This morning Netflix has debut the trailer, poster and new images for Plankton: The Movie, the latest movie in the SpongeBob SquarePants franchise – coming exclusively to Netflix on March 7th. Here’s our first look:
INTERVIEW: Adventure Awaits With “Paddington In Peru”
February 3rd, 2025 
Jackson Murphy Dougal Wilson takes over for Paul King as director of the latest, highly anticipated Paddington film installment. Following great success overseas, Paddington in Peru opens in theaters in North America on Feb. 14. Wilson, who makes his feature directorial debut, discusses what went into this major, complex production. (This Animation Scoop Q&A was edited for length and clarity.)
Jackson Murphy: That UK box office has to make you feel good.
Dougal Wilson: It certainly does. And yes, I’m very relieved more than anything else. It was quite a daunting prospect to be offered this wonderful film, especially because, obviously, I’m a bit of a newcomer to the whole franchise. I was flattered to be offered, but that immediately gave way to terror because I had a pretty high bar to follow.
Animation Educators Forum Select 2025 Hall of Fame Recipients
January 31st, 2025 Jerry Beck The Animation Educators’ Forum (AEF), a nonprofit association of teachers and scholars whose focus is the art of animated film, announce the selection of its 2025 Hall of Fame recipients. The AEF selects a new group of recipients each January. It you wish to suggest a worthy candidate, please visit: https://animationeducatorsforum.org and send your suggestions to Tom Sito, administrator.
This virtual hall is dedicated to the artists and scholars whose teaching influenced the history of animation.
Locksmith Animation Announces WED WABBIT: 2025 EFM
January 31st, 2025 Lauren Ashton Today in London, Locksmith Animation, the studio that created Ron’s Gone Wrong and That Christmas, announced of their upcoming project, which will be their first independent animated feature: WED WABBIT. This was announced at the European Film Market (EFM). Timeless Films will be handling the worldwide sales while the feature is produced in association with Cantilever Media.
INTERVIEW: Dan Hernandez, Benji Samit, and Chris Buckley on the Return of Mark Hamill as Luke Skywalker
January 31st, 2025 W.R. Miller Yes, it’s true. Mark Hamill is back as Luke Skywalker. And Luke is alive after The Last Jedi. Except … this Luke lives in the LEGO Star Wars galaxy, as are many of the thought-to-be-dead characters in the nine-episode Star Wars saga. Just don’t expect Luke and the others to behave as you remember.
The new playground is LEGO Star Wars: Rebuild the Galaxy, a four-part miniseries created, written and executive-produced by Dan Hernandez and Benji Samit, comedy writers whose credits compass Pokémon Detective Pikachu (2019), The Addams Family 2 (2021), and Teenage Mutant Nina Turtles: Mutant Mayhem (2023). For them to snag Mark Hamill for their project would be the wildest stroke of luck, especially since Hamill had declined to voice Luke for the Star Wars: Return of the Jedi Radio Drama.
GKIDS Announce 4K UHD Releases Of Mamoru Hosoda’s Early Films For 2025
January 30th, 2025 Haylie Baker On January 27, 2025, in partnership with Shout! Studios, GKIDS announced plans for 4K UHD releases of legendary director Mamoru Hosoda’s early films. Included titles are Mamoru Hosoda’s Summer Wars (2009) and Wolf Children (2012), two of the award-winning director’s most celebrated early films. The upcoming home entertainment releases will feature new artwork for the 4K UHD edition, Blu-ray DVDs, and digital downloads. Summer Wars releases will be available on April 1, 2025, with Wolf Children on August 5, 2025, though they can be pre-ordered now. Bonus features for Summer Wars entail interviews with the director and various cast members, teasers, and trailers.
INTERVIEW: Swing Into “Your Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Man”
January 28th, 2025 Jackson Murphy Jeff Trammell, Emmy and Annie nominated writer on Craig of the Creek, is the creator (as well as EP and writer) of the new Marvel animated series Your Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Man. The first two episodes premiere tomorrow, Wednesday January 29th, on Disney+. The remaining eight episodes debut over the next three Wednesdays. Trammell shares insights on the show’s story, look, characters and cast, including one of this year’s Oscar nominees. (This Animation Scoop Q&A was edited for length and clarity.)
Jackson Murphy: You were Emmy and Annie nominated for “Craig of the Creek”. How did you work on that series inspire you and lead you to “Spider-Man”?
