At Blue Sky Studios, Carlos Saldanha co-directed Ice Age and Robots and was main director on the second and third Ice Age films, as well as both Rio installments and Ferdinand, which earned him an Academy Award nomination for Best Animated Feature. Now Saldanha is the director of a live-action family film featuring some hand-drawn and CG animation. Harold and the Purple Crayon, adapted from the beloved book, opens in theaters nationwide on August 2nd. (This Animation Scoop Q&A with Saldanha was edited for length and clarity.) Jackson Murphy: I enjoyed this. I know it’s been in the works f ..read more

ASIFA-Hollywood today announced its Call for Entries for the 52nd Annie Awards set for Saturday, February 8, 2025 at UCLA’s Royce Hall. Honoring excellence in the field of animation, the 52nd Annie Awards cover 37 categories including Animated Feature, Animated Feature-Independent, TV/Media Production, Sponsored Production, Short Subject, and Student Films, along with Achievement and Honorary awards. To review this year’s rules and submit your projects, please visit https://www.annieawards.org. Entries submitted for consideration will be from animated productions that were released in the Uni ..read more

Natasha Kline is the talented creator of the new Disney animated series Primos, which is inspired by her childhood growing up in Los Angeles. Tater, who’s about to turn 10, has a memorable summer at home with her 12 cousins. Primos premieres this Thursday July 25th at 8pm on Disney Channel and Friday July 26th on Disney+. (This interview was edited for length and clarity.) Jackson Murphy: This is your passion project. This is inspired by your true life story. How does it feel at this point to get your show, your passion project, on the air? Natasha Kline: Oh my gosh, it’s been really surreal ..read more

MeTV Toons is set to make its San Diego Comic-Con debut on Friday, July 26th, 2024. Bob Bergen, the celebrated animation voice actor and the official voice of MeTV Toons, will be joined by animation historian Jerry Beck, 2x Emmy-Award winning voice actor Eric Bauza, plus renowned voice actors Jeff Bergman and Candi Milo, and Weigel Broadcasting’s Vice Chairman Neal Sabin in a lively conversation, moderated Variety’s Michael Schneider. The panel will explore, discuss and celebrate some of the greatest classic animation series and characters, now featured on their new TV home, MeTV Toons, which ..read more

With the narrative portion of The Dragon Prince drawing to a close, Aaron Ehasz and Justin Richmond reflect on their achievement. After all, it’s rare for a made-for-streaming series to last seven seasons, with untapped potential for more. What are the odds of that happening, and how did the Wonderstorm producers beat those odds? “In the days of network TV, something got put on for a couple of seasons, and if it did well and caught fire, they gave it more and more seasons—seven, eight or nine seasons. Those days are gone,” Ehasz says. “In the modern mediascape, most series are going to be for ..read more

“A Whole New Sound” is an upcoming album from Mickey & Friends that will feature covers of beloved Disney classics. Some iconic alternative, rock, and pop-punk bands have contributed their work to the project. In honor of The Lion King having its 30th anniversary, Disney released the first single from the album: Simple Plan’s rendition of “Can You Feel The Love Tonight.” Simple Plan mentioned “we wanted to pay homage to Sir Elton John’s original version while also adding our own style to it and making it sound fun and energetic. We’re really stoked by how it turned out and we hope every ..read more

When all of Bikini Bottom is suddenly scooped out of the sea, Sandy Cheeks and her best friend SpongeBob SquarePants embark on a mission to Texas to save the town and its inhabitants from a terrible scheme. Sue Nahmee (played by Wanda Sykes) is leading this villainous plot and wants those living in Bikini Bottom turned into “Sea Pals”: a line of manufactured toys. The only ones who can save the day are Sandy and SpongeBob. With Liza Johnson as the director, “Saving Bikini Bottom: The Sandy Cheeks Movie” will be the first installment of two films coming to Netflix from the SpongeBob SquarePant ..read more

Phenomenon card game Exploding Kittens is now an adult animated comedy series, premiering this Friday July 12th on Netflix. This Animation Scoop Q&A is with showrunners and creators Matthew Inman and Shane Kosakowski. (The interview was edited for length and clarity.) Jackson Murphy: Matt, you co-created the card game and now, about a decade later, it’s a television show. You have had quite the decade. Matthew Inman: I’ve been a cartoonist for a long time and I always assumed that my comics and books would have become a show rather than a card game because it’s such not a path. Typically ..read more

The 12th Season of Futurama will premiere on Hulu on Monday, July 29th. Here’s the trailer: Following the critical acclaim and praise for Hulu’s revival of “Futurama”, Matt Groening and David X. Cohen’s exciting sci-fi series makes its return with 10 new episodes. This time around, the sometimes heroic ensemble takes on some astounding adventures, such as birthday party games to the death, the truths of Bender’s ancestral robot roots, A.I. friends (and enemies), seriously adorable beanbags, and the real 5 million-year-old legend of the mind-bending substance called coffee. The season will al ..read more

As athletes prepare for the Paris Olympics, the Japanese men’s volleyball team is enjoying an unprecedented popularity, thanks in part to an animated feature. One of the big hits of 2024, Haikyu!! The Dumpster Battle (produced by Production I.G. and airing on Crunchyroll) has helped fuel a surge in interest in volleyball in Japan. Volleyball has long been popular in Japan, but people there are watching and playing in increasing numbers, from high school kids to housewives. Numerous articles about the trend have appeared in the Japanese press. Haikyu!!, Haruichi Furudate’s manga about high sc ..read more