Animation Scoop

TRAILER: Netflix Announces Fall Lineup

Netflix has announced an exciting Fall Lineup, releasing exclusive stills from Spellbound, dates for Hot Wheels Let’s Race: Season 2, Jurassic World: Chaos Theory: Season 2, Mighty MonsterWheelies, and more. As students prepare to head back to school, the streaming platform is offering a variety of family-centered entertainment that ranges from series’ to feature-length films. […]

Ketchup Entertainment Acquires “THE DAY THE EARTH BLEW UP: A LOONEY TUNES MOVIE”

Ketchup Entertainment has officially acquired the North American rights to The Day The Earth Blew Up: A Looney Tunes Movie from Warner Bros. Animation. GFM Animation is overseeing the process of worldwide distribution sales of this enthusiastically well-regarded film that premiered this year at the Annecy International Animation Film Festival in France. The CEO of […]

TRAILER: DreamWorks’ “The Wild Robot”

DreamWorks Animation has released a new trailer for the studio’s upcoming feature, The Wild Robot. Based on Peter Brown’s #1 New York Times bestseller, The Wild Robot is an epic story of “a bond like no other”.

INTERVIEW: Cartoon Curator Bill from MeTV’s “Toon In With ME”

Since January 4th, the cable network (and over-the-air broadcast sub-channel) MeTV has been running a weekday hour of classic cartoons from the MGM, Warner Bros. and Paramount Popeye and Betty Boop libraries. Telecast at 7am and formatted as a vintage kids show, hosted by “cartoon curator” Bill Leff and his puppet companion “Toony, the Tuna”, […]

INTERVIEW: Nora Twomey Re-Introduces Us To “My Father’s Dragon”

November 3rd, 2022

Jackson Murphy

Cartoon Saloon’s Nora Twomey was Oscar nominated for her phenomenal, Annie Award-winning 2017 animated feature The Breadwinner. Her follow-up is a sweet, moving and timely interpretation of the classic story My Father’s Dragon. Ahead of the film’s Netflix release on November 11th, I spoke with Twomey about her commitment to this project. (This Animation Scoop Q&A was edited for length and clarity.)

Jackson Murphy: You’ve been involved with My Father’s Dragon since mid-2016. So were you really thinking about this as you were still making The Breadwinner?

Nora Twomey: Yeah, absolutely. I first came across the project back in 2012 when Julie Lynn, one of our producers, came to Dublin. She was just finishing a live-action film there and she had seen “The Secret of Kells” and wanted to meet-up with Cartoon Saloon and see if we could work together. We were in a kind of slow development all that time and every now and again we’d pick the project up with some artwork and have a look at the story. Meg LeFauve, the writer of “My Father’s Dragon”, was also very involved before I was. She already was looking at ways to deepen the story arcs that reflected Elmer’s emotional journey through the film. When I finished “The Breadwinner”, and its promotional tour, I pretty much went straight onto “My Father’s Dragon”.

A “Boo”-tiful Classic: The 70th Anniversary of Disney’s “Trick or Treat”

October 31st, 2022

Michael Lyons

Few Disney short subjects pack more character, story, beautiful animation, and the feel of a holiday into a brisk eight minutes than Trick or Treat. The 1952 Donald Duck cartoon has become a Halloween tradition for so many, and for great reason: it’s wonderful. Crafted with great care by director Jack Hannah, Trick or Treat perfectly captures all we love about Donald Duck, Disney, and Halloween.

INTERVIEW: Aaron Ehasz and Justin Richmond: Growing the Xadiaverse

October 30th, 2022

W.R. Miller

The Dragon Prince dodged a bullet.

Throughout the year, Netflix—the internet service that streams the epic fantasy—has engaged in drastic cutbacks in staff, and outright cancelled several animated projects, with the latest being Mike Judge’s Bad Crimes getting the axe midway through production. But the online network has spared The Dragon Prince. Why?

BOOK REVIEW: “The Shonen Jump Guide to Making Manga”

October 29th, 2022

Charles Solomon

As a quick glance at any bookstore or Amazon will confirm, the popularity of manga in the US has produced a flood of how-to books aimed at adolescent/teen-age artists. In addition to the general books, there are specialized volumes focusing on everything from accessories to hair styles to furry characters and mecha. An unscientific sampling suggests that nearly all of them focus on standard poses and formulae.

The editors of Shonen Jump offer a more sensible guide that presses readers to discover what they truly want to draw, then develop the skills to present it. No one is in a better position to know: Weekly Shonen Jump has a circulation of more than 1.5 million and has sold a staggering 7.5 billion copies since the magazine began publication in 1968. “Dragon Ball,” “Slam Dunk,” “Hunter x Hunter,” “My Hero Academia” and the record-breaking “One Piece” are among the hit titles serialized in Shonen Jump.

