In a fantastical world filled with magic, a Mesoamerican-inspired warrior princess embarks on an epic quest to fulfill an ancient prophecy and save humanity from the vengeful gods of the underworld. So begins Director/Creator Jorge R. Gutiérrez’ Maya and The Three, a new film, an animated avent told in nine chapters premiering Oct. 22nd. Here is the final trailer:
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”, […]
Amazon Prime Video Reveals “Fairfax” Voice Cast and First-Look Images
September 30th, 2021 
Jerry Beck Amazon Prime Video has announced the voice cast of the upcoming adult animated comedy series Fairfax, including Skyler Gisondo, Kiersey Clemons, Peter S. Kim, and Jaboukie Young-White. All eight episodes of Fairfax will premiere on October 29th, exclusively on Prime Video in more than 240 countries and territories worldwide. Prime Video also revealed a suite of first-look images.
INTERVIEW: Disney Short Duo Takes Us “Far From The Tree”
September 30th, 2021 Jackson Murphy Far From the Tree is a new hand-drawn Disney animated short film that will play before Encanto in theaters beginning November 24th. Following a successful debut screening through the Annecy festival earlier this year, director Natalie Nourigat (of Short Circuit entry Exchange Student) and producer Ruth Strother are thrilled to share their sweet raccoon story with families worldwide.
Jackson Murphy: Natalie, I love the storybook look of this short. Tell me about the inspiration for it.
Natalie Nourigat: This was coming right on the heels of Exchange Student, where we got to explore 2D and CG hybrid that allows for that beautiful cartooning and simplified art style that we all love. If you’re a child of the ’80s like me or if you grew-up with Disney films, a lot of people are nostalgic for that 2D cartooning style. With the hybrid style, we’re able to get these complex camera moves [and] more nuanced character acting. And I just wanted to push that further with Far From the Tree. Looking at the themes and the story content compared to Exchange Student (which was pretty humorous and cartoony and light): going into these darker themes, a longer story, the setting of the pacific northwest, the moodiness of it. Looking at watercolors and copic markers and the artwork of Manu Arenas… it just felt like a really nice fit for this world.
Month-Long Scooby-Doo “Scoobtober”, Begins Friday on HBO Max and Cartoon Network
September 29th, 2021 Jerry Beck Cuddle up with your favorite four-legged mystery-solver Scooby-Doo for this year’s inaugural Scoobtober programming event beginning Friday, Oct. 1 on HBO Max and Cartoon Network. The annual Halloween event celebrates the spookiest month of the year with a hair-raising lineup that kicks off with new episodes of Scooby-Doo and Guess Who?, Scooby-Doo movies from the Warner Bros. Home Entertainment library, the Cartoon Network premiere of Scoob! and so much more.
Cher, Sean Astin, Jessica Biel, Terry Bradshaw, Lucy Liu, Jason Sudeikis, and Run DMC are the latest celebrity teamups to join in all-new episodes of Scooby-Doo and Guess Who? when HBO Max’s Scoobtober celebration begins Oct. 1. The latest series from Warner Bros. Animation stars Scooby and the Mystery Inc. crew who join forces with some of the biggest names in pop culture to solve their toughest mysteries yet. Also streaming during Scoobtober on HBO Max are 28 Scooby-Doo movies from Warner Bros. Home Entertainment and the popular library animated series Be Cool, Scooby-Doo!
INTERVIEW: Previewing Disney’s Thanksgiving Feature “Encanto”
September 29th, 2021 Jackson Murphy Walt Disney Animation Studios’ 60th feature film is Encanto, from Oscar winning Zootopia directors Byron Howard & Jared Bush and co-director Charise Castro Smith. Encanto is about a young woman named Mirabel, who’s part of a large, diverse family that lives in a magical house. Each family member has a special gift, except Mirabel. She doesn’t have hers… just yet. After screening 30 minutes of footage, I spoke with Howard, Bush and Smith about the film’s central themes and end-of-year release strategy.
Jackson Murphy: Byron, this movie is about knowing you have a gift. When did you know you had the gift of storytelling?
