Please take a moment to read this message, which comes from Conay, concerning the coming Animation Source Awards.

~:~:~:~:~:~:~:~:~:~:~:~:~:~:~:~:~:~:~:~:~:~

A cry for help...
We need judges... And fast!

So, as you all know; The Animation Source Awards are just days away... But unfortunately, we only have three judges! (Aniu Calestis, Emily123, Nava The Wise). The Nominations begin on the 3rd January, and we are running out of time to find and appoint judges, which is why I plea to Animation Source today.

If you would like to be a judge in this years Animation Source Awards, [...]

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I have finally added back the possibility to change the shoutbox background! The choice is located where it used to be, at the bottom of the shout box.

Important : The backgrounds available are different for each site, and only the site builders are able to add some. If you are a "graphics site builder", then just go into the building part to add new backgrounds! (Advice : lower the contrast on the pictures, otherwise the text won't be readable)

And...Merry christmas to everyone, and have a nice holiday!

Hey Animation Sourcers, this may come as a surprise to most of you but the newest site to open is...

Design and content done by Wolf.250, translated by Kaizer Soze!

Enjoy!

It is the most expensive animated film ever made, costing $260 million dollars. It's also the second-most expensive film ever made period, after Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End. It's gotten an 88% "Fresh" rating on Rotten Tomatoes. And it has been called by many critics as Disney's best fairy tale since Beauty and the Beast.

That film, of course, is Tangled.

Tangled opened on November 24, 2010--the day before Thanksgiving. It was up against Harry Potter and the Deathly Hollows: Part 1 for the weekend box office, and ended up losing, though only by about $1 million. [...]

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While trying to remove some members from the staff lists, I accidentally removed all the member table data...(Woops!)

Fortunately I had a backup from yesturday, so I managed to restore it the way it was, one day ago.

Which means you may have lost any change done to your profile meanwhile, and if you registered less than one day ago, you may have to do it again. Sorry for the inconvenience! I'll try to be more careful next time.

If your profile doesn't work the way it should, remember to log out, then log in, and everything should be fine.

At least I learned how to restore [...]

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The Animation Source Awards's was founded by Steet back in 2007 when he launched the "Balto Source Awards" back in 2007/08. The concept of the Awards was to place the spotlight on "unnoticed", but talented individuals who had created excellent work, whether it be artwork, fanfictions or videos. And unlike the Oscars, these awards are not popularity contests between users; they are awards to celebrate the works of talented members who have contributed to the sites sections. We hope, that this year; the Animation Source Awards can keep to it's original goals of being a "talent competition" [...]

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Just a quick reminder that Epic Mickey is released TODAY in the USA!!!

If you are a Disney fan, this is a MUST BUY. If you own a Wii and like good video games, this is a MUST BUY.

I'm playing it since a few days (it's been released on the 25th here in France), and I'm definitely not disappointed :)

I've been extremely surprised by the Animation Source visitors statistics lately...

There has been a 70% increase of visitors in 3 days!!!

No joke - this have NEVER happened before, in 6 years since Balto Source is online.

This is, obviously, a good news - but I was very suspicious. It seemed too big to be true, I thought that the Xiti statitics were bugged for some reason. Especially considering there was no external backlink that explained it.

But, seeing more than 250 visitors online at the same time yesturday (!!!), I understood that was real.

And now I got it. Is [...]

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The first theatrical trailer for the new Disney film "Winnie the Pooh" has been released. It gives away a little bit about the stories that the film will be exploring: Eeyore losing a tail and having to find a replacement, Pooh and friends going to find a "Backson", and what Christopher Robin does in the morning.

"Winnie the Pooh", slated for release in the US in July, and in the UK in April, is the newest adaptation of A.A. Milne's original stories. It is being animated by the best animators Disney has to offer,and from the looks of it, it's going to be a terrific film!

It's now official : the new project from Ron & John Musker (aka the directors behind Aladdin, The Princess & The Frog...) is an adaptation from one of the Terry Pratchett's Discworld novels, "Mort" !

There were already rumors that Disney wanted to do very different things from now on, and this project confirms it.

