Archived Animation News
for 2006 and earlier
28 March 2006
Cars will premiere on May 26 at
Sanrio has two new Hello Kitty films planned for theatrical release as a double feature, in 2007; 26 episodes of a new TV series are also planned.
The Fox release Yankee Irving is now titled Everyone's Hero, and has been pushed back to a September 15 release. Shrek 3 is now known as Shrek the Third.
The Pixar: 20 Years of Animation exhibition
at
The Simpsons has been approved for two more seasons, and King of the Hill for one more. Absolutely no word on the Simpsons movie; let's hope it wasn't a false rumor after all.
There was a ShoWest sneak peek at about five minutes of Happy Feet, and there's a description up at AICN. Apparently it's got lots of energy and lots of Robin Williams. I withhold judgment.
Oh, and DVD news: On 20 June Krypto the Superdog: Vol. I will be released.
19 March 2006
Lots of reviews of Cars, which was shown at ShoWest in
Also at Ain't It Cool News is the report that Futurama will be returning to TV with 26 new episodes! No word yet on what channel it will air on.
Some DVD release dates: On May 23 Hoodwinked; on May 30 various episodes of ALF; on June 6 Dumbo and The Godzilla Power Hour; on June 20 Lady and the Tramp II: Scamp's Adventure.
14 March 2006
Several new trailers are out: Cars, which I still think looks a little iffy (I mean, yes--it'll be excellent and look beautiful, but the subject doesn't seem very new or interesting to me); Over the Hedge, which looks fun; and Happy Feet, which looks frankly awful. You know, just because you have the technology to make a bunch of realistic dancing penguins doesn't mean you should.
The Jim Henson Company plans to make an animated movie of S.F. Said's novels Varjak Paw and The Outlaw Varjak Paw, which I haven't read but which I believe are about a magic martial arts kitten. Perhaps it will be released in 2008 and be called Kung Fu Kitten, to go along with Kung Fu Gecko and Kung Fu Panda being released that year. Dave McKean will direct, as well as co-write the screenplay with Said.
Isaac Hayes, who voices Chef on
5 March 2006
Wow, I didn't realize I hadn't updated in so long. Oh, well. I'm about to move to another state at the end of March and everything's sort of chaotic.
I was going to review Doogal last week and didn't get
around to it, but I'll just go ahead and tell you not to bother. The
animation is quite good, but the writing is junk and the voicework all over the
place. The movie was released in
Ain't It Cool News has a test screening review up of Flushed Away. The review is positive although not really detailed.
Cartoon
Brew has some information about the Platform International Animation
Festival, which debuts June 25-30, 2007 in
John Musker and Ron Clements are returning to Disney after leaving in 2005. Composer Alan Menken is also returning.
The release date for Meet the Robinsons has been pushed back to March 30, 2007; Yankee Irving has been pushed back to September 15, 2006.
Speaking of release dates, a few upcoming DVD releases: The Fox and the Hound will be released in summer of 2006 and Dumbo on 13 June 2006. Leroy & Stitch, the direct-to-video sequel to Lilo & Stitch, will be released June 27.
Curious George was #9 at the box office this weekend, Doogal #14, and Hoodwinked #26.
17 February 2006
Cartoon
Brew has some information about a movie called Slipp Jimmy Fri (Free Jimmy), coming
out in
The Flushed Away sneak preview available on the Curse of the Were-Rabbit DVD is also up on the official site.
Ain't It Cool News has two early screening reviews up of Happy Feet. One of the reviewers liked the movie okay and the other hated it, but they both singled out Robin Williams as annoying.
Curious George was #3 in the weekend box office, according to Box Office Mojo, taking in $14.7 million. Hoodwinked is down to #10, with a cumulative total of over $47 million.
12 February 2006
I've got a review of Curious George up, if you're interested. The movie was actually rather nice and will probably hit #3 or 4 in the weekend box office. Previews before the movie included The Wild, which looks really horrible; Barnyard, which looks to have cheaply done animation but a certain energy, much like a good TV show; The Ant Bully, which looks like a stupid rip-off of A Bug's Life, and don't we already have a stupid rip-off of A Bug's Life?; and Open Season, which of all the trailers was the only one the kids seemed to like.
The DVD for Wallace & Gromit: Curse of the Were-Rabbit is out, and has an early preview/making-of look at Flushed Away, Aardman's CGI movie about rats due out this November, about the same time as Pixar's rat movie, Ratatouille. I love Aardman, but as far as I know this is their first foray into CGI, and while the animation looks good, with character designs based on Aardman's claymation style, it's not claymation. I hope they can pull this one off, but what little I know about the story seems weak.
Also on the Were-Rabbit DVD is the short Stage Fright, which if you haven't seen it before, is a really excellent older short. It's driving me crazy that I can't remember where I first saw it.
It's not exactly related to animation, but writer Alan J. Shalleck, who collaborated with Margaret Rey on 28 Curious George books and who directed a bunchton of the Curious George shorts, has been murdered. He wasn't one of the writers listed on the current film version, although practically everyone else in the universe was. You can read more about the murder at AWN; it's a sad situation.
Check out the new Little Golden Book named after and based on Jack-Jack Attack, the short on The Incredibles DVD. Most book adaptations of movies are truly horrible, but animator Tony Fucile's illustrations are just awesome.
Oswald the Lucky Rabbit is finally coming home! Disney traded an ESPN sportscaster to NBC in a deal that included rights to Oswald. Walt DIsney and Ub Iwerks created Oswald in 1927 but had to concede the rights to Universal, who's had them until now and done pretty much nothing with them. Disney, of course, went on to create Mickey Mouse after losing the rights to Oswald.
The Pink Panther cartoon collection has been released on DVD after being pushed back when the live-action film's release was postponed. On March 7, Howl's Moving Castle and Whisper of the Heart will be released on DVD.
5 February 2006
The Annie Awards were held last night, and Wallace & Gromit: Curse of the Were-Rabbit won Best Animated Feature and eight other categories. Star Wars: Clone Wars II Chapters 21-25 won Best Animated TV Production. You can see a full list of the winners/nominees here.
The Annies have been a way to gauge the Best Animated Feature award in the Oscars since the Oscars started awarding animation separately, so it looks like Wallace & Gromit may be the one to win. I hope so, personally. Anyway, the Oscar nominees for Best Animated Feature are Howl's Moving Castle, Tim Burton's Corpse Bride, and Wallace & Gromit: Curse of the Were-Rabbit. I've made a new page to keep track of Oscar stuff here.
The Golden Globes are going to add an animation category starting next year, because then maybe people will watch them.
Speaking of Wallace & Gromit, the Curse of the Were-Rabbit DVD will be released this Tuesday, February 7. And in other DVD news, The Little Mermaid Platinum Edition is being released 3 October 2006.
There are some clips up on Yahoo for Curious George, which of course comes out next weekend, February 10.
CBS has ordered seven episodes of Aardman's Creature Comforts to air in 2006-7. Woot! The shows are half an hour long.
Weinstein has picked up distribution rights to Exodus's Igor.
In Disney-Pixar news, John Lasseter and Ed Catmull are looking at the planned Disney releases. Meet the Robinsons is still on track for release this December, but there will probably be some changes down the line with other films. Also, the current distribution deal between Pixar and Disney has been extended to cover Pixar's Ratatouille, being released this November, just in case something delays or halts the official merger this summer.
Foodfight!'s release has been delayed again, this time to March 2007 to keep the film from opening opposite Happy Feet. Because no one wants to be upstaged by a bunch of penguins.
Oh--almost forgot--there's a new Cars trailer out. It's going to be shown during the Superbowl tonight, but if you just can't wait you can see it here.
28 January 2006
I just remembered one of the previews in front of Hoodwinked--Doogal, coming out on February 24. You can see the trailer here.
Not only has production on Toy Story 3 been canceled, John Lasseter and Ed Catmull have announced that Pixar will not work on Disney films and Disney will not work on Pixar films. This is a great bit of news for certain, although it would be nice to see Pixar do another Toy Story sequel.
Gopher Broke, the excellent animated short nominated for an Oscar last year, will be made into a full-length movie by Blur Studio. No word yet on when it might be released.
The Cartoon Network will be showing Spirited Away on February 3, 7pm Eastern.
The BAFTA nominations have been announced here. Also, Wallace & Gromit: Curse of the Were-Rabbit has won Best Animated Film in the Producers Guild Awards.
Cartoon Brew has a lot of comments from various artists and other people in the animation world about the Disney/Pixar merger. It makes for some very interesting reading. So far things look to be moving in the right direction--let's hope the good things continue.
