News

DreamWorks is starting off the spooky season with an all-new direct-to-streaming special, The Bad Guys: Haunted Heist, on Netflix. The special is based on the 2022 animated feature film The Bad Guys, a group of criminals framed for a crime they didn’t commit and set out to clear their name and eventually switch sides.

The special takes place before the film’s events when they were still pulling off treasure-stealing heists. This is their second Netflix special, the first being the 2023 Christmas special The Bad Guys: A Very Bad Holiday.

So, is this Halloween season off to a great start with this all-new Bad Guys special? Let’s find out.

The story follows the gang as team leader Wolf tells the rest of the crew about an old thief named Reginald E. Scary, who collected a hoard of treasure throughout his career. His most prized possession was the crescent amulet,...

Pumpkin spice is flowing, autumn leaves are turning and it’s time to start watching some of your seasonal favorites. But Fall’s arrival also brings a new challenge every year — figuring out where all the best Halloween movies are streaming right now.

If you’re looking for family-friendly Halloween movies, Peacock has a handful of the essentials, most notably the “Harry Potter” films, as well as “Casper,” “Blippi Celebrates Dia De Los Muertos” and “Scared Shrekless.”

With 150+ new Halloween titles in September and October, Peacock also has the “Leprechaun,” “I Know What You Did Last Summer” and “The Purge” franchises, along with plenty of great standalone horror movies for the Halloween season, from teen screams like “The Craft” and “Jennifer’s Body” to classics like “The Fly” and “Christine.”

Want some underrated horror movies you might not have seen to celebrate this Halloween? No worries, they’ve got that too,...

Spooky season is nearly here.

And Peacock, Universal’s direct-to-consumer streaming platform, has just unveiled its Halloween programming line-up, full of tricks and treats from the studio’s back catalog, as well as two new series (“Teacup” and “Hysteria!”) for some fresh scares.

In 2022 and ’23, there was at least one big Blumhouse movie that simultaneously debuted on Peacock — in ’22, it was David Gordon Green’s trilogy-capping “Halloween Ends” and last year, it was the video game adaptation “Five Nights at Freddy’s”. This year doesn’t have anything quite like that, but it’s still a powerful collection of titles for every viewer.

The Sept. 1 batch includes classics like “Bride of Frankenstein,” “It Came From Outer Space” and “Werewolf of London;” 1980s favorites like “Halloween III: Season of the Witch,” “The Funhouse” and “The Thing;” along with more modern hits like the original “Candyman,” Jordan Peele’s “Us” and several entries in the “Saw” franchise.

Peacock invites you to face your fears this Halloween with more than 150 new horror titles headed to the streaming service from September 1 straight through All Hallow’s Eve.

From Universal classics, like Frankenstein, The Raven and Phantom Of The Opera, and nostalgic favorites, like Child’S Play, The Craft and Candyman, to frightening franchises, like Saw, The Purge and Leprechaun, and the best of Blumhouse, like Get Out, Halloween Kills and Happy Death Day, Peacock aims to be “your Halloween HQ with a full spectrum of scares to enjoy.”

Not to mention, two new originals – James Wan’s horror series, Teacup, and satanic panic thriller, Hysteria! – as well as the streaming debut of The Mouse Trap.

Here’s the full Halloween 2024 lineup from Peacock…

September 1

30 Days Of Night (2007)

Amityville II: The Possession

Amityville 3-D

The Amityville Harvest

Amityville Moon

The Amityville Uprising

Bride Of Frankenstein

Candyman (1992)

Child’s Play (1988)

The Creature Walks Among Us...

DreamWorks Animation has more green in its future.

The studio announced on Tuesday that the beloved franchise “Shrek” is coming back to theaters with a fifth installment. What’s more, “Shrek 5” has planted its flag on a date two years hence—July 1, 2026, to be precise. The studio made its declaration via social media, deploying Smash Mouth’s “All Star” and its earworm herald of “someBODY once told me.” An ogre-ifi-ed numeral 5 then did a little dance.