I have never read the books myself, but I have fond memories of the two video games that were released in 1995/1997, which are (to me) two of the best point'n click adventures games ever made. And I wouldn't mind at all Disney to borrow some [...]

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First of all, Toy Story 3 was released on Tuesday on DVD and Blu-Ray. It is also available on iTunes, where on its first day of sales, it became the best-selling movie ever offered on the service. Reports of its first-day sales are not available yet, but Disney is confident that the movie will sell as well on DVD as it did in its theatrical run.

Next up, it looks like Who Framed Roger Rabbit is getting a sequel. The original movie was released in 1988, combining live-action as well as traditional animation. It received six Academy Awards, and is often deemed as the film that [...]

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NOTICE: THE EVENTS OF THIS EPISODE ARE FAKE! SOURCECAST IS STILL ALIVE AND WELL!

We are very sorry it had to end this way, but something has happened that has put Sourcecast into a hiatus until further notice. In our brief episode describing what happened, we explain that circumstances beyond our control have taken place, preventing our recording the show any longer.

Please listen to our newest episode, "Sourcecast: Happy Hallow--Oh Sweet Steet!" for more information

It's that time of month again. In our newest episode of Sourcecast, Rusty the Fox has temporarily left, being replaced by special guests Ahura Werewolf, UK - Ban Cat, and Conay. This was supposed to be a Halloween special, but we kind of got carried away. *shrugs in apology*

In this episode, we discuss the latest on Animation Source--including the additions of Aristocats and Watership Down Source--hear some British reviews of "Alpha and Omega", listen to some news about this years Animation Source Awards, get a sneak peak of a sequel to "Who Framed Roger Rabbit", and much, much [...]

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It seems like the frenchies have noticed it immediately (and have already sent a LOT of reviews), but not this side!

Strange. Anyway, here's the news : there is a whole new section on the site, reviews! Just check for the link in every film / series section in the left menu.

So that's right, you can now review each of the films featured on the Animation Source sites!

This is something that I have been wanting to do for 6 years (no kidding, it was planned since the very first version of Balto Source), but now that there are a lot of film / series to talk about, this makes [...]

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That's right, I completely re did the layout. The old one was rather pink and bla. So come and check out the new layout!

Yes, it's that time of the month again...actually, for the first time, a second SourceCast episode has been posted this month: "Aniu Reloaded". In this episode, we have a special guest: Tovah_XOXO, who helped us out with a review of the recently-previewed "Legends of the Guardians", as well as helping us answer some old mailbag questions.

As always, this episode is hosted by Rusty the Fox, Aniu Caelestis, Swords of the Wolves, and yours truly, Skulblaka_Shur'tugal. And if you were wondering about the episode title, let's just say that Aniu was drinking Mountain Dew Code Red when [...]

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Disney's Robin Hood may not be the most acclaimed film ever made by the company. In fact, it was made during the "darkest" period, a little while after Walt's death and a little before Disney's golden age in the 80's-90's. It had a very low budget and as such, they re-used a lot of animation from previous films.

That didn't prevent this film from becoming a cult one! It's, of course, the first major film that involved "furry" characters and is fondly remembered for that, but has more than enough qualities that helped it become the best version of this well-known tale.

So, [...]

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In an age where VHS tapes are forgotten, nobody knows what Laserdiscs are, and DVDs are all but yesterday, many people are turning to the high-definition of home entertainment--trying to replicate a movie theater as closely as possible. And with this, many companies are releasing their older movies on Blu-Ray for an unmatched clarity and clean-cut film that has been unseen since their original release in theaters.

Disney is no exception: recently, they released their "Diamond Edition" for Beauty and the Beast, continuing on with a tradition that started with Sleeping Beauty of [...]

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Today the fourth episode of SourceCast is being published. Many of you older members remember this, a fan-made podcast celebrating Animation Source and all of its sites. The last episode published was back in March, but now the Sourcecasters are back, with their newest episode "Losing a Son, Gaining a Daughter...wait..."

The SourceCast is run by four Animation Source members: Founder Aniu Caelestis, Chief Caster Rusty the Fox, Caster the Great Swords of the Wolves, and myself Skulblaka_Shur'tugal.

