Studio Ghibli‘s animated adventure movie The Boy and the Heron is continuing to blaze a trail for anime, in Europe, Asia and North America. Following its Golden Globes win last week, the first ever for a non-English animated feature, the movie has crossed multiple box office milestones in Europe. Pic has grossed £3.9M at the UK
Animation
UPDATED with latest: The 2023 Oscars are history, and as Hollywood gets a brief respite from awards madness — though Emmy season looms — it’s time to look ahead at what’s ahead trophy show-wise. Here is a shortened list of awards shows, events and the like as we look ahead to warmer climes and Emmy
After one Japanese title delivered at the sleepy December box office last weekend, that being Godzilla Minus One, here’s another that’s set to dominate: Studio Ghibli and GKIDS’ Hayao Miyazaki‘s The Boy and the Heron which is looking at a No. 1 lead with $10M+ after $2.39M Thursday and early access previews. The comp here
Independents are out in force with high-profile fall festival fare from Pricilla to The Holdovers, a big Viva Pictures push with Inspector Sun (voiced by Ronny Chieng), Cannes documentary winner Four Daughters and Waikiki, the debut feature by Hawaiian filmmaker Christopher Kahunahana. the first homegrown feature to be shown there. Sofia Coppola’s Priscilla from A24
EXCLUSIVE: Hot Wheels producer Kickstart Entertainment has snapped up a Cartoon Network Studios exec to run its kids and family development slate in LA. Nicole Rivera will build and manage a slate featuring the likes of Hot Wheels Monster Trucks, American Girl and Angry Birds: Summer Madness. She is tasked with developing animated and live-action
Days before Spin Master/Paramount/Nickelodeon’s PAW Patrol: The Mighty Movie opens with a shot at No. 1 and $20M, a third theatrical movie has been announced for 2026. The long-running preschool franchise, which is celebrating its tenth anniversary, saw its first theatrical release under Paramount (and Elevation Pictures in Canada) open during the pandemic, day and
Studio Ghibli has a new lead shareholder in the shape of Nippon Television Holdings. A joint statement noted Nippon, one of Japan’s leading media and broadcasting congloms, was acquiring 42.3% of the Spirited Away and My Neighbor Totoro studio, according to Reuters. This gives Nippon a leading position in the famed anime house. No financial
It’s a Dora like you’ve never seen her before — in complete CGI animation. Nickelodeon is relaunching the famed Latina explorer in new animated theatrical short, Dora and the Fantastical Creatures, exclusively in theaters on Friday, Sept. 29 preceding the Spin Master Entertainment/Nickelodeon Movies/Paramount picture, PAW Patrol: The Mighty Movie. The new CGI animated preschool
New Line’s new animated movie, The Lord of the Rings: The War of the Rohirrim, is moving from its April 12, 2024 release date to Dec. 13 next year. The move stems from a chain-reaction of Warner Bros re-dating today, spurred by Legendary Entertainment’s Dune: Part Two going from Nov. 3 this year to March
Mike Reiss, a writer and former showrunner on The Simpsons, admits he’s “not optimistic” about a rescue of the missing submarine that was exploring the Titanic wreckage. He has an informed opinion – it’s a vehicle he has taken several trips on prior to this incident. The submersible “Titan” vehicle has been missing since June
It’s official. Velma will be back. Max confirmed the renewal of Mindy Kaling’s adult animated series for a second season. Suzanna Makkos, EVP, Original Comedy and Adult Animation, Max and Adult Swim, revealed the renewal during a panel at Annecy International Animated Film Festival Thursday, where she also talked about upcoming projects and previewed Max’s upcoming adult
After the massive weekend success of Sony Animation’s Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse, many rival studios are looking at executing their comic book IP differently on the big screen. Quite often, animated superhero projects are released directly to the home (think Warner Bros-DC’s myriad superhero toon movies like 2010’s Superman/Shazam!: The Return of Black Adam and
EXCLUSIVE: Wheelhouse DNA, Canada’s Frederator Studios and social media comedy star Adam Waheed are joining forces for an animated comedy series. We hear the unnamed series is now in development ahead of production, marking the first partnership between Wheelhouse DNA and Frederator and series writing and starring debut for Waheed, who’s better known as Adam
Comedy is back; Super Mario Bros has proved that laughs are good for a half billion dollars. The antihero business is intact. Both Guardians of the Galaxy Vol 3 and John Wick: Chapter 4 hit their marks. But affairs of the heart are still suffering at the movie box office. Love Again is the latest
EXCLUSIVE: Disney’s live-action take of 2x Oscar nominated animated feature, The Little Mermaid, officially landed on tracking today for what looks to be a $110M 4-day opening. That will land the movie among the top eight openings for the holiday, last year Paramount’s Top Gun: Maverick scoring a record start of $160.5M. Of course, Little
FRIDAY AFTERNOON: Illumination is looking at another record 3-day as the Universal/Nintendo co-production Super Mario Bros Movie is on its way to a $72M Friday-Sunday, the best second weekend for the animation studio. That’s a 51% ease at 4,371 theaters after a $20M second Friday, -64%. Running total by end of Sunday will be $332.8M.
