As part of their worldwide effort to kill traditional hand drawn animation, Disney will fire its Japanese animators in June. Read about it here.
After the Japan studio is shut down, the only remaining overseas Disney studio will be in Australia.

According to Internal Correspondence Vol. 2 (aka ICv.2) Quentin Tarantino is planning to write and produce an anime feature film, which will serve as a prequel to his two Kill Bill films.Production IG is expected to create the film, which will be done in the same style as the animated segments in Kill Bill I. The prequel will provide Bill’s backstory by explaining how he became such a ruthless killer. Tarantino will write and produce (but not direct) the anime prequel.

Movielink, the broadband video-on-demand service, announced today it has launched a new “Cartoon Classics” section on its Web site through a licensing agreement with Classic Media and its affiliate, Bullwinkle Studios.Movielink will make over 350 half-hours of classic cartoon programming available for download. Under the terms of the agreement, consumers can download episodes of Rocky & Bullwinkle, Dudley Do-Right, as well as classic Famous Studio (Harveytoons) cartoons with Casper the Friendly Ghost, Joe Oriolo’s TV Felix the Cat, and UPA’s Dick Tracy and Mr. Magoo.

Financial website Motley Fool has posted this editorial by Rick Aristotle Munarriz, which asks “Remember when Disney’s golden animated features drew huge crowds and rave reviews?”Munarriz says… “Disney has been slowly dismantling its animation division… that could be a huge mistake. Blaming the medium instead of the messenger is akin to blaming your tailor because you gained a few pounds. You simply can’t make a blanket statement that hand-drawn animation is dead and that computerized renderings are the way of the future.”Would Finding Nemo have bombed if it were hand-drawn? I doubt it. Would Home on the Range have been a box-office blockbuster if the barnyard critters were dolled up on high-end Silicon Graphics machines? Nope.”There are plenty of computer-animated television shows out there, but the favorites are hand-drawn like SpongeBob and Rugrats. It’s not the format. It’s not pixels versus inkblots. It’s the story.”

You’ve heard of Disney Dollars?
In Japan, it’s Astro Bucks!Tokyo’s Takadanobaba district will start using Astro Boy currency this week, according to an ABC News article. The currency features the image of the famous anime hero, and many shops, organizations and Waseda University will use the currency for community revitalization efforts and environmental activities.
The article states: “Astro Boy’s strength was measured in horsepower and therefore 1 horsepower of the currency will be equivalent to 1 yen. The bills come in denominations of 10, 100 and 200 horsepower.”
Buddy, can you spare an Astro-dime?

I picked up a great reference book over the weekend (at Ray Courts Hollywood Collector’s show at the Beverly Garland Hotel). VITAPHONE FILMS by Roy Liebman is a helluva reference work.It’s a 455 page reference book, with lots of great stills, cataloging every feature, short and cartoon released under the Vitaphone banner. Each film has a Vitaphone “release number” (which is not the same as Warner Bros. cartoon production numbers), release date and other data (for cartoons he includes a one-line plot synopsis).I’m still digging through the entries, but I just found a release number for a PHILBERT trailer and an ADVENTURES OF THE ROAD-RUNNER trailer. Who knows what else is in here?
Here’s the Amazon link

I’m not sure this is worth $60, but it sure is cool. A 1952 letter from MGM Cartoon producer Fred Quimby, on nifty MGM Tom & Jerry stationery.
Check it out on eBay.

It’s a big day in Los Angeles, as two oddball 2-D animated features open in local area theatres.HOME ON THE RANGE is Disney’s final film in a series of traditional hand drawn features dating back to SNOW WHITE in 1937. Even if they revive the animation studio someday in the future, this film will be noted as the last of the original line. I liked it, but the reviews have been luke warm. Roger Ebert was not impressed.TAMALA 2010 opens at the Nuart Theatre in West L.A. - it’s a bizarro Japanese anime, sort of a “Hello Kitty” from Hell. Vitagraph Films (American Cinematheque) is putting this cool looking picture in art theatres across the U.S.