News

Variety's Awards Circuit is home to the official predictions for the upcoming Oscars from Film Awards Editor Clayton Davis. Following Academy Awards history, buzz, news, reviews and sources, the Oscar predictions are updated regularly with the current year's contenders in all categories. Variety's Awards Circuit Prediction schedule consists of four phases, running all year long: Draft, Pre-Season, Regular Season and Post Season. Eligibility calendar and dates of awards will determine how long each phase lasts and will be displayed next to revision date.

To see all the latest predictions, of all the categories, in one place, visit The Collective

Draft>>>Pre Season>>>Regular Season>>>Post Season

2021 Oscars Predictions:

Best Animated Feature

Updated: Mar. 4, 2021

Awards Prediction Commentary: “Over the Moon” continues to miss in a few key spots like art directors and could be that Oscar morning snub we aren’t anticipating, even with the love for Glen Keane pouring through the branch.

Variety's Awards Circuit is home to the official predictions for the upcoming Oscars from Film Awards Editor Clayton Davis. Following Academy Awards history, buzz, news, reviews and sources, the Oscar predictions are updated regularly with the current year's contenders in all categories. Variety's Awards Circuit Prediction schedule consists of four phases, running all year long: Draft, Pre-Season, Regular Season and Post Season. Eligibility calendar and dates of awards will determine how long each phase lasts and will be displayed next to revision date.

To see all the latest predictions, of all the categories, in one place, visit The Collective

Draft>>>Pre Season>>>Regular Season>>>Post Season

2021 Golden Globe Predictions:

Best Motion Picture – Animated

Updated: Feb. 24, 2021

Awards Prediction Commentary: The Golden Globes nominations were announced on Feb. 3, with Netflix’s “Mank” from David Fincher leading with six nods. As the ceremony approaches on Feb. 28, the categories have been analyzed to determine...

One of the most influential artists working in the medium of animation over the last half-century, Glen Keane brought his long-awaited debut feature to the screen just last fall. That film—the musical fantasy Over the Moon—certainly was worth the wait.

Bringing splendid life to both modern-day China and a fantastical realm known as Lunaria, Over the Moon centers on Fei Fei, a 14-year-old Chinese girl who has long been told the legend of the Moon goddess Chang’e. While struggling to cope with the loss of her mother, the teenager decides to journey into space to prove that the immortal being is real. Produced by Pearl Studio and Netflix Animation, from a script by the late Audrey Wells, the animated feature is the first distributed by a major Hollywood studio to center on an entirely Asian cast.

Spending 38 years at Walt Disney Animation Studios—where he illustrated such...

Great animators are also actors, comedians, and scientists. They study the way animals move, the flow of long grass, the grace of scudding clouds, the expressions humans make when they are frustrated, hungry, happy, or in love. And Glen Keane is one of its masters.

In the Disney 2D era he was known for drawing fierce creatures like the the terrifying Bear in “The Fox and the Hound,” Willie the Giant in “Mickey’s Christmas,” and Snidely Whiplash villain Rattigan in “The Great Mouse Detective” — and, the fiercely memorable Ariel in “The Little Mermaid.”

“I was supposed to do Ursula,” he said on the phone. “I loved animating power and strength and weight. I was watching Jodi Benson record with Howard Ashman coaching her, trying to get her to sing from a personal, intimate desire of wanting the impossible, to believe the impossible is possible. As I watched that, I felt,...

Great animators are also actors, comedians, and scientists. They study the way animals move, the flow of long grass, the grace of scudding clouds, the expressions humans make when they are frustrated, hungry, happy, or in love. And Glen Keane is one of its masters.

In the Disney 2D era he was known for drawing fierce creatures like the the terrifying Bear in “The Fox and the Hound,” Willie the Giant in “Mickey’s Christmas,” and Snidely Whiplash villain Rattigan in “The Great Mouse Detective” — and, the fiercely memorable Ariel in “The Little Mermaid.”

“I was supposed to do Ursula,” he said on the phone. “I loved animating power and strength and weight. I was watching Jodi Benson record with Howard Ashman coaching her, trying to get her to sing from a personal, intimate desire of wanting the impossible, to believe the impossible is possible. As I watched that, I felt,...

While Disney and Pixar are seen as the masters of cinematic animation, don’t sleep on Netflix. Last year saw them burst into the Best Animated Feature race at the Academy Awards, and this year, the streaming giant is again gunning for Oscar attention. This time around, their vehicle is Over the Moon, a colorful, musical progressive, and vibrant animated tale that is full of life. With memorable songs and an excellent message, the movie is likely to be a big hit with audiences who watch it this week. Can some awards love be far behind? The film is an animated musical adventure, centered on a young and her mix of an adventurous and scientific mind. Fei Fei (voice of Cathy Ang) is always thinking of her mother, especially while making moon cakes with her father (voice of John Cho). They have a lovely bond, but she misses her mom,...

