Watch: The First Teaser for Tomm Moore's 'Wolfwalkers'

Tomm Moore, the man behind the wonderful The Secret of Kells and Song of the Sea will be back soon with a new feature film called Wolfwalkers. And a first teaser for it just popped on Cartoon Creek's Facebook page. See the short video below.

[UPDATED] Watch: A New Spanish Trailer for 'The Good Dinosaur' (with English Voices)

The Good Dinosaur's official Facebook page unveiled a new international trailer; and while the written text  and narration are in Spanish, the voices are those of the English-speaking cast. Watch the one-minute video below.

Vin Diesel Continues to Hint Involvement with Marvel

Vin Diesel is at it again! The Fast and Furious star posted another photo on his Facebook page which has caused speculation with his involvement with future Marvel films...particularly Guardians of the Galaxy.

Lay Your Eye on This: New Monsters University Still

A new still from Pixar's summer release, Monsters University, was rolled out onto the film's Facebook page today, with the caption "Mike and Sulley didn't always see eyes to eye," showing the scaring duo's formerly adversarial relationship at its height. The lighting and staging are immaculate, as is the use of colour - Chronicle Books' The Art of Monsters University will surely be fantastic!

Monsters University is directed by Dan Scanlon (Mater and the Ghostlight), produced by Kori Rae (Tokyo Mater) and returns the voices of John Goodman and Billy Crystal to the lead roles. Pixar's first prequel releases in the US on 21st June, and in the UK on 12th July.

[UPDATED: Now Closed] 3rd Annual A113Animation Awards: Competition and Poll

It's awards season, folks. As such, the 3rd Annual A113Animation Awards are fast approaching! Delayed from their usual December slot to allow me to check out Disney's much lauded latest film, (and one I'm extremely excited to finally see) Wreck-It Ralph, the awards are now taking place on 15th February, with nominees to be announced on 9th February.

However, here at A113Animation, we love hearing your say on things, as such we're giving you two chances to voice your thoughts on what the best animated feature film of 2012 was! A poll will appear very shortly on the right-hand side of the blog, collecting votes to decided what "The People's Favourite Animated Film" of 2012 was (that'll run for the next few weeks).

In addition though, we're running our 3rd competition! I'm afraid the prize isn't quite as glamorous as our last one was, but you do get to judge this year's "Second Opinion Award", meaning you get your name up on the blog, alongside your pick for the best animated film of 2012. To enter, as the picture above details, you can do one of three things: Tweet (@A113Animation), Facebook (facebook.com/a113animation) and/or email (contact@a113animation.com) us, saying what your favourite animated film of 2012 was (with or without an explanation) by the end of this month. You can do all three, each one counts as one entry; the winner will be announced and contacted shortly thereafter.

Sorry for the lack of glamorous prizes for this one (there'll be one of those in the near future hopefully!), but please get involved and enter. Best of luck - and remember to vote in the poll when it's up too.

UPDATE - 22:25 (GMT), 01/02/2013: The competition is now closed, the winner was Twitter user, and loyal A113Animation reader and commenter, @BenBoekelaar and he'll now get the chance to judge the "Second Opinion Award" later this month.

Congrats to Benjamin, commiserations to those who weren't successful this time, and thanks to the many who entered - we hope to have a few more competitions in the foreseeable future!

Frankenweenie IMAX Poster and 6 New Clips!

As Tim Burton and Disney's Frankenweenie's October release date draws ever closer, we're getting more and more wonderful new videos, images and information! Today, we get six brand new clips from the film, a few featurettes, interviews with the film-makers and a great new IMAX poster!

The "12:01 IMAX Poster" features an original Tim Burton sketch of Sparky, and these awesome rare posters will be given to people who attend a midinght IMAX screening of the film. Check out the clips and other videos after the jump break!

Best of The Last Ten Years A113Animation Awards Longlist

A few weeks ago, we announced our special A113Animation Awards. This time, we're honouring the "Best Animated Film of the Last Ten Years (2001 - 2011)" (well, actually, that's eleven years... but still), and giving you a say! Since we announced the competition, we've had a poll up on our official Facebook page, to cast your vote in the first round, making sure your favourites go through to the next round! The rules were that any film that receives a vote will progress to the longlist, with the two highest voted films going straight through to the final shortlist nominees. The other films will be subject to more rounds of voting. We also counted votes we received on Twitter. The final tally for the "A113Animation Award for People's Favourite Animated Film of the Last Ten Years" can be viewed after the jump break. And the longlist for A113Animation's choices follows after.

