Culver City-based vfx shop Rhythm & Hues, which won the 2008 best visual effects Oscar for The Golden Compass, has opened a facility in Hyderabad, India. Variety reports that the two Indian facilities at Hyderabad and Mumbai now sport a total of about 250 employees, and more expansion is planned. R&H’s India facilities are teaming […]

Variety reports that the children’s movie review site kidspickflicks.com has named Pixar film Ratatouille as best of the year. This year’s choices were based off 107 votes from children ages 3-14. The “Ick” award for worst movie was The Golden Compass.

Variety reports that Disney Channel’s preschool Playhouse Disney block has put the animated skein Jungle Junction in production. The series, which will be produced in the U.K., revolves around animals who explore a road-filled jungle on wheels and will hit Disney Channel and Playhouse Disney outlets across the world in 2009. According to the report, […]

Variety reports that the authorities in Lebanon have lifted the ban on the Academy award nominated film Persepolis. Based on Marjane Satrapi’s graphic novel about growing up during the 1979 Iranian revolution, Persepolis will open on one screen April 9 with hopes to expand if reaction is positive.

Variety reports that Disney and ImageMovers have teamed with Michael Dougherty to create Calling All Robots, a sc-fi adventure that will feature the same performance capture technology used in Beowulf and The Polar Express. The project is “a throwback to old Godzilla movies”, and is being penned by Dougherty, Breehn Burns, and Simeon Wilkins. Dougherty […]

An interview with David Silverman, director of last summer’s The Simpsons Movie, can be read on APP. During the discussion, Silverman talks about his background history and artistic influences, as well as the budget of the Simpsons flick. The possibility of a equal to the hit big-screen adaption is also mentioned. “Well, commerce would indicate […]

UpcomingPixar reports that Sanders Art Studio in Ogden, Utah is auctioning few original art sketches from Disney/Pixar’s Academy award winning film Ratatouille drawn by Artist Tim Rogerson. The three sketches up for auction are, Remy ~ Ratatouille “Little Chef”, Gusteau~ Ratatouille “Anyone Can Cook” and Skinner ~ Ratatouille “No Soup for You!”. The auction was […]

UpcomingPixar, via Blu-Ray.com and TheDigitalBits, reports that Disney have pushed back the Blu-Ray release of Finding Nemo to 2009. The Blu-ray release was originally planned for Spring 2008. The sites also report that Disney will be releasing another Pixar catalog title along with the Blu-ray release of WALL-E this Fall.

UpcomingPixar shares a SlashFilm link featuring new concept art from the upcoming Disney/Pixar film WALL•E. The artwork, exhibited during the Pixar: 20 Years of Animation exhibit in Finland, shows the Axiom, where the humans currently reside, and also other areas featured in the movie. WALL•E opens nationwide on June 27, 2008.

Nominated for Best Dramatic Presentation, Long Form in this year’s Hugo Awards is Disney’s live-action/animated tale, Enchanted. Up for the award are writer Billy Kelly and director Kevin Lima. Other nominations in the catagory are The Golden Compass, Heroes, Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix, and Stardust.

Full episodes of South Park are available to view for free online at the show’s official website according to AWN. The site includes video clips and every episode of the show. The video can be fast-forwarded and rewound, excluding the embedded commercials that can not be skipped. The beta site also includes an avatar maker, […]

Mark Evanier has posted an interesting story about a song he heard when he was eight years old. It was from a 78 RPM Little Golden Record that he won at a Disney event that featured two songs from One Hundred and One Dalmatians. The A side was the well known Cruella De Vil, and […]

GhibliWold has a look at a watercolor made by Hayao Miyazaki that shows the world of his upcoming film Ponyo on the Cliff by the Sea. Naussica.net reports that according to the film’s production diary the number of the animation cels in Ponyo exceeds 160,000. That compares to about 148,000 for Howl’s Moving Castle, 140,000 […]

MOVIES (weekend box office from Box Office Mojo) 1. Horton Hears a Who! – $24.6 million ($86.0 million total) DVD (weekly sales from Nielsen VideoScan via The Hollywood Reporter) 1. Bee Movie 4. 101 Dalmations 6. Beowulf BROADWAY (weekly box office from Broadway.com) 2. The Lion King ($1,323,304) 3. The Little Mermaid ($1,186,297) 4. Mary […]

CGSociety has an excellent in-depth article where they talk to the the crew at Blue Sky Studios who worked on Horton Hears a Who! to find out what went into creating the unique look of the Who-world and its characters. The piece delves into the programming of the Seussian logic of exaggeration required to get […]