Netflix has unveiled a new trailer for Over the Moon. This is the latest original animated feature to come from the streaming service. In this case, they've tapped Oscar-winner Glen Keane, who is known for his work on Disney's The Little Mermaid as well as Beauty and the Beast as an animator, to helm an out-of-this-world tale. This serves as his feature directorial debut. As we can see from the final trailer, he went all out for what appears to be a wild visual spectacle that is steeped in Chinese mythology.

The trailer opens with a young girl and her father sharing a nice moment before we discover that her mom is no longer in the picture. A dinner with family then gets a bit awkward as the young girl recounts a legend about the moon that she believes to be real. Determined to prove she is right, she builds...

A young girl embarks on a quest to find a goddess in Over the Moon, a new animated film out October 23rd via Netflix.

The trailer stars Fei Fei (voiced by Cathy Ang), who is fascinated with Chang’e, the Chinese Moon goddess, who waits for her true love on the moon. Fei Fei is told during a family dinner that the goddess isn’t real, but she sets out to find her anyway. With her pet rabbit in tow, she blasts off in a rocket ship and encounters magical...

"She's nothing like momma said she'd be." Netflix has revealed the second trailer for the Chinese animated musical adventure Over the Moon, developed in partnership with Pearl Studio in Shanghai. This is the first feature film directed by legendary animation master Glen Keane, who is working with John Kahrs (of Paperman) as his co-director. The story is about a girl who builds a rocket to travel to the moon in hopes of meeting the legendary Moon Goddess. It's also a musical (much like a classic Disney musical) with songs by Christopher Curtis, Marjorie Duffield, and Helen Park (Kpop); with a score by Oscar-winning composer Steven Price. Featuring a voice cast including Cathy Ang, Phillipa Soo, Ken Jeong, John Cho, Ruthie Ann Miles, Sandra Oh, Robert G. Chiu, Margaret Cho, and Kimiko Glenn. This first teaser trailer arrived during the summer, promising a vibrant and exciting story about a girl who...

Netflix has dropped the final trailer for “Over the Moon” (streaming October 23) in celebration of the Autumn Moon Festival in China. Directed by Disney legend and Oscar winner Glen Keane (“Dear Basketball”), the eye-popping animated musical reworks the ancient Chinese Moon Goddess fable as an “Oz”-like fantasy.

To promote the trailer on Monday, regional cover artists, and “Over the Moon” voice actor Ken Jeong teased separate installments on Twitter as the moon rose across their respective countries.

The co-production with Pearl Studio (“Abominable”) was animated at Sony Pictures Imageworks, with Oscar winner John Kahrs (“Paperman”) serving as co-director, and Oscar winner Gennie Rim (“Dear Basketball”) producing with Pearl’s Peilin Chou.

In “Over the Moon” (scripted by the late Audrey Wells of “The Hate U Give”), 13-year-old Fei Fei (Cathy Ang), builds a rocket to the moon to meet the legendary goddess, Chang’e (Phillipa Soo of “Moana” and...

Netflix has released the first trailer for what will be the debut feature film from legendary Disney animator and Oscar-winner Glen Keane, a starry and colorful film called “Over the Moon.”

“Over the Moon” is the first film from Keane after he won the Oscar in 2017 for the animated short film “Dear Basketball” that he co-directed with Kobe Bryant. The streamer will release it later this fall, and it’s figured to be an awards player for Netflix this year.

“Over the Moon” is about a bright young girl who builds a rocket ship to the moon to prove the existence of a legendary Moon Goddess. Once there, she ends up on an unexpected quest and discovers a whimsical land of fantastical creatures.

Also Read: Watch Kobe Bryant's 2018 Oscar Acceptance Speech - When He Shaded Fox News' Laura Ingraham (Video)

“We’re the last true believers,” the girl says in the trailer.

The first look at upcoming animated film Over the Moon shows that flights of fancy into space are not necessarily reserved for White people. Directed by Glen Keane, whose career in animation dates back to the 1970s and who won an Academy Award for his short film Dear Basketball, Over the Moon is co-directed by John Kahrs, who won an Academy Award for his short film Paperman, and scripted by the late Audrey Wells (The Hate U Give). Officially, the film's synopsis is as follows: "Fueled with determination and a passion for science, a bright young girl builds a rocket ship to the moon to prove the existence of a legendary Moon Goddess. There she ends up on an unexpected quest, and discovers a whimsical...

[Read the whole post on screenanarchy.com...]...

"It's not a silly myth! It's real. She's on the moon... right now!" Netflix has debuted the first official trailer for an exciting new animated movie titled Over the Moon, developed in partnership with Pearl Studio in Shanghai. This is the first feature film directed by legendary animation master Glen Keane, who is working with John Kahrs (of Paperman) as his co-director. The story is about a girl who builds a rocket to travel to the moon in hopes of meeting the legendary Moon Goddess. It's also a musical with songs by Christopher Curtis, Marjorie Duffield, and Helen Park (Kpop); with a score by Oscar-winning composer Steven Price. Featuring a voice cast including Cathy Ang, Phillipa Soo, Ken Jeong, John Cho, Ruthie Ann Miles, Sandra Oh, Robert G. Chiu, Margaret Cho, and Kimiko Glenn. Keane is known for being one of the best classic Disney hand animators, so it's quite...

