Is it CG, motion capture, rotoscope… or all three? Check out the trailer and website for APPLESEED, supposedly opening in the U.S. on January 14th 2005.

Spotted this actual ad on Variety.com yesterday. A long shot, but hell… If I were an Academy member I’d vote for him!

I haven’t seen THE LIFE AQUATIC yet, but last I heard the film’s animated sequences were created with stop motion by Henry Selick and company. Apparently nobody bothered telling this to A.O. Scott at the NY TIMES since he refers to the “computer-animated fish” in his review of the film. Animation director Ben Zelkowicz, who pointed out the TIMES gaffe, notes: “But I like Scott’s idea of a double bill with SpongeBob - two underwater themed movies within a month featuring stop motion. Most stop motion has been relegated to the sad realm of Christmas nostalgia. Perhaps this is a sea change.”

Seward Street reports that Disney/DreamWorks animator James Baxter (Belle, Quasimodo, Moses) is starting up his own hand-drawn animation studio in Pasadena called James Baxter Animation. Exciting!

This article at MILLIMETER reveals how Brad Bird was able to inject a hand-drawn sensibility into THE INCREDIBLES. Pixar developed a new tool especially for Bird called “Review Sketch,” which allowed him to draw on top of a projected image using a digitizing pen. These drawings were then accessible on the studio’s intranet by other members of his team. DreamWorks animator Jim Hull discusses the tool further on his blog, Seward Street.

This holiday season, the Walt Disney Company is offering twenty of their greatest animated classics on DVD, for less than $1 per film. Let’s see…there’s ALADDIN and JUNGLE BOOK and CINDERELLA and SLEEPING BEAUTY and ALICE IN WONDERLAND and… hey wait… wait one second! I don’t remember the Genie from ALADDIN being yellow? And since when does Ariel from THE LITTLE MERMAID have a pet dolphin? Could it be that another company is producing animated films based on the same public domain fairy tales that Disney uses. Geez, what are the odds of that happening? On a related note, I’m wondering if any states consider it child abuse if you force your kids to watch these GoodTimes versions of Disney films.

You are invited!The International Animated Film Society, ASIFA-Hollywood, will be holding its annual animated Xmas Party at the new ASIFA-Hollywood Animation Center in Burbank on Friday December 17th. Refreshments will be served. All are welcome. Don’t be afraid, it’s free!This will also be the first public viewing of our new headquarters in Burbank. Before we move our archives, library and offices into the space, while it’s still empty, it’s a perfect place for a Holiday Season bash!Live music! Food! Cartoons! Fun!
Join us!December 17th, 2004 at 7:30pm
The New ASIFA-Hollywood Animation Center
2114 Burbank Blvd.
Burbank (4 blocks east of Buena Vista on the South side of the street)

We gotta wait eight months longer for Pixar’s deal with Disney to end… CARS has been pushed back to summer 2006.