Notizie

Animation veteran Butch Hartman is preparing his next big venture into the world of family entertainment. The award-winning creator, best known for spearheading iconic cartoons like The Fairly OddParents and Danny Phantom on Nickelodeon, has launched his own independent animation studio aimed at producing and financing new faith-based and mainstream programs for kids and their families to enjoy. Butch Hartman Studios is already off to a red-hot start too, with three new series in the works as well as an expansion on Hartman's animated Christian show The Garden Cartoon. Already, The King of Kings former and The Chosencompany, Angel Studios, is currently carrying Season 1, and Season 2 is in production, with several movies, some of which are tied to Christian holidays, set to be released through BMG-Global.

Created by Hartman and executive produced by his wife, Julieann Hartman, The Garden Cartoon follows best friends Lenny the Lion and Lucy the Lamb,...

Animation veteran Butch Hartman, creator of Nickelodeon’s “The Fairly OddParents” and “Danny Phantom,” launched his own independent animation studio to produce and finance original faith-based and mainstream programming for kids and families. Butch Hartman Studios’ first production is the expansion of Hartman-created kids series “The Garden Cartoon.”

Exec produced by his wife Julieann through Garden Productions, “The Garden Cartoon” season one is available on Angel Studios and on various streaming platforms through distribution partner N Circle Entertainment. Now production is underway on season two while several “Garden Cartoon” movies, some timed to Christian holidays, will be distributed by BMG-Global. Capitol Records will continue to handle select songs from the series.

The studio’s privately-funded development slate also includes “Little Harps,” set at a Guardian Angel school that prepares new recruits to help kids on earth (aimed at ages 3-8); “Dragon Drive-Thru,” which follows a trio of dragons who...

Butch Hartman, the creator of two of Nickelodeon’s most famous kids shows in “The Fairly OddParents” and “Danny Phantom,” is going in a new direction for his next animation venture.

Hartman is set to launch Butch Hartman Studios, which will be an independent animation studio with the goal of producing and financing uplifting and original faith-based animated projects for both kids and families. The studio bills itself as a full-service production studio employing over 40 animation crew members, many of whom have worked on his past shows. Hartman’s longtime colleague Taylor Bradbury is a senior producer at the company.

The studio already has four different projects in development, and Hartman has even secured distribution deals with Angel Studios, which released the animated “The King of Kings” last month, and BMG-Global, which has also released a variety of faith-based movies and series. Butch Hartman Studios is privately funded, and all...

Danny Phantom creator Butch Hartman recently shared who he wants to see play the titular hero in a potential live-action movie.

During a panel at MegaCon in Orlando (via ComicBook.com), Hartman — who also created the Nickelodeon animated series The Fairly OddParents, T.U.F.F. Puppy and Bunsen Is a Beast — was asked about the possibility of a live-action Danny Phantom movie. If such a movie were to get the greenlight, Hartman revealed that he'd want "Tom Holland, all the way," to play the title character. "It's got to be Tom Holland," he reiterated.

Related Tom Holland Reveals Which MCU Movie He Rewatches 'Every Now and Then' With Zendaya Spider-Man actor Tom Holland reveals which Marvel movie he and Zendaya rewatch to reminisce about their early days in the franchise. What Is Danny Phantom About?

Created by Hartman as his second Nickelodeon series, Danny Phantom ran for three seasons and 52 episodes between 2004 and...

Timmy Turner was an average kid that no one understood. Now, in the first trailer for “The Fairly Oddparents: Fairly Odder,” we get to meet some other members of his family.

The new series, set to hit Paramount+ at the end of March, focuses on Timmy’s cousin, Vivian “Viv” Turner (Audrey Grace Marshall), and her new stepbrother, Roy Raskin (Tyler Wladis), as they navigate life in Dimmsdale with the help of the wacky fairies we know and love: Cosmo and Wanda.

Timmy himself will make an appearance in order to gift Cosmo and Wanda to the kids. And yes, he’s still wearing his classic pink hat. But, in place of his pink shirt, he’s wearing a Princeton sweatshirt — which might surprise fans of the original series, considering his relationship with school.