MSNBC reports that Japan has named an animated cat to be the country’s anime ambassador! Foreign Minister Masahiko Komura named Doraemon, a popular cartoon robot cat, to the post during an inauguration ceremony and said, “Doraemon, I hope you will travel around the world as an anime ambassador to deepen people’s understanding of Japan so […]

Alex Schwartz has been named head of development at DreamWorks Animation according to The Big Cartoon Database. Co-president of production Bill Damaschke said, “Alex is an exceptional and experienced executive with a proven track record. As we see the line between live action and animation continue to blur, we are eager to broaden our slate […]

Congratulations to animation historian Jerry Beck whose book The Hanna Barbera Treasury has been named a finalist in ForeWord Magazine’s Book of the Year Awards. The book is nominated in the “Popular Culture” category and faces competition from seven other entrants. Beck said, “This was a rare case where the finished book turned out exactly […]

Currently featured on Toon Zone is an article announcing the voice cast of the upcoming direct-to-DVD project, Batman: Gotham Knights. Playing Batman will be fan-favorite Kevin Conroy, who has voiced the character in numerous other animated outings starring the superhero. Gary Dourdan, Ana Ortiz, David McCallum, and Parminder Nagra will also voicing major characters. Batman: […]

Yahoo! News reports that the Academy Award nominated film Persepolis will be returning to 100 screens in the United States on April 11th. This time around, the animated autobiography will feature the English language, replacing the subtitles the film sported in its first run. Included in the cast are Chiara Mastroianni, Catherine Deneuve, Sean Penn, […]

AV Club has an interview with South Park creators Trey Parker and Matt Stone wherein they talk about the show, writing the hardest episodes and why they don’t want to make any more movies. Parker also talks about his collaboration with Matt over the years, the show’s tight schedule and why he never enjoyed making […]

Concluding Animated Views’ extensive Enchanted coverage, Jeremie Noyer speaks to the two men who made it all happen: director Kevin Lima and executive producer Chris Chase. The discussion is highlighted with some beautiful, never before seen development artwork chosen especially for us by them both, as they reveal how they finally brought the long on […]

This Saturday, March 22, Walt Disney Studios Home Entertainment will be present an Enchanted afternoon for families at The Grove of LA to celebrate the release of its animated/live action fairy tale to DVD and Blu-Ray. More information follows:

The official website for the upcoming sci-fi satire Monsters Vs Aliens has recently been launched by DreamWorks. The teaser site features a short intro, as well as information regarding the film’s plot and cast. Monster Vs Aliens is set to hit theaters in Ultimate 3D on March 27, 2009.

The Orange County Register today showcases the new Toy Story Mania ride coming this May to Walt Disney World in Orlando, Fl, and in June to Disney’s California Adventure theme park in Anaheim, CA. The 5½ minute ride is divided into several 31-second interactive carnival style games such as “an egg toss called Hamm ‘N’ […]

DVDActive has posted the cover art and details for the upcoming The Jungle Book 2: Special Edition dvd, due out on 17th June. According to the site, the film will be presented in 1.66:1, along with Dolby Digital 5.1 and DTS 5.1 Surround tracks. Extras on the disc will include deleted scenes (including the original […]

What if a live-action version of The Simpsons movie was to be made? Who would you cast as Bart or Homer? Filmonic has posted their list of cast, though according to the article, it is just for fun and they never want a live action movie to be made as The Simpsons are all about […]

NYTimes reports that a Japanese university plans to return about 250 pieces of original animation art to the Walt Disney Company that were mislaid in storage after traveling to Japan nearly five decades ago. The collection which includes cels, backgrounds, preliminary paintings and storyboard sketches was handpicked by Walt Disney himself and sent to Japan […]

Disney’s romantic part-animated musical comedy adventure Enchanted comes to DVD today, and we’re highlighting the release at Animated Views with a number of special articles, including exclusive interviews and never before seen artwork! • An interview with screenwriter Bill Kelly, Giselle’s Enchanted creator. • An interview with Disney executive Doug Short, who championed the project. […]

Variety reports that actors such as Gerard Butler, America Ferrera, Jonah Hill, Jay Baruchel and Christopher Mintz-Plasse will lend their voices for for DreamWorks Animation’s feature How to Train Your Dragon. Directed by Peter Hastings, Dragon marks the second film the studio will produce in Ultimate 3-D after Monsters vs. Aliens. How to Train Your […]