24 January 2006
The big news today is that Disney is buying Pixar. Disney is buying Pixar! Until I actually heard the news I didn't think it would really happen. Damn. Anyway, it means that Lasseter is now over the animation studios, which hopefully will mean that he'll bring his brilliance to all of Disney's stuff as well as Pixar's.
Ain't It Cool News has an early review of Curious George; the reviewer says the movie looks nice but is uninspired.
Hoodwinked was #2 in the box office this weekend, taking in just over $11 million.
21 January 2006
When I saw Hoodwinked last weekend, every
single preview in front of it was for an animated movie. It was pretty
cool. I didn't write them all down, but the ones I remember are Monster House, Ice Age 2, and The Wild. The Wild looks like a
third-rate
As for Hoodwinked, the first of several sequels has been announced, Hood vs. Evil, where Red Riding Hood and The Wolf investigate the disappearance of Hansel and Gretel. It's going to have twice the budget, which maybe will pay for some decent animation. No word on when it's expected to be released. Hoodwinked was #2 in the box office in its opening weekend, taking in close to $17 million; it only cost about $20 million to make.
After the miseries of The Wild and Hoodwinked, it's nice to take a look at the Kung Fu Gecko trailer, here. It looks pretty nice. It's slated for a 2008 release, which is (coincidentally?) the same year DreamWorks plans to release Kung Fu Panda.
There are rumors of at least one direct-to-video Futurama movie, but no dates or details.
A special edition of Dumbo will be released on DVD on June 13.
Don't forget, the Annie Awards are February 4! Unfortunately they're not televised.
15 January 2006
I can't remember where I found this information, but I think Ain't It Cool News had it. They mention two projects in the works, Wee Free Men (adapted from the awesome Terry Pratchett book) directed by Sam Raimi, and Where the Wild Things Are (WB) directed by Spike Jonze. I don't know if either of these will be animated or include animation, but they sound interesting and I thought I'd mention them.
AICN also has a little bit about another project, this one by Celluloid Dreams, Grass Roots: The Movie, which will be stop-motion animated. It's based on the Fabulous Furry Freak Brothers comic.
On 18 April, Thundercats Season 2, Volume 1 will be released on DVD. It'll contain 34 episodes on six discs.
5 January 2006
Just a few quick updates--
Yahoo has a few clips up from Hoodwinked here.
Animated News reports that a new Spongebob Squarepants short will air in front of the October theatrical release of Barnyard.
That's it for now. Oh, be sure to check out the new 2006 Animated Movies coming soon page.
In July, Disney is releasing a Lilo & Stitch special edition DVD.
1 January 2006
Toy Story has been added to the National Film Registry, one of only 25 films added per year.
The #1 selling DVD of 2005 was The Incredibles, which as it happens I'm watching right now, although it's only a simple coincidence. Speaking of DVDs, Robot Chicken Volume 1 will be released March 28, although I don't think it'll sell quite as many copies as The Incredibles.
There's a teaser trailer out for Asterix and the Vikings. It's in French. I don't know if it's going to be released theatrically or direct-to-video, but it doesn't look bad.
28 December 2005
It looks like Pixar and Disney are getting very close to a renewed distribution agreement. My, my.
Speaking of Pixar, the
The Jim Henson Creativity Honor has been awarded to Gorillaz, one of my favorite bands and an animated one at that. Go here for more information on the other award winners.
Some little bits of news: Nickelodeon
has ordered twenty more episodes of Spongebob
Squarepants. Wallace
& Gromit: Curse of the Were-Rabbit was the
A bunch of DVD news: On February 28, The Real Ghostbusters. On March 14, Anastasia. On March 28, a two-disc set of Danger Mouse: Seasons 5 & 6. On April 4, a two-disc set of Garbage Pail Kids. On April 11, Pooh's Grand Adventure: The Search for Christopher Robin. In the second quarter of 2006, Dinosaurs.
18 December 2005
There's a new Over the Hedge trailer here. It looks pretty good.
Ain't It Cool News has three early screening reviews of A Scanner Darkly. Two people really liked it, and one said "The animation is unnecessary, annoying, and distracting from what is actually an interesting concept in paranoia." That's pretty much what I've been thinking--why the hell is this an animated movie? It's all rotoscoped anyway. There are spoilers in the reviews, by the way.
A Hoodwinked review is up at Cartoon Brew. It's at the top today but you may need to scroll down to find it by the time you read this. Apparently the movie is susprisingly decent, although not exactly great. Hoodwinked has been given an early limited release to qualify it for this spring's Academy Awards, but its wide release won't be until January 13.
More awards news: The Writers Guild of
America, East and West, recently announced nominations for 2005 TV
writing. The Animation categories are taken up by Simpsons episodes. Also, the
Annie Awards nominees have been announced; there's a full listing here. In
the Best Animated Feature category, nominees are Chicken Little, Corpse Bride,
Howl's
14 December 2005
The next Studio Ghibli film has been
announced: Gedo Senki,
based on the Earthsea books by Ursula K. LeGuin. The film will be
directed by Goro Miyazaki, Hayao Miyazaki's son, and will be released in
Speaking of Studio Ghibli, Howl's Moving Castle is starting to win awards. It won Best Animated Film from the New York Film Critics Circle, and Best Music Score from the Los Angeles Film Critics Association (for Joe Hisaishi's score); Best Animation went to Wallace & Gromit: Curse of the Were-Rabbit.
A new Ice Age 2 trailer is showing and can be found here (I think--I can't get it to work on my computer). Another Cars teaser trailer is also showing in front of Narnia--which is a great movie, by the way--and can be found here.
DreamWorks has been bought by
DVD updates: On February 7, Wallace & Gromit: Curse of the Were-Rabbit will be released; on March 14 Anastasia and Ice Age; and on March 21, Chicken Little.
4 December 2005
If you've been thinking of buying the He-Man and the Masters of the Universe Season 1, Vol. 1 DVD but were afraid of getting one of the scratched ones, look for a copy with an "Orko Approved" sticker on it.
The first two episodes of Nickelodeon's Skyland are online here. I haven't watched them yet, myself.
Check out this amusing Disney-esque "trailer." Pretty good.
Some DVD updates: On April 25, 2006, Inspector Gadget: The Animated Series will be released; on March 7 The Best of Go-Go Gophers and The Best of Tennessee Tuxedo; and on March 18 A Boy Named Charlie Brown and Snoopy Come Home.
28 November 2005
The Pixar short Knick Knack has been released on iTunes for those of you with iPod Video players. Lucky devils.
Peter Jackson is reportedly petitioning the Directors Guild of America for "Animation Directed by" credits for two people who directed the Kong sequences in his upcoming movie. Talk about a stranglehold--the DGA apparently likes its little bit of power.
It looks like Cartoon Network is canceling Teen Titans after five seasons. You can read a bit more about it at Toonzone.
Meet the Robinsons is going to be released in Digital 3-D as well as regular format; it will be out in December 2006.
Chicken Little slipped to fourth place in the box office this weekend, taking in $12.4 million according to Box Office Mojo.
21 November 2005
On 7 March 2006, Disney will release the next three Ghibli titles: Howl's Moving Castle, My Neighbor Totoro (new dub), and Whisper of the Heart.
In other Studio Ghibli news, Nausicaa.net has a lot of new updates, including the news that Hayao Miyazaki's son, Goro Miyazaki, is slated to direct the studio's next film, the title of which will be announced on 13 December; the movie itself is scheduled to be released next summer.
A list of ten animated films submitted for nomination for the Academy Awards has
been released: Chicken Little, Howl's Moving Castle, Valiant, Wallace
& Gromit in the Curse of the Were-Rabbit, Madagascar, Robots, Steamboy,
Gulliver's Travels, and Hookwinked; the last two are movies being released in
December. Of this list, only three will be nominated in January, which
means a really close race since many of these films are excellent. My
guess is that Howl's
The teaser trailer for Happy Feet is showing in front of the new Harry Potter movie (which is truly excellent, by the way), but you can also see it here.
Chicken Little has dropped to #3 in this weekend's box office, taking in just under $15 million--but considering the stiff competition it has now from Harry Potter, that's still very good.
14 November 2005
Chicken Little kept the #1 spot in the box office this weekend with $32 million in its second week of release.
The trailer for Monster House is out; I saw it in front of Zathura, but you can see it here. The movie will be released in summer of 2006.
Ain't It Cool News has a poster and a little bit of information about Arthur and the Minimoys, which is due out at Christmas 2006.
9 November 2005
The Turner Classic Movies channel will be showing some Miyazaki films in January of 2006, in English dub (when available) followed by the original Japanese version.
