Filmmaker Jack Gray describes his short film Menagerie as “a study of the daily motions and mundane tasks of contemporary city life. Featuring hundreds of looping animated characters, the film explores how the repetitive actions of our day-to-day lives quickly spiral into an endless kaleidoscope of abstraction.”
Author: The Animation Blog (Page 50 of 584)
Oi! Tonbo premieres April, 2024 in Japan. Directed by Oh Jin koo. Character Design by Kei Takeuchi. Starring Rika Hayashi and Hiroki Touchi.
Synopsis: Igarashi, who Left the past behind and running away from the world, moved to the Tokara Islands in Kagoshima Prefecture. On Hinoshima Island, which is said to be “the last unexplored region in Japan,” Igarashi meets Tonbo, the only junior high school student on the island. The innocent girl has an incredible talent for golf! This encounter will change the destiny of the two…
The second season of Clone High premieres February 1, 2024 on HBO Max.
Created by Phil Lord & Christopher Miller (The Lego Movie, Spider-Verse films) and Bill Lawrence (Scrubs, Ted Lasso). Voice cast includes Will Forte, Nicole Sullivan, Christa Miller, Ayo Edebiri, Mitra Jouhari, Vicci Martinez, Kelvin Yu, Neil Casey and Donald Faison.
Synopsis: A modern refresh of the hit series of the same name, Clone High follows a high school for clones of the greatest minds in history. Twenty years after the original experiment was put on ice, Joan, JFK, Abe and Cleo have been thawed out to resume school with their new clone classmates — all while navigating a new set of cultural norms and overly dramatic teen relationships.
Nickelodeon’s new animated series Rock Paper Scissors premieres February 12, 2024.
Leading the cast are Ron Funches (Trolls) as Rock, Thomas Lennon (Reno 911!) as Paper and Carlos Alazraqui (Rocko’s Modern Life) as Scissors.
The series also stars Melissa Villaseñor (Saturday Night Live) as Pencil and stand-up comedian Eddie Pepitone as Lou, a garbage can. Guest stars include Jason Alexander (Seinfeld), Isabela Merced (Dora and the Lost City of Gold) and Carla Gugino (Spy Kids).
The series, created by Kyle Stegina and Josh Lehrman, began life as a short from Nickelodeon’s Intergalactic Shorts Program, an initiative that searches for “new and diverse creators from across the globe, […] nurturing their vision for original comedy-driven content.”
The Tiger’s Apprentice premieres February 2, 2024 on Paramount+.
Starring Henry Golding, Brandon Soo Hoo, Lucy Liu, Sandra Oh and Michelle Yeoh. Co-starring Bowen Yang, Leah Lewis, Kheng Hua Tan, Sherry Cola, Deborah S. Craig, Jo Koy, Greta Lee, Diana Lee Inosanto, Patrick Gallagher and Poppy Liu.
Directed by Raman Hui. Co-directed by Paul Watling and Yong Duk Jhun. Written by David Magee and Christopher Yost.
Synopsis: Based on the children’s book series by Laurence Yep. The life of Chinese-American teenager Tom Lee changes forever when he discovers he is part of a long lineage of magical protectors known as the Guardians. With guidance from a mythical tiger named Hu, Tom trains up to take on Loo, a force that is as powerful as a Guardian but with evil intentions to use magic to destroy humanity. To have a fighting chance against Loo, Tom must reunite all twelve Zodiac animal warriors and master his own newly discovered powers.
Monsters: 103 Mercies Dragon Damnation is based on Eiichiro Oda’s 1994 one-shot manga MONSTER, which was originally published in Japan’s Weekly Shonen Jump and collected in WANTED! Eiichiro Oda Short Stories.
The anime adaptation premieres January 21, 2024 on Netflix. It’s directed by Sunghoo Park with character design by Takashi Kojima.
Slower Animals is an award-winning short film by John Christopher Kelley, an assistant professor at University of Tennessee.
The filmmaker describes Slower Animals as a short film that “explores the ways we are shaped; both by what we remember and what we forget.”
It’s a story about a professor who decides to follow a winter goose migration and in the process triggers memories of repressed childhood trauma.
Sago Mini Friends is based on the characters and designs from the Sago Mini World app which features dozens of games for kids ages 2-5 years old. The series follows the adventures of Harvey the dog, Jinja the cat, Jack the rabbit and Robin the bird.
