Disney's 'Gigantic' has been Cancelled

The Hollywood Reporter revealed that Disney's Gigantic has been cancelled. The film was going to be a new take on the Jack and the Beanstalk fairy tale and was supposed to be released in 2020; Meg LeFauve (co-writer of Inside Out) and Nathan Greno (co-director on Tangled) were attached to direct it.

Editorial: It's time for Verna Felton to become a Disney Legend

The Disney Legends Awards was created in 1987 as a form of recognition to individuals that have made a great contribution to the Walt Disney Company. From animators to imagineers to actors and musicians, the Legends award has been given to a wide array of people that have worked at the company since its inception in the 1920s. Nowadays, the award is given bi-annually at the D23 Expo with Carrie Fisher, Mark Hamill, Clyde Geronimi and Whoopi Goldberg among the latest people to receive the award.

The D23 Disney Animation Panel: What We Learned

Every two year, Disney holds the D23 expo, a big event where they announce upcoming projects. And the 2017 D23 is happening right now. Here is what we learned from the Animation Panel today:

Watch: a Trailer for 'Olaf's Frozen Adventure'

Initially, Olaf's Frozen Adventure was supposed to debut on ABC as a Christmas special, but it looks like the short will now be shown with Pixar's Coco when the film reaches US theaters on 22 November; you can watch a trailer for Olaf's Frozen Adventure below.

Disney Pushes Back 'Wreck-It Ralph 2' and 'Gigantic', Dates 'Frozen 2'

Disney just released a bunch of new release dates for its upcoming feature films, including the animated slate. Check below to learn when we'll get to see those. Spoiler alert: you won't be too happy about some of the announcements.

Meet the Robinsons 10th Anniversary: How it changed and brought new life to Walt Disney Animation Studios

Today marks the 10th anniversary of Disney Animation's 47th film - Meet the Robinsons - a film that may not be well-remembered or universally beloved but that nonetheless, ushered a new golden age of animated features at WDAS and deserves to be remembered, re-watched and discovered by audiences around the world.

The 6th A113Animation Awards Results

The results to the most prestigious and anticipated prizes of the Award season (ahem) are in! As always, keep in mind the winners have been decided by William, Munir and me (Damien) based on our personal tastes.
That being said, here are the winners of the 6th A113Animation Awards in bold and gold (go to the bottom of the post for a breakdown of the results).

The 6th A113Animation Awards Nominations

Welcome to the 6th edition of the A113Animation Awards! We've got a good one for you this year, considering the amount of amazing animated films that have been released in the past 12 months. 2016 is arguably the best year for animation since 2012, and the choices ahead of us are going to be quite tough.

The winners will be picked by me (Damien), while William (our Founder/Editor-in-Chief) and Munir (writer and WDAS specialist) will each choose their favourite movie of the year in the Staff Picks category; you, dear A113Animation readers, will also be allowed to award one of the trophies (The People's Favourite Animated Film Award) through the poll below.

The films eligible for an Award must have been released in the UK in 2016. The Winners will be announced on Saturday 14th January. Without further ado and in alphabetical order by film, here are the 6th A113Animation Awards Nominations:

Munir's Disney Retrospective - Animated Classic #56: Moana (2016)

Previous post: Munir's Disney Retrospective - Animated Classic #55: Zootopia (2016)

Walt Disney Animation Studios 55th film, Zootopia, was a complete success grossing (against all odds) over $1b and becoming the third highest grossing film of the year. Audiences were drawn to the fantastic animation, richly-developed characters and a poignant, relevant and timely story. Zootopia continued the winning streak of the studio but it was not their only offering of this year. Moana, their second film of the year, is a more conventional fairy tale that nonetheless provides high-quality entertainment for the whole family and it'll surely become a classic in the years to come.

Review: 'Moana' Knows the Way

For the first time since 2002, the Walt Disney Animation Studios are releasing two films within the same year. Funnily enough, the second Disney film in 2002 (Treasure Planet) was a Clements/Musker production just like the movie we'll be talking about today, Moana.
Read our spoiler-free review of the film below and see if we think Disney did it again.

Watch: A new 'Moana' Clip and a Featurette

Disney is going all in on the Moana marketing as the release date is nearing; not one, but two Moana videos premiered on YouTube today: a clip of the song 'We Know the Way' and a featurette about the research and inspiration behind the film called The Way to Moana. You can watch both below.

Watch: Dwayne Jonhson Sings 'You're Welcome' in a New 'Moana' Clip

This isn't the full song yet, but at least we get to hear a part of You're Welcome, a song written by Lin-Manuel Miranda and performed by Dwayne - The Rock - Jonhson for the upcoming Walt Disney Animation Studios film Moana. See the clip below.

Watch: Moana Meets Maui in a Clip from the Upcoming Disney Film

Moana is only about a month away, and Disney is giving us a first clip from the 7th Ron Clements/John Musker feature film. It's called 'Moana Meets Maui', it's about a minute long and you can watch it below.

Meg LeFauve Joins 'Gigantic' as Co-Director

According to The Hollywood Reporter, Meg LeFauve (who was a writer on Pixar's Inside Out and The Good Dinosaur) has become a co-director on the upcoming Walt Disney Animation Studios' Gigantic.

Watch: The New 'Moana' Trailer Takes You on an Epic Adventure

The new Moana trailer is here. Fast-paced, beautiful to look at (the effects, the animation) and to listen to (the score by Lin-Manuel Miranda, Opetaia Foa'i and Mark Mancina), it is equally funny and epic. Watch it after the break.

Disney's 'Moana' Gets a Glorious Poster Ahead of its New Trailer

The Walt Disney Animation Studios have debuted a new poster for Moana, the new film from John Musker & Ron Clements (The Little Mermaid, Aladdin, The Princess and the Frog…). It has also been announced that a new trailer will arrive this Thursday, during ABC's Good Morning America. See the whole poster after the break.

Animated Films and TV Series that need a Blu-ray Release ASAP, part 2

Today is a glorious day, dear readers. A grave injustice has been corrected. Today is the day that The Iron Giant is finally getting a Blu-ray release and you can finally own this masterpiece in stunning HD and watch hours upon hours of wonderful bonus material. Warner Bros. has finally seen the error of their ways and the fact that they gave The Iron Giant such a splendid release, it's cause for celebration. However, as we can scratch one film from the list, this day is also a reminder that there are still many films and TV series that are awaiting a proper Blu-ray release and it's time for the studios to deliver. 

As with my previous list, from two years ago, this list applies to US releases.

Watch: A New 'Moana' TV Spot

A brand new Moana TV spot has been revealed during a broadcast of the Rio Olympic Games. It's also available online, and it's nice and all, but it's also not a trailer. Clocking in at just 1 minute, this video offers just a tease of the epic things to come in Moana, including a huge lava villain. See the TV spot after the break.

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.

Meet Baby Moana in this New International Trailer

This new Moana trailer comes from Japan, and (full disclosure) is more a short clip than it is a real trailer. It's probably coming from the beginning of the new Disney movie, as we see a very young Moana interacting with the Ocean. Watch the clip after the break.