The San Jose Mercury News talks with composer/lyricist Richard Sherman, who discusses the creation of the music for Mary Poppins and his thoughts on the stage adaptation.

A new TV spot for Disney and Pixar’s Brave has been revealed over at ComingSoon.net. The spot plays like a commercial for a phoney album, and features a number of new bits from the film. Brave opens everywhere this June.

Cartoon Brew reports that a new 3D Simpsons short, titled The Longest Daycare, will be attached to the theatrical release of Ice Age: Continental Drift opening July 13th. Check out their site for a short teaser trailer. Thanks to ‘gaastra’ in the AV Forum for the heads up!

Digital Domain (Transformers, Tron: Legacy) has announced they plan to open a 150,000-square-foot production studio and media school in Abu Dhabi, the capital of the United Arab Emirates, in 2015. The new studio “would create English- and Arabic-language animated movies targeted at Middle Eastern audiences, as well as produce visual and 3-D effects”.

Film Screen Rejects visits the set of what they say might be “the year’s most impressive animated movie” — Laika’s ParaNorman.

NPR has a piece about what independent animation companies have to do to compete in a tough Chinese market dominated by state run media and foreign animation studios.

Former Disney Supervising Animator Ken Duncan’s Duncan Studio is currently working on an exciting app to teach kids the ABC’s but also about the monsters they fear so much. They are raising some money via kickstarter to help with the production. They only have 7 days to go and have raised only 50% for now. […]

Sorry for being a little slow on the uptake, but Where The Wild Things Are author Maurice Sendak passed away at 83. The NY Times has a in-depth article on his life. Sendak is renowned for turning the world of children’s literature upside down. His books are some of the first to depict kids as […]

Disney and Pixar’s Brave has been rated PG for “scary action and some rude humor,” according to ComingSoon.net. The movie marks only the third time that Pixar has gotten such a rating for one of their films. It opens everywhere this June.

Fans of Stan Smith and Stewie Griffin won’t have to worry about them going away anytime soon. THR is reporting that FOX has ordered new seasons for both Family Guy and American Dad this fall, bringing the hit cartoon shows to their 11th and 8th seasons respectively. The Cleveland Show, on the other hand, might be […]

McDonald’s makes mecha history by giving away Gundam toys in their Happy Meals…but only in Japan where they are called Happy Sets. Anime News Network has the basic rundown. The Happy Set toys will feature miniature mecha and trading cards from Mobile Suit Gundam UC and Mobile Suit Gundam AGE. Japanese McDonalds will release the […]

“Hulk smash…box office!” Everyone expected for The Avengers to be big, but no one had any idea just how big. According to THR, Disney’s The Avengers absolutely shattered box office records this weekend, earning the biggest opening weekend of all time with a whopping take of $200 million. To put into perspective just how big […]

A brand new full trailer for India’s UTV produced animated feature Arjun: The Warrior Prince is now available to watch online. A rough translation for the Hindi language trailer is offered by Cartoon Brew and can be found here. “The untold story of India’s greatest warrior” has been in development for a while, much before […]

Brad Bird is set to helm something called 1952 for Disney, a top secret project that is intended to be a tentpole release for the studio, Deadline is reporting. Nothing whatsoever is known about the movie, except that it has “multi-platform aspirations,” meaning that Disney is hoping that it can be translated into theme park attractions, […]

That’s right, ladies and gentlemen, the world’s biggest online shopping market wants you! And not just you, but your creative ideas for TV comedies and television shows. CinemaBlend reports that Amazon is searching for new content. TV writers are invited to post their scripts for Amazon staff review. One of the great things about this […]

British funnyman Steve Coogan (Percy Jackson, The Other Guys) will lend his voice to a currently unknown role in Universal’s upcoming Despicable Me 2. Coogan joins a cast that includes Al Pacino, Steve Carrell and Kristen Wigg. Wigg voiced the nasty orphanage owner Miss Hatie in the original Me, but she may be voicing a […]

