In what appears to be a cross between March of the Penguins and Dirty Dancing, the teaser trailer and website for the Warner Brothers computer animated comedy Happy Feet are now online. Those wishing to see the trailer in theaters may do so this weekend, with Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire.

{{link http://www.la.siggraph.org The Los Angeles Professional Chapter of ACM SIGGRAPH}} is holding a special screening of \\Chicken Little\\ in Disney Digital 3-D, followed by speakers from Walt Disney Feature Animation presenting the making of \\Chicken Little\\, with a focus on animation, effects, and the process of bringing the film to theaters in 3-D. The event […]

Reuters, via Yahoo! News, indicates that for the eleventh consecutive year, Buena Vista International, the foreign distribution arm of the Walt Disney Company, has hit the $1 billion mark. The achievement is due largely to the success of four films: The Incredibles, National Treasure, The Pacifier, and Herbie: Fully Loaded. Thus far for 2005, Buena […]

Activision, Inc. and DreamWorks Animation SKG have announced a new “long-term, broad-based strategic alliance,” says a press release at Coming Soon. The deal is a multi-year agreement providing Activision with exclusive video game rights to DreamWorks Animation’s upcoming slate, including Bee Movie, Kung Fu Panda, Rex Havoc, and How to Train Your Dragon. Shrek 3 […]

Disney’s print campaign for their next collaboration with Pixar, Cars, has started up with a fun new teaser poster that looks like it may update itself and reveal more as the summer release date gets closer. Take a peek here:

Wondering how Chicken Little has been crowing at the top of the box office two weeks in a row when three weeks ago most people thought it didn’t have a wing and a prayer? Adroit industry observer Chuck Oberleitner helps to make sense of it all with his report at o-meon. And if you are […]

The print edition of Video Business magazine out today carries a brief but detailed review of the upcoming Walt Disney Treasures release of The Chronological Donald: Volume Two, the second collection of shorts featuring Walt’s iconic Duck star. We have a copy of the review, which includes details on the bonus features featuring Leonard Maltin […]

DreamWorks Animation SKG’s summer hit Madagascar comes out on DVD tomorrow and we have an advance look at some of the many bonus features packed onto the disc.

The X-Men fansite Xverse makes a brief mention that Hugh Jackman will make a guest appearance on The Simpsons in 2006.

Larry Loc has posted some photos from last night’s Kimba Reunion at the ASIFA-Hollywood blog and has made a few extra available to Animated News:

Those people still wondering where they may see the most recent trailer for Open Season can find it at TurboNick, in the “AD: Movie Trailers” section of “Nicksclusives.”

Post Magazine reports that Brickyard VFX is venturing into computer animation with a new division. Recruiting Jay Lichtman and Yafei Wu, both from London’s Glassworks, and Robert Sethi, from UK-based feature film and television effects house Double Negative, this CGI department will thus provide Brickyard with the capabilities of character modeling, animation, and rendering. Concurrently, […]

Other actors have signed on to join Jack Black in the DreamWorks Animation comedy Kung Fu Panda, indicates Coming Soon. In addition to Black, who will voice the main character, Po, the cast now features Dustin Hoffman as Shifu, a conditioned kung fu master; Jackie Chan as Master Monkey, a model kung fu warrior; and […]

Pixar Animation Studios announced Tuesday the beginning of sales of the program RenderMan for Maya 1.0. The Academy-Award winning program “is specifically engineered to deliver high-end feature film quality standards to a new and broader audience” in this version. The new RenderMan for Maya can be purchased from the studio for $1000 and is available […]

Brad Bird, director of animated films The Incredibles and Iron Giant has been selected to receive the first Texas Avery Animation Award. AWN reports that the Oscar-winner will be honored at the Deep Ellum Film Festival on Sunday, November 13, 2005 at North Dallas High School, the alma mater of legendary animator Tex Avery.

Kristin points us to a Japanese site which provides a very initial sneak peek at some Brother Bear 2 content and, yes, Rutt and Tuke are returning.

