2015 Annie Awards Announced!

How to Train Your Dragon 2 beat out the competition to emerge the big winner at the 42nd annual Annie Awards with six wins including Best Animated Feature and Best Director.  The first How to Train Your Dragon went up against Toy Story 3 at the Annies and won, but lost animated feature at the Oscars.  This time around, its sequel also had a fierce contender in the incredibly lovable and funny The LEGO Movie (which won the writing award for the co-directors, Phil Lord and Christopher Miller).  Other winners included Laika's charming The Boxtrolls which was honored with best production design and best voice acting (an inspired Sir Ben Kingsley) and Disney's Feast for best short film. Weta's character animation design in Dawn of the Planet of the Apes (featuring the stellar Andy Serkis as Caesar) and Edge of Tomorrow and Big Hero 6 walked away with the live action and animated effects respectively. This was one of those rare years where a Pixar studios film wasn't released and the troubled DreamWorks, whose latest releases have underperformed, had a rare opportunity to shine. I doubt this will be the same case next year. 

Below are the full list of feature film winners:

Best Animated Feature
How to Train Your Dragon 2, DreamWorks Animation

Directing in an Animated Feature Production
Dean DeBlois, How to Train Your Dragon 2; DreamWorks Animation

Writing in an Animated Feature Production
Phil Lord, Christopher Miller, The Lego Movie; Warner Bros. Pictures

Voice Acting in an Animated Feature Production
Sir Ben Kingsley as the voice of Archibald Snatcher, The Boxtrolls; Focus Features/Laika

Production Design in an Animated Feature Production
Paul Lasaine, Tom McClure, August Hall, The Boxtrolls; Focus Features/Laika

Character Animation in an Animated Feature Production
Fabio Lignini, How to Train Your Dragon 2; DreamWorks Animation

Character Animation in a Live Action Production
Daniel Barrett, Paul Story, Eteuati Tema, Alessandro Bonora, Dejan Momcilovic, Dawn of the Planet of the Apes; Weta Digital

Best Animated Short Subject
Feast, Walt Disney Animation Studios

Animated Effects in a Live Action Production
Steve Avoujageli, Atsushi Ikarashi, Pawel Grochola, Paul Waggoner, Viktor Lundqvist, Edge of Tomorrow; Sony Pictures Imageworks

Animated Effects in an Animated Production
Michael Kaschalk, Peter DeMund, David Hutchins, Henrik Falt, John Kosnik, Big Hero 6; Walt Disney Animation Studios

Music in an Animated Feature Production
John Powell, Jónsi, How to Train Your Dragon 2; DreamWorks Animation

Character Design in an Animated Feature Production
Paul Sullivan, Sandra Equihua, Jorge R. Gutierrez, The Book of Life; Reel FX

Editorial in an Animated Feature Production
John K. Carr, How to Train Your Dragon 2; DreamWorks Animation

Storyboarding in an Animated Feature Production
Truong “Tron” Son Mai, How to Train Your Dragon 2; DreamWorks Animation

Best Student Film
Jason Rayner, My Big Brother; Savannah College of Art and Design

Winsor McCay Award
Didier Brunner
Lee Mendelson
Don Lusk

June Foray Award
Charles Solomon

Ub Iwerks Award
DreamWorks Animation’s Apollo Software

Special Achievement Award
The Walt Disney Family Museum

New Dawn of the Planet of the Apes trailer!

The new trailer of Dawn of the Planet of the Apes shows us what happened in the aftermath of the revolution that had just begun in Rise of the Planet of the Apes with Caesar at the helm.  Now, a decade has passed and the humans and apes will be brought to fight against each other yet again with the victor getting to call Earth home.  Motion Capture Wonder Man, Andy Serkis is back as Caesar (How impressive is that stare!) along with new cast members Jason Clarke, Keri Russell and Gary Oldman.  The film is directed by Matt Reeves (Cloverfield) and releases right in the middle of summer, July 11, 2014.  Make sure you go see this one in IMAX!

News Update Comic-Con Edition: Superman, X-Men, Avengers and More!

Okay, so let's discuss what we have learned (and are still trying to digest) from this year's Comic-Con over in San Diego. 

Photo: Cinema Blend

• Caesar Rises Again!  A first look at Dawn of the Planet of the Apes directed by Matt Reeves (Cloverfield) shows us how the years after The Rise of the Planet of the Apes have been as we saw (SPOILER ALERT) Caesar leading the rest of the apes back to the forest.  In this film, due next summer, Reeves reveals that the situation has worsened as humans have been fighting against the apes.  The sequel's cast includes Gary Oldman, Jason Clarke, Judy Greer, Keri Russell and of course, motion capture artist extraordinaire Andy Serkis as Caesar.

Photo: 20th Century Fox

• The cast for X-Men: Days of Future Past is massive featuring Hugh Jackman, Halle Berry, Ian McKellen, Patrick Stewart, Jennifer Lawrence, Peter Dinklage, Nicholas Hoult, Michael Fassbender, James McAvoy, Anna Paquin, Ellen Page, Shawn Ashmore, Evan Peters (as Quicksilver), Omar Sy (as Bishop) and many more. I think I've probably missed a few.  What does this mean for the time-traveling mutant film? Head on over to MTV News for a quick recap of the panel.

Photo: Entertainment Weekly

• Lots of juicy info from Marvel on their upcoming films.  Loki is back to his nefarious ways in Thor: The Dark World, Scarlett Johansson's Black Widow has quite a substantial role in Captain America: The Winter Soldier, and the big reveal, the title for Avengers 2 is (drumroll, please) Avengers: Age of Ultron.  Any ideas on what this means for the Avengers? 

Photo: Indiewire

• DC Comics and Warner Bros. are not far behind on the big reveal either.  The biggest news, and it's a bit of a shocker, is that the next Man of Steel sequel will feature both Superman (of course!) and Batman (whoa!).  Director Zack Synder announced the news to an ecstatic Hall H at Comic-Con.  Is this the start of the long rumored Justice League franchise?  I really think so.  But my biggest question is: Is Christopher Nolan going to be involved?