Byron Howard: Oh my gosh! I question this day, whether I have the gift of storytelling or not. (laughs) People around me also ask me that question. No, I think it’s a learning experience. The good part about my job… I have not stopped learning ever since I started this job. It’s crazy. I have the weirdest job of anyone in my family. And when I tell people what I do, they just look at me and I think they think I’m very lucky to do this. But I’m surrounded by brilliant people I’m learning [with], and the fact that the movies are always so different. This one’s very different from Zootopia and Tangled or anything I’ve ever worked on before. The teams are always different. But the best part is we have these cores of people we love, like Jared and Charise… they’re key relationships you get to follow these movies through. I really do have the best of both worlds, but I’ll keep trying! (laughs)
Jared Bush: Yeah one day! (laughs)
Cereal Killers, Part III: Fifty Years Ago, on Saturday Morning
September 29th, 2021 Michael Lyons As a kid, Saturday mornings were our time. The rest of the week seemed to belong to adults – teachers and parents -who filled our lives with homework and chores. But, Saturday mornings? Oh, they were beautiful! The house was quiet. Clad in our pajamas for much longer than we should be, we would sit cross-legged on the floor, bowl overflowing with sugary cereal, trying to decide which of the many shows to watch this week.
The 1970s was part of a Golden Age of Saturday morning cartoons. So many studios were in the game, and children had so many choices. Fifty years ago, near the start of this decade, the three major networks were fully invested in Saturday morning cartoons, and the programming was an essential part of their fall line-up.
In this last part of a three-part article, we take a trip back in time fifty years ago to “throwback” to the cartoons that debuted that season. We had just come out of a summer in which Willie Wonka and the Chocolate Factory had debuted in theaters, and All in the Family was changing prime time TV. While all of that was happening, here are the cartoons that premiered in September of 1971.
INTERVIEW: Conrad Vernon On Making “The Addams Family 2” in 2 Years
September 28th, 2021 Jackson Murphy A sequel to MGM’s 2019 CG Addams Family movie was announced just four days after it opened. Director Conrad Vernon and his team got right to work on creating a new story for the creepy and kooky gang. This time, they’re on a vacation, but it’s not all fun as the Addams face a major family revelation. Vernon discusses the pressures of The Addams Family 2 (which is in theaters and on VOD this weekend) and the film’s unexpected marketing partner.
Jackson Murphy: How did you make an animated movie in less than two years?
Conrad Vernon: Oh my God… it wasn’t easy. We needed to get going right away. When it was announced that we were doing a sequel, I think the date that it was coming out was also announced, and we didn’t have a script yet. We were definitely hard-pressed to get this thing going as fast as possible. I hand it to Cinesite not only to figure out how to get an animated film done in two years but how to get it done during COVID. It was pretty phenomenal work to get this thing up on its feet and running. When we finally finished the last frame of this movie, we had three hours left before our actual deadline. We got it in, literally, right under the wire. I don’t recommend ANYONE do what we just did because it was a stroke of luck. (laughs)
INTERVIEW: Spooktacular Talk With “The Ghost And Molly McGee” Team
September 27th, 2021 Jackson Murphy Disney’s newest hand-drawn animated series The Ghost and Molly McGee premieres this Friday October 1st at 9:40pm on Disney Channel. New episodes air Saturdays at 9am. It’s about a girl named Molly who moves with her family to a new neighborhood and into a haunted house. But she isn’t scared by the ghost inside (named Scratch)… they quickly become friends! Creators Bill Motz & Bob Roth and EP Steve Loter join me to discuss the show… and one of them also reveals a heck of a (toy) story.
Jackson Murphy: Bill, the great news even before we get into Season 1 is that you’re already renewed for Season 2! How does that feel?
Bill Motz: That feels amazing. What a vode of confidence. We love this show. We love making this show. We have a lot of stories we want to tell, so it’s a thrill to be able to continue telling the story of Molly and Scratch.
“Teenage Euthanasia” premieres on Adult Swim Sept. 19
September 25th, 2021 Neal Patten Adult Swim’s newest half-hour animated comedy, Teenage Euthanasia, is about a family that lives in a funeral home, director Alyson Levy told Animation Scoop.
It’s also about an orphan who at age 15 finally gets to meet her mother for the first time, writer Alissa Nutting added. “She doesn’t get her mother back because her mother did something good morally or went through an Ebenezer Scrooge or “It’s A Wonderful Life” type epiphany – her mother is still someone who made all the poor choices that defined her life – but they are suddenly together,” Nutting said.