Jeff Trammell: “Craig” had a lot going for it. It’s a huge world. There was a lot of setting up characters and building them and knowing that we’re gonna pay them off later… along with long-term storytelling that we were really invested in doing. Influenced my storytelling in terms of building blocks and building a story out. Another thing is: being on that show showed me how much it means for people to have proper representation. That’s a thing I definitely wanted to carry through. In working on “Spidey”, I wanted to make sure New York felt inclusive and representative of present day New York. We’re seeing all types of people, colors and creeds.
INTERVIEW: The Man In The “Dog Man” Director’s Chair
January 27th, 2025 Jackson Murphy Peter Hastings is a six-time Emmy-winner who’s worked on the DreamWorks Animation Television Epic Tales of Captain Underpants and various Kung Fu Panda spin-offs. Now he’s the director of the studio’s new theatrical Dog Man movie, in theaters this Friday January 31st. Adapted from author Dav Pilkey’s popular books, this is an action and comedy packed adventure about a part-man, part-dog cop who faces-off against a crime-loving cat, with the TV news cameras constantly rolling. (This Animation Scoop Q&A with Hastings was edited for length and clarity.)
Jackson Murphy: Congrats on this. How did it feel capturing the zaniness and that energy from the books and translating that to the screen?
Peter Hastings: It feels great. It also feels great that you think I captured it. I love the books. They’re so much fun to read. And there was so much in them that in the telling of the books that was really important to keep in the movie to do that stuff. So it was actually just really fun. Dav Pilkey is a guy who loves to promote creativity and inspire people. I was definitely inspired working on this.
INTERVIEW: Rebuilding the Star Wars Galaxy … Upside Down!
January 26th, 2025 W.R. Miller Two brothers. One seeks adventure, the other prefers the quiet life. Both are nerf-herders in a galaxy far, far away. And one manages to turn the galaxy upside down.
Meet Sig Greebling. He likes to stay a farmer, regaling the neighborhood kids with the Skywalker saga, while his older brother Dev wants to create his own adventures, traveling the stars with his friend, Yesi Scala. Then Sig and Dev discover a Jedi temple containing a cornerstone which, when removed, changes reality. And so it does. Sig finds himself in a universe where the Good Guys and Bad Guys have switched roles, mashed together from the Trade Federation War to the fight against the First Order. Ewoks are spaceship-flying bounty hunters. Vader, Maul and Palpatine are on the side of the rebels, while Dev has become a Sith Lord, Darth Devastator.
INTERVIEW: An Exploration Of “The Witcher: Sirens Of The Deep”
January 24th, 2025 Jackson Murphy Following the success of 2021’s Nightmare of the Wolf, Netflix will debut another feature-length animated film set in The Witcher universe on Tuesday February 11th. I’ve seen The Witcher: Sirens of the Deep, an action/adventure drama focusing on Geralt, a monster hunter seeking peace in the kingdoms, an understanding of the trouble between humans and mermaids — and also, possibly, love. (This Animation Scoop Interview with director Kang Hei Chul was conducted as an Email Q&A and was edited for length and clarity.)
Jackson Murphy: What excited you about turning this specific story from “The Witcher” universe into an animated feature?
Kang Hei Chul: Coming across this story was like discovering a hidden gem, stepping away from bustling tourist landmarks — like an ancient castle tucked away in the quaint little street that nobody knew existed. “The Witcher: Sirens of the Deep” gave me that sense of unexpected wonder, its fascinating new characters, and the chance to explore a mysterious and uncharted world. One of the greatest strengths of animation is its ability to bring imagination to life without limitations. For this new underwater world, the artists expressed their creativity at full stretch, bringing to life the vibrant look of the deep sea that we’ve envisioned. It was both thrilling and rewarding. Additionally, I was very much interested in weaving the overarching themes of the Witcher franchise — how these extraordinary beings confront and navigate humanity’s selfishness and their journey of self-discovery. I was particularly eager to explore and seamlessly incorporate these themes into our new story. It was a joy translating the existing franchise and discovering new ways to satisfy both longtime fans and newcomers. I hope this new film will serve as yet another gateway to showcasing the diversity and depth of “The Witcher.”
LEGO Collaborates With Netflix On New “ONE PIECE” Collection
January 23rd, 2025 Haylie Baker The LEGO Group, Netflix, and Tomorrow Studios are teaming up to bring fans the very first anime-inspired LEGO collection, featuring playsets based on Netflix’s ONE PIECE adaptation.
