The schedule for this year’s {{link http://www.comic-con.org/index.php San Diego Comic-Con}} has just been released and there’s a whole bunch of stuff to get worked up about for animation and film fans. Check the link for the full exhaustive program, including the official announcement of an extended edition of Peter Jackson’s King Kong, while some bite-sized […]

{{link http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/thr/film/article_display.jsp?vnu_content_id=1002802054 The Hollywood Reporter}} online takes a look at what went into the planning of the new Walt Disney Pictures logo upgrade and reveals rather surprisingly that the new 30-second clip was actually animated by Peter Jackson’s Weta Digital effects outfit. The new logo premiered at the beginning of the studio’s current huge hit […]

Deadwood star Ian McShane chats with Coming Soon about his upcoming animated appearances. Apparently, the actor will voice a “sad Russian giant” in Henry Selick’s stop-motion Coraline, while also speaking for Captain Hook in Shrek the Third. Likewise, McShane will join Angelina Jolie for DreamWorks’ Kung Fu Panda. He will voice the evil snow leopard […]

Disney’s \\Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man’s Chest\\ took in a record $132 million in its opening weekend, easily topping the previous best of $114.8 million by \\Spider-Man\\ in 2002, {{link http://www.cnn.com/2006/SHOWBIZ/Movies/07/09/box.office.ap/index.html CNN}} reports. \\Pirates 2\\ also gets the distinction of being the only movie to ever top $100 million in just two days. \\Superman […]

Ultimate Disney confirms that a 4-disc extended edition of The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe is coming soon. Footage from the “director’s cut” version of the film will be previewed at this month’s Comic-Con in San Diego, on Saturday, July 22th, at 3:45 in Hall H. Furthermore, attendees will receive […]

With a $55 million earning on Friday, Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man’s Chest broke the record for largest one-day take at the box office, previously held by Star Wars: Episode III – Revenge of the Sith. The film looks on course for a weekend gross of at least $120 million, reports The Associated Press […]

Opening July 28th, The Ant Bully finds itself with three television advertisements, currently playing on the tube and You Tube: #1, #2, and #3. Meanwhile, from Wikipedia comes the rumor that the film may include cameos from Scott Speedman, Larry the Cable Guy, David Schwimmer, Kevin Kline, and Luke Wilson.

Yahoo! News teams with Reuters to explain some of the amazing visual effects found in Superman Returns. Noticing a hefty budget and a demand for detail, the piece lends some brief insight into how the Man of Steel’s latest foray was brought to life.

The Internet Movie Database’s Studio Briefing reveals that Hayao Miyazaki, director of the Oscar-winning Spirited Away and the Oscar-nominated Howl’s Moving Castle, has been invited to join the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences. He is one of 120 actors, directors, producers, composers and other industry members recently asked to fill positions left by […]

James Cameron speaks on his upcoming adventure Avatar, with “follows a paraplegic war veteran who is brought to another planet inhabited by a humanoid race at odds with Earth’s citizens.” The film, set for a summer 2008 release, will make heavy use of the same performance capture technology that the upcoming Monster House employs. “It’s […]

Greek Geek has collected several pictures from last week’s Cinema Expo, held in Amsterdam, The Netherlands. Animated movies promoted at the event included The Ant Bully, Cars, Monster House, and Open Season.

As noticed by the DreamWorks Animation SKG Fansite, covers for numerous books based on DreamWorks/Aardman’s Flushed Away are now available to view at Amazon.

Toon Zone lists the animation-related nominations found in the 58th Annual Primetime Emmy Awards, scheduled to air Sunday, August 27th, on NBC. The honorees include:

The Year Without a Santa Claus, Bass-Rankin’s 1974 stop-motion classic, is experiencing a live-action redo, courtesy of NBC. Variety, via Coming Soon, reports that the remake will star Ethan Suplee as Jingle, Eddie Griffin as Jangle, Chris Kattan as a devious head elf, and Carol Kane as Mother Nature. John Goodman will play the jolly […]

Moviehole indicates that Jim Belushi and Patrick Warburton has joined the cast of Disney’s Underdog. While Belushi may be seen in the film, Warburton will only be lending his voice to the flick, which likewise stars the voices of Jason Lee and Amy Adams.

