First Look: WDAS' Next Short Film, Feast

Walt Disney Animation Studios have announced their next short film - and released a title card and a snazzy concept first look at it, too - which will apparently debut at the Annecy International Animated Film Festival on 10th June. The short, Feast, will then open wide with the studio's next feature film, Big Hero 6, this winter.

Paperman Director John Kahrs to Helm Feature Film for Paramount Animation

Oscar-winning Paperman director John Kahrs left Disney back at the end of August last year, and we now know what for: the animator-turned-director will helm Shedd for Paramount's recently-established animation division!

John Kahrs Speaks About His Disney Departure

At the tail end of last month, we reported the sad news that John Kahrs, the director of Disney's fantastic short film Paperman, had left the Disney studio to pursue other avenues. As it was announced in a, strictly-speaking, unofficial manner, we got no comment from Kahrs or from Disney reps. But now we have just that; Kahrs and a Disney spokesperson offered statements on the move to The Wrap.

Paperman Director John Kahrs Leaves Disney

Disney Animators, "the officially unofficial tweets of the Walt Disney Animation Studios Animation Department," tweeted last night that John Kahrs, best known as the director of Disney's fantastic, Oscar-winning short film, Paperman, has left the studio.

Disney Apparently Working on Rumpelstiltskin Adaption, The Name Game

Disney's upcoming slate is more heavily shrouded in secrecy than Pixar's at the moment. Frozen, their first fairy tale film since 2010's Tangled, hits cinemas this winter; after that, Disney are set to release Marvel-adaptation Big Hero 6 in 2014. Beyond that, there's the long dormant King of the Elves, and we heard whispers of a possible Mickey Mouse/Roger Rabbit team-up last month (rumours, that have since been seemingly shot down).

Oscar Results: Brave and Paperman Win

Directors Mark Andrews and Brenda Chapman accept their Oscar. ©A.M.P.A.S.

Yesterday was the night of the 85th annual Academy Awards. Hosted by an animator, it was a big night for animation - yet also a rather bittersweet one given the current turmoil in the animation and VFX industry, highlighted by a protest in Hollywood just prior to the ceremony.

85th Annual Academy Award Predictions [UPDATED: And Winners]

The biggest night of the year on the film calender is nigh; the 85th annual Academy Awards ceremony takes place tomorrow! Hosted by Seth MacFarlane and emanating from the Dolby Theatre, Hollywood, this year's Oscars are close, very close. As such, it's time for me to let out my inner awards pundit and offer up A113Animation's predictions on what will be walking home with a golden statue at the end of the night.

Animation is a particularly close call this year; for months I was sure Laika's ParaNorman would take the prize, but the tide has turned, particularly after Disney's Wreck-It Ralph swept the Annies at the start of the month. Though Ralph is the best film of the five, it may well be Pixar's Brave that takes home the award, particularly after its swell of momentum at the Golden Globes and BAFTAs, and the Academy has always been fond of Pixar. Tim Burton's Frankenweenie had a lot of awards hype around it, but it doesn't seem to be a threat to Disney's other two offerings. It's great to see The Pirates! nominated, especially after getting so little recognition elsewhere, but it seems unlikely Aardman's latest will herald a second Oscar for them.

Short wise, it should be Disney's Paperman. Should be. But, personally, it seems more likely that Minkyu Lee's Adam and Dog will take the prize home, despite its lack of major advertising. Nonetheless, it's another close category. Life of Pi should and almost certainly will take home Best Visual Effects, a bittersweet win after Rhythm & Hues recently filed for bankruptcy.

On the live-action side, Argo seems a lock for Best Picture at this stage, and with the inexplicable omission of its helmer Ben Affleck from Best Director, the safe bet for that one is Spielberg. Most of the acting categories seem pretty sewn up (Daniel Day-Lewis is almost unbeatable at this stage, and a win will make him the only actor to ever win three Best Actor Oscars). Cinematography should be Claudio Miranda for Life of Pi - although Roger Deakins' work on Skyfall may well get the nod - and Best Original Song will definitely be Adele for "Skyfall". It's all really quite exciting!

Films we think should win are in bold, films we think will win are underlined; the winners will be highlighted in gold after the fact. No prediction indicates it's a category that I'm not knowledgeable about/haven't seen any of the nominees for.

