News

Kent Melton, the animation sculptor who created maquettes made of clay for iconic characters found in movies including Aladdin, The Lion King, Mulan, The Incredibles and Coraline, has died. He was 68.

Melton died Thursday at his home in Stone County, Missouri, of Lewy body dementia, family members told The Hollywood Reporter.

One of the few artists left in the industry who still sculpted in clay, Melton was a key player in the Disney animation renaissance of the 1990s. Later, he helped Laika Studios become a stop-motion powerhouse. Along the way, he was entrusted by animators to bring their two-dimensional drawings into a three-dimensional world.

Melton’s first Disney credit came on Aladdin (1992), followed by work on such other studio films as Thumbelina (1994), The Lion King (1994), Pocahontas (1995), The Hunchback of Notre Dame (1996), Hercules (1997), Mulan (1998), The Prince of Egypt (1998), Tarzan (1999), The Road to El Dorado (2000), Atlantis: The Lost Empire (2001), Spirit: Stallion of the Cimarron...

On Friday nights, IndieWire After Dark takes a feature-length beat to honor fringe cinema in the streaming age.

First, the spoiler-free pitch for one editor’s midnight movie pick — something weird and wonderful from any age of film that deserves our memorializing.

Then, the spoiler-filled aftermath as experienced by the unwitting editor attacked by this week’s recommendation.

The Pitch: When the Going Gets Tough, Santa’s Reindeer Get the Hell Out of Florida

Despite the fact that Santa, ice cream, and bunnies are three topics famously enjoyed by young children, letting your kids anywhere near “Santa and the Ice Cream Bunny” feels like a surefire way to make them swear off Christmas altogether and embark on a path towards atheism.

I’ve seen enough excruciatingly bad Christmas specials in my day to accept that our collective standards for holiday content are significantly lower than they are for anything that...

Will Ryan, the veteran voice actor known for breathing life into such classic Disney characters as Willie the Giant and Peg-Leg Pete, who also once served as the president of international animation organization Asifa, died on Friday afternoon following a short battle with cancer. He was 72.

Ryan’s passing was confirmed to Deadline by his CelebWorx agent, Nery Lemus.

Born on May 21, 1949, Ryan embarked on his career in the 1980s, finding a breakthrough role in the pteranodon Petrie from Universal’s animated dinosaur classic, The Land Before Time. He’d go on to amass more than 100 screen credits in his nearly four-decade career, nabbing nominations from the Annie Awards and the WGA Awards, and winning a Behind the Voice Actor Award. Ryan was also nominated for an Emmy in 1998 as the producer of Outstanding Children’s Program contender The Wubbulous World of Dr. Seuss, from Nickelodeon and The Jim Henson Company.

It’s the fourth year of the partnership.

The CBeebies Christmas Show is returning to cinemas in the UK and Ireland this winter, with the BBC partnering with distributor Modern Films on the release for the fourth successive year.

Billed as ‘a family outing and a great first big-screen experience for kids’, the screening is of an interactive show, including songs for the audience to join in with. The story of this year’s show is The Night Before Christmas.

The show will be staged and filmed at the Theatre Royal Plymouth in October, in front of a local audience.

The Academy Awards celebrated its 25th anniversary on March 19, 1953 by being telecast for the first time in its history. Bob Hope hosted the celebration for NBC at the Rko Pantages Theater in Hollywood while Conrad Nagel had the Mc duties at the NBC International Theatre in New York. And the show captured the largest single TV audience at the time.

The Best Picture nominees were Fred Zinnemann’s thrilling Western “High Noon,” MGM’s lavish epic “Ivanhoe,” John Huston’s dazzling biopic on Toulouse Lautrec “Moulin Rouge,” John Ford’s warm hug of an Irish romantic comedy “The Quiet Man” and Cecil B. DeMille’s penultimate film as a director, “The Greatest Show on Earth.”

The surprise winner was “The Greatest Show on Earth,” which was the box office champ of the year earning $14 million domestically and $36 million worldwide. Critics were not so kind to his cotton-candy colored melodrama set...

Streaming services have been doing an excellent job of keeping everyone busy as we all continue quarantining, and Disney Plus has been no exception. June was a particularly strong month for the platform with the additions of huge titles like Tarzan, Tarzan 2 and Avengers: Infinity War.

Meanwhile, July is already shaping up to be fantastic, too, with upcoming drops like the musical Hamilton, animated film Ice Age: Collision Course and classic sports movies like The Mighty Ducks and The Big Green. Of course, when Disney Plus giveth, Disney Plus taketh away, and the start of July means we’ve lost a few awesome films as well that some fans are sure to miss.