You can watch the full trailer for “The Fairly Oddparents: Fairly Odder” in the video here and above.

Butch Hartman has a long and storied history of creating great cartoon shows. Not only is he responsible for The Fairly OddParents, the second longest-running Nicktoon on Nickelodeon, but he’s also created several other popular shows including Danny Phantom and T.U.F.F. Puppy. And now here he is once again with a unique new Nickelodeon show, Bunsen is a Beast.

Bunsen is a Beast is a cartoon about Bunsen (voiced by Jeremy Rowley), the first beast to be integrated into the Muckledunk Middle School, and his new human friend Mikey Munroe (Ben Giroux). It also features self-appointed school safety monitor and beast-hater Amanda Killman (Kari Wahlgren) and a collection of other oddball characters such as Ms. Flap (Cheri Oteri) and Darcy, who circle the main pair during their adventures.

But what is a Beast, per se? Well, in Hartman’s creation, even within the Beast world there appears to be great variety,...

The 41st Annual Daytime Entertainment Creative Arts Emmy Awards were handed out Friday night, and thanks in part to its mighty Muppet militia, PBS emerged with more wins than any other network.

Related Daytime Emmy Awards to Stream Online, Forgo Televised Ceremony

Sesame Street‘s hub earned 10 total awards, as CBS followed with eight and The Hub Network nabbed six. Read on for all of this year’s winners:

Outstanding Pre-School Children’s Series

Sesame Street (PBS)

Outstanding Children’s Series

R.L. Stine’s The Haunting Hour: The Series (Hub Network)

Outstanding Pre-School Children’s Animated Program

Peg+Cat (PBS...

Nominations for the 41st Annual Annie Awards were announced and "Frozen" and "Monsters University" led the pack with 10 nominations each. "Despicable Me 2" and "The Croods" followed closely with 9 noms each.

I am rooting for "Frozen" to win! It's a return to form to what Disney does best -- affecting fairy tale with memorable musical numbers. "Monsters University," on the other hand, was bland. The film bored me on second viewing.

Steven Spielberg will receive the Winsor McCay Award for career achievement at the awards ceremony happening on Saturday, Feb. 1, at Royce Hall on the UCLA campus. Patrick Warburton will serve as host.

2013 Annie Award Nominations

Production Categories

1 . Best Animated Feature

A Letter to Momo . Gkids

Despicable Me 2 . Universal Pictures

Ernest & Celestine . Gkids

Frozen . Walt Disney Animation Studios

Monsters University . Pixar Animation Studios

The Croods . DreamWorks Animation

The Wind Rises . The Walt Disney Studios

2 . Annie Award for Best Animated...

Giving props to the hottest shows and stars rocking the airwaves during the day, the 2013 Daytime Emmy Awards nominees were just unveiled.

And the top nod-getter this year is “The Young and The Restless” with 23 chances at glory, while “General Hospital” nabbed 19 mentions.

“Days of Our Lives” and “Sesame Street” both tied for third place thanks to 17 nominations each, and there are plenty of other big names on the list as well.

The 2013 Daytime Emmy Awards will take place on June 16th. The nominees are:

Outstanding Drama Series

The Bold and the Beautiful

Days of Our Lives

General Hospital ABC

One Life To Live

The Young and the Restless

Outstanding Children’S Animated Program

Kung Fu Panda: Legends of Awesomeness

Penguins of Madagascar

Robot and Monster

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles

WordGirl

Outstanding Children’S Series

The Aquabats! Super Show

Everyday Health

R.L. Stine’s The Haunting Hour The Series

SciGirls...

The nominations are in! Ellen DeGeneres, The View and General Hospital lead the pack in the 2013 Daytime Emmy nominations.

Sam Champion read the 2013 Daytime Emmy Nominations on Good Morning America on May 1, and it’s a great list! General Hospital and The Young & The Restless were some of the many shows nominated, while Ellen DeGeneres, Katie Couric and the lovely ladies of The View are some of the hosts nominated. Read on for the full list.

