Nine films have been named to the Oscar shortlist for the Foreign Language Film category at the upcoming Academy Awards. Included in that list is the animated Waltz with Bashir. After additional voting the list will be narrowed to the five final nominees. The full list follows:

Collider has an exclusive video interview with Pixar producers Jim Morris and Lindsey Collins on the red carpet at Los Angeles Film Critics Awards ceremony. They share their views on WALL-E‘s award winning spree, watching Up, Pixar’s upcoming Blu-ray releases, and more.

Among a batch of descriptions and stills from upcoming 2009 films on the website of The Los Angeles Times are several images from animated films yet to be released. Included are The Princess And The Frog, $9.99, Monsters Vs Aliens, Ice Age: Dawn Of The Dinosaurs, Coraline, and Cloudy With A Chance Of Meatballs.

A sneak peak for Up that has been airing on Disney Channel can now be viewed at Coming Soon. The video features director Pete Docter discussing Carl Fredricksen and Russell, the leading characters from the upcoming film. The clip also contains some new footage from the movie. Up opens in theaters on May 29th.

Animation World Network reports that Nickelodeon has greenlit 26 more episodes of The Penguins Of Madagascar, a CGI series featuring the comedic arctic birds from the Madagascar films. The addition of 26 more episodes brings the total order to 52 for the new show. The Penguins Of Madagascar will premier on Saturday, March 28 at […]

The Hollywood Foreign Press Association has awarded Golden Globes to two animated films this year. WALL-E picked up the award for Best Animated Feature Film while Best Foreign Language Film went to Waltz with Bashir. Wall-E and Bolt lost out to The Wrestler in the Best Original Song category.

Variety reports that WALL-E picked up honors for animated feature and Waltz with Bashir won top foreign language film at the 14th annual Critics’ Choice awards. Slumdog Millionaire was the big winner, nabbing five trophies.

WALL-E was named Favorite Animated Movie at last night’s People’s Choice Awards, while The Simpsons won for Favorite Animated Comedy. The Dark Knight was the big winner picking up five trophies: Favorite Movie, Favorite Action Movie, Favorite Cast, Favorite On Screen Match-up, and Favorite Superhero.

A photograph of a new poster for Robert Zemeckis’ motion-capture film A Christmas Carol can be seen at MarketSaw 3D. The one-sheet features a look at the character of Scrooge, who will be played by Jim Carrey. Carrey is also set to portray six other characters in the upcoming Disney movie, which will be screen […]

Mark Kimball has been named this year’s recipient of the Academy’s John A. Bonner Medal of Commendation, which is awarded in appreciation for outstanding service and dedication in upholding the high standards of the Academy. Kimball worked at Walt Disney where he spent two decades working as the CAPS logistics system lead, a senior software […]

Walt Disney Home Entertainment announced their slate of Blu-ray titles for 2009 today. In addition to the previously announced Pinocchio: 70th Anniversary Platinum Edition BD (coming March 17th), also being released in HD for the first time are Pixar’s Monsters Inc. and A Bugs Life (no dates announced yet), and Snow White and the Seven […]

Variety reports that Ari Folman’s animated war documentary Waltz with Bashir and Marjane Satrapi’s semi-autobiographical animated feature Persepolis are among the five shortlisted films which will compete for best foreign language film at BAFTA this year. The full list of nominations for the awards will be announced on January 15 and the awards ceremony will […]

DVDTimes reports that Walt Disney Studios Home Entertainment have announced the DVD release of Disney’s first Chinese-language film The Secret of the Magic Gourd on 27th January. In addition to the English soundtrack, the DVD will also feature Mandarin and Cantonese language tracks. Extras will include “Too Many Toys” – Multi-level game, “Behind the Scenes” […]

Ed Catmull, currently the president of Walt Disney and Pixar Animation Studios, has been named this year’s recipient of the Academy’s Gordon E. Sawyer Award for “his lifetime of technical contributions and leadership in the field of computer graphics for the motion picture industry”. Catmull co-founded Pixar, as well as the computer graphics laboratory at […]

The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences has announced the films that will compete for the three Oscar nominations in the Visual Effects category at the 81st Academy Awards: Australia, The Curious Case of Benjamin Button, The Dark Knight, Hellboy II: The Golden Army, Iron Man, Journey to the Center of the Earth, and […]

DVDActive shares some early details on 1-disc, 2-disc, and Blu-ray releases of Madagascar: Escape 2 Africa which will be out in stores on 6th February. The 2-disc release will include an exclusive all-new Penguin Adventure The Penguins of Madagascar. Full details are yet to be announced.

