Frozen, The Wind Rises, Monsters U and 16 More Submitted for Oscar Consideration

AMPAS have announced the 19 animated film that are in contention for a nomination for Best Animated Feature at the upcoming 86th Academy Awards. Among the contenders are the likely big-name frontrunners: Disney's upcoming Frozen, Miyazaki's final film, The Wind Rises, and Pixar's latest, Monsters University; there are also smaller scale films, like French animated pic, Ernest & Celestine (which won the Best Animated Film gong at the César Awards, the French equivalent to the Oscars, back in February). Check out the full list of films submitted for consideration below, complete with their Rotten Tomatoes score (current at the time of writing), where there is one.

Watch: New Cloudy 2 Clip Introduces Barry the Berry

Sony's Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs ended up being one of the best surprises of 2009, and the sequel looks set to be just as fun! The animation looks fun, the visuals look gorgeous and the film just generally - as seen in this new clip - looks very fun.

Fun New Cloudy 2 Clip Gets the Gang Back Together

SPA's Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs 2 is certainly looking set to be one of the most fun films of the year. The first film was a great film - frenetic, energetic and funny - and the second, now directed by Cody Cameron and Kris Pearn, going off the trailers and this latest clip, looks to continue that.

This Week on A113Animation (19th - 25th August, 2013)

Again a rather a quiet week, but with some really interesting gems of animation news tucked in there. We've heard a lot of exciting details about two upcoming Disney films that the studio hasn't even announced yet; one of Hayao Miyazaki's earliest films might be about to get a sequel; we've got yet more Marvel rumours (as well as a channel for the UK broadcast of Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.); posters, subtitles and your latest features! Check out below all that you may have missed this week on A113Animation.

Six New Cloudy 2 Character Posters Show-Off Foodimals and Puns

Sony's Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs 2 hits cinemas next month (27th in the US; 25th October in the UK though), so the studio has just rolled out six new character posters to help get you hyped for the succulent sequel.

As we've come to expect from the advertising for Cloudy 2, the posters are heavy on two things: the food-animal hybrids, called Foodimals, and cheesy puns. The first poster features Bill Hader's inventor extraordinaire, Flint Lockwood, and his pet monkey (who's actually voiced by Neil Patrick Harris). Check out the other five below.

New Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs 2 Trailer is Filled to the Brim with Puns

It's been a heck of a day for animation fans: we've already got new trailers for Turbo, The BoxTrolls and even a Japanese one for Frozen; now Yahoo! Movie Trailers is here to provide us with yet another, for Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs 2!

This Week on A113Animation (24th - 30th June, 2013)

While news wasn't particularly heavy this week, we did have a lot of cool blog content for you. As well as the 24th week of Munir's Disney Retrospective, we had the 2nd week of Damien's final Futurama countdown; Mayra reviewed My Neighbor Totoro on Blu-ray; I posted an list of 5 animated sequels that should get made; not to mention that episode 2 of the A113Animation Podcast finally came online. That, in addition to a trailer, some clips and featurettes, more release date news and some good ole Pixar stuff, mean this was still a pretty fun week here on A113Animation.

New Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs 2 Featurette Introduces Foodimals

A new featurette (via USA Today) for Sony Pictures Animation's Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs 2 introduces us to some of the many punnily-named food-animals - or, foodimals - that populate the succulent sequel.

Terry Crews Brings Us An Excited Peek at Cloudy 2

The always entertaining Terry Crews will have the unenviable task of filling Mr. T's shoes when he replaces him in voicing Officer Earl in Sony Pictures Animation's September release, Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs 2. So, the White Chicks and Expendables star today brings us a nature documentary-meets-Jurassic Park style clip, as he narrates a sighting of the elusive 'sasquash'. The clip features gorgeous animation, a healthy dose of quirky humour and a whole lot of food puns - check it out above.

Directed by Cody Cameron and Kris Pearn, and executive produced by the directors of the original (who are currently directing The Lego Movie for Warner Bros.), Phil Lord and Chris Miller, Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs 2 hits cinemas on 27th September (US)/25th October (UK).

Watch: New Trailers for Cloudy 2 and Planes

Yesterday was a big poster day, today is a big trailer day. Sony have just rolled out the first trailer for Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs 2 on Yahoo! Movies, and it's good. Cloudy 2 clearly retains the visual inventiveness and quirky humour of the first film, and if you like food-related puns, you're in for a treat.

Appetising New Poster for Cloudy 2

Ahead of the big trailer reveal tomorrow, Sony Pictures Animation have rolled out a vibrant, packed poster for their upcoming sequel, Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs 2. The film's previous subtitle was Revenge of the Leftovers and you can get a sense of exactly what that's going to entail from this cool poster - which isn't entirely dissimilar in its approach to Pixar's new Monsters University one.

Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs 2 hits US cinemas on 27th September, and UK ones on 25th October.

Via Yahoo! Movies.

