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Movie News

Meet the New Panda’s Director

May 25th, 2011
by rodney.
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Cartoon Brew has posted an article with pictures and a video interview with Jennifer Yuh Nelson, director of Kung Fu Panda 2 — which, to remind you all, is coming to theaters this Friday, May 27th. According to the article, Ms. Nelson may well be the first woman to direct a major Hollywood animated feature on her own. Ms. Nelson has already made quite a name for herself in animation — check out her resume’ from the studio’s press release! Most recently (prior to this new feature, that is), she directed the 2D dream sequence which opened the first Kung Fu Panda movie.

 

image c. 2011 Dreamworks Animation

New Japanese CGI

May 6th, 2011
by rodney.
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Recently Cartoon Brew posted a new trailer for an upcoming Japanese animated film called Friends — Mononoke-jima no Naki (or Friends — Naki from Mononoke Island). According to various comments that follow the trailer, “the film is based on the Japanese fairytale “Naita Aka-oni,  or The Red Ogre who Cried”, where two ogres (or demons) – red ogre Naki and blue ogre Gunjo – find a human child, which starts off their adventure.” Various other creatures of Japanese myth and legend find their way into the adventure, including a kitsune. Though comparisons to Disney/Pixar’s film Monsters Inc. are obvious, according to reports the film is actually closer to Shrek — with a good amount of Duncan & Mallory and Dragonheart thrown in. The film was directed by Takashi Yamazaki, and it’s set to be released by Toho Studios this December.

 

image c. 2011 Toho Studios

Rumblewick, the Movie

Apr 28th, 2011
by rodney.
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Recently (as in March), Dreamworks Animation announced they have begun work upon a new film called Rumblewick. ” Director Tim Johnson (Over The Hedge, Antz) and writer Jim Herzfeld (Meet the Fockers, Meet the Parents) are collaborating on the feature project, which is inspired by the children’s book, My Unwilling Witch (The Rumblewick Letters) by Hiawyn Oram and Sarah Warburton. DreamWorks Animation development executives Chris Kuser and Gregg Taylor are overseeing the project at the studio. Rumblewick will follow the adventures of a magician’s rabbit for whom the invitation to learn real magic and train as a witch’s familiar seems like a dream come true! But the dream becomes a nightmare when he discovers he’s really a pawn in a game between rival witches. Having learned the hard way that when something seems too good to be true it probably is, he must outsmart them both to save his fuzzy little hide.” No word yet on a planned release date, but stay tooned!

 

image c. 2011 Dreamworks Animation

A Polar Bear is Coming to New York

Apr 26th, 2011
by rodney.
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The next project for Anthony Bell (director of last year’s Alpha and Omega) is an animated film called Norm of the North. It stars Rob Schneider (Deuce Bigalow, Male Gigolo) as the voice of Norm, a polar bear who (along with his lemming friends) ends up in New York City, “where Norm becomes the mascot of a corporation he soon learns is tied to the fate of his homeland”. The writers, Daniel and Steven Altiere, have previously written several furry-themed direct-to-video sequels, including Scooby Doo! The Mystery Begins and Dr. Dolittle: Million Dollar Mutts. Now in post-production, Norm of the North is set for release by Lionsgate Films in 2012.

Rise of the Planet of the Apes

Apr 18th, 2011
by rodney.
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As we noted recently, 20th Century Fox is once again taking us to the Planet of the Apes — this time, in what is essentially a re-make of the 1972 film Conquest of the Planet of the Apes. Once again, it tells the story of Caesar, a chimpanzee who comes to lead a rebellion of apes against humans in a battle for supremacy. In the new Rise of the Planet of the Apes, however, he is not the child of apes from the future, but the result of a brain-enhancing drug experiment “gone wrong”. The new film is directed by Rupert Wyatt. It stars Andy Serkis (Lord of the Rings, King Kong) as Caesar (via motion-capture technology), and James Franco (127 Hours) as the scientist who brings about Caesar’s advance. Fox Studios seem to have a little bit of trouble settling on a release date though: IMDB.com still lists it as August 5th, but other sites have mentioned release dates as late as Thanksgiving. Meanwhile as you figure that out you can look for the official trailer, currently making the rounds on YouTube.

