News Archive for Whitney Grace

Studio 4°C Set Animated Short Dubbed Jesus

Japan’s Studio 4°C will animate a 9 minute short on the last days of Jesus Christ told from the perspective of thief who was crucified at the same time. The short is called “My Last Day” and is based off the 1979 movie Jesus from the Campus Crusade for Christ. Barry Cook, director of Disney’s […]

Zemeckis To Produce How To Survive A Garden Gnome Attack

After the Mars Needs Moms disaster and the plug was pulled on the Yellow Submarine remake, Robert Zemeckis of The Polar Express and Who Framed Roger Rabbit fame has a new project. He will be producing a live action/animated movie based on the book How To Survive A Garden Gnome Attack. The film is budgeted […]

Warner Brothers To Animate The Dark Knight Returns

Warner Brothers Animation is responsible for the top-quality DC animated movies and series that have come out recently. After they adapted All Star Superman, they’ve turned their attention to Frank Miller’s classic The Dark Knight Returns. Miller’s graphic novel rebooted the Batman franchise and set the precedent for the dark, brooding caped crusader we know […]

Starz Animation Gets A New Name

The visual effects and animation studio based in Toronto Starz Animation sees new ownership and a new name: Arc Productions. The newly named studio will continue to do work on a contract basic, including work on Starz’ Camelot mini-series and Robosapien: Rebooted. In fall 2011, they will also release Dolphin Tale starring Morgan Freeman and […]

Miyazaki’s First Manga-People of the Desert

Hayao Miyazaki dabbled in manga before he became a renowned storyteller. His first original manga People of the Desert (Sabaku no Tami) is available online from The Ghibli Blog. Miyazaki worked at Toei Daga as an animator when he wrote this manga and you can see how his style evolved while making it.

First Footage of the new ThunderCats

We’ve been teased with posters and images for months, but finally the first footage of the new ThunderCats series is available from Warner Brothers Animation. The story is pretty straightforward: a young Lion-O and his fellow ThunderCats must fight the evil forces of Mum-Ra after his father, King Claudius, fails. Larry Kenney, the voice of […]

Wonder Woman’s New Costume

After an outcry from the Internet, the new Wonder Woman pilot starring Adrianne Palicki has a new costume design. The first costume design resembled shiny vinyl with high-heeled boots and could be bought at any store during Halloween. Palicki’s new wardrobe has a more natural look without the heels. The Wonder Woman pilot will premiere […]

Muppet Mansion Sold!

Jim Henson’s former studio in New York recently found a new buyer. Jesse Angelo, editor of The Daily purchased the townhome dubbed the Muppet Mansion. Henson bought the house in 1977 for $600,000 to serve as a workshop for his creations. After his death, his estate sold the home to a Bank of American executive […]

The Looney Tunes Show Videos and Pictures

Cartoon Network has updated The Looney Tunes Show website with new videos. Hop on over to the site and see how the show has changed from the original classics. Character designs aside, the clips present shows that follow don’t rely only on slapstick comedy but a developed storyline as well. Keep an eye on it […]

The Original Princess Mononoke And Death of Diana Wynne Jones

Before Miyazaki’s Princess Mononoke was about a girl trying to save her forest home, it was an illustrated storybook about a cat, a possessed duke, and a loyal daughter. The Ghibli Blog has the entire book scanned with an English translation for your enjoyment. While still on Miyazaki, Diana Wynne Jones, author of Howl’s Moving […]

Cartoon Network Lines Up 13 New Shows, Including DC Block

2012 will be a hefty debut year for the Cartoon Network with thirteen new shows. How To Train Your Dragon and Green Lantern are being spun off into their own TV series. Two industries will be revived: ThunderCats and the Warner Brothers characters in The Looney Tunes Show. Ben 10 is getting another show and […]

Walt Disney, The Haunted Mansion, and…Rasputin?

There are Disney myths (i.e. Walt Disney being cryogenically frozen) and there are Disney facts, such as Walt Disney and Grigori Rasputin. When Disneyland’s Haunted Mansion was built in the 1960s, Disney thought about using Rasputin’s image (“holy man” and advisor to Czarina Alexandria–wife of Russia’s last czar Nicholas II and mother of the famous […]

Classic Nick Toons Coming To Blu-Ray

Nickelodeon has announced its commitment to bring its classic Nick Toons and live-action series to Blu-Ray and airwaves. Nick Toons are the animated series that aired in the 1990s and later on Nickelodeon’s Noggin channel. For many people growing up in that decade, these cartoons were an integral part of their youth. On May 17, […]

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles CGI Reboot

We haven’t heard much from the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles franchise for awhile, but we found a sneak peek for the upcoming CGI movie for 2012 from Nickelodeon. The animation still looks to be in the early rendering stages or it might be the movie’s style. The turtles have seen many mutations over the years […]

Korra of the Water Tribe: Sequel to Avatar: The Last Airbender

Avatar: The Last Airbender has an upcoming sequel titled Korra of the Water Tribe. The series follows Korra the new avatar as she learns the four bending elements in a world quite different from Aang’s time. The live action movie from M. Night Shyamalan did not fair well in reviews, but here’s hoping this animated […]