Not too Far, Far Away… @Shrek 5 is coming to theaters on July 1, 2026 with Mike Myers, Eddie Murphy, and Cameron Diaz. pic.twitter.com/3j6ctXpPGu

— DreamWorks Animation (@Dreamworks) July 9, 2024

Confirmed for the voices are Mike Myers, the titular gassy ogre with a pure heart, Cameron Diaz as his beloved Princess Fiona, and Eddie Murphy as Donkey, the wisecracking donkey. It is unclear if Antonio Banderas, who voices Puss in Boots, will make an appearance.

It's easy to overlook just how big the "Shrek" movies are given that they are mostly a giant meme factory and a source for a controversial Scottish accent. This is a franchise that changed animation and showed DreamWorks Animation was a powerhouse that could compete with Disney and Pixar. It competed for the Palme d'Or at Cannes, the first animated film in almost 50 years to do so. It won the first Oscar for Best Animated Feature and helped cement the rise of computer animation. There is a reason this is the first animated movie of the 21st century to be selected for preservation in the National Film Registry.

Since then, "Shrek" has grown into a giant franchise, with spin-offs, musicals, and much more ... including a very popular themed rave and even custom Crocs. This is why it might be tough for casual movie watchers to keep track of which movies to watch,...

October TV Alert! Dive into our essential Halloween TV Guide for 2023 and catch the most anticipated screenings this spooky season. This guide is your passport to the best horror movie premieres, spooky specials, and halloween horror movie marathons TV and streaming have to offer. We’ve compiled all of the mega-hits from AMC Fearfest, SyFy, Shudder, crowd-favorite Freeform’s 31 Nights of Halloween, and more!

Whether you’re a die-hard horror fan or just in for the October vibes, there’s bound to be something perfect to get you into the Halloween spirit this season. Whether you want to watch all of the Halloween films backward, or stressed-out bakers making giant Halloween disasterpieces while a big clock on the wall yells at them, we’ve got ya covered! And for our global audience, use this timezone converter link to align your screams with the screen’s. Please note: schedules are subject to change.

Freeform’s 25th anniversary of ’31 Nights of Halloween’ will feature Jack Skellington, the Sanderson Sisters, and goofy monsters Mike and Sully. The network’s plans for the scariest month of the year include 31 nights of Halloween-ish films, mixing timeless family-friendly tales with some more recent releases.

2023’s ’31 Nights of Halloween’ will mark the Freeform premiere of Encanto, Zombies, and Zombies 2.

“Over the last 25 years, our viewers have grown up with ‘31 Nights of Halloween’ as a time-honored tradition to watch Halloween favorites and connect with their loved ones during this special time of the season,” stated Simran Sethi, EVP of Programming and Content Strategy, ABC Entertainment and Freeform. “There’s something sentimental about these holiday classics that brings a real sense of comfort and nostalgia to people, and we look forward to celebrating this anniversary with another spirited lineup.”

2023’s ’31 Nights of Halloween’ Lineup:

Sunday, Oct. 1

7:00 a.m. Edt/Pdt – “Mrs. Doubtfire”

10:10 a.

It’s spooky season, witches! Freeform’s “31 Nights of Halloween” programming event returns for its 25th anniversary with a spellbinding lineup of Halloween favorites that will keep viewers enchanted all month long.

From Oct. 1 to Oct. 31, hair-raising entertainment awaits with a collection of Halloween films ranging from timeless classics to contemporary gems. Reconnect with beloved movies, including “Hocus Pocus,” “Monsters, Inc.,” the 30 th anniversary of “Tim Burton’s The Nightmare Before Christmas,”

“Cruella” and “The Addams Family,” and cozy up to the Freeform premieres of “Encanto,” “Zombies” and “Zombies 2.”

Last year’s “31 Nights of Halloween” programming levitated Freeform to the No. 1 ranking among primetime cable networks in entertainment across Adults 18-34, Women 18-34 and Women 18-49 (excludes news and sports).*

“Over the last 25 years, our viewers have grown up with ‘31 Nights of Halloween’ as a time-honored tradition to watch Halloween favorites and connect with their loved ones during this special time of the season,...