Netflix dropped the first trailer Tuesday for its upcoming animated feature, “Over the Moon” (coming in the fall), a wondrous update of the Chinese Moon Goddess fable, directed by former Disney legend and Oscar winner Glen Keane (“Dear Basketball”). The co-production with Pearl Studio (“Abominable”) was animated at Sony Pictures Imageworks, with Oscar winner John Kahrs serving as co-director, Oscar winner Gennie Rim (“Dear Basketball”) producing with Pearl’s Peilin Chou.

In “Over the Moon” (scripted by the late Audrey Wells of “The Hate U Give”), 13-year-old Fei Fei (Cathy Ang) builds a rocket to the moon to meet the legendary goddess, Chang’e (Phillipa Soo of “Moana” and “Hamilton”). But her journey on Lunaria (production designed by Céline Desrumaux of “The Little Prince”) forces her to embrace change. Original songs were composed by Christopher Curtis (“Chaplin: The Musica”), Marjorie Duffield, and Helen Park (“Kpop”), and the score was by “Gravity” Oscar winner Steven Price.

Netflix dropped the first trailer Tuesday for its upcoming animated feature, “Over the Moon” (coming in the fall), a wondrous update of the Chinese Moon Goddess fable, directed by former Disney legend and Oscar winner Glen Keane (“Dear Basketball”). The co-production with Pearl Studio (“Abominable”) was animated at Sony Pictures Imageworks, with Oscar winner John Kahrs serving as co-director, Oscar winner Gennie Rim (“Dear Basketball”) producing with Pearl’s Peilin Chou.

In “Over the Moon” (scripted by the late Audrey Wells of “The Hate U Give”), 13-year-old Fei Fei (Cathy Ang) builds a rocket to the moon to meet the legendary goddess, Chang’e (Phillipa Soo of “Moana” and “Hamilton”). But her journey on Lunaria (production designed by Céline Desrumaux of “The Little Prince”) forces her to embrace change. Original songs were composed by Christopher Curtis (“Chaplin: The Musica”), Marjorie Duffield, and Helen Park (“Kpop”), and the score was by “Gravity” Oscar winner Steven Price.

In a previously-unannounced presentation posted on the Annecy Intl. Animation Film Festival’s digital platform on Tuesday morning, Netflix announced key cast, new images, updated plot points and shared an out-of-this-world trailer for the platform’s upcoming musical 3D feature “Over the Moon” from legendary animator and Oscar-winning filmmaker Glen Keane.

Annecy also announced a live Q&a with crew from the film, including Keane, to take place on June 24, at 6 p.m. Cet (9 a.m. Pt).

Newcomers Cathy Ang and Robert G. Chiu will join Grammy winner Phillipa Soo (“Hamilton”), Ken Jeong (“Crazy Rich Asians”), John Cho (“Star Trek”), Ruthie Ann Miles (“All Rise”), Emmy nominee Margaret Cho, three time SAG winner Kimiko Glenn (“Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse”), Artt Butler and two-time Golden Globe winner Sandra Oh (“Killing Eve”) in the film’s principle voice cast.

Premiering on the platform worldwide this fall – excluding China where it will be...

The Television Academy announced today the juried award winners for the 71st annual Emmy Awards in categories from Animation, Choreography, Interactive Programming, and Motion Design. Winners will be anointed at the 2019 Creative Arts Emmy Awards ceremonies on Saturday, September 14, and Sunday, September 15 in at the Microsoft Theater in Los Angeles.

Netflix, which this year had 117 Emmy nominations altogether, won big among the juried awards, with Tim Miller’s animated series “Love, Death & Robots,” “Carmen Sandiego” and comedy talk show “Patriot Act with Hasan Minhaj” all taking home major prizes.

YouTube also shared in the bounty in the Outstanding Individual Achievement in Animation category for the Google Spotlight Story “Age of Sail,” co-produced by Boathouse Studios, which is an immersive animated short directed by Oscar-winning animator John Kahrs. The Twitch platform received its first Emmy, for Outstanding Innovation in Interactive Media for Artificial.

The 2019 Creative Arts Emmy Awards presentation, executive-produced by Bob Bain,...

Last night, the 17th annual Visual Effects Society Awards were held. The gala represented a moment to honor some of the types of films that don’t usually get cited during the precursor season. Mostly, it’s an opportunity to see which movie or movies are the frontrunners in the Best Visual Effects category at the Oscars. Even beyond the Academy Awards, it’s just a perfect time to honor the craftsmen and craftswomen who do the sort of work that’s too often overlooked. So, even though the Academy voters are looking at this for one specific reason, there’s multiple reasons to take interest in the Ves results from yesterday. Below you can see all of the Ves victors, though leading the way was Avengers: Infinity War and Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse, with four wins each. The former actually took the top honor of the night, which is...