A trailer is up for Hoodwinked here. You have to
hit the Nicksclusive button, then choose Hoodwinked from the menu on the right
(it's third down, I think), then suffer through a commercial first. Then
you get the trailer--but only if you're in the
Brad Bird (director of The Incredibles and Iron Giant) will receive the first Texas Avery Animation Award on 13 November at the Deep Ellum Film Festival. Ollie Johnston (the last living animator of Disney's famous "nine old men") will receive the National Medal of Arts on 10 November.
An animated version of Hellboy is in the works, and you can read a little bit about it on Toonzone.
A few changes with upcoming Disney movies: American Dog has been pushed back to summer of 2008 and Rapunzel Unbraided is now slated for 2009.
Chicken Little was #1 in the box office this weekend, taking in just over $40 million.
7 November 2005
Toonzone has two Chicken Little reviews up, both of them positive: here and here.
The Ant Bully trailer, which is showing in front of Chicken Little (or was when I went) is available online here.
The next Studio Ghibli project will be announced December 13.
3 November 2005
Chicken Little, of course, opens tomorrow--I'll try and review it by tomorrow afternoon if I have time. Anyway, Ain't It Cool News has two reviews up, one positive, one negative. The consensus seems to be that there are probably too many songs shoehorned into the movie and the voicework might be a little weak. I still hold out hopes that it'll be good, though.
Hey, there's a possible mid-2006 DVD release in store for those of us longing to see Animaniacs and Pinky & the Brain! I really hope they release them soon--like, you know, today. I'd also like to see CD releases of a lot of the songs, which are impossible to find.
On February 15, the Visual Effects Society will present John Lasseter of Pixar with the George Melies Award for Creative Excellence.
In January 2007, Cartoon Network (US and
Europe) and Nickelodeon
Wallace & Gromit was #5 in the box office last weekend; Corpse Bride was down to #17.
23 October 2005
There's a review of an early screening of Over the Hedge up at Ain't It Cool News. The review is positive, and tells interesting details without giving out spoilers.
If you got the He-Man and the Masters of the Universe: Season 1, Vol. 1 DVD set and your disks are scratched, go here to see how to get them replaced.
Production has already begun on a Shaun the Sheep TV show, based on the
character in Wallace & Gromit: A
Close Shave. The show will air in 2007, although I don't
know if we'll get it here in
Dakota Fanning has been cast as the voice of Coraline in the Laika Entertainment movie of the same name, which is based on the Neil Gaiman novel. Ron Perlman will voice Conan in Swordplay Entertainment's animated Conan: Red Nails.
18 October 2005
An animated X-Men series based largely on (who else?) Wolverine is in pre-production, with it expected to be aired around summer of 2007. Read more about it here.
A new English dub of My Neighbor Totoro will debut October 23 at the 2005 Hollywood Film Festival, featuring the voices of trendy child star Dakota Fanning and (presumably Dakota's sister) Elle Fanning. I really like the English dub in the Fox version, myself. I can't imagine how Dakota Fanning's frankly monotonous voicework (listen to the Dreamer trailer for proof positive about the monotone) could improve on Lisa Michaelson's Satsuki.
Wallace & Gromit: Curse of the Were-Rabbit slipped to #2 in the box office in its second week of release (although just barely shy of the #1 place); Corpse Bride is at #9.
11 October 2005
A fire destroyed the Aardman Animations warehouse containing sets, storyboards, films--basically the entire history of Aardman. Fortunately nobody was in the building when the fire broke out. Read more about it here.
The new Orphanage Animation Studio in
9 October 2005
I've seen Wallace & Gromit: Curse of the Were-Rabbit twice now, and it's truly and astoundingly excellent! If you haven't seen it already, you really need to go. I was going to write a review for it, but I'm feeling too lazy. Anyway, the Madagascar Peguins short in front of the movie is really good--especially Mr. Chew, oh my goodness. Wallace & Gromit are #1 in the box office this week; Corpse Bride has slipped to #6.
At my Friday viewing of Wallace & Gromit, there were trailers for Curious George and Over the Hedge, but at today's viewing Curious George had been replaced by that crappy-looking Zathura movie's preview. Anyway, you can see the previews online: Curious George and Over the Hedge. They both actually look pretty good.
The first four minutes of Chicken Little are online here. I'm debating whether to watch it or not--the movie will be out next month and I think I can wait till then.
There's an excellent article here about Song of the South, racism and perceived racism, and other related topics. It's extremely well written and well thought out. I highly recommend it; it's long, but do read the whole thing. One of the things the author says is that Disney isn't likely to release the Song of the South video in 2006 although it's the 60th anniversary of the film, and that if Disney were going to be releasing it they'd already have started the PR machine rolling. I disagree, though. Disney tends to start their ad/PR campaigns for video releases of classic movies about six months before the release date, so if they plan to release it in, say, November of 2006 we wouldn't be hearing about it for many months. Of course, I don't know if they have plans to release the movie next year, but I'd say there's a bigger chance of it than we've had for many, many years.
An animated version of the "Lucky
Luke" comic book character is planned for a 2007 release in
4 October 2005
Yahoo has a bunch of Wallace & Gromit: Curse of the Were-Rabbit clips up here for your viewing pleasure.
FUNimation has announced a new 24-hour anime channel, but they haven't said when it'll launch. We'll keep you posted.
Corpse Bride slipped to #3 at the box office this weekend, but just barely, according to Box Office Mojo.
The Season 7 Simpsons DVD set will be released December 13.
28 September 2005
Howl's Moving Castle opened in tenth place in the
The Jim Henson Co. has a sequel planned to The Dark Crystal, titled Power of the Dark Crystal; it's supposed to be released in 2007. An animated Dark Crystal TV series is also planned after the sequel.
Another tidbit about ResFest (mentioned last time): one of the programs is called By Design and showcases "cutting edge motion graphics and design based animation."
26 September 2005
Nausicaa.net reports that Studio Ghibli's next project for Hayao Miyazaki may be Ursula K. LeGuin's Earthsea books.
Starting October 2, the Cartoon Network will premiere a new show, Sunday Pants, on Sunday evenings. The show will be a collection of animated shorts. Read more about it here.
ResFest 2005 Digital Film Festival will be
in
Corpse Bride came in at #2 this weekend at the box office, earning just over $20 million.
24 September 2005
The review of Tim Burton's Corpse Bride is up here, if you haven't seen it already.
Fraggle Rock is already in development for a 2008 theatrical movie release, with all the original characters. Awesome! In other 2008 movie news, Disney is apparently planning to release Gnomeo and Juliette some time that year, which frankly is also awesome. The movie is supposed to be Romeo and Juliet with garden gnomes, so I understand, and I'm all about garden gnomes.
More 2008 (and later) releases from DreamWorks can be found here.
Yahoo has a new clip up from Chicken Little here. It looks great, especially the very end, which got a big, spontaneous out-loud laugh from me.
21 September 2005
I've got plans to see Tim Burton's Corpse Bride this Saturday, so look for a review some time that afternoon. The movie had a limited release last weekend to good reviews; it goes into wide release this weekend.
Toonzone has several reviews up of Loonatics Unleashed, with this one being my personal favorite because it talks about reactions of actual kids. I didn't see the show myself. It was a difficult decision, but I decided that it was more important for me to get the oil changed in my truck.
Animator Joanna Quinn has a new website up here, and it's a lot of fun. Thanks to Lisa for the link.
16 September 2005
Don't forget to watch Loonatics Unleashed tomorrow morning at 10:30 a.m. (eastern) on KidsWB, just so you can trash the show with the rest of us. From what I hear it's pretty uninspired, but I suppose I'll give it a watch just in case it's good.
Wallace & Gromit: Curse of the
Were-Rabbit has debuted in
Yahoo has some clips of Tim Burton's Corpse Bride up.
There's a
9 September 2005
Comedy Central has extended its contract for
Escaflowne: The Movie will air on Saturday, September 10 at midnight Eastern time and again at 3am on the Cartoon Network.
Kidtoon Films is planning to release two new WB movies, Tom & Jerry in The Fast and the Furry and Scooby-Doo in Where's My Mummy? to weekend-morning theatrical screenings.
Howl's Moving Castle will be released on DVD in
2 September 2005
If you bought the Thundercats Season 1, Vol. 1 DVD, episode two was released without background music. You can call 1-800-553-6937 to receive a replacement disc; more information can be found at the WB site.
Rock-a-Doodle is being re-released on DVD on November 8. I saw that movie in its original release, and believe me, you do not want to buy that DVD.
Nausicaa.net reports that there are plans to
release some early anime DVDs, including Animal
Treasure Island, Puss
'n Boots (both with key animation by
31 August 2005
I hope everyone's okay after Katrina.
