December 28, 2018
Academy Award Winning Animator Borge Ring Passes Away!
The Animation Hall Of Fame family is sad to acknowledge the passing of the great international Oscar winning director, animator, cartoonist and jazz musician Børge Ring, who passed away yesterday at age 97.
The Danish artist was best known for directing three award-winning animated short films -
Oh My Darling (1978),
Anna & Bella (1984) which he won an Oscar for, and
Run of the Mill (1999). His credited television and film animation work dates back to the late 1940s and includes
It's the Great Pumpkin,
Charlie Brown (1966),
Heavy Metal (1981),
Curse of the Pink Panther (1983) and
We’re Back! A Dinosaur's Story (1993).
December 16, 2018
Disneys'
Mickey's Christmas Carol Celebrates Its 35th Anniversary Today!
The cartoon is an adaptation of Charles Dickens'
A Christmas Carol, starring Scrooge McDuck as Ebenezer Scrooge. Many other Disney characters, primarily from the Mickey Mouse universe,
Robin Hood, and
The Adventures of Ichabod and Mr. Toad, were cast throughout the film. This was the first original Mickey Mouse theatrical cartoon produced in over 30 years.
December 14, 2018
The National Film Registry Chooses Two Animation Classics For Preservation!
Walt Disney's 1950 animated classic
Cinderella and the independent experimental animated short
Hair Piece: A film for Nappy-Headed People are chosen to be preserved by the National Film Registry, which was announced by the Library of Congress today. Hair Piece was produced by one of the first female African american animators Ayoka Chenzira.
December 4, 2018
King Features Celebrates Popeye's 90th Anniversary!
Popeye first appeared in the daily King Features comic strip. Years later, in 1933, Max Fleischer adapted Popeye and his supporting characters into a series of
Popeye the Sailor theatrical cartoon shorts for Paramount Pictures. These cartoons proved to be among the most popular of the 1930s, and Fleischer Studios and later Paramount's own Famous Studios continued production through 1957.
November 27, 2018
SpongeBob Square Pants Creator And Animator Stephen "Steve" Hillenburg Passes Away!
The Animation Hall Of Fame family is sad to acknowledge the passing of Stephen "Steve" Hillenburg creator and animator of
SpongeBob Square Pants on November 26th, 2018 from ALS. SpongeBob was Nickelodeons first original Saturday Morning Cartoon show. Steve, a marine biologist, used his love of all things aquatic to foster his pet project
SpongeBob Square Pants into a household icon! SpongeBob has been an award-winning hit since it appeared in 2004. It spawned two movies and many a loveable product placement and now a Broadway Musical! He was born in Lawton, Oklahoma. He got a degree in Marine biology from Humboldt State University and a Master of Arts from California Institute of the Arts. After writing and illustrating a few children’s books he joined Nickelodeon as a director and writer in 1993 on the series
Roccos Modern Life. He leaves behind a wife, Karen and a son, Clay.
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November 22, 2018
Noted Anime Historian Fred Patton Passes Away!
Born in 1940 he enjoyed such 1960 Japanese classics as
Speed Racer and
Marine Boy, which set him on his lifelong passion. He was a noted writer and collector of Japanese animation and introduced the manga and anime art form to younger generations. His collections of works reside in The University of California Riverside library. AHOF will miss his recommendations and wit.
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November 20, 2018
Lost Oswald The Lucky Rabbit Cartoon Has Surfaced In Japan!
Disney Archives announced that an unknown copy of the 1928 Oswald the Lucky Rabbit cartoon Neck and Neck has surfaced in Japan! Created by the early Disney animators the copy surfaced after Osaka resident Yasushi Watanabe read "Oswald the Lucky Rabbit: The Search for the Lost Disney Cartoons" by David Bossert. He had purchased the cartoon over 70 years ago when he was a high school student at the wholesale toy market in the city of Osaka, Japan.
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November 18, 2018
Disney's
Steamboat Willie Celebrates Its 90th Anniversary!
Steamboat Willie, directed by Walt Disney and Ub Iwerks in 1928 is considered to be the debut of Mickey Mouse[2] and his girlfriend Minnie, although both the characters appeared several months earlier in a test screening of
Plane Crazy.
Steamboat Willie was the third of Mickey's films to be produced, but was the first to be distributed because Walt Disney, having seen
The Jazz Singer, had committed himself to producing one of the first fully synchronized sound cartoons.
