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To commemorate ten years of Cartoon Brew, I thought it would be fun to revisit our posts from earlier years. What happened in animation last year? Five years ago? Ten years ago?
Mark Mayerson, a TV show creator, animator, and teacher, has written what may be the single best thing I've ever read about the contemporary animation pitching process.
Dolphin Burger Studios, a workshop for disabled artists and animators in Brighton, England, has produced a fan-remake of the memorable stop-motion music video for Peter Gabriel's “Sledgehammer.”
The French animated feature "Ernest & Celestine" continues its expansion into U.S. theaters this weekend. Here is a list of everywhere that it's playing.
Starting out as a side character in the Wallace and Gromit short "A Close Shave" (1995), Shaun the Sheep became an unlikely franchise star. After getting his own line of merchandise and a spin-off television series (which was popular enough to spawn its own spin-off, "Timmy Time") Shaun is set to become the subject of Aardman’s next feature in spring 2015. The film currently doesn't appear to have a U.S. distributor.
A balloon dog is lost in a world of danger. One wrong step and his dancing days are done. Only love, and tango, can possibly save him.
After three years of tryouts and short runs in a total of four different cities, Disney Theatrical’s version of "Aladdin" finally opened on Broadway March 20th at the New Amsterdam Theatre. So now that it's here, how does it compare to the animated "Aladdin" we all know and love? After seeing the musical a few days ago, here are my observations.
This weekend, Disney’s "Frozen" became the highest grossing animated film of all time. Its $1.072 billion worldwide gross has surpassed the $1.063 billion of "Toy Story 3," which was the previous record-holder for biggest animated feature.
Next month, IDW, the publishing company that partnered with Cartoon Network last year for the comic book revivals of "The Powerpuff Girls" and "Samurai Jack," will be adding "Dexter’s Laboratory" to their library of monthly titles.
There are countless crowdfunding sites nowadays, but none have offered a viable alternative that challenges Kickstarter and Indiegogo's dominance. Patreon may change that though. The crowdfunding site offers a twist on the crowdfunding model that may prove attractive to filmmakers who want to produce content regularly.
"The Tom and Jerry Show" will premiere Wednesday, April 9th, at 5:30pm (ET/PT) on Cartoon Network. It's being pitched as "a fresh take on the iconic frenemies that preserves the look, core characters and sensibilities of the original theatrical shorts." Unlike the original 6-7 minute theatrical shorts, which were produced during the 1940s-'50s, the new episodes will be 11-minutes each.
The United States has surprisingly few animation festivals for a country of its size, but increasingly we are seeing smaller local events that serve as a substitute for the festival experience. Animation Breakdown is an ongoing series in Los Angeles, and Chicago animation fans, who already enjoy the Eyeworks Festival of Experimental Animation, will see the arrival of Animation Torrent next month.
The following two spots attracted my attention for the inventive ways in which they mixed live-action with animation: "Metamorphosis" for Hermès, directed by Julien Vallée of Vallée Duhamel, and "Inner Beauty" for Honda, directed by the venerable production team of Smith & Foulkes through Nexus Productions.
The Whitney Biennial is one of the most anticipated events in the world of art museums. Begun as an annual survey of American art in 1932, it became a biennial in 1973. Its overall purpose is to show a snapshot of the contemporary art world, often focusing on very recent works. For the art intelligentsia, it is often an excuse to complain about a) the state of contemporary art, and b) the curatorial choices made, or both—with occasional exceptions, such as the 2012 Biennial, which was met with overwhelming praise.
Ventriloquist Jeff Dunham, whose primary skill is spewing hate speech without moving his lips, has brought his shtick to animation with an hour-length animated special called "Achmed Saves America."
Cartoon Brew is pleased to announce the expansion of our extraordinary editorial staff, which furthers our commitment to covering the wide range of ideas and issues that impact the animation community.
There’s something about Steven’s dad Greg that doesn’t add up. Will we ever really know why Greg distances himself from his son? This week in “Onion Trade," we explored a dad’s horrible ability to remember things, witnessed Steven’s lack of male role models, and learned a lot more about Onion, a character who revealed quite a few new layers.
"Frozen" is beautiful to see, fun to sing along with and is a modern day marketing marvel, but the script has structural and performance issues that are worth examining because they impact directly on acting.
Patrick Oliphant (b. 1935) is one of the Old Masters of editorial cartooning. He began his career in his native Australia, then came to the US in 1964, and won the Pulitzer Prize for Editorial Cartooning in 1967, the first of many awards and accolades. The Gerald Peters Gallery in New York is presenting "Patrick Oliphant: A Survey," which includes 34 mostly new works ranging from charcoal and ink drawings, paintings in watercolor and oil, and bronze sculpture.
A new full trailer slipped out today for LAIKA's "The Box Trolls." Unlike the previous three teasers, this trailer provides some clues about the film's contents and the underground world of the Box Trolls, and manages to do so without revealing anything of consequence.