{{link http://www.playbill.com/news/article/84041.html Playbill}} quotes a \\Variety\\ report about Laura Michelle Kelly, the 23 year old actress who has landed the title role in the upcoming stage musical \\Mary Poppins\\. Kelly, who says she saw the film version as a child, won’t be watching it again anytime soon. “I won’t see it again until I’ve finished […]

{{link http://www.moviepoopshoot.com/elsewhere/index.html Movie Poop Shoot’s}} Jeffrey Wells shows off the \\Shark Tale\\ mailer he recently received from DreamWorks. “I got this toy shark delivered to me the other day. It’s supposed to promote DreamWorks’ \\Shark Tale\\… Ever since he arrived this little guy has been sitting on my kitchen counter, grinning and trying to help […]

Newsarama reveals that a darker twist on the “Space Ghost” character will be the focus of a new, six-part miniseries, which will provide the origin of the hero, and give him a more realistic updating. Joe Kelly and Ariel Olivetti are currently working on the miniseries. “It’s Space Ghost played straight,” Kelly said. “And I’m […]

Despite protests from long-time Disney fans not to create sequels for the older animated classics, Disney looks to be going ahead with a sequel to 1942’s Bambi. Many rumors persisted that production had been shut down on it as well as the proposed continuations of Snow White and Dumbo, and that the company would focus […]

Kelly Asbury, director of the upcoming Shrek 2, has been tapped by Southpaw Entertainment to write and helm Imaginary Children, “a live-action/CGI fantasy adventure about a cartoonist whose creations inhabit his house and cause an estrangement from his son, who can’t measure up to them”. The news comes from {{link http://www.variety.com/index.asp?layout=upsell_article&articleID=VR1117899065&cs=1 Variety.com}} (paid subscription required).

Hitting stores yesterday, Disneymania Volume 2 features new takes on classic Disney songs, with performances by Jump5, Raven, Baha Men, Stevie Brock, Hillary and Hailey Duff, LMNT, Jesse McCartney, Ashley Gearing, Daniel Bedingfield, and They Might Be Giants. Highlights on the disc include a brand-new song, “Anytime You Need a Friend,” from Home on the […]

Business Wire has the song list from The Lion King 1½: Songs from Timon & Pumbaa’s Hilarious Adventure, the soundtrack to The Lion King 1½. The Lion King 1½: Songs from Timon & Pumbaa’s Hilarious Adventure is set to hit stores on February 3. Thanks to Toon Zone for the heads up! Also, on the […]

Yahoo! Finance reports that the Walt Disney Company’s filings revealed on Tuesday that “Chairman Michael Eisner’s pay package rose 20 percent to $7.3 million in 2003, when earnings rose 2.5 percent and Disney stock jumped 28 percent.”

According to Toon Zone, UPN’s Game Over, the first computer-animated television series to air in prime-time, will debut Wednesday, March 10 at 8:00 pm ET/PT. Six episodes are already completed. Patrick Warburton, Lucy Liu, E.G. Daily, Rachel Dratch, and Artie Lang provide the voices for the Smashenburns, a family who “must deal with the trials […]

Carrey Debatten (Discussions) has new concept art pictures from Over the Hedge.

Jim Hill Media has got three thought-provoking new articles today. The first article is all about the dilemma the Disney company is finding itself in over the Oscar nomination that Destino recently received. Second is an article by Jackson King about the ins and outs of collecting antique animated toys. And the third article is […]

Hot off the cyberpress from Buena Vista Home Entertainment are several new images from Disney’s upcoming “interquel” The Lion King 1½. The first one is similar to an image posted a while back with Simba and Timon and Pumbaa sleeping, but this time with Simba all grown up. The second one shows the jungle buddies […]

Variety.com’s most recent e-mail newsletter reports “Brother Bear drew $560,000 on 29 in Hong Kong (second-highest debut by a traditionally animated pic behind Mulan) and $450,000 on 87 in Poland (BVI’s third best opening after Nemo and “Signs”). Bear has collected a dandy $41.3 million in 16 countries, highlighted by Mexico’s $12.4 million and Korea’s […]

The \\{{link http://www.miami.com/mld/miamiherald/news/breaking_news/7809095.htm?template=contentModules/printstory.jsp Miami Herald}}\\ reports that Roy Disney and Stanley Gold are calling on stockholders “to vote against the election of four directors, including Disney chairman and chief executive Michael Eisner, at Disney’s March 3 annual meeting”. Disney and Gold sent out a letter to stockholders saying that this action would send a message […]

Unsurprisingly, The Lord Of The Rings: The Return Of The King heads up the hopefulls for the primarily live-action effects fests, with eleven nods, while Pirates Of The Caribbean: The Curse Of The Black Pearl just beats Nemo‘s four with five nominations. Another fantasy earlier predicted to be in the running, Big Fish, only comes […]

Toonzone {{link http://forums.toonzone.net/showthread.php?t=100819 reports}} that on Friday, February 27, at 8:00pm (ET/PT) Party Wagon will debut on Cartoon Network. The cable network’s first made-for-TV animated feature tells of a band of settlers traveling through the Old West. When the ferry boat they are aboard begins to sink, one of them produces a map disclosing the […]

It appears unfortunately so, according to Jim Hill Media.

