The Great Piggy Bank Robbery is a Warner Brothers Looney Tunes theatrical cartoon short released in 1946. It was directed by Robert Clampett, written by Warren Foster, and animated by Izzy Ellis, Manny Gould, Bill Meléndez, and Rod Scribner.
Month: September 2008 (Page 1 of 2)
Rhapsody Rabbit is Merrie Melodies animated short, featuring Bugs Bunny and directed by Friz Freleng. The short was originally released to theaters by Warner Bros. Pictures on November 9, 1946.
Bandai Visual Entertainment announced today that the anime classic AKIRA will be released on Blu-ray in Japan on February 20, 2009 and in the Unites States four days later on February 24.
The Blu-ray release includes the new high-def transfer made from the original film print. Both Japanese and Enligh language tracks are available along with subtitles. Marking an industry first, the Japanese 5.1 Dolby TrueHD soundtrack will consist of a 192kHz 24-bit audio stream.
Lastly, bonus features include a TV commercial, two teasers, two trailers, storyboards and a 20 page booklet.
Via Blu-ray
During today’s Walt Disney Showcase, John Lasseter revealed that the release date for Cars 2 will be pushed forward to Summer 2011, from the previous 2012 release date.
Mr. Lasseter also revealed plot details and how the idea came to him while traveling the world doing publicity for the original Cars. He wondered how Lightning McQueen, Mater and the rest of the gang would react to other countries and the foreign vehicles that inhabit them.
The sequel will answer such a question as Lightning McQueen and Mater go on a worldwide trip where they will no-doubt meet many new friends — all of which you will be able to buy at a toy store near you, just in time for the Holidays! After all, we all know that’s the only reason Pixar is doing another sequel. The original was a HUGE merchandising hit for Disney with products repeatedly selling out.
Also announced was a series of short Cars cartoons cleverly (not really) titled Car-toons… get it? Car…toons… Yea, they didn’t even try. The shorts will air on the Disney Channel and maybe even in theaters before other Disney films.
Discuss: What do you think? Is Cars 2 just an attempt to cash in on merchandising? What other Pixar film do you think would have been a better choice for a sequel? Post your comments and discuss with other readers.
Via Slashfilm
Summit Entertainment will release Astro Boy in North America on Friday, October 23, 2009, it was announced today by Rob Friedman of Summit Entertainment, and Erin Corbett of Imagi Studios U.S.
Produced by Imagi Studios, the CG-animated motion picture will bow on over 3,000 screens across North America. International release dates for the film are to be announced soon.
Astro Boy’s cast features the voices of Nicolas Cage, Donald Sutherland, Nathan Lane, Bill Nighy and Eugene Levy with Freddie Highmore in the title role. David Bowers (Flushed Away) is directing Astro Boy from a screenplay written by Timothy Harris (Trading Places, Kindergarten Cop), with Maryann Garger producing.
Sony Pictures Animation’s “Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs” just got a bit clearer with the announcement that Bill Hader, Anna Faris, James Caan, Andy Samberg, Bruce Campbell, Mr. T, and Tracy Morgan will voice the characters. The movie is set for release January 15, 2010.
Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs is written and directed by Chris Miller and Phil Lord, based on the kids book written by Judi Barrett and illustrated by Ron Barrett about a small town where it doesn’t rain “cats and dogs” — instead, it rains food!
Bill Hader will voice Flint Lockwood, an inventor with big dreams. Anna Faris plays Sam Sparks, a smart weathergirl covering the phenomenon. James Caan plays Tim Lockwood, Flint’s technophobic father. Andy Samberg plays Brent, the town bully. Bruce Campbell plays Mayor Shelbourne. Mr. T plays the town cop Earl Devereaux, and Tracy Morgan takes on the role of Officer Earl’s son, Cal.
Via AWN
aniBoom today announced its Third Annual aniBoom Awards for submissions from independent animators of all types around the globe. Submissions are welcome from today through December 1, 2008, during which time the animations will be viewed and ranked by the community on aniBoom.com and by a select panel of entertainment industry luminaries. At stake is a Grand Prize for the overall winner that includes a $25,000 investment in commercial development and a distribution deal with aniBoom that will enable the winning animator to significant career-making exposure through a variety of outlets and channels.
In addition, three selected Community Favorites will be selected based on aniBoom’s online animation community ranking, as well as three Top Selections by the competition’s panel of Judges. All six selections will be awarded a share of the $50,000 in cash and prizes, including ToonBoom software and CG Society books. All 50 of the top picks will receive prizes.
