Is CG animation on the decline? That’s unlikely, but Tuesday’s Annie nominations favored stop-motion and 2-D this year. And they lend some sense of direction as to where the Oscar animation category may be trending. The Annies are not historically as Pixar-friendly as the Oscars tend to be: they went with Happy Feet over Cars in 2006, and last year they shut out Wall-e to favor DreamWorks’ Kung Fu Panda. So even though Henry Selick’s tour-de-force 3-D stop-motion film Coraline dominated Tuesday’s Annie noms with ten, Up is still the Oscar fave in the animation category. But what will fill out the Oscar dance card’s five … »

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By Steve Pond
“Up” may be a prohibitive favorite in the Oscars' animated feature category, but the Annie Awards are not always enamored of Pixar’s critically acclaimed films.
Last year at the Annies -- which are presented by the International Animated Film Society -- the Pixar film “Wall-e” didn’t win a single award, while “Kung Fu Panda” swept nearly all the top prizes. (“Wall-e” went on to win the Oscar.)
And on Tuesday, when the 2009 nominations were announced, “Up” took second place to Henry Selick’s “C... »
- Steve Pond

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DreamWorks Animation is ending the Shrek franchise at four films.  The final fairy tale — now titled Shrek Forever After and scheduled for May 21, 2010 — promises to be full of pop culture references and celebrity voice overs.
USA Today has the first official photo from Shrek 4 (see below), plus this quote from Bill Damaschke, head of creative production at DreamWorks, “All that was loved about Shrek in the first film is brought to the final film.” Mmm parfaits…
This is a different tune than DreamWorks Animation was singing two years ago when it was factoring in a fifth film already for its animation slate through 2013.  I suppose the success of Kung Fu Panda and its upcoming sequel means Dwa can rest easy knowing there’s another franchise out there to milk dry.  The article neglects to mention Shrek spin-off Puss in Boots with the voices of Antonio Banderas, Salma Hayek, and Zach Galifianakis. »
- Jeff Leins

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"Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles" co-creator Kevin Eastman, publisher of 'illustrated adult fantasy' art magazine "Heavy Metal", recently said that director/producer James "Avatar" Cameron will co-executive produce Eastman's developing "Heavy Metal" animated film adaptation, with Cameron interested in directing one episode.
Other creatives interested in developing single animated episodes are directors David "Fight Club" Fincher and Zack "Watchmen" Snyder.
Mark "Kung Fu Panda" Osborne is also interested in developing a comedic segment with Jack Black.
"Heavy Metal" magazine originated in the mid-1970's, when publisher Leonard Mogel of "National Lampoon" fame was in Paris to start a French edition of Nl and discovered the sex/violence French science-fantasy magazine "Métal Hurlant".
Mogel licensed a Us version, retitled it "Heavy Metal" and debuted his glossy mag in 1977, displaying English translations of graphic stories previously published in "Métal Hurlant" by Enki Bilal, Jean Giraud (aka 'Moebius'), Phillippe Druillet, Milo Manara, Richard Corben and Philippe Caza. »
- Michael Stevens

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Hot stuff Angelina Jolie has dethroned left-wing talk-show host Oprah Winfrey by becoming the world’s most powerful celebrity by simply having her picture taken a lot and cashing in her kids.
Though Oprah is still the biggest money-maker with $275 million, the 34-year-old Jolie captured the No.1 spot due to a combination of earning power and exposure. In the annual list presented by Forbes magazine, Jolie, whose human rights work along with a poop load of photos of her and hubby Brad Pitt, made $27 million in the past year including $14 million for a magazine deal which gave exclusive rights of the couple’s twins, Know Leaon and Vivienne Marcheline.
Joli recently completed work on her latest project, the spy film Salt.
It’s due out July 23rd.
12/5/09 Editor’s Note: The crossed out numbers were not counted for 2009’s Forbes Celebrity 100 list. They counted towards her No.3 placement in 2008. Here »
- Reel Loop News Staff