Marvel’s “Avengers: Infinity War” was the big VFX winner at the 17th annual Ves Awards Tuesday at the Beverly Hilton, grabbing four prizes, including photoreal feature. And Sony’s animated Oscar favorite, “Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse,” also scored four awards, including animated feature.

While it’s a significant momentum builder for “Infinity War” in its quest to be the first VFX Oscar winner for the McU (and first superhero winner since 2004’s “Spider-Man 2”), there still remains competition from Damien Chazelle’s “First Man,” which won the Ves supporting prize. However, “Infinity War” boasts the stronger CG wow factor in the form of the brilliantly animated Thanos (peformance-captured by Josh Brolin) from Digital Domain and Weta Digital.

“Infinity War” also took home honors for animated character (Thanos), simulations (Titan), and compositing (Titan). “Spider-Verse” additionally snagged animated character (Miles Morales), environment (Graphic New York City), and simulations.

On the TV side,...

It was a great night for Marvel at the 17th annual Visual Effects Society Awards on Tuesday night. The comic book publisher’s wares led the film fields, with “Avengers: Infinity War” and “Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse” nabbing four wins apiece.

“Spider-Verse,” a dominant animated feature on the awards circuit this year, swept each of its categories. “Avengers” nearly did the same, dropping just one to Universal’s “Mortal Engines.”

“Ready Player One” received two prizes, while “First Man” picked up one. They join “Avengers: Infinity War,” along with “Christopher Robin” and “Solo: A Star Wars Story,” in the Academy’s Oscar lineup of visual effects nominees this year.

On the television side, Netflix’s “Lost in Space” dominated with four wins as well.

“Westworld” co-creator Jonathan Nolan received the Visual Effects Society’s Visionary Award, while “Game of Thrones” creators David Benioff and D.B. Weiss accepted the organization’s...

The 17th annual Ves Awards are being handed out tonight at the Beverly Hilton in Los Angeles, and Deadline will be live-blogging the affair and updating the winners list live. Patton Oswalt is hosting the Visual Effects Society’s gala, which celebrates the best VFX artistry and innovation in film, animation, TV, commercials and video games across 24 categories.

The winner of the Ves Award for Photoreal Feature has gone on to win the Visual Effects Oscar 10 of the 16 times it has been presented, but it hasn’t been much of a harbinger for the past half-decade or so. Last year the Ves Award went to War for the Planet of the Apes, while the Academy Award was claimed by Blade Runner 2049, as Roger Deakins won for the first time in his 14th nominations. The Jungle Book won both in 2017, but Ves and Oscar failed to match up in either of the previous two years.

The Annie Awards, recognizing a need to celebrate all of the animated content being made these days in virtual reality, has created a category this year to honor that work. The Annies will be handed out Feb. 2 at Royce Hall on the UCLA campus.

Until now, Vr content had to create a 2D version and, in some cases, play in theaters, in order to become eligible for awards recognition, and that can be a time-consuming and costly process. So Asifa-Hollywood, the organization behind the Annies, set up a Vr lab at the Burbank HQ so judges could view the content as it was meant to be seen.

“A flat version of Vr is one thing,” says Asifa-Hollywood exec director Frank Gladstone. “Vr itself is something different.” Making sure the judges saw the content as it was meant to be seen was paramount. “It should be seen the way it was produced.

The Annie Awards, recognizing a need to celebrate all the animated content being made these days in virtual reality, has created a category this year to honor that work.

Until now, Vr content had to create a 2D version and, in some cases, play in theaters, in order to become eligible for awards recognition, which can be a time-consuming and costly process. So Asifa-Hollywood, the organization behind the Annies, set up a Vr lab at the Burbank HQ so that judges could view the content as it was meant to be seen.

“A flat version of Vr is one thing,” Asifa-Hollywood exec director Frank Gladstone notes. “Vr itself is something different.” Making sure the judges saw the content as it was meant to be seen was paramount. “It should be seen the way it was produced,” he says.

The setup at the Asifa-Hollywood offices was costly. “It’s a big expense,...

The Visual Effects Society announced nominees for the organization’s 17th annual awards on Tuesday.

Leading the way in the film and TV fields, respectively, were Marvel’s “Avengers: Infinity War” and Netflix’s “Lost in Space.” Each picked up six nominations. Pixar’s “Incredibles 2” received the most nominations among animated feature contenders with five.

“Ready Player One” also landed five nominations, while “Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom,” “Solo: A Star Wars Story,” and “Welcome to Marwen” each earned three. “Christopher Robin” and “First Man” picked up a pair apiece, while “Ant Man and the Wasp” landed one. Those films joined “Avengers: Infinity War” on the Academy’s list of 10 semifinalists for the category, each of which displayed their wares at the organization’s annual Visual Effects Bake-Off on Jan. 5.