SourceCast began with Episode 1, "The Arrival", on October 8, 2009--almost [...]

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Strange things happen sometimes...

Some of our youngest folks here probably don't remember it, but the Disney Afternoon program was the most watched cartoons in Disney history. There were Ducktales, Gummi Bears, Darkwing Duck and TaleSpin, all awesome in their own kind.

They're a big part of the Disney golden age in the 90's! Maybe even more than the films...

And there also was Chip'n Dale Rescue Rangers. Here's to refresh your memory :

(and I strongly recommend everyone not knowing these Disney shows to watch some episodes on Youtube!)

Then, after these [...]

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The most famous mouse is coming back, in a fairly unexpected way. I talked about this almost one year ago, and it has come a long way since then!

Epic Mickey is a Wii exclusive video game featuring the Disney character. In this game, Mickey is back to his 1920's form, and...he's no more the "perfect model", bland character that we've known since more than 20 years.
Well, I'll just let you watch the opening scene so that you get the picture :



As you can see, it features a lot of Disney "forgotten" elements and characters such as Oswald the Lucky Rabbit (Walt's first character), The [...]

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The wait is (almost) over : The Lion King has finally been officially announced for a release on Bluray. It will come Fall 2011! Which should give you all the time to get a Bluray player (I still don't, myself ^^)

See this trailer below :

Also, to give you a taste of what it will look like, I had access to an HD version of the film and posted more than 600 high-resolution screenshots of the first film! They will replace the old (bad quality) ones. Here are some samples of what you will find in the gallery (click on them to expand) :

Advice : [...]

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For most of you animation fans, summer ends in just a few weeks--maybe even days if you're going off to college like me. I feel like Andy in Toy Story 3, complete with my vintage Toy Story action figures. But enough about that. Time for the stuff you're all wanting to read. (By the way, thank you steet for making "Lady and the Tramp Source". It's one of my favorite films of all time.)

First off, I want to inform you with something that might come as a shock, at least if you were looking forward to this as much as I did. It would appear that Beauty and the Beast's 3D re-release in [...]

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Hey, it's been a few long months since the last Animation Source site opened.

This one is sure to be a favorite for all dog fans around here : please welcome Lady & The Tramp Source, a site dedicated to the 1955 well-known film from Disney!

You can now congratulate MightyBalto1925 (graphics) and Sardonyx (content) for their hard work! It only took them two weeks to make this site, and even though I was not much involved, it looks just as good as the others!

Be sure to bookmark it :

/lady_tramp/en/

With this new site, I'm going to [...]

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That's a long news, so be sure to click "Read more"!

Universal released its first CGI film this month, and it's...a huge success. Despicable Me is probably the biggest surprise this year, as it generated 118M$ in only two weeks (yes, more than Princess & The Frog during its whole lifespan), while it was produced (in France) for a very small 60M$ budget.

It seems nowadays every company is doing better than Disney...the complete opposite of what happened in the 80-90s, when every animated film would fail, one after the other, when there wasn't written "Disney" on it. Any logic [...]

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I have upgraded the text editor on the site, which is used when sending PMs, editing your profile, writing fanfics, articles etc...

It used to be FCKEditor 2.0, but it has been renamed to CKEditor for version 3. (Ok, I think no one cares)

The thing is, there is a new graphical interface (which is much nicer IMO, and with a different color on each site), but also a new file/image browsing interface, which is MUCH more practical (thumbnails, renaming, deleting files...)

NB : Somebody has reported having problems with computers slow down, with the SCAYT spelling corrector, tell [...]

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EDIT!!! see below

While the results from the past two days are not yet in, there is enough information for me to inform you...

Toy Story 3  is the highest-grossing film of the year!

Well, to be more specific, it is ONE of the highest-grossing films of the year. In the United States, it has grossed, as of July 4, $301,883,298. That is the third-most of the year, behind Iron Man 2 with $308,530,297 and Alice in Wonderland with $334,185,206. However, this is only as of July 5--this past Monday. As it is now Wednesday, Box Office Mojo has placed Toy Story 3's Tuesday [...]