We were lucky here in
Some awards have been announced in the Nextoons: Nicktoons Film Festival 2005. The Grand Prize went to La Revolution des Crabes by Arthur de Pins. The Producers Choice and Student Animator Award went to J. G. Quintel for The Naive Man from Lolliland. The Viewer's Choice Award is still open; you can vote here.
In other animation awards news, Gorillaz received two awards for their video Feel Good Inc. at the MTV Video Music Awards, Breathrough Video and Best Special Effects in a Video. If you want to see the video (and I highly recommend it), go to the Gorillaz site, then enter Kong studios, click on the map monkey in the lower left corner, and find the Cinema room on the map and click it. It's less confusing than it sounds. While you are in the cinema, check out everything else too. I recommend "Jump the Gut," a short-short film that always makes me laugh hysterically.
AICN has an early review up of Wallace & Gromit: Curse of the Were-Rabbit here. The review is very positive and spoiler free.
Valiant has fallen to ninth place in the
Fox is possibly developing a new animated series based on the book by Ed Broth, Stories from a Moron.
27 August 2005
The
Seven Seas Entertainment has just released "No Man's Land: The Flash Anime," and the pilot episode is up at GoManga.com, along with the manga. The art is really beautiful, but it's also incredibly loud so don't watch it at work.
24 August 2005
WB reportedly has a new Thundercats series in pre-production, maybe ready in time for the end of 2006. It's going to be much more modern and "anime inspired," which frankly sounds pretty cool. I always loved those dopey ole Thundercats.
I found a trailer for Delgo here that you might want to watch. I don't like the voicework and the writing sounds weak, but the visuals are really nice and the animation not bad.
Dumbo II may be back in production as one of the final projects of Disney's Australian studio.
On August 28 you can catch the top ten shorts of the Nextoons: Nicktoons Film Festival; the grand prize winner will also be announced. Also on August 28, the Cartoon Network will be airing the second InuYasha movie, Castle Beyond the Looking Glass, at midnight and again at 3 a.m.
on 30 August, the Garfield and Friends Vol. 4 DVD will be released; Vol. 5 is scheduled for release on 6 December.
21 August 2005
I totally forgot that Pom Poko and My Neighbors the Yamadas came out on DVD this week. I'm going to have to make a trip to the store. Speaking of DVDs and Studio Ghibli, Howl's Moving Castle will be released on DVD in spring of 2006 along with My Neighbor Totoro, which unlike the Fox release will have the Japanese audio as well as the English dub.
Also, Nausicaa.net has a bunch of excellent updates about Studio Ghibli. Go read them because I am way too lazy to type all that stuff in myself.
Animation World Network has an article about Gorillaz up here. It's not a very good article, although it does give an overview of the project if you're not familiar with it, but it did remind me that I wanted to plug the band and link to the Gorillaz website. I bought the album "Demon Days" a few weeks ago and I don't just love it, I seem to be addicted to it. And now I see that there are two videos on the site from the album, and they're both awesome, so I may need to upgrade the speakers on my computer. If you are wondering what all this has to do with animation, you should definitely read the article. Incidentally, I love the use of shadow in the video for "Feel Good Inc."
20 August 2005
Just a quick update today, but check back tomorrow and I'll put more up. In the meantime, I just put a review up of Valiant.
Joe Ranft, a Pixar writer of extraordinary talent, died Tuesday in a car accident. He was only 45.
The North American premiere of Wallace & Gromit: Curse of the Were-Rabbit will be at the 30th annual Toronto International Film Festival in September.
In 2007 we can all look forward to (ha) Robert Zemeckis's crappy motion-capture "animation" version of Beowulf; Zemeckis, of course, is the "genius" behind Polar Express, and we all know how I love that movie, oh yeah.
14 August 2005
Yahoo
has a bunch of clips from Valiant,
which is opening this Friday. The movie already opened in the
On 8 November, Duck Tales and Chip 'n Dale Rescue Rangers are being released on DVD. On 6 December, Thundercats Vol. 2 is being released on DVD.
Okay, you've got to see this. It's too awesome for real life. I got the link to Super Tibetan Racer, an animated short made by students at Gobelins, from Cartoon Brew.
8 August 2005
Ain't It Cool News has some clips up from American Dog and A Day with Wilbur Robinson. The clips are silent, but they look really good. American Dog's 3D rendering is so realistic I honestly thought it was a puppet at first. The Wilbur Robinson characters are marvelously expressive. AICN also has some information about Rupunzel Unbraided at that link.
Anime
News Network reports that Kamikaze
Girls will have a very limited theatrical release starting
September 9. The movie will be released to one city at a time, starting
with
Another Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles DVD collection is going to be released August 30. The DVD is Volume 3.4: Shredder's Final Countdown and contains five episodes, three from the third season on 4Kids TV and two never-before-seen episodes. Whee!
4 August 2005
I went ahead and cobbled together a gimpy version of the Introduction to Anime article my computer ate a few weeks ago, and incidentally I saw Sky High this weekend and recommend it.
The
The Simpsons is gearing up for their 17th season and have announced a big list of guest voices, which you can read all about here. Kelsey Grammer will be back as Sideshow Bob, I'm happy to say, although I must admit I have difficulty typing his name. I always want to change his last name to Grammar.
Jerry Beck's Cartoon Research has some American Dog art and some interesting observations about the movie and upcoming Disney movies in general here.
2 August 2005
Lots of DVD stuff, some of which I may have already listed, but what the hey? On September 16, Stephen M. W. reports to us that the Bionicle movie will be released direct to video. On October 18, Care Bears: Big Wish Movie, on Nov. 1 Pinocchio 3000, on Nov. 29 Hi Hi Puffy Ami Yumi with two DVD sets, "Rock Forever" and "Let's Go," and on December 6 Yu-Gi-Oh! Vol. 4.1: A New Evil with seven episodes. Also in December, Gargoyles season 2, part 1, episodes 14-40.
And several trailers available too: A Spawn teaser trailer with a little information about the movie here, a teaser trailer for Kirikou et les betes sauvages (in French) here, and a Happily N'Ever After trailer here.
And my only bit of real news today: Hayao Miyazaki will receive the Golden Lion award for career achievement at the 62nd Annual Venice Film Festival.
29 July 2005
There's apparently a new Voltron movie in the works, based on the animated TV series from the mid-80s, from New Line Cinema. No idea whether it's going to be animated or live-action or what. In that same vein, a live-action Transformers movie is in the works from DreamWorks. You can read more about this stuff here.
In mid-2006, DisneyToon Studios Australia in
A theatrical release of Appleseed in
Howl's Moving Castle is still in 80 theaters, with its total box office take up to $4,338,567. Some of those dollars were mine.
Ain't It Cool News has a review up of a Corpse Bride screening here; it's positive, though the ending apparently is weak and too obvious.
Mind Game and its director, Masaaki Yuasa, took awards for
Best Director, Best Film, Best Script, and Special Award - Visual
Accomplishment in the Fantasia International Genre Film Festival in
Anime
News Network reports that on August 1 the
Laika Entertainment, which recently announced its first feature film project, Coraline, based on the children's book by Neil Gaiman, already has a second feature planned, Jack & Ben's Animated Adventure. It'll be CGI and written and directed by Jorgen Klubien. No announced release date yet. Currently Laika's only finished project is Moongirl, a short film.
DVD stuff: A direct-to-video release of Inspector Gadget's Biggest Caper Ever is set for 26 September. It's a CGI version of Inspector Gadget, which is weird. On 27 September the first season of Creature Comforts (13 nine-minute episodes) plus the original Oscar-winning short will be released.
23 July 2005
The teaser trailer for Barnyard is up here; the movie comes out 13 January 2006.
Ain't It Cool News reports that Shane Acker is working on a feature length version of his CG animated short 9.
DVDs: September 6 is the release date for the Toy Story 10th Anniversary Edition. October 18 is the release date for Ferngully: The Last Rainforest special edition, Tarzan special edition, and Emperor's New Groove "New Groove Edition."
The cumulative North American release earnings of Howl's Moving Castle is $4,151,839.
Some upcoming movies recently announced: The Smurfs CGI movie, no lie, in 2008; The Ant Bully CGI movie August 4, 2006, released as a regular movie and an IMAX movie simultaneously; and Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles CGI movie in early 2007. I can't say I'm holding my breath for any of these.
15 July 2005
Some DVD news: A special edition Lilo & Stitch DVD will be released September 5. Warner Bros. is releasing a bunch of videos on October 25: Tom & Jerry: The Spotlight Collection Vol. 2, with 40 shorts; a 4-disk Looney Tunes collection with 60 shorts; and a Looney Tunes Movie Collection with The Bugs Bunny/Road-Runner Movie and Bugs Bunny's 3rd Movie: 1001 Rabbit Tales.
