According to the Hollywood Reporter, one of the main characters from Family Guy may be getting his own spinoff. “Cleveland” is Peter Griffin’s neighbor in Family Guy, and the most calm and level-headed in the group. The project is currently being written by Seth MacFarlane (creator of Family Guy), Mike Henry (voice of Cleveland and writer/producer of the series), and Rich Appel (exec producer on American Dad).

Hollywood Reporter says Fox has

made it a priority to find another hit animated comedy to complement its Sunday comedy lineup. It has several cartoons in the works, including an animated version of its 2003 short-lived live-action comedy “The Pitts,” from “Simpsons” veteran Mike Scully; “Relative Insanity,” executive produced by Jack Black; and “Mothballs,” from “Drawn Together” creators Matt Silverstein and Dave Jeser.

Reuters reports that TruTV (formerly known as Court TV) have just ordered 6 hour-long episodes of a new series titled “Man vs. Cartoon.” The show is a reality series which will finally answer the question: can any of those ACME gadgets from Warner Brothers cartoons ACTUALLY work? Reuters states,

One example of something the show might investigate is whether it’s possible to build a functioning human slingshot.

The show will be produced by Warner Horizon and Craig Piligian’s Pilgrim Films & Television.

The Hollywood Reporter reports that the Disney-ABC Television Group announced their brand new digital studio called Stage 9. The new studio’s content will be aired on Google’s YouTube as well as ABC.com.

Stage 9’s debut series is “Squeegees,” a shortform series from comedy team Handsome Donkey about the lives of window washers. The studio has a slate of more than 20 other original programs in the comedy, reality, drama and animation genres, including “Voicemail 2,” the sequel to ABC.com’s first original shortform series that rolled out in March 2007.

Hollywood Reporter announced that Time Warner is consolidating New Line Cinema and Warner Bros. Entertainment.   New Line will now be operated as a division of Warner Bros. With this merge the two co-chairman/co-ceos of New Line, Robert Shaye and Michael Lynne, will leave the studio, but they will be open to discussing a relationship in the future with the company.  After the merger, New Line

will maintain separate development, production, marketing, distribution and business affairs operations. However, it will “closely integrate and coordinate those functions with Warner Bros. to maximize film performance and operating efficiencies, achieve significant cost savings, and improve margins,” TW said.

While details of layoffs and cost savings at NL are still being worked out, sources believe Thursday’s restructuring could over time allow NL to double its earnings.

High-Def Digest reports Dreamworks Animation isn’t going to give up on HD DVD just yet. That’s because a lucrative deal was signed between the studio and Toshiba to ensure that future films from Dreamworks Animation would be released exclusively on HD DVD.  CEO Jeffrey Katzenberg spoke with Reuters on Tuesday and said,

“It really is in their court at this point to really declare what the next step will be,” explained Katzenberg. “We’re poised either way to jump into the marketplace when the conditions are right to do so.”

He is currently waiting for a response from Toshiba as to how to release “Bee Movie”, the only film currently slated to be released under this exclusive arrangement.

Nelvana has announced that it will be bringing its archives of cel animation for the first time to the artexpo® at the Jacob Javits Convention center in NYC. According to Corus Ent.

Original hand-painted animation cels, drawings, as well as gouache and watercolour backgrounds, including full keyed set-ups, will be presented at artexpo® at the Jacob K. Javits Convention Center in New York City from Friday, February 29 to Monday, March 3 at Booth #2534. The most memorable scenes from many of Nelvana’s movies and television series have been hand-selected from its production archives. The material has been meticulously documented and will include commemorative seals and certificates of authenticity.

Properties that will be on display include:

Babar –the elephant king, beloved in France and around the world

Jim Lee’s WildC.A.T.s –based on the popular comic book series by Jim Lee and Brandon Choi

Rock & Rule –released in 1982, the first all-Canadian animated feature film featuring music from Iggy Pop, Debbie Harry, Lou Reed, Cheap Trick and Earth, Wind & Fire

Cadillacs and Dinosaurs – based on Mark Schultz’s comic book series Xenozoic Tales

My Pet Monster –a cult classic!

The Mercury News reports that Dreamworks Animation SKG, Inc.

swung to a profit in the fourth quarter, as revenue rose 42 percent from a year earlier on the strength of the blockbuster performance by “Shrek the Third.”The company said net profit reached $94.1 million, or 98 cents per share, up from a loss of $21.3 million, or 20 cents per share, in the fourth quarter of 2006.

Quarterly revenue hit $290.2 million.

Analysts are saying this was the best annual performance since Dreamworks Animation went public in Oct. of 2004. However,

“The blockbuster success of ‘Shrek the Third’ in