ASIFA-Hollywood announced nominations today for its 52nd Annie Awards recognizing the year’s best in the field of animation. For a complete list of nominations, please visit www.annieawards.org/nominations. The 52nd Annie Awards is set for Saturday, February 8, 2025 at UCLA’s Royce Hall. Pre-reception and Red Carpet begin at 4:30 p.m., followed by the ceremony at […]
David Lowery (director of Pete’s Dragon and Peter Pan & Wendy for Disney) helms the new animated holiday short film An Almost Christmas Story, which premieres this Friday Nov. 15 on Disney+. It’s about an owl named Moon who forms a unique friendship with a girl named Luna in The Big Apple. Lowery shares what […]
Long-awaited, fully animated The Day the Earth Blew Up: A Looney Tunes Movie will receive an awards-qualifying run before the end of 2024, ahead of its official theatrical release on February 28th, 2025. I’ve screened the film and spoke with director Peter Browngardt about this sci-fi action comedy starring beloved characters who are true to […]
Netflix debut the first trailer and announced the release date for the new Aardman new stop-motion animated feature film Wallace & Gromit: Vengeance Most Fowl today. The film will be released on Netflix globally (except in the UK/IE) on January 3rd, 2025 (it will have a limited theatrical run in December to qualify for this […]
Japanese entertainment leader Toho Co., Ltd. announced today that it has reached an agreement to acquire a 100% equity share of GKIDS, Inc., the Academy Award-winning North American animation producer and distributor. Financial terms were not disclosed. GKIDS, which maintains offices in New York and Los Angeles, will become a wholly-owned subsidiary of the Los […]
April 25th, 2024 
Lauren Ashton NOW WHAT!? is a new non-profit animation initiative that intends to use the power of cartoons to illuminate politics and policies for younger voters. Because animation is a wonderful medium of expression and connection through imagery and comedic storytelling, the initiative hopes to demystify political ideas through effective communication.
April 25th, 2024 Lauren Ashton This week, DreamWork Animation announced that never-before-seen footage from their upcoming feature, The Wild Robot, will be shown at the Annecy International Animation Film Festival ahead of the studio’s 30th anniversary. From three-time Academy Award® nominee Chris Sanders and featuring Academy Award® winner Lupita Nyong’o, the film is a beautiful adaptation based on the celebrated #1 New York Times bestselling novel by Peter Brown.
The Wild Robot is an adventure whose central character is a robot: ROZZUM unit 7134, called “Roz” for short. Roz is stranded on an uninhabited island and is faced with surviving harsh conditions and adapting to the surroundings- this leads to not only forming friendships with the animals of the island but also becoming a parental figure to an orphaned gosling.
April 24th, 2024 Lauren Ashton 
April 22nd, 2024 Lauren Ashton This year, Netflix will return to the Annecy Festival with a full itinerary following their recent wins and nominations. Such accolades include Oscar nominations for Nimona, a BAFTA nomination for Chicken Run: Dawn of the Nugget, and several wins for Blue Eye Samurai at the Annie’s this past February. In only five years after launching its first animated feature, the streaming platform achieved critical acclaim when it won an Academy Award for Guillermo del Toro’s Pinocchio. Netflix is also responsible for Adam Sandler’s largest animated film debut, Leo.
Annecy will feature an on-stage presentation this year called “Next on Netflix Animation: From Twilight of the Gods to Wallace & Gromit“. This presentation will include special previews of highly anticipated projects and highlights of renowned filmmakers.
April 22nd, 2024 Jackson Murphy Academy Award nominee Jeff Fowler (of the animated short “Gopher Broke”) directed the blockbuster first two installments in the “Sonic the Hedgehog” film franchise. He returns for “Sonic 3” (in theaters this December) and also serves as executive producer and director of the first episode of new spinoff series Knuckles. The six-episode event, with the return of Idris Elba as the voice of the title character, premieres this Friday April 26th on Paramount+. Fowler joins me for this fun Animation Scoop Q&A. (This interview was edited for length and clarity.)
April 20th, 2024 Lauren Ashton 
April 19th, 2024 Lauren Ashton NEW YORK, NY (April 17, 2024), Oscar-winning producer and distributor, GKIDS, announced its acquisition of the North American theatrical distribution rights for Mamoru Oshii’s acclaimed masterpiece, GHOST IN THE SHELL 2: INNOCENCE. To celebrate the film’s 20th anniversary, GKIDS will release a restoration of the film in theaters throughout the nation in 4k this summer. Before the film is released nationwide, the new 4K restoration will premiere at the renowned Music Box Theatre in Chicago.
April 19th, 2024 Lauren Ashton From Spanish director Pablo Berger, Oscar-nominated animated feature Robot Dreams has secured a theatrical release in the U.S. Coming to New York City on May 31st, the film can be seen at the Film Forum and AMC Lincoln Square.
Called “exquisite… one of the best animations in recent years” by The Observer and regarded as “one of the best films of the year” by The Film Stage, Robot Dreams is being released by indie distributor NEON. Writer and director Pablo Berger is a recognized Spanish director, known for the celebrated Spanish and French production of Blancanieves (2012).
April 16th, 2024 Jackson Murphy Last month I visited Pixar Animation Studios to screen the first half-hour of the highly-anticipated Inside Out 2 and interview the film’s makers. Ahead of the sequel’s June 14th release date, I’ll have three Animation Scoop Q&A pieces. This first one is with director Kelsey Mann and producer Mark Nielsen. (The first question was asked during a press conference and the remaining questions were asked during a sit-down interview. The conversation was edited for length and clarity.)