Spooky season is almost here, and so is Freeform's 31 Nights of Halloween. On Aug. 31, the network unveiled its 2023 lineup of Halloween classics, consisting of spellbinding favorites like "Halloweentown," "Hocus Pocus," "Tim Burton's The Nightmare Before Christmas," and the 2003 version of "The Haunted Mansion," just in time for its 20th anniversary.

Twilight fans will also be delighted to see all five movies from the beloved vampire-wolf franchise on Freeform's lineup, but that's not the only series featured. The "Twitches" and "Hotel Transylvania" films will be shown, too. And if you're looking for more lighthearted favorites to tune into, be sure to track the days the Shrek and Monsters Inc. movies are airing.

Something new on the lineup this year is the Freeform premieres of "Encanto," "Zombies," and "Zombies 2."

Scroll ahead to see Freeform's full 2023 31 Nights of Halloween schedule!

Related: Stream These Funny Halloween Movies If Horror and Gore...

Freeform’s “31 Nights of Halloween” is back and better than ever for its 25th anniversary, this time featuring spooky favorites from “Encanto” to “Hocus Pocus.”

The lineup, which runs from Oct. 1 to Oct. 31, will return to classic holiday tales including “The Haunted Mansion” (2003), “Hocus Pocus” (1993), “Little Shop of Horrors” (1986), “The Addams Family” (1991) as well as the 30th anniversary of “Tim Burton’s The Nightmare Before Christmas,” as new releases like “Encanto,” “Zombies” and “Zombies 2” make their debut on Freeform.

The monthlong event, a trailer for which you can watch above, will also reconnect viewers with nostalgic film series from the 2000s and 2010s, including “Halloweentown,” “Twilight,” “Shrek,” “Twitches” and “Hotel Transylvania.” Beloved film series “Monsters, Inc.” and “The Amazing Spider-Man” will air this October, alongside monster-adjacent Disney spinoffs “Cruella” and “Maleficent: Mistress of Evil.”

“Over the last 25 years, our viewers have grown up with ‘31 Nights of Halloween’ as a...

The start of September means the start of Spooky Season, and Freeform kicks off the celebration with the full schedule for this year’s “31 Nights of Halloween” extravaganza!

As always, Freeform will be showing fright flicks from October 1 through October 31, and this year’s schedule includes fan favorite classics such as Hocus Pocus, The Nightmare Before Christmas, The Craft, The Addams Family, Hotel Transylvania, and Halloweentown.

Freeform previews, “It’s spooky season, witches! Freeform’s “31 Nights of Halloween” programming event returns for its 25th anniversary with a spellbinding lineup of Halloween favorites that will keep viewers enchanted all month long.From Oct. 1 to Oct. 31, hair-raising entertainment awaits with a collection of Halloween films ranging from timeless classics to contemporary gems.”

“Over the last 25 years, our viewers have grown up with ’31 Nights of Halloween’ as a time-honored tradition to watch Halloween favorites and connect with their loved ones during this special time of the season,...

Grab your broomsticks, we’re entering that spooky season. Now in its 25th year, Freeform has set the lineup for its 31 Nights of Halloween programming event with films including faves such as Hocus Pocus, Tim Burton’s The Nightmare Before Christmas, Monsters, Inc., Cruella and The Addams Family, along with Freeform premieres of Encanto, Zombies and Zombies 2.

Last year’s 31 Nights of Halloween, which runs from October 1-31, brought Freeform to the No. 1 ranking among primetime cable networks in entertainment across Adults 18-34, Women 18-34 and Women 18-49, excluding news and sports.

“Over the last 25 years, our viewers have grown up with ‘31 Nights of Halloween’ as a time-honored tradition to watch Halloween favorites and connect with their loved ones during this special time of the season,” said Simran Sethi, EVP of Programming and Content Strategy, ABC Entertainment and Freeform. “There’s something sentimental about these holiday classics that brings a...

What would spooky season be without the Sanderson Sisters? Thanks to Freeform, we’ll never have to find out.

