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TAG FOR “Disney”Cartoon Brew's home for up-to-the-minute, unedited announcements and press releases direct from industry sources.
January 9, 2012 9:28 am
Since posting our 2012 animation book preview, I’ve updated the list with additional titles, and one of those books deserves its own post. It’s being released this winter in honor of the 75th anniversary of Disney’s first feature Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs. The title of the book is The Fairest One of All: The Making of Walt Disney’s “Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs” and the author is the esteemed J. B. Kaufman, whose earlier books South of the Border With Disney and Walt in Wonderland: The Silent Films of Walt Disney (with Russell Merritt) are highly valued for their original research and thoroughness. In Kaufman’s able hands, this book has easily moved to the top of the heap as one of my most-anticipated animation books of 2012. The book will be published by the Walt Disney Family Foundation Press, and it will be accompanied by an exhibition of Snow White artwork at the Walt Disney Family Museum in San Francisco, currently scheduled to open in November. 18 Comments » posted in Books, Classic, Disney, J. B. Kaufman, Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs, Walt Disney Family Museum 
January 8, 2012 7:56 am
Wolcott Gibbs was the the drama critic of The New Yorker for many years, but he also wrote about other sorts of stuff, such as this smart take on The Three Caballeros. A lot more of Gibbs’ writing can be found in the new collection Backward Ran Sentences: The Best of Wolcott Gibbs from the New Yorker
33 Comments » posted in Disney, Three Caballeros, Wolcott Gibbs
January 2, 2012 12:05 am
Let’s ring in the new year with a look ahead at the animated features of 2012. The animated feature glass was half-full last year. Whereas in 2010, five of the top ten highest-grossing features in the US were animated, last year only one animated film ranked in the US top 10—Cars 2. Around the world, however, animation fared better in 2011, earning 3 of the top 10 spots at the global box office (and if you count The Smurfs, four of the top ten). Our 2011 list focuses primarily on films set for release in the United States, but we’ve also rounded it out with a few foreign films. Of course, we’ll be covering dozens of other foreign and indie feature productions throughout the year, but even with the films below, 2012 is already looking like a decent year. If you know of other must-see animated films this year, please let us know in the comments. LIST OF 2012 FEATURES BY SCHEDULED RELEASE DATE
The Secret World of Arriety Release Date: 2/17 Plenty more films after the jump 67 Comments » posted in Disney, Feature Film, Pixar, aardman, Brave, dreamworks, Frankenweenie, Hotel Transylvania, Ice age: Continental Drift, Le Magasin des Suicides, Madagascar 3, Okami kodomo no ame to yuki, Paranorman, Ribbit, Rise of the Guardians, Secret World of Arriety, The Lorax, The Pirates! Band of Misfits, Wreck-it Ralph
December 24, 2011 9:10 am
Alan Menken’s song “Be Our Guest” from Beauty and the Beast sounds familiar to a theme from the first movement of Gustav Mahler’s Symphony No. 3. It’s a good thing that the Walt Disney Company respects the purpose and intent of public domain laws that allow artists like Menken to be inspired by earlier creative works. Oh wait… (via Nick Cross’s Twitter) 25 Comments » posted in Disney, Alan Menken, Beauty and the Beast, copyright, Gustav Mahler, IP, Public domain
December 19, 2011 12:05 am
Veteran effects animator Dorse Lanpher passed away this past Friday (12/16). His presence will be sorely missed. I first met Dorse in the period after the Disney rebellion, during the making of The Secret Of Nimh (the United Artists publicity photo above is from 1981) and though I can’t say I knew him well on a personal level, he was always a friendly face to run into a various animation events. I just had a nice conversation with him at last month’s CTN Expo. Lanpher was one of the industry’s best, having honed his craft at Disney on Sleeping Beauty and 101 Dalmatians. He left the studio during production of The Sword In The Stone to work on industrial films. He directed a handful of religious TV specials in the 1970s (Christmas Is, Easter Is, etc.) then returned to Disney to do effects animation on The Rescuers, Pete’s Dragon and The Black Hole. Joining the Bluth renegades he contributed to Nimh, American Tail, Dragon’s Lair and Space Ace. Lanpher rejoined the Disney fold with Roger Rabbit, then toiled on every significant Disney animated feature, from The Little Mermaid (1989) all the way through to Home on The Range (2004). Last year Lanpher self-published a memoir called Flyin’ Chunks and Other Things to Duck: Memoirs of a Life Spent Doodling for Dollars. The book, and his blog, are well worth reading. His artist granddaughter, Holly Conrad, sent in this tribute:
18 Comments » posted in Disney, Dorse Lanpher
December 5, 2011 6:00 pm
Walt Disney was born December 5th, 1901. Today would be his 110th birthday. He started as an independent cartoonist and filmmaker and built an empire based on animated cartoons. Rest in peace Walt – the world is a better place because of you. Cartoonist Mark Tatulli honored the day with today’s Lio (above). Brazilian animation director Ale McHaddo marked the occasion by creating this parody (embed below), D. On Ice, a sci fi animated musical and a satiric jab at the Disney of today (and tomorrow). 34 Comments » posted in Disney, Ale McHaddo
December 3, 2011 6:00 pm
The Cinefamily’s Animation Breakdown festival (co-sponsored by Cartoon Brew) – going on right now in L.A. at the Silent Movie Theatre on Fairfax – has turned out to be a huge success. Sunday brings Animation Block Party’s Brunch with animators (including Adventure Time’s Tom Herpich premiering the new AT short Thank You, creator Steve Dildarian (The Life and Times of Tim), and a sneak peek of Titmouse’s new Disney show Motorcity), a screening of mind-blowing Polish animated children’s films, and clay-animation genius Bruce Bickford in person. Tuesday night at 8pm I will be presenting a special program of rare Walt Disney silent films. Direct from The Museum of Modern Art, I’ll be showing brand-new 35mm restorations of previously “lost” Disney Laugh-O-Gram cartoons (his very first series of animated shorts, produced in Kansas City during 1922). These include Jack The Giant Killer, Goldie Locks and The Three Bears, The Four Musicians of Bremen and Little Red Riding Hood. In addition to these early updates/parodies of classic fairy tales, we also have Disney’s original Puss In Boots (1922) and several other 35mm rareties: two of Disney’s live action/animation “Alice Comedies”, one of the rarest “Oswald the Lucky Rabbit” cartoons ever made, and live musical accompaniment to all the films. Several of these shorts were thought lost for many years, and thanks to animation archaeologists David Gerstein and Cole Johnson, MoMA restored several of these cartoons they had long held in their archives, previously misidentified under alternate titles. For more background information on the discovery of these incredible finds, check David Gerstein’s blog; Tickets to the Laugh-O-Grams screening are available here. Disney fans – this is a must-see!
7 Comments » posted in Disney, Events, laugh-o-grams
December 2, 2011 6:00 pm
Times are tough in Toontown… Opening tomorrow (12/3) in Winter Garden (near Orlando) Florida is the Theme Park Connection, a pawn shop specializing in buying or selling authentic Walt Disney memorabilia, from costumes from the Haunted Mansion to signs from the Splash Mountain ride. According to Click Orlando:
Click here to see a video of the shop. |
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