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For comedy legend David Cross, starring in three films for the Alvin and the Chipmunks franchise was a supposedly fun thing he’ll never do again.

When the Mr. Show star and co-creator first signed on for a half-live-action, half-animated film featuring the novelty song sensations Alvin and the Chipmunks, he earned significant ridicule from the ironic Gen-x alt-comedy scene that he was supposed to represent respectfully in the mainstream. In a blog post, Patton Oswalt claimed that 20th Century Fox offered both him and Brian Posehn the role of the greedy Jett Records executive Ian Hawke in the 2007 movie Alvin and the Chipmunks, but “we both threw the script across the room in disgust. David Cross caught it.”

Well, two Alvin and the Chipmunks movies later, the disgust caught up to Cross, as he would go on to describe the making of the tropical 2011 sequel film Alvin and the Chipmunks: Chipwrecked...

Freeform is giving big Disney energy all November long with so much goodness one can’t afford to miss a night. 30 Days of Disney returns with themed weeks that make it easy to kick back and enjoy the magic of Disney with friends and family.

The programming event features a lineup of beloved films from the entire Walt Disney catalog, including Disney Animated classics like Lilo & Stitch, Aladdin, and Beauty and the Beast and Disney-Pixar titles, including a Toy Story movie marathon, Wall-e, Inside Out, and modern fan favorites Soul and Turning Red.

Disney’s most beloved musicals will have viewers singing along to favorite songs this Nov. 4-8, with films like Aladdin, Moana, Encanto, and Frozen/Frozen 2. Favorite Disney villains will take evil to new heights, and they are beloved for it. From Nov. 11-15, watch out for Ursula from The Little Mermaid, Scar from The Lion King, and...

Exclusive: Daytime Emmy-winner Mike Manning and Olivia Blue will star in alien adventure film Unexpected Treasures, directed by John Paul Ungaretti, and written by Ungaretti, and Christina Heller. Ungaretti, best known for his work in the VFX and editorial department on movies like Water for Elephants and Alvin and the Chipmunks: Chipwrecked and shows like Lost Ollie and Outer Banks on Netflix.

The film’s cast is rounded out with AnnaMaria DeMara, Jay Whittaker, Michael Dunn, Lauren Han, and Rex Edhlund.

Production for the film recently wrapped in Joshua Tree, CA. The script was inspired by the many extra-terrestrial-related stories and folklore of the Joshua Tree community and desert area. In the film, a wild alien encounter restores a local resident’s faith in humanity.

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Bill Burr’s “Old Dads” has extended its reign as the most-watched title currently on Netflix. For the second week in a row, the comedy topped the streamer’s English-language film list and scored more views than any other single title during the time period.

In its second week on the list, “Old Dads” brought in 16.3 million views, taking the movie’s total view count up to 29.6 million in only 10 days. It secured 13.3 million views last week.

On the English-language film list, “Old Dads” was followed by Emily Blunt and Chris Evans’ drama “Pain Hustlers” with 14.1 million views, Jennifer Lawrence’s sex comedy “No Hard Feelings” with 13.1 million views, Liam Neeson and Laura Dern’s 2019 action thriller “Cold Pursuit” with 6.7 million views and the 2011 family comedy “Alvin and the Chipmunks: Chipwrecked...

Exclusive: LA-based VFX studio Saffronic has hired an Executive Creative Director, soon after Skyler Mattson was named CEO.

Animation specialist Kevin J. Johnson has landed the role at the company, which launched last year and has been following a global expansion strategy since then.

Johnson has worked in animation for three decades and was most recently Supervising Director at Universal 1440 Entertainment on the final four seasons of Curious George.

At Saffronic, he will work closely with Kristy Scanlan, the company’s recently appointed SVP of Business Development, to foster relationships with new and existing clients. He’ll lead on communication of creative vision, concepts, ideas, and solutions to stakeholders, internal teams, and clients, and lead ongoing productions.

Saffronic is currently working with companies such as DreamWorks Animation, WildBrain and Trioscope.

“Kevin brings to Saffronic his expertise across every discipline of animation, and combined with his impressive creative vision, he...

It can be hard to keep track of all the movies released over the years, especially with long-running franchises like “Alvin and the Chipmunks.” This blog post is here to make your life easier by listing all of the beloved “Alvin and the Chipmunks” movies in order. Our goal is for you to quickly reference this article when deciding which movie in the franchise to watch next.

The “Alvin and the Chipmunks” movie series has been a fan favorite for decades. These lovable, singing rodents have captured the hearts of audiences of all ages with their catchy tunes and hilarious antics. The movies follow the adventures of Alvin, Simon, and Theodore as they navigate the ups and downs of life as famous musicians with the help of their guardian Dave Seville.

From the classic animated films of the 1980s to the more modern, live-action/animated hybrid films of the 2000s and 2010s,...

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A24’s acclaimed stop-motion/live-action hybrid “Marcel the Shell with Shoes On” could be the wild card in the animated feature Oscar race — going up against such early favorites as Pixar’s “Turning Red,” Disney’s “Strange World,” and Netflix’s two stop-motion behemoths: “Guillermo del Toro’s Pinocchio” and Henry Selick’s “Wendell & Wild” (the latter being the lone animated feature premiering at TIFF).