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A long, long time ago...there used to be a RSS feed for the news posted on Balto Source.

But that little function went broken, so when I created Animation Source, I decided to scrap it until I get the time to fix it.

And now, it's back! Every site has a separate RSS file which allows to list the 20 most recent news. You can now add it in your favorites syndication readers, such as Netvibes, your IPhone/IPad/ISomething or even directly in your browser. You'll find the link at the bottom of the page. So now, you can be alerted when there's a news posted on the site, without having to [...]

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It has just been announced that Disney is working on a 3D version of The Lion King, from one of the workers behind the project (Don Hahn)

This isn't a CGI version (phew! thank you my lord) but of course a stereoscopic version of the same Lion King film we already know, adding depth to the picture.

This follows the 3D conversion of Beauty & The Beast getting the same treatment, which was originally planned for 2010 but has been pushed to next year. All the people who have watched some screenings of the 3D version of B&TB said that it was "amazing", maybe even better than the [...]

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Today, around the world, Pixar's 11th full-length motion picture, Toy Story 3, was released. I'm sure a lot of you have been waiting a long tome to see it; for people who first saw Toy Story 2 in theaters, they've been waiting the better part of eleven years--including myself. In celebration of this movie, I want to take a moment to remember Pixar Animation's films.

First of all, I would like to bring to your attention that, before 1995, animated movies only existed in two genres: those made by Disney, and those not made by Disney. Of these two catagories, the Disney films are by far [...]

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I just realized that I still didn't write a news about this, even though that's probably one of the things that I'm the most looking forward this year.

After 15 years since the end of the show, and nothing new since then (save for the DVD release), Darkwing Duck comes back TODAY!!!

Not as a TV series, mind, you, but as a comic book. This is published by Boom Studios!, and these are all-new stories involving that crazy superhero duck of Disney. Darkwing Duck will be an ongoing monthly release, and the quality seems high level. Judge by yourself :

And as a good news never comes [...]

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Here's something that (I hope) will allow more people to come and join the sites. You know, most people are lazy when it comes to creating an account on a site, which is why I have now added a "Facebook connect" button to make this easy.

It's simple : if you have a Facebook account, you can click on that and you'll automatically become a member on Animation Source!

Needless to say, you need to own a Facebook account first, but seriously, who doesn't nowadays...
Facebook connect can also be convenient for all of you who are already members here : by associating your Facebook account with [...]

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As early as 1934, Walt Disney started persuing the idea of a full-length animated feature film. He and his team of nine animators got together for a meeting in early 1935 and discussed ideas. They finally settled on two stories in particular: the story of Snow White, and a movie based on Felix Salton's novel A Life in the Forest--later to be known as "Bambi".

Production began immediately on "Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs", and in a remarkable amount of time, the film was completely finished within just under three years. Snow White became the highest-grossing film at the time, [...]

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Honestly, I have never seen anything spreading as quick as the "Like" button on the web. I mean, Facebook added that only one or two months ago, and almost all of the sites that I visit regularly have already integrated this...

Well, as much as I don't like the vision of having "Facebook as the center and all the other sites contributing to it", and even though I tend to refuse relying on "external" sites, it's not much a choice. And maybe it could even be a good thing for Animation Source.

So, now you will find a "Like" button pretty much everywhere on here. For example, if you like a [...]

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I have finally added something that was missing from the sites since I revamped the news system : the possibility to find and read the older news.

Now you'll be able to do this by clicking on the links at the bottom of the news (just above the "What's new on the site") This goes as far as 2004 for Balto Source.

Especially be sure to read them if you're a newcomer on the site. But also read them if you're an old member. Because sometimes, it's very nice to read them a few years later, you may see things differently :)

The USA citizens are very lucky to have Hulu.com, a site which offers to watch many films and series online for free and LEGALLY.

Well they've added the ADGTH series! I think this is recent (or at least, I didn't know about that) and I believe that's a very good thing to make them available for everyone who never got the chance to see such old cartoons. It's far from being a masterpiece (bad animation, among other things) especially when compared to the films, but I think it's still enjoyable and a must-see for the fans.

Is this a hint that they intend to bring the franchise back? I [...]