Spain’s Newest Animated Film: Arrugas

Here’s another film proving that animation isn’t just for kids. Arrugas (Wrinkles) is about two senior citizens and their friendship. It’s based off the comic book by Paco Roca and is a hand drawn feature length film. Cartoon Brew has the trailer. The movie is set to be released in Fall 2011 for Spain, but […]

Tron: Uprising Trailer

Over at SlashFilm, they have the newest trailer for Tron: Uprising. A spin-off of Tron: Legacy, the new series will launch a new franchise. It will premiere on Disney XD in summer 2012 after a ten episode mini-series coming fall 2011. The series focuses on a young program heading a digital revolution with the help […]

JapanNYC Fest to Show Rare Miyazaki Shorts

Miyazaki fans if you can make it to New York City for the JapanNYC Fest, you will be treated to two rare shorts. House Hunting and Mon Mon the Water Spider will be shown on March 26 at Carnegie Hall. These two shorts are dialogue free and part of a collection of eight made especially […]

News on American Akira script

A live-action American version of the Japanese cult classic anime Akira is in development. The plot has been altered from the original story: taking place in Neo-Manhattan instead of Neo-Tokyo, the two male leads are brothers instead of best friends, and more emphasis on the original drug subplot. The script mentioned in the article is […]

New Thunder Cats Trailer

The anime-inspired Thunder Cats cartoon now has an official trailer. Taking the same revamp path as He-Man and the Masters of the Universe a few years back, the trailer gives us some hints that the the original story line has changed. Lion-O isn’t a child at the beginning of the series, Thundera may not be […]

Gnomeo & Juliet Clips

The Stars Entertainment/Touchstone Pictures film will debut on February 11 after years of being transferred or shut down by one studio after another. Gnomeo and Juliet is a comical reimagining of Shakespeare’s tragic romance with garden gnomes. If you can’t wait until next week to see the film, io9 has gathered clips, a music video, […]

Biggest Collection of Early Animated Cartoons

One would imagine that the world’s biggest collection of early animation would be housed in an archive or a museum. It’s actually owned by a 21 year college student José Stathes. He’s been collecting animation since the age of eleven and he hopes to use his collection to revive early cartoons. Read the entire story […]

What do Johnny Depp and Kathryn Beaumont have in common?

Jim Hill Media takes a close look at how the new film Rango was recorded and finds that it was quite similar to how the Walt Disney Company shot live-action sequences as reference points for animators. Kathryn Beaumont, Disney Legend and voice of Wendy (Peter Pan) and Alice (Alice in Wonderland) provides an interview for […]

First Concept Art: Sherman and Mr. Peabody

Earlier we reported that a film based off The Rocky and Bullwinkle cartoon Sherman and Mr. Peabody was in development with Robert Downey, Jr. as the voice of the intellectual canine. Cartoon Brew has the first concept art for Downey’s character. At first glance, Mr. Peabody resembles Droopy Dog the MGM/Warner Brothers character.

Thunder-Thunder-Thundercats…Anime?

Children of the 1980s, rejoice! The beloved Rankin-Bass cartoon Thundercats is being revitalized anime-style. Warner Brothers released a promotional image seen at right. The character designs appear to retain the feeling of the original characters, but updated to appeal to a new audience. Release dates, plotlines, and other details have yet to be released. Source: […]

Angry Birds, The Cartoon?

Have you played the smartphone app game Angry Birds? Did you spend countless hours launching birds at green pigs? Would you like to see them in a cartoon? The New York Post announced that the popular and addictive game might get a TV series or feature film deal. Rovio, the game’s parent company, was interested […]

Animated Edgar Allan PoeThe Tell-Tale Heart

Edgar Allan Poe, famous Gothic poet and writer, published The Tell-Tale Heart in 1843. Michael Swertfager created a 16 minute short of the story, using the same software as Pixar. It’s quite evident the difference a budget can make, but the short is still a wonderful homage to the long dead poet. More at Starkinsider.com

Robert Downey Jr. to star in DreamWorks’ Peabody and Sherman

Entertainment Weekly reports that Robert Downey Jr. will star in a computer animated adaptation of Peabody and Sherman, a cartoon series shown with The Rocky and Bullwinkle Show. The Iron Man star will voice the genius canine, Mr. Peabody. The movie is scheduled to be released in 2014 as a 3-D film and is being […]

DreamWorks Goes Bollywood: The Monkeys of Bollywood

DreamWorks Animation has announced that their newest animated film will be called The Monkeys of Bollywood based off the epic Indian poem Ramayana. It will be a diverse collaboration between many big names in the entertainment industry: Stephen Schwartz the famous Broadway lyricist and scorer for The Prince of Egypt, Gurinder Chadha the director of […]

India’s Tata Elxsi purchases majority stock in US animation company

In the past few months, we’ve seen Bollywood trying to develop Indian animation. Tata Elxsi, an Indian based company, recently acquired the majority stock in the US animation company A Squared Entertainment. While Tata Elxsi is going more Hollywood than Bollywood, the joint venture will produce children’s programs via the Internet, television, and gaming and […]