Paperman Composer to Score Frozen

Disney are set to continue their love affair with Paperman, as Film Music Reporter tells us that Christophe Beck, who composed the delicately enchanting score for the Oscar-nominated short, has signed on to compose the score for the studio's next feature, Frozen!

Frozen is directed by Chris Buck (Tarzan) and Jennifer Lee (screenwriter, Wreck-It Ralph), with the latter co-writing the film with Shane Morris; it's produced by Peter del Vecho (Winnie the Pooh) and John Lasseter. Original songs are being written by Robert Lopez and Kristen Anderson-Lopez (Winnie the Pooh). The film, based loosely on Hans Christian Andersen's The Snow Queen, is certainly taking shape and Beck is sure to add a great deal to an already exciting movie. Beck also scored The Muppets and Pitch Perfect.

Frozen hits cinemas in the US on 27th November and UK ones on 6th December.

Via The Rotoscopers.

3rd Annual A113Animation Award Nominations

They've been delayed thanks to Disney's release schedule, but the time is upon us again, and I'm here today to announced the nominees for the 3rd annual A113Animation Awards! This year, we're introducing a few new awards; check out the categories, a few comments about what sort of criteria each category has where necessary, and the nominees who've managed to make the cut this year below.

Note, I haven't seen every single animated film of the year - the most notable omission is Tim Burton's Frankenweenie - and the awards are to be judged on what I have seen, as of today.

Watch and Discuss: Oscar Nominated Animated Short Films

The Oscars are almost here, the 85th annual Academy Awards ceremony will take place two weeks from tomorrow, on Sunday 24th February, and it's almost time to start fielding predictions. But, before that, it certainly helps to be well informed: as we are A113Animation, obviously, one of the main awards at the Oscars for us is the Best Animated Feature one; however, often overlooked is the Best Animated Short Film prize. So, given that the Oscar nominated shorts are now all available in their entirety online, I thought it time to offer up my thoughts on the offerings, and get yours.

40th Annual Annie Awards Winners: Disney Wins Big

Last night, ASIFA-Hollywood handed out this year's Annie Awards, honouring the best of animation for 2012; the evening was hosted by animation and film historian Leonard Maltin. The Annies are self-touted as animation's highest honour, and last night the highest honours went to Disney.

85th Annual Academy Award Nominations Revealed - And They're Exciting!

People are sure to complain about things (no Sam Mendes for Best Director? No Javier Bardem for Supporting Actor? No Dark Knight Rises at all?!), but there are certainly things to be happy about with today's Academy Award nominations: particularly so in animation!

The big news? The really bloody exciting news? After yesterday's very unexpected BAFTA snub, Aardman's fantastic film, The Pirates! in an Adventure with Scientists scooped a Best Animated Feature nomination! Massive congratulations to Pete Lord, Gideon Defoe, Jeff Newitt and everyone at Aardman for the nomination! BAFTAs-Shmaftas.

10 Animated Shorts Make the Oscar Shortlist

Just last week we got the names of the animated shorts (and indeed features) submitted for Academy Award consideration, and today AMPAS have revealed the ten animated short films that have made it onto the Oscar short list. From these shorts - including last year's Annie Award for Best Animated Short Subject winner, Adam and Dog, as well as Disney's Paperman and The Simpsons short The Longest Daycare - between three and five will progress to the final list of nominees.

The shortlist is as follows:

• "Adam and Dog," Minkyu Lee, director (Lodge Films)
• "Combustible," Katsuhiro Otomo, director (Sunrise Inc.)
• "Dripped," Léo Verrier, director (ChezEddy)
• "The Eagleman Stag," Mikey Please, director, and Benedict Please, music scores and sound design (Royal College of Art)
• "The Fall of the House of Usher," Raul Garcia, director, and Stephan Roelants, producer (Melusine Productions, R&R Communications Inc., Les Armateurs, The Big Farm)
• "Fresh Guacamole," PES, director (PES)
• "Head over Heels," Timothy Reckart, director, and Fodhla Cronin O’Reilly, producer (National Film and Television School)
• "Maggie Simpson in “The Longest Daycare”," David Silverman, director (Gracie Films)
• "Paperman," John Kahrs, director (Disney Animation Studios)
• "Tram," Michaela Pavlátová, director, and Ron Dyens, producer (Sacrebleu Productions)

I'm not even going to pretend I've seen all of these, but it'll be exciting to see which progress. Given all of its buzz and the mainstream audience it's getting with Wreck-It Ralph, Paperman seems set for a nomination; Adam and Dog seems likely too. And from a fanboy standpoint, it sure would be nice to see a Simpsons short get an Oscar nomination!