According to the Z review, the script for Red Rackham’s Treasure, the first Tintin movie in the trilogy, is being worked on, with casting to begin later this year. However, Canadian actor Gregory Smith, who stars in the WB’s TV-series Everwood, is already a possible candidate to play the lead role. Born in 1983, Smith […]

Coming Soon! reports that Paul Newman, NASCAR legend Richard Petty, Owen Wilson, Bonnie Hunt, and Dan Whitney are all lending their voices to Pixar’s seventh movie, Cars. Directed by John Lasseter and produced by Darla K. Anderson (A Bug’s Life, Monsters, Inc.), Cars, described as “a high octane adventure comedy that features a wide assortment […]

The nominations for the 76th Academy Awards were {{link http://www.oscar.com/nominees/index.html announced}} on Tuesday. \\Finding Nemo\\ leads animated films with 4 nominations, including the third ever screenplay nomination and the fourth ever sound editing nomination for an animated film (no animated film has won either category). Best Animated Feature: \\Brother Bear\\, \\Finding Nemo\\, \\The Triplets of […]

Following our report of the Golden Globes this past Sunday night, the {{link http://www.imdb.com/features/rto/2004/goldenglobes Internet Movie DataBase}} has a full listing of the nominees and eventual winners. Topping the biggest honors was Peter Jackson’s Lord Of The Rings: The Return Of The King, with Best Picture (Drama), Director, Song and Score, placing it in the […]

In the Animated-News Forum, within the topic “Poll: What deleted songs should be inserted into Disney’s animated movies”, ‘Special_Ed’ has posted an interesting item, concerning the upcoming Platinum Edition DVD release of The Little Mermaid next year. Apparently, The Little Mermaid has a new scene inserted, in which the shark, from the beginning of the […]

Jim Hill Media provides an article by its guest writer Aaron Michael Gordon that asks: “Can the magic really be recaptured?”

Toon Zone indicates that John Ritter’s final performance as the voice of “Clifford: The Big Red Dog” will be heard in theaters next month, in Clifford’s Really Big Movie, the popular children’s story’s first full-length film. Also, PBS will air a Valentine’s Day Clifford special, in which John Ritter’s voice will also be heard, on […]

The Hollywood Reporter reports that Walt Disney Pictures and Jerry Bruckheimer Films have optioned the movie rights to American McGee’s The Wizard of Oz. According to McGee, the film has no time frame, and will be the first of a trilogy. Screenwriters Kevin and Dan Hageman are attached. “Other media deals are either signed or […]

{{link http://filmforce.ign.com Filmforce}} has a {{link http://ffmedia.ign.com/filmforce/image/SB-Monster_1_happy.jpg promotional shot}} from the upcoming \\SpongeBob Squarepants\\ movie. (I wasn’t able to find the story this pic goes with. If anyone finds it please email me and I’ll link to it.) A {{link http://www.apple.com/trailers/paramount/spongebobsquarepantsmovie/ teaser trailer}} was released last month. The film is slated to open November 19th, […]

The {{link http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&cid=493&ncid=790&e=2&u=/ap/20040125/ap_en_mo/brf_disney_roger_rabbit AP reports}} that a lawsuit against Disney brought by Gary K. Wolf, the author of the novel on which the \\Who Framed Roger Rabbit\\ was based, has been reinstated by an appeals court after being dismissed by a lower court. Wolf claims he is owed millions of dollars in royalties from merchandising […]

During tonight’s NBC presentation of the 61st annual Golden Globe ceremony, Disney/Pixar’s Finding Nemo lost to Lost In Translation, in the Best Motion Picture – Musical Or Comedy category. In the race for the Best Performance By An Actor In A Motion Picture – Musical Or Comedy, Johnny Depp, nominated for his performance as Captain […]

Lee’s Movie Info shows that Teacher’s Pet fell nearly 43% this weekend, taking in about $1.4 million, averaging $691 from 2,027 theaters. Teacher’s Pet has grossed approximately $5.09 million to date.

Despite leaving the company his father and Uncle Walt built, Roy Disney continues to support the work of the animation division, as ‘PatrickvD’ points out on the {{link http://animation.skyblueproductions.net/showthread.php?s=&postid=806#post806 Animated New Forum}}. As well as play dates and links to various articles on the web about the short film Destino (a project that, it must […]