The Producers Guild of America has announced the nominations for their annual awards. Bolt, Kung Fu Panda, and WALL-E will compete for the Producer of the Year Award in Animated Theatrical Motion Pictures.

The Associated Press reports that a 3D advertisement for DreamWork’s upcoming Monsters Vs Aliens will be aired during the Super Bowl. The 90-second sneak preview will have the largest audience of any 3D telecast, with Jeffery Katzenberg pegging it as “perhaps the biggest media-advertising event in history.” About 150 million pairs of 3D glasses will […]

Variety reports that Ari Folman’s animated war documentary Waltz with Bashir won the 43rd annual best picture prize from the National Society of Film Critics, edging out the runner-ups WALL-E and Happy-Go-Lucky.

Following-up on this story from Saturday where it was revealed that one of the names of a character in Pixar’s upcoming film Up was “Dug the Talking Dog”, here’s a reminder that you can actually see what he looks like in this Animated News post from July.

Several new images from the big screen adaption of Astro Boy can be viewed at Latino Review. Several characters shots are featured on the site, as well as a small handful of concept art. Astro Boy blasts into theaters on October 23rd, 2009.

PixarBlog shares some details on the new characters from Pixar’s forthcoming feature Up which includes the characters “Dug the talking dog”, a female bird named “Kevin” and “Muntz”, the likely villain. Additionally, the Blogsite also shares a new still which appeared in Entertainment Weekly in their exclusive first look at 12 big movies coming in […]

IMDB now lists some of the voice actors for the English version of Hayao Miyazaki’s film Ponyo on the Cliff. Nausicaa reports that it is likely from their ages that Noah Cyrus will be Ponyo, and Frankie Jonas will be Sosuke. Madison Davenport will be playing Kumiko, the only other child character in the film […]

OregonLive shares some artwork from Ari Folman’s acclaimed animated feature Waltz with Bashir. Based on Folman’s memoirs of the Lebanon War, Waltz with Bashir features artwork by award-winning Israeli illustrator and cartoonist Tomer Hanuka. David Polonsky has served as art director on the film.

Eartha Kitt, singer, dancer and actress, died of colon cancer on Thursday at 81, reports Big Cartoon Forum. Kitt, who successfully played Catwoman in the Batman television series in the 1960s, was also the voice of Yzma in Disney’s 2000 feature film The Emperor’s New Groove which won her an Annie for Outstanding Individual Achievement […]

Variety reports that DreamWorks’ animated sequel Madagascar: Escape 2 Africa remained robust in the top weekend slot at the international box office with $31 million at 6,211 playdates in 58 markets, bringing its foreign take to $278 million. The Madagascar sequel has now become the eighth biggest foreign grosser of 2008, tying it with The […]

BBC and Variety report that Nick park’s Wallace and Gromit have topped the Christmas Day TV ratings with their latest adventure A Matter of Loaf and Death. The 30-minute show, which premniered on BBC1, secured the biggest Christmas Day TV audience for five years attracting a peak audience of 14.4 million. Wallace and Gromit enjoyed […]

Creative Screenwriting Magazine has shared an exclusive podcast interview with Pixar director Andrew Stanton. In this over an hour long interview, Stanton shares his views on WALL-E, early shorts and commercials, and also his forthcoming film, John Carter of Mars. Thanks to PixarPlanet for sharing the link.

An exclusive screen shot from Disney/Pixar’s new film Up can be viewed at Empire Movie News. The still features the movie’s two protagonists amidst a South American backdrop. Up hits theaters on May 29, 2009.

DVDActive reports that Warner Home Video has announced Max Fleischer’s Superman for the 7th April. This release will feature all 17 theatrical shorts totalling 170 minutes, spread over two discs. Extras will include two retrospective featurettes, “The Man, The Myth Superman”, and “First Flight: The Fleischer Superman Series.”