Including cover artwork for each title, DVDtoons has the official announcements for Danger Mouse: The Final Seasons, coming September 26th, and G.I. Joe: Sigma 6, arriving October 3rd.

Latino Review has added several new pictures in their gallery dedicated to the upcoming CGI creature feature Monster House. The House will open July 21st.

The Disneyland press agency has released detailed and extensive notes on all of the changes and enhancements that have recently been made to the popular Pirates of the Caribbean ride at both the Anaheim and Orlando parks. Over at Jim Hill Media Seth Kubersky gives a firsthand account of the Orlando attraction while Chuck Oberleitner […]

Apple’s iTunes is rapidly adding new video content to its pay-for-download online service. Some of the more recent animated offerings include Clone Wars, Volume 2, Invader Zim, and American Dragon: Jake Long.

Warner Independent Pictures’ rotoscoped animated feature A Scanner Darkly, based on the novel of the same name by Philip K. Dick, opens this Friday, July 7, in selected theaters. According to Yahoo! Movies, the movie is, “Set in a future world where America has lost the war on drugs, an undercover cop, Fred, is one […]

Box Office Mojo reports that Superman Returns took in over $52 million to hold onto its lead since its Wednesday street date, easily fending off new release The Devil Wears Prada which came in at $27 million. On the animated front, in its fourth week, Disney and Pixar’s Cars fell to fourth with $14 million […]

Internet portals are making it easier than ever for indies to show off and capitalize on their skills. Web sites, hosted by giants like AOL all the way down to smaller, independent entities, allow these artists to reach larger and, in some cases, more powerful audiences. More importantly however, it is also becoming easier for […]

Loughborough University Animation Professor Paul Wells has created the latest in a line of animation text books entitled The Fundamentals of Animation. Animation World Network reveals that the text is divided into two sections and “discusses the key principles and processes involved in animation.” Ava Publishing also has further information on the book.

Steve Jobs, the new board chairman at Disney since its acquisition of Pixar in May, won’t be receiving a paycheck for his services there. Television Point reports that the board of directors recently agreed to nix Jobs’ paycheck at his own request. The move is not uncommon for the technology pioneer who currently takes in […]

With the marketing campaign in full swing for Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man’s Chest we are starting to get plenty of information. Roger Colton at JHM and Chuck Oberleitner at o-meon both report on the recent premiere event held at Disneyland while Jim Hill sorts through the chest full of movie-related merchandise tie-ins. Moriarty […]

The TV Guide online reports that a Broadway adaptation of Dr. Seuss’ How the Grinch Stole Christmas is in the works and “booked for a holiday-time, Nov. 8 Broadway debut, with previews starting Oct. 25.” The musical will apparently allow all the Whos down in Whoville a chance to sing again.

Clay Kaytis’ Animation Podcast site fires back up with part one of an interview with long-time Disney animation worker Burny Mattinson. As a bridge between generations of animators Burny Mattinson has plenty of tales to recount including working on Lady and the Tramp and Sleeping Beauty, and working with some of the Nine Old Men […]

Keeping up with the world of independent animated shorts, Animation World Network presents reviews and QuickTime clips of Bob Log III’s Electric Fence Story by Stock ‘n’ Wolf, El Doctor by Suzan Pitt, It Pains Me to Say This by George Griffin, Olis Chance by Saschka Unseld and Johannes Weiland and She She She She’s […]

AICN has posted pictures of a toy on display at last week’s New York Licensing Show of what appears to be an updated design for Oswald the Lucky Rabbit, Walt Disney’s original animated anthropomorphic animal.

Three years after its cancellation on Fox, the animated TV series \\Futurama\\ has been picked up by Comedy Central, {{link http://www.comingsoon.net/news/tvnews.php?id=15106 Comingsoon.net}} reports. The cable network has ordered thirteen new episodes which are slated to begin airing in 2008, and will bring the total number of series episodes to 85. Creators Matt Groening and David […]