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A new game has been announced from Disney Interactive Studios, the gaming company responsible for over twenty years' worth of Disney-related computer games. The game, a branch-off of "Disney: Sing It!" is called "Sing It: Family Hits".

The game will be available on Sony PlayStation3 and Nintendo Wii, and will arrive sometime this summer. It will feature karaoke songs from several well-known Disney films, both old and new. A few movies whose songs are included in the game really caught my attention, such as "Mary Poppins", "The Jungle Book", and "Cinderella", and then [...]

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The DVD for The Princess and the Frog has been out for just under 7 weeks now. Let's take a look at the stats.

If you don't have the DVD, get it! If you do, get another one! Already, this is the 15th best-selling DVD of the [...]

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I've been saying for a long while that there should be partners sites on here. Well I'm proud to announce our first partner to cover all the Animation Source sites : Keyframe Online!

This is a site which gives information on a lot of animated films and series, and which allows to post reviews on them. Be sure to take a look!

This is kinda interesting to see which DTV film is rated first in the Top 5, and which TV series is rated first too

The site is also accessible withing the "Partners" section in the left menu, on which all partners will be listed.

 On [...]

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Toonzone has a artical about Andreas Deja designing Mama Odie and Juju that I think you should look into.

http://www.toonzone.net/news/articles/33267/andreas-deja-on-designing-mama-odie-for-the-princess-and-the-frog

Sorry I don't have much for the month, but this the least I could find recently.

Up until the late 1920, all animated films were silent films. The oldest full-length film still in existence is The Adventures of Prince Achmed, from Germany. It used stop-motion photography to film shadows as if they were moving on their own. Meanwhile, in the United States, Walt Disney had already invented Mickey Mouse, which became a national phenomenon. In 1928, Disney used a process of synchronizing picture and sound to create the very first animated short with audio: Steamboat Willie. The outstanding welcoming of Mickey Mouse into the lives of people all over the world caused [...]

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What is webranking?

Search engines rank the sites, according to the site content of course, but also according to the number of pages that links to the site.
To get a good rank, a site must be linked from a very large number of other sites (at least, this is how most of the search engines work, and the primary criterion of Google - thats why it's so important)
These links are called "backlinks". The more backlinks a site has, the best it is ranked! (and of course, the primary goal of a link is also to bring visitors)

And needless to say : the best a site is ranked, the most visitors [...]

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As we continue down our road of history, let's take a look at the first full-length animated films of all time. Contrary to popular belief, Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs actually was not the first animated movie. The first movie was El Apostol, an Argentinian film released in 1917. The film lasted at 70 minutes, but unfortunately does not exist now, as no copies of the film have been found, even after decades of searching.

<--The only surviving frame from El Apostol.

Ironically, the next animated film made is a lost film as well: Without a Trace, also from Argentina. Around this time, [...]

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This is a new series of articles I'm starting to post. I decided it would be fun if you Sourcers could look into the history of animation with me. In this section, I will be discussing how animation existed before modern technology.

You'll have to go on a journey with me back in time--way back in time. Back to the ancient Egyptians.

^This is a mural on a Pyramid wall, depicting a burial.^

The Egyptians stumbled upon animation when they decided to try setting up several images in a row, each slightly different. Then they ran by the images, looking at the wall as they went. [...]

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Hi! I'm Skulblaka_Shur'tugal, one of the mods for The Princess and the Frog Source. I was curious this past week as to how many DVDs the movie has sold. This is what I found.

I found that, as of March 28, 2010, the DVD sales totaled 2,373,663, the 12th best-selling DVD of 2010. It raked in $39,153,445 (US dollars). Note that this is only a count for the American release, and only for the DVD, not for the Blu-Ray.

I watched the DVD myself, and I cannot complain. It's a must-buy, if you haven't already.

Until next time!

This is with so many regrets that I'm officially closing my so-wonderful site...You see, I expected a lot more visitors, so this is a complete disappointment, and I'm devastated...

...Ok, the joke's over, happy April Fools everyone! I hope not too many of you are blind now (oh, and the Animation Source shout box is back too)

I just wanted to show you that there's nothing worse than following demographics statistics when it comes to making a cultural product, yet that's what every company nowadays is doing!