Notably, Marvel’s “Black Panther” and Disney’s “Mary Poppins Returns” — the final two films on the Academy’s bake-off...

The Visual Effects Society has revealed nominations for the 17th annual Ves Awards, which will recognize the best VFX artistry and innovation in film, animation, TV, commercials and video games.

Disney/Marvel’s Avengers: Infinity Wars and Netflix’s Lost In Space lead the film and TV categories this year with six nominations, respectively. Disney/Pixar’s Incredibles 2 tops the animation field with five noms.

Winners will be announced during a ceremony February 5 at the Beverly Hilton hosted by Patton Oswalt. Also at the gala, the annual Ves Visionary Award will be presented to Westworld‘s Jonathan Nolan, while the Ves Award for Creative Excellence will be presented to Game of Thrones masterminds David Benioff and D.B. Weiss.

Here are the nominees announced Tuesday in 24 categories:

Outstanding Visual Effects in a Photoreal Feature

Avengers: Infinity War

Daniel DeLeeuw

Jen Underdahl

Kelly Port

Matt Aitken

Daniel Sudick

Christopher Robin

Chris Lawrence...

Oscar winner John Kahrs (“Paperman”) has made the most ambitious Vr short yet from Google Spotlight with “Age of Sail,” which has been converted for Best Animated Short consideration. The great breakthrough was believably capturing the open ocean for this adventure in the North Atlantic about an old sailor (Ian McShane) who rescues a Victorian girl (Cathy Ang). (Watch the short below.)

“It’s very much like the Grand Canyon,” said Kahrs. “You go there

and your spatial perception is astounding. And then you can show a picture and it’s not the same. The open ocean can have that high stakes drama as vast as David Lean’s ‘Lawrence of Arabia.’ But all the portrayals I’ve seen of the open ocean are nothing like it. So I thought it would be cool for Vr being in the waves.”

So Kahrs studied the pioneering Vr work at Google Spotlight,...

John Kahrs is very frank about how he wants to try taking animation in new directions, declaring, “My thing about animation these days, especially now in the 21st century, is that it doesn’t have to look any one way.” He explains, in our exclusive chat (watch the video above), that computer animation has been chasing after a photo real look for such a long time, that he wanted to try and take it in a new direction for his newest short, “Age of Sail.”

He drew from the likes of Bernie Fuchs and several illustrators from the 1950’s and 60’s to achieve, what he calls, “a moving illustration.” Another reason he sought to use a different style of animation came from the fact that the short was being designed as an experience for virtual reality. He adds, “All that stuff has to run in real time, it has to...

Pixar’s “Bao” (available for online viewing below through December 23rd) and DreamWorks’ “Bilby” and “Bird Karma” lead the Academy’s shortlist of 10 for Best Animated Short.

They were joined by “Age of Sail,” from Oscar winner John Kahrs (“Paperman”) via his Vr Google Spotlight short about being adrift at sea; National Board of Canada’s “Animal Behaviour” (directed by Alison Snowden and David Fine) about hilarious animal issues; Cartoon Saloon’s “Late Afternoon” (directed by Louise Bagnall), which explores dementia; “Lost & Found” (directed by Andrew Goldsmith & Bradley Slabe) about recovering a special friendship; “One Small Step” (directed by Disney alums Andrew Chesworth and Bobby Pontillas) about qualifying for the space program; “Pépé le Morse” (directed by Lucrèce Andreae) about a family’s sojourn of mourning; and “Weekends” (directed by Pixar story artist Trevor Jimenez) based on his difficult childhood being shuttled between parents in Toronto.

However, the frontrunner remains “Bao,...

Virtual reality has been making inroads in the entertainment business for several years, but 2018 has been an especially big one for animated projects.

This year, there are at least two Vr-animated shorts vying for Oscar nominations: Google Spotlight Stories’ “Age of Sail” and Baobab Studios’ “Crow: The Legend.” Disney has created its first Vr animated project (“Cycles”) and is also using Vr to help market its animated feature “Ralph Breaks the Internet.” Earlier this year, Nickelodeon’s Entertainment Lab created a real-time Vr experience for the studio’s “Rise of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles” to promote the series’ reboot at Comic-Con. And the players in all of these ventures say that the landscape for Vr animation can only get better.

“I don’t think anyone doubts that Vr is going to become a thing,” says Maureen Fan, co-founder and CEO of Vr studio Baobab, which has already won Emmys...

This year’s Oscar race for Best Animated Short is led by Pixar’s China-flavored “Bao” and a pair of DreamWorks projects that launched its new shorts program: the CG “Bilby” and the 2D “Bird Karma.”

Semi-autobiographical “Bao” explores empty nest syndrome. Chinese-Canadian story artist Domee Shi, the first female to direct a short at Pixar, tells the story of a woman who gets a second chance at motherhood when one of her hand-made dumplings come to life. Shi grew up in Toronto and the short reflects her upbringing as the only child of Chinese immigrants. (Her dumpling master mom served as consultant.) Animating the delectable Chinese meals proved the biggest challenge, but story wise, Shi delivered Pixar’s first Wtf moment when the mom eats her dumpling child to prevent it from leaving the nest.

