According to Ain’t It Cool News the US will get a theatrical release of Star Wars: Clone Wars on August 15 to kick off the CGI animated television series. The Clone Wars storyline takes place between Episodes II and III in George Lucas’ Star Wars film saga.

“DreamWorks Theatricals and Neal Street Productions, Ltd. are pleased to announce that Shrek the Musical will open at the Broadway Theatre on Sunday, December 14, 2008. Preview performances begin on November 8, 2008 following a pre-Broadway run at Seattle’s The 5th Avenue Theatre, August 14 to September 21.” The full press release follows:

The British Academy of Film and Television Awards were announced this Sunday evening in London’s West End. In the face of the almost concluded WGA strike, the ceremony proved to draw the glittering celebrities who might not have otherwise gotten a chance at walking down a red carpet had the Oscars not gone ahead later […]

Variety reports that Pixar’s Ratatouille was the big winner at 35th Annie Awards, held on February 8, 2008, where it won 9 trophies, including best animated feature. Ratatouille also won writing and directing for Brad Bird, best voice acting for Ian Holm, best character animation, music, storyboarding, and production design. Other winners include Sony Pictures […]

SuperHeroHype reports that an animated Speed Racer film will be released to DVD on May 6th, with a special airing of the feature on Nicktoons four days prior. Setting up the new animated television series, Speeed Racer The Next Generation: The Beginning has a run time of 66 minutes, and is hoping that hype surrounding […]

A handful of new screen captures from the upcoming Kung Fu Panda have appeared on FilmWeb’s site. To view the images, click the link on that reads “zobacz caÅ‚Ä… galeriÄ™” or any of the four images that appear on the page. Thanks to ‘CGIFanatic’ over at the Animated News & Views Forums for the heads […]

Cartoon Brew points to a pair of recent radio interviews with writer-director Brad Bird which are worth a listen. The first interview elaborates on what he thinks is wrong with Hollywood filmmaking and about how animation is treated at the Academy Awards. The second interview gets off to quite a bad start when the host […]

A press release published by Business Wire reveals that MyToons Animation, an online animation community, has made a deal with video site YouTube to showcase the creative work of thousands of animators on the new MyToons branded YouTube channel. MyToons.com provides a global platform for animators to design and share their original animated videos, cartoons, […]

After a series of teaser trailers, Empire Online now premieres the exclusive first full trailer for Disney/Pixar’s WALL•E in a streaming flash format. What if mankind had to leave Earth, and somebody forgot to turn the last robot off? WALL•E, a robot, spends every day doing what he was made for. But soon, he will […]

According to Variety, Filmmaker Luc Besson’s EuropaCorp has picked up rights to Mathias Malzieu’s sci-fi novel La Mecanique du Coeur (The Mechanics of the Heart) and is planning to turn it into an animated film. La Mecanique du Coeur takes place in 1874 and involves a young man who must avoid strong emotions, especially love, […]

TV Shows on DVD provides a full list of the mini-episodes featured on Garfield and Friends: A Cat and his Nerd. The best-of disc features 15 shorts that focuse on Garfield’s “pet human”, Jon. This compilation-DVD is scheduled for a May 13th release. The site also shares the cover artwork for Drawn Together – Season […]

Animation Insider shares some insight regarding Disney TV Animation’s hiring of Eric Coleman, previously a series developer and producer for Nickelodeon for almost 15 years. Coleman comes aboard Want Disney Television Animation as the new Senior Vice President of Development. Coleman, who oversaw Nickelodeon-hits like Avatar: The Last Airbender, will be responsible in leading Disney’s […]

DVDactive reveals the cover artwork for the standard DVD, the special edition DVD and the Blu-ray release of 20th Century Fox’s Alvin and the Chimpunks while also providing the technical specifications and a detailed list of bonus features for each individual release. All three versions of this recent rodent-feature will hit US stores on April […]

Coming Soon reports on Empire Film Group’s recent acquisition of the motion picture and distribution rights for Henson, an original screenplay by Robert D. Slane that chronicles the life and achievements of Muppets creator, Jim Henson. The film will focus on Jim Henson’s life from his early fascination with television as a teenager, through his […]