And why not? The feature debut from director Dean Fleischer Camp (adapting a series of shorts he created with “Marcel” star Jenny Slate), has been embraced by critics for its charm, wit, inventive stop-motion, and its adorable breakout star. The one-inch anthropomorphic shell (voiced by Slate) lives with his grandmother Connie (Isabella Rossellini) and develops a friendship with doc filmmaker Dean (Fleischer Camp), who moves in and films Marcel’s daily activities, which go viral. Marcel, who’s in search of his lost family,...

It’s been a long two years since audiences ran away from the American remake of “Force Majeure” like it was a killer avalanche cascading towards their families, so perhaps Ruben Östlund — the rascally Swedish filmmaker whose other features include “Play” and 2017’s Cannes-winning, take-no-prisoners caricature of the art world, “The Square” — has just forgotten that other people are perfectly capable of making toothless, watered-down versions of Ruben Östlund movies. He may have dug that particular hole, but he’s under no obligation to fill it himself.

Alas, the much-anticipated “Triangle of Sadness” — which features Woody Harrelson as the alcoholic communist captain of an 100-meter superyacht once owned by Aristotle Onassis, and which ought to be Östlund’s most hostile and ambitious comedy yet — is .

It’s no secret that the Palme d’Or is a prize heavy enough to anchor certain filmmakers in place, but it also seems fair...

by Nathaniel R

the cast of Super 8

Remember Super 8? The sci-fi adventure was released ten years ago today. It was supposed to be a big Spielberg-size event (he produced it) and establish JJ Abrams as a successor. Things didn't quite work out that way, even though it was a decent-sized hit. Abrams retreated back into other people's franchises (Star Wars) where he'd begun as a film director (Mission Impossible and Star Trek). Super 8 grossed $127 million domestically (and another $100 million plus overseas) making it a success but probably not what Paramount was expecting stateside. Alvin and the Chipmunks: Chipwrecked and The Smurfs both outgrossed it, keeping it outside the top 20 of its year. Still the sci-fi adventure had its fans and people by and large loved the young cast. And who knows. Perhaps it reengineered pop culture's DNA enough that five years later audiences turned Stranger Things into a phenomenon.

Exclusive: Will Gluck’s Olive Bridge Entertainment has sold the rights to Geoff Rodkey’s middle-grade novel We’re Not From Here to Columbia Pictures, Deadline can report.

The feature adaptation will be a family-focused hybrid live-action and animation film which Rodkey will adapt with Mike Mitchell directing and Gluck and Jodi Hildebrand of Olive Bridge Entertainment producing.

The Crown Books published comedic book follows a family of humans who immigrate to an alien planet.

Rodkey is the Emmy-nominated screenwriter of the films Daddy Day Care, Rv, The Shaggy Dog and Good Luck Charlie, It’s Christmas! He’s also the author of nine novels for middle-grade readers, including the New York Times bestselling Tapper Twins comedy series and the adventure-comedy trilogy The Chronicles of Egg. The first book in the series, Deadweather and Sunrise, was shortlisted for the Waterstones Children’s Book Prize in the U.

It’s never too early to start celebrating Christmas.

Now that Halloween has come and gone, Freeform is ready to help viewers get in the Christmas spirit. The network is increasing its Christmas marathon from 25 days to two full months — and the November roster of films is sure to have you craving peppermint candy canes.

Full of elves, snow and fun, the Kickoff to Christmas began Thursday with a screening of Christmas with the Kranks. Other holiday classics like Dr. Seuss’ How the Grinch Stole Christmas and The Santa Clause will play throughout the month.

But if you’re not...

“Mamma Mia! Here We Go Again” is heading for an impressive opening weekend in the $41 million range at 3,317 sites in North America, early estimates showed Friday.

Denzel Washington’s “The Equalizer 2” should finish second with a solid $33 million at 3,388 locations, followed by the second weekend of “Hotel Transylvania 3: Summer Vacation” with about $23 million. The opening of horror sequel “Unfriended: Dark Web” will open with a moderate take of around $4 million at 1,549 venues.

The weekend represents a rare instance of three sequels opening in wide release at the same time. The only other occurrence came on the Dec. 16-18, 2011, frame with the launches of “Mission: Impossible – Ghost Protocol,” “Sherlock Holmes: A Game of Shadows,” and “Alvin and the Chipmunks: Chipwrecked.”

Universal’s “Mamma Mia! Here We Go Again” topped moviegoing on Thursday night with $3.4 million in preview showings that began at 7 p.m. Sony’s “The Equalizer 2” launched...

Joseph Baxter Dec 20, 2018

The Lego Movie 2: The Second Part serves as our cinematic return to Bricksburg, set to arrive in February.

The Lego Movie 2: The Second Part plans to leave pointy pieces on the proverbial floor on which its barefoot box office competition will step.