There's a teaser trailer up for Ice Age 2: the Meltdown here. It's the same one seen theatrically before Robots, the one with Scrat.
Starting July 31 Nickelodeon will begin airing Ren & Stimpy again.
Family Guy has been named as one of 2005's "Worst TV Shows" by the Parents Television Council. So true, so true.
A big huge list of Emmy nominations in various animation categories is up here. They include episodes of Samurai Jack, Star Wars: Clone Wars 2, and, yes, Family Guy.
The Save Disney site is shutting down August 7, which is something of a stunner. Roy Disney has posted a thank-you to fans here, but there's no real info about the true reason this is happening. Hmm.
Nausicaa.net
has some information about a new Studio
Ghibli short, "Sora Tobu Toshi Keikaku" ("A
Flying City Plan") that will be released in front of the live-action movie
Touch in
There's also a possibility of Howl's Moving Castle being released
on DVD this November. Howl's current North American release earnings are
$3.8 million, considerably lower than Spirited Away's total N. American
earnings of $10.1 million, but still seventh in the all-time list of anime
releases in
8 July 2005
If you haven't noticed it yet, I've finally seen Howl's Moving Castle and have a review up here.
Yahoo Movies has a trailer up for Tim Burton's Corpse Bride, which is coming out this fall--September 23, specifically. I hope the movie will be good, but I am feeling oddly ambivilent about the feel of the trailer. Or possibly ambivilant, I'm not sure.
Nausicaa.net
has several updates about Studio Ghibli, including that
1 July 2005
If you go see War of the Worlds, the King Kong preview is playing in front of it. Looks like fun! War of the Worlds is good, if a little slow in spots--I even eventually forgot that Tom Cruise is a manic-depressive tard.
A creepy and surreal clip from Mirrormask can be seen here. Looks interesting. Mirrormask comes out at the end of the year, maybe.
Animated News has some info about a new series for the SciFi channel in 2006, Amazing Screw-on Head. You can read more about it here.
Chicken Little will be released in 3D in 100 specially picked theaters. I think possibly Disney has misunderstood the concept of 3D animation.
24 June 2005
Sorry about the update delay--I'm lazy. I actually was going to update on the 20th and took some notes, but I didn't get around to actually updating. And now I see that some of my notes make no sense.
Something about Wallace & Gromit: Curse of the Were-Rabbit
here.
And
Some DVD news: On 30 August 2005,two DVDs of Raggedy Ann & Andy will be released; each DVD will have three episodes. On 27 September 2005 you can pick up the DVD movie version of Family Guy called Family Guy Presents Stewie Griffin: The Untold Story!
Bishop Animation is releasing Opposites Jamboree, an educational film about opposites with a very 50s design. It looks cute. You can read all about it here.
I've seen in a few places people talking about the Ain't It Cool News pix of upcoming animation releases taken at some convention, but I can't find the post on AICN. So here's the next best thing, I guess.
15 June 2005
Robots will be released on DVD on September 20. In other DVD news, Fat Albert's Halloween Special is being released on DVD September 6, and Fat Albert's Christmas Special and Fat Albert and the Cosby Kids Vol. 2 (episodes 13-24) are being released on DVD October 11.
A new Pixar short, "One Man Band," will probably show before Cars next summer.
Mind Game, the Japanese animated movie, has its North American premier June 24 in NYC at the ImaginAsian, part of the New York Asian Film Festival. Showtimes are June 24 at 6:30 p.m. and June 26 at 1:30 p.m. Read more about it here.
Ain't It Cool News has a link to a new Mirrormask preview. I'm still not impressed at the movie's look. It reminds me of a Myst-type video game. It'll be released this fall.
The Independent Animation Channel, an online TV channel, will debut July 4, 2005. It will only air original works of animation. Read more about it here. Sounds pretty cool.
10 June 2005
More Simpsons movie news up on Ain't It Cool News, including a possible release date of 2007.
Ralph Bakshi's Fire and Ice is being released on DVD on 30 August 2005 as a two-disc limited edition. Read more about it here.
8 June 2005
Nancy Cartwright, who voices Bart in The Simpsons, was recently interviewed on BBC Radio 1 and spilled the beans about an upcoming Simpsons movie. Apparently it's in production now! She didn't say anything more about it, but I'm sure we'll be given more information as the project progresses.
The Loonatics redesigns have been released. You can see them up at Toonzone along with more information about the show, which will be in the Kids WB lineup this fall.
The Open Season trailer is up online for your viewing pleasure, here.
Release of the Pink Panther Classic Cartoon Collection DVD box set has been pushed back, probably so it can be released about the time as the live-action movie (a remake of the Sellers-era characters), which has also been pushed back. The live-action movie will be released in February 2006; a new date has not been announced for the cartoon box set.
Speaking of DVDs, I hope you remembered to buy your Rock & Rule DVD yesterday, if you wanted one. While you were at it, you could have picked up the Davey and Goliath Vol. 1 DVD also released yesterday. For more info about the Davey and Goliath release, look here.
And while you're at Animation World Network anyway, it might interest you to read the latest in the Disney lawsuit here.
Oh, and Fraggle Rock Season 1 DVD is finally being released, on September 6.
3 June 2005
There's a site up for Nickelodeon's Barnyard movie up here, although it's basically just a placeholder for now. The movie won't be out until early 2006.
2 June 2005
Steamboy is being released on DVD on July 26. A standard version will be offered as well as a more expensive gift set version.
Vanguard's next project has been announced, Space Chimps. You can read more about it here. The premise sounds like fun, but since this is the studio behind Valiant I'm not so sure they can deliver. Still, I haven't seen Valiant yet, so who knows?
As of January 2006, KidsWB! will be no more on Monday-Friday. Instead--sitcom reruns! In order to make room for some of the displaced shows, the Saturday morning lineup will be increased to five hours from four, 7am to noon.
30 May 2005
On June 15 at 8pm, the Academy of Motion Pictures Arts & Sciences will be showing the newly restored digital version of Bambi. Tickets are $5 for the general public and will be available beginning June 1. For more information, go here.
Ain't It Cool News has some information about the live-action Last Unicorn movie, which has been in the works for a long time. However, Continent Films just bought out Granana Media, who owned the rights to the 1982 animated version of the movie, so things may be moving on the live-action version. Currently the original is available on DVD (pan and scan only, though), but I don't know if the buy-out will affect the DVD's future availability. Anyway, the current plan for the live-action movie is to film a trained horse and modify it digitally into a unicorn, which the author of The Last Unicorn, Peter S. Beagle, is not happy about. I must say, it seems like a really cheesy solution to having a live-action movie containing a unicorn. Now that CGI is so advanced, it seems like a CGI unicorn would look a lot better than a digitally altered horse and might even be cheaper in the long run.
28 May 2005
I saw Madagascar today, and the previews included Chicken Little, Open Season, and Wallace & Gromit's Curse of the Were-Rabbit. I'd seen the first and last trailers online, but the Open Season teaser trailer really surprised me. The movie's due out in fall of '06, and it looked surprisingly good.
The Cannes International Film Festival has awarded a Special Mention prize to "Clara," an Australian short by Vanessa Sowerwine. Read more about it here.
According to a press release from the Nat'l Film Board of Canada, Oma's Quilt is now in production. It's a computer animated film about a grandparent "beginning to find it difficult to maintain an independent life," and is based on the children's book by Paulette Bourgeois. The expected release date is Fall 2006.
22 May 2005
On 9 August, The Muppet Show Season 1 DVD will be released, along with the DVD of The Muppet Wizard of Oz, which of course you watched on TV last night. I had to work.
18 May 2005
An awesome new trailer for Wallace & Gromit: Curse of the Were-Rabbit is up and you can see it at Moviefone.
16 May 2005
The Emmy Awards on May 14 named Peep and the Big Wide World as Outstanding Children's Animated Program and Rolie Polie Olie as Outstanding Special Class Animated Program. For a full list of nominees and winners go to the official Emmy site.
Voice actor Peter Cullen, who voiced Optimus
Prime in the 1980s Transformers
TV show, will be appearing at Cybercon Expo in
13 May 2005
Roy Disney and Stanley Gold are sueing Disney for fraud and some other stuff. Anyway, it's actually a verrrry interesting complication in the latest of Eisner's outrages; you can read all about it at SaveDisney.
An animated version of Conan: Red Nails is set for video release fall of 2006, with a possible theatrical release as well. You can read more about it here. At least in an animated movie you know the horses will be okay.
