AWN

#SofiaTheFirst: Royal Magic - Bigger Sets, More Cinematic Lighting and Brighter Magic - Craig Gerber’s ‘Sofia’ sequel visually expands the princess’ world while holding onto the warmth, humor and music of the original. bit.ly/4v7HTKv #DisneyPlus #Animation #AnimationWorld

#AlexSemenov Releases #BRAINROT Short Narrated by #ThomasMiddleditch: the director’s latest film is a retro sci-fi satire about internet culture, doomscrolling, and the modern brainrot era. bit.ly/4f2cdBB #AnimatedShorts #Animation #AnimationWorld

Aichi Nagoya 2026 Opens Animated Feature Competition: the International #Animation Film Festival now accepting film submissions of 40 minutes or longer for this year’s event; entries due by August 17; runs November 13-18 in Nagoya Japan. bit.ly/43pqsJu #ANIAFF2026 #Animation #AnimationWorld

Holly Edwards, Michelle Grady and Janet Lewin Join #VIEWConference2026 Lineup: the trio of women film studio presidents adds to the conference’s growing roster of in-person speakers heading to Turin, Italy October 12-16. bit.ly/4nHmTrs #Animation #VFX #VisualEffects #AnimationWorld #VFXWorld

#UtopaiStudios secures an investment from NBA Hall of Famer #CarmeloAnthony's Creative 7 Productions to develop original sports and entertainment IP using PAI, its proprietary cinematic storytelling #AI. bit.ly/42MDVej #Animation #AnimationWorld

#BigMouth creators Mark Levin, Jennifer Flackett, Andrew Goldberg, and supervising director Anthony Lioli talk new rom-com #MatingSeason about lovably horny forest creatures dealing with their love lives; debuts May 22 on #Netflix. #AdultAnimation #Animation #AnimationWorld

#Netflix and #ACECanada Share 5th #Animation Career Excelerator Cohort Shortlist: 45 candidates will participate in workshops and final jury presentations; 9 to be selected to earn key credits on new short; ACE 4 film #RocketshipMai to screen at #Annecy2026. bit.ly/4nJObxw #AnimationWorld

Call for Entries: 33rd Annual #AustinFilmFestiva: the festival, which runs October 29-November 5, is looking for submissions to its Oscar-qualifying #animatedshorts category as part of its Annual Film Competition; next deadline is June 19. bit.ly/4v6Aawo #AFF2026 #Animation #AnimationWorld

Trailer #3 Drops for Travis Knight’s #MastersOfTheUniverse: a new He-Man comes to theaters June 5 in the live-action fantasy adventure about 10-year-old Prince Adam and his magical Sword of Grayskull taking on Skeletor to save Eternia. bit.ly/3PGU15Y #VFX #VisualEffects #VFXWorld

Kenichi Yoda Named #StudioGhibli President and CEO: the current #animation studio board member and #NipponTV exec will succeed Hiroyuki Fukuda on June 22, continuing the company’s focus on global brand expansion including event production. bit.ly/3PWC8QO #MyNeighborTotoro #AnimationWorld

#SuperMarioBrosMovie Filmmakers Sign Creative Partnership Deal with #Netflix: Michael Jelenic and Aaron Horvath will develop #animatedseries and films exclusively for the streamer under a multi-year creative partnership. bit.ly/3RiFw9b #TeenTitansGo #Animation #AnimationWorld

#RickAndMorty #AnimatedMovie in Development at Warner Bros.: series director Jacob Hair is attached to direct the planned feature; #DanHarmon confirms he’s keeping big-screen adventure inside the show’s creative orbit; Series’ Season 9 debuts May 24. bit.ly/49FFqP6 #Animation #AnimationWorld

Exclusive Art Reveal: Clover Press’ #Kickstarter for #Flippitoons Collector Art Book - 224-page deluxe hardcover from Jim Fletcher and James Martin catalogs 100+ reversible ‘Creeepilicious Creatures’ from the Flippi-verse that flip with the book. bit.ly/4tKhmBO #Comics #AnimationWorld

Sizing Up the Six-Inch VFX Challenge of #TheMiniatureWife: #Peacock’s 10-episode dramedy turned Elizabeth Banks’ tiny Lindy into a 3,000-shot #visualeffects effort built on 12:1 scale rules, practical builds, live composites, and multi-vendor support. bit.ly/4nDFyo5 #VFXWorld

#DreamWorksAnimation's #MoonRay Renderer Joins #AcademySoftwareFoundation: the #opensource path-tracing renderer has powered every DWA feature since 2019, including #TheWildRobot and #TheBadGuys2 - ASWF’s Open Source Days set for July 19-20 in LA. bit.ly/4v2gx8I #Animation #AnimationWorld

#FX Picks Up #VeryYoungFrankenstein Comedy Series: based on #MelBrooks and 20th Century Studios’ famed 1974 ‘Young Frankenstein,’ the show hails from Stefani Robinson, #TaikaWaititi and Garrett Basch, with Brooks among the executive producers. bit.ly/4uhLDJh #Hulu #VFXWorld

#Beeble Launches Canvas Node-Based #AI Compositing System: toolset lets artists assemble node graphs that mix live-action footage, plates, masks, references, and AI-generated elements; SwitchX API access now available. bit.ly/43iWeYA #GenAI #VirtualProduction #VFX #VisualEffects #VFXWorld

#Aardman Appoints Caroline Norbury OBE as Chair of Trustees: next month, the founder and former CEO of Creative UK will succeed current chair David Pester, who will remain an independent Trustee. bit.ly/4dDWFBF #Stopmotion #Animation #AnimationWorld

#CampSnoopy Season 2 Leads #AppleTV Summer #Peanuts Slate: Beagle Scouts return to Camp Spring Lake for new outdoor adventures with #CharlieBrown and the gang June 26; new special ‘Snoopy Presents: There’s No Place Like Home, Snoopy’ drops July 31. bit.ly/4dSSqU0 #Animation #AnimationWorld

#KyleBalda Brings an Animator’s Eye to Live-Action / Hybrid #TheSheepDetectives: the #Minions director tackles a family mystery filled with photoreal animated sheep, ensemble voice acting, and lots of whodunnit; now in theaters. bit.ly/4dthQ9m #Framestore #VFX #VisualEffects #VFXWorld