Mike Mitchell (Sky High...but also Alvin and the Chipmunks: Chipwrecked) is taking over directorial duties for Phil Lord and Chris Miller. However, the voice cast of Chris Pratt, Elizabeth Banks, Will Arnett, Channing Tatum and Jonah Hill will all return, joined by some newcomers.

The Lego Movie 2 Trailer

The Lego Movie 2: The Second Part has released a new international trailer.

Video of The Lego Movie 2 - International Trailer - Warner Bros. UK

Here is a season-appropriate short, called Emmet's Holiday Party. While it's not technically a Lego Movie 2 trailer, it's clearly using settings and characters from the sequel as part of the promotional buildup.

Chicago – Jenny Slate keeps getting more high profile, both in voiceover work (“The Secret Life of Pets”) and as an actress. Her latest film is “Landline,” her second with director Gillian Robespierre. In the film, Slate portrays an engaged-to-be-married “adult” who is having trouble coming to terms with her life.

“Landline” is set in 1990s New York City, just before the tech/mobile phone boom and the loss of grit in the Big Apple. Based on the growing-up experiences of Gillian Robespierre and co-writer Elisabeth Holm, the story is about transitions… Slate’s character to adulthood, the last days of being a teenager for her sister Ali (Abby Quinn) and the dissolution of their parent’s marriage (as portrayed by Edie Falco and John Turturro). It has a bit of a “slamming doors” edge to it, as misunderstandings and family connections blend into a very human story. Slate and Robespierre...

Back in early 2014 directors Phil Lord and Chris Miller did the impossible. They managed to take an obvious cash grab movie property and turn it into something amazing. Like the upcoming Emoji Movie, The Lego Movie had all the makings for a desperate Hollywood flop. No one in their right mind was asking for a movie based on the Lego toys, and studios had a bad habit of trying to milk every dollar they could out of pre-existing properties, mostly to negative effect. Instead of a dud, we were given a hilarious treat — a heartfelt movie fit for all ages that had the ability to expand to a decent franchise.

Of course, it’s always a big question mark whenever there’s a sequel. Will the filmmakers be able to capture that magic twice? So long as the directors stay on board, fans are usually okay to move forward, but...

Trolls director Mike Mitchell is set to helm Warner Bros. Animation's The Lego Movie sequel. Rob Schrab was previously attached to direct the movie, but he ended up dropping out of the project due to "creative differences."

I'm not sure what to think about Mitchell directing this sequel because I hated Trolls so much. My kids wanted to see it, and it was like torture. He's also the director behind films such as Deuce Bigalow: Male Gigolo, Sky High, Shrek Forever After, and Alvin and the Chipmunks: Chipwrecked. So, I can't say I'm thrilled that he's coming on board to direct The Lego Movie.

With the original directors Phil Lord and Chris Miller being the producers of the sequel and having written an early draft of the script, hopefully that's enough to carry the film into awesome status. Lord and Miller are just way too busy to direct it themselves.

Solidifying his bona fides as Hollywood’s go-to director for movies about cheerfully singing plastic, Trolls director Mike Mitchell has been selected to direct the second Lego Movie. According to The Hollywood Reporter, Mitchell will be replacing Community alum Rob Schrab, who was attached to the project back in February of 2015.

Mitchell’s past directing credits include Sky High and Deuce Biglow, Male Gigolo, plus animated sequels like Shrek Forever After and Alvin And The Chipmunks: Chipwrecked. Despite that spotty (some might say “aggressively shitty”) pedigree, his Trolls was a certifiable, candy-colored hit, managing to sneak some fairly profound ideas about happiness and purpose into what could have been a mercenary commercial for Justin Timberlake music and ugly, pug-nosed dolls.

As a follow-up to one of the biggest animation hits of the last ten years, The Lego Movie sequel has a lot riding on it; former directors Christopher Miller ...

Phil Lord and Christopher Miller are far too busy with Han Solo to return to The Lego Movie franchise, and that means a new filmmaker has been sought to take the helm. With Rob Schrab departing the project due to "creative differences," it's now been revealed that Mike Mitchell will take his place. He recently helmed Trolls, a movie which recently grossed a fairly impressive $338 million worldwide.  However, his track record before that is a little spotty. In the animated realm, he's worked on the likes of Shrek Forever After and Alvin and the Chipmunks: Chipwrecked, while Deuce Bigalow: Male Gigolo and Sky High are among his live-action credits. So, should we be excited or a little worried right now?  Well, The Lego Movie 2 has already gone through a fair few rewrites, with Lord and Miller writing the first draft of the script for the sequel with Raphael Bob-Waksberg taking care of a re-write.

It’s Friday, everything is awesome, and The Lego Movie sequel has located its director: Mike Mitchell.

The Hollywood Reporter has the scoop, confirming that Mitchell, best known for his recent work on DreamWorks’ animation Trolls, now steps into the director’s chair left vacant by Rob Schrab, who parted ways with Warner Bros. citing “creative differences.” Phil Lord and Chris Miller, the original brains behind Warner’s 2014 sleeper hit, recently turned in the sequel’s first script before Disney and the Han Solo anthology movie came calling. Since then, BoJack Horseman creator Raphael Bob-Waksberg has hashed out another draft, though it remains to be seen whether Mitchell will fine-tune any aspects of the screenplay now that he’s officially on board to direct. Meanwhile, Dan Lin and Roy Lee will produce alongside Miller and Lord.