This year’s judges will include industry heavyweights such as: Mr. Yair Landau, former President of Sony Pictures Digital; Ms. Barbara Corday, Senior Television Producer at Columbia Pictures; and Mr. John Mass, Executive Vice President at the international William Morris Agency.
Did you know you could watch 5 minute versions of your favorite shows via The Minisode Network? No? Well, now you know! And what’s best is you can watch 5 minute versions of classic cartoons such as Voltron. Below is an example of a minisode.
To check out the rest of the Voltron minisodes head over to the Minisode Network channel on Youtube.
This short film is currently unavailable.
Here’s some information from Wikipedia:
Ah, L’Amour (1995) is Don Hertzfeldt’s first 16mm student animated short film, completed at the age of 18 at UC Santa Barbara. Though produced for a beginning film class and never meant to be exhibited, the short had a long life at animation festivals, launching Hertzfeldt into cult status at a young age. In 1998, the short won the Grand Prize Award for “World’s Funniest Cartoon” from the HBO U.S. Comedy Arts Festival.
The cartoon is a satire of toxic men. In it, a pickup artist is violently torn apart by the women he targets, viewed only through his own one-sided, ridiculously misogynistic point of view. Hertzfeldt plays the part of a mentally unwell animator who’s losing his grip on his sanity while animating, an idea he’d later revisit in other early “meta” shorts Genre and Rejected.
The soundtrack is acoustic guitar music, performed by Hertzfeldt on a boom box in his dorm room.
On today’s Boing Boing tv episode, an animated music video by director Kristofer Strom from Amsterdam, features an unusual and unique technique of animation over live-action footage. The music featured is from the Swedish techno band Minilogue.
Bolt is Disney’s latest computer animated movie; one for which new techniques had to be invented by the studio’s artists. With production wrapping up, Disney gave ComingSoon.net the chance to go behind the scenes and experience firsthand the level of detail that goes into a project such as Bolt.
The Academy of Television Arts & Sciences on Saturday awarded the 2007-2008 Creative Arts Primetime Emmys for programs and individual achievements at the 60th Annual Emmy Awards presentation at the NOKIA Theatre L.A. LIVE in Los Angeles.
Outstanding Animated Program (For Programming One Hour Or More)
IMAGINATIONLAND (SOUTH PARK)
Outstanding Animated Program (For Programming Less Than One Hour)
THE SIMPSONS — “Eternal Moonshine of the Simpson Mind”
Outstanding Individual Achievement In Animation
Ben Balistreri — Character Design — Cartoon Network
FOSTER’S HOME FOR IMAGINARY FRIENDS
“Mondo Coco”
Teresa Drilling — Animator — CBS
CREATURE COMFORTS AMERICA
“Self Image, Winging It, Art”
Via AWN
Scooby-Doo & The Goblin King follows Scooby-Doo and Shaggy as they try to stop a carnival magician named the Amazing Krudsky from turning everyone into Halloween monsters, after he steals the light magic from Princess Fairy Willow.
Scooby-Doo and Shaggy board the Grim Reaper Railroad, which is bound for Halloween Land to retrieve the Goblin scepter from the Goblin King, before Krudsky can. Along the way, the Mystery Inc. crew encounters the Headless Horseman, Jack O’Lantern and a frisky broomstick.
The film features the voice talents of Jay Leno, Hayden Panettiere, Lauren Becall, Lary Joe Campbell, Wayne Knight, Wally Shawn, Russi Taylor, Thom Adcox and Tim Curry.
DVD bonus features include: Scooby-Doo You Believe in Magic? featurette where viewers learn the secrets behind some cool magic tricks.
Aside from its DVD debut on September 23, 2008, the Scooby-Doo & The Goblin King has also been scheduled for national broadcast in the Fall of 2008 on the Cartoon Network.
Burger King presents Seth MacFarlane’s Cavalcade of Cartoon Comedy. New episodes served weekly, starting September 10th.
For more, visit www.youtube.com/sethcomedy
Variety reports that Johnny Depp will reunite with director Gore Verbinski (Pirates of the Caribbean) on “Rango,” an animated movie financed and distributed by Paramount.
In the movie, scheduled for a March 4, 2011 release, Johnny Depp will voice the lead character, a household pet that goes on an adventure to discover its true self.
The script was written by John Logan (The Aviator) from an idea by Verbinski. The animation will be done by the incredibly talented folks at Industrial Light & Magic.