Jackson Murphy: There’s a line Sadness says early on that’s something to the effect of, “I don’t want to mess it up. I don’t want to break it. I don’t want to burn it to the ground.” And as I heard that I thought, “How autobiographical is that when it comes to you taking on a sequel to a movie people LOVE?”
Kelsey Mann: Every movie that we do here at Pixar has a high bar. It’s nothing new. It’s been that way since I stepped through those gates on day one — feeling that pressure of needing to make something great. This feels familiar to me too because I worked on “Monsters University.” I’m following Pete Docter’s footsteps yet again, and there’s nobody’s feet I’d rather follow than that man. I feel nothing but excitement. Joy’s at my console. Of course you want to make sure that you’re doing right to everyone that loves the original film. I want to do Pete proud. I want to do everybody who loves the original proud. I’m more excited than I am scared.
April 10th, 2024 Jerry Beck The Queen of Cartoons is More Popular Than Ever with New Apparel, Accessories, Pet Products, and an Upcoming Broadway Musical
Leading brand-licensing agency Global Icons and Fleischer Studios, owner of a number of classic animated characters including Betty Boop, have entered into a wide range of new licensing collaborations for the beloved Queen of Cartoons, including upcoming launches for stylish new apparel, accessories, and pet products. In addition, dynamic new character art will be unveiled for licensees in May at the upcoming International Licensing Show in Las Vegas.
April 10th, 2024 Jackson Murphy Cartoon Saloon, the animation house behind The Secret of Kells, The Breadwinner and Wolfwalkers, is unveiling its latest feature. Puffin Rock and the New Friends — a continuation of the popular TV series — is available to rent or purchase on Google TV, Amazon Prime Video and Apple TV beginning Tuesday April 16th. Director Jeremy Purcell and animation director Lorraine Lordan share how the movie took flight — and how it fits right in line with Cartoon Saloon’s mission — in this Animation Scoop Q&A. (This interview was edited for length and clarity.)
Jackson Murphy: Congratulations on the movie. I think it’s so sweet. I think families are gonna enjoy it. And this is a feature film adaptation / continuation of the popular Puffin Rock TV series. Jeremy, you were the assistant director on that. How did it feel jumping back into this world and these characters?
Jeremy Purcell: Great. Puffin Rock within the studio is such a loved production and people love working on it. I was assistant director on it and very happily jumped back into the movie. Lorraine was the animation director on season two. We had three or four or five people, I think, who had worked on the TV series who were very happy to kind of jump back into the movie.
April 9th, 2024 Jackson Murphy Chiara Malta and Sébastien Laudenbach are the directors of the new French animated dramedy Chicken for Linda! GKIDS opened the 2023 Annecy International Film Festival Cristal for Best Animated Feature winner in NYC last Friday. It hits Los Angeles this Friday April 12th and will be in other markets throughout North America later this month. The film is about a mother and daughter on a quest to make a meal that’s significant to them, chicken with peppers. Malta and Laudenbach share the ingredients for how they put Chicken for Linda! together in this Animation Scoop Q&A. (This interview was conducted over Zoom with a translator, and it was edited for length and clarity.)
Jackson Murphy: Chiara, this is a very unique and specific story. What part of the story did you come-up with first?
Chiara Malta: When you write a story, it’s nourished by a lot of bits from your life and also the lives of the people around you that are interesting. When I was a child, I was probably very unruly and stubborn, and I didn’t really like the unfairness of the question of injustice. It really bothered me. To make a movie where the adult does everything she can to make it up to their kid really gave me a lot of satisfaction. There’s a film by Luigi Comencini (“Misunderstood”) that was also an inspiration. We wanted to make a movie that gave satisfaction to children, especially by showing that adults are not always as adult as we think. And we wanted to make a movie about memory, which is always a mystery for me since childhood because memory functions by bits and pieces. We don’t know why certain memories get lost in darkness. I wanted to make a movie with Sebastien that talks about this thing that is so moving and serious while having fun — just as if it was a child making it.
April 8th, 2024 Jerry Beck Welcome to the stairwell that tells the story of a studio…one step and sketch at a time. Cartoon Network Studios (CNS) today announced the launch of a dedicated website that will serve as the virtual home for its iconic Artist Stairwell space.
From 2000 to 2023, the CNS building in Downtown Burbank stood as a vibrant symbol of creativity and a nurturing ground for original animation and artists of diverse talents and backgrounds. It was not merely a workplace, but a canvas for imagination and innovation.
The stairwell at the previous Cartoon Network Studios
April 8th, 2024 Jackson Murphy One of Nickelodeon’s most iconic characters is headlining a new series — this time in CG. “DORA” premieres this Friday April 12th on Paramount+. Executive Producer and showrunner Rich Magallanes explains what goes into making sure the returns of Dora, Boots and Swiper are satisfying for fans of the original Dora the Explorer show and a new generation of families. (This Animation Scoop Q&A was edited for length and clarity.)
Jackson Murphy: Congratulations on the series. I’ve watched a couple episodes and it brought me right back to when I was young. It’s going to be a big hit.
Rich Magallanes: Excellent. Goal achieved! We’re done.
April 1st, 2024 Jackson Murphy The dynamic CG version of beloved cartoon character Woody Woodpecker returns in the new live-action / animated family comedy Woody Woodpecker Goes to Camp. It premieres Friday April 12th on Netflix. Here’s my Animation Scoop Q&A with… Guess Who?… the film’s Emmy nominated director, Jon Rosenbaum. (This interview was edited for length and clarity.)
Jackson Murphy: I love the Woody Woodpecker shirt you have on.
Jon Rosenbaum: When I got hired, this was the first thing that I bought and I said, “I’m going to put it on as we get closer to the final release.” So it’s been a long time coming. It was a long journey. So I’m glad I get to wear it.