With credits on Shrek Forever After, Alvin and the Chipmunks: Chipwrecked and The SpongeBob Movie: Sponge Out of Water,...

If you do not know what NBC's Powerless is, don't think that you are in for another action packed DC series. It is far from that, the show premiers in February, and it will be a comedy based on Vanessa Hudgen's character who gets her dream job at Wayne Security, a subsidiary of Wayne Enterprises, and her boss Alan Tudyk that plays the cousin of Bruce Wayne himself, Van Wayne.

Emily Locke lands her dream job as Director of Research and Development for Wayne Security in Charm City, home to super heroes and villains and citizens fed up with the collateral damage of their constant fighting. Full of confidence and big ideas, Emily quickly learns that her aspirations far exceed those of her new boss and officemates, so it will be up to her to lead the team toward their full potential and the realization that you don’t need superpowers to be a hero.

A corporate-sponsored disco rave from the happiest recesses of hell, “Trolls” tells the incredible true story of what happened when DreamWorks Animation got really thirsty for that “Minions” money on the same day that a disgruntled former employee decided to spike the entire company’s water supply with massive amounts of ecstasy. Don’t believe what the lame-stream media tells you: that’s definitely what happened. How else to explain this manic rainbow orgy of glitter farts and poop cupcakes? How else to explain how a series of plastic figurines become the basis for a deliriously psychedelic jukebox musical that reinterprets Cyndi Lauper’s “True Colors” as a veiled attack against the pharmaceutical industry?

Needless to say, Thomas Dam — the Danish woodcutter who created those wild-haired Troll Dolls for his daughter in 1959, and died a very wealthy man in 1988 — is about to give a whole new meaning to the expression: “Rolling in his grave.

The movies-based-on-toys trend continues with the November 4 release of “Trolls,” and early reviews aren’t great. Variety‘s Owen Gleiberman is a rare exception, calling the animated musical “an ecstatically happy movie, a giddy Edm kiddie musical that sends you out on a high.”

Read More: ‘Trolls’ Sneak Peek: How DreamWorks Embraced Retro Happiness

Alonso Duralde is much less forgiving in The Wrap:

Even if you plug your ears during the endless Kidz Bop numbers, you’re still stuck with the eye-assaulting visual palette from director Mike Mitchell (‘Alvin and the Chipmunks: Chipwrecked’) and co-director Walt Dohm (‘SpongeBob SquarePants’) — the troll scenes offer a mix of neon pastels that suggest someone ate a Lisa Frank store and promptly regurgitated it, while Bergentown features the vast spectrum of tones you might find in a baby’s full diaper.

Writing for The Hollywood Reporter, Michael Rechtshaffen lands between those two extremes:

If you could take the ‘Shrek,...

Star Wars: The Force Awakens stormed the box office and walked away with an estimated $238 million in its first three days domestically (including $57 million in Thursday night "previews") along with another $279 million internationally for a massive $517 million worldwide opening. Suffice to say, this shatters the domestic box office opening weekend record of $208.8 million set by Jurassic World earlier this year, but the record-breaking doesn't end there. In just its first day of release Force Awakens brought in an estimated $120.5 million setting a new record for the largest Friday, opening day and single day. All on its own, that opening day was also enough to break the previous December opening weekend record of $84.62 million set by The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey in 2012. Additionally, the film now holds the following domestic records: Largest Thursday Previews: $57 million*

Previous Record: $43.5 million (Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 2) Largest Friday, Opening Day, Single Day:...

Star Wars: The Force Awakens has finally arrived. Audiences across the globe now have a chance to experience the first Star Wars film in over ten years and anticipation couldn't be higher. Star Wars changed movies forever when the saga began back in 1977 and this newest installment enters a marketplace where the industry itself has changed, several times over, in the 38 years since we all began to feel the Force. The film landed on Wednesday in 12 international markets, generating $14.1 million including $5.2 million in France, $2 million in Italy and another $1.7 million in Sweden. Force Awakens arrives in 32 more international markets today, including Germany, UK, Russia, Australia, Korea, Argentina, Brazil and Mexico with Japan and Spain opening day-and-date with the U.S. release on Friday. As for that U.S. release and the world market overall, things have even changed since 2009, the last time Christmas Day fell on a Friday and a...

There is joy and wonder in this marvelous mounting of a human mind, and a thrilling audacity in how it dares at such a strange and impossible thing. I’m “biast” (pro): mostly love Pixar’s films

I’m “biast” (con): nothing

(what is this about? see my critic’s minifesto)

I have some misgivings about this Inside Out movie. Only five emotions in a little girl’s head? Only Joy, Fear, Anger, Disgust, and Sadness? Maybe things will get more complicated when she’s an older girl… but even the grownups here have only those five emotions. I dunno about that. Cuz in my not-little-girl head right now, Doubt is telling me “There’s no way you can do justice to this movie, so don’t even bother trying,” and Procrastination is agreeing, saying, “See? It was right to put off writing this review. Let’s put it off some more,...