WIA Announces Honorees For Diversity Awards at Spark Festival

October 26th, 2022

Lauren Ashton

Women In Animation has just announced the recipients of the WIA Diversity Award, presented alongside the Spark Computer Graphics Society (Spark CG). This year’s recipients are:

Producer Chris Nee, Epic Games, and Seyed Mohsen Pourmohseni Shakib’s film, entitled: It’s a Gray, Gray World.

Jena Olson (Head of Operations at WIA) is presenting the awards via a taped presentation that will be available online from the first day of the 2022 SPARK ANIMATION. The full event will run in-person out of Vancouver, Canada, and will also be live-streamed from October 27th – October 30th.

24 HOURS Animation Contest for Students- Results Anounced

October 24th, 2022

Lauren Ashton

With 2022 being their 20th year, the 24 HOURS Animation Contest for Students once again challenges its participants to create a 30 second film based on a provided theme. They must complete this challenge in a designated 24-hour period. Teams create their projects at their school and turn in a Youtube link of their work before the deadline. The submissions are then judged by industry proffesionals. Aubry Mintz (Animation professor at Cal-State Long Beach and the creator of the 24 HOURS contest) announced the winners on a YouTube Livestream on Friday, Oct 21 at 3pm PT.

INTERVIEW With The Valedictorian Of “Monster High”

October 24th, 2022

Jackson Murphy

Shea Fontana is the showrunner and co-EP of Nickelodeon’s new Monster High animated series, premiering this Friday October 28th at 7pm. In this Animation Scoop Q&A, Fontana discusses the influence of the popular toys on the fun new show, as well as a revamped Dracula and her own high school memories. (This interview was edited for length and clarity.)

Jackson Murphy: I was at New York Comic-Con recently and saw the huge Monster High clock tower display and everything with the combo live-action movie and your new animated series. That’s gotta feel cool that Nickelodeon is really behind this brand.

Shea Fontana: Yeah. It’s been amazing how supportive both Nickelodeon and Mattel have been of everything we’re doing on Monster High.

TRAILER: “Evangelion:3.0+1.0 Thrice Upon A Time”

October 24th, 2022

Jerry Beck

The acclaimed producer and distributor of animation for adult and family audiences, GKIDS, has announced it has added exclusive IMAX showings of Evangelion:3.0+1.0 Thrice Upon A Time, to theaters nationwide, happening on November 30th only. The IMAX shows will be proceeded by screenings of EVANGELION:3.0+1.01 THRICE UPON A TIME – the final installment of the highly anticipated theatrical “Rebuild” editions of the EVANGELION franchise, on December 6th, 8th and 11th. Here’s The trailer:

WIA ANNOUNCES 2023 SCHOLARSHIP PROGRAM INDUSTRY PARTNERS

October 23rd, 2022

Lauren Ashton

Women in Animation has just announced the largest amount of industry partners contributing to the WIA Scholarship Program. Eight partners, including Animation Focus, ArtStation, Autodesk, Animation Mentor Foundry,Toon Boom, Wacom, LAIKA, and Yellowbrick Learning have all contributed workshops, tutoring sessions, hardware, software packages and cash prizes. WIA’s Bay Area and Montreal Chapters are providing special scholarship prizes for students as well. See the details of each scholarship being offered below:

INTERVIEW—Two Stars of Star Trek: Prodigy: Brett Gray and Ella Purnell

October 21st, 2022

W.R. Miller

What do you do if you live on a prison asteroid run by a megalomaniacal warden, and you uncover an abondoned starship capable of near-transwarp speeds? Do you take it? 17-year-old Dal R’El does, with the help of his fellow adolescent escapees including Gwyndala, 17-year-old daughter of the warden. So off the kids race toward the United Federation of Planets, hoping for protection and to learn more about themselves and the various worlds they encounter. Little do they know that the starship they’ve taken, the U.S.S. Protostar, has been infected with a virus that could wipe out the entire Alpha Quadrant. Such is the current scenario with Star Trek: Prodigy, the CG-animated series from CBS’ Eye Animation Productions and Nickelodeon.