Daytime Emmys 2013 — Full List Of Nominations

Outstanding Drama Series

The Bold and the Beautiful, CBS

Bradley P. Bell, Executive Producer

Rhonda Friedman, Edward J. Scott, SupervisingProducers

Ronald W. Weaver, Senior Producer

Mark Pinciotti, Coordinating Producer

Cynthia J. Popp, Colleen Bell, Casey Kasprzyk, Producers

Days of Our Lives, NBC

Ken Corday, Executive Producer

Lisa de Cazotte, Greg Meng, Co-Executive Producers

Janet Drucker, Tim Stevens, Coordinating Producers

Albert Alarr, Producer

General Hospital , ABC

Frank Valentini, Executive Producer

Mary-Kelly Weir,...

If you’re among the many fans who were heartbroken at the news that iCarly was ending, you’re first break from grieving hits Nick at Nite tomorrow at 8/7c (your second comes at a future date when Jennette McCurdy and Ariana Grande move to the dual spin-off Sam and Cat).

Hitting the absolute center of the blurry line between Nick and Nick at Nite, Wendell & Vinnie is (in some official, technical sense) reportedly an airing of Nick at Nite, celebrated on the homepage of nickatnite.com, but when you click through to the show’s homepage, you find yourself at nick.com/shows/wendell-and-vinnie.

There’s a certain sense to that, not just because of the timeslot, but because the show itself (insofar as original programming goes) does make it somewhat tricky to point to exactly where Nick at Nite begins and Nick ends. This probably makes even more...

I love the art of animation, and it's amazing to see how far things have come and advanced over the years. The industry is changing in terms of technology, but what it all really comes down to is telling good stories. There's been a lot of great animated movies this year, and many of them are up for several awards at the 40th Annual Annie Awards.

Some of the movies nomainated include Brave, Frankenweenie, Hotel Transylvania, ParaNorman, Rise of the Guardians, The Pirates! Band of Misfits, and Wreck-It Ralph. Out of those films my favorite is a toss up between Wreck-It Ralph and ParaNorman, those were two pretty incredible films. I think ParaNorman has the edge though.

Some of the other animated properties nominated are Batman: The Dark Knight Returns, Part 1, Disney Tron: Uprising, Justice League: Doom, Robot Chicken ‘DC Comics Special', South Park ‘Raising the Bar’, and several others.

Which of 2012′s animated films drew the most applause? According to the International Animated Film Society, Asifa-Hollywood, the options include Pixar’s Brave, Disney’s Wreck-It Ralph, and DreamWorks’s Rise of the Guardians. All three — among others — were nominated for animation’s highest honor today when the group named the contenders for its 40th annual Annie Awards. The prizes will be distributed Saturday, Feb. 2 in Los Angeles.

See who else made the cartoon cut with this list of nominees for the Annie Awards’ biggest honors. A full list of nominees can be found at the awards’ website.

Best Animated...

Part I: Preview Night, Wednesday

Here’s a look at the TV panels scheduled for Thursday, 7/12

Dedicated TV Series Panels-

10:30-11:30am: Room 6Bcf, Battlestar: So Say We All (w/Richard Hatch)- 35th anniversary panel

11am-12pm: Room 7Ab, Fairly Oddparents and T.U.F.F. Puppy (Nikelodeon); Room 25Abc, X-Play (G4)

12-1pm: Room 6A, Dragons: Riders of Berk (Cartoon Network)

12:45-1:45pm: Room 6De, Mad (Cartoon Network)

2-3pm: Indigo Ballroom, Power Rangers 20th anniversary

2:15-3:15pm: Ballroom 20, Psych (USA)

2:30-3:30pm: Room 6A, Teen Wolf (MTV)

3:30-4:30pm: Ballroom 20, Beauty and the Beast (CW)

4-5pm: Indigo Ballroom, Wilfred (FX)

4:40-5:45pm: Ballroom 20, Elementary (CBS)

5-6pm: Indigo Ballroom, Archer (FX)

6-7pm: Room 6Bcf, Nikita (CW)

6-7:15pm: Ballroom 20, Dexter (Sho)

6:30-7:30pm: Room 24Abc, Workaholics (Comedy Central)

8:30-9:30pm: Room 24Abc,...

