\\Clifford’s Really Big Movie\\ opens in select cities today – on 471 screens according to {{link http://boxofficemojo.com/counts/chart/?yr=2004&wk=17&p=.ht Box Offcie Mojo}} (see the {{link http://www.scholastic.com/clifford/movie/ official website}} for a list and more info about the film). While many critics at {{link http://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/CliffordsReallyBigMovie-1130818/ Rotten Tomatoes}} are panning the film, most are judging it from an adult point […]

{{link http://movies.yahoo.com/shop?d=hp&cf=prev&id=1808405700&intl=us Greg’s Previews}} reports that Walt Disney Pictures has set November 4, 2005, as the release date of \\Cars\\, the last film in the Disney/Pixar partnership. Greg adds that the choice of that date could be “a direct challenge to Universal’s \\Curious George\\, which is old-fashioned ‘traditional’ 2-D animation instead of 3-D CGI. Will […]

The Orange County Register has a new article on legendary voice actor Paul Frees, who provided the vocal characterizations for the Haunted Mansion’s Ghost Host, the Pillsbury Doughboy, Boris Badenov, Ludwig von Drake, the Burgermeister from Santa Claus is Coming to Town, George of the Jungle’s ape friend, and many others. The article functions mainly […]

The {{link http://www.darkhorizons.com/news04/040421e.php Dark Horizons}} site states that “Fox is considering cancelling The Simpsons. The voice-cast has walked out in order to demand more money. Fox has enough episodes to bring it through January 2005. They’re also considering re-casting the show”. The site’s source is this article from {{link http://www.usatoday.com/life/television/news/2004-04-18-simpsons-main_x.htm USA Today}} which explores some […]

{{link http://www.dvdanswers.com/index.php?r=0&s=1&c=3805&n=1&burl= DVD Answers}} features a first look at the cover and disc art for Spider-Man: The ’67 Classic Collection. No news on extras yet, but the set is due for release on 29th June and will set you back around $59.99.

DVD Answers has the new and improved cover art for the upcoming “Special Edition” release of The Lion King 2: Simba’s Pride.

Companies run by Steve Jobs and Michael Eisner are playing nice together despite any problems the men might have with each other. According to an Apple Computer press release, “Apple and Walt Disney Records today announced that the catalog of Walt Disney Records, including soundtracks from Disney’s classic animated films and Disney/Pixar’s computer-animated films, is […]

From Animatrix animator Peter Chung arrives The Chronicles of Riddick: Dark Fury, the animated, direct-to-video special that connects Pitch Black and the upcoming Chronicles of Riddick. Dark Fury‘s synopsis is, “When Riddick is captured by bounty hunters, he must battle soldiers of fortune and vicious creatures in the lethal slaughter cells of a massive starship.” […]

The nominations for the 2004 MTV Movie Awards have been announced. Pirates of the Caribbean leads the pack with six nominations, including “Best Movie,” “Best Male Performance” (Johnny Depp), “Best Comedic Performance” (Johnny Depp), “Best On-Screen Team” (Johnny Depp and Orlando Bloom), “Best Villain” (Geoffrey Rush), and “Breakthrough Female” (Keira Knightley). Finding Nemo also gathered […]

Airing this May on Cartoon Network will be twenty-two movies, including the premieres of Scooby Doo and the Monster of Mexico, The King and I, Under the Black Flag, The Scarecrow, and Batman: Mystery of the Batwoman. Also airing will be such titles as the Bakshi animated Lord Of The Rings as well as Rankin/Bass’ […]

Toon Zone reveals that Ten-Strike Home Entertainment has acquired the exclusive U.S. distribution rights to PBS’s animated series Liberty’s Kids. The show will be available on DVD on June 29, and will feature interviews with Walter Cronkite (who provides the voice of Ben Franklin), behind-the-scenes footage, cast information and interactive games.

FilmForce reviews the The Triplets of Belleville DVD, giving the overall package a score of “7,” which is also the score the movie itself receives. FilmForce critic Andy Patrizio calls The Triplets of Belleville, “An odd, gutwrenching film, definitely not typical animated fare.” Meanwhile, the DVD’s video receives a score of “10,” the sound receives […]

Disney’s Chicken Little has been set for a July 1st 2005 release, as reported by {{link http://www.comingsoon.net/movies/c/chickenlittle.php Coming Soon}}. Look for many “the sky has fallen” headlines if the film – Disney’s first CGI feature without Pixar – isn’t a hit. Meanwhile, the {{link http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0405469/releaseinfo IMBD}} shows that The Wild, which sees Disney partnering CGI […]

Disney’s 1998 animated feature Mulan is set to get the Special Edition treatment on DVD, joining Aladdin this October as this year’s “classic” Platinum support title. {{link http://www.dvdfile.com/software/dvd-video/archive/2004/04_19.html DVD File}} has more on the release, saying that “while bonus features have not yet been announced, the set will feature a remastered anamorphic widescreen transfer, Dolby […]

There’s just under a week left to enter Animation Insider’s {{link http://www.animationinsider.net/giveaway.php Home On The Range contest}}, ending April 25th, which features a signed poster and toys as prizes. Good luck!