The cable network’s annual 31 Nights of Halloween lineup features 18 showings of Hocus Pocus, the beloved 1993 film starring Bette Midler, Sarah Jessica Parker and Kathy Najimy — and while that may seem like a lot, keep in mind that Freeform aired the Walt Disney flick a whopping 30 (!) times in 2019. (Of course, you can watch Hocus Pocus, as well as its 2022 sequel, as many times as you’d like with a Disney+ subscription, but who are we to suggest a commercial-free viewing experience?...

Happy Halloween, witches! Grab your popcorn and get ready to be spooked as you settle in to watch another year of Freeform’s spooky October programming. The highly anticipated “31 Nights of Halloween” is back all month long with a lineup of Halloween films, including beloved classics and

recent hits.

From Oct. 1-31, viewers can celebrate Halloween at home with haunting movies, including fan favorites “Ghostbusters” (1984), “Tim Burton’s Corpse Bride,” “Halloweentown,” “Maleficent“ and “Maleficent: Mistress of Evil.” Films new to the lineup this year include Academy Award ® winner “Get

Out,” “Halloween” (2018) and “A Quiet Place,” among others.

Below is a night-by-night list of the programming airing during “31 Nights of Halloween”:

Saturday, Oct. 1

7:00 a.m. Edt/Pdt – “Edward Scissorhands”

9:10 a.m. Edt/Pdt – “The Witches” (1990)

11:20 a.m. Edt/Pdt – “The Haunted Mansion” (2003)

1:25 p.m. Edt/Pdt – “Tim Burton’s The Nightmare Before Christmas”

3:05 p.m.

This year, Freeform’s annual “31 Nights of Halloween” lineup will include films from Tim Burton and Jordan Peele, as well as The Simpsons: Treehouse of Horror episodes. In addition to classic Halloween favorites like Beetlejuice, Corpse Bride, The Witches, and the original Ghostbusters, Freeform’s added (relatively) newer horror films including Get Out, A Quiet Place, and 2018’s version of Halloween to their 2022 October schedule.

Animated offerings include Madagascar, multiple Shreks, Frankenweenie, and Hotel Transylvania and its sequel. “31 Nights of Halloween” will also host the Freeform premieres of Buffy the Vampire Slayer (the movie), Happy Death Day, and Happy Death Day 2U.

Daniel Kaluuya and Allison Williams in ‘Get Out’ (Photo by Justin Lubin © 2016 Universal Studios)

“31 Nights of Halloween” Lineup

Saturday, Oct. 1

7:00 a.m. Edt/Pdt – “Edward Scissorhands”

9:10 a.m. Edt/Pdt – “The Witches” (1990)

11:20 a.m. Edt/Pdt – “The Haunted Mansion” (2003)

1:25 p.m. Edt/Pdt – “Tim...

The start of September means the start of Spooky Season, and right on cue Freeform has just unveiled the full schedule for this year’s “31 Nights of Halloween” extravaganza!

As always, Freeform will be showing fright flicks from October 1st through October 31st, and this year’s schedule includes a few surprising Freeform Premieres.

Jordan Peele’s Get Out is part of the “31 Nights of Halloween” 2022 lineup, along with A Quiet Place, Happy Death Day, Happy Death Day 2U, and even Halloween 2018!

Freeform teases, “Who’s ready to watch some devilishly spooky movies? Freeform’s 31 Nights of Halloween begins October 1st, and this year’s line-up is more spook-tacular than ever. It’s time to gather your coven and catch spell-binding entertainment all October long.”

Check out the full schedule below!

Saturday, Oct. 1

7:00a/6:00c – Edward ScissorHands

9:10a/8:10c – The Witches (1990)

11:20a/10:20c – The Haunted Mansion...

The best thing about Shrek when it debuted 20 (yikes!) years ago was that it brought a fresh take on traditional fairy tales and got a generation of children to understand that there were more ways to tell these classic stories than the Disney way. The humor here was contemporary and original while still respecting the lessons these were designed to convey.

