Information regarding the tenth anniversary of the hugely successful children’s franchise Bob The Builder can be found at Animation World Network’s website. In celebration of the occasion, a direct to DVD film is being released, titled Bob The Builder – Race To The Finish, along with a new music album, various special events, and more. […]

With previews beginning November 8 Shrek The Musical’s official website is up and running with lots of information on this new production. A new song written especially for the play, “I Know It’s Today,” can be previewed here. Thanks to Kristin for the heads up.

Over at o-meon Chuck Oberleitner gives an in-depth report of the recent Walt Disney Studios Showcase Event with information on Bolt, Car Toons, Pirates of the Caribbean 4, A Christmas Carol, Toy Story 3, a new Alice in Wonderland and more.

RottenTomatoes have come up with their list of 50 best-reviewed animated films of all time. Features on the list include Disney classics such as Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs, Studio Ghibli’s anime classic Spirited Away, Aardman’s stop motion smash Chicken Run, acclaimed and surreal foreign entries such as The Triplets of Belleville, and most […]

Collider reports that the re-releases of Toy Story films in 3D will not feature any new shots and nothing will be changed in the films when they return to cinemas next year. Jim Morris, producer of Wall-e, adds, “We’re not changing a thing in the movies. We’re doing it that completely preserves the original movie […]

AnimeNewsNetwork reports that Bandai Entertainment is all set to release Katsuhiro Otomo’s acclaimed anime classic Akira on Blu-ray Disc in Japan on February 20 and in United States on February 24, 2009. According to the report, the main feature on the disc will be presented in MPEG-4 AVC format with 16:9 aspect ratio and 1080p […]

Animation World Network reports that Car Toons, an animated short series featuring characters from the Cars franchise, is set to air on Disney Channel starting on October 27th. The series consists of three episodes, which are all told as tall-tales by Mater the tow-truck. Premiering first will be Rescue Squad Mater on the 27th, followed […]

Actor Paul Newman who, among many other roles including the iconic Butch Cassidy And The Sundance Kid, Cool Hand Luke, Fast Eddie Felson in The Hustler and his Oscar-winning sequel The Color Of Money, was the voice of Doc Hudson in Disney/Pixar’s Cars, has died from cancer at his home in Westport, Connecticut. He was […]

SCI-FI Wire reports that Andrew Stanton, the director of Pixar’s upcoming feature John Carter of Mars, with co-writer Mark Andrews will be putting their own spin on the iconic story. The site also shares that, according to a Pixar manager, the film will have a unique look as well. Jim Morris, general manager at Pixar […]

DVDActive reports that Warner Home Video has announced the dvd release of Star Wars: The Clone Wars on November 11. Available as a 1-disc, a 2-disc and a Blu-ray edition, extras on the 2-disc set will include “The Clone Wars: The Untold Stories”, “The Voices of The Clone Wars”, “Webdocs: Six making-of featurettes, as seen […]

A new banner promoting A Christmas Carol, which features a painting of a dark and snowy village, has been posted on SlashFilm. A direct link to the image can be found here. Thanks to Josh for the tip!

The Seward Street blog mentions that former Lilo and Stitch teammates Chris Sanders and Dean DeBlois have re-teamed as director and writer, respectively, on DreamWorks Animation’s How to Train Your Dragon.

.MTV Movies Blog has revealed that popular celebrity Oprah Winfrey has signed on to provide vocals for The Princess And The Frog. The talk show host and actress will be playing the role of Eudora, mother of the film’s lead character. Originally rumored to be slated for the role was Angela Bassett. The Princess And […]

According to Coming Soon, Pixar’s sequel to the summer hit Cars is now aiming for a 2011 release date, rather than its original goal of 2012. The news was announced at an all-day Disney event where presentation’s for the studios upcoming releases were held.

Disney Insider peers into the soul of its soon-to-be-released animated feature Bolt and finds technological advancements only enhancing the fine art nature of its animated films. “Taking cues from the art world, Disney animators have captured the essence of Edward Hopper’s visual poetry by giving Bolt a lush, painterly feel reminiscent of Disney greats Pinocchio […]

Anime News Network reports that the CGI adaption of Astro Boy now has an official date for it’s North American release: October 23, 2009. The film will be shown on over 3,000 screens across the continent. Thanks to ‘GeorgeC’ over at the Animated News & Views Forums for the tip.