Animated News has a link to some info and a pic of the Flushed Away logo here, Flushed Away of course being a DreamWorks/Aardman CG movie due out in 2006. The article also mentions another upcoming DreamWorks/Aardman movie, Crood Awakening, which is being written by John Cleese. You can read more about it here.
In yet more Aardman news, a teaser poster for Curse of the Were-Rabbit can be found here.
The Season 2 DVD of Samurai Jack is being released May 24, don't forget!
8 May 2005
Apparently Chicken Little is looking good. Check out this thread in the Animation Nation forum about some advance looks at the movie, which is due for release this November.
Ultimate Disney has the announcement that two more Studio Ghibli movies will be released 16 August 2005, Pom Poko and My Neighbors the Yamadas. Both will be released with both the original Japanese track and with an English dub.
According to Anime News Network,
Japan Post will be releasing some anime stamps in the upcoming year or so.
On June 28 Pokemon
stamps will be released (and you can see a picture of them here),
on August 1 Gundam
stamps (no picture or word on which series will be spotlighted), and on 1 Feb.
2006 Galaxy Express 999
(also no pictures yet). If you know someone in
A new series of Biker Mice from Mars is slated for
Fall 2006 in the
The Valiant trailer is up on Yahoo.com for your viewing pleasure.
4 May 2005
Happy Jedi Day--May the 4th be with you. OH MY GOD THAT SLAYS ME!
Anyway, just a quick update tonight. Check out this hilarious short Conspiracy Theory Rock, which I got from Animated News.
Also, there's this weird rumor of Wu Tang Clan wanting to do a sequel to Coonskin with Ralph Bakshi. It ain't gonna happen, but you can read about it at Ain't It Cool News. There's also a bit in there about a sequel to Bakshi's Wizards, which also ain't gonna happen.
And I also saw something somewhere about a possible upcoming Disney feature Mickey in Space, but I didn't write down where I found it so I can't give them credit. There wasn't much information about it, as I recall.
30 April 2005
If you go and see The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy this weekend--and you should; it's great--you'll see the first real trailer for Valiant. Not to put too fine a point on it, it looks AWFUL. The characters are unappealing to look at, the humor is nonexistant (and includes one fart joke--keep in mind that this is the trailer, they chose to put a fart joke in the trailer), and the story seems slight. I'll see it when it comes out and try and reserve too much judgment until then, but things are not looking good.
Warner Bros. has announced a redesign of the Loonatics characters to make them more rounded and friendlier after massive negative public response. You can read more about it at the Big Cartoon Database. Pix of the redesign haven't been released yet, though.
Big Cartoon Database also has a lot of information about the newly announced DreamWorks movie Bee-Movie. Jerry Seinfeld is co-writer, producer, and will star in the movie, which is about bees. Yuks galore, I'm so sure. About 6,000 big name actors have signed on to voice tiny little roles, don't ask me why.
A 10th Anniversary Edition DVD of Toy Story will be released 6 September 2005. Apparently the picture and sound quality have been improved from the original DVD.
27 April 2005
George Lucas has confirmed that he has two Star Wars TV shows planned, one of them live action and the other CG animated. You can read a bit more about it all here.
Woot, a Thundercats DVD is on the way! Season 1, Volume 1, containing 33 episodes, will be released 9 August 2005, with Volume 2 expected later this fall. Man, I loved that show as a kid. It's truly horrible, but in a good way.
Animators are being hired for a Nelvana/Weta movie called Jane and the Dragon. If you're interested, read a bit about it here; I found the link on the Animated News forums.
23 April 2005
The direct-to-video Lilo & Stitch 2: Stitch Has a Glitch has been given a surprising PG rating. The video/DVD is due out August 30.
According to Animated News, an animated TV series based on the movie Spaceballs is in the works, no lie. A pilot and 13 half-hour episodes are being produced by BFC Berliner Film Co., Brooksfilms, and MGM Domestic TV Distribution.
20 April 2005
On Saturday, May 14 at 7pm Cartoon Network will be showing all 25 episodes of Star Wars: Clone Wars. Definitely mark your calendars!
Some more of the voice cast has been released for Over the Hedge, and since it's a DreamWorks movie these are all people you have heard of, although not necessarily ones who should be doing voicework. They include Nick Nolte, Avril Lavigne, William Shatner, and Eugene Levy. I really hope they do something with Eugene Levy's character, since he has such a distinctive voice and is such a great actor.
On 31 May, two Rocky and Bullwinkle DVDs will be released: The Best of Mr. Peabody & Sherman, Vol. 1 and The Best of Dudley Do-Right Vol. 1.
11 April 2005
Hayao Miyazaki has been named one of Time's 100 Most Influential People this year.
Animation World Network has some interesting information about an upcoming movie called Cat Tale. The story sounds good, at least, and the voice cast should make for an interesting set of characters (let's hope).
AICN has a few
early reviews up of
6 April 2005
This is not official, but the rumor is that
the next Studio Ghibli
project will be based on the children's book "Wo diushile wode xiaonanhai
(I Lost My Little Boy)" by Chinese author Yishu. You can read more
about it at nausicaa.net. In
other, maybe related Studio Ghibli news, Toshio Suzuki announced that Ghibli is
working on three projects at the moment, one by
Oh Yeah! Cartoons is calling for new submissions for the Fall 2006 season on Nickelodeon. Submissions should consist of storyboard pitches for seven-minute animated shorts. There's more information at Animation World Network.
The Powerpuff Girls are the subject of a new anime series, a collaboration between Toei Animation, Aniplex, and Cartoon Network. Cartoon Brew gives links to some stills from the pilot episode, and promo art (here and here) from the Tokyo Animation Fair, where the series was announced. The series is tentatively titled Dameshitaa! Powerpuff Girls Z.
Some of the winners at the 18th Annual Kids Choice Awards included The Incredibles for "Favorite Movie" and Spongebob Squarepants for "Favorite Cartoon." A list of all the winners can be found here.
Valiant has been released in the
31 March 2005
It looks like Foodfight! will be finished and released after all. Lions Gate Films has picked the film up for distribution, with release expected in Fall 2006. Check out Yahoo.com for more information; there's even a poll up about the movie here.
As you probably have heard by now, Family Guy is coming back to Fox on May 1, with at least 13 new episodes scheduled. Cartoon Brew has a link to a great blog by some guy who details why he dislikes the show, all of which I totally agree with.
There's a call for entries for the second Nicktoons Film Festival. Here's the Nicktoons link where you can find the entry form; entries will be accepted from March 28 to June 17, and the ten juried winners will be aired in August. The toon voted number one will win a $10,000 grand prize.
25 March 2005
This has nothing to do with animation, but I just want to warn everyone not to see that turd Miss Congeniality 2. It's really awful.
A few interesting tidbits from CartoonBrew: Disney is looking into doing a CG version of Tim Burton's short Frankenweenie. Also, Warner Brothers has changed the name of the Loonatics "new Bugs" from Buzz Bunny to Ace Bunny.
22 March 2005
The Orlando Sentinel article I linked to last time appears to have an expanded version here, which mentions the possibility of Disney maybe making a Toy Story 4.
According to Toonzone, a Robots sequel is already in the works.
The Triplets of Belleville has won another award, Best Motion Picture at the Canadian Genie awards. Ryan won a Genie for best animated short. You can read a little more about the awards here.
The DVD of Father of the Pride: The Complete Series is being released on 7 June.
17 March 2005
The Anime News Network has some clips of Steamboy on their site.
The Incredibles DVD sold five million units on its first day.
There's a very interesting article about Disney and Pixar at the Orlando Sentinel, which mentions a little bit about the Toy Story 3 plot. Toy Story 3 has a tentative release date of 2008, and at the moment Disney is still intending to make it without Pixar.
16 March 2005
Ratropolis is back to being called Flushed Away. They're both kind of stupid titles, if you ask me. There's some confusion, but apparently it will be a CGI film instead of Aardman's usual claymation.
The Sundance Channel will air the broadcast premiere of Ryan, the Oscar-winning animated short, this fall.
13 March 2005
Ain't It Cool News has a review up of Steamboy (scroll down to find it); it's a review of the dubbed version, which is apparently shorter than the original by around 20 minutes. Steamboy has a limited release next week, March 18; to find out if your city is getting the movie this week, check the official website and click on Theater Listings. More cities will be added the following week.
Toy Story 3 has a director at last, Bradley Raymond. Raymond directed Lion King 1 1/2.
In other Disney news, Robert A. Iger will take over as CEO for Disney on September 30 when Michael Eisner steps down. Meet the new boss same as the old boss? Time will tell.
