The Academy Award-nominated feature film Surf’s Up will screen on September 13, followed by a panel discussion by Oscar nominees Ash Brannon (director) and Chris Buck (director), Chris Jenkins (producer) and Rob Bredow (VFX supervisor).

Breakout directors Christopher Miller and Phil Lord (21 Jump Street) return to their animation roots to present Cloudy With A Chance Of Meatballs on September 20.  The directors will be joined by producer Pam Marsden and VFX Supervisor Rob Bredow for a panel discussion of the film.

SPA’s international animation hybrid sensation, The Smurfs, will screen on September 27. A panel discussion will feature filmmakers and key artists.

The Screening Series will close its summer run with a Saturday, September 29 offering of Hotel Transylvania – during its opening weekend in theaters – at a public venue in order to accommodate ASIFA family members. Three-time Emmy Award winner Director Genndy Tartakovsky and Producer Michelle Murdocca will lead the festivities.

Sony Pictures Animation celebrates its 10th anniversary in 2012 with a robust slate of upcoming films. Following Hotel Transylvania on September 28, 2012, SPA will welcome the July 2013 release of The Smurfs 2, the follow-up to the 2012 global sensation. Cloudy 2: Revenge Of The Leftovers, a sequel to Sony Pictures Animation’s popular animated blockbuster, will reach theatres worldwide in February 2014. Also now in development are the aforementioned Popeye, based on the King Features comic strip “Popeye,” being directed by Tartakovsky with the screenplay by Jay Scherick and David Ronn (The Smurfs). Avi Arad (The Amazing Spider-Man) and Ari Arad (Iron Man) executive producing; Kazorn and the Unicorn, with Kelly Asbury (Shrek 2, Gnomeo & Juliet) at the helm and co-directed by Troy Quane. Lloyd Taylor is writing the screenplay. Sam Raimi and Joshua Donen are executive producing; and the hybrid live-action/CG feature Secret Histories, written by John Francis Daley and Jonathan Goldstein and produced by Ellen Goldsmith-Vein and Eric Robinson of the Gotham Group with Greg Little.

In Sony Pictures Animation’s first feature film, the animated action adventure comedy Open Season, the odd are about to get even.  Boog (Martin Lawrence), a domesticated grizzly bear with no survival skills, has his perfect world turned upside down when he meets Elliot (Ashton Kutcher), a scrawny, fast-talking mule deer.  When Elliot convinces Boog to leave his cushy home in a park ranger’s garage to try a taste of the great outdoors, things quickly spiral out of control.  Relocated to the forest with open season only three days away, Boog and Elliot must acclimate in a hurry. They must join forces to unite the woodland creatures and take the forest back!  The film is directed by Roger Allers and Jill Culton. The screenplay is by Steve Bencich & Ron J. Friedman and Nat Mauldin. The screen story is by Jill Culton and Anthony Stacchi from an original story by Steve Moore and John Carls. The film is produced by Michelle Murdocca.