/Film reports that Disney has launched a campaign to get Wall-E nominated for the Best Picture Oscar, an award never won by an animated film. Disney’s Beauty and the Beast remains the only animated film ever nominated in the Best Picture category. In addition, the website also shares the first advertisement featuring Disney’s campaign to push Wall-E for a nomination in both, Best Animated Feature and Best Picture categories.

UltimateDisney reports that Walt Disney Home Entertainment has announced Mary Poppins: 45th Anniversary Edition DVD release on January 27, 2009. The two-disc set will include all bonus features from 40th Anniversary Edition DVD from 2004 and also add four new featurettes on the running Broadway musical.

AWN reports that veteran Disney and Hanna-Barbera animator and teacher John Ahern passed away Wednesday morning after a yearlong battle with leukemia. Ahern’s animation career started at Disney with movies such as Sleeping Beauty and Lady and the Tramp and going on up through Jungle Book. He also worked as a layout artist for Hanna-Barbera on Josie and the Pussycats, The New Tom and Jerry show, Catanooga Cats and Charlotte’s Web.

Variety reports that Sony Pictures Entertainment and Paramount Pictures are in talks to co-finance the digital 3-D Tintin, the Steven Spielberg/Peter Jackson series based on the Belgian comics Tintin. The report suggests that the first film of the series will be directed by Steven Spielberg and is expected to be complete in time for a 2010 release.

IGN reports about a special screening of roughly half an hour of footage from the upcoming 3D stop-motion animation film Coraline which they attended recently. Based on the novella by Neil Gaiman, Coraline tells the story of the eponymous young girl who discovers a secret door in her new home that leads to an alternate reality. Directed by Henry Selick, the Focus features release is slated to open in February 2009.

An early screening of Up, Pixar’s upcoming animated film, was attended by blogger Larryfile recently. According to the write up, the rough cut version of the film that was screened, was mixed with storyboard, rough and finished animation. The movie plot was completely original but somewhat dark with many adult themes. He finally adds, “I would definitely recommend this movie to family and friends as the animation that we saw was top notch.”

In Disney theatrical and home release animated movie news Animation World Network reports that Glago’s Guest (see our prior coverage) will now not be screening in front of Bolt, reminiscent of when How to Hook Up Your Home Theater ended up not screening with Enchanted as expected but ended up paired a few months later with National Treasure 2: Book of Secrets. AWN does offer the good news though that Bolt will be shown in 3D at 140 Regal Cinemas locations beginning November 21 as well as at Disney’s own El Capitan Theatre (and Jim Hill Media looks at the new Bolt tie-in book, Disney Dogs). On the home release side, the CGI direct-to-video Tinker Bell was released to DVD and Blu-Ray yesterday coinciding with the official opening of Pixie Hollow at the Disneyland Park (flickr photo album here). The first six minutes of Tinker Bell can be viewed here.

ComingSoon has an exclusive interview with Travis Knight and Herny Selick, both of whom played a large role in bringing the big-screen adaption of Neil Gaiman’s Coraline to life. The in-depth article also includes descriptions of several scenes from the stop-motion film, which are received extremely positively by the sneak peak’s author. Coraline opens in theaters on February 6th in traditional and 3D-compatible theaters.

UpcomingPixar shares a link to an interview with the Emmy-winning actor Ed Asner who voices the main character, Carl Fredricksen, in Pixar’s upcoming feature Up. Direct link to the interview can be found here. Up, a fable about a flying house, is slated to open in May 2009.

Variety reports that Warner Bros. has acquired rights to turn Yoshiaki Kawajiri’s anime classic Ninja Scroll into a live action feature. The film will be produced by Appian Way as a co-production with Mad House. Alex Tse, whose recent credits include Watchmen and The Illustrated Man, has been set to write the script.

Waltz with Bashir, Ari Folman’s critically acclaimed animated documentary about the 1982 Lebanon War, will be Israel’s official entry in the Foreign Language Film category for the 81st Academy Awards. Based on a true story, the film is a quest into the director’s memory for the missing pieces from the days of the Lebanon War in the mid 80s. Waltz with Bashir has been rated R by MPAA for its limited release in theatres starting December 25. The film has been certified fresh by RottenTomatoes with 85% fresh ratings on their tomatometer. Links to a trailer for the film can be found here.

AWNtv hosts a behind-the scenes featurette Madagascar: Escape 2 Africa - Jungle 2 Plain wherein the production team from DreamWorks’ upcoming animated feature Madagascar: Escape 2 Africa discuss the environments used in the film. The film hits theaters and IMAX on November 7.

GhibliWorld reports that Hayao Miyazaki’s latest animated feature Ponyo on the Cliff by the Sea was the opening film at Cinekid Festival which takes place from October 19 till 26 in Amsterdam, The Netherlands. Ponyo will screen in competition section contending for a Cinekid Lion.

According to HollywoodReporter, “Down to Earth,” from Pixar’s Wall-E, by Thomas Newman and Peter Gabriel, was named best original song written directly for a film, at the World Soundtrack Awards 2008. Other winners include James Newton Howard who was named film composer of the year for his scores to Charlie Wilson’s War, Michael Clayton and I Am Legend.

Now showing in the YouTube Screening Room is Hyun-Min Lee’s Annie-nominated short, The Chestnut Tree. This small, personal project has been worked on by some big names in the animation world, including Jennifer and Bert Klein, Eric and Susan Goldberg, and Don Hahn (remember his panel is tonight). Click here to read our Animated Views interview with the creators of The Chestnut Tree.

UltimateDisney reports that Walt Disney Home Entertainment has announced a special edition dvd release of Oliver & Company for February 3, 2009. The re-release will feature an all-new game and extras from the film’s 2002 debut, which include “The Making of Oliver & Company”, “Return Of A Classic”, Academy Award winning animated short “Lend A Paw”, and more. Cover art for this dvd can be seen here.

Apple has made available an exclusive clip from Disney’s upcoming animated feature Bolt. Directed by Chris Williams, Bolt opens in theatres on November 21, 2008.

DVDTimes reports that Walt Disney Studios Home Entertainment have announced the release of Pinocchio : 70th Anniversary Platinum Edition on 10th March, 2009. Disney’s second animated feature will be made available for a limited time on a 2-disc dvd and a Blu-Ray disc. Extras on the dvd set will include “an all-new audio commentary with Leonard Maltin, Eric Goldberg and J. B. Kaufman”, “No Strings Attached: The Making of Pinocchio”, “Deleted Scenes (The Story of the Grandfather Tree, In The Belly Of The Whale)”, “Alternate Ending”, “The Sweat Box”, “Live Action Reference Footage”, “Art Galleries”, and more. Full specs for the Blu-Ray disc can be found here.

Laughing Place has a new feature showcasing pictures and video from the new Walt Disney Imagineering: Blue Sky Cellar building at Disney’s California Adventure which opens to the public on October 20 and will give guests a sneak peek at new and revamped attractions at the second Anaheim Disney-themed park. New attractions will be a dark ride based on The Little Mermaid and Cars Land, which itself will contain three separate rides, including the “E-ticket” ride Radiator Springs Racers. Also, many current attractions will be retooled to have their themes based in early Disney animated shorts and features such as The Band Concert, Dumbo, and Casey at Bat. For additional perspective see The Orange County Register’s article (includes exclusive large map graphic of the proposed DCA) and its Around Disney blog.

Following are five new images from DreamWorks Animation’s Madagascar: Escape 2 Africa, which is due out on November 7. [More...]