Now, celebrating the 20th anniversary of its release, Universal Home Entertainment has spruced up the original film for its 4k Ultra HD debut. It comes in a combo pack with the Blu-ray disc and Digital HD code.

It’s still funny, with Mike Meyers affecting a fine Scottish accent for the title character, paired with Eddie Murphy’s memorable Donkey along with Cameron Diaz (Princess Fiona), John Lithgow (Lord Farquaad), and Vincent Cassel as Monsieur Hood. To protect the swamp home of the ogre and its other denizens, Shrek takes on the evil Lord,...

In some ways, it’s good to know the holiday special hasn’t gone completely out of style, even when animated features these days utilize beautiful CGI and have voice casts including Hugh Laurie, Seth Rogen, Will Arnett, Reese Witherspoon, Kiefer Sutherland, Mike Myers, Antonio Banderas or Cameron Diaz. Normally to produce such a special would be cost-prohibitive alone just based on having to pay the talent, but when the special gets worked in as part of a contract, there’s the possibility to use pre-existing franchises, like Dreamworks’ Shrek and Monsters vs. Aliens, to create quick little holiday adventures that have all the polish of a full-length feature. Dreamworks’ Spooky Stories collection brings together the three made-for-tv Halloween specials for one Blu-ray collection including Scared Shrekless, Shrek’s Thrilling Tales, and Monsters vs. Aliens: Mutant Pumpkins from Outer Space.

Read more...

Moviefone's New Release Pick of the Week "The Avengers" What's It About? Iron Man. Thor. Captain America. Black Widow. Hawkeye. Nick Fury. And the Hulk. Do the math. See It Because: Since you've apparently been in a cave for the last six months, the best way for you to get re-acclimated to human civilization is to watch the biggest movie of the year. (Also Available on Amazon Instant Video | Netflix) Moviefone's Blu-ray Pick of the Week "Bond 50" What's It About? All the James Bond movies are collected in one Blu-ray box set for the first time, with over 100 hours of bonus features. See It Because: Gee, I wonder why.... New on DVD & Blu-ray "Barricade" What's It About? Will from "Will & Grace" stars in a horror film produced by World Wrestling Entertainment. See It or Skip It: You took a wrong turn, "Avengers" is up north. (Also Available on Netflix | Redbox) "Batman: The Dark Knight Returns,...

A Surge in sales of DVD and Blu-ray titles in the run-up to Christmas, boosted by British talent, brought 2011 to a more cheerful end for retailers.

Figures just released by the British Video Association show that "physical video entertainment sales" (that's DVDs and Blu-ray discs) in December were up 8.4 per cent in value to £473.3 million on the same period last year, as highly anticipated hit titles were released in time for the festive season.

Christmas is traditionally the most important time of year for home entertainment products and in 2011, December represented 23 per cent of the year's total physical sales, the best performance since December 2003, when it represented 23.1 per cent.

For the first time, British titles featuring popular homegrown talent such as Harry Potter, Inbetweeners, The King's Speech, Pirates of the Caribbean, Paul and Peter Kay dominated December disc sales and also the Top 10 chart for the whole of 2011, representing 80 per...

The appeal of candy-gathering apparently trumped a night of many reruns last night, as TV ratings were down across the board...

8 p.m.

Scared Shrekless: 8.7 million viewers/Dancing With the Stars: 14.7 million

How I Met Your Mother: 10.7 million/2 Broke Girls: 11.1 million

Terra Nova: 6.4 million

The Sing-Off: 4.9 million

Ringer rerun: 1 million

9 p.m.

Dancing With the Stars: 17.1 million

Two and a Half Men: 13.8 million/Mike & Molly: 11.5 million

House: 6.55 million

The Sing-Off: 3.9 million

Ringer rerun: 867,000

10 p.m.

Castle: 12.9 million

Hawaii Five-0: 10.3 million

Rock Center with Brian Williams: 4.1 million...

