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Pixar

Quack to the Future?

We caught this announcement from several places. Here it is from World of Reel: “Pixar is developing a new movie, this one set to be the first musical in the toon company’s history. The movie is titled Ducks and its main characters are exactly what the title suggests. Pixar’s upcoming slate already includes Elio, Toy Story 5, and Inside Out 2 — the latter being released this summer, the other two in 2026. Ducks seems to be eyeing a 2027 launch.” You’ll know when we do!

image c. 2024 Pixar Animation Studios

Bears In Space?

We know intriguingly little about Good Morning Kevin… other than the fact it’s a popular meme phrase on the Internet. But this is something different: A new animated series created by Andrew Gordon, a 20-year veteran of Pixar. Now he’s started his own animation studio, Songchain. At their Twitter site, you can see lots of sketches of Kevin the bear interacting with various alien creatures — and a quick teaser of the new series showing Kevin animated in CGI. They tell us it’s coming out this May. We’ll let you know when we find out more!

image c. 2023 Songchain

The Annie Award Nominations for 2022

Recently ASIFA-Hollywood announced the nominations for the Annie Awards, celebrating the best in animation for the year 2022. The Annies are recognized world-wide as “the Oscars of animation”, chosen by folks in the animation industry from a host of disciplines. This year Guillermo Del Toro’s Pinocchio leads the pack in nominations: Seven, including Best Animated Feature, Best Character Animation, Best Directing, Best Music, Best Production Design, and Best Editing. That’s followed close behind by Pixar’s Turning Red, Dreamworks’ Puss In Boots: The Last Wish, and The Sea Beast on Netflix, with six nominations each in various categories — including Best Animated Feature. Furry-fan-favorite The Bad Guys is up for four awards… but interestingly, not for Best Animated Feature. Marcel, The Shell With Shoes On and My Father’s Dragon are both nominated for Best Independent Feature and Best Directing, with Marcel also up for Best Writing and Best Voice Acting. (The little shell that could, sheesh!) The House (which is 2/3 furry…) and The Boy, The Mole, The Fox, and The Horse are both nominated for Special Production, for projects longer than a short but shorter than a feature. And that’s just a sampling! We don’t even have room to talk about all the nominations for TV series, games, commercials, and more. Check out the Annie Awards web page for a complete list of nominees. The awards will be handed out on February 25th. (And hey, while you’re at it: Don’t forget that nominations have opened for the 2023 Ursa Major Awards too!)

image c. 2023 Netflix

Annie Award Nominations for 2021

ASIFA-Hollywood just announced the nominations for the 2021 Annie Awards — known far and wide as “the Oscars of animation”. As has increasingly been the case the last few years, more and more anthropomorphic stuff has made its way to the top of the animation list! And 2021 was no exception. No less than three anthro films are up for Best Animated Feature, including Raya and the Last Dragon, Luca, and the recently released Sing 2. In fact Raya is one of the most honored films of the year, with nominations in Character Animation, Character Design, Effects Animation, Voice Acting, Music, Production Design, Storyboarding, Writing, and Editing also (whew!). Luca is not far behind, with nominations in Character Animation, Character Design, Music, Voice Acting, Writing, Editing, and Directing. Vivo has five nominations in various categories, while Wish Dragon and Spirit Untamed have one each (for Character Animation and Storyboarding, respectively). Over in the TV and Streaming categories, it’s more of a mixed bag. Best TV Show For Preschool includes Odo, Stillwater, and Muppet Babies (which is also up for Writing). Amphibia is up for Best TV Show For Children (as well as for Directing and Editing), while Tuca and Bertie is nominated for Best General Audience TV Show (and also for Writing). Arlo the Alligator Boy scored noms for Production Design, Voice Acting, and Editing, and Centaur World has one nomination for Voice Acting. In Sponsored Production (the new way of saying Best Commercial) there’s Featherweight (the music video by Fleet Foxes) and Tiptoe and the Flying Machine (from Macy’s). Finally, Ratchet & Clank: Rift Apart is nominated for Best Video Game. Visit the Annie Awards web site to see the full list of nominees — and don’t forget, nominations for the 2022 Ursa Major Awards will open soon! [We wish you all a Merry Christmas, a Happy Solstice, and a Blessed Holiday Season.]

image c. 2021 Walt Disney Animation

Calm DOWN, Girl!