The
More Loonatics outcry, here in a USA Today article. You kind of wonder if WB did all this just for the free hype.
The new season of Star Wars: Clone Wars begins in late March. This time the episodes are 12 minutes long instead of, what, six?
12 March 2005
If you haven't seen it, I have a review up of Robots here.
John Ratzenberger, the guy who has done
voicework for all of Pixar's movies, says he will not return to voice
A bunch of DVD news now: the first two seasons of DangerMouse, including the pilot episode "The Mystery of the Lost Chord," will be released on DVD May 31. DangerMouse rocks! Pooh's Heffalump Movie will be out on DVD in late May. Fantastic Four: The Complete 1994-95 Season four-disc set is being released July 5. And the Platinum Edition of Cinderella wil be out on October 4.
10 March 2005
The Bambi re-release this week sold one million units (DVD and VHS) the first day, and an estimated three million its first week.
Fox's Blue Sky may have the go-ahead to do a CGI version of Horton Hears a Who, which would be their next project after Ice Age 2. After Ice Age 2, they may even go on to make Horton Hatches an Egg. Let's just hope they keep Mike Myers far away from the studio.
Blur Studios is looking for funding to start work on a full-length adaptation of Rockfish, based on their short of the same name. They anticipate that it will cost less than $30 milliion to make. Vin Diesel will voice a lead character, which was making me sneer until I noticed on Big Cartoon Database that he voiced the Iron Giant in that movie. Whoa! I would never have guessed. Anyway, Rockfish is scheduled tentatively for a 2007 release.
Disney is making small noises about a possible limited theatrical release of Nausicaa of the Valley of the Winds this summer, but no details yet.
Nickelodeon has some new animated series scheduled for 2005-06, including Catscratch, Go, Diego, Go (a spin-off of Dora the Explorer), and Wubby Widget and Walden. You can read lots more about them at Toonzone.
There's a flash parody of the new Loonatics cartoon up, called "A New Bunny." I'll link you not to the actual parody, but to this page where I found the link in the first place. If you are a small children or have a small children in the room, you really don't want to watch this thing. It's really filthy--bitingly funny, but filthy.
8 March 2005
Anime Boston '05 is being held April 29-May 1 at
Christian Slater has been signed up to voice Igor in the Exodus Film Group's CGI short Igor: Unholy Frijoles. The short will precede the feature-length movie Igor due out in 2007. As far as I can find out, the movie will also be CGI, which begs the questions: Why have a short in front of your movie with the same characters in both (presumably), and Who will voice Igor in the movie?
While Shrek 3 is nearing pre-production, Shrek 4 is also in the works. Tim Sullivan has been hired to write it.
This July, BCI Eclipse Co. is releasing a DVD "Ten Best Episodes" of He-Man and the Masters of the Universe and The New Adventures of He-Man. This fall DVD box sets will also be released with more episodes of both series.
On June 7 a DVD release of Rock & Rule is being released, in a one-disc special edition and a two-disc collector's set.
6 March 2005
Ain't It Cool News has a couple of review of Robots up. It sounds like it's going to be a typical DreamWorks animated movie--that is, it kind of sucks. I'll be reviewing it first thing Friday afternoon.
Ain't It Cool News also has a link to the new Wallace & Gromit: Curse of the Were-Rabbit trailer. It's a great trailer and it's going to be an awesome movie!
27 February 2005
I'll be posting the Oscars results tonight--at least the animation results, I mean, so watch this page here. Meanwhile, check out Animation World Magazine, which has a lot of coverage on the animation side of the Academy Awards.
Valiant has received a G rating, a little bit of a surprise since a PG rating was expected. The movie is due for release on April 15.
Apparently Shrek 2 has spawned a spin-off movie, Puss in Boots. Antonio Banderas has been signed up to reprise his role as the main character. The movie will probably be a theatrical release, tentatively set for a 2008 release.
You can find a few images here from the "Jack-Jack Attack" short that will be released on The Incredibles DVD, due out March 15.
22 February 2005
Don't forget that Nausicaa of the Valley of the Wind, The Cat Returns, and Porco Rosso came out today on DVD. I've got Nausicaa playing right now, so if the news section seems kind of disjointed (more than usual, I mean), that's why.
More about the big Loonatics hoo-ha in this article at toonzone, and you can also see a preview of the show here. The preview starts out really strong and has some great graphics, but then it degenerates into standard TV toon fare. But who knows, it might turn out to be awesome.
Another trailer you might want to catch is up on some Dutch site, for Bambi and the Great Prince of the Forest. It's a direct to video release slated for spring 2006. It looks like the plot is set just after the original Bambi, with the great prince being Bambi's dad, who ends up taking care of Bambi. The trailer sort of gives you the entire plot in two minutes, so you don't have to watch the movie if you don't want, which you probably won't want because the movie looks really standard. It does have good animation, though. I cringed when the prince said, "A prince does not 'woo-hoo.'" Geez.
More definitive news about Song of the South. Check out this article at Jim Hill Media, which makes it sound pretty much like a done thing that the DVD 60th anniversary edition will be released in fall of 2006. But I remember seeing it in the theater when I was little, and even then I didn't think it was all that good, kiddies.
The "Catch 'Em If You Can" episode of The Simpsons has won a Writer's Guild of America award at the 57th awards ceremony Saturday, in the Animation category. The episode was written by Ian Maxtone-Graham.
Harry has a review of the Clone Wars DVD up here, which he says has all the episodes edited together into one show. He uses the word "ass" four times in the review, which must mean he really likes it. He should put an ass rating up on his reviews. Anyway, read the review for some other information on further episodes of Clone Wars.
20 February 2005
Jim Carrey has been replaced by Bruce Willis as the voice of RJ the Raccoon in DreamWorks' Over the Hedge. I can't tell you how happy I am to hear this. Not that I like Bruce Willis all that much, but my god, I like him a million times better than Jim Carrey. The movie has also been pushed back to a 19 May 2006 release.
You can find a preview of A Scanner Darkly here. It's set for limited release on 16 September 2005. It's a heavily rotoscoped movie with a bunch of trendy actors in it.
The direct-to-video Disney release Lilo & Stitch 2: Stitch Has a Glitch being released this fall has Lilo voiced by Dakota Fanning instead of Daveigh Chase. So if you saw the preview on Mulan 2 and thought Lilo sounded wrong, you were right.
Disney is also planning a CGI prequel to Peter Pan based on the children's book Peter and the Starcatchers by Dave Barry and Ridley Pearson. You can read a bit more about it here.
The Wallace & Gromit: Curse of the Were-Rabbit movie coming out on October 7 now has an official website.
The Cartoon Network has picked up two
series, Transformers: Cybertron
and Peppa Pig.
Cybertron is the latest Transformers series, currently playing in
Moviefone has a six-minute clip of Robots up, which I couldn't watch because I don't have some stupid plug-in.
The NY Post has an article about the new Loonatics show coming to Kids WB and Cartoon Network this fall. It's set in the year 2772 and has updated six characters to a more modern look, including Bugs. This has a lot of people freaking out. To this I say two things: it's not the original Looney Tunes so we should all just be thanking our lucky stars that WB is leaving the original characters alone, and anyone who thinks the original Looney Tunes can no longer be enjoyed by kids has never seen a first grade class beg to see Looney Tunes when their recess has been rained out. Man, they love that stuff! Anyway, I plan to reserve my judgment until I see the show. Then I'll trash it.
16 February 2005
I urge you all to read about the new 40-minute documentary Dream On, Silly Dreamer, about the demise of Disney's traditional animation department, here and here. And in related news, DisneyWar, a book by James B. Stewart, has just been released three weeks or so earlier than planned. It's an expose about Michael Eisner at Disney.
Speaking of Disney--oh, I am segueing so beautifully today!--Cinderella will be released in October 2005 as a Platinum Edition DVD. Lady and the Tramp will be the next Platinum Edition DVD, released in March 2006.
Hayao Miyazaki will be receiving a Golden Lion for lifetime
achievement at the Summer Film Festival in
AICN has a review of
Pooh's Heffalump Movie grossed $5.8 million its first weekend, which is kind of low. Then again, this kind of movie makes its money on video release.
Okay, here's something kinda amusing.
DreamWorks has announced that the movie with the former tentative title Flushed
Away has been renamed Ratropolis.
