Watch: The Trailer for 'The Star' Is Very Insistant on Its Voice Actors

We've long been wondering what to make of Sony Pictures Animation's The Star (formerly The Lamb). Was it going to be a deep, adult-oriented profound take on the nativity story; or rather a more child-friendly, regular CGI animal-talking film. Well, wonder no more, as the answer is just below (via USA Today).

Get a First Look at Pixar's 'Lou'

The short film that will be paired with Cars 3 when it is released this upcoming summer is called, Lou, and thanks to USA Today we've got a first look at it (see picture above) and a few story details about it (see below).

Disney Reveals 'Moana' Characters and Voice Actors

We've known for a while who the two main characters in Moana were going to be and who would voice them (Moana by Auli'i Cravalho and Maui by Dwayne Johnson). Well, USA Today revealed more characters, along with the actors voicing them, a picture and some informations. Get that below.

'Cars 3': Production has Started and a Director has Been Announced

A Cars 3 concept art by Pixar artist Noah Klocek

Cars 3 has been scheduled for a June 2017 release for a long time, but the film was so shy since it's been announced, some people were starting to wonder if it had been cancelled - myself included. At last, we've got some news on the project: a director, some new characters names, a tease of the story and even two concept arts. More below.

Meet New Characters from 'Finding Dory'

Some drawings of the new Finding Dory characters made their way to the internet before, but this is the first time we are seeing some of them as they'll appear in the finished movie. USA Today got some exclusive pictures for the otters (above), Becky the loon and Rudder & Fluke the sea lions.

Get a Sneak Peek at 'The LEGO Batman Movie'

USA Today revealed the first pictures from the upcoming The LEGO Batman Movie, which is a spin-off from The LEGO Movie (2014, directed by Phil Lord and Chris Miller). The film, directed by Chris McKay, will be released next year (10 February, 2017 in the US). See all the pictures after the break (click to enlarge).

See Two Stills From Pixar's 'Sanjay's Super Team'

USA Today released two pictures and some news on Pixar's upcoming Sanjay's Super Team. The short film will be attached to The Good Dinosaur in theaters, set to be released later this year.

'Kung Fu Panda 3': the First Official Pictures are Out

Kung Fu Panda 3 will see Po (Jack Black) reunite with is father and other Pandas, as evidenced by this USA Today post. The article comes with three stills from the DreamWorks movie, and a few new clues on the plot. More below.

See the Two Main 'Zootopia' Characters in CGI

USA Today revealed what the two main characters of Disney's next animated Feature - Zootopia - will look like in the finished film. We got a taste of the characters before, with a few concept arts, but this is the real deal.

Meet Wisnton, The Star of Disney's Upcoming Short Film, Feast

Yesterday was (apparently) International Dog Day. So, in recognition of that, USA Today released an exclusive look at the canine star of Walt Disney Animation Studios' next short film, Feast! So, meet cute little Boston terrier Winston!

Joseph Gordon-Levitt To Front English-Language Dub of Miyazaki's The Wind Rises

Hayao Miyazaki's ostensibly final film, The Wind Rises, is earning a lot of praise right now - just yesterday it was one of five animated films to get nominated for this year's Critics' Choice Award for Best Animated Feature. As such, the English-language dub of the film isn't far off. And while English dubs are often a bit of an irritant or distraction (Spirited Away, Ponyo, etc...), this one, fronted by Internet-favourite Joseph Gordon-Levitt, is really rather exciting.

First Look: Bright New Stills from Rio 2

USA Today have got a sneak peek at the next film from Munir's favourite studio, Blue Sky. Rio 2, a sequel to the 2011 hit starring Jesse Eisenberg and Anne Hathaway, flies into cinemas next year (this, unlike The Good Dinosaur and Minions hasn't been pushed back yet); we've seen a few teaser trailers for the Sambaing sequel, but this is our first proper look at the film's returning and expanded cast of characters.

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.

Watch: New Monsters University Trailer

While Disney are floundering about failing to promote their 53rd animated feature, they're doing a bang-up job hyping Pixar's fourteenth feature, (and, by the sounds of it, fourteenth hit) Monsters University. Today, that includes rolling out another hilarious new trailer for the Dan Scanlon-directed Monsters, Inc. prequel!

Planes Cast and Character Posters Revealed

Disney have struck gold with Cars - while the franchise may not be a hit with critics everywhere, kids (and a lot of others fans too) love it, and, in terms of merchandise alone, it makes a killing. As such, it's a logical, and very Disney, step to make a direct-to-video follow up. Said direct-to-video follow up though - in the spirit of Pixar's Toy Story 2 before it - is now going to be released theatrically, as Planes will soar onto screens this summer.

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!

New Images From Blue Sky's Epic

It certainly looks like, at least somewhat of, a departure from their funny Ice Age-norm, but Blue Sky Studios' Epic looks just that: epic. Directed by Blue Sky co-founder and head-honcho, Chris Wedge (Ice Age, Robots), and based on the 1996 book, The Leaf Men and the Brave Good Bugs, by William Joyce, Epic looks set to wow - particularly in terms of visuals.

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.

First Look at Hotel Transylvania

USA Today have provided us with our first look at Sony Pictures Animation's Hotel Transylvania. The tale of the Dracula (Adam Sandler) run hotel - a home away from home for monsters - and his relationship with his daughter (Selena Gomez), has been plagued by production problems, before finding its latest director Genndy Tartakovsky (the creator of Dexter's Lab and Samurai Jack).

The USA Today article provides us with the two images you can see here (showing the film's distinct visual style and showcasing its vast cast of characters) as well as some words from the film's director about the film and its voice cast - including Sandler, his comedy partner Kevin James, and Steve Buscemi. After all of the trouble surrounding the film, it would be easy to write it off, however these images give me some hope and Sony Pictures Animation have a fairly strong track record.

Head on over to USA Today to read the full article.  Hotel Transylvania is due for release on 28th September in the US, and 12th October here in the UK.

Via Cartoon Brew.

First Look at the Next Toy Story Toon

Disney's The Muppets, opening in cinemas very soon, is set to be preceded by the latest continuation of the Toy Story franchise, the Toy Story Toon, Short Fry. As such, Disney and Pixar have released a couple of images from the short film, giving us a flavour of its story, to promote Pixar Canada's first Toy Story short.

USA Today gives us one image (above), and Stitch Kingdom provides us with another (below). The plot of the short is a retelling of The Prince and the Pauper, when Buzz is accidentally swapped for his Happy Meal toy equivalent. The images also provide us with our first look at the pint-sized Buzz (voiced by Day & Night director, Teddy Newton, who also voiced Chatter Telephone in Toy Story 3) and Glee's Jane Lynch's character (the mermaid with her back to us below).

USA Today also has an interview with the short's director, Angus MacLane, who says, of the abandoned toys: "These toys' existence is about being really popular before the meal and then being totally forgotten about,".

MacLane also adds, of Buzz being Juxtaposed into the support group for these toys, that "There's something funny about having the action hero have to deal with something very mundane like escaping from an awkward social situation,". He also passes some comments on the short's voice cast and message.

Head on over there to read the whole interview. Thanks to The Pixar Times for the news.