And that's exactly what I despise the most in our current world. When [...]

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I have made some statistics on the members of Animation Source, and I have noticed that the main demographic is : Girls (10 to 15 years), with 72% of share.

So I had the awesome idea to make a site dedicated to YOU : I am very proud to present you the newest and best site I have ever made, Girls Fashion Source!

/girls/en/

This is the site for your every need : shopping, fun, makeup, more shopping, love, games, and so much more!!!

What are you waiting for? Click on the link to enter it! You will say WOW!

Oh and be sure to bookmark it of [...]

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Now we have a new partner: http://www.princessandthefrogmovie.net Let's give them a warm welcome, and hope the Disney classic can be spread around.

Also, if you haven't noticed yet, we have some new varied screen-caps at the top right corner for your enjoyment. New learning artsts can use them as refferences for projects they can work on. Well, see ya soon,
Minespatch!

Following our line of "What the heck are they doing", Disney has announced they will be closing down the ImageMovers Digital studios that they had opened 3 years ago. This studio only produced one film : the very recent "A Christmas Carol", who "only" generated 300M$ internationally (yes, nowadays, that's not enough...)

I have never been a real fan of Zemeckis' "undead/Resident Evil"-like characters, but it always seem a strange decision to close a studio after the release of only ONE film.
The studio will produce another film before it's closed though : Mars Needs Moms, which [...]

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Minespatch here! Up to bring you the latest news on Princess and the Frog(Otherwise, take it as PatF for short).

Disney has presented their recent classic with a nicely made pre-order page on their store site which you can go here:

http://disneydvd.disney.go.com/the-princess-and-the-frog.html

Very much suggested if you would like to see some interesting supplemental videos to enjoy.

Otherwise, you can pre-order at Amazon like before.  Also, you might want to see what Disney has cooked up! A three-disc Blu-ray with DVD [...]

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When I announced the newest Animation Source sites, I said there would be dedicated staff working on them. Well, it has taken me some time, but now I was able to create a system that will help managing the sites. But nothing can works without some volunteers!

So, here are the changes :

Princess & The Frog Source :
minespatch => Global moderator, News, Site editing (changing poll, selection of the week)
Skulblaka_Shur'tugal => Manage reports, Shout box mod

Talespin Source :
PrtyWatrPrincess => Global mod, News, Site editing (Changing poll)
KitCloudkicker52885 => Global mod, [...]

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Hello everyone, minespatch here. For those who follow the merchandise around Princess and the Frog might have already heard of the new "Bayou Boogie" cd coming around.

Keith David fans will be glad to know that he'll be reprising as Dr. Facilier. Mama Odie's Jenifer Lewis will return. Then you have "Ain't Misbehavin'"s  Michael Leon-Wooley as Louis singing about his origins around himself and Giselle the French horn. With Jim cummings again as Ray, he'll be singing about the musical form of the Zydeco. 

Despite what the cover shows and from what I've read singing, Bruno [...]

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- Recently I was talking about the cancelled "King of elves" and "Snow Queen" at Disney. Well one of the previously announced Pixar project, "Newt", seems to be cancelled too. Which makes us wondering even more : what's going on out there?

- Enchanted 2 is on its way  : I really didn't think that one to be the kind to get a sequel...seemed like the story was complete, to me. But I kinda liked the first one. (though a bit "girlish") But : will it be partly animated like the original?

- I found a page which explains more about the closure of [...]

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Recently, I've read a lot of news on many sites (especially animators sites), in order to know "what's coming". And I have found many "behind the scenes" (mostly Disney related) , that I thought were enough important to share :

- Universal has closed down their "Universal Animation Studios" facility since mid-2009. I'm not sure how to understand this news, because it seems they're still making CGI films though not indoors ("Despicable Me" is coming soon), but we DO know that they stopped making anymore Land Before Time sequels and series. So yes, we can safely assume that the facility [...]

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It was struggling, but at least it made it : The Princess & The Frog has crossed the 100M$ gross in the USA! That's a relief, because this is a mental barrer for whoever like sales figures - and everyone knows how much the companies are driven by that, nowadays.