The second season of Sago Mini Friends premieres January 26, 2024 on Apple TV+.
Orion and the Dark premieres February 2, 2024 on Netflix. Directed by Sean Charmatz and written by Charlie Kaufman, based on the book by Emma Yarlett.
Synopsis: Orion seems a lot like your average elementary school kid – shy, unassuming, harboring a secret crush. But underneath his seemingly normal exterior, Orion is a ball of adolescent anxiety, completely consumed by irrational fears of bees, dogs, the ocean, cell phone waves, murderous gutter clowns, and even falling off of a cliff. But of all his fears, the thing he’s the most afraid of is what he confronts on a nightly basis: the Dark. So when the literal embodiment of his worst fear pays a visit, the Dark whisks Orion away on a roller coaster ride around the world to prove there is nothing to be afraid of in the night. As the unlikely pair grows closer, Orion must decide if he can learn to accept the unknown – to stop letting fear control his life and finally embrace the joy of living.
Masters of the Universe: Revolution premieres January 25, 2024 on Netflix.
Synopsis: From Kevin Smith, Mattel Television Studio, and Netflix comes an epic tale that features He-Man vs. Skeletor in a highly anticipated brawl for all of Eternia. Featuring Chris Wood, Melissa Benoist, Lena Heady, Meg Foster, Keith David, William Shatner and Mark Hamill.
Combat Wombat: Back 2 Back, the sequel to Combat Wombat (2020), which you can watch for free on Tubi, releases in theaters in Australia on February 29, 2024 and in New Zealand on March 7, 2024.
The animated sequel was produced by Like A Photon Creative and is written by Dominic Morris, co-directed by Tania Vincent and directed by Ricard Cussó.
The cast includes David Wenham, Elizabeth Cullen, Mark Coles Smith, Deborah Mailman and Ed Oxenbould.
Synopsis: Life has become a little too demanding for Maggie Diggins aka Combat Wombat. Whilst the Sanctuary City crime rate is at an all-time low, she’s now expected to spend her days helping unclog drains instead of saving the world! But when evil tech genius Lenny Glick threatens to trap the whole city in a ‘perfect’ metaverse simulation, Combat Wombat and her sidekick Sweetie must work together to save the day.
Written and directed by veteran animator Uli Meyer, whose credits include the classics Who Framed Roger Rabbit, Space Jam and An American Tail: Fievel Goes West.
Synopsis: A character designer struggles with the design of a cartoon cat and ends up on a short trip through the looking glass.
Meyer shared some behind the scenes information about his hybrid short film:
These are the 10 stages I may go through when designing a character. Followed by a trip through the looking glass. Maybe my fellow character designers can relate?
Last year I thought it might be fun to make a short piece that can be filmed with little expense and includes a bit of Roger Rabbit style animation. Something my kids can remember me by.
We shot the live action at my building over a weekend with a small talented crew. But then it took me forever to add the animation due to ongoing daytime commitments. With the help of some of my animation friends it is now finally finished, phew!
The second season of Marvel’s Moon Girl and Devil Dinosaur premieres February 2, 2024 on Disney Channel and next day on Disney+.
Synopsis: In the new season, Moon Girl and Devil Dinosaur are in their element as Super Heroes; however, as Moon Girl’s Super Hero-ing intertwines more with her personal life, she must decide if the cost of keeping her identity a secret is worth the toll it takes on her family.
Director Graham Mason describes The Quarry as “a soap opera about rocks.” He created it for Adult Swim Smalls.
Graham Mason’s short films have also been been featured on IFC, Viceland and Vulture, and he has received three Vimeo Staff Picks.
Written and directed by Oscar-nominated filmmakers DK Welchman and Hugh Welchman. Starring Kamila Urzedowska, Robert Gulaczyk and Miroslaw Baka.
Release date: January 26, 2024 (New York) and February 2, 2024 (Los Angeles), with other cities to follow.
Synopsis: The Peasants tells the story of Jagna, a young woman determined to forge her own path within the confines of a late 19th century Polish village — a hotbed of gossip and on-going feuds, held together, rich and poor, by pride in their land, adherence to colorful traditions and deep-rooted patriarchy. When Jagna finds herself caught between the conflicting desires of the village’s richest farmer, his eldest son, and other leading men of the community, her resistance puts her on a tragic collision course with the community around her.