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Animation

Quack to the Future?

Feb 29th, 2024
by rodney.
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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

Netflix Heard The Call

Feb 9th, 2024
by rodney.
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More from that article at Cartoon Brew. This time it’s a new “hybrid” (live action / CGI) feature called Woody Woodpecker Goes To Camp. “Netflix hasn’t released many details about the film yet, but the streamer did say that accomplished kids and family TV director Johnathan Rosenbaum (Fraggle Rock: Back to the Rock, R.L. Stine’s The Haunting Hour) is helming from a screenplay by Cory Edwards, Jim Martin, and Stephen Mazu… A brief logline reads: ‘After getting kicked out of the forest, Woody thinks he’s found a forever home at Camp Woo Hoo — until an inspector threatens to shut down the camp’. The only casting details shared so far indicate that Eric Bauza is involved, presumably as Woody’s voice.” We can all find out more when the film arrives on April 12th.

image c. 2024 Netflix

You’re A Star!

Feb 8th, 2024
by rodney.
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Thanks to Cartoon Brew, we found out about several interesting new animated films coming soon to Netflix. Among them is Thelma the Unicorn. “Thelma is a small-time pony who dreams of becoming a glamorous music star. In a pink and glitter-filled moment of fate, Thelma is transformed into a unicorn and instantly rises to global stardom. But this new life of fame comes at a cost.” Don’t know much about this one otherwise, but it’s directed by Jared Hess (Napoleon Dynamite, Nacho Libre) and Lynn Wang (Unikitty!), and it’s due on May 17th.

image c. 2024 Netflix

Mucho Muco

Jan 25th, 2024
by rodney.
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Lovely Muco! is a black & white manga that’s written and illustrated by Takayuki Mizushina. It’s also popular enough to have been adapted into an anime series already. “In the beautiful mountains of Akita stands Glass Studio Amato, run by Mr. Komatsu and the shiny-nosed dog who loves him — Muco!! Muco dreams of the day when Mr. Komatsu will become a dog, too, but in the meantime she spends her days chewing up towels, jumping in the pond, and inventing new games…all called ‘Komatsu’! Based on a real person, a real dog, and a real glass studio, there’s something here for everyone—even cat lovers!” And the manga’s still available from Penguin Random House.

image c. 2024 Penguin Random House

It’ll Be A Hit!

Jan 17th, 2024
by rodney.
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It’s always dangerous in this business to say “now I’ve seen everything”, but hooey, this comes close. From Animation World Network: “Corus Entertainment’s Nelvana has teamed up with London-based entertainment company Toikido to greenlight a new 2D animated children’s series, Piñata Smashlings. Inspired by the popular Roblox game, the series follows the previously released shorts currently streaming on Nelvana’s ‘Keep It Weird’ YouTube channel… The series follows four friends, characters from the game, thrown together by fate to form a team of unlikely heroes. Whether questing across the land, unlocking maps, or collecting ‘fruities’ and ‘power ups’, these Smashlings are out to save the Piñataverse from the evil Bashlings and level up on fun along the way.” Already set to show in Canada (naturally), the series is looking for international markets.

image c. 2024 Nelvana

The Annie Award Nominations for 2023

Jan 14th, 2024
by rodney.
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The International Animated Film Society (ASIFA) recently announced the nominations for the 2024 Annie Awards, celebrating the best of animation in 2023. Needless to say, there was a lot of anthropomorphic material being shown off last year! The shape-shifting little rebel known as Nimoma walked away with the most nominations: Nine in all, including Best Editing, Best Writing, Best Voice Acting (for Nimona herself, Chloë Grace Moretz), Best Storyboards, Best Production Design, Best Directing, Best Character Design, Best Character Animation, and Best Animated Feature Film (whew!). Not far behind was Hayao Miyazaki’s swan-song (heron-song?) The Boy and the Heron, with seven nominations including Best Feature. Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Mutant Mayhem and Pixar’s Elemental followed with six nominations each. Rather a surprising one was Robot Dreams (directed by Pablo Berger) which brought in five nominations including Best Independent Feature Film — the latter shared by Earnest and Celestine: A Trip To Gibberitia and Four Souls of Coyote. Nominations for Best Animation in a Live Action Production include Guardians of the Galaxy Volume 3, The Little Mermaid, Transformers: Rise of the Beasts, and Cocaine Bear (!). Some interesting anthro films with one nomination each include Migration (Voice Acting), Super Mario Brothers (also Voice Acting), and Leo (for Editing). Over on the TV & Series side of things, the one to beat is Marvel’s Moon Girl and Devil Dinosaur, with four nominations, but there are also multiple nods for Hilda and My Dad the Bounty Hunter. See all the nominees over at the Annie Awards web site, and watch for the winners when the awards are given out on Saturday, February 17th. (And don’t forget: Nominations for the 2024 Ursa Major Awards will open up soon as well. Be ready!)

image c. 2024 Netflix

One Little Spark

Dec 21st, 2023
by rodney.
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The Dragons of Ember City is a new full-color graphic novel series for young readers, created by Shane Richardson and Sarah Marino (both of whom are animators at Nickelodeon). The first book in the series is called Happy Spark Day. “Drake, Li, and Runa are three young dragons in Ember City, where a dragon’s spark is their special power and every dragon’s spark is unique. Ember is a city that burns brightest when its citizens use their sparks to help each other and their community. The more they use their spark, the brighter Ember City glows and provides for all its dragons. Can Drake, Li, and Runa learn to get along after uncovering their powers?” All this and more from Simon & Schuster.

image c. 2023 Aladdin Books

Time for a Tiger’s Tale?

Dec 12th, 2023
by rodney.
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For a while now we’ve been following the news that Lawrence Yep’s popular fantasy novel The Tiger’s Apprentice was being made into a feature film. Not certain what happened to that project over the course of a pandemic and several Hollywood strikes, but now we’re getting word that a different animated movie based on the novel is making its way to Paramount+ next February. And this time we even get a teaser trailer! “Based on the popular children’s book series of the same name by Laurence Yep, the film follows Chinese American teenager Tom Lee, whose life changes forever when he discovers he is part of a long lineage of magical protectors known as the Guardians… In the film, with guidance from a mythical tiger named Hu, Tom trains to take on Loo, a force that is as powerful as a Guardian but has evil intentions of using magic to destroy humanity. To fight against Loo, Tom must reunite all twelve Zodiac animal warriors and master his own newly discovered powers.” There’s more details and an interesting cast list over at Animation World Network.

image c. 2023 Paramount+

So Who DID Come First?

Nov 23rd, 2023
by rodney.
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Hitting at an interesting idea from several angles at once, Canadian production house Wind Sun Sky have given us Future Chicken, a new environmentally-themed presentation for children that’s arriving as a podcast, a streaming series, an interactive web site, and so forth. Here’s an announcement from Animation Magazine: “Wind Sun Sky Entertainment partnered with the Ontario Water Centre’s social enterprise ClearWater Farm are gearing up for the November 5 launch of Future Chicken — a new animation property designed to help children counter ‘climate doomism’ with hope, inspiration and empowerment — with the announcement of a coop-load of trailblazing green guest stars. This new global platform will launch with a digital series, a podcast, YouTube shorts, a Roblox experience and more. Featuring a variety of entertaining learning experiences for kids aged six to nine years old, the property revolves around a time-travelling eco-superhero chicken from 2050 named Potato, a.k.a. Future Chicken, who travels alongside other amusing characters, including a gossipy mushroom with a love of travel and an egg who wears rocket-pants.” Typical stuff that, of course. The official web site has a whole lot more.

image c. 2023 Wind Sun Sky

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