News Archive for Josh Armstrong

TV to DVD news: Star Trek, Thundercats, Looney Tunes, Voltron, Sabrina

Star Trek: The Animated Series‘ DVD premiere will present two featurettes, three text commentaries, and three audio commentaries, says DVD Active, regarding the latest word on the set’s offering. In addition, the site is hosting high-res cover artwork for the title, displaying its packaging with and without a cardboard slip. Meanwhile, TV Shows on DVD […]

Contour improving motion-capture process

San Francisco-based Mova LLC is working to improve the motion-capture technology used in such movies as Monster House and The Polar Express, writes Yahoo! News/Associated Press. Employing a system of light flashes too quick for the human eye to detect, the Contour Reality Capture System is able to arrest movements that former motion-capture processes could […]

Barnyard clips, interviews

Coming Soon has collected four scenes (‘Cow Tipping/Boy Tipping,’ ‘Everett the Dog,’ ‘Have You Seen Otis,’ ‘You Have a Lot to Learn’) from Barnyard: The Original Party Animals. The site likewise has five video interviews with the movie’s stars: Sam Elliot, Kevin James, Courteney Cox, Andie MacDowell, and Director/Writer Steve Oedekerk.

Munroe, Gray talk TMNT

Director Kevin Munroe and Producer Thomas Gray talk about next year’s TMNT, the CGI film debut of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles. The interviews especially regard the tone and target-audience for the movie.

Sneak peek at upcoming Cars cars

Jim Hill Media points to an EzBoard post, where listed are past, present, and future die-cast Cars cars. A glimpse at the next line of toys on the way reveals “Radiator Springs” Lightning McQueen, the all-blue “young” Mater, the Fabulous Hudson Hornet racer, the Michael Schumacher Ferrari, a yellow Ramone and the Hamm Truck.

Weta to work on Avatar

As posted at Coming Soon, Weta Digital has issued a press release announcing that the company, including Oscar-winning Senior Visual Effects Supervisor Joe Letteri, has agreed to develop “visual effects, creatures and digital environments” for James Cameron’s Avatar. “Avatar tells a new kind of story in a world we’ve never seen before,” says Letteri. “It […]

TV to DVD news: Gargoyles, Thundercats, Fraggle Rock

TV Shows on DVD tells 1,000 people that Gargoyles is on DVD – and then suggests that everyone else tell 1,000 people the news as well. This action is the result of Greg Weisman’s words at Comic-Con 2006, asking fans of the show to spread the word that Gargoyles – Season 1 and Season 2, […]

Mainframe accepts resignation of directors

SYS-CON Media reports Mainframe Entertainment, Inc. is accepting the resignations of Stephen Brown, Morris Berger, Marcelo Fischer and John Hyde, as Directors of Mainframe. This move comes as the result of RNK Capital Limited Partnership’s buying the 62% interest once owned by IDT Entertainment. Nominees to fill the now-vacant positions have yet to be announced.

FUNimation acquires Robotech film

Navarre Corporation’s FUNimation Entertainment has acquired home video, broadcast, and theatrical rights to the film Robotech: The Shadow Chronicles from Harmony Gold. “Robotech is the series that introduced an entire generation to anime,” commented Gen Fukunaga, priesident and CEO of FUNimation. “It captured fans with its tremendous storylines and great storytelling. The Robotech series also […]

Ratatouille finds competiton to Live Free or Die Hard

Variety via Coming Soon indicates that battling Disney/Pixar’s Ratatouille for the top spot at the box office next June 29th will be Live Free or Die Hard, the long-anticipated fourth outing in the Die Hard series. The two films will then go head-to-head with Transformers five days later, on July 4th.

New Rankin/Bass blog opens

Rankin/Bass Historian and Biographer Rick Goldschmidt has opened a blog dealing with one of his main interests in life: Rankin/Bass Studios. Noticed by Cartoon Brew, the site serves as a companion piece to Goldschmidt’s already popular Enchanted World Of Rankin Bass online database.

Meet the Robinsons at SIGGRAPH 2006

Jim Hill Media spotlights the Meet the Robinsons display Walt Disney Feature Animation is offering at SIGGRAPH 2006. Located at the Boston Convention & Exhibition Center, concept art for the film generously adorns Booth 1227. Furthermore, maquettes of characters Wilbur Robinson, Lewis, Bowler Hat Guy, and the robotic bowler hat Doris may be viewed as […]

New Spider-Man series turns from TV to DVD

The Hollywood Reporter states that the upcoming Spider-Man animated series will head directly to DVD next year. The package will include the show’s first 13 half-hour episodes. This move is the starting one made by Culver Entertainment, launched from Sony Pictures Television for the purpose of direct-to-DVD activities.