Tony Hale is to star in Alvin and the Chipmunks: The Road Chip.

The Arrested Development and Veep actor will play the villain in the movie sequel, Variety reports.

He will be joining Jesse McCartney, Jason Lee, Justin Long and Matthew Gray Gubler in the fourth of the series, which has grossed over $1 billion (£650m) worldwide.

Hale will return in the upcoming season of Veep, which begins on HBO in the Us on April 12.

Alvin and the Chipmunks: The Road Chip is scheduled for a December 2015 release.

Watch a trailer for 2011's Alvin and the Chipmunks: Chipwrecked below:...

3Rd Update, Monday, 3:15 Pm: The Hobbit: The Battle Of The Five Armies dropped some gold coins on its way to the bank today to deposit its actual results. The finale of Peter Jackson’s epic trilogy was off 1.7% from its Sunday five-day estimate of $90.6M, for a current reported cume of $89.1M. That figure still beats the first five days of The Hobbit: The Desolation Of Smaug ($86.1M).

The Warner Bros./New Line/MGM film wasn’t the only one off from its Sunday: Sony’s Annie came in about $440K under today with $15.86M in third, while Fox’s Night At The Museum: Secret Of The Tomb was down $200K.

Essentially, yesterday wound up not being as robust as expected for distribs with it being the last Sunday before Christmas. Warner Bros. projected $18.2M yesterday for Five Armies, but filed $16.73M, while Sony estimated $4.9M but came in closer to $4.5M.

<< Continued from "Weekend Report: 'Hobbit' Emerges Victorious in Final Box Office 'Battle'"Playing at 3,785 locations, Night at the Museum: Secret of the Tomb opened to $17.1 million this weekend. That's a fraction of the last movie's $54.2 million debut, though that did open over Memorial Day weekend (when the opening frame is much more significant). A better comparison is the first Night at the Museum, which earned $30.4 million on the same weekend back in 2006.More recent comparisons are Fox three-quels The Chronicles of Narnia: The Voyage of the Dawn Treader and Alvin and the Chipmunks: Chipwrecked, which opened to $24 million and $23.2 million, respectively. If the final Night at the Museum follows the same pattern as those movies, it will wind up with less than $100 million total.The second Night at the Museum movie earned 29 percent less than the first, which suggested that the novelty of the original movie had quickly worn off.

Jenny Slate displays an unusually high tolerance for embarrassment. During an outdoor film screening in Brooklyn on a recent Saturday night, the actress smiles calmly, seated among an audience watching her run a gauntlet of debasement on a big screen. She's pictured being brutally dumped, drinking her sorrows away in pajamas, dancing drunk and half-naked during a one-night stand, joking that her underwear looks like it crawled out of a tub of cream cheese, getting sloppy and humiliating herself onstage, taking a pregnancy test, fielding parental disdain, getting laid off,...

Yes, "The Lego Movie" might be super-clever and subversive and far better than anyone was expecting, but that's not how Hollywood sees it. As we feared, the success of the toy movie has sent executives scrambling to find anything that can be found on the shelves of Toys 'R Us so they can turn it into a movie. And that's why "Monster Trucks" is a totally a thing now. First announced last summer, the live action/animated hybrid will be directed by Chris Wedge ("Ice Age," "Epic") with Paramount aiming for "a 'Transformers'-like franchise," because obviously. And now The Wrap reveals that "Suburgatory" and "Evil Dead" star Jane Levy will lead the film alongside Havok aka Lucas Till. Jonathan Aibel and Glenn Berger ("Kung Fu Panda," "Alvin And The Chipmunks: Chipwrecked") have penned the script for this thing, though no plot details have been revealed yet (though we presume it...

Update: The two Jungle Book movies in the works are shaping up to be quite different. Jon Favreau, the director behind movies like Iron Man, Elf and Zathura, is directing the Disney live-action version. Now, Alejandro Gonzales Inarritu is in talks to direct the other one from Warner Brothers - he's the guy behind really heavy, artsy movies like Babel. His next movie is called Birdman starring Emma Stone and Michael Keaton. It looks like these dueling live-action Jungle Books will be as similar as 2012's Mirror, Mirror and Snow White and the Huntsman.

June 20, 2012 -  A second remake of The Jungle Book is now in the works, this one will be in 3D animation. Madagascar screenwriter Billy Frolick will adapt Rudyard Kipling's classic book about a boy adopted by jungle animals. Jun Falkenstein, director of The Tigger Movie, will co-direct with Kevin Johnson, whose credits include Alvin and the Chipmunks: Chipwrecked...

DreamWorks Animation has announced that their big screen adaptation of Trolls will be directed by Mike Mitchell. Who's that guy you ask? Well, he's currently directing the live action sequences in The SpongeBob SquarePants Movie 2 and has also directed Shrek Forever After, Sky High, and Alvin and the Chipmunks: Chipwrecked. It's not the greatest resume of films, but this is a movie about those Troll dolls, so I guess it doesn't really matter. I don't imagine it will be any better than any of the previous films he's worked on. 

