For The Washington Post, Glen McIntosh, animation director at Industrial Light & Magic, explains the reasoning behind the appearance of Eragon’s dragon star, Saphira. For instance, he and his visual effects crew of around 200 people drew inspiration from the look and movements of lions, eagles, snakes and dinosaurs.

Oscar Watch has collected a wide assortment of “For Your Consideration” advertisements, taken from Variety. Campaigning for Oscar gold through these ads are Arthur & the Invisibles, Cars, Curious George, Flushed Away, Happy Feet, Ice Age: The Meltdown, Monster House, Over the Hedge and Paprika.

Supplied by Lionsgate, a scene from Happily N’Ever After is now up at Coming Soon. The clip presents a prince, voiced by Patrick Warburton, in the midst of a comedic chase.

Sea of Waking Dreams points to an interesting artifact: an animation test from 1983, for Where the Wild Things Are. Directed by John Lasseter, the sample blends computer-animated backgrounds with hand-drawn characters.

Courtesy of Box Office Mojo: 2) Happy Feet with $12,904,413, averaging $3,535 over 3,650 theaters ($137,932,841 total; 4th week) 16) Flushed Away with $835,368, averaging $797 over 1,048 theaters ($61,214,583 total; 6th week) 48) The Nightmare Before Christmas in 3-D with $27,676, averaging $4,612 over 6 theaters ($8,579,257 total; 8th week) 89) Romeo & Juliet: […]

The third teaser trailer for The Simpsons Movie has been placed at FoxFilm.at. With the same beginning as the second teaser, this latest spot shows the humorous antics of Homer’s home improvement.

Upcoming Pixar points to The San Francisco Chronicle, where E-Ville Press artist and Pixar employee Sanjay Patel is interviewed. The insightful conversation explains the animator’s upbringing and inspiration.

Displaying an advertisement for the package, DVD Active has the lowdown on Hellboy Animated: Sword of Storms. Containing a bounty of extras, the DVD will also be paired with an exclusive 32-page Mike Mignola comic book for its first 300,000 buyers.

With Coming Soon, Hal Hickel, Animation Supervisor, explains how he and his comrades at Industrial Light and Magic created the visual effects for the character of Davy Jones in Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man’s Chest. In addition, Hickel hints at a spectacle to be found in the third Pirates adventure, At Worlds End, coming […]

TV Shows on DVD spreads the info on the Grim & Evil TV movie, Big Boogey Adventure. The tale will enter stores on April 3 – just four days after it premieres on Cartoon Network. In the meantime, the second season of Avatar: The Last Airbender will be split into four separate DVD releases next […]

In a lengthy two-page article, Anthony Lane of The New Yorker regards the work of Walt Disney, addressing the myths, work ethic and family life of the “Old Maestro.”

Following is the official press release regarding this Saturday’s premiere of the Starz Kids & Family Network’s Eloise: Little Miss Christmas at the Arkansas Arts Center Lecture Hall:

Following are six screen shots from the direct-to-video premiere of Disney’s The Fox and the Hound 2. This could be one of the final direct-to-video sequel titles produced by Disney’s home entertainment division. Master animator Eric Goldberg even helped with the scene shown in shot #4 in which Copper encounters peanut butter for the first […]

The Sydney Morning Herald reports on the festivities and celebrities surrounding the Australian premiere of Warner Bros.’ CGI animated hit Happy Feet. The film opens in Australia on December 26. Thanks to Kristin for the heads up.

Awards season gets into full swing this week, and Happy Feet has taken a head start on the competition. The New York Film Critics Circle and Los Angeles Film Critics Association have both named the film “Best Animated Film”, while the American Film Institute has selected it as one of the year’s top ten films. […]

Muppet Central goes in-depth into Ahmet Zappa’s role as the writer of the upcoming Fraggle Rock. According to Zappa, the son of late musician Frank Zappa, “There are a lot of messages in Fraggle Rock that fans have kept close to their hearts, so we have to be respectful of the television show and very […]

Coming Soon has a list of the 56 songs eligible for the “Best Achievement in Music Written for Motion Pictures, Original Song” category of the Academy Awards. To see which of those tunes come from animated films, please click:

The National Board of Review has named Disney/Pixar’s Cars the “Best Animated Feature” of 2006. Thus far, the awards have been a reliable predictor of the Oscar winner for the “Animated” category, with the exception of 2005, when the board awarded Tim Burton’s Corpse Bride the honor. The Academy Award that year, however, went to […]

Variety unveils the voice cast for Jackboots, a Team America-type project that “imagines what would have happened if the Germans had won the Battle of Britain but were ultimately defeated by the Scots.” Utilizing action figures, the film will contain Timothy Spall as Winston Churchill, Alan Cumming as Adolph Hitler, Tom Wilkinson as Joseph Goebbels […]

The latest trailer for TMNT, the return of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, is now hosted at MTV.com. Thanks to “YCougar” at the Animated News & Views Forum for the heads up! In the meantime, Yahoo! Movies is treating viewers to a new theater spot for Meet the Robinsons, in which a trio of frogs […]

Despite the current popularity of penguin movies, it seems one famous penguin cannot catch a break. The Business of Animation blog speculates that a film starring the Berkeley Breathed comic character Opus appears to be dead once again. The project had been set up at The Weinstein Co.

Through a series of images, SoundtrackNet provides an inside look at the making of the Meet the Robinsons score. Performed by a 90-piece orchestra, the music was composed by Danny Elfman.

The nominations for the 49th Annual Grammy Awards were announced today, and the three nominations going to animated entries this year were all from Disney/Pixar’s Cars. The film’s album was nominated for “Best Compilation Soundtrack Album”. Randy Newman picked up his 6th Grammy nomination, getting the nod in “Best Song Written For A Motion Picture” […]

TV Shows on DVD indicates new Curious George adventures are heading to stores on February 20. Subtitled Zoo Night and Other Animal Stories, the one-disc DVD will contain the following bonus material: “Daily Donuts” and “Magic Numbers” games, printable coloring pages and an advertisement for Shea Homes.

Three new character banners for Happily N’Ever After have been released at Latino Review. The film itself will be released in theaters nationwide on January 5.

Despite claims that Arthur and the Invisibles was to be his final project, director Luc Besson may change his mind on retiring, should the film be a success. According to Production Weekly, Besson is already considering an adaptation of the book Arthur and the Forbidden City, with production beginning as early as next June.

Upcoming Pixar has discovered an image at the “Kozy Shack” section of Flickr, unveiling the latest casting info for Ratatouille. Apparently, Lou Romano will lend his voice for the character Linguini, while Ian Holm has the role of Skinner.

The New York Times has an exciting article about a potential “renaissance” of animated shorts at Walt Disney Feature Animation. Four shorts are currently in development, including a new Goofy “How-To” – in this case, How To Install Your Home Theater. “‘The impetus comes from John Lasseter, who takes the idea from Walt Disney and […]

The official online hangout for The Invincible Iron Man has opened, currently presenting a trailer and a screen capture gallery. The PG-13 traditionally animated adventure will hit stores on January 23.

Screenwriters Ted Elliott and Terry Rossio talk to Coming Soon about their involvement in the Pirates of the Caribbean trilogy. Having written Aladdin, The Road to El Dorado, Shrek and Treasure Planet, the duo likewise chats about animation. “One of the things about animation that we really enjoyed is that it really is so story-driven […]