Rio Takes On The World

Apr 12th, 2011
by rodney.
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In an unusual move, 20th Century Fox has released the next Blue Sky Studios move Rio in 72 countries outside of North America, a full week before releasing it in the U.S. on April 15th. According to reports the film is already doing quite well in Russia, and a few other countries as well.  Like the Ice Age films from Blue Sky, this new film is directed by Carlos Saldanha. It tells the story of a blue macaw named (appropriately) Blu. Domesticated, it seems that Blu has never learned to fly. It also seems that he is the last mail blue macaw — and so begins his journey to the title city, where folks hope he will mate with the one remaining female blue (named Jewel) to save the species. Fox has released the first two minutes of the film as a video, and (in an only-these-days bit of tie-in) there is also a video advertising the Angry Birds/Rio game app for your I-Phone.

 

image c. 2011 Blue Sky Studios

The Ballad of Nessie

Mar 19th, 2011
by rodney.
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And yet more interesting news on Cartoon Brew: The Ballad of Nessie is a brand new, 2-D animated short from Walt Disney Pictures. It’s scheduled to be released in front of the upcoming Winnie the Pooh movie this summer, which you may recall is also in 2-D. The film is directed by Stevie Wermers-Skelton and Kevin Deters, who both worked on How to Hook Up Your Home Theater and Prep and Landing. Several well-known animators worked on Nessie, including Andreas Deja, Mark Henn, Randy Haycock, Dale Baer, and Rubin Aquino. No video sneaks yet, but Cartoon Brew has pictures from the film, including the one you see below.

 

image c. 2011 Walt Disney Pictures

Song of the Sea

Mar 17th, 2011
by rodney.
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A Happy St. Patrick’s Day to you all. And speaking of Irish things…

Thanks to Cartoon Brew we’ve seen a new teaser trailer for Song of the Sea, the next project coming to us from Tomm Moore, creator of The Secret of Kells. That film, you may recall, was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Animated Feature of 2009, as well as a slew of other awards around town. Now Mr. Moore’s new feature looks at another well-known Irish legend, that of the Selkies: Folk who look like human beings, but who can put on seal skins and magically transform into real live seals. Cartoon Saloon is currently animating the film, which is not due out until 2013.

Big Changes at ASIFA-Hollywood

Mar 1st, 2011
by rodney.
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For those of us cartoon fans (and would-be animators) who’ve been following the controversy between ASIFA Hollywood (the largest chapter of the International Animated Film Society, and home of the Annie Awards for animation) and Disney/Pixar, this is some big news: A shake-up in the leadership of the Hollywood Chapter, and news of some big changes planned for how the organization works. Cartoon Brew has the story, quoted here from the ASIFA-Hollywood Press release: “ASIFA-Hollywood has announced the selection of its new President, Frank Gladstone, at its February board meeting. Gladstone replaces Antran Manoogian who held the position for over 20 years. Longtime ASIFA-Hollywood VP [and TAG President Emeritus] Tom Sito chose not to run for re-election; taking his place is Jerry Beck [one of the head-honchos at Cartoon Brew — ye ed-otter]. ‘First and foremost, we owe Antran Manoogian an enormous amount of respect and admiration for his many years of selfless devotion to ASIFA-Hollywood,’ says Gladstone. ‘Antran has seen the organization through a period of unparalleled growth and success, going from a small club to an organization of over 4000 members. During his stewardship, Antran established, among many achievements, a digital archive, and built the Annie Award into the most important honor in animation. Though I’ve been part of ASIFA and the animation community for a long time, I am looking forward to being the ‘new face’ of the organization and to making some significant changes to the status quo. For starters, this includes updating our membership qualifications, establishing a representative voice for every animation studio and creative technique, building an advisory board of animation luminaries and revising the voting structure of the annual Annie Awards. In the next few weeks ASIFA-Hollywood will be holding meetings with executives from all the major studios to get their input on how we can improve our infrastructure. ASIFA-Hollywood will take this time to ask its members, both individual and corporate, to come together and advise them on how best to chart the course for decades to come. In addition they will invite many of its members to join the executive board.’ Frank Gladstone has been a professional animator, producer, director, writer and teacher, first managing his own studio, and then working in management positions for Disney, Warner Bros. and DreamWorks, among others. He is currently the CEO of the animation consulting firm, Gladstone Film, teaches worldwide and is the ‘artist-in-residence’ for the ACME Network.”

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