We have just been informed that Ollie Johnston, veteran Disney animator and the last surviving member of Walt’s Nine Old Men, will be awarded with the National Medal of Arts which will be “presented by the President and Mrs. Laura Bush in an Oval Office ceremony at the White House on November 10.” He will […]

Chip ‘n Dale Rescue Rangers, Volume 1 and DuckTales, Vol. 1 are both being released today on Disney DVD through Buena Vista Home Entertainment. Animated News has one copy of each to send to the two winners of our caption contest. This caption contest is now over. The winning entries and some that deserve honorable […]

We mentioned it after it was first announced but are giving a reminder that this Thursday night ASIFA-Hollywood will be holding a reunion for the 40th Anniversary of Osamu Tezuka’s KIMBA, The White Lion. “Guest panelists will be famous animator Sadao Miyamoto (alumnus of Tezuka’s Mushi Production,) Jared Cook, translator & interpreter for Tezuka himself, […]

Nick.com exclusively has the trailer for the Weinstein Company and Kanbar Entertainment’s Hoodwinked, the CGI movie which tells the “true” story of Little Red Riding Hood. Hoodwinked will be released in theaters on December 23, 2005.

In a report on the box office of Chicken Little and the upcoming slate from Walt Disney Feature Animation, the Internet Movie Database indicates that American Dog has been pushed to the summer of 2008, as Rapunzel Unbraided has been moved to sometime in 2009.

Though bonus features have yet to be announced for the package, DVD Anwers has the cover artwork for the Corpse Bride DVD. Furthermore, the site also has revised cover art for the Madagascar DVD, now having a banner proclaiming its inclusion of the Madagascar Penguin’s short film, A Christmas Caper. Lastly, DVDtoons has the artwork […]

Toon Zone has the schedule of animated movies appearing on the Disney Channel this month. Included in the lineup are: Alice In Wonderland, The Many Adventures Of Winnie The Pooh, Mulan, Mulan II, Pocahontas II: Journey To A New World, Recess: School’s Out, Kim Possible Movie: A Sitch In Time, and Kim Possible Movie: So […]

Opening with $40.1 million ($10,961 per theater), Chicken Little surpassed the box office expectations of many critics and prediction websites. Box Office Guru provides a commentary on Chicken Little’s weekend, while Jim Hill Media shows how the film’s debut stacks up with the openings of other computer animated flicks.

According to DVDtoons, two more editions of Golden Age Cartoons are on the way, focusing on Felix the Cat and Aesop’s Fables. Previously announced Golden Age Cartoons DVDs also arriving on April 11, 2006, are Popeye, Attack of the 30’s Characters, Cultoons, and Cartoons for Victory.

Recent studies like one series conducted by Harvard University suggest that animated movies are becoming increasingly violent with more abundant mature undertones. SeattlPI comments that while cartoons have long had strong scenes, a recent trend in popular culture has led to a lowering of standards for what is considered appropriate in G-rated movies. Scenes from […]

Variety reports that Family Guy is seeking to take on the “anti-indecency squad” of the FCC. The popular Fox network animated series plans to air an episode that will be a direct criticism of the federal agency and its censorship practices. The show however, which will air November 6th, is going to push the bar […]

On its opening day, take a look behind the scenes of Disney’s first CG animated feature, \\Chicken Little\\. QUICKTIME: little | big WINDOWS MEDIA: little | big

Chicken Little enters more than 3,000 theaters this weekend, projecting itself as the first fully computer animated motion picture from Walt Disney Feature Animation. Thus far, reviews for the movie have been leaning on the negative side, considering its score of 30% on the Rotten Tomatoes meter. “Chicken Little, though it has its moments, mostly […]

In addition to being Disney’s first entirely computer generated animated film, \\Chicken Little\\ will also be the first film screened in Disney Digital 3-D, a new technology created in collaboration with Dolby Laboratories and Industrial Light & Magic. More information about Disney Digital 3-D, a commercial promoting the film in this format, and a full […]