The film is currently being scripted by Emmy Award-winning writer Erica Rivinoja, who has worked on comedies such as South Park and Up All Night. The movie will be a grand scale musical comedy that centers on how the Trolls came into their vibrant and colorful hair. Chief Creative Officer Bill Damaschke had this to say in a statement:

Mike...

That sound you hear? That’s me, clomping up the stairs to the angry dome. I’ve been spending a lot of time up there in recent weeks. My head is slowly imploding from the sheer WTFness of everything I am hearing. I’m not certain how much more of this I can take.

Let me try to put this concisely: there is a movie about Troll dolls. It is called Trolls. It is not, unfortunately, a sequel to Troll 2. It is being produced by DreamWorks Animation. And it has a writer and director.

The director? Mike Mitchell, who directed Deuce Bigelow: Male Gigolo, Shrek Forever After and (shudder) Alvin and the Chipmunks: Chipwrecked. His single non-cringe-worthy credit? Sky High, which did not suck. So he’s the guy in charge of Trolls.

The writer? Here we fare a little better. Erica Rivinoja has signed on to write the screenplay.

Comedy director Mike Mitchell and Emmy Award winning writer Erica Rivinoja are tackling something notoriously small for their next big screen project – the iconic troll dolls (which stand at about two inches tall). DreamWorks Animation, which recently announced the acquisition of the Trolls franchise, has given Mitchell and Rivinoja the task of reimagining the Trolls universe on the big screen.

Mitchell, currently directing the live action sequences in The Spongebob Squarepants Movie 2 and has worked on Shrek Forever After, Sky High and Alvin and the Chipmunks: Chipwrecked.

Rivinoja has worked on comedies South Park and Up All Night.

Under the direction of this new creative team Trolls will be distributed by Twentieth Century Fox on November 4, 2016.

The film, which will be a grand scale musical comedy centering around how the Trolls came into their vibrant and colorful hair, will be produced by Gina Shay (Shrek Forever After).

The Troll doll...

DreamWorks Animation has announced today that Mike Mitchell is set to direct their upcoming Trolls . Emmy Award-winning writer Erica Rivinoja will provide the screenplay. Mitchell, currently directing the live action sequences in The SpongeBob SquarePants Movie 2 , has garnered a fan base among family audiences for hits such as Shrek Forever After , Sky High and Alvin and the Chipmunks: Chipwrecked , and has a proven track record taking legendary characters on new adventures. Rivinoja has been lauded for her work on comedies including "South Park" and "Up All Night." Under the direction of this new creative team Trolls will be distributed by Twentieth Century Fox on November 4, 2016. "Mike and Erica are the perfect team to reimagine this...

"Scary Movie 5" opened in theaters this past weekend and if you're like most human beings, you're probably wondering just one thing: Why?

But the fact that Hollywood made yet another "Scary Movie" is really no surprise. After all, most studios believe that while you may not be able to beat a dead horse, you can certainly continue to milk a dead cash cow ... which explains why so many franchises continue to get sequels long after any they've stopped being interesting, fresh or creative. Why make something new when you can make something cheap and derivative instead?

So with that in mind, here's a look at nine more franchises that need to end right now. Because the scariest thing we can think of is the possibility of a "Scary Movie 6."

'Transformers'

Okay, so the chances of Paramount ending the "Transformers" franchise any time soon — or ever — is pretty...

It's a pretty rare thing for CGI/live-action hybrid films to come out halfway descent, particularly when they feature pop culture icons. Sure, movies like Who Framed Roger Rabbit and Ted are great, but it's far more common for them to end up like The Smurfs, Yogi Bear, Scooby Doo, Garfield, G-Force, Alvin and the Chipmunks, Alvin and the Chipmunks: The Squeakquel, Alvin and the Chipmunks: Chipwrecked...the list goes on and on. So what would have happened if they used CGI/live-action to make feature films for Hong Kong Phooey and Marvin the Martian? Today we somehow have a taste of what that could have been like. Cartoon Brew has discovered test footage from in-development projects based on the aforementioned characters that was posted by director Alex Zamm. The Hong Kong Phooey footage even has what sounds like an Eddie Murphy imitator doing the character's voice (the comedian was...

Thanks to 007, The Hobbit and a marked lack of Christmas turkeys, this year's festive takings look set to trounce 2011

The winner

Not many films find themselves topping the box office chart on the sixth week of release, but that is exactly what Skyfall has just achieved, elbowing aside The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn – Part 2 after its two-week reign at the summit. With a reasonable drop of 41% from the previous weekend, Skyfall posted three-day takings of £2.28m for a 38-day total of £93.77m. With Monday and Tuesday box office now announced by Sony, the film has achieved 40-day takings of £94.28m, overtaking previous UK record holder Avatar (£94.03m). Mild ticket-price inflation favours the Bond film, but Skyfall has reached its awesome tally without the benefit of 3D premium prices. Now all eyes are on whether Skyfall can be the first film to crack £100m at UK cinemas.