Also from Pixar, story artist Trevor Jimenez made the semi-autobiographical, hand-drawn “Weekends” in his...

The Oscar race for Best Animated Short offers several mainstream studio contenders, led by Pixar’s China-flavored “Bao” and a pair of DreamWorks projects that launched its new shorts program: the CG “Bilby” and the 2D “Bird Karma.”

In addition, Pixar story artist Trevor Jimenez made the semi-autobiographical, hand-drawn “Weekends” in his spare time; former Disney Oscar winner John Kahrs (“Paperman”) ventured into Vr with the Google Spotlight short, “Age of Sail”; and former Pixar animator Carlos Baena conjured the gorgeous, horror-filled “La Noria” with a contingent of online collaborators.

“Bao,” which explores empty nest syndrome, is also semi-autobiographical. It’s from story artist Domee Shi, the first female to direct a short at Pixar, who is currently developing a feature, guided by her mentor, Pete Docter, the studio’s new chief creative officer.

“Bao” is about a Chinese-Canadian woman who gets a second chance at motherhood when one of...

“Age of Sail,” Google Spotlight Stories’ latest and most ambitious immersive animated short, directed by Oscar-winning animator John Kahrs, launched on multiple platforms today.

The 12-minute animated short follows a lonely old sailor (voiced by Ian McShane) adrift at sea whose life is reinvigorated by a young girl he rescues after she falls from a passing ocean liner. It is the longest project by Google’s immersive storytelling-meets-tech division and is also the first short to feature dialogue.

“Age of Sail” had its world premiere at the Venice Film Festival and had an Academy-qualifying run in Los Angeles earlier this year.

Now the film will be available in multiple formats. The theatrical version of “Age of Sail” is available on the Google Spotlight Stories YouTube Channel and the 360-degree mobile version is available via Google Play and iTunes. Vr versions are available on Steam and Viveport.

“We were very careful...

Age of Sail, an animated short film that follows an old sailor (voiced by Ian McShane) adrift on the open sea in 1900, had an unusual journey into existence. The film, directed by John Kahrs (who won an Oscar for Disney's 2012 romantic animated short Paperman), started as a virtual reality project for Google Spotlight Stories.

Following the creation of the Vr narrative, the creative team made a flat 2D version of the story for Oscar consideration. In the tale, the sailor reluctantly rescues a teen who has fallen overboard, and in that act, he finds redemption. "He wants ...

Age of Sail, an animated short film that follows an old sailor (voiced by Ian McShane) adrift on the open sea in 1900, had an unusual journey into existence. The film, directed by John Kahrs (who won an Oscar for Disney's 2012 romantic animated short Paperman), started as a virtual reality project for Google Spotlight Stories.

Following the creation of the Vr narrative, the creative team made a flat 2D version of the story for Oscar consideration. In the tale, the sailor reluctantly rescues a teen who has fallen overboard, and in that act, he finds redemption. "He wants ...

“It never seemed quite right to me.” John Kahrs, the animator and director best known for his Academy Award-winning short film “Paperman,” always felt that something was off when he saw the ocean depicted in Hollywood movies. “My dad built a few sailboats,” he recently recalled in an interview with Variety. “I have a bit of a boating background.” And what he saw on the big screen just didn’t feel right. Too quiet. Too stormy. Too extreme. Not the waters he knew.

This week, Kahrs is showing off his own take on the ocean in a new short film that’s getting its world premiere at the Venice Film Festival. “Age of Sail” is the latest virtual reality short film coming out of Google’s Spotlight Stories unit, and in many ways, the 12-minute short one of the most ambitious projects the search giant’s immersive storytelling unit has worked on to date.

Annecy, France — John Kahrs’ “Age Of Sail” and Jan Pinkava and Mark Oftedal’s “Piggy” are two of the four state-of-the art-animated Vr projects that Google Spotlight Stories (Gss) has brought this year to Annecy. For the third year running, Gss – a division of Google’s Advanced Technology and Projects (Atap) group – and Google Vr are partnering with Vr@Annecy, a non-competitive category of the official selection.

At a Studio Focus Session on Wednesday presented by Gss, titled “Animation Everywhere,” the projects’ creators discussed their shorts while exploring the storytelling capabilities of Vr, as well as the limitations and possibilities of 360 immersion. The panel was moderated by Gss’ executive producer Karen Dufilho and Pinkava, Gss’ creative director. Panelists included Kahrs, directors François-Xavier Goby and Hélène Leroux (“Back to the Moon”), and artist Céline Desrumaux, production designer in “Age.”

Kahrs took home the best animated short Oscar and an Annie Award in 2013 for his hybrid “Paperman.

