Aardman’s latest feature The Pirates! Band of Misfits, directed by Peter Lord, debuted in second place in the US with $11.1 million. It’s Aardman’s weakest opening ever in the US. However, it was considered on a par with studio projections, and the film should end up with a respectable run, especially considering that no other animated films are set to be released in May.

For comparison, here’s how other Aardman features have opened in the US:

Chicken Run (2000): $17.5 million
Wallace and Gromit: The Curse of the Were-Rabbit (2005): $16 million
Flushed Away (2006): $18.8 million
Arthur Christmas (2011): $12.1 million

Man, I can’t wait to see this film (I’ll be seeing it at an ASIFA-Hollywood screening tomorrow). It opened today to great reviews: Manohla Dargis of The New York Times calls it “a curiosity cabinet of visual pleasures”, while Kenneth Turan of The Los Angeles Times says its “a clever piece of business that is a complete pleasure to experience”.

How about you? This talkback thread is open only to those who have actually seen the film (your comment will be deleted if we detect you haven’t seen it – and we can tell). Tell the world what you think in the comments section below.

Here’s our second look at Genndy Tartakovsky’s feature for Sony Pictures Animation, Hotel Transylvania.

Here’s what I believe to be the final, all-encompassing, mega trailer for Brave. It reminds us that Pixar created Wall-E, Toy Story 3 and Up (so as not to confuse this pic with any DreamWorks/Blue Sky/Illumination film), and includes several gorgeous new shots we haven’t seen before. Looks good, sez I…

Adam Ciolfi has been essentially working alone on his stop-motion feature The Lady of Names for the last 15 years. He’s done almost everything himself, from designing the sets to photography and animation; he even constructed the orchestral score. Is it a masterpiece or a misguided mess? Either way, you have to admire Ciolfi’s obsession in finishing the picture. In L.A. the film will be screened this Sunday, April 29th at 2:45pm at the Newport Beach Film Festival.

Last year it was garden gnomes, later this year it’s Foosball. This Argentine-Spanish co-production is being directed by Oscar-winner Juan José Campanella (The Secret in their Eyes) and Disney veteran Sergio Pablos (Tarzan, Hercules, executive producer of Despicable Me, character designer for Rio) is an animation supervisor on this project.

Just released: another trailer, an alternate cut for Laika’s new stop-motion feature ParaNorman. Compare it to trailer #3 to note the additional scenes. Lookin’ good to me – this is shaping up to be a very interesting year for features.

(Thanks, Ovi Nedelcu)

Digital Domain CEO John Textor (pictured above with his wife) envisions big things for his company’s new feature animation studio in Port St. Lucie, Florida called Tradition Studios. While we’ve written about the studio’s ambitious feature film plans, what wasn’t known until recently is how Textor intends to create the films. His plan is to convince students to pay Digital Domain to work on its films for free.

The blog VFX Soldier has obtained a speech that Textor gave last November to investors in which he revealed how the company’s new animation school Digital Domain Institute will be integrated with the Tradition studio. Textor told the audience:

Classes starting in the education space, what’s interesting is the relationship between the digital studio and the college.  Not only is this a first in a number of ways that we’ve talked about, but 30% of the workforce at our digital studio down in Florida, is not only going to be free, with student labor, it’s going to be labor that’s actually paying us for the privilege of working on our films.

Now this was the controversial element of this and the first discussions with the Department of Education, ’cause it sounds like you’re taking advantage of the students.  But we were able to persuade even the academic community, if we don’t do something to dramatically reduce costs in our industry, not only ours but many other industries in this country, then we’re going to lose these industries .. we’re going to lose these jobs.  And our industry was going very quickly to India and China.

Students, in other words, will pay up to $105,000 for the “privilege” of working on Digital Domain’s features, the first of which will be The Legend of Tembo. As VFX Soldier points out, “It’s one thing to work for low pay, it’s another thing to work for free, but it’s unfathomable to be expected to pay to work for free.

If all of this sounds a little fishy, that’s because it is. The Animation Guild in Los Angeles is exploring whether Digital Domain might be in violation of state and federal labor laws. They’ve tried to communicate with multiple Florida government agencies, including the state’s Department of Education, with no luck yet. Federal labor laws, however, would appear to be in favor of artists as they clearly stipulate that interns cannot “perform productive work” (i.e. work on the production of a film) without being compensated with at least minimum wage and overtime pay. (Minimum wage, by the way, is $7.67 per hour in Florida.)

As animation education programs proliferate around the United States and competition intensifies for a finite number of jobs, studios find themselves in a position to exploit young artists more aggressively than ever before. Whether it’s Titmouse relocating its studio nearly 3,000 miles away to avoid paying its employees union wages or Digital Domain making people pay to work on its films, there are plenty of legal loopholes that studios can exploit to save a buck on the backs of their production crews. And some studio CEOs are so proud of themselves that they’ll publicly boast about how they’re getting away with it.

UPDATE: John Textor’s “Free Student Labor” Comments Have Staying Power

UPDATE #2: John Textor Made $16 Million In 2011 While Digital Domain’s Revenue Dropped

UPDATE #3: Digital Domain CEO John Textor Caught On Video: “Free Labor is Much Better Than Cheap Labor”

(Photo of Debbie and John Trextor via TCPalm.com)

A kick-ass Santa Claus, Sandman, Tooth Fairy, and Easter Bunny take on the dark forces of evil – via William Joyce and Guillermo del Toro. This Dreamworks production opens November 21st and here’s our first look at the animation:

Last week we posted a first-look link to a Russian language version of the trailer for Genndy Tartakovsky’s forthcoming Hotel Transylvania. Today, Sony Animation uploaded the U.S. English language version and we have a better idea of how it works with Adam Sandler and the all-star voice cast. Here it is:

Those of you who only know of Marsupilami from Disney’s Raw Toonage 20 years ago, might be surprised to learn that the character has been a beloved Belgium comic book character since 1952. And you might even be more surprised to know there’s now a French live action/animation feature coming out next month.

Directed and starring Alain Chabat (Asterix and Obelix Meet Cleopatra) HOUBA! On the Trail Of The Marsupilami opens April 4th in France – and, though furry fans may like it, it looks pretty dumb. Click here to see the trailer.

(Thanks, Tony McCarson)

It’s an international trailer. Watch it at WorstPreviews.com.