With £31.37m after 17 days of play,...

Family Film Mom is a weekly column about family entertainment for parents with kids (and kids with parents) by Tara McNamara, the editor and founder of KidsPickFlicks.com. This year at the movies, Santa is making an appearance but not leaving many gifts. Rise of the Guardians is the lone holiday kids’ film from now until the end of the year. The only other solid children’s fare available is December’s Monsters, Inc. re-release in 3D. Not cool, Hollywood. Parents rely on kid-appropriate films to endure weeks of no school and entertaining grandparents and cousins. Last year, Hollywood presented families with no less than six PG films including Arthur Christmas, Alvin and the Chipmunks: Chipwrecked and Hugo. Once kids are old enough to be able to go places with...

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Family-based production outfit Waterman Entertainment has secured the feature rights to the iconic comic strip character Heathcliff, it was announced today by the company.s Head of Development, Cooper Waterman. The acquisition comes on the heels of the company making similar feature film deals with rights holders of the iconic family brands including The Brave Little Toaster and Mr. Ed. As is the case with those titles, Heathcliff will be reimagined as a CGI/live action film with contemporary storylines, while preserving the original essence that the respective right.s holders created for each of the characters.

George Gately created the comic strip in 1973. Heathcliff was born on the wrong side of the tracks in the bad part of town. When both his parents were locked up by the law, little Heathcliff was left to fend for himself. He grew up quick and he grew up mean, until one day...

Blu-ray & DVD Release Date: Nov. 27, 2012

Price: DVD $29.98, Blu-ray $34.98, Blu-ray 3D $49.98

Studio: Universal Studios Home Entertainment

An animated mix of Medium and The Walking Dead for kids, ParaNorman is a spooky family film.

The story follows Norman Babcock, voiced by Kodi Smit-McPhee, who knows a bit about spooky having played friend-to-vampires Owen in Let Me In. Despite his unbelieving parents, Norman sees ghosts, which also makes him an outcast to everyone except candy-loving Neil (Tucker Albrizzi, Alvin and the Chipmunks: Chipwrecked).

Norman’s uncle tells him that a horrible curse is going to be struck on their town that night then dies, leaving Norman to stop the curse before zombies take over.

Casey Affleck (Good Will Hunting), Leslie Mann (The Change-Up) and Jeff Garlin (TV’s Curb Your Enthusiasm) also voice characters in the movie, which was animated by stop motion.

Critics applauded the film, which is the first feature co-directed and written by Chris Butler,...

Jenny Slate's characters in Alvin and the Chipmunks: Chipwrecked is what you might call looney tunes. Therefore, it's all the more fitting that the former "SNL" castmate is writing the script for a new Looney Tunes movie. Since she was 14 when the Looney Tunes modern-day classic Space Jam was in theaters, let's hope she will tap into what we love about Bugs Bunny, Daffy Duck, Sylvester, Tweety Bird, Road Runner, Wile E. Coyote, Marvin the Martian, Michigan J. Frog, Foghorn Leghorn, Porky Pig and the gang. (Feel free to let Lola Bunny sit this one out, Jenny!)

Harry Potter producer David Heyman and "Pride, Prejudice and Zombies" author and Dark Shadows scribe Seth Grahame-Smith are among the producers of the Warner Brothers movie. 

Slate is definitely familiar with cartoons: since leaving "SNL," she's not only hung out with a CGI Alvin, Simon and Theodore, she also voiced Ted's mom...

It may seem hard to believe, but it's been almost a decade now since we've seen any Looney Tunes characters on the big screen in a feature film of their own. This is largely due to the failure of Joe Dante's movie Looney Tunes: Back in Action, which made only $21 million in the U.S. back in 2003. Since then, Warner Brothers has been slowly trying to revive the property, recently launching a brand new animated series called The Looney Tunes Show and attaching a handful of CG animated shorts to Warner Brothers family films in theatres (ie. Yogi Bear, Happy Feet Two, Journey 2: The Mysterious Island). Now it appears they are starting development on a brand new Looney Tunes movie, but they may have their work cut out for them if they want to avoid another flop. According to THR, Warner Brothers has hired comedian Jenny Slate to...

Former Saturday Night Live comedienne Jenny Slate has been unexpectedly brought on to pen a reboot of Warner Bros. Looney Tunes franchise.

The all-new feature film is expected to be a CGI and live-action, similar to the studio’s approach to 1996s live-action and cartoon animated Space Jam and 2003s Looney Tunes: Back in Action.

On board to produce will be big names like media mogul David Katzenberg and Seth Grahame-Smith of KatzSmith, along with David Heyman (Harry Potter).

Details are being kept under wraps.

Slate has also appeared as an actress in This Means War and voiced characters in The Lorax and Alvin and the Chipmunks: Chipwrecked.

The success of last year’s The Muppets, undoubtedly helped Warner Bros. made this decision even easier to move forward with a new feature.

Looney Tunes, which name is a variation on Silly Symphonies, originally showcased through the adventures of cartoon characters...