Last weekend’s inaugural Animation Is Film Festival at the Tcl Chinese 6 Theater should have a definite impact on the Oscar race, as GKids’ stirring indie, “The Breadwinner,” won both the Grand Prize and Audience Award. Another GKids contender, “The Big Bad Fox & Other Tales,” a lighthearted barnyard animal anthology (directed by “Ernest & Celestine” Oscar nominee Benjamin Renner and Patrick Imbert). took home The Special Jury Prize.

Directed by Nora Twomey of Cartoon Saloon (“The Secret of Kells”), and executive produced by Angelina Jolie, “The Breadwinner” follows a strong-willed young Afghan girl who poses as a boy to help her family survive under threat from the Taliban.

With new Academy rules now allowing all eligible members to vote for animated features using preferential voting, the timing couldn’t be better for “The Breadwinner” honors. The Ireland-Canada-Luxembourg co-production is now poised to secure GKids’ 10th Oscar nomination.

Read More:2018 Oscar Predictions:...

Disney’s innovative Meander drawing system, utilized on the Oscar-winning “Paperman” and “Feast” shorts, and one of 18 recipients of this year’s Academy Sci-Tech Award, was integral to “Moana’s” 2D/CG integration.

“It was used extensively by effects to do shot planning, and during the hand-drawn prologue, and on everything that was hand-drawn during the [Lin-Manuel Miranda] song, ‘You’re Welcome,'” Brian Whited, Disney’s senior software engineer, told IndieWire. He designed and developed Meander and will receive the Academy’s Sci-Tech Award on February 11th at the Beverly Wilshire.

Read More: ‘The Most Beautiful Shots in The History of Disney’ Highlights ‘Snow White,’ ‘Moana’ and Everything in Between — Watch

“Marlon West, the VFX supervisor, did drawings to guide the CG, and the effects animators ended up using those drawings directly in the final film,” added Whited. “They included the lightning bolts coming off of Maui’s hook. He found...

Disney is bringing their treasure trove of their short films from the last deacde and a half to blu-ray/DVD for you and your family to enjoy together in one complete set. Come inside to learn more about the shorts being collected!

With each new release, Disney continues their tradition of having a short animated film play before their movies, and now they're brining all of their latest (including this year's Frozen Fever) together in one collection on Blu-Ray/DVD...and it's available Now!

From Walt Disney Animation Studios comes an extraordinary new collection of award-winning and beloved short films featuring the never-before-released Frozen Fever, starring Frozen's Anna, Elsa, Olaf, Sven and Kristoff, and the Oscar®-nominated Lorenzo. The Short Films Collection features contemporary shorts starring classic characters, including the 2012 groundbreaking Mickey Mouse cartoon, Get A Horse!, holiday treats like Prep & Landing: Operation Secret Santa as well as hailed Oscar® winners Paperman and Feast.

The release of The Jungle Book on Blu-ray today has become, as when Saving Mr. Banks was unveiled a couple months ago, an unplanned forum on a most thorny issue for the Disney uber-fan: was Walt Disney a racist/sexist/anti-Semite, and if so, was he a super-racist/sexist/anti-Semite, or just your average, garden-variety racist/sexist/anti-Semite? Even though the 1967 animated film based loosely on a collection of stories by Rudyard Kipling opened months after Disney passed away, this was the last film on which he had any serious impact. And, since Meryl Streep chose to make her speech applauding Emma Thompson for her performance as P.L. Travers in Saving Mr. Banks as much about exactly how bad a man Walt Disney was, the issue of his true personal feelings–whatever those may have been–and whether or not they crept into the films he made has become unavoidable as of late.

Paramount Pictures has hired Academy Award-winning filmmaker John Kahrs to direct their upcoming animated mystery Shedd.

Plot details are being held under wraps, but the film is based on an original idea by Paramount's Film Group president Adam Goodman. John Kahrs will be directing from a script by Tripper Clancy. The director previously helmed Disney's Paperman, which won him an Oscar.

Paramount has been expanding their internal animated division after its distribution deal with DreamWorks Animation came to an end. Their first project will be the Nickelodeon sequel The Spongebob Squarepants Movie 2. That film will hit theaters February 3rd 2015.

John Kahrs previously worked as an animator on Disney's The Incredibles, Bolt, Wreck-It Ralph and Ratatouille. No production schedule has been released.

Shedd comes to theaters in 2015. The film is directed by John Kahrs.

Los Angeles, Jan 23: Oscar-winning director John Kahrs has been called on board to direct Paramount Pictures' "Shedd".

Tripper Clancy will pen the script of the movie, based on an original idea from Paramount's Film Group president Adam Goodman, who oversees the animation division, reports variety.com.

Kahrs' credits as animator include "The Incredibles", "Bolt", "Wreck-It Ralph" and "Ratatouille".

Ians...

Swedish director Daniel Espinosa ("Safe House," "Easy Money") is reportedly being sought to direct the upcoming film adaptation of the "Assassin's Creed" video game series at 20th Century Fox.

Michael Fassbender is attached to star in and produce the film which is currently scheduled for 2015 release.