A high resolution version of a Wall•E image previously reported has appeared on Empire’s website. The screen shot gives us a clearer look at the picture that recently was published in Entertainment Magazine. In other news relating to the trash-collecting robot, a television spot that aired during the super-bowl can be viewed on the film’s […]

MovieWeb reports that Dick Clement and Ian La, the writers of Across The Universe, are planning on making an animated film using music of The Rolling Stones, much in the same way Universe featured Beatles tunes. Currently titled Ruby Tuesday, the project will reportedly be “a lot edgier” than more kid-friendly fare, though not enough […]

Ain’t it Cool News recently had a chance to chat with Marjane Satrapi and present us with an in-depth interview with the author of the controversial graphic novel Persepolis and co-director of the animated feature of the same name. The interview elaborates, among other things, on the films’ Oscar-nomination, its upcoming English translation as well […]

CNN Money elaborates on the interesting notion that Disney/Pixar’s Ratatouille could very well have been nominated for best picture at this year’s Academy Awards if it wasn’t for its “animated” nature. Even though it was ranked by many critics as one of the year’s best, it was never a serious contender for best picture. Instead, […]

TV Shows on DVD reveals the cover artwork for the sixth season of Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, set for an April 8th release date. The site also presents us with an update on The Woody Woodpecker and Friends Classic Cartoon Collection: Volume 2, including a detailed list of the 75 cartoons featured on the 3-disc […]

AWN has published a list of 10 of their favorite Web Toons from 2007 that they feel needs to be seen. The animated shorts chosen by the site represent trends, as well as the growing talent of animators working on the Net. Some were chosen for their aesthetic qualities, others were chosen for their storytelling […]

The Muppets Newsflash points to the Muppets‘ official website, wich has undergone a major restyling and has now become part of the Disney XD network. The new site showcases an array of unseen Muppet-material with already more than 15-minutes of brand-new video content, while you can also enjoy classic clips from the Muppet Show DVDs, […]

The official website of Disney/Pixar’s WALL•E has received an update and now features (outside of the charming animated intro) an about the film section, a gallery, downloads and videos. Sections still under construction include Build-A-Bot, Mash Up and Games. In other WALL•E-related news, Upcoming Pixar points to the films’ IMDb page wich now lists a […]

To spread the word of their upcoming animated feature, Horton Hears A Who, 20th Century Fox has teamed up with THX to create a special Horton-variant of the famous THX announcement logo featuring the films’ main stars, Jim Carry and Steve Carrell as Horton and the major of Who-ville respectively. The video is currently shown […]

Ain’t it Cool News reports that the first 3 episodes of Lucasfilm’s upcoming animated Clone Wars might get a theatrical distribution in the UK in form of a 90 minute film. The rest of the episodes will then come out on a yet undecided TV channel. This news has been confirmed by a number of […]

Animated News and Views is currently running four different contests and giving away fourteen DVDs! Be sure to enter soon as several of the giveaways are about to close. • The Ten Commandments – Five winners will receive a copy of Genius Entertainment’s new CGI animated release. Last day to enter is February 5th. • […]

IHT.com reports that Ratatouille was named the best animated film at the Producers Guild of America awards on Saturday. No Country for Old Men was declared the best feature film of 2007.

A UK poster for Blue Sky Studios’ upcoming film Dr Seuss’ Horton Hears a Who has appeared on IMPAWARDS. The release date for the film has been set as 14 March 2008.

The SuperBowl teaser for the new Disney/Pixar film WALL•E has appeared online and can be watched or downloaded here. Directed by Andrew Stanton, WALL•E is set to hit theatres on June 27, 2008.

Variety reports that Robert A. Iger, President and Chief Executive Officer of the Walt Disney Co. has signed a new five year contract with the company. Iger will continue as the president and CEO of the Walt Disney Co. through 2013, extending an initial contract which would have expired September 30, 2010. Move is attributed […]

AnimeNewsNetwork reports that Toshio Suzuki has stepped down as Studio Ghibli president and will be replaced by Koji Hoshino who was the former president of Walt Disney Japan. Suzuki will remain as a board director and producer for Studio Ghibli films. Hoshino started working for Ghibli in 1996 after Disney started releasing Ghibli filims on […]