INTERVIEW: The Might And Heart Of “Oni: Thunder God’s Tale”

October 20th, 2022

Jackson Murphy

From Tonko House, the makers of bold, Oscar-nominated short “The Dam Keeper”, comes a new four-part series debuting October 21st on Netflix. Oni: Thunder God’s Tale introduces us to Onari, a curious and courageous girl, daughter and friend. She seeks the powers that can help defeat the evil Oni, on their way to possibly destroy her village. But along the way, Onari will learn so much about herself and others — and discover what it truly means to be a hero. I spoke with creator Daisuke ‘Dice’ Tsutsumi and executive producers Robert Kondo and Sara K. Sampson. (This Animation Scoop Q&A was edited for length and clarity.)

Jackson Murphy: Dice, what do you think makes Onari such a compelling lead character? I really think she is.

Daisuke ‘Dice’ Tsutsumi: (laughs) That’s great. That’s an amazing question, and I want to answer it right. The concept of Oni comes from the famous villain character from Japanese folklore. There’s this interesting historical theory about Oni potentially being the description of a foreigner or Indigenous people who didn’t look like Japanese locals back in the day. I really felt that concept was so interesting because we still carry that same human nature — that we’re afraid of people we don’t understand or things or cultures we don’t know. That story of finding who you are and being honest about who you want to be vs. who you truly are… The struggle is something, I believe, that everybody can relate to. I certainly have… living in the United States for 30 years as a foreigner. Onari was a very personal expression of my story. However, I think it became so compelling because a lot of us who worked on this project, including Sara and Robert, and also our writer Mari [Okada], brought their own Onari into the character.

TRAILER: “Diary of a Wimpy Kid: Rodrick Rules”

October 19th, 2022

Lauren Ashton

Disney+ has released key art for Diary of a Wimpy Kid: Rodrick Rules, as well as a new trailer. This all-new animated film is based on the second book in Jeff Kinney’s immensely popular book series. In addition, Can You Smell Us Now,, the original new song from the film,is also available. Written and produced by Jon Levine, with lyrics by Jeff Kinney, the new song is performed by Jimmy Tatro. Diary of a Wimpy Kid: Rodrick Rules will premiere on December 2nd, 2022 on Disney+ – View the new trailer below:

INTERVIEW: Henry Selick Returns To Stop-Motion With “Wendell & Wild”

October 19th, 2022

Jackson Murphy

Stop-motion animation directing icon Henry Selick (of “The Nightmare Before Christmas” and “James and the Giant Peach”) is back with his first new feature since 2009’s “Coraline”. A teen girl meets demon brothers in Wendell & Wild, co-written by Selick and Jordan Peele. It opens in select theaters this Friday Oct. 21st and is on Netflix Oct. 28th. Selick is quite proud of the picture, and he shares some behind the scenes details about the look, the feel… and the reunion of Key & Peele. Plus, he’s got a spooktacular “Nightmare” story. (This Animation Scoop Q&A was edited for length and clarity.)

Jackson Murphy: What were you really able to do on this movie that you maybe wanted to do on some of your older films, but the technology just wasn’t there at the time?

Henry Selick: Not so much development and technology. More story — taking chances on the look of characters [and] going into dangerous territory. Playing around with some serious subjects but also mixing in more interesting types of humor by working with Key & Peele. So maybe it’s not so much about technological breakthroughs as it was about story and tone breakthroughs.

Chatting With “Big City Greens” Gang In The Big Apple

October 18th, 2022

Jackson Murphy

Over the past four and a half years, Big City Greens has quickly become one of the most popular Disney Channel animated series of all-time. Creators Chris and Shane Houghton are deep into production on the upcoming fourth season and movie. I recently had the chance to finally meet them in person at New York Comic-Con, where they shared as much as they could about the film. I also spoke with some of the BCG voice actors about what this series has meant to them. (These interviews were combined, with responses edited for length and clarity.)

Jackson Murphy: How has this series changed your lives?

Bob Joles (Voice of Bill): It’s made me more aware of being a dad, which I’ve never been. The lessons that come out of it and how I have to present those lessons to Cricket and Tilly and sometimes Remy and sometimes Gramma. It’s an interesting dynamic that I never got to experience in my life but now I am through animation.

INTERVIEW—Two Janeways, One Voice: Kate Mulgrew

October 17th, 2022

W.R. Miller

With the next half-season of Star Trek: Prodigy about to premiere, Paramount+ invited journalists to interview some of the cast — including Kate Mulgrew — allowing a behind-the-microphone peek at the voiceover process.

Mulgrew reprises her role as Kathryn Janeway from Star Trek: Voyager, who stars in Prodigy as Hologram Janeway aboard an experimental high-warp starship, the U.S.S. Protostar. Her character trains a group of disparate—and desperate—kids of various alien species, seeking escape from a tyrannical prison warden. They come to realize that the United Federation of Planets can offer them protection, all the while learning Starfleet protocols.