Premiere held in Barnyard

ITV News reports from the premiere of Paramount Pictures and Nickelodeon Movies’ Barnyard: The Original Party Animals, where Courteney Cox Arquette and Kevin James were on hand to talk about the comedy. Pictures from the event, held July 30th at the Cinerama Dome theatre in Los Angeles, may be found through Yahoo! News and Getty […]

Sony checks into Hotel Transylvania

The comedy Hotel Transylvania has been given the greenlight at Sony Pictures Animation, says Variety via Coming Soon. The project will be directed by Anthony Stacchi and David Feiss, while Michelle Murdocca will produce. Screenwriter Don Rhymer is penning the screenplay. Hotel Transylvania looks at “a group of classic monsters including Frankenstein, the Mummy, Dracula […]

Online tour of Pixar

Ken Bautista from the blog Luxo serves an interesting tour of Pixar Animation Studios in Emeryville, California. Within the report, he lists the top ten highlights of his trip, from the Renderfarms to the animation department huts. Coinciding alongside the report is a Flickr album of the noteworthy visit.

Nightmare Before Christmas 3-D trailer online

The trailer for Tim Burton’s The Nightmare Before Christmas 3-D has arrived at Coming Soon, in a variety of QuickTime, Windows Media, and Real Player sizes. The movie will show in select theaters this October 20th, in Disney Digital 3-D.

Big Feet

Yahoo! News and the Australian Associated Press regard how far the makers of Happy Feet went to give their film a photo-real feel. According to Director George Miller, the film boasts more computer power than that which the Pentagon uses. The article also indicates that after a recent screening of the movie, an impressed Prince […]

Garfield 2 poster, DVD news

The Internet Movie Poster Awards contains a Swedish one sheet for Garfield: A Tale of Two Kitties, titled simply Garfield 2 in Sweden. Meanwhile, the feline follow-up is coming to DVD this October 10th, an advertisement for the release reveals. DVD Active displays the ad containing an early look at the project’s cover artwork.

Latest on upcoming Disney animation

The Animation Guild Blog gives a brief update on the current happenings of such Walt Disney Feature Animation projects as Meet the Robinsons and American Dog. Likewise, the piece sheds some light on a rumor of the morale now at Disney Feature Animation, and mentions Disney Toons’ shift to original projects rather than sequels.

Lil' John, Rice, Sprackling to direct Gnomeo & Juliet?

Tom Rice, Rob Sprackling, and rapper Lil’ John are attached to direct the Miramax/Rocket production of Gnomeo & Juliet, according to The Internet Movie Database. Due to the site’s user-submitted nature, an official confirmation should arrive before this news is seen as more than a rumor. Sprackling directed the 1998 short Green Monkey, while Rice […]

The Ant Bully roundup

As The Ant Bully continues its second day in wide release, numerous headlines for the movie have appeared online. For instance, Jim Hill Media‘s Roger Colton interviews cinematographer Ken Mitchroney about Ant Bully‘s influences and behind-the-scenes experiences. Meanwhile, a look at the film’s premiere at the Grauman’s Chinese Theatre in Los Angeles is taken by […]

Happy Feet poster and trailer online

The full trailer for Happy Feet may be viewed at Moviefone, while the movie’s poster is on display at the Internet Movie Poster Awards. Happy Feet will tap dance into theaters this “Novemburrr” 17th.

DVD news: Looney Tunes, Over the Hedge, Ice Age 2

Concering cover artwork and bonus features, DVD Active contains the latest information on the DVD releases of Over the Hedge (October 17th), Looney Tunes: Golden Collection Vol. 4 (November 14th), and Ice Age: The Meltdown (November 21st).

Ratatouille cast confirmed

Coming Soon confirms the voice cast for Disney/Pixar’s Ratatouille. Patton Oswalt, Brian Dennehy, Brad Garrett, Janeane Garofalo, Ian Holm and John Ratzenberger have all signed on for the feature, coming June 29, 2007.

Animated Comic-Con coverage!

On Thursday, July 20th, over 100,000 comic and film fans united for a single purpose: San Diego’s Comic-Con International 2006. This year, largely represented before the “Con-verts” was a cornucopia of animated undertakings – from feature films to television series to DVD releases. Separating the revelations and speculations by studios, Animated News provides a handy […]

Grinch steals "Deluxe Edition" DVD

On November 21st, the 1966 animated classic How the Grinch Stole Christmas! will break into stores once more, this time in a “Deluxe Edition” DVD. Extras for the package, according to DVD Active, will include: “an audio commentary, interviews, a ‘Jump to Musical Selections’ feature, pencil tests, and the animated feature Horton Hears a Hoo!” […]

First Act of Rapunzel gets positive reception

The Animation Guild Blog writes that Walt Disney Feature Animation’s Rapunzel may be coming along quite nicely. “The word around the studio is that the First Act of Rapunzel found favor at its unspooling up in Emeryville. John Lasseter, I was told, gave plenty of notes to director Glen Keane but overall liked what he […]

Ultimate Avengers 2 clip online

Lionsgate Home Enterntainment has given MovieWeb and its superhero subsidiary SuperheroFlix an exclusive clip from the direct-to-DVD Ultimate Avengers 2: Rise of the Panther. The sequel is scheduled for an August 8th release.

Images: Barnyard, Flushed Away

Latino Review exposes a few new screenshots from Paramount Pictures/Nickelodeon Movies’ Barnyard: The Original Party Animals and DreamWorks/Aardman’s Flushed Away.