Here's our third and final round-up of the big animation stories from this year's San Diego Comic Con! You can read the first two parts here and here. Same time next year?
We've already seen quite a few clips from the upcoming new version of DuckTales, which finally arrives next month.This new SDCC exclusive clip is particularly interesting though, as it gives us our best look at the show's script, and gives us a taste of the character dynamic. It feels different from the original for sure- but still retains the spirit. It's funny, beautifully animated and the voice actors hit it out of the park. Is it August yet?
As San Diego Comic Con 2017 rolled on the animation news kept on coming. So here's the second part of our round-up of the biggest stories that came out of this year's event. Part one can be found here. And there's more to come!
TBS showed off clips from their new adult animation line-up that will be joining American Dad from the 2017- 2018 season. These are Tarantula, Final Space and Close Enough. The latter of these is the new series from Regular Show creator J G Quintel, and will be his first foray into animation aimed at an adult audience- and it's looking pretty awesome! The preview of Sci-fi comedy Final Space meanwhile, doesn't actually feature any actual finished animation, but gives us a good idea of the overall tone of the series and shows off the all-star cast.
Every July, nerds of the United States (nay, the world) flock to San Diego for Comic Con. It's basically Nerd Christmas. There's always some exciting animation related happenings there, too. This year's Con runs until Sunday July 22, but there's already plenty of news to get excited about. So we've rounded up a few of them for you right here! More soon!
Voltron Legendary Defender's panel revealed that the series will return on August 4 with seven new episodes, with another batch of six episodes hitting in a to-be-disclosed date in October. While fans might be slightly disappointed that the number of episodes in seasons going forward will be smaller, it's one way of ensuring that you get to see them sooner. Animation of such quality is time-consuming, so to get a full 11 or 13 episode season like the first two would have meant a longer wait. The long-awaited trailer was also finally released (spoilers for seasons 1 and 2)
Kingsman was an outrageously entertaining comic-book based spy movie from X-Men: First Class director Matthew Vaughn. At the panel for this September's sequel Kingsman: The Golden Circle, there was an unexpected surprise for animation fans. The producers of Archer made a hilarious short in which Sterling Archer meets Kingsman's lead character Eggsy (voiced by Taron Egerton). It's a crossover we never saw coming, but it's utterly inspired. Anyone else really want a Kingsman animated series now?
At the Ghostbusters panel, it was revealed that the untitled animated Ghostbusters movie was still in development, for a possible 2019 release. Ivan Reitman teased that it would be told "from a ghost's point of view", which certainly promises to be unique. But which Ghostbusters team will feature?
The Lego Ninjago Movie released a hilarious new Comic-Con trailer.
We also got our first look at the upcomingRocko's Modern Life comeback movie Static Cling. It looks set to be a perfect update of the original, with hand-drawn animation that captures the original, while giving it a modern HD-powered sheen. And the sense of humour seems to have survived intact, too. "Fellas... I don't think we're in the 90s any more..."
Next up in our series is an interview with Selina Hsiao-Chieh Tung. Selina is an independent animator, character designer, and graphic designer. Animation Nights New York officially selected her film Another Space which was featured in our 2017 July Pictures screening.
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Monster Island – which bears no relationship to the 2004 B-movie of the same name featuring the unforgettable Carmen Electra and the late, great Adam West – is the latest movie-length feature from Mexican animator Leopoldo Aguilar.
Now, that was a terrible movie, but it was supposed to be terrible. Aguilar’s Monster Island is not terrible, it’s just, well, ‘meh’.
It’s not so offensive you’ll immediately channel-hop to get away from it on a rainy Saturday afternoon when you’ve already consumed all the remaining box-sets on your list, but in a way, that’s its problem.
Animation, with its limitless visual possibilities, has already produced some great monster movies – Monsters Inc, How To Train Your Dragon, Hotel Transylvania, Paranorman, Monster House, Monsters v Aliens to name just a few.
One of the best things about crowdfunding is that it is able to demonstrate that there is a hunger from audiences for more diverse stories. It can allow people from underrepresented communities make headway in an industry that is undeniably still dominated by white men. This is perfectly represented by Hair Love, an incredibly charming looking animated short pitch from Matthew A Cherry.
This is fairly unusual in Kickstarters we've featured in that it has already surpassed its initial goal of $75,000, with (at the time of writing) 20 days still to go. However, having passed $100,000 the project is trying to reach a stretch-goal of $200,000 to make the film the best they can be.
Once upon a time, there lived a poor miller and his family. With their river run dry, the family has little else to eat but the apples from their apple tree. Until one day, a mysterious old man offers the miller a chance to inherit an incredible fortune. All in exchange for his beautiful daughter. The old man, revealed to be a shape shifting demon, eventually comes to claim his end of the bargain but is disgusted by the girl's purity. Though she tries to escape this terrible fate, the devil punishes her by cutting off her hands. Abandoned by her father and on the run from the devil, the girl must find a way to survive. All without the use of her hands.
The Girl Without Hands is a french animated film created by Sebastian Laudenbach, based off the Brothers Grimm fairy tale of the same name. The film was created through a series of paintings crafted and edited together by Sebastian along with Clorinde Baldassari and Santi Minasi (The former being a compositing director, the latter a film editor). This is Sebastian's first feature length film after a series of successful animated short films. The Girl Without Hands first premiered at the Cannes Film Festival and has received both nominations and awards from both the Cesar Awards and The Annecy Film Festival. The film has since been picked up for American distribution by GKIDS and will soon see a limited time screenings across select theaters for the summer of 2017.
Chris writes about movies, games, TV and other stuff you love, and has
written for places including MyM magazine, Rant Gaming, KillStreakMedia
and Anime UK News. He particularly specialises in the field of animation
and spends far too much time watching cartoons for a grown up. He
regrets nothing. Follow him at @misterchristor.
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