It will be released in 2006, possibly as early as June 23. Now
this is amusing because Pixar's first post-Disney movie, which will probably be
released in November 2006, has recently been given the title Ratatouille. Yet another
pathetic attempt by DW to ride Pixar's coattails. On the other hand,
Ratropolis is an Aardman film so it's bound to be good on its own. I
would chalk the rat-title down as just a coincidence if DW hadn't done the same
thing so often before. Anyway, Ratropolis is reportedly about a rat who
lives in a fancy penthouse apartment who is flushed down the toilet into the
sewers of
8 February 2005
Disney is reportedly working on a live-action version of Kiki's Delivery Service, basing their screenplay on the original book by Eiko Kadano rather than the Hayao Miyazaki's animated version of the book.
Roger Dean, who illustrated all those Yes albums, is planning an animated movie called Floating Islands based on the album covers. You can find the official website here, where you can also buy limited editions prints that will go toward funding the movie.
The Steamboy trailer you can see here is being run before the movie Sideways, which is an Oscar nominee.
The Golden Tomato Awards on Rotten Tomatoes has listed The Incredibles as Best Reviewed Film of 2004 in Wide Release, and as #1 in the list of Best to Worst Animated Films of 2004 (Shark Tale is listed as worst reviewed major animated film of 2004). Yup, The Incredibles is gonna get that Oscar.
The 10th anniversary edition of Pocahontas is being released on 3 May 2005.
2 February 2005
The Incredibles swept the Annie Awards, winning in all ten categories it was nominated in, including Best Animated Feature. You can find an article about the event and the entire winner's list here.
If you live in
The 2005 New York Children's Film Festival will be showing The Cat Returns and Steamboy. The Cat Returns will be shown March 12 at 11:30 and again on March 13 at 3 p.m. Steamboy will be shown March 5, and director Katsuhiro Otomo will be answering questions afterwards.
There's a definite chance now that Song of the South will be released on DVD eventually. The movie's 60th anniversary is coming up in 2006, so there's always the possibility that Disney will release it some time during the year. Disney has long pretended that the movie didn't even exist because of its racist themes; if the DVD is released, it will probably have a forward talking about racism during the era the movie was made.
Danny Elfman has been signed to score the Disney movie A Day with Wilbur Robinson, due out in 2006.
The Who's Tommy, first a rock opera and then a really horrible movie, may become an animated movie. Robert Stigwood, producer of Grease, has announced that he's planning the animated film, expecting it to cost $300-400 million. That would make it the most expensive animated movie ever made, and it's still going to be awful because it's based on music by The Who, my absolute least favorite band in the whole wide world.
You can find the trailer for The Easter Egg Escapade here. It's set for a spring 2005 release, possibly as early as February. It looks cute with some nice visuals, although from just the trailer the voice work seems uninspired.
Another trailer you might want to see is Mirrormask's. It's up on the official site.
It's based loosely on
29 January 2005
Balto III: Wings of Change will be available on DVD on February 1, but if you just can't stand the wait you can catch it on the Cartoon Network at noon eastern on January 30.
Pinocchio 3000 is going to be released in the
If you haven't already seen the whole thing, you can see a teaser here for the short Gopher Broke, which has been nominated for an Oscar this year. It looks awesome.
Fox reports that Disney's Toy Story 3--a sequel planned without Pixar--is already up against the wall. No one will agree to direct it, apparently because they don't want to anger Pixar. You can read the whole article here.
There's a really good interview with producer Mark Johnson about The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe up on IGN. The movie apparently is going to be live action and CGI and will cover the first book only. Sequels are in the works, with Prince Caspian apparently already being written so that it can be shot before the kids get too much older.
25 January 2005
I've got a separate page
for the Oscars this year, if you're interested. The Incredibles get some lovin' with
four nominations. I also checked the Razzies
nominations, and I don't see any animation listed in any category.
However, Peter
Travers' 100 Worst Movies of 2004 lists Polar Express and Shark
Tale. The list is funny to look at, but since Travers
seems to have listed just about every movie released this year, it's sort of
useless. I do agree with a lot of it with movies I've seen this year, but
I don't think that, say,
The Shark Tale DVD will be released 8 February 2005.
There's a teaser trailer out for The Corpse Bride, which you can see here. It looks very good, and the music used in the trailer is a spirited rendition of Grieg's Peer Gynt "Hall of the Mountain King," which I've always liked. The release date is confusing, however. The trailer says Fall 2005, the site says Halloween 2005, and I have found the dates of 23 September 2005 and October 2005 in various places.
19 January 2005
The new dub for The Cat Returns will be previewed at the Dallas KidFilm Festival this Sunday, January 23, at 2:30 p.m. Tickets go on sale at 11:30 Sunday and there aren't many seats--I think about 150--so if you want to go, you'd better get there early to line up.
He-Man may be released on DVD this year; Entertainment Rights has the rights to He-Man, She-Ra, and a bunch of other cartoons. You can read more about it here . There is no date set yet for the possible release.
A new TV series of Biker Mice from Mars
will be released in the
If you've got the Mulan II DVD, there's a one-minute preview on it of the direct-to-video Lilo & Stitch sequel, Stitch Has a Glitch . You can find some nice looking screencaps up on Ultimate Disney . The art looks really good, but no one knows anything much about the story yet, and the voice of Lilo on the trailer sounds like it was voiced by someone other than Daveigh Chase.
DVD sets of Vol. 1 of the Superman: The Animated Series and Vol. 2 of the Batman: The Animated Series will be available on 25 January 2005.
You can see some advance art from Disney's Chronicles of Narnia , which will be released 9 December 2005, at joblo.com .
17 January 2005
According to ToonZone , the DVD of The Incredibles will include a short called "Jack-Jack's Attack." The DVD will be out 15 March 2005.
Ain't It Cool News has a review up here of Appleseed. They liked it. Ordinarily I wouldn't even bother to link to a positive review on AICN, because Harry likes every freaking movie he sees, but this is a review by someone else.
16 January 2005
The Golden Globes are just now over. Shrek 2 was nominated for Best Song, for the excellent song "Accidentally in Love," and although it didn't win it should have. The Incredibles was nominated for Best Comedy or Musical, but Sideways won. I haven't seen it. Sideways, I mean--I've seen The Incredible and it's awesome, of course.
12 January 2005
It looks like Tarzan 2 will be a prequel to the original Tarzan, taking place during Tarzan's childhood.
Disney will be releasing Bambi on DVD on 1 March 2005.
The Ice Age sequel, due out in 2006, now has a semi-official title, Ice Age 2: The Meltdown. No word on plot yet, though.
The Disney movie American Dog, currently in development, looks like it will have as its director Chris Sanders. Sanders, of course, directed Lilo & Stitch, so I have high hopes for American Dog.
11 January 2005
There's a short "making of" The Wallace and Gromit Movie up at ifilm.com , but I haven't seen it yet because I can't get past all the freaking ads. I'm sure it's interesting, though.
Shrek 2 was a triple winner at the People's Choice Awards on January 9, winning for best animated motion picture, top film comedy, and best sequel.
6 January 2005
The Anime News Network has a link to theaters that will be showing the movie Appleseed on its limited release on January 14.
The Star Trek: The Complete
Animated Series may be released on DVD on March 15.
The Incredibles will be released on DVD on March 15. The Spongebob Squarepants Movie will also be released on DVD in March. In the almost two years of my Hiatus, I have changed my views on DVDs. They're awesome. That's because I now have a DVD player and boy howdy, is it ever nice not to have to rewind.
5 January 2005
The Producers Guild of America has nominated
The Incredibles for best movie of the year for 2004, along with
Sideways, Million Dollar Baby, The Aviator, and Finding Neverland. The
awards will be presented on January 22, 2005.
Stone Bridge Press is running a contest to win a copy of the book Mobile
Suit Gundam. Animation Insider has a lot of information about it here ,
including directions on how to enter.
If you live near
4 January 2005
*We're back at last, sorry about the nearly two-year hiatus!
WB Kids will be showing Pokémon - Destiny Deoxys, the seventh Pokemon movie, on 22 January 2005 (10a.m.), just before the scheduled 15 February video release date. I don't know about you, but I wouldn't watch it if someone gave me money to.
Disney is releasing Ghibli's The Cat Returns, Porco Rosso , and Nausicaa of the Valley of the Winds on DVD on 22 Feb. 2005. You can see the trailers to the films here .
Another trailer for your viewing pleasure is Valiant, which you can see here . Considering that the last I heard of Valiant, before my Hiatus, when I stopped following this stuff very closely (it only made me sad that I couldn't share it), was the creepy conceptual art, it's come a long way. It actually looks like it might be decent. It will be released on 25 March 2005.
According to Keyframe , Disney may be going ahead on their plans to make a Toy Story 3 without Pixar. Oy.
The Fullmetal Alchemist movie is going to be released some time this year, and here's a trailer you might like to look at.
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