One of the biggest losses is Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides. Johnny Depp reprises his signature role as Jack Sparrow in this fourth installment of the popular franchise that acts as a standalone followup to 2007’s At World’s End.

If you’re looking to expand your home video library and catch up on some movies during these trying times, Disney just gave your bank account a little breathing room. The Mouse House is offering a number of promotions as part of an on-going flash sale which begins this week. Many of their movies will be available for digital purchase for $4.99. In addition, the films are broken up into categories and each one will have its own sales period.

The first category, called “Feel Good Movies,” started on April 14th and features a mixture of musical and romantic comedies including Bohemian Rhapsody and Pretty Woman. This selection of films, which you can see in full below, is available until April 20th, when the next group begins.

You might be asking yourself, why would I want to pay $5 for these movies when I can just subscribe to Disney Plus for the...

Modern Films to bring family production to 300+ cinemas for a second year.

Modern Films, the UK distribution and production banner led by Eve Gabereau, has partnered with the BBC for a second year in taking on the UK theatrical rights to the annual CBeebies Christmas Show and is planning an event cinema release.

Through its family-focused brand, Modern Films Family, the company has booked the stage production of Hansel & Gretel into more than 300 UK cinemas including Cineworld, Vue, Odeon, Showcase and Picturehouse Cinemas from November 30 to December 1. Encore screenings are being planned throughout December.

This version of the Grimm...

“How to Train Your Dragon” director Dean DeBlois grew up wanting to be a comic-book artist. After meandering his way through fine-arts classes at Sheridan College for a year, however, he managed to get into the school’s summer animation program, where he found his calling.

“Animation had everything I love about comic books — you design your world and your characters, tell your story — but it was brought to life and could reach a worldwide audience in a way that I didn’t think comic books could,” says DeBlois, who is being honored by Variety as a Billion Dollar Director.

As that first summer came to a close, he submitted his portfolio to Hinton Animation Studios, where he started out as an “inbetweener” on the hand-drawn TV series “Raccoons,” later transitioning into the layout department for Hinton’s first feature, “The Nutcracker Prince.”

“It was terrible, but it allowed me...

The 20th helmer to take on a Pixar short since the mid-1980s, and the the first woman to do so, Bao‘s Domee Shi is now on the path to making her feature debut, with the backing of one of the most impactful animation studios in the world. “We’re just developing the story for it right now,” Shi says. “It’s super early on, but I’m really excited to play in this new 90-minute film format.” A storyboard artist behind a key sequence in Incredibles 2 and the upcoming Toy Story 4, Shi’s experience with Bao—a learning process, in which she took the reins and offered up her voice—demonstrates just how significant Pixar’s shorts are, as a platform to launch exciting new voices into the animation world.

Screening in front of Incredibles 2, Bao centers on a Chinese-Canadian woman struggling with empty nest syndrome,...

facebook

twitter

google+

Don Bluth and Gary Goldman just moved one step closer to making a Dragon's Lair movie...

Don Bluth and Gary Goldman may well have got another movie off the ground, with the news that their Indiegogo appeal to bring videogame Dragon's Lair to the big screen has hit its funding target. That said, it's still the first step in a fairly lengthy adventure.

The crowdfunding appeal launched just over two weeks ago, and still has over a month left. However, over $260,000 is in the pot already, and that's going to be spent to put together a teaser presentation. Said presentation will then be used to pitch the film to investors, as the pair need $70m to actually get the film made. Which is a little beyond the reach of a crowdfunding campaign.

Bluth and Goldman have worked on films such as All Dogs Go To Heaven, Thumbelina,...

Fifteen years ago today, DreamWorks released The Prince of Egypt — an epic Exodus adaptation with an incredible cast, including (but not limited to) Val Kilmer, Sandra Bullock, Michelle Pfeiffer, Ralph Fiennes, Helen Mirren, Steve Martin, Martin Short, Jeff Goldblum, Danny Glover, and Patrick Stewart. (Seriously, how great would it be to have a dinner party with that group?)

But the people who are perhaps most responsible for The Prince of Egypt’s legacy don’t even appear in the film: They’re Whitney Houston and Mariah Carey, the voices behind a little diva duet to end all diva duets called “When You Believe.

"Look at this stuff, isn't it neat? Wouldn't you think my collection's complete?"

Those famous lyrics have been ingrained in girls', boys', and adults' heads ever since Princess Ariel sang about walking out of the sea to be with her prince in "The Little Mermaid."