TIME reviews Ponyo on the Cliff, the latest film by Hayao Miyazaki and also mentions that Disney will release Ponyo in North America, next year. In another review of Ponyo, Variety says, “Hayao Miyazaki’s latest animated epic, Ponyo on the Cliff by the Sea, unfolds with a magic limpidity, teeming with imaginative transports that owe […]

NPR.org has posted an article featuring Jeffrey katzenberg seeing 3-D as the third great revolution in the history of film. He predicts that in less than a handful of years the great majority of films will be made and shown in 3-D. Katzenberg’s Monsters vs Aliens and James Cameron’s sci-fi epic Avatar are two much […]

Animation World Network has posted an interview with Max Howard, producer of the recently released CGI flick Igor. Howard provides a behind-the-scenes look at what went into creating the independent film, including various locations Igor was animated in as well as what it took to nab the A-list cast of actors. The unique look of […]

An extended clip from Disney’s Bolt can now be viewed on Yahoo! Movies. The scene features Bolt and his hamster sidekick Rhino rescuing Mittens the cat from a pound. Bolt opens in theaters on November 21st. Thanks to ‘Wolf’ over at the Animated News & Views Forums for the heads up!

The latest installment of Latino Review’s Bolt articles can be read here. The story features an interview with Mark Walton, a story artist at Disney who also provided vocals for Rhino the hamster. Walton discusses his experience in voicing the character, mentioning that he was originally just a scratch voice for Rhino. Bolt hits theaters […]

According to Variety, animation studio Little Airplane, responsible for the Nickelodeon children’s show Wonder Pets, is planning on expanding to feature films. The small company currently has three projects currently in production, including one animated film, one live-action, and one hybrid of the two. “Wonder Pets showed us that we had the ability to create […]

Coming Soon reports that several actors have signed on to play various characters in Sony’s Cloudy With A Chance Of Meatballs, the big-screen adaption of the popular children’s book by the same name. Lending their voices to the film will be Bill Hader, Anna Faris, James Caan, Andy Samberg, Bruce Campbell, Mr. T, and Tracy […]

The animated horror-spoof Igor, which tells the story of a lab-assistant who dreams of becoming a mad scientist, opens in about 2,300 theaters today. The film is not faring overly well with critics, only earning 31% so far on Rotten Tomatoes. Sean Axmaker of the Seattle Post-Intelligencer calls the movie “… a haphazard collection of […]

AWN has a new interview now with Frédéric Back, independent animator of the 1987 Oscar-winning animated short, The Man Who Planted Trees. In the interview Back discusses his current work and his views on Disney animation past and Pixar animation present, among other subjects. Those local to or visiting the Los Angeles area between now […]

According to The Hollywood Reporter, the Monster House team of executive producer Robert Zemeckis and director Gil Kenan will collaborate again to bring Artemis Fowl author Eoin Colfer’s children’s adventure book Airman to the screen, using the same performance-capture technology as before. The plot concerns one Conor Broekhart, a “young man born in a hot […]

Due out next month Don Hahn’s forthcoming book The Alchemy of Animation: Making an Animated Film in the Modern Age now has a video teaser for it up at YouTube. Get a taste for the book by hearing (and watching) Don discuss the three principle types of animation: hand-drawn, stop motion, and computer-generated. (Viewing tip: […]

According to Animation World Network, Nickelodeon has picked up two new animated television series, Fanboy And Chum Chum and Team Umizoom. Fanboy and Chub Chub, a CGI series about a comic book fan and his loyal friend, is a spin-off of one of the Random! Cartoons, while Team Umizoon is a math-centered childrens’ program set […]

Actors Freddie Highmore, Bill Nighy, Miranda Richardson and Sienna Miller have all joined the cast for the upcoming animated flick A Fox’s Tale, reports Variety. Freddie Highmore will be providing vocals for Little Jack, the film’s main character, with Mike Moran composing the score and songs. A Fox’s Tale follows the story of a young […]

Latino Review has posted another Bolt-centered interview, this time with storyboard supervisor Nathan Gerno. Various topics discussed in the article include how the crew worked to bring the director’s vision to the screen, as well as how the studio’s atmosphere has changed since John Lasseter took charge. Bolt opens in theaters on November 21st.