
Pirate Bunnies
The complete Pirates of the Caribbean trilogy can now be seen in less than two minutes and re-enacted by animator Jennifer Shiman’s bunnies by watching parts 1 and 2 here and part 3 here. |
2008 Oscar nominations announced
The nominations for the 80th Annual Academy Awards have been announced. Come tell us your thoughts in the Animated News & Views Forum. The nominees for Best Animated Feature Film are • Persepolis – Marjane Satrapi and Vincent Paronnaud • Ratatouille – Brad Bird • Surf’s Up – Ash Brannon and Chris Buck The nominees […] |
101 Dalmatians run loose at the El Capitan
From now until January 30, Disney’s El Capitan Theatre is screening One Hundred and One Dalmatians leading up to its Platinum Edition DVD release on March 4. The new Goofy short How to Hook Up Your Home Theater accompanies the classic film. Read on for pictures from the opening night which featured a panel moderated […] |
DreamWorks to launch theme park in Dubai
Variety reports that DreamWorks Animation has teamed up with Dubai based real estate company Tatweer to develop a range of tourism and leisure projects in Dubai, the highlight of which will be a theme park. The 5 million-square-foot DreamWorks Animation-branded park will see rides incorporate characters from DreamWorks titles such as the Shrek franchise and […] |
Shrek the Musical World Premiere at Seattle's 5th Avenue Theatre
“DreamWorks Theatricals and Neal Street Productions, Ltd. have announced that Shrek the Musical will play an exclusive world premiere engagement at The 5th Avenue Theatre in Seattle, August 14th to September 21st, prior to opening on Broadway in the Fall of 2008. Preview performances will begin in early November at a theater to be announced.” […] |
Smurfs film to feature "greater female presence"
Yahoo! Movies reports that due to the changes in the structure of society since the first appearance of the Smurfs, more female characters will appear in the upcoming CGI film. “There have been dramatic changes in socio-cultural values in the past 20 to 25 years,” explained head of Smurf’s rights holder Hendrik Coysman. “One of […] |
Beowulf theatrical and director's cut DVDs in February
DVDActive reports that Paramount Home Entertainment has announced theatrical and director’s cut releases of Robert Zemeckis’ Beowulf on 26th February. The only extra feature on the theatrical cut will be A Hero’s Journey: The Making of Beowulf featurette. The Director’s Cut will include that, along with a Beasts of Burden featurette, a Origins of Beowulf […] |
Animation Mentor Celebrates Graduates with Pete Docter
Last Saturday Pixar’s Pete Docter delivered the commencement address to the graduating class of Animation Mentor, “the online animation school by animators for animators” (see our prior writeup). The following press release summarizes his inspirational remarks: |
PGA announces nominees
The Producers Guild of America has announced the nominees for their 19th annual awards. Getting nods in the Producer of the Year Award in Animated Theatrical Motion Pictures categoy are: Bee Movie, Ratatouille, and The Simpsons Movie. Winners will be announced February 2nd. |
Animated Views meets Steve Anderson and The Robinsons
Animated Views welcomes a new kid on the block today, Media Magic’s Jérémie Noyer, who promises to maintain his continuing stream of warm and knowledgeable interviews, kicking off with an exclusive talk with Meet The Robinsons’ director Steve Anderson! Originally undertaken for the promotion of the DVD release of his movie back in October, the […] |
French Horton Hears a Who poster
Animatie Blog showcases the french teaser poster for 20th Century Fox/Blue Sky’s upcoming Horton Hears a Who. The computer-animated film, based on the 1954 childrens book by Dr. Seuss, will stomp its way to US theaters on March 14th, 2008. |
First image of The Princess and the Frog revealed
Hidden inside the Walt Disney Company’s annual investors report lies the first “real” image of the studios’ 2009 animated feature, The Princess and the Frog, showcasing the film’s main character, Tiana. Meanwhile, David Gilson’s blog presents us with a high resolution, cleaned up version of the image. The Princess and the Frog will be the […] |
Toy Story takes to the stage
Animation World Network reports that Pixar’s hit Toy Story will be adapted for the stage for audiences traveling on the Disney Wonder cruise ship. “Following the storyline of the original film, Toy Story – The Musical will give the audience a toy’s-eye view of life in Andy’s room, exploring the true meaning of friendship as […] |
Israel loves animation
According to Variety, animated movies are big in Israel filling up six slots in their list of the top ten grossing movies at the box office for 2007 with Ratatouille and Shrek the Third topping the list and Bee Movie showing up as well. |
Ratatouille is Golden
Despite the writer’s strike shutting down their more usual glitzy awards show, the Hollywood Foreign Press Association handed out their annual Golden Globes awards tonight. Disney/Pixar’s Ratatouille picked up this year’s award for Best Animated Film. The animation prize has only been awarded since last year when Pixar also picked up the trophy, for Cars. […] |
Toy Story 3 'being prepared'