The groundbreaking animated film, which won two Oscars for Best Original Score and Best Original Song, is celebrating its 25th anniversary come 2014 and to celebrate, Disney is releasing a Diamond Edition of the film on October 1, 2013.

Moviefone Canada got the chance to talk to Ariel herself, actress Jodi Benson, who voiced the underwater princess not just for the original film but for the sequel, the TV series and the Kingdom Hearts video game. Benson, who began her career as a Broadway actor, has also voiced Thumbelina in the movie of the same name as well as Barbie in "Toy Story 2" and "Toy Story 3.

Each week within this column we strive to pair the latest in theatrical releases to worthwhile titles currently streaming on Netflix Instant Watch. This week we offer alternatives to This Means War, The Secret World of Arrietty and Undefeated.

Tomorrow in theaters it’s spy versus spy when two secret agents become romantic rivals, a scrappy underdog team fights their way to football glory and a teeny teen discovers a grand new world. But if you want more action-romance-comedies, more heartwarming sports tales, and more spirited adventures with pint-sized protagonists , we’ve got you covered with the best titles Now Streaming.

Chris Pine and Tom Hardy play a brawny pair of debonair spies who turn into prank-prone rivals when they uncover they’re dating the same woman. Reese Witherspoon co-stars, McG directs.

Do you desire more love, action and laughs?

Charade (1963) In this cheeky classic, Audrey Hepburn stars as a...

Each week within this column we strive to pair the latest in theatrical releases to worthwhile titles currently available on Netflix Instant Watch. This week we offer alternatives to Puss in Boots, The Rum Diary and In Time.

This Friday a pop star-turned-action star battles time and its wealthy rulers, while a costumed cat seeks a sky-high dream and a drunken Lothario goes abroad for romance and rum. But if these flicks cannot quench your thirst for fractured fairy tales, sci-fi thrills and angst-ridden anti-heroes, we’ve got you covered with a tantalizing selection of choice movies available online.

Before he was swashbuckling alongside Shrek, this ferocious feline (Antonio Banderas) was crossing swords with the cat burglar Kitty Softpaws (Salma Hayek), stealing magic beans from the gruff outlaws Jack & Jill (Billy Bob Thorton & Amy Sedaris) and teaming up with the crafty criminal mind Humpty Dumpty (Zach Galifianakis). [Review here]

Like your fairy tales with a twist?...

Adam Rose/Fox Cat Deeley hosts “So You Think You Can Dance.”

Overall tonight, the judges talked a lot about Improvement. Probably because that was the rationale for keeping Ryan. They also talk a lot about the choreography. And emotional portrayal of character. Although the show is not supposed to be So We Think You Have Potential, or So You Think You Can Choreograph, or So You Think You Can Emote. There were four judges tonight instead of just three,...

The Dallas International Film Festival Announces Scott Z. Burns to receive the Dallas Shining Star Award

Horton Foote to be posthumously honoured with the Dallas Star Award

Chris Sanders and Dean Deblois named as recipients of the Texas Avery Animation Award

Additions to the Festival Line Up

The Dallas International Film Festival presented by Cadillac (March 31 . April 10, 2011) announced today that two new Honorees have been added to the slate of Dallas Star Award recipients . writer, producer and director Scott Z. Burns (The Informant, The Bourne Ultimatum) and posthumously to Texas legend and Academy-Award winner Horton Foote(To Kill A Mockingbird, Tender Mercies). The popular Texas Avery Animation Award presented by Reel FX Entertainment will be awarded to the writers and directors of the Academy Award nominated How To Train Your Dragon and Lilo & Stitch, Dean DeBlois and Chris Sanders. Previous recipients include Pete Docter (Up), Henry Selick (Coraline),Chris Wedge (Robots)and Brad Bird (Ratatouille,...

"Harry Potter" author J.K. Rowling has won the Hans Christian Andersen Literature Prize. She is the first recipient of the 500,000 kroner ($93,352) award, which was handed out October 19 at a ceremony in Odense, Andersen's hometown.

The prize is given to a person who can be compared to Andersen, the Danish writer who was born in 1805 and wrote some 160 fairy tales and poems before his death in 1875.

Rowling said the author of such classics as "The Little Mermaid", "The Little Match Girl," "Thumbelina," and "The Ugly Duckling" had "created indestructible, eternal characters."

Rowling herself has made a significant contribution to the world of literature - seven books about the boy wizard have sold more than 400 million copies worldwide and have been translated into multiple languages.