Comcast, the biggest cable company in the US, has announced that it has made an offer to acquire The Walt Disney Company for $66 billion, including an assumption of debt, according to {{link http://money.cnn.com/2004/02/11/news/companies/comcast_disney/index.htm?cnn=yes CNN}}. According to Comcast, Disney CEO Michael Eisner has been unwilling to discuss a deal. Comcast CEO Brian L. Roberts, calling […]

“The Walt Disney Company said Sunday that it has refused to let the daughter [Abigail Disney] of former board member Roy Disney, along with other individual investors, attend a two-day meeting for institutional investors and analysts planned to begin Wednesday in Orlando, Florida.” Go to The Big Cartoon DataBase for the full report.

According to the Big Cartoon DataBase the Disney Board has recently been discussing the issue of replacing CEO Michael Eisner. The discussions do not appear to be a crisis response to the Save Disney/Oust Eisner campaign spearheaded by former board members Roy E. Disney and Stanley Gold but the beginning of confronting the fact that […]

Broadway.com reports the sad news of the apparent suicide death of Jason Raize, who was the first to portray Simba in The Lion King on Broadway and also supplied the voice of Denahi from Disney’s Brother Bear. Thanks to Kristin for the alert.

FilmForce gives The Lion King 1 1/2 a somewhat good review, stating, “Amusing the first time you see it, after that only kids will watch it over and over.” With the movie rating a “7,” the video rating a “8,” the sound rating a “7,” and the bonus features rating a “6” (“8/10 if you’re […]

Roy Disney and Stanley Gold have responded to The Walt Disney Company board’s {{link http://www.animatedviews.com/wp-content/uploads/archives/0000 recent open letter}} to shareholders. In a message posted to their website {{link http://www.savedisney.com/letters/response_to_board.asp SaveDisney.com}}, they respond to several of the points raised by the board and conclude “it is not we who are trying to protect executive positions or […]

According to an {{link http://www.oaklandtribune.com/Stories/0,1413,82~10834~1946836,00.html AP report}}, The Walt Disney Company board has responded to repeated criticism by former members Roy Disney and Stanley Gold. In letters to shareholders and in full-page newspaper ads the company is touting their recent accomplishments. In a ‘Dear Shareholders’, letter dated Friday, Disney’s 13 board members outlined the ‘real […]

A new trailer for \\Shrek 2\\ will air on TV before hitting the theatres, according to {{link http://www.comingsoon.net/news.php?id=3385 ComingSoon.net}}. The trailer will air on NBC after the original film gets its network television premiere on Sunday, February 15th.

{{link http://www.comingsoon.net/news.php?id=3392 ComingSoon.net}} reports on a {{link http://www.dvdfanatic.com/news.php?id=0402101 DVD Fanatic}} interview with \\The Simpsons\\ producer and writer Mike Reiss. When asked about a possible release date for a movie version of the show, Reiss responded, “I will say two years from this summer. I think it’s going to be Summer 2006 or maybe Christmas 2006. […]

As we {{link http://www.animatedviews.com/wp-content/uploads/archives/00000826.html reported}} last week, \\CBS News Sunday Morning\\ aired a segment on the state of animation. We have some pictures from the piece, including a logo from Disney’s \\Chicken Little\\, the man behind Pixar’s \\Boundin’\\, and some pics that may be from a meeting of computer artists working on Disney’s \\Rapunzel Unbraided\\.

Toon Zone has recently posted the content of a letter from Roy Disney and Stanley Gold to the Disney Board of Directors. Many of the points raised in it are not new but we get the impression they are very serious about their campaign.

Animation Insider has the scoop on the new Batman animated series coming soon. The series will focus on the young Bruce Wayne and his dual roles as trust fund playboy/uber-obsessed crime fighter as well as encountering many of his dastardly and fiendish nemeses (watch Mystery Men for the correct pronunciation of “nemeses”) for the first […]

Legacy Animation Studios, a refugee production company founded by several former WDFA-Florida animators (AN article here), has issued a press release announcing their very first project: a traditionally-animated short by the name of Lucky! According to the release, “Lucky is the story of a four-leaf clover who is down on his luck. As Lucky passes […]

The Disney Company, who until now have enjoyed an un-official online relationship with Apple to distribute clips and trailers for their movies, willl move over to Microsoft later this year, or early 2005 according to {{link http://www.reuters.co.uk/newsArticle.jhtml?type=internetNews&storyID=4310373&section=news Reuters}}, when their copy-protection devices will enable the Mouse House to offer full-length movies for downloading over the […]

Dark Horizons has an early review for the highly anticipated sequel, a highlight from the review being, “From the audience response and over-hearing their comments, it sounds like that Shrek 2 will be the mega family hit for 2004, that could explain why Disney/Pixar’s The Incredibles got pushed back for a Christmas release.”