The 85th Academy Award nominations will be revealed on 10th January, 2013 and then the awards will be presented from the Dolby Theatre, at the Hollywood & Highland Centre, on 24th February. Until then, we'll keep you posted.

Via Cartoon Brew.

Ralph Wrecks US Box-Office!

If more proof was needed that we're in the third golden age of Disney, here it is. Wreck-It Ralph's being lauded by critics, raved about by fans, and, as evident by these new figures, is raking in a fair amount of coins!

Walt Disney Animation Studios' 52nd animated feature took in a fantastic, estimated, $49.1 million across its opening weekend, says Box Office Mojo. This marks the highest ever opening for a Disney animated feature, beating out Tangled's 2010 $48.8 million opening weekend, and that went on to gross just shy of $591 million, so the future's very bright for Ralph! Box Office Mojo reports:

"The movie's audience skewed younger (57 percent under the age of 25) and male (55 percent), and they gave it a strong "A" CinemaScore. Considering the positive word-of-mouth and lack of competition over the next few weeks, Wreck-It Ralph could be on its way to as much as $200 million at the domestic box office."

In addition, the film took in an estimated $12 million in foreign territories, bringing its current estimated worldwide total, after only 3 days, to $61.1 million!

Wreck-It Ralph - which is preceded by John Kahrs' Paperman - opens here in the UK on 15th February.

Wreck-It Ralph's Out Now in the US - What Are the Critics Saying?

Us unlucky blighters elsewhere in the world will have to suffer through months of rave reviews, but, as of today, American audiences can check out Walt Disney Animation Studios' 52nd animated feature film, Wreck-It Ralph, in cinemas! The film which takes place inside the world of arcade video-games, and is directed by Simpsons veteran Rich Moore, has been the most hotly anticipated animated film of the year, and, judging by reviews, it's been worth the wait.

For Your Consideration: Paperman

Via Big Screen Animation.

It should come as no great shocker that Disney are trying to give their latest short-film a head start in the awards race. The above "For Your Consideration" ads appeared on Cartoon Brew recently, promoting Paperman, the wave-making short film that will precede Wreck-It Ralph in cinemas.

Directed by former Pixar-animator John Kahrs, the short is the first to use Disney's groudbreaking new animation software, Meander. Meander creates CG models of the characters, and blocks out the movements, as with a computer animated film; a traditional hand-drawn animator then draws over the top, and Meander fuses the two together. The innovative technique leads to striking images like the one below, with the depth and immersion of CG, and the personality and heart of hand-drawn: this is the future of animation, folks.

It has a suitably warm sounding story too, with the synopsis reading:

Introducing a groundbreaking technique that seamlessly merges computer-generated and hand-drawn animation techniques, first-time director John Kahrs takes the art of animation in a bold new direction with “Paperman.” Using a minimalist black-and-white style, the short follows the story of a lonely young man in mid-century New York City, whose destiny takes an unexpected turn after a chance meeting with a beautiful woman on his morning commute. Convinced the girl of his dreams is gone forever, he gets a second chance when he spots her in a skyscraper window across the avenue from his office. With only his heart, imagination and a stack of papers to get her attention, his efforts are no match for what the fates have in store for him. Created by a small, innovative team working at Walt Disney Animation Studios, “Paperman” pushes the animation medium in an exciting new direction.

One can't help but think that Paperman has a pretty good chance of being successful at the Oscars. Check it out in cinemas with Wreck-It Ralph: 2nd November (US), 15th February (UK).

Interview: Robb Pratt, Disney Storyboard Artist and Bizarro Classic Director

A while back, I shared with you a wonderful little short film called Superman Classic from Disney animator and storyboard artist, Robb Pratt. I fell in love with the tone and animation of the films and the, well, classic visual style of it; as well as a very witty and classically Superman-esque script. So, I was very excited two weeks ago when Robb released his follow up, Bizarro Classic. Longer, funnier, wonderful music, and, in my eyes, even better than Superman Classic, I was completely enamoured with Bizarro too!