Meanwhile, Oscar winner John Kahrs ("Paperman") is tipped to direct "Shedd" for Paramount Pictures' animation division.

Tripper Clancy is writing the script based on an original idea by Adam Goodman. The storyline is being kept under wraps.

Sources: Twitchfilm & Variety...

Given the success of other studios’ in-house animation departments, it’s no surprise to see Paramount trying to launch its own version, and planning to bring in with some proven talent. The company has hired Oscar-winning Paperman director John Kahrs to make Shedd.Luring Kahrs away from Disney/Pixar, where he’s worked on the likes of The Incredibles, Bolt and Ratatouille, is a big score for Paramount, especially as we’re sure the Mouse House would want to hang on to someone who has gone on to Oscar victory with one of the loveliest shorts produced by the company.Still, he’s off to pastures new, and will work on a script from Tripper Clancy, which in turn is based on an idea by Paramount Film Group President Adam Goodman. And what is that idea? Sadly, Paramount is keeping that one in their private idea shed for now, refusing...

John Kahrs, the Academy Award-winning filmmaker behind Walt Disney Pictures' short film "Paperman," is set to direct a mysterious animated feature from Paramount Pictures titled Shedd . Details on Shedd are virtually nill, but it is said to be based on an original idea by Adam Goodman and will feature a script by Tripper Clancy. Founded in 2011, Paramount Animation was born out of the success of Gore Verbinski's Rango and the end of the studio's contract with DreamWorks Animation. SpongeBob SquarePants 2 will be the first Paramount Animation-branded feature when it hits the big screen on February 13, 2015. Also in development is Monster Trucks , currently set for release on May 29, 2015. (Photo Credit: Adriana M. Barraza / WENN.com)...

As it arrives on Blu-ray for the first time, the same theme kept cropping up for me while watching The Little Mermaid: bad timing. Now, before you light your torches and sharpen your pitchforks, let’s get one thing out of the way immediately: this is still an enormously satisfying film. The quartet of big musical numbers in The Little Mermaid are among the best Disney’s ever done, thanks in no small part to Howard Ashman’s endlessly inventive lyricism. I could (and will, in an upcoming podcast) go on about exactly how charming and winning this movie is. And on Blu-ray, it’s no different. The transfer is colorful and crisp without feeling as if the imperfections have been removed. The Little Mermaid still looks very much like a hand-drawn animated film, as opposed to an overly polished product absent of any personality.

So, why did I keep...

John Kahrs, director of the black-and-white animated short “Paperman” that won an Academy Award in 2012, has left Walt Disney Animation Studios. In a statement to TheWrap, Kahrs said he will develop his own projects elsewhere, but said that the split was “amicable.” Kahrs made a big splash with “Paperman,” an animated short that debuted with “Wreck-It Ralph.” The film combined hand drawings and computer animation to tell the romantic story of a man and a woman who are brought together by a paper airplane. “I will miss working with them, and feel lucky to have played a part in the revitalization.

Things have been a little rocky over in the animation departments of Disney the last few days. No sooner was it officially announced that Oscar-winning director Bob Peterson taken was off of Pixar’s summer 2014 joint “The Good Dinosaur,” than came word that John Kahrs, the inventive animator behind last year’s Oscar-winning short film “Paperman,” has left Walt Disney Animation Studios for parts unknown. Kahrs is a longtime animator, having served in the trenches at both Pixar and Blue Sky before landing a job as a feature animator, working primarily on Disney’s “Tangled.” When “Tangled” wrapped production, Kahrs decided to attempt something revolutionary: mapping 2D hand-drawn animation on top of computer-generated shapes. It was a new style of animation and a new way to tell a story, and the resulting black-and-white short film “Paperman” was, of course, nothing short of heart tugging and exquisite (it played theatrically before “Wreck-It Ralph” last winter). If.

Exclusive: Veteran Disney/Pixar contributor John Kahrs directed the brilliant and touching black-and-white Paperman which won this year’s Academy Award for Best Animated Short and played in theaters before Wreck–It Ralph. Major agencies were in hot pursuit because toons are such major profit centers right now and Kahrs had worked on Tangled, The Incredibles, Monsters Inc, Ratatouille, Toy Story 2, and A Bug’s Life. He signed with Wme today:...

A problem I’ve brought up before with these DVD and Blu-ray reviews of Disney films sadly recurs with their big new Blu-ray release, Wreck-It Ralph. If you buy the biggest possible combo pack, you’ll get four discs—the 3D Blu-ray disc, a regular Blu-ray disc, a DVD, and a digital copy—and only six special features, all housed on the 2D Blu-ray disc. Though Disney’s most recent animated effort, set in the world of video games at a local arcade, didn’t make as much money in the theaters as Tangled did, it’s gotten a huge wave of critical and fan support. So why didn’t Disney spring for some substantial behind-the-scenes material? If you fell hard for the film, you’ll be glad to own the movie, no matter what, but a more detailed look at its creation would’ve been welcome for any fan or completist.