Academy Award Nominations 2025
January 23rd, 2025 Jerry Beck The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences today announced that nominations for its 97th Annual Academy Awards. The 5 films are listed below in alphabetical order by title, with their directors:
Best Animated Feature nominees are:
• Flow – Gints Zilbalodis
• Inside Out 2 – Kelsey Mann
• Memoirs Of A Snail – Adam Elliot
• Wallace & Gromit: Vengence Most Fowl – Merlin Crossingham and Nick Park
• The Wild Robot – Chris Sanders
Best Animated Short nominees are:
• Beautiful Men – Nicolas Keppens
• In The Shadow Of the Cypress – Shirin Sohani and Hossein Molayemi
• Magic Candies – Daisuke Nishio
• Wander To Wonder – Nina Gantz
• Yuck! – Loic Espuche
The 97th Oscars will be held on Sunday, March 2nd, 2025, and will be televised live on ABC and in more than 225 countries and territories worldwide.
INTERVIEW: “Endless Cookie” Begins Cinema Journey At Sundance
January 22nd, 2025 Jackson Murphy Seth and Peter Scriver are half-brothers and the directors and subjects of new animated documentary film Endless Cookie, which premieres in-person this Saturday Jan. 25 at the Sundance Film Festival and is available through the online platform during the fest. Seth, who is white, and Peter, who is mixed race (Indigenous and white), share this one-of-a-kind presentation of conversations and stories about their lives and family in Canada. Cookie Scriver (prominently featured in the doc) makes a special appearance in this Animation Scoop Q&A. Endless Cookie, which took nine years to make, is seeking distribution at Sundance. (This interview was edited for length and clarity.)
Jackson Murphy: Congratulations on this movie. It’s unlike anything I’ve seen in a long time and I love it. How does it feel to have your film be at the Sundance Film Festival? You’re about to be there for this big premiere.
Seth Scriver: It feels surreal. I don’t think we’ve really acknowledged it yet. I think we’ll know how it feels when we get there.
INTERVIEW: Discovering “The Colors Within”
January 17th, 2025 Jackson Murphy The Colors Within, in theaters nationwide beginning next Friday January 24th, is from director Naoko Yamada. Three teens — Totsuko, Rui and Kimi — form a band as they figure out the next steps in their lives. Totsuko also has a unique power: sensing people as specific colors. (This Animation Scoop Q&A with Yamada was conducted on Zoom with a translator and was edited for length and clarity. Images: GKIDS)
Jackson Murphy: How did you become interested in this ability to see colors and wanting to explore that in your film?
Naoko Yamada: It’s really vague, but I think the way we sense each other in the world is very different. We all have our own different set of rules that we sense when we talk to people or when we interact with people. So for Totsuko, that in the sense is that’s color. But I wanted to make sure that the audience, when they see the movie, could adapt their own rules on how they sense other people or how they interact with others. And I wanted to incorporate that so the viewers could think about how they interact with others as well.
INTERVIEW: Illuminating “In The Shadow Of The Cypress”
January 13th, 2025 Jackson Murphy In the Shadow of the Cypress, from directors Shirin Sohani and Hossein Molayemi, screened and won at the 2024 Tribeca Film Festival. This LA Shorts, Animayo and Spark Animation winner is also one of the 15 finalists for Best Animated Short Film at the 97th Annual Academy Awards. A father and daughter must work together to figure out how to keep a whale that washed ashore — and their relationship — alive. (This Animation Scoop Interview was conducted as an Email Q&A and was edited for length and clarity.)
Q: How did you want to show the complexities of this father-daughter relationship?
A: Well, you are right. As you said, it is very complicated to make a film about very delicate human relationships. Our story centers around the complicated yet loving relationship between a father struggling with PTSD and his daughter. Developing the story is like brewing a fine tea or herbal infusion – it requires enough time to get shaped gradually; otherwise it wouldn’t reach its full potential. With this in mind, we dedicated significant time to story development. We tried to challenge our own narrative and the characters’ motivations from different perspectives by asking challenging questions. We tried to put ourselves in the characters’ and also the audience’s shoes and observe the story from their points of view. This way, we managed to find delicate flaws and weaknesses within the narrative. In addition to that, we needed some references to cope with the details and the complexities of the relationship between the characters.