EXCLUSIVE: Illumination/Universal/Nintendo’s The Super Mario Bros Movie just landed on tracking this morning ahead of its Easter weekend release, and the animated film is shaping up to make at least $85M-$90M+ over its Wednesday through Sunday launch — and that’s on the conservative side. Given the fervent response by fans to trailers, it would not
Aniplex and Crunchyroll of America’s Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba – To the Swordsmith Village grossed $10.1 million this weekend in 1,780 theaters. That’s a fourth place finish at the domestic box office but still half the opening of Demon Slayer: Kimetsu No Yaiba – The Movie: Mugen Train which opened to a smash $21
The show about nothing now has a spinoff about nothing. The audience is rapidly increasing for “Nothing, Forever,” described as an AI-generated and nonsensical version of “Seinfeld” that streams on Twitch. Motherboard reported on the show on Tuesday. The Twitch account that the show runs on is called @watchmeforever, now has more than 83,000 followers as
Aqua Teen Hunger Force is returning for another season. Adult Swim on Wednesday gave the green light for five new episodes from original creators Dave Willis and Matt Maiellaro. The Season 12 order comes just before the premiere of the latest feature film Aqua Teen Forever: Plantasm, which arrives on HBO Max next month and
UPDATED, 4:15 p.m.: Studio Ghibli set the internet abuzz on Thursday when it hinted at a collaboration with Lucasfilm. And now, Disney+ has given the project a name — that being Zen – Grogu and Dust Bunnies. Zen is an original, animated short directed for the streaming service by Katsuya Kondo, which will be released
Friday Afternoon: It’s not anime that will have the upper hand at the weekend box office, but the People’s Champion. Dwayne Johnson’s New Line DC movie Black Adam is looking to bring in a third Friday of $3.7M-$4.3M for what looks to be a $14M-$16M third weekend at 3,985 theaters, -45% for a running total
Fans of Fate: The Winx Saga, take heart. Creator Iginio Straffi has posted that there are other projects in the works now that the Netflix live-action series has been canceled after two seasons. “Fate has been an exciting adventure, a great achievement, and a hit watched by millions globally, re-confirming the power of the Winx world,” Straffi wrote
Andy Samberg has found his voice cast for animated comedy series Digman! Tim Robinson, star of oddball Netflix sketch comedy I Think You Should Leave, is one of six cast in the series, which also includes Mitra Jouhari (Three Busy Debras), Dale Soules (Orange Is The New Black), Guz Khan (Our Flag Means Death), Melissa
Global anime destination Crunchyroll will release the anticipated One Piece Film Red in the U.S. and Canada on Nov. 4. The film, produced by Toei Animation and One Piece creator Eiichiro Oda, will hit theaters in Australia and New Zealand the day before, on Nov. 3, following a release in Austria and Germany Oct. 13.
Disney’s movie and television studios including Marvel Studios, Lucasfilm, Walt Disney Studios, Pixar and Walt Disney Animation Studios, 20th Century Studios and Disney Branded Television revealed plenty of news at the D23 Expo, which ran September 9-11 at the Disneyland-adjacent Anaheim Convention Center. Highlights included panels loaded with cast and creatives behind almost every big
Summer Camp Island creator Julia Pott is sharing her disappointment with HBO Max’s decision to pull the series as part of an upcoming content purge in unscripted and animated genres. “We worked for five years to make 100 episodes of animation,” Pott wrote on Twitter. “We worked late into the night, we let ourselves go,
Jered Barclay, a longtime stage and screen actor who found a second career as a TV voice-over artist for series including The Smurfs and The Transformers, has died. He was 91. His longtime friend Myra Turley said Barclay died July 23 of MDS leukemia in North Hollywood, CA. Hollywood & Media Deaths In 2022: Photo
Rick and Morty are heading back to Adult Swim. Season 6 of the two-time Emmy-winning animated comedy series will premiere globally and across the multiverse on Adult Swim on Sunday, September 4, at 11 p.m. ET/PT. “It’s hard to overstate the impact of Rick and Morty,” said Michael Ouweleen, president of Adult Swim and Cartoon
We’re getting the first look at Netflix’s anticipated anime series Cyberpunk: Edgerunners based on the Cyberpunk 2077 video game. The streamer unveiled the teaser trailer on Day 3 of its Geeked Week. Netflix also announced the series will premiere in September. Cyberpunk: Edgerunners tells a standalone, 10-episode story about a street kid trying to survive