Announcing the Best of The Last Ten Years A113Animation Awards

Here at A113Animation, we love animated films (just in case you didn't know). We suspect you do too. For the past two years, we've had our own A113Animation Awards, rewarding the best animated films of the year - we'll continue this in December with our 3rd Annual A113Animation Awards.

However, this year, we're also running the "Best of the Last Ten Years" A113Animation Awards! Honouring the best animated films from the start of 2001 to the end of 2011. I'll be conducting my own "Best Animated Film of the Last Ten Years" award, choosing between 1 and 3 films from each year (depending on the strength of the year) and whittling them down over time, to get the final short-list of nominees. You can expect to see the first list of nominees in the next few days.

But we also want YOUR say! There will be a "People's Choice Award for the Best Animated Film of the Last ten Years" too! with the nominees coming from you! Over at our official Facebook page, you'll find a poll, asking you to vote for what you think the best animated film of the past ten years has been. There's some films up in the options already, and voting has begun, but you can add your own options (providing they are from the last ten years) and vote for whatever you deem fit! Every vote counts though, and if you want to vote via Twitter (mention us, @A113Animation, and use the hashtag, #A113TenYears) or email (contact@a113animation.com). The votes will be counted as the weeks progress, and in a few weeks time, there'll be rounds of voting, here on the blog and on Facebook. We will then get it down to a list of ten, and you can vote for your favourites and have your say.

The winners of the two awards will be unveiled sometime in the near future (precise time-frame to come later) and be sure to keep your eyes here, on A113Animation, for the latest updated on the Awards.

In the meantime, have your voice heard! And please vote in the poll (here) now, we want to make this as interactive as possible!

First Look at DreamWorks' Me and My Shadow

We heard briefly about this from DreamWorks' Comic-Con panel, and today the official DreamWorks Facebook page gives us the first poster from DreamWorks' upcoming CGI/hand-drawn hybrid, Me and My Shadow. The film, in the words of DreamWorks CCO Bill Damaschke is about:

"what would happen if your shadow, that has been following you around and basically just follows what you do your whole life, just stood up and took over."

Whilst the majority of the film will be animated in the normal DreamWorks mould, using CGI, the shadows of the film will be traditionally animated. This promises a great visual style and will surely make Shadow one of DreamWorks' most striking films!

The official plot synopsis for the film, due Spring 2014, is:

Me & My Shadow reveals the once secret world of shadows and their human counterparts. Stan, our hero’s shadow, yearns for a more exciting life but happens to be stuck with Stanley Grubb, a timid guy with an extreme aversion to adventure. When a crime in the shadow world puts both of their lives in danger, Stan is forced to take control of Stanley. They go on a madcap adventure to investigate the crime and stop the shadow villain from leading a rebellion where shadows take over the human world. During this adventure, Stan empowers Stanley to let go of his fears and embrace life. Through their adventure, they both learn that one cannot be whole without a true friend.

Be sure to like the Me and My Shadow Facebook page for updates about the film.

In related news, DreamWorks just acquired Classic Media, home of Casper and He-Man for $155 million! Read more here.

Monsters University Teaser Trailer Due Wednesday

Brave isn't quite out yet, but Pixar are gearing up to advertise their next release, the Monsters, Inc. prequel, Monsters University. The official Facebook page for Monsters U  yesterday shared the above simplistic image, with the accompanying text:

"You’re about to discover a bit more about Mike and Sulley’s days at Monsters University."

With Brave opening stateside on the 22nd, this seems to point to the upcoming reveal of the Monsters University teaser trailer! That's 4 days now, which places the teaser reveal on this coming Wednesday. The trailer, which apparently follows Mike and Sulley trying to prank each other, will be attached to Brave and La Luna in cinemas, and we'll post it here when it arrives online on Wednesday - so be sure to visit this blog then!

The trailer was screened to CinemaCon audiences this year, and is said to be hilarious, and with characters like Mike and Sulley back on screen for the first time in 12 years, it's easy to imagine why!