Comic-Con International has released the full schedules for Preview Night, Wednesday, July 11, and the first full day at the Con, Thursday, July 12. We have pulled out all the movie, DVD, and TV-related events right here. You can also clickHere for the entire schedule, including comic book events.

Wednesday, July 11 - Preview Night

6:00-9:45 Special Sneak Peek Pilot Screenings

Comic-Con and Warner Bros. Television proudly continue their annual Preview Night tradition, with exclusive world premiere screenings of the pilot episodes of five of the most highly anticipated TV series pilots of the 2012-13 television season: 666 Park Avenue, Arrow, The Following, Revolution and Cult.

666 Park Avenue

At 666 Park Avenue, anything you desire can be yours...for a price. Lost's Terry O'Quinn and Desperate Housewives' Vanessa Williams headline this scary, seductive drama from Alloy Entertainment as the owners of a Manhattan apartment building who recruit an idealistic young couple...

The countdown to the end of "The Twilight Saga" on movie screens can officially start on July 12, when the cast makes its final Comic-Con appearance in support of the movies.

Comic-Con International has released the schedule for the opening day of the 2012 convention. "Twilight: Breaking Dawn Part 2" will kick things off in Hall H, the biggest room at the San Diego Convention Center. The movie hits theaters in November.

Other Day 1 headliners include sessions for "Dexter," which will feature both new cast member Yvonne Strahovski ("Chuck") and a trailer for fellow Showtime series "Homeland"; USA's "Psych," featuring a peek at episodes from the coming season; and The CW's new series "Beauty and the Beast" with Kristin Kreuk.

Other Hall H sessions include one for Walt Disney Studios' "Frankenweenie," "Oz the Great and Powerful" and "Wreck-It Ralph" and one for "The Expendables 2" with Sylvester Stallone and Co.

Warner Bros. TV...

Comic-Con 2012 is so close we can taste it! The epically badass geek convention is set to invade San Diego from July 11th to July 15th, and we can't wait to get over there and get crazy!

Comic-Con International has released the full schedules for Wednesday July 11th and Thursday July 12th, and there's a ton of stuff going on! It's going to kick off with a great first couple of days that will give you plenty of stuff to do! Wednesday looks like it's going to be an awesome day of pilot screens and Thursday has got stuff like Twilight... (fart) and Disney will be holding their big panel, along with a ton of other great stuff to check out!

I've gone through the schedule and put a *** next to all the event's we hope to be able to cover. If there's anything on the list you would like information on please let us know,...

ABC’s General Hospital leads the way with 23 nominations for Daytime Emmy Awards.

The television academy announced Wednesday that the venerable soap opera will compete with NBC’s Days of Our Lives, CBS’ The Young and the Restless and the canceled All My Children of ABC for best daytime drama. NBC’s The Bold and the Beautiful has won the trophy three years in a row but wasn’t nominated this year.

Other repeat winners are possible, though: Ben Bailey of Cash Cab was nominated for best game show host and Dr. Mehmet Oz as best talk show host.

Sesame Street...

Exclusive: Nickelodeon is finalizing a deal for a pilot order to a comedy starring iCarly‘s Jerry Trainor for its Nick At Nite nighttime block. Titled Wendell & Vinnie, the multi-camera project was created by Emmy-winning writer-producer Jay Kogen (Frasier). It stars Trainor as Vinnie, an irresponsible goofball who becomes the guardian to his conservative genius 12-year old nephew. Kogen is executive producing the pilot with Aaron Kaplan (Terra Nova, Gcb). While there has been speculation that the upcoming season of long-running comedy iCarly will be its last, Nickelodeon has not made a final decision yet and Trainor, repped by ICM and the Burstein Co., could perceivable do both series. He also voices the lead character in an animated Nickelodeon series, T.U.F.F. Puppy. This is the second original pilot for Nick At Nite, following the October pickup of Daddy’s Home starring Scott Baio. Like Daddy’s Home, Wendell & Vinnie was...