More interesting stuff from the recent Walt Disney Company investors’ presentation. Turning Red is an upcoming Pixar animated feature being directed by Domee Shi, creator of the Oscar-winning animated short Bao. Here’s how Pixar describes the story: “Meet Mei. She experiences the awkwardness of being a teenager, with an added twist: When she gets too excited, she transforms into a giant red panda.” Oh! Turning Red is set to be released in the spring of 2022.

image c. 2020 Disney/Pixar

Make ‘Em Laugh

Everyone has been talking about Disney+, the Mouse House’s new attempt to enter the streaming content market in a big way — looking to take on Netflix, Hulu, and all the rest. Well now Animation World Network has let us know about about a new animated series for Disney+ with a very familiar furry angle. “Billy Crystal and John Goodman will reprise their beloved roles as Mike and Sulley in Monsters At Work, a new animated series for families set to premiere on Disney+ in 2020. Produced by Disney Television Animation and inspired by the world of Disney and Pixar’s Academy Award-winning Monsters, Inc., the series picks up six months after the original movie’s story, with the Monsters, Inc. power plant now harvesting the laughter of children to fuel the city of Monstropolis, thanks to Mike and Sulley’s discovery that laughter generates ten times more energy than screams. Monsters At Work follows Tylor Tuskmon (voiced by Ben Feldman), an eager and talented young mechanic on the Monsters, Inc. Facilities Team (MIFT) who dreams of working his way up to the factory Laugh Floor to become a Jokester alongside his idols Mike and Sulley.”  As the article points out, the voice cast includes a lot more familiar and talented names too.

image c. 2019 Pixar

Looking Ahead to 2019

Cartoon Brew has a new article up giving a chronological and detailed look at animated features from major studios that are scheduled to hit theaters in 2019. Interestingly, almost all of them have furry content — some more than others of course, but just about all of them have a least a little! Those titles include The LEGO Movie 2: The Second Part, How To Train Your Dragon 3: The Hidden World, Wonder Park, Missing Link, Uglydolls, Farmageddon (aka Shaun the Sheep 2), The Secret Life of Pets 2, Toy Story 4, The Lion King (the realistic CGI “live action” remake), Wish Dragon, Angry Birds 2, Abominable, and Frozen 2. (Hey, the first one nabbed itself an Ursa Major Award, don’t forget!)

image c. 2018 LAIKA

The Annie Awards for 2017

Saturday the 3rd at UCLA, the International Animated Film Society (ASIFA) handed out the annual Annie Awards for the best in animated films, television, and effects for the year 2017. As everyone expected, the big winner of the evening was Disney/Pixar’s Coco, which took home 11 of the 13 honors that it was nominated for, including Best Feature, Best Directing, and Best Writing. (Not really an anthropomorphic film, but those alebrijes were so cool!) In spite of Coco’s sweep, there was still room for several anthropomorphic items to win awards in several categories. Revolting Rhymes was awarded Best Special Production (the award for medium-length original films). Based on the poems of Roald Dahl, Revolting Rhymes was created by Magic Light Pictures, which previously brought us The Gruffalo and Highway Rat. Silvergate Media’s series The Octonauts won for Best TV Production for Preschool Children, while We Bare Bears won Best TV Production for Children. Trollhunters won for Best Character Animation in a TV Production, and the feature War for the Planet of the Apes won for Character Animation in a Live Action Production. Cuphead took home the award for Best Game. Meanwhile, the Disney Mickey Mouse TV series had quite a night, taking home Annies for Best Directing, Best Music, and Best Storyboarding. Visit the Annie Awards web site to see the full list. [And remember: The Ursa Major Awards are taking nominations now!]

Image c. 2018 Magic Light Pictures

Animals by Disney, Book by Joe

Okay, so here’s this: The Disney Animal Journeys Comics Treasury, a new massive (more than 700 pages!) trade paperback from Joe Books. We got this from Previews: “Rumble through the jungle, soar through the sky, and dive into the sea with this giant comic collection of Disney animal stories! Revisiting the adventures of your favorite Disney animals – from timeless Disney Bambi, Disney The Lion King, and Disney•Pixar A Bug’s Life to Disney•Pixar Finding Dory and Disney Zootopia — this treasury will provide hours of entertainment for all ages and species!” It’s available now.

image c. 2017 Joe Books