Fox Animation, according to CinemaBlend, has bought the movie rights to The Hero’s Guide To Saving Your Kingdom, a children’s book by Christopher Healy. The book takes an opposite approach the the standard Disney fairytale by focusing on the princes’ POV rather than the princesses. Healy’s book wasn’t released to the public until May 1, […]

Despite great reviews The Pirates! Band of Misfits had a disappointing weekend at the box office. While coming in a better than some expected 2nd place the film only earned $11.1 million according to Box Office Mojo. That tally is the worst ever opening for Aardman on this side of the pond. It’s not all […]

Greetings Programs! Coming June 7 to Disney XD is Tron: Uprising a midquel cartoon that takes place between the first Tron movie and the second Tron: Legacy. Cartoon Brew has a brand new trailer. The show is about Beck a young program who becomes a revolutionary leader in The Grid against the evil forces of […]

Aardman’s The Pirates! Band of Misfits made the publicity rounds this week. Indiewire talked with director Peter Lord about DreamWorks Animation, Batman, and the allure of Pirates, while SFGate continues with the director on the pirate theme. The Kansas City Star discusses the history of stop motion animation and how Aardman is helping the medium […]

Sony/Columbia/Aardman’s The Pirates! Band of Misfits opens today in 3,358 theatres, according to Box Office Mojo. The film is a hit with the critics so far, earning an 87% fresh rating from Rotten Tomatoes. That number soars to 96% when counting only the top critics. Unfortunately Box Office Prophets doubts the movie will be a […]

Seth MacFarlene’s much-hyped reboot of The Flintstones is apparently “on life support,” if what The Hollywood Reporter says is true. The Family Guy creator’s script for the pilot was apparently rejected by FOX, with the network recomending that he put it on the backburner for now. A number of new writers had apparently been hired for […]

The first official plot summary for Sony Pictures Animation’s upcoming The Smurfs 2 has made its way to ComingSoon.net. The story will involve Gargamel the evil but bumbling wizard creating a breed of evil Smurf-like creatures in an attempt to  kidnap Smurfette, who holds the key to capturing his little blue enemies once and for all, […]

A new trailer for Sony Animation’s upcoming Hotel Transylvania is now available online here. Due in theaters September 28, 2012, this is the story of a place where monsters, from Frankenstein to Big Foot, have been able to rest in peace. Until now… You can also view the first teaser poster here:

ComingSoon.net has the news out of CinemaCon detailing Pixars 2014-15 slate of films. The Good Dinosaur, directed by Bob Peterson, will debut on May 30, 2014. Pete Docter’s untitled film “that takes you inside the mind” is now set for June 19, 2015. Also announced was director Lee Unkrich’s next project with producer Darla Anderson […]

A new trailer for Brave is available online at Apple’s website. The Disney/Pixar film is set open June 22, 2012.

In somewhat surprising news, Disney Chairman Rich Ross has rather abruptly resigned from the company, THR is reporting. “I believe in this extraordinary Walt Disney Studios team, and I believe in our strong slate of films and our ability to make and market them better than anyone else,” Ross, who only had the position since late 2009, […]

Despite rumors that indicated otherwise, Jason Segal will not be making a cameo in the upcoming Muppets sequel, CinemaBlend is reporting. “My goal was never to take over the helm of The Muppets. They have people who are better equipped for that,” the Five-Year Engagement star said. “My only goal was to bring back the Muppets […]

New character posters for Ice Age 4 made their way online this week, and can be viewed at the IMP Awards. The latest film in the blockbuster franchise comes to theaters everywhere this July.

Can you believe that Disney is already planning the next Muppet movie? Co-writer of The Muppets Nick Stoller and director James Bobin are already writing a sequel to the 2011 blockbuster. Thirteen pages have already been written and it will be a comedy caper with new characters. Jason Segel might make a cameo and Disney […]