Is it a good result? There's no definite answer to that. It's a good one if you consider the recent Disney films, it's not if you consider the CGI films grosses and ticket price inflation.

We're also still unsure of how Disney is taking these figures : higher or below expectations? Will this be enough to ensure more 2D [...]

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Did you notice the "NEW" icons appearing sometimes on the left menu?

Well, this is to indicate when there is a new content in the associated section. But, even more precise, it's a personal one, just like it works to indicate new topics on the forums (ex : when there are new fanarts submitted, you will see a "NEW" in the menu; when you will have entered the section, the "NEW" will disappear until there's new content again - you'll need to be registered and connected in order for this work)

Why adding this? Because this way you'll be enclined to check all the sections of the site, [...]

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As expected, the DVD and Bluray cover for The Princess & The Frog will look like these :

The official release date for the USA is March 16, 2010.

The film will be released in three versions : a simple DVD (~19$), a Bluray disc (~28$) and a triple DVD + Bluray + Digital Copy edition (~32$). You can read the content of these dics on this new information page.

I like the little sentence "The Best Disney Movie Since The Lion King"...That's of course a subjective matter, but at least this will help the sales. I still have high hopes for the film to be a better performer as a [...]

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UPDATE : The server migration is complete! If you catch any bug, please report it on the bugs report forums topic. Thanks!

This is just a little information note, to warn that the sites will migrate to a new server this week end. (NO, the previous update was a huge site code and database update, but the site still runs under the same old Pentium 4 since years)

As such, there may be trouble connecting on the sites - and actions you will do during the migration might be lost afterwards. We'll try to get this going as smooth as possible, though.

The new server should be able to [...]

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Recently I used the site with a "low" resolution screen (1024*768, which most visitors still use!), and noticed that the "user bar" was taking a lot of height space for "nothing". I have also studied where people clicked, and very few people used the links under the banner, except for the News and Forums ones.

So, I have simplified the site display by moving the "users" links under the banner. They're all there, except for the "Friends list" that you can now access within the Private Messages page. (not enough space to fit)

Also, when you're not connected, use the "log in" button [...]

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Some members are organizing an Animation Source Awards event : you can nominate the best artists in each category, and if enough people vote for them, they get an award!

Each site gets specific rewards. Here's a list :

Overall Awards:
Wolf Award - The most responsible newbie and one who has shown great pleasure in his or her first month here.
Lion Award - The member who's the most active, while posting useful messages.
Dog Award - The member who posts very few messages, but also the most interesting ones.
Bear Award - Funniest member.
Princess Award - Most helpful member.
Spirit Award - The [...]

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And for real, this time!

A brazilian advertisement shows the official artwork for The Princess & The Frog DVD and Bluray  :

Apparently, The Princess & The Frog DVD should be out in march and Bluray "sometime later" in Brazil (and probably the same for the USA)

I'm a bit mixed on that cover.

The characters seem a little "off model", and not enough "hand drawn" (they could have used the same cover for a CGI film).

But mostly, I'm disappointed that once again, they put emphasis on a "Princess Tiana" when the film really doesn't have much "princess" content (Tiana not [...]

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So here it is, 2010...Wow. How time flies. I really didn't see the 2000 years pass (but that's also due to the fact there haven't been as many good things happening compared to the 80's and 90's, be it movies, video games or anything...or bad world situation, economical or ecological...but I digress)

Here at Animation Source, I have many things to work on; although the most urgent is probably to organize the sites maintenance, especially for the new sites. If there's nothing new, I can't expect people to visit the sites regularly, right?

There needs to be very regular updates on each [...]

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As many of you have seen the film now (I saw it in theaters in France this morning!), I have added a poll to see which songs you've liked the most. (To me : "Dig a little deeper", followed by "Almost There" and "Down in New Orleans") I guess I'll have to add the lyrics!

Also, here's a little update on how The Princess & The Frog is currently performing at the box office.

Well, it's a bit better this week : the film is holding up well, even if the numbers are still low. After 4 weeks, it has now made a total of 86M$ (compared to its budget of 105M$) I certainly hope that its [...]

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