Exclusive: Nickelodeon has renewed animated series T.U.F.F. Puppy for a third season with a 20-episode order. While not a household name, T.U.F.F. Puppy, featuring the voice of iCarly’s Jerry Trainor, actually ranks as Nickelodeon's No. 2 animated program with kids 2-11, only behind juggernaut SpongeBob SquarePants. It averages 3.6 million viewers in Live+7. Puppy hails from Butch Hartman, who is also behind another successful Nick toon series, The Fairly OddParents.

Just in case you’ve never seen any of the shaky handheld video on YouTube and need a quick explanation: TV and movie panels at Comic-Con take place in ballrooms at the convention center, and stars and directors and showrunners show clips of their project and take questions from the audience. It is So. Much. Fun. This is a very brief summary of all of the show and movie panels currently scheduled to be at the 2011 Comic-Con.

There is a boatload of information available about each of these panels – and about everything other panel that will be there – if you go to the main site. Check out the full schedule, which is now downloadable as a Pdf, and see all of the amazing panels being offered, from comic book authors and artists to game previews to costuming to a celebration of Harry Potter fandom, and you’ll see the agony...

Sunday at San Diego Comic Con 2011 will be the day for gleek. Fox will hold a panel for its musical series "Glee" on July 24, during which a sneak peek to "Glee The 3D Concert Movie" will be shared. The network will additionally present a panel for its new animated comedy "Allen Gregory".

"Supernatural" panel will also take place on the last day of the convention. It will mark the first-time ever the CW series holds a presentation in Hall H. Jared Padalecki and Jensen Ackles are set to attend the event along with other cast members to present a sneak peek to the seventh season.

Also possibly attracting attendees are presentation for "Merlin" and "Sons of Anarchy" as well "Castle" panel, which will feature its lead star Nathan Fillion. Fans of animated works such as "The Cleveland Show", "Scooby-Doo" and "The Looney Tunes" can also expect sneak peeks to the shows on Sunday.

Comic-Con International has released the full schedule for Sunday July 24th for San Diego Comic-Con 2011. This is the final day of the convention. Sunday is known as Kids day and is usually the slowest of all the days, there are a few surprises though. In all my years of going to Comic-Con I've never been to a panel in Hal H. Usually nothing is happening in Hall H on Sunday, this year there are a few TV programs going on in Hall H such a as Glee, Supernatural, Doctor Who, The Cleveland Show, Sons of Anarchy, It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia, and this year Buffy the Musical will be in the great Hall as well. I've never been to the Buffy Musical event, and I think I finally want to go this year. A couple of other things worth noting are a one on one panel with Nathan Fillion, and Max Brooks talks about zombies.

Like always, Comic Con International is revealing the schedule of events day by day. It certainly makes planning a lot easier. But that's neither here nor there. There's a lot of panels to cover, so let's just get to it. Check out the pertinent film and television panels set for the first two days of the show after the jump.

The first "day" of the show is Preview Night only, so there's only a couple things happening that night:

6:00-9:00 Special Sneak Peek Pilot Screenings: Alcatraz, Person of Interest, The Secret Circle, and Supernatural: The Anime Series—

Comic-Con and Warner Bros. Television proudly continue their annual Preview Night tradition with exclusive world premiere screenings of the pilot episodes of three of the most highly anticipated TV series pilots of the 2011-12 television season — Alcatraz, Person of Interest, and The Secret Circle — as well as Supernatural: The Anime Series,...