“Animation Is Film” Festival Announces It’s 2021 Slate
September 24th, 2021 Jerry Beck ANIMATION IS FILM (AIF) announced today the competition line-up and other special events for its fourth edition, which takes place in-person October 22-24 and returns to its home at the TCL Chinese 6 Theatres in Hollywood. The festival kicks off Opening Night on Friday, October 22 with the North American premiere of the highly anticipated Netflix feature, The Summit Of The Gods, followed by an in-person Q&A with award-winning director Patrick Imbert (The Big Bad Fox and Other Tales). On Saturday, October 23, the Centerpiece film features the West Coast Premiere of GKIDS’ Belle, directed by Oscar nominee Mamoru Hosoda (Mirai) who will also do an in-person Q & A following the premiere. The West Coast Premiere of NEON’s award-winning Flee, directed by Jonas Poher Rasmussen, will close the festival Sunday, October 24. Tickets for ANIMATION IS FILM are now on sale at animationisfilm.com.
Cereal Killers, Part II: Forty Years Ago, on Saturday Morning
September 22nd, 2021 Michael Lyons Saturday mornings were a hallowed place for kids. For four to five hours, we had a respite from the weekly “grind” that the school week seemed to be. And, while our parents would dare to sleep in and we would avoid having to mow the lawn, we could pour ourselves a bowl of sugar that disguised itself as cereal and settle down in front of the TV. There, cartoon characters who had become like friends that would stop by each week, would return for a visit. Saturday morning cartoons were once a popular segment of television programming unto itself.
As we began a new decade of the eighties, these cartoons continued strongly after several decades of immense popularity. Now, in part two of a three-part article, here is a trip back in time forty years ago to “throwback” to the cartoons that debuted that season.
Paramount+ Renews “Rugrats” For Second Season
September 21st, 2021 Jerry Beck Paramount+, the streaming service from ViacomCBS, today announced the renewal of the original series RUGRATS for a second season (13 episodes) in the U.S., Latin America, Australia and Canada, with more adventures from the colorful imaginations of Tommy, Chuckie, Angelica, Susie, Phil and Lil. The all-new RUGRATS first premiered on Paramount+ in May and the next eight episodes of season one will be available to stream exclusively on the service beginning Thursday, Oct. 7th.
INTERVIEW: “The Croods” Franchise Branches Out With CG Series “Family Tree”
September 21st, 2021 Jackson Murphy Before Universal released DreamWorks Animation sequel The Croods: A New Age in theaters last year (to a respectable $216 million worldwide), DWA was already looking to continue the adventures of The Croods and their new family companions, The Bettermans. Spinoff series The Croods: Family Tree debuts this Thursday September 23rd on Hulu and Peacock. Executive Producers Mark Banker and Todd Grimes describe the key story, animation and voice acting decisions they made together.
Jackson Murphy: Mark, when did you find out that DreamWorks wanted to take The Croods: A New Age movie and turn it into a spinoff series?
Mark Banker: I got a call sometime in late 2019. A New Age was in production. I got a call from Peter Gal [Chief Creative Officer at DreamWorks Animation Television], who asked me if I might be interested in seeing an early cut of the movie and talking about doing a new Croods series. Went to the DreamWorks campus and saw an animatic cut of the movie. It was in great shape. Very funny. I loved the first movie, so it was an easy “Yes”. The next week I came-in and pitched what I’d do with the series and probably a month later I was writing the Pilot.
INTERVIEW: The Magic Of “My Little Pony: A New Generation”
September 20th, 2021 Jackson Murphy The next chapter of a popular franchise begins. CG feature My Little Pony: A New Generation debuts this Friday September 24th on Netflix. Co-director Mark Fattibene and production designer Pablo Mayer discuss making this pretty (and pretty fun) film.
Jackson Murphy: My Little Pony is so beloved and has been for such a long time. And what you do with this movie is you take-on a lot of themes, messages, characters and story development that I’m really impressed with. Mark, what were your overall goals going into this new film?
Mark Fattibene: It’s always to… reference the past but also make it current. Make sure that the story resonates with the current day. That was probably our biggest challenge: push things as far as we could, make sure it was relatable but still fun and didn’t lose any of the essence of My Little Pony.
Cereal Killers, Part I: Thirty Years Ago, on Saturday Morning
September 17th, 2021 Michael Lyons Ah, back-to-school time. That time of year when, for many kids, the dreamy summer gives way to the dreaded return of days filled with spiral notebooks and nights filled with hair-pulling homework.
For several generations, there was relief for this experience that upended so many kids’ lives. That was because the new school year also meant the start of the new Saturday Morning TV Season. With this came the excitement and hope of the brand-new cartoon shows we had been teased with all summer.
This first of a three-part article takes a nostalgic trip back thirty years to the Saturday Morning Cartoons that debuted in September of 1991. At that time, thanks to VHS, Saturday Morning television would soon struggle to keep a foothold and would slowly phase out throughout the next ten to fifteen years.