‘Guardstone’ in the {{link http://animation.skyblueproductions.net/showthread.php?s=&postid=2132#post2132 Animated News Forum}} points to an article at Wired.com that looks at Hewlett-Packard’s continued attempts to break into the lucrative Hollywood technology market. HP already has deals with DreamWorks (since the original Shrek) and Warner Brothers, where their computers and software have helped restore such films as Singin’ In The […]

Nowhere near the “flop” that many critics (and the studio that produced it) claimed it to be, this week saw Disney’s Brother Bear continue a strong run in Europe, particularly Germany, where the film remains a favorite after five weeks. Over 170,000 moviegoers saw the film this past weekend, making a total of 2.7 million […]

Roy Disney and Stanley Gold {{link http://savedisney.com/news/press_release041904.1.asp report}} that according to records from The Walt Disney Company, “Michael Eisner received a No Confidence vote from 72.5% of the votes cast by the Walt Disney Company 401K trustee at the Company’s 2004 annual meeting and that George Mitchell received a No Confidence Vote from 63.7% of […]

Latino Review displays the new banner/poster for Garfield, clawing into theaters on June 11.

Coming Soon! reviews the Haunted Mansion DVD, which will be released tomorrow. What is the review’s “bottom line”? “In the end, I think kids will enjoy The Haunted Mansion a lot more than adults. The film is fairly tame, so you probably don’t have to worry about them having nightmares. Adults may be a bit […]

Yahoo! reveals that after a “Who is Delgo?” contest at {{link http://www.delgo.com www.delgo.com}}, Freddie Prinze Jr. has been revealed as the voice of the title character in Delgo, the independently produced computer-animated movie from Atlanta-based Fathom Studios. Delgo also includes the voices of Jennifer Love Hewitt, Chris Kattan, Anne Bancroft, Michael Clarke Duncan, Val Kilmer, […]

TVShowsOnDVD.com has the details and cover art for the first Batman: The Animated Series box set, scheduled to be released July 7, 2004. Special features for the set include commentaries on select episodes, “The Dark Knight’s First Night” featurette, “Batman: The Legacy Continues” featurette, a tour of the Batcave, and trailers for Challenge of the […]

{{link http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/4765823/ Newsweek}} scores the first in-depth look at the upcoming Shrek 2, with a full run down on the story, the new characters, behind the scenes audio and trailer video links, plus Jeffrey Katzenberg and some of the cast members’ takes on the film.

The classic-2D-characters-to-CGI revolution continues, and is set to be tainted pink, when Blake Edwards’ famous feline the Pink Panther takes on a CGI look for the opening title sequence of Steve Martin’s Inspector Clouseau feature The Mask Of The Pink Panther (or Birth Of…, depending on which day of the week it is). The {{link […]

Follow the ‘More’ link for more information on another Ray Harryhausen lecture, this one to be held in the afternoon of April 27 at the Ex’pression College for Digital Arts in Emeryville, CA. “There will be a videotape presentation of Harryhausen’s work followed by a question and answer session, after which he will sign copies […]

Box Office Report reveals that Home on the Range landed in 5th place over the weekend, falling 33% to $5.4 million and bringing its total domestic gross to $37.7 million. Following close behind in 6th place was Scooby Doo 2: Monsters Unleased with $5.1 million and a 36% drop since last weekend. The sequel’s domestic […]

Spanish site 3DA scored the first image from the upcoming Dreamworks’ CG extravaganza. Follow this link for the full resolution version.

It may be a slow news day but there’s a new interview at Animation World Magazine with the legendary Joe Grant, who is just about to turn 96 and is still involved in animation after decades of helping Disney out with such hits as Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs, both Fantasias, Saludos Amigos, Make […]

\\{{link http://www.animationmagazine.net/article.php?article_id=2368 Animation Magazine}}\\ reports that “after debuting in fourth place two weeks ago, Disney’s animated feature \\Home on the Range\\ has been enjoying a week at the top of the box office charts… The light carton comedy earned another $1.8 million Monday to claim the No. 1 spot, where it has stayed throughout the […]

If only I lived in Hollywood – sniff-sniff. In my book, Ray is the Grand Uncle of the current trend of CG movie characters. With titles like Sinbad and Clash of the Titans, he put heart and soul into everything he did. If you are lucky enough and are a fan of the amazing Ray […]