Disney Feature animation artists Joe Pitt and Alex Hirsch have started an animation blog project, 24 Hour Toons. Every other week, on Fridays at midnight, they put up a theme and challenge their colleagues to make a animated film about it within the course of 24 hours. They’ve only had a couple rounds so far but the results are intriguing and fun - for example:

The New York Times, Playbill and several other news sources are reporting on plans, just announced, for a Betty Boop musical supposedly en route to Broadway. Of course, Betty’s been there before. She was created by Grim Natwick at Fleischer Studios at 1600 Broadway in 1930.

The new musical production, according to reports:

…will feature music by 15-time Grammy Award winner David Foster, with book by Sally Robinson and Oscar Williams. The show is planning to debut on Broadway in the 2010-2011 season at a Nederlander theatre to be announced.

In the new musical, the inimitable Betty Boop joins her friends Bimbo and Koko to work her irresistible charm in reuniting her grandfather (who has created the Greatest Invention of Mankind) with the long-lost, true love of his life, while saving the Happy Heart Theater from the developer’s bulldozers.

I wish they’d use a few Sammy Timberg songs… but hey, all I hope is that publicity generated from news of this production is so great it might finally give someone the idea to release a complete collection of the vintage Boop cartoons on DVD.

(Thanks, Felicia Spano)

Did you see it? This is an open thread for our readers reviews, opinions and comments in regards to Dreamworks’ Madagascar Back 2 Africa which opened today.

We will only post comments by those who have actually seen it. What did you think?

Pixar released the trailer for Pete Docter’s Up today. Looks promising.

Animation is such a ubiquitous part of our contemporary lives that it can no longer be confined to mere screen projection. It increasingly appears all around us and has become part of the fabric of our everyday lives. Over the past year, I’ve been pointing out examples of artists who use real-world settings either as a canvas for creating animation or as a place to project finished works. These artists include Blu, Fons Schiedon and Karolina Sobecka.

Pablo Valbuena is another artist who can be added to the list. Valbuena pushes it further than these other artists and actually manages to alter our perception of real-world space through his animation. To get a sense of what I’m talking about, check out this piece he created in the Netherlands:

For the full effect of this piece, see the official video on Pablo’s website. His indoor experiments are equally mesmerizing. For all the talk of “stereoscopic 3D” animated features, all those films are still being projected onto a single surface . Valbuena is pursuing a more honest and exciting form of 3D animation by using three-dimensional space as his work canvas.

On his website, Valbuena offers the following explanation of what he’s trying to accomplish through his work:

“This project is focused on the temporary quality of space, investigating space-time not only as a three dimensional environment, but as space in transformation. For this purpose two layers are produced that explore different aspects of the space-time reality. On the one hand the physical layer, which controls the real space and shapes the volumetric base that serves as support for the next level. The second level is a virtual projected layer that allows controlling the transformation and sequentiality of space-time.

“The blending of both levels gives the impression of physical geometry suitable of being transformed. The orverlapping produces a three-dimensional space augmented by a transformable layer suitable to be controlled, resulting in the capacity through the installation of altering multiple dimensions of space-time.”

(via Submarine Channel)

Never thought I’d be posting about High School Musical 3, but I noticed this ad in yesterday’s paper and just had to comment.

Is that the bouncing ball I see at the top of the ad? Isn’t the “bouncing ball” property (or at least Intellectual Property) of Fleischer Studios or possibly Paramount Pictures? Even if they aren’t actually using the “Famous Bouncing Ball” in the Sing-along HSM3, isn’t it interesting that they use this iconic image - one created by Fleischer Studios - in their advertising?

Just asking.

The Blu-Ray release of Sleeping Beauty has generated a lot of attention, not only from the media, but also from animation fans who have noticed this version’s oversaturated colors, poor color timing and DVNR. The changes in color have also been noticed by industry professionals like Lou Romano, art director of The Incredibles, who writes on his blog that he prefers the 2003 DVD release and also posts a bunch of frame grab comparisons. I agree with Lou and everybody else; to my eyes, the colors in this new version look way too hot. It’s a shame that they can’t get the colors right on a film in which color plays such an integral role.

The winners of today’s little contest will receive a set of three Hanna-Barbera Mini-Books just published by Insight Editions.

The first three people to post correct answers in the comments below will win today:

Question: Scooby Doo made his television debut on September 13th 1969. What network did SCOOBY DOO WHERE ARE YOU premiere on?

The contest is now CLOSED! We have our winners. Check the COMMENTS below.