The opening night selection of the 2009 Sundance Film Festival, Mary and Max is a clayograph (a claymation biography hybrid) feature film from Academy Award winning writer/director Adam Elliot featuring the voice talents of Toni Collette, Phillip Seymour Hoffman, Barry Humphries and Eric Bana.

Seth Green and Matthew Senreich are set to appear as special guests at New York Comic Con (NYCC) where they will be joined by Breckin Meyer, Geoff Johns and Kevin Shinick on a panel discussing all aspects of the popular Adult Swim series ROBOT CHICKEN. Now in its fourth season, the network's Emmy-and-Annie-winning series uses stop-motion animation to bring pop-culture parodies to life in a modern take on the variety/sketch show format. The panelists will be available to sign ROBOT CHICKEN material in the VIP Lounge after the session and signing cards will be provided.

Portland-based animation studio Laika has laid off 65 people and shelved its second CG film JACK AND BEN'S ANIMATED ADVENTURE, according to THE OREGONIAN.

Laika is owned by Nike founder Phil Knight, and is releasing their first film, 3-D stop-motion feature CORALINE on February 6.

JACK AND BEN was slated to come out after CORALINE, but the film's writer, former Pixar animator Jorgen Klubien left the studio over "creative differences" last year. Laika hired MULAN director Barry Cook to direct JACK AND BEN, and was moving forward with the project.

Puppetmaking for stop-motion class. Go to http://www.weirdoughmation.de/dworkshopb.htm for more information.

Guillermo del Toro and the Jim Henson Co. are working to develop a PINOCCHIO stop-motion feature with a darker tone, per VARIETY.

Henson Co. co-presidents Brian Henson and Lisa Henson will produce with SVP Jason Lust. Del Toro will exec produce. Del Toro revealed his involvement with the project on BLOODYDISGUSTING.com; saying he was working on the screenplay with Gris Grimly, who was the illustrator on 2002's PINOCCHIO. Grimly and Adam Parrish King will co-direct.

The 2007 Academy Award Winner for Best Animated Short PETER & THE WOLF arrives on DVD December 9 from Magnolia Home Ent.

Based on the classic musical composition PETER AND THE WOLF by Sergei Prokofiev, this spellbinding new interpretation combines stop-frame model animation and state-of-the-art digital technology, along with a new orchestra recording to create a magical world in which little boys can find the strength and courage to overcome their fears.

Aardman Rights, the newly created division of award-winning Aardman Animations has concluded a number of pre-sales for its two new animated series WALLACE & GROMIT IN A MATTER OF LOAF AND DEATH and TIMMY TIME.

Wallace & Gromit’s new half hour adventure is currently in production for BBC One at Aardman’s Bristol studios with delivery expected this autumn. Aardman has secured pre-sale deals at MIPCOM with broadcasters around the globe including: ABC TV Australia, M6 France, Super RTL Germany, YLE Finland, NRK Norway, Zapp Netherlands and SVT Sweden.

THE PIT AND THE PENDULUM animated short, a stop-motion adaptation of Edgar Allan Poe's classic short story, directed by animation veteran Marc Lougee and exec produced by animation and vfx icon Ray Harryhausen, is slated to screen over the TriCity Comic Con weekend, October 11, 2008. The 3rd Annual Tri-City Independent Fan Film Festival takes place Oct. 11, 2008 in conjunction with Tri-City Comic Con (TC3). The creation of TC3 is for the promotion of art, media, literature, gaming, and imagination, especially in the Science Fiction, Fantasy and Comic genres. We support the education of the general public in these areas by hosting events, fan-run conventions, and bringing guest professionals to the community and into the local schools to educate and encourage future artists and artisans. The event includes appearances by comic book artists, media guests, exhibitor hall and dealers room, independent film festival and assorted gaming events. Event to be held at Red Lion Inn, 2525 North 20th Avenue, Pasco, Washington, 99301 Telephone: (509) 547-0701 Website: redlion.rdln.com

XSI expert Ed Harriss chips away at ICE to tell us the scoop on the latest edition of Softimage|XSI.

Aardman Animations is using Blackmagic Design capture cards and Stop Motion Pro for their latest TV production, TIMMY.