Fast national ratings for Monday, Oct. 31, 2011

A portion of the nation's TV audience was apparently out celebrating Halloween Monday night, because ratings for a number of shows were below average. "Terra Nova," "Two and a Half Men" and "Dancing With the Stars," among others, were all down from their last airing. The premiere of NBC's newsmagazine "Rock Center with Brian Williams" also got off to a soft start.

Overall, ratings were off about 10 percent from last week. ABC led the night in viewers, bringing in 13.9 million people and a 9.0 rating/14 share in households (its numbers may be slightly inflated because the net's Kansas City affiliate carried "Monday Night Football"). CBS (11.3 million, 7.2/11) finished second. Fox (6.5 million, 4.0/6) was a fairly distant third. NBC averaged 4.3 million viewers and a 2.7/4, and The CW failed to break a million viewers (941,000, 0.6/1) with a night of reruns.

CBS snagged the top spot among adults 18-49 with a 3.8 rating.

The Flicks: Dreamworks hasn’t been as successful as the almighty Pixar, but they have released some solid titles. Two of those being Shrek and Monsters vs Aliens, so it makes sense that they would use these as vehicles for Halloween spinoffs. The DVDs come packaged together as a double pack even though both movies run less than 30 minutes. While the covers are cool, these could have been put on one DVD.

Scared Shrekless is pretty funny. The whole gang is back and Shrek has challenged them into a scare off. They all tell scary stories and the last one left that hasn’t been Scared Shrekless wins. Some of the stories were entertaining, but I wasn’t completely sold on the delivery. Don’t get me wrong, fans of Shrek are going to find plenty to enjoy. I’ve just never been a huge fan of the franchise. The...

Here’s the Movies That Became Available to Stream on Netflix Over the Past Week: Season of the Witch (PG13 | 2011)

Flickchart Ranking: #6384

Times Ranked: 2564

Win Percentage: 37%

How Many Top-20′s: 11 Users

________________________________________________

Directed By:Dominic Sena

Starring: Nicolas Cage • Ron Perlman

Genres: Action • Action Thriller • Supernatural Thriller • Thriller • Witchcraft

• • • • • • • •

Jesus Christ Superstar (G | 1973)

Flickchart Ranking: #2053

Times Ranked: 7192

Win Percentage: 35%

How Many Top-20′s: 10 Users

________________________________________________

Directed By:Norman Jewison

Starring: Ted Neeley • Barry Dennen • Bob Bingham • Leeyan Granger • Carl Anderson

Genres: Based-on-Theatre • Drama • Musical • Musical Drama • Religious Drama • Rock Musical

• • • • • • • •

Scared Shrekless (Nr | 2010)

Flickchart Ranking: #6557

Times Ranked: 564

Win Percentage: 34%

How Many Top-20′s: 4 Users

________________________________________________

Other entries available in the “Dreamworks Spooky Stories” series are:” Monsters vs. Aliens: Mutant Pumpkins from Outer Space” and “The Ghost of Lord Farquaad”

• • • • • • • •

The Warrior’s Way (R | 2010)

Flickchart Ranking: #6457

Times Ranked: 1057

Win Percentage: 42%

How Many Top-20′s: 3 Users

________________________________________________

Directed By:Sngmoo Lee

Starring: Kate Bosworth • Geoffrey Rush...

Ben-Hur: 50th Anniversary Ultimate Collector's Edition I didn't request this one for review, but early reviews have been quite impressive. The thing is, I don't enjoy this film so much that I need a high-definition "ultimate" edition. My DVD copy should suffice for the couple of times I'm likely to watch this film again in my lifetime.

Carlos (Criterion Collection) Criterion has put together an impressive two-disc Blu-ray and four-disc DVD set for their release of Olivier Assayas' 339 minute epic Carlos, which I saw in its entirety at Cannes last year (read my review here) where I called it "a good-not-great film that has a no frills, clinical approach to its lead subject, Ilich Ramirez Sanchez, or as you may know and/or remember him... Carlos the Jackal." It reminded me of Steven Soderbergh's Che in a lot of ways even though it is a far more cohesive film.

