GKIDS and Beijing Film Panorama have partnered to present ANIMATION IS FILM BEIJING, a special animation section within the upcoming Beijing Int’l Film Festival (BJIFF), which runs April 13-20, 2019. The ANIMATION IS FILM BEIJING lineup will be the largest slate of non-Chinese feature film animation ever to be presented in China and will highlight […]
Archive for March, 2019
Gkids and Beijing Partner To Present “Animation Is Film Beijing” Festival April 13-20
March 30th, 2019 
Jerry Beck 
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ANIME REVIEW: “My Hero Academia: Two Heroes”
March 30th, 2019 Charles Solomon One of the biggest anime hits of recent years, the broadcast series My Hero Academia (2016) blends the popular genres of the superhero adventure and the high school comedy-drama. The first feature, My Hero Academia: Two Heroes, earned a 100% Fresh score on Rotten Tomatoes and a respectable $28 million in its US theatrical release […]
BOOK REVIEW: “Aardman: An Epic Journey Taken One Frame at a Time: An Autobiography”
March 27th, 2019 Charles Solomon For decades, “animation” meant drawn animation in America. Except for George Pal’s Puppetoons, stop-motion was a minor variant, used for movie monsters, Alka-Seltzer commercials and the occasional holiday special. But in recent years stop-motion animation has enjoyed an unprecedented efflorescence. One of principle creators of that flowering is the Aardman Animations studio. The found dialogue […]
Anime Review: “Pokémon the Movie: The Power of Us”
March 26th, 2019 Charles Solomon Although Pokémon is no longer the craze bordering on mania it was 20 years ago, the property remains extremely popular. The TV series, which runs to more than 800 episodes, enjoys a worldwide audience on TV, streaming services and discs; YouTube lists more than 100,000,000 Pokémon films. Pokémon merchandise is ubiquitous, and on a typical […]
Anime Review: “Made in Abyss: Journey’s Dawn”
March 24th, 2019 W.R. Miller What’s inside the Abyss? It’s a giant hole in the middle of an island, thousands of feet deep. It beckons explorers and fortune-seekers to build a city around it, for within its depths are valuable relics—and monsters. Those who dare to retrieve the relics are known as “cave raiders.” Some are orphaned children, exploited by […]
GKIDS Acquires North American Rights to “Children Of The Sea”
March 20th, 2019 Jerry Beck GKIDS today announced it has acquired the North American distribution rights for the animated feature Children Of The Sea. GKIDS will release the film theatrically in both Japanese and English language versions. The film is the latest feature from Japan’s STUDIO4°C (known for Tekkonkinkreet, MFKZ, Mind Game, Animatrix, Batman: Gotham Knight, and others), and is […]
FULL TRAILER: “Toy Story 4”
March 19th, 2019 Jerry Beck The toys hit the road in Toy Story 4 alongside friends—new and old—foes and, of course, Forky. Filmmakers welcomed Christina Hendricks, Keanu Reeves and Ally Maki to the toy box today, revealing the three new characters they help bring to life. Check out the new trailer and image!
REVIEW: Paramount’s “Wonder Park”
March 15th, 2019 Martin Goodman Cameron “June” Bailey is an irrepressible young girl who, by age 10, proves capable of mentally designing an amusement park that Disney’s Imagineers would envy. Her parents admire her creativity; Mom whispers June’s suggestions into the ear of Peanut (a monkey with a magic pencil) and a magical ride appears in June’s imaginary “Wonderland”. (Makes […]
Stoopid Buddy’s “Blark & Son” Now Available on Comedy Central Originals
March 13th, 2019 Jerry Beck Stoopid Buddy Stoodios, the studio founded by Seth Green, John Harvatine IV, Matthew Senreich and Eric Towner, announced today that the studio’s live-action puppet comedy, Blark & Son, is now exclusively available on the recently launched Comedy Central Originals YouTube channel. Created by Ben Bayouth, and developed with Head Writer Adam Aseraf, the entire first […]
New “Looney Tunes Cartoons” to Debut During Opening Ceremony at Annecy
March 11th, 2019 Jerry Beck Bugs Bunny, Daffy Duck and the Looney Tunes are back! The classic characters from Warner Bros. Animation return in Looney Tunes Cartoons, a series of new shortform cartoons, debuting at the Annecy International Animation Film Festival in June 2019. The next chapter of the iconic Looney Tunes story, featuring a cartoonist-driven approach to storytelling, will […]
Toronto Animation Arts Festival International Announces Award Winners
March 5th, 2019 Jerry Beck Today, the Toronto Animation Arts Festival International (TAAFI), the premiere destination for animated arts in Toronto, announced award winners for the TAAFI 2019 Film Festival at the Hot Doc Ted Rogers Cinema, which ran on February 15 – 17. Following a successful weekend of artistry and excitement, the film festival celebrated and showcased animated talent […]
Disney Channel Announces Key Executives to Lead Development of Animated Programming: Joe D’Ambrosia to run Disney Junior
March 5th, 2019 Jerry Beck Joe D’Ambrosia has been promoted to general manager, Disney Junior, broadening his current role of senior vice president, Original Programming, and rounding out another benchmark period of growth for the preschooler brand. He will now oversee all extensions of the Disney Junior experience on- and off-screen, and will continue to be responsible for all development […]
ANIME REVIEW: “Samurai Champloo: The Complete Series”
March 4th, 2019 Charles Solomon When Cowboy Bebop concluded in 1998, viewers waited eagerly to see what Shinichiro Watanabe would do next. After directing two short films for the anthology feature The Animatrix in 2003, he released the broadcast series Samurai Champloo in 2004. It was worth the wait. Although it was a science fiction series about a “space cowboy”/bounty […]