Cloudy 2 Trailer Arrives on 27th

Sony Pictures Animation had commercial success last year with the Genndy Tartakovsky-directed Hotel Transylvania, they're surely hoping to replicate that this year, which will see them release two new films: The Smurfs 2 on 31st July and Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs 2 later (27th September, US/25th October, UK). The less said about the former the better, but Cloudy 2 has the potential to be a lot of fun, and we'll get our first practical glimpse at it on the 27th of this month!

SPA tweeted the above picture yesterday, promising a the first trailer for the sequel in five days - that has now ticked down to four. I wasn't a huge fan of Hotel Transylvania last year - the animation was magnificent though - but I am a huge fan of the first Cloudy film and am eagerly anticipating the second! We got our first look at concept art from the film last month.

Cloudy 2 sees the return of much of its original voice cast, including Bill Hader, Anna Faris and Neil Patrick Harris; Kristen Schaal and Terry Crews have joined the cast, with the latter replacing Mr. T as Officer Earl. Directing is being done by Cody Cameron and Kris Pearn.

We'll post the trailer as soon as it's up.

First Look: Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs 2

Last year, Sony Pictures Animation had a hit with monster mash-up film Hotel Transylvania, starring the voices of Adam Sandler and Selena Gomez and directed by Genndy Tartakovsky (Dexter's Lab), which made over $300 million worldwide. The critics didn't all love it though (check out our review here) and indeed SPA's best film to date still remains 2009's Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs. As such, I'm very excited to check out the sequel when it hits cinemas in September!

DISCUSS: What's Your Most Anticipated Animated Film of 2013?

2012 has passed and Awards season is upon us, so we'll soon know what the critical successes of 2012 were (in terms of box-office successes, I'll refer you to someone much more knowledgeable about that than I - though what I can easily judge, is that 2012 was not a good year for stop-motion). So, now we look to the future - or, more accurately, the present - and our inner film-savant surfaces as we offer our predictions on what will be big in 2013.

Cloudy 2 Gets a New Release Date

A few days ago, Disney dated their upcoming slate, announcing several new projects, and new dates for existing ones - including Saving Mr. Banks - and, yesterday, Sony dated one of their highly anticipated projects too.

Cloudy 2: Revenger of the Leftovers, Sony Pictures Animation's sequel to 2009's successful Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs, is now due on 27th September, 2013, says Box Office Mojo. This is up several months from its previously planned 7th February, 2014 release date - and this new date puts it at almost exactly the same date that Hotel Transylvania opened at so successfully this year. UPDATE: 22:33 (GMT) - Kyle (Ostrumation92) commented that the subtitle has been dropped, and that the film is now just called Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs 2, which does fit with the Box Office Mojo listing.

Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs was a hell of a let of fun, and its quirky comedy and lively charm made it one of 2009's best animated films, so Cloudy 2 is hotly anticipated here at A113Animation! Check out some plot details for the film over at Entertainment Weekly.

In the meantime, SPA's latest, Hotel Transylvania, is in cinemas; check out our interview with production designer Marcelo Vignali here!

Turbo, Rio 2, Cloudy 2 and More At the Licensing Expo

Yesterday we posted the first look at Blue Sky Studios' upcoming animated feature, Epic, out of this year's Licensing Expo, however it seems we overlooked lots of others. /Film and comingsoon.net bring us some other great first looks, posters and promotional material for upcoming animated films.

Firstly, (top) we have our first look at DreamWorks' Turbo, which follows "an ordinary garden snail who dreams of becoming the fastest snail in the world". While I was greatly looking forward to this film, I'm somewhat more cautious now. The animation is very bright and vibrant, and it looks like a lot of fun; but it also looks very goofy, and the main character is dangerously close to pulling the "DreamWorks face" (see above). I also found a recently released poster for the film (top), which does nothing to allay my fears.

We also get posters for a lot of sequels. Including Blue Sky's Rio 2 (above), Sony's Cloudy 2: Revenge of the Leftovers (above) and The Smurfs 2 (below) and Illumination Entertainment's Despicable Me 2 (below - we actually got a large display for this one). All of what we see for these films, though, gives us nothing new; it merely displays a '2' and the characters from the original - I suppose Cloudy 2 gives us a subtitle...

I loved Rio and Despicable Me - they were both phenomenal - but, at this point, I'm not really that excited to see sequels. I'm sure they'll be handled well, but I'm going to need some more details before I invest in the projects. I haven't seen, and don't particularly want to see, The Smurfs and have zero interest in a sequel. However, the one I'm particularly excited for is Cloudy 2. Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs was a surprise hit, it was a lot, lot better than the advertising led us to think it would be - and Sony Pictures Animation will presumably handle a sequel well.

And finally, we get another poster (above) for Sony's impending release, Hotel Transylvania.

Turbo is released on 19th July, 2013 (US) and 18th October, 2013 (UK); Rio 2 will premiere in Brazil on 28th March and on 4th April, 2014 worldwide; Cloudy 2 is due for release on 14th February, 2014; Despicable Me 2 is due on 28th June, 2013 (UK) and 3rd July (US); The Smurfs 2 will be in cinemas on 31st July 2013; finally, Hotel Transylvania is out much sooner, on 28th September (US) and 12th October (UK), of this year.

All release dates are via IMDb and are correct at the time of publishing.