UpcomingPixar, via InTheNews.co.uk, reports that according to Tom Hanks, the third instalment of the Toy Story films is being prepared and has the full support of the actor, who voices one of the main characters Woody in the film. Directed by Lee Unkrich, Disney/Pixar’s Toy Story 3 is slated for a 2009 release. |
WALL•E Video Game screenshots
UpcomingPixar has posted the first screenshots from the video game WALL•E. Published by THQ and created by Heavy Iron Studios, the video game is based on the upcoming Disney/Pixar’s feature WALL•E which is set to hit theatres June 27. |
Brad Bird on writing Ratatouille
Over at The Hollywood Reporter‘s award season coverage, director Brad Bird is one of the six screenwriters sharing their experiences and approach to how they penned their nominated movies. Bird speaks about coming late to the production of Ratatouille, while of the other scribes, John Logan reveals what it was like adapting Stephen Sondheim’s Sweeney […] |
Pixar storyboard artist talks Ghibli and more
Ghibliworld has an exclusive in-depth interview with Pixar storyboard artist Enrico Casarosa wherein he talks about Studio Ghibli, Pixar and how Hayao Miyazaki’s films have influenced his own work. According to him, “Miyazaki has this uncanny ability to add a childish sense of wonder to his stories. He’s able to make us feel like little […] |
Character Animation Panel Discussion
On Saturday, January 19th, a panel discussion devoted to character animationespecially as it relates to advancing animation technology will be held at the Ince Theater at Sony Pictures Imageworks. The panel will be moderated by Frank Gladstone and will include important guest panelists from several animation studios. More details follow: |
Animated disc announcements
The Digital Bits has the scoop on several animated disc announcements made during the past week. On February 19th Warner will debut Tom and Jerry: Shiver Me Whiskers and Tom and Jerry: Tales – Volume 1 DVDs. Fox will be releasing an Ice Age: The Meltdown special edition DVD on March 2nd. Paramount/DreamWorks’ Bee Movie […] |
Chatting with The Chestnut Tree Creators
Over on our Animated Views side we have an interview with Hyun-Min Lee and Bert and Jennifer Klein regarding their new short, The Chestnut Tree, which has just garnered two Annie Awards nominations. This touching short subject film was executive produced by Don Hahn with further assistance rendered by Eric Goldberg. Check it out for […] |
Meet the cast of Igor, Behind-the-scenes footage
Exodus Films’ official site presents us with a detailed look at the characters from their upcoming animated flick, Igor. The animated comedy centers on an evil scientist’s hunch-backed lab assistant who has big dreams of becoming a mad scientist himself and winning the annual evil science Fair. The stellar voice cast includes Steve Buscemi, John […] |
Batman: Gotham Knight details
Joblo has published some new details concerning the upcoming Batman: Gotham Knight, a collection of six animated shorts set in Chris Nolans’ Batman-universe. Although each short will be penned by a different writer, they will all be directed by Bruce Timm, already a familiar face in the animated world of Batman. The new stories, done […] |
Resident Evil: Degeneration trailer
Dailymotion currently hosts the teaser trailer for Resident Evil: Degeneration, the first full-length CG animation based on the game franchise of the same name. The brand new storyline will not have any known ties with the live-action films but will take place in the game-universe instead. Resident Evil: Degeneration is currently scheduled for a fall […] |
Finding Nemo and Sleeping Beauty Blu-ray details
UpcomingPixar via BusinessWire reports that Walt Disney Studios Home Entertainment have announced their new line-up of Blu-ray initiatives in 2008 which will mark first Platinum Disney animated classic Sleeping Beauty on Blu-ray in the fall of 2008. Along with an all-new enhanced home theater mix in 7.1 surround sound, Sleeping Beauty Platinum Edition Blu-ray Disc […] |
WALL•E Video Game announced
UpcomingPixar reports that THQ via BusinessWire have officially announced the WALL•E Video Game for all major platforms which include the Nintendo Wii, Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3. According to the press release, WALL•E is expected to release this summer and will mark THQ’s next installment in the company’s well-established and successful association with Disney/Pixar. Development […] |
Warner goes Blu-ray exclusive
Warner Bros., the only major studio to release their films in both competing high-def optical disc formats, today announced that they will be dropping their support for HD-DVD and instead releasing exclusively on Blu-ray. With studios supporting Blu-ray now accounting for 70% of Hollywood content — only Universal and Paramount/DreamWorks support HD-DVD now — the […] |
Knut to star in animated film?
People reports that Knut, the famous young polar bear who resides at the Berlin Zoo, might be starring in his own animated film in the near future. The Animation Picture Company, responsible for the Garfield movie, plans to focus the feature on Knut and his caretaker, with Suri Cruise providing the English voice of the […] |
2008 animated slate firms up
During the last few weeks the major studios firmed up the dates for their 2008 releases. Here’s a look at how the year in animation is shaping up so far: • January 11 – The Pirates Who Don’t Do Anything – A VeggieTales Movie (Universal) • March 14 – Dr. Seuss’ Horton Hears a Who! […] |