Brave opens in the US on 22nd June (and 13th August here in the UK) and Monsters University, directed by Dan Scanlon (Mater and the Ghostlight) opens just under a year later, on 21st June, 2013 (12th July, 2013 here in the UK).

UPDATE:

You can now view, not one, not two, not even three, but four - count 'em, FOUR - teaser trailers for Monsters U here, along with a couple of pieces of concept art.

Rise of the Guardians Posters

DreamWorks' official Facebook page just uploaded five new character posters featuring the main cast of characters from their upcoming adaptation of William Joyce's The Guardians of Childhood books, Rise of the Guardians.

The posters showcase the bad-ass character designs for the Easterbunny, now called Bunnymund, (Hugh Jackman, top), Jack Frost (Chris Pine, above-left), the Tooth Fairy, now called Tooth, (Isla Fisher, above-right) and Santa Claus himself, now simply called North (Alec Baldwin, below). We also get a poster for the villainous Pitch, the Boogeyman, (Jude Law, bottom) who is scorned and angry after having to "to endure generations of parents telling their children not to fear or believe in him, while the Guardians are beloved by all."

There's also some character descriptions for the revamped and re-imagined childhood characters, head here and click on the individual posters to read them.

I think I'm going to grab the Bunnymund or North one for my iPod background; Rise of the Guardians looks utterly fantastic and will surely be a huge hit for DreamWorks.

Remember to visit the Rise of the Guardians Facebook page to keep an eye out for future updates.

Rise of the Guardians is due for release on 21st November in the US and just over a week later on the 30th here in the UK.

Update

Whoops, my bad, I overlooked the final character poster, the awesome and visceral Sandman (no voice actor announced yet) poster (below).

The Cast and Crew of Brave Visit Edinburgh

The team behind Brave at a press junket for the film in Edinburgh. (Left - Right) Tia Kratter (Shading Art Director), Kevin McKidd (voice of Lord MacGuffin), Kelly Macdonald (voice of Merida), Mark Andrews (director), Katherine Sarafian (producer), and John Lasseter (executive producer).

The cast and crew of Pixar's thirteenth feature film Brave have been over here in the UK for the past couple of days, specifically, in Edinburgh, the capital of the land in which Brave is set, Scotland. Whilst here, the voice cast of the latest film from the studio that brought you Toy Story (as well as posing for some pictures, which you can see on Pixar's Facebook page) spoke  to Scottish newspaper, The Daily Record, about their favourite Disney memories growing up, and how the more recent Pixar films compare to that.

(Left - Right) Robbie Coltrane (Lord Dingwall), John Lasseter (Pixar and Disney Animation Chief Creative Officer), Katherine Sarafian (producer), Mark Andrews (director), Kelly Macdonald (Merida) and Kevin McKidd (Lord MacGuffin) pose in front of the iconic Edinburgh landscape.

Robbie Coltrane (Lord Dingwall) talks of his love of Disney's Dumbo, saying of its ambitious circus scenes “I remember thinking, ‘Someone did that with a pencil’.” While Kelly Macdonald, who lends her voice to Brave's leading lady, Merida, talks about how Pixar is today, what Disney was then, saying “It is more the Pixar films that  [Macdonald's son] Freddie likes, things like Toy Story.”

Kevin McKidd (Lord MacGuffin) also said, of the film:

“It is a love letter to Scotland. It really conjures up the feel of the country – the wind is blowing, the sea is flowing and everything is covered in ferns or moss and always in motion. It is a very textured landscape and you see this in the movie. Everything looks so real and vibrant.”

Also, you've got to admire John Lasseter for going the whole-hog with the Scottish trip, it takes a brave man (pun intended) to wear a kilt in this weather.

Check out the full article at The Daily Record, and the rest of the pictures from the press junket on the official Pixar Facebook page.

Brave is released in cinemas in just over two weeks, on 22nd June, in America, whereas us poor UK fans will have to wait until 13th August.

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Oh, and please remember to vote in our poll to the right, to say what your favourite Aardman film is!

Madagascar 3 Interactive Promo and First Reviews

You can say what you like about DreamWorks, but they sure as hell know how to promote a movie. The above video will start for you an extended interactive look at DreamWorks' latest feature film, Madagascar 3.