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November 16, 2018
New Documentary
Hand Drawn in Production!
A new Documentary entitled
Hand Drawn features interviews with internationally renowned 2D Traditional Animation artists such as Jorge Gutierrez, Eric Goldberg, Bill Plympton, Nancy Beiman and is being directed by Felicity Morland.
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November 13, 2018
Animation Classic
Yellow Submarine Celebrates Its 50th Anniversary!
This 1968 British animated musical fantasy comedy pop culture film inspired by the music of the Beatles, was directed by animation producer George Dunning, and produced by United Artists and King Features Syndicate. The film received widespread acclaim from critics and audiences alike, in contrast to some of the Beatles' previous film ventures. It also has been credited with bringing animation to an even higher level as a more serious art form. Time Magazine commented that it "turned into a smash hit, delighting adolescents and aesthetes alike." Half a century after its release, it is still regarded as a landmark of animation.
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November 12, 2018
Comic Book Creative Visionary And Legend Stanley Martin "Stan Lee" Lieber Passes Away!
The Animation Hall Of Fame family is morning the loss today of one of the world's truly visionary geniuses, Stanley Martin "Stan Lee" Lieber. New Yorker Stanley Martin Lieber was born in 1922 and his job as an assistant at the comic book publisher Timely Comics became his passion. He started at the bottom and then in 1941 his first story "Captain America Foils the Traitor's Revenge" was published. He eventually led the company into its present mode Marvel Comics. Marvel revitalized the comics business in 1960 with a series of flawed, more human superheroes. Its figures lived in the real world. He became the company's editorial director and publisher in 1972 and eventually immersed himself in spreading the Marvel gospel (often with the exclamation, "Excelsior!") We will miss him, but his legacy is as timely now as it was in the 40's and firmly grounded for the future to enjoy. It is also nice he lives on in his movie cameos-- Excelsior Stan!
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November 1, 2018
Ed Catmull Retires!
The Walt Disney Company and Pixar announce the retirement of Pixar Co-Founder Ed Catmull in 2019. Walt Disney Animation Studios President Andrew Millstein will be Catmull's successor.
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October 22, 2018
New Stop Motion Animation
Pinocchio Feature Announced!
A new Stop Motion
Pinocchio Feature is scheduled for Netflix. Guillermo del Toro and Mark Gustafson will create a Stop Motion Feature more in keeping with the original story including its darker side.
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October 13, 2018
Disney's
Tim Burtons The Nightmare Before Christmas Celebrates Its 25th Anniversary!
This 1993 American stop-motion animated musical cult classic was film directed by Henry Selick, and produced and conceived by Tim Burton.
The Nightmare Before Christmas originated in a poem written by Burton in 1982 while he was working as an animator at Walt Disney Feature Animation. The film was met with both critical and financial success, grossing over $76 million during its initial run. It was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Visual Effects, a first for an animated film.
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October 9, 2018
Animation Veteran Adam Gregory Burke Passes Away!
Adam Gregory Burke the creative Pixar animator has passed away from cancer. Adam began his career at Warner Brothers where he worked on
The Iron Giant and
Space Jam. He was then recruited to the new Dreamworks Studio where he worked on
Road to El Dorado,
Spirit: Stallion of the Cimarron, and
Sinbad before moving on to Pixar where he worked for almost 2 decades. There is a tiny door in his office and when opened it leads to a small hidden room, The Love Lounge, which is now legendary among animation and movie lovers alike and dons the names of many if not all of the talented voice artists and celebrities that have visited Pixar. When visitors asked to see it, Adam was always more than happy to oblige. He is survived by his two sons Zachary and Aidan.
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October 8, 2018
Ink & Paint: The Women of Walt Disney's Animation Docuseries!
Disney is developing a digital Docuseries based on historian Mindy Johnsons book 'Ink & Paint: The Women of Walt Disney's Animation.' It will be produced by Disney's Alternative Division headed up by Fernando Hernandez for the studios as yet unnamed new streaming service. The eight-episode documentary mini-series is expected to launch in late 2019.
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October 5, 2018
Claymation Pioneer Legend William Gale "Will" Vinton Passes Away!
The Animation Hall Of Fame family is sad to acknowledge the passing of the venerable grand master of Claymation William Gale "Will" Vinton.
The passing of Will Vinton
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