In fact, I was so enamoured with Bizarro Classic that I sent Robb an email, telling him how much I'd enjoyed his Classic shorts, and asking if he'd mind doing an interview for the blog. Robb, a very kind and modest person, thankfully said yes.

You can read our extensive interview after the jump break, in which we talk about his work at Disney, on films like Tarzan and Hercules, his work at Disney Channel, his current work at DisneyToon Studios on Planes, how direct-to-DVD productions compare to normal features, and his Superman short films. Enjoy!

First Look at Disney's Paperman

A lot of hype has been surrounding Disney's latest short film as of late. Paperman, directed by John Kahrs, - who worked as an animator on a number of Pixar films, before moving to Disney where he acted as an animation supervisor on Tangled - has been received to a rapturously positive response by those privileged to see it already. The film screened at the Annecy International Animated Film Festival a few weeks ago and Tweets about it passed enthusiastic and bordered on frenzied.

The short film, which is set to precede Wreck-It Ralph later this year (or the start of next year in the UK), is making waves for its revolutionary animation technique, which fuses hand-drawn animation with computer animation, combining "the dimension and depth of digital animation with the abstract warmth of traditional line-art. The result is a world seemingly sculpted out of sketches."

That description comes via Entertainmexnt Weekly, who also provide us with our first look at the highly anticipated short, with 3 exclusive stills.

The article also offers up some insight into, and the inspiration for, the techniques behind the short's animation:

“Drawing can have a really powerful, visceral effect on the viewer. You can create anger and surprise or anguish with just a few lines of a pencil,” says director John Kahrs, an animator on The Incredibles and Tangled. “But it can’t just be the same thing it was. I think for 2-D to be revitalized, you have to figure out a way to make it new again.”

It also provides some insight into the animation software behind Paperman, Meander:

"Disney used new in-house technology called Meander to build the world of Paperman. First the characters and backgrounds were rendered digitally, and then hand-drawn art was layered over those shapes, giving the figures a kind of 3-D quality unseen in old-school animation. “What you’re seeing is a very stylized CG layer [underneath], but the feel of the image is very flat and lives in between the two,” Kahrs says."

Finally, I'll leave you with perhaps the most telling comment of all, from producer Kristina Reed:

“If this short had come out with The Little Mermaid, everyone would be excited about the CG,” says Reed with a laugh. “Now here we are in the early part of this millennium, and what we’re celebrating is going back to the handcraft.”

It's a fantastically rivetting read and Paperman promises to change a hell of a lot for animation at Disney! Be sure to read the full article over at EW.

The First Four Wreck-It Ralph Stills

Ahead of the release of the first trailer this Friday, Disney have released the first stills from their 52nd animated feature film, Wreck-It Ralph. USA Today bring us four new stills from the highly anticipated animated film, which is said to do for video games what Toy Story did for toys.

The above still sees the film's main character, once video game villain, Ralph (John C. Reilly) seeking to mend his ways by handing out Pac-Man cherries to out of work video game characters from Q*Bert, and is our first real look at the film's protagonist in computer animated form. Loving the 8-bit inspired design of Ralph and the great, vibrant atmosphere of the still.

The scene at the top is playing out inside a power strip (above), which is "their [the video game characters] answer to Grand Central Station as they travel into one another's video games."

Two other images introduce us to the characters of Sgt. Calhoun (Glee's Jane Lynch, above) and Vanellope von Schweetz (Sarah Silverman, below), the former being a hard-as-nails soldier in Halo looking game, Hero's Duty. The latter is a young girl character from the Mario Kart inspired game Sugar Rush, who becomes like a little sister to the repentant Ralph.

I'm loving the range of these stills and Wreck-It Ralph looks set to be another fantastic addition to the Disney canon, hopefully continuing that Third Golden Age we've talked about.

Check out the images and some accompanying snippets at USA Today, and view them in hi-res above (via Dutch blog, Animatie. Keep an eye out here for the posting of the trailer as soon as it's online!

Wreck-It Ralph is due out on 2nd November in the US and 15th February, 2013 here in the UK, and will be paired with Disney's latest buzz-generating short, Paperman.