The third film in the Madagascar franchise, subtitled Europe's Most Wanted, has been advertised pretty heavily as of late, and the above video comes via DreamWorks' official Facebook page. The video shows Skipper and his crack team of penguins inviting you to join in on the interactive experience, titled 'Furry vs. The Fuzz'. Once you've clicked on the link, you'll be taken to an interactive clip from Madagascar 3, which allows you to click and make choices to direct the popular animal group through the early stages of the film.

It's a brilliant idea for an advertising strategy which is very fun to play through and got me much more excited about the film than I was recently. However, be wary, it does contain a lot of footage that can easily be considered spoiler worthy.

It also features the newly released, and guiltily hilarious, 'Afro Circus' clip. The first reviews are also surfacing from the film's 18th May Cannes Film Festival premiere, and they seem rather promising, with (from an admittedly small number of reviews) a Rotten Tomatoes score of 80%. Consensus seems somewhat devided though, with Variety's Justin Chang saying "This is the rare animated property that has consistently improved on its ho-hum origins,", whereas THR's Todd McCarthy takes a markedly different stance, saying that "it’s dominated by the characters shouting over one another, repetitively reacting with alarm to anything that happens and overcompensating for largely unfunny material by overacting by about 300 percent.". Wait until more reviews surface I guess.

Madagascar 3: Europe's Most Wanted is released in the US on 8th June, and here in the UK on 19th October.

New Brave Stills and Concept Art

Courtesy of Cine Marcado.

MTV yesterday debuted a brand new still from Pixar's Brave, while Disney Brazil (via Cine Marcado) bring us another three, showcasing a wide variety of scenes we've yet to see, including a renewed focus on the ominous bear that occupied part of the film's previous title (The Bear and the Bow) as well as Merida's mischievous young triplet brothers.

Courtesy of MTV.

Courtesy of Cine Marcado.

Courtesy of Cine Marcado.

We were also treated to a lively storyboard sketch (below) from Brave's production via Pixar's official Facebook page.

Wreck-It Ralph Teaser Poster

After giving us our first look at concept art from Wreck-It Ralph a couple of months ago, today Disney have revealed the teaser poster for their 51st animated film.

The quite minimalistic poster (above) comes courtesy of the film's official Facebook page and sports an 8-bit design - reinforcing the film's retro game theme. Hopefully we'll see a teaser trailer for the film in the very near future.

Wreck-It Ralph is released in theatres on 2nd November in America, but alas, due to Disney's infuriating release schedule, won't hit UK theatres until February, 2013.

DreamWorks News - The Croods and Turbo

Over the last few weeks, several pieces of news have come to light concerning, arguably, the second biggest animation studio around today, DreamWorks Animation. The studio behind Shrek and Kung Fu Panda is infamous for rolling out an awful lot of films, as such, its roster of upcoming films is very substantial, including sequels, adaptations of short films, a spin-off Penguins of Madagascar movie, and an adaptation of Dav Pilkey's Captain Underpants books. Included amongst these films, are two which I'm greatly anticipating: The Croods and Turbo.

Above you'll see a gorgeous new piece of artwork for The Croods, a caveman-era family comedy, directed by Chris Sanders (How to Train Your Dragon) and Kirk DeMicco (Space Chimps) and starring the voices of Nicolas Cage, Ryan Reynolds and Emma Stone. The artwork is vibrant and colourful and will hopefully imbue life and fun into the film. The Croods is scheduled for release on 22nd March, 2013.

Secondly, the voice cast for Turbo, the story of a snail with dreams of racing grandeur, has been revealed, along with another gorgeous, more iridescent, piece of artwork (above). Following on from starring in The Croods, Ryan Reynolds will headline Turbo (directed by David Soren) just a few months later on 19th July, 2013. Reynolds will be joined by Paul Giamatti, Michael Pena and Samuel L. Jackson.

On the casting of Reynolds as the lead, DreamWorks' Chief Creative Officer, Bill Damaschke said:

"Ryan Reynolds' infectious enthusiasm and humor will bring life to the lead role of Turbo and set the tone for this amazing roster of all-star voice talent. This high-octane journey will take audiences on the race of their lives and completely re-define the traditional notion of moving at a snail's pace!"

Via DreamWorks' official Facebook page.