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Dreamworks Animation announced today that Leonardo DiCaprio has joined his first animated feature film, their upcoming release The Guardians. This is not to be confused with the Zack Snyder directed Warner Bros. release The Guardians of Ga'Hoole, as DiCaprio will be voicing Jack Frost. And Jack Frost is clearly not an owl. Directed by Peter Ramsey (a story artist who has worked on Shrek the Third, Fight Club and other fine films), The Guardians tells the story of a group of holiday heroes -- Santa, the Easter Bunny, the Tooth Fairy, the Sandman and Jack Frost -- who band together to take on an evil spirit called Pitch, who dares to take over the world by inspiring fear into the hearts of its children. The film will show that these "Guardians" are more than just holiday icons, all possessing special powers that will come in handy against this new form of evil. It's »
- Neil Miller

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Following yesterday's Independent Spirit Award Nominations [1], The Annie Awards have also revealed their full list of nominees for this year. This is the annual award ceremony for the International Animated Film Association, celebrating animation in all of its forms. Sometimes these awards can help predict what movie will win the Best Animated Feature at the Oscars, although it's not always entirely reliable (last year Kung Fu Panda swept Wall-e [2] in every category). As we discussed on this week's podcast [3], it's shaping up to be a pretty tight race for Best Animated Feature this year, and if the Annies are any indication, it looks like Henry Selick's Coraline may have the edge. It was nominated for a total of 10 Annie Awards, including Best Animated Feature, Character Design, Voice Acting, and Music. Check out the list of nominees in all the feature-length categories after the jump. Best Animated Feature Cloudy With a Chance of Meatballs »
- Sean

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The nominees for the 2010 Annie Awards were also announced today and Focus Features' Coraline topped the list of feature nominees with 10 with Pixar's Up following with 9 and Disney's Princess and the Frog scoring 8. All three films were included in the running for Best Animated feature along with Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs, The Secret of Kells and Fantastic Mr. Fox.
Last year the Annie Awards came under some scrutiny as Kung Fu Panda blanked the soon-to-be Oscar winner Wall-e. The reason for the uproar being DreamWorks was one of the org's top sponsors (which they still are). This year Monsters vs. Aliens is the only DreamWorks Animated feature making any noise (4 nominations), but it looks like Sony Pictures Animation has bumped up their contributions to become a "Gold Sponsor". Will there again be uproar if Pixar's Up doesn't walk away with the top prizes or Disney's The Princess and the Frog. »
- Brad Brevet

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Today the International Animated Film Society announced the nominations for the 2010 Annie Awards ceremony, and stop-motion feature Coraline lead the pack with 10 nominations.  The ceremony is scheduled for February 6, 2010.
The Henry Selick creation will compete for best feature with another stop-motion movie, Wes Anderson’s Fantastic Mr. Fox, along with Pixar’s Up, Disney’s 2D The Princess and the Frog, Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs, and The Secret of Kells.
I was glad to see Disney’s A Christmas Carol get completely snubbed from the Annies, especially after Robert Zemeckis made a fool of himself by suggesting motion capture get its own Academy Award.
The Annie Award is usually a reliable indicator of which film will win the Oscar for “Best Animated Feature,” matching it seven of the nine years since the Academy category was created.  Though, to be fair, last year Kung Fu Panda upset Wall-e for »
- Jeff Leins

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Is it really 22 years since Dolph Lundgren and a rubber faced Frank Langella battled for control of the Universe?
That film never lived up to the potential of the cartoon and was something of a disappointment. Having the battles raging on Earth instead of under the Eternian sky was a mistake, as was not including Orco; the result was a derivative mess and (this may be against sacred HeyUGuys lore) I didn't really care for it.
In recent years the property has fallen into the maudlin mists of nostalgia, however this has not halted the return of He-Man and the Masters of the Universe to the screen and Variety is reporting that the rights to the film adaptation have moved from Warner Bros to Columbia. Those following the saga of Justin Marks' Grayskull script may be disappointed to learn that Columbia are going back to the drawing board with the movie, »

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