Apparently, somebody wasn’t having a good time on the production of Illumination Entertainment’s The Lorax.

(via Aryeh David Zucker on Cartoon Brew’s Facebook page)

Our friends at TVShowsOnDVD have reported on Warner Home Video’s plans to release Looney Tunes Mouse Chronicles on DVD and Blu-ray Disc. I guess that means it’s okay for me to discuss it here.

Because I’m involved as a consultant on certain Warner DVD projects, I have to sign a non-disclosure form preventing me from talking about them before the company makes them public (That said, I wish I could tell you about the stuff coming out later this year. Consider this a hint that some of the most sought after animation the company owns is headed to DVD and blu-ray within the next year).

This Mouse Chronicles set contains 2-discs and runs 133 minutes long, includes an all-new featurette (Of Mice and Pen) and audio commentary by several historians and animators. This collection began life as one of the series of Looney Tunes Super-Stars and was designed to showcase only Chuck Jones’ Hubie and Bertie and Sniffles cartoons. While some of these have already been released on previous collections, most of this material is new to video – and beautiful restored. The DVD & Blu-Ray come out on August 28th – $18.89 on Amazon.com. Restored cartoon titles listed after the bump.
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Maurice Sendak died this morning due to complications from a recent stroke. The New York Times says he was “widely considered the most important children’s book artist of the 20th century.” He wrote and illustrated dozens of books over the years, though he will always be remembered for his 1963 classic Where the Wild Things Are, which was also adapted into a 2009 feature film by Spike Jonze. Chris Lavis and Maciek Szczerbowski also directed an impressive 2010 NFB short based on another Sendak book, Higglety Pigglety Pop! Or: There Must Be More to Life.

Last January, Sendak did a hilarious interview with Stephen Colbert. If you haven’t seen it yet, take the time to view it today. It celebrates Sendak’s sharp and playful personality better than any words could.

LA-based animator Max Winston posted this animation test for The Woods!, a project that he developed over two years for Nickelodeon. He wrote last Friday on his blog that Nick “recently informed me that they don’t want to go through with making it into a show.” That’s probably a sign that he’s doing something right considering that this is the same network that turned down Adventure Time in favor of greenlighting Fanboy & Chum Chum. Max is currently shopping the idea around to other buyers.

UPDATE: Max has posted a bunch of development art from The Woods.

CREDITS
Created, Directed and Animated by: Max Winston
Director of Photography: Helder K Sun
Written by: Doug Langdale & Max Winston
Color concept & BG design: Romney Caswell
Voices: Zoë Moss, Jacob Strick, Max Winston
Compositing: Hlynur Magnusson
Fabrication Assistance: Brad Schaffer
Shot at Screen Novelties

The Archive Series—Walt Disney’s Nine Old Men: The Flipbooks will release on September 18. This pet project of UP director Pete Docter is among the more unique book concepts, and pays tribute to the work of the Nine Old Men in the best way possible: by displaying scenes their animation work. Amazingly, none of the Nine Old Men’s full animation scenes have been made available to the public before, which makes this both a valuable historical and educational project.

There’s no better choice than Docter to spearhead the project; he’s a big fan of the flipbook format and creates a flipbook ever year as his personal Christmas card. Here’s the official book description:

This box set of nine flip books pays tribute to Walt Disney’s original animators–the Nine Old Men: Les Clark, Eric Larson, Frank Thomas, John Lounsbery, Ward Kimball, Ollie Johnston, Mark Davis, Wolfgang Reitherman, and Milt Kahl. Each flip book features a scene from an animated Disney feature in its original line-drawn form, having been selected from among a wide range of films for great movement and classic characters. Such iconic clips from the reel of Disney animation history include: Lady and the Tramp’s moonlit spaghetti dinner; Sorcerer Mickey’s ordeal with a horde of mops; and Thumper’s announcement that a prince has been born! In addition to the flip books, the box will contain a booklet providing additional information about the artists.

List price is $60, but pre-order for $37.42 on Amazon.

Ever wonder what it was like to work at the Disney Studio during the Golden Age of Animation? Think it was the “happiest place on Earth”? Think again. This 1943 booklet, given to all new employees, spelled it out for you. Gals ain’t allowed in the Penthouse Club, personal phone calls will be charged to you, and if you need to leave the studio, you cannot do so without an “Off the Lot Pass”. Oh, and “Any violation of the U. S. Espionage Act” will get you discharged.

UPDATE: We’ve learned the illustrations in this book were done by Tom Oreb.

Click on each page for enlarged version.

(Thanks to Mike Van Eaton for sharing this with us)