Discover the Forest with The Lorax

Universal Pictures and their animation division, Illumination Entertainment, have teamed up with Discover the Forest to bring us the above public service announcement. The 30-second clip promotes Illumination Entertainment's upcoming adaptation of Dr. Seuss's The Lorax, as well as highlighting its environmental messages and the importance of nature.

The video also displays some stunning and cool, previously unseen, footage from the film. The Lorax certainly looks set to be of the best animated films of 2012.

The Lorax is released in cinemas in the US on 2nd March, and in the UK on 27th July.

Video via The Lorax's official Facebook page.

Behind the Scenes of Aardman's The Pirates!

The British stop-motion giants, Aardman, are hard at work on their next feature film, a stop-motion collaboration with Sony Pictures Animation, The Pirates. As such, the publicity train is well and truly rolling and the film's official Facebook page has unveiled some behind the scenes images, showing the animators and crew interacting with the little clay cast of characters.

The images can all be viewed here, and are a great look at the production process at Aardman. The images here in this post show the painstaking approach Aardman take on their stop-motion films, to achieve the best outcome.

From the trailers and these images, The Pirates is going to have some truly awe inspiring scenes and set pieces; truly ambitious for the challenging medium of stop-motion. But director, Peter Lord, (pictured top with The Pirate Captain) clearly has faith in the diligent and hardworking animators at Aardman.

The Pirates sails into UK cinemas on March 30.

DreamWorks' Rise of the Guardians

As the end of the year approaches, DreamWorks have begun promoting next year's slate of animated films: last week we saw the trailer for Madagascar 3: Europe's Most Wanted, and on Friday, via their official Twitter, we got to see the teaser poster for their upcoming epic, Rise of the Guardians (above).

The stunningly cool, and rather festive, poster, which appears to sport a very bad-ass looking Santa Claus, was accompanied by a link to the official website and a description, which reads:

"Rise of the Guardians tells the story of a group of heroes – each with extraordinary abilities. When an evil spirit known as Pitch lays down the gauntlet to take over the world, the immortal Guardians must join forces for the first time to protect the hopes, beliefs and imagination of children all over the world."

It sounds intense and it sounds brilliant; with this and Pixar's Brave, 2012 promises to be an epic year for animated films.

Keep an eye on the official Rise of the Guardians Facebook page for updates.



Small Fry Bios

The second Toy Story Toon, Small Fry, is currently playing with Disney's The Muppets in the US and while those of us here in Europe and the UK will have to wait until February to see either, Disney and Pixar are promoting Small Fry now by revealing bios for some of the new characters that the short introduces on the official Toy Story Facebook page.

In Small Fry, Buzz is left behind at a fast food restuarant and finds himself in a support group for abandoned kid's meal toys, so Pixar have released some bios and images of these extremely eccentric characters (below).

Neptuna, Queen of New Nautica
For centuries, Queen Neptuna ruled the peaceful ocean kingdom of New Nautica.
When her undersea home was defiled by corporate industrial waste and discount chain stores, Neptuna formed The Mermaid Battle Squadron to protect the ocean from future pollution and exploitation.

T-Bone, Leader of the Steak Force
Fearing the healthy, life-extending agenda of the evil Vegitenarians, the government established the Steak Force, a commando squad of heroic robots dedicated to mandating a meat option for every meal. Sponsored in part by The American Meat Council.

Funky Monk
Spiritual mentor to Rappin' Robin and Lil' Juan, Funky Monk always keeps it real and on the down low. Be it a rap battle between his boys and Producer P John or hooking up a guest-spot on the next MC Maid Marion single, Funky Monk has got your back. See Funky Monk in the CGI animated film "Rappin' Robin in the Hood 3D," only in theaters.

Condorman
When comic book artist Wiley Wilkins is given the opportunity to act out the pages of his greatest cartoon creation, “Condorman,” he jumps at the chance! Will Condorman defeat the evil Krokov and win the heart of the beautiful Natalia Rambova? Find out when Condorman swoops into theaters, Summer 1981.

Bozu, The Ninja Clown
Circus clown by day, 15th century ninja from feudal Japan by night, Bozu is a master of silent entertainment. Armed with his balloon katana and a cream pie, this Ninja Clown is sure to have even the grumpiest Circus audience members in stitches!

More are likely to follow, so stay tuned.