Maybe you’ve noticed something in Hollywood when it comes to action and horror movies; they jump on the popularity of a trend faster than you walked out of Alvin and the Chipmunks: Chipwrecked. We’ve already been treated to a debacle of 80s cartoon remakes, with Transformers, G.I. Joe, The Smurfs, and a new Ninja Turtles reboot headed our way, courtesy of Michael Bay. But Hollywood, faithful as you’d expect to deliver what the people want, goes beyond that.

When a zombie movie is released to major success, a multitude of zombie films randomly appear to be thrust into screens everywhere. After Danny Boyle’s 2002 feature 28 Days Later, we were treated with Resident Evil, House of the Dead, Dawn of the Dead, Dawn of the Living Dead, Resident Evil: Apocalypse, Shaun of the Dead, Land of the Dead, Diary of the Dead, Zombieland…you get the point.

The 2012 Teen Choice Awards, hosted by Demi Lovato and Kevin McHale, took place Sunday night at the Gibson Amphitheatre in Los Angeles. And now we have all the nominees and winners (in red) in the movie categories. Best Action Movie: * Abduction * Act of Valor * Mission: Impossible - Ghost Protocol * Red Tails * Sherlock Holmes: A Game of Shadows Best Action Actor: * Taylor Lautner - Abduction * Tom Cruise - Mission: Impossible - Ghost Protocol * Robert Downey Jr - Sherlock Holmes: A Game of Shadows * Tom Hardy - Warrior * Logan Lerman - The Three Musketeers Best Action Actress: * Zoe Saldana - Colombiana * Salma Hayek - Puss in Boots * Milla Jovovich - The Three Musketeers * Paula Patton - Mission: Impossible - Ghost Protocol * Noomi Rapace - Sherlock Holmes: A Game of Shadows Best Sci-fi/Fantasty Movie: * The Hunger Games * The Avengers * Mirror Mirror * The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn - Part 1 * Wrath of the Titans...

In a fairly obvious attempt to stay away from The Dark Knight Rises, the major studios are only releasing one significant movie this weekend. Ice Age: Continental Drift is debuting at 3,880 locations this weekend, 2,731 of which are playing the movie in 3D. This is only the second significant animated franchise to reach a fourth installment following the Shrek series, and each subsequent chapter has been more successful than the previous one for Ice Age. The most recent entry, 2009's Dawn of the Dinosaurs, earned a very good $196.6 million domestically while setting a foreign animated record with an outstanding $690.1 million haul. It was also well-liked for the most part, scoring a 7.0 rating on IMDb. Since 2009, though, the landscape for animated sequels has become much more treacherous at the domestic box office. Shrek Forever After tumbled 26 percent from its predecessor, while Kung Fu Panda 2 and Cars 2 fell 23 and 21 percent, respectively.

A rumour has popped up today that could have you earning rewards for playing video games on the Xbox 360. A tweet from the official Xbox Live Rewards account hints that in the fall we will be able to earn rewards through earning achievements in games:

“We’ve hit 50,000 followers, which means it’s time for an announcement! Coming Fall: a new way to earn Rewards based on your Achievements!”

For those who don’t know, the Xbox Live Rewards program lets you earn free Microsoft Points for doing things such as filling out surveys or completing other objectives on Xbox Live. What is being suggested here is that we may soon be able to earn free Microsoft Points because we earned a certain Xbox 360 achievement.

Not much else is known about the program, but according to the tweet we shouldn’t have to wait long for a formal announcement. It...

Update: A second remake of The Jungle Book is now in the works, this one will be in 3D animation. Madagascar screenwriter Billy Frolick will adapt Rudyard Kipling's classic book about a boy adopted by jungle animals. Jun Falkenstein, director of The Tigger Movie, will co-direct with Kevin Johnson, whose credits include Alvin and the Chipmunks: Chipwrecked and Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone. Dq Entertainment Ireland Limited is launching its feature film business with The Jungle Book, which it intends to put into theaters in 2014. Dq Entertainment plans to put out at least two more movies adapted from classic literature.

April 30, 2012 -- Rudyard Kipling's "The Jungle Book" is getting another go, this time as a live-action film. In the book, orphan Mowgli is brought up by the animals in the jungle who protect him from the murderous tiger Shere Khan. Harry Potter screenwriter Steve Kloves is in talk to write,...

The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn, Part 1 is the most nominated movie with 11 nods in The Teen Choice Award 2012, with The Hunger Games coming in second place with eight nominations. Those nominations are where logic stops in the Teen Choice Awards, this year really proving that the awards are less about rewarding the teen audience and more about trying to attract viewers by nominating the biggest stars, regardless of the movies appeal to teens, were seen by teens or are even movies teens care about.

While Kristen Stewart is definitely the most nominated star with 17 if you include the nominations for the movies where she is the main character and star, Breaking Dawn 1 and Snow White and the Huntsman (and she will most definitely win at least one surfboard), however, Stewart herself only received four of those nominations. Emma Stone also received four nominations for The Amazing Spider-Man, The Help and Crazy,...