Watch: The First Trailer for the R-Rated 'Sausage Party' is Out

Sony Pictures Entertainment released the first trailer for the R-rated animated comedy Sausage Party, which will come out later this year (12th August). Sausage Party is directed by Conrad Vernon (Shrek 2) and Greg Tiernan (Thomas & Friends), with a screenplay by Evan Goldberg, Seth Rogen, Kyle Hunter and Ariel Shaffir. Watch the trailer after the break.

Watch: The Full Trailer for 'The Angry Birds Movie'

Angry Birds are soon leaping from smartphones to a cinema screen. The film, directed by Fergal Reilly and Clay Kaytis will arrive on 13th May (UK) / 20th May (US), 2016, and you can watch a new trailer for it after the break.

Tom Holland is the New Spider-Man

It's been a long time coming, but after months of rumours and false informations, the new Sony/Marvel shared Spider-Man has finally been announced: Tom Holland will play the red and blue superhero.

Sony Announces an Animated Spider-Man

You probably heard the news that Spider-Man will soon be joining the Marvel Cinematic Universe, after a deal was struck between Sony and Disney. But another Spider-Man is coming our way, in the form of an animated feature.

Predictable Voice Cast Announced for Seth Rogen/Evan Goldberg's Sausage Party

We heard back in September of last year that Seth Rogen and Evan Goldberg (directors of This Is The End, writers of Superbad and The Pineapple Express) were moving over to animation, with the raunchy R-rated animated comedy called Sausage Party. Now we know some of the actors who are going to lend their voices to it. And, yes, it is those actors you're thinking of.

Animation Veterans/Directorial First-Timers Clay Kaytis and Fergal Reilly to Direct Angry Birds

Rovio are expanding their smash-hit Angry Birds franchise rapidly; what started life as a mobile game is now an all-spanning merchandise line, a series of animated shorts and, soon enough, an animated feature. Angry Birds, which will smash its way into cinemas (distributed by Sony) on 1st July, 2016, now has a pair of directors, says Entertainment Weekly.

Seth Rogen/Evan Goldberg Making R-Rated Animated Film, Sausage Party, For Sony

Animation isn't a genre. It's not something solely aimed at kids and families, it's a medium that can be put to any one of hundreds of different ends. It just so happens that the majority of American animated films are family-oriented. For a long time though, there's been a large number of adult animated series on television; not just as in clever, oft-satirical sitcoms like The Simpsons, as in raunchy, gross-out comedies like Family Guy and South Park. Well American feature animation's about to get a big dose of that too.

Seth Rogen and Evan Goldberg, the writers of comedies like Superbad and The Pineapple Express, who this year turned their hands to directing with This is the End (Rogen also starred in all three), are now trying their hands at animation. Sony will release Sausage Party, an R-rated animated comedy scripted by the pair. And it's at least not as smutty as you think!

Simpsons Writer and Clone Wars Producer Join Angry Birds

Rovio have announced that Jon Vitti, whose previous credits include The Simpsons and The Office, will pen the screenplay for their upcoming animated Angry Birds movie. Vitti, a Harvard graduate, won an Emmy for his work on King of the Hill, as well writing a couple of episodes of The US Office and being one of eleven credited writers for The Simpsons Movie. Worryingly though, he also co-wrote the Alvin and the Chipmunks film.

This Week on A113Animation (13th - 19th May, 2013)

With our recent expansion, and the fact that the film industry is prepping itself for a big summer, there's a lot happening here on A113Animation.com at the moment. As such, here's a brief recap of what went down this week:

Sony Will Release Rovio's Angry Birds Film on 1st July, 2016

Rovio announced today that their Angry Birds animated movie will be released by Sony Pictures, and that the worldwide release date is currently set for 1st July, 2016. Rovio themselves - in the Marvel mould - are developing, producing and financing the film.

The film is being produced by John Cohen (Despicable Me) and executive produced by David Maisel (Iron Man). No word on a director or writer yet though.

In the meantime, Rovio's Angry Birds Toons are available to watch in-app every weekend!

Aardman News 12 - No Pirates! Sequel in "The Foreseeable Future"

Briefly, some disheartening news for Aardman fans from mid-January that I just noticed now: Peter Lord, the director of the Oscar-nominated The Pirates! in an Adventure with Scientists, said that the planned sequel is not happening.

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.

Poster for Sony's Popeye

With Hotel Transylvania now in cinemas in the US, and arriving in UK cinemas on the 12th, both director Genndy Tartakovsky and Sony Pictures Animation begin to look to the future, and that's this. Sony and the Dexter's Lab creator are working on a CG adaptation of Popeye!

The most well known version of the character being the Fleischers' shorts, Genndy and Sony are going to have an uphill battle adapting it for the big screen. But, given how wonderfully cartoony Hotel T looks, it might well be just the right pairing to make it happen.

Check out a poster that Cartoon Brew's Jerry Beck snapped at SPA's HQ last week. It's a good start! No release date as of yet.

Hotel Transylvania Takes a Vampire-Sized Bite out of the Weekend Box-Office

The critics may not be loving it, but US audiences clearly are; Sony Pictures Animation's Genndy Tartakovsky-directed Hotel Transylvania has done the studio proud on its tenth anniversary, opening to an astonishing (estimated) $43 million!

The studio's seventh film (including two Aardman releases, Arthur Christmas and The Pirates! in an Adventures with Scientists) sits at a lukewarm 42% on Rotten Tomatoes, but has raked in over a million dollars for every one of those percent at the US box office, placing it in the number 1 spot this weekend. Hotel T is the studio's strongest opener (far surpassing Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs' previous record of $30.3 million), and, if it proves to have reasonable legs, it could be the studio's highest grossing film yet! The film has also raked in $8.1 million from foreign territories.

Second place this weekend goes to another Sony pic, Rian Johnson's acclaimed sci-fi actioner, Looper, with $21.2 million (again, estimated). Looper boasts a cast including Bruce Willis, Joseph Gordon-Levitt and Emily Blunt, while Hotel T has the more youth-friendly line-up of Adam Sandler, Andy Samberg and Selena Gomez.

In spite of the negative reviews, it seems audiences are really taking to Sony's monster-flick (of course, the timing isn't bad either, with Halloween just around the corner). Speaking from an outside perspective, having not seen the film yet (it doesn't open here until 12th October), I think what's resonating with audiences is exactly what's putting critics off: it doesn't take itself too seriously. Hotel T looks like fun for the sake of fun, with not too much focus on emotional twists - the 'Art of' book stated that they repeatedly chose to forego solemn moments in favour of comedy. Jerry Beck says it best, that Hotel T is a "full “cartoon” feature"; just look how perfectly poised and considered the animation is! Genndy Tartakovsky's stylised cartoon style is here in abundance!

Seen Hotel Transylvania? What did you think? Let us know below!

Stats via Box Office Mojo.

The Art and Making of Hotel Transylvania Review - Who Knew Monsters Were This Fun?

The latest 'Art of' book that I've had the chance to review is Titan Books' The Art and Making of Hotel Transylvania, showcasing the wonderful artwork of the latest film from Sony Pictures Animation, Hotel Transylvania - directed by Genndy Tartakovsky.