Welcome back to Killer Film’s New Release Tuesday for September 27th! Before we get to these releases, let us remind you by ordering through our site, you not only get the best deals around from Amazon, but this one little click will help us out at no extra cost to you! It’s what keeps us killer!

Transformers: Dark of the Moon

(Formats: Blu-ray/DVD)

Donny says: Michael Bay is back with a vengeance! This third installment in the Transformers franchise is a kick-ass action extravaganza. Buy

Jason says: Another shiny turd from Michael Bay. Pass

How I Met Your Mother: Season Six

(Formats: DVD)

Donny says: Great writing, hot girls, and Nph! Buy

Jason says: Hot women and Doogie Howser M.D. Rent

Mimic

(Formats: Blu-ray/DVD)

Donny says: Guillermo del Toro’s slick horror film about a monster that can blend into its environment was a...

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 contenders of the 38th Annual Annie Awards have just been announced. In TV category, "The Simpsons" grabs four nominations, including a nod for Best Animated Television Production along with "Futurama", "Kung Fu Panda Holiday", "Scared Shrekless" and "Star Wars: The Clone Wars". The Simpson is nominated for episode "The Squirt and the Whale", and "The Clone Wars" is nominated for episode "Arc Troopers".

Next, the "Simpsons" leads Bob Anderson vying for Directing in a Television Production, thanks to its "Treehouse of Horror Xxi". Anderson is facing off Peter Chung ("Firebreather"), Duke Johnson ("Frankenhole: Humanitas"), Tim Johnson ("Kung Fu Panda Holiday") and Gary Trousdale ("Scared Shrekless").

The "Simpsons" music worked for "Elementary School Musical" by a team consisting of Tim Long, Alf Clausen, Bret McKenzie and Jemaine Clement gets nominated for Music in a Television Production, and scribe John Frink is up for Writing in a Television Production for...

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...

30 Rock's back! No Scared Shrekless! Now if we can only find a way to excise the cancer of a show that is ending Thursday nights we may be left with a perfect night of comedy. It needs to happen. Please NBC. Please.

Community recap: Season 2, Episode 7, "The Aerodynamics of Gender" (11/4/10)

This is one of the weirdest Community episodes ever. In a weird way it reminded me of the terrible Lisa Rinna episode that had a group of high schoolers yelling gibberish at our heroes last season. Both seemed to emerge from the freedom that the show's comic sensibilities can create. There's a certain absurdity to both. The difference? This week's episode was very, very funny.

read more...

"Community", which has been losing viewers on Thursdays, 8/7c since "The Big Bang Theory" moved to the slot this Fall, has just received a good news. NBC has ordered two additional episodes which means the second season will have a full 24-episode.

There was an up tick in the rating of last week's Halloween episode. It jumps from 4.4 million viewers to 5.6 million viewers. But the show started at 8.30 because NBC aired a Halloween special "Scared Shrekless" at the show's usual spot.

This week, "Community" is expected to get another boost of rating from the guest starring appearance of Hilary Duff. After a classroom smackdown with a group of "mean girls" led by Meghan (guest star Duff), Britta, Shirley, and Annie bond with Abed by turning him into the ultimate "mean girl."

"It was fun for me to get to play a mean girl because it is so different from anything I've ever done before,...

If it was up to TV executives, the Yankees would sail through to the World Series every year, with the rest of the teams squabbling for the other spot. This year's World Series between the Giants and the Rangers on Fox continues to pace well behind last year's, which featured the storied New York baseball franchise, but in line with the one in 2008 that didn't feature them. Last night's Game 2 (4.0 in adults 18-49, 14.1 million) was down 31% from last year's Game 2 between the Yankees and the Phillies but matched the demo rating of the 2008 Game 2 between the Phillies and the Tampa Bay Rays and was up 10% in total viewers. Fox won the night in 18-49 and total viewers, ending CBS' five-week streak. With a Halloween theme and stronger lead-in, NBC's Thursday comedies rebounded from last week's drops with double-digit rating increases. Starting things off was the Scared Shrekless half-hour special (2.5/8, 8.2 million...