Another \\Tintin\\ may be in the works, according to {{link http://www.moviehole.net/news/3150.html Moviehole}}. Besides the Steven Spielberg adaptation {{link http://www.animatedviews.com/wp-content/uploads/archives/00000644.html in the planning stages now}}, acclaimed, and exiled, director Roman Polanski “is also purportedly interested in trying to bring the European adventurer to the big screen. He’s apparently eyeing \\Tintin in Tibet\\”. Moviehole also reports that […]

Jim Hill Media updates with a first hand report by Chuck Oberleitner of Friday night’s Annie Awards held in Hollywood, CA. The public will see that Pixar won many more awards than Disney, but those who gain the insider’s view this article presents will see that animators and creators from each side are very respectful […]

Though laying dormant since the recent holiday season and throughout January, the animation-on-disc website {{link http://www.dvdtoons.com/ DVD Toons}} sprung back into action this week, with no less than four major updates. First, Randall Cyrenne looks back at the career of legendary stop-motion effects animator {{link http://www.dvdtoons.com/features/62 Ray Harryhausen}} with a wonderful article that takes a […]

Ultimate Disney confirms that the Lion King II: Special Edition DVD will be a 2-disc set. Also, like with the Lion King Platinum Edition DVD, the Aladdin Platinum Edition DVD will have a Collector’s Gift Set.

In some overlooked but important news, the DVD cover art for Samurai Jack: Season One, set to arrive in stores on May 4, is available now at Digital Bits. Thanks to “MisterMystery14” for the heads up!

Famed English adventurer Rupert The Bear is coming back home, with the issue of Paul McCartney’s Rupert And The Frog Song, the first time the little bear was animated on film, and a theatrically released short that played with McCartney’s Give My Regards To Broad Street movie from 1984. The Rupert featurette, previously only available […]

The Miami Herald reports that “the fish story Finding Nemo took top honors Saturday at the animation industry’s 31st annual Annie Awards, earning nine awards, including Best Theatrical Feature, Best Directing and Best Voice Acting. [It] also captured the Best Music and Best Writing prizes. Ellen Degeneres received the Best Voice Acting award for her […]

TV Shows on DVD reports that in addition to the DVD release of Spider-Man vs. Doc Ock, taken from the 1994 series, Spider-Man: The ’67 Classic Collection DVD box set will be released in stores on June 29. The six-DVD set contains all 52 fully restored classic Spider-Man episodes from the original 1967 TV series.

Two animation events across the UK were highlighted today, in The Guardian newspaper’s listings supplement, The Guide: {{link http://www.britishanimationawards.com/ The British Animation Awards}}: “When you consider that past contributors have included Nick Park, Steve Bell and Tim Burton, you get a good idea of the quality expected in this competition. Plus you – yes, you […]

Dalboz has provided links in the Animated News Forum to several posters to designed to generate awareness for Oscar nominees including two posters for Finding Nemo and one for Tokyo Godfathers.

Check out the opinion piece by Motley Fool Rick Aristotle Munarriz on the advantages to a merger between The Walt Disney Company, Apple Computers, and Pixar Studios with Steve Jobs at the helm of the superconglomerate. “Eisner isn’t ready to step out. Jobs isn’t ready to step in. That still doesn’t detract from the tantalizing […]

The Big Cartoon DataBase reports on an alternative Disney investor meeting set up by Walt Disney Company dissidents Roy Disney and Stanley Gold. This meeting will be held in Philadelphia one day before the official meeting of Disney stockholders and is intended to educate shareholders on how “the House of Mouse has lost its creative […]

Be sure to tune in to CBS News tomorrow morning, February 8 at 9:00 am ET and at 7:00 am PT, for a report on the state of animation. Animators J. J. Sedelmaier and Gary Baseman, and animation studio Pixar are scheduled to be profiled. Thanks to Animation Insider for the alert.

The DVD menus for Cat in the Hat, Dilbert, and The Flinstones are now available at Davis DVD.

Toon Zone reveals that, according to Reed Television, Kids’ WB! and Cartoon Network next season will share Warner Bros. Animation’s The Batman. While the half-hour show will air on Kids’ WB! on Saturday mornings next fall, it will begin airing on Cartoon Network around six months later. The Batman‘s premise is that it “looks at […]