Senior Vice President and General Manager of […]

{{link http://www.cgnetworks.com/story_custom.php?story_id=2671&page=1 CGNetworks}} has posted their CG Retrospective, a look back at the top 20 “CG-related things that happened in 2004. The criteria for selection were that the event or thing that happened in 2004 had to be innovative, landmark or very cool”. Included in the list are software, video game, and movie news and […]

\\Shrek 2\\ was the top grossing film at the US box office this year according to {{link http://www.boxofficemojo.com/yearly/chart/?yr=2004&p=.htm Box Office Mojo}}. Films of interest on the list (with their box office totals trough December 27) include: 1. \\Shrek 2\\, $441.2 million 2. \\Spider-Man 2\\, $373.6 million 4. \\The Incredibles\\, $251.7 million* 5. \\Harry Potter and […]

{{link http://www.thedigitalbits.com/mytwocentsa97.html#spo The Digital Bits}} has picked up a rumor that Paramount may be releasing \\Star Trek: The Complete Animated Series\\ on DVD on March 15. Originally aired in 1973 on NBC, \\Star Trek: The Animated Series\\ was at the time the most expensive animated series ever made, coming in at $75,000 per half-hour episode. […]

Ricky Gervais, the creator and star of the British hit show \\The Office\\, will be writing and lending his voice to an episode of \\The Simpsons\\ at the personal invitation of Matt Groening, according to {{link http://news.awn.com/index.php?ltype=cat&category1=Television&newsitem_no=12735 AWN}}. “I’ve got the rough idea, but this is the most intimidating project of my career,” Gervais said. […]

According to his {{link http://www.kellyfreas.com website}}, Frank Kelly Freas, one of the most prolific and popular science fiction artists in the world, died yesterday. In his long varied career as an artist Freas: illustrated stories for Isaac Asimov, Robert Heinlein, Arthur C. Clarke, A. E. Van Vogt, and many others; did covers for \\Mad Magazine\\; […]

\\{{link http://www.animationmagazine.net/article.php?article_id=3360 Animation Magazine}}\\ reports that \\Spider-Man 2\\ will be the first major motion picture to be screened using Sony’s new 4K Digital Projection System. The screening will take place on January 13 at the Entertainment Technology Center’s Digital Cinema Lab at the Hollywood Pacific Theatre, to be followed by a panel discussion on the […]

Stage, screen, and TV actor Jerry Orbach has died of prostate cancer at 69. Orbach gave voice to Lumiere in \\Beauty and the Beast\\ where he gave an unforgettable performance in the Academy Award nominated song \\Be Our Guest\\. He also voiced Sa’luk in \\Aladdin and the King of Thieves\\, where he again turned in […]

{{link http://www.moviegoods.com/movie_product.asp?master_movie_id=24545 }}Max and Dave Fleischer’s 1936 classic \\Popeye the Sailor Meets Sinbad the Sailor\\ and a rarely seen short by (hand drawn and stop motion) animator Charley Bowers titled \\There It Is\\ have been added to the {{link http://www.loc.gov/film/nfr2004.html National Film Registry}} according to the head of Library of Congress, James Billington. Each year […]

Roy Disney has posted an open letter on the {{link http://www.savedisney.com/letters/shareholder_proposal122204.asp Save Disney}} website coming out against a recent proposal by Disney shareholder Frank Wierenga that would reserve a seat on the Board of Directors for a member of the Disney family. Disney said while he appreciated the sentiment behind the proposal he warned that […]

The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciencens has {{link http://www.oscars.org/press/pressreleases/2004/04.12.17a.html announced}} the list of seven films that are being considered for nomination for the Oscar for Best Visual Effects at the upcoming Academy Awards. They are: \\The Aviator\\, \\The Day After Tomorrow\\, \\Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban\\, \\I Robot\\, \\Lemony Snicket’s A […]

\\{{link http://www.animationmagazine.net/article.php?article_id=3302 Animation Magazine}}\\ reports that DreamWorks is moving the release of \\Shrek 3\\ from November 2006 to May 2007. Yesterday DreamWorks Animation head Jeffrey Katzenberg said, “The sheer magnitude of the Shrek franchise has led us to conclude that a May release date, with a DVD release around the holiday season, will enable us […]