Do you know how many sun swords a wizard with only seven charisma points needs to slay a wandering armored Tharg troll? Likely, you don't have a clue, but this is common knowledge in NERDLAND, a new stop-motion animated pilot debuting at MIPCOM in October from Cuppa Coffee Studios and set to air this fall on TELETOON.

Invading Martians will hit the screen at the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences' "George Pal: Discovering the Fantastic" event on Wednesday, August 27, at 7:30 p.m. in the Samuel Goldwyn Theater. The centennial celebration, hosted by director Joe Dante (GREMLINS), will feature a panel discussion with several Pal collaborators as well as a screening of two Pal "Puppetoons" and THE WAR OF THE WORLDS (1953) in its entirety.

ROBOT CHICKEN: STAR WARS, the sequel, has been greenlit, according to THE HOLLYWOOD REPORTER. Just days after earning an Emmy nomination for Best Animated Series, the Adult Swim show is moving forward with Episode II, to air November 16.

"It doesn't even seem real -- getting to make STAR WARS twice!" said ROBOT CHICKEN co-creator Seth Green. Green won an Annie Award for directing the first one, and will helm the sequel. The first ROBOT CHICKEN: STAR WARS special was released to DVD on Tuesday.

Nike co-founder and billionaire Phil Knight is making some noise with Laika, the Portland, Oregon-based animation studio he bought six years ago, according to VARIETY.

Laika, which does both CG and stop-motion, is scheduled to release their first feature, CORALINE on February 6, 2009 from Focus Features.

The stop-motion film follows a girl (voiced by Dakota Fanning) who stumbles upon a dark fantasy alternate universe. THE NIGHTMARE BEFORE CHRISTMAS director Henry Selick helmed the picture, with Knight's son Travis the lead animator.

D3Publisher has entered a worldwide publishing agreement with the Universal Pictures Digital Platforms Group for video games based on Focus Features and LAIKA Ent.'s CORALINE, the upcoming HD stop-motion animated feature -- the first to be originally filmed in 3-D.

This week AWNtv has a place for stop-motion fans to start a commotion. There's a food fight, caged birds, funerals, rockin' puppets, lumps of clay, cyborgs, soul-sucking looms and Manny Schmeckstein.

Hot trailers ! WALL*E behind-the scenes peek! Two SIGGRAPH previews! And the LOVE GURU!

The cool vids of the week take a Middle Eastern flare with Omid Khoshnazar's ZERO DEGREE, Mashaallah Mohammadi's OTHER BEING, and Shlomi Schillinger & Tamar Moshkovitz's PLUSHOOD.

Check it all out today!

Disney Channel programmers from North America, Latin America, Europe, the Middle East, Africa and Asia-Pacific have joined forces to acquire global rights for the stop-motion animated series TIMMY from the acclaimed U.K. production company Aardman Animations (WALLACE & GROMIT).

It is scheduled to premiere in 2009 on Playhouse Disney channels and programming blocks around the world. The announcement was made today by Gary Marsh, President, Disney Channels Worldwide.

Oscar's 2008 Best Animated Short PETER & THE WOLF will be airing at 8 p.m. on March 26 on PBS' GREAT PERFORMANCES.

Suzie Templeton's take on how little boys can find extraordinary courage, set to the Russian composer's famous score, offers the latest in stop-motion animation, particularly effective here in the tale's updating into the grim realities of a more contemporary Russia.

Richard Jones' darkly imaginative take on Humperdink's HANSEL AND GRETEL will air immediately after at 9 p.m.

The Academy of Motion Pictures Arts and Sciences has handed out the winners of the 80th Academy Awards. The first animated related prize of the evening went to Brad Bird for Outstanding Animated Feature for RATATOUILLE. In the category of Animated Short Subject, director Suzie Templeton and producer Hugh Welchman took home Oscars for the stop-motion film, PROKOFIEV'S PETER AND THE WOLF.

Having secured a first-season run of 20 half-hours for its new animated reality series LIFE'S A ZOO on Canada's TELETOON, Cuppa Coffee Studios has now set its sights on the U.S. The new stop-motion show aimed at teens and up delivers a new spin on the reality television genre while also pushing a distinctly indie-music angle.