We're less than two weeks away from the 2011 San Diego Comic Con, and convention organizers have finally released the schedule for the first day of programing. You can find the full schedule on comic-con.org [1], or after the jump I've listed the film and television highlights, which includes the Masters of the Web panel which I've been invited to be a panelist on (In full disclosure, I've been asked to be on this panel for a few years now, but I've only just recently gotten over my fear of speaking in front of large audiences). It should be a fun panel, and I hear they will be giving away some really cool prizes as well. Wednesday (Preview Night) 6:00-9:00 Special Sneak Peek Pilot Screenings: Alcatraz, Person of Interest, The Secret Circle, and Supernatural: The Anime Series— Comic-Con and Warner Bros. Television proudly continue their annual Preview Night...

San Diego Comic-Con has released the full schedules for Wednesday's Preview Night and Thursday. We have pulled out all of the movie, TV, and DVD-related activities for both nights below. If you want the full schedule with all the comic-book related activities, you can clickHere.

Wednesday, July 20 - Preview Night

6:00-9:00 Special Sneak Peek Pilot Screenings: Alcatraz, Person of Interest, The Secret Circle, and Supernatural: The Anime Series

Comic-Con and Warner Bros. Television proudly continue their annual Preview Night tradition with exclusive world premiere screenings of the pilot episodes of three of the most highly anticipated TV series pilots of the 2011-12 television season -- Alcatraz, Person of Interest, The Secret Circle -- as well as Supernatural: The Anime Series, the first-ever anime adaptation of a U.S. television series. Ballroom 20

Alcatraz

From executive producer J.J. Abrams (Super 8, Fringe) and showrunner Elizabeth Sarnoff (Lost) comes Alcatraz,...

Comic-Con International has unleashed the full schedule for Wednesday and Thursday for the San Diego Comic-Con 2011, and there is going to be a ton of stuff to keep you incredibly busy and entertained.

Like I've been saying it's never to early to start planning, and there is a ton of stuff here that we are looking forward to checking out. I've gone through the list and put exclamation points next to all of the events that we are looking forward to attending. What panels and events are you looking forward to?

We will be at Comic-Con in full force this year, bringing you everything you need and want to know about. We will also be having a GeekTyrant meet-up this year, which we announce soon.

See you at the con!

Wednesday July 20th

!!! 6:00-9:00 Special Sneak Peek Pilot Screenings: Alcatraz, Person of Interest, The Secret Circle, and Supernatural...

The weekend’s here. You’ve just been paid, and it’s burning a hole in your pocket. What’s a pop culture geek to do? In hopes of steering you in the right direction to blow some of that hard-earned cash, it’s time for the Fred Weekend Shopping Guide - your spotlight on the things you didn’t even know you wanted…

(Please support Fred by using the links below to make any impulse purchases - it helps to keep us going…)

By now, fans know what to expect from Warners deep, dense, impressively comprehensive Harry Potter Ultimate Editions, which means the wait for the rest of the series to get the treatment has sometimes been quite a hard one to bear. Thankfully, we’re nearing the end with the release of Harry Potter And The Order Of The Phoenix: Ultimate Edition & Harry Potter And The Half-Blood Prince...

iCARLY Duo Jerry Trainor And Jennette McCurdy Star As Brilliant Gamers Set To Compete In The Ultimate Virtual Showdown In Nickelodeon Original TV Movie Best Player, Premiering Saturday, March 12, At 8 P.M. (Et/Pt)

From the Press Release:

Santa Monica, Calif., Feb. 23, 2011 – Jerry Trainor and Jennette McCurdy, stars of the mega-hit comedy series iCarly, go head-to-head as video game rivals in Nickelodeon’s brand-new original TV movie, Best Player, premiering Saturday, March 12, at 8 p.m. (Et/Pt). The two-hour, primetime movie follows Quincy (Jerry Trainor) and Chris (Jennette McCurdy), two online video game junkies who inadvertently learn that the real world can be just as exciting and rewarding as the virtual one.

“Jennette and Jerry bring the same great comedic sensibility to this movie that has endeared them to leagues of iCarly fans,” said Marjorie Cohn, President, Original Programming and Development, Nickelodeon. “Both are hugely talented and versatile actors and...

The Annie Awards, Animation's Highest Honor, went all the way for DreamWorks Animation's "How to Train Your Dragon!" The fun, animated film, originally received 15 nominations and won 10 trophies including Best Animated Feature.

Given by the International Animated Film Society, the 38th annual Annie Awards was not without controversy. Apparently, Disney and Pixar announced they would no longer participate in the annual awards because of their concerns over how the event is judged.

The studios claimed the Annie Awards have always been slighted towards DreamWorks Animation. And this year, both DreamWorks film ("How to Train Your Dragon") and TV ("Kung Fu Panda Holiday") topped the Annie Awards.

"Dragon," featuring the voices of Jay Baruchel, Gerard Butler, America Ferrara, Jonah Hill, and Craig Ferguson, beat Annie contenders such as Universal's "Despicable Me," Disney's "Tangled," Sony Pictures Classics' "The Illusionist," and Pixar's "Toy Story 3" for best animated feature. (Check out...

With awards season is underway comes the 38th Annual Annie Award nominations, which recognize the year’s best work in animation. Since the creation of the animation-specific Oscar category in 2001, the Annies have predicted the Academy Award winner every year except 2006 and 2008.

Unfortunately, the award has been tainted by controversy after CEO Jeffrey Katzenberg reportedly bought each DreamWorks Animation employee a membership in the International Animated Film Society, Asifa-Hollywood, skewing the voting in the studio’s favor. This likely resulted in a surprise sweep by DreamWorks Animations’ Kung Fu Panda at the Annies in 2008-2009 over Pixar’s eventual Oscar winner, Wall-e.

Disney Studios has since pulled its official support of the event and submissions for the awards, though individual animators are able to submit their films themselves. As a result, the rules were changed for individual achievement categories, but Disney sought a neutral committee of animators from every studio to propose and approve guidelines.

The International Animated Film Society, Asifa-Hollywood, announced nominations today for the 38th Annual Annie Awards™ recognizing the year’s best in the field of animation including best animated feature, television production, commercials, short subjects, video games and outstanding individual achievements.

Two years ago, Kung-Fu Panda swept the awards over Wall-e pushing Disney and Pixar to withdraw from the organization and making everyone else wonder if there is any point in caring anymore about the ceremony. Toy Story 3 and Tangled did get Best Picture nominations, but DreamWorks (who pretty much run the show) lead the nominees.

According to /film, Disney’s reason for withdrawing was rooted in the organization’s very loose membership requirements and the fact that DreamWorks seemed actively working to stack the deck in the studio’s favour. Disney-Pixar president Ed Catmull said earlier this year,

“After more than a year of discussions with the Asifa board,...

The full list of nominations for the 38th Annie Awards were announced today with Dreamworks’s How to Train your Dragon gathering up the majority of nominations including Best Feature, Animation, Character Design and Voice Work for Gerard Butler and Jay Baruchel, as well as Directing nominations for Chris Sanders and Dean DeBlois.

Pixar’s Up took home the Best Animated Feature earlier this year at the 2009 awards and when the awards are announced next February Lee Unkrich and his team are up from a number of awards, along with Disney’s Tangled, but the recent decision of Disney to withdraw support for the awards may go some way to explaining the relatively few number of nods.

It has been a great year for animation as the films on the list below attest, and it’s nice to see Sylvain Chomet’s enchanting film The Illusionist scoring a point against the domination of CG here.

DreamWorks Animation's "How to Train Your Dragon" flew high above competition by nabbing 15 nominations for the 38th annual Annie Awards given by the International Animated Film Society, Asifa-Hollywood. ("How to Train Your Dragon" movie review)

"Dragon," featuring the voices of Jay Baruchel, Gerard Butler, America Ferrara, Jonah Hill, and Craig Ferguson, will duke it out with Universal's "Despicable Me," Disney's "Tangled," Sony Pictures Classics' "The Illusionist," and Pixar's "Toy Story 3" for best animated feature. ("How to Train Your Dragon" interviews)

But there's controversy in the Annie Awards world. The Hollywood Reporter is saying that "Disney and Pixar announced they would no longer participate in the annual awards because of their concerns over how the event is judged."

Apparently, Disney was complaining that the Annie Awards has favored DreamWorks in recent years such as when "Kung Fu Panda" won 10 trophies and beat Pixar's "Wall-e" in 2008.

This year, DreamWorks Animation...

The month of December, January, and February pretty much means near-daily updates of award nominations and selections. The latest is for the 38th Annual Annie Awards, awarding excellence in the animation area. Leading the pack is How To Train Your Dragon, a film I recently re-watched and loved just as much as in the theater. Also getting big nods are Despicable Me, Tangled, The Illusionist, and Toy Story 3. Check out the full list below.

Production Categories

Best Animated Feature

* Despicable Me – Illumination Entertainment

* How to Train Your Dragon – DreamWorks Animation

* Tangled – Disney

* The Illusionist – Django Films

* Toy Story 3 – Disney/Pixar

Best Animated Short Subject

* Coyote Falls – Warner Bros. Animation

* Day & Night – Pixar

* Enrique Wrecks the World – House of Chai

* The Cow Who Wanted To Be A Hamburger – Plymptoons Studio

* The Renter – Jason Carpenter

Best Animated Television Commercial

* Children’s Medical Center – Duck Studios

* Frito Lay Dips “And Then...

Disney has tough competition in the form of itself this year, as “Tangled” and “Toy Story 3″ will compete against one another, along with a host of other fantastic animated films, at the 38th Annual Annie Awards.

The Annie Awards will be a battleground for the upcoming Oscar animation awards. This year, only three animated films will be nominated. Why? Because the rules that govern the Oscars are laughably outmoded. But that’s beside the point.

Fact is, the Annie Awards deserve attention amongst the many other awards shows because so many great animated films were released in 2010, arguably more than traditional films. “Tangled,” “Toy Story 3,” “How to Train Your Dragon,” “Despicable Me” and “The Illusionist” will jostle for the Best Animated Feature award.

Here’s a list of all the nominees.

Best Animated Feature

“Despicable Me” (Illumination Entertainment)

“How to Train Your Dragon” (DreamWorks)

“Tangled” (Disney)

“The Illusionist...

The International Animated Film Society Asifa-Hollywood has announced the nominees for the 38th Annual Annie Awards, and the DreamWorks feature How to Train Your Dragon leads the pack with more than ten nods. But there's a caveat; that and the full list of nominations after the break. This will be the first Annie Awards after Disney and Pixar withdrew from the organization [1] that organizes the awards. Toy Story 3 and Tangled did get Best Picture nominations, and Lee Unkrich was nominated Best Director. But in the feature deaprtment this is DreamWorks' show, with a few nods toward the Warner Bros. film Legend of the Guardians and a scant few other features such as The Illusionist. Disney's reason for withdrawing was rooted in the organization's very loose membership requirements (read: almost non-existent requirements, until recently) and the fact that DreamWorks seemed actively working to stack the deck in the studio's favor.

How To Train Your Dragon has dominated the nominations for the Annie Awards awarded by the International Animation Society.

It will compete for the top category against The Illusionist, Despicable Me, Tangled and Toy Story 3. It is surprising that Tangled and Toy Story were nominated since they withdrew from the International Animation Society.

Here is the complete list of nominations:

Best Animated Feature

Despicable Me – Illumination Entertainment

How to Train Your Dragon – DreamWorks Animation

Tangled – Disney

The Illusionist – Django Films

Toy Story 3 – Disney/Pixar

Best Animated Short Subject

Coyote Falls - Warner Bros. Animation

Day & Night – Pixar

Enrique Wrecks the World - House of Chai

The Cow Who Wanted To Be A Hamburger - Plymptoons Studio

The Renter - Jason Carpenter

Best Animated Television Commercial

Children’s Medical Center - Duck Studios

Frito Lay Dips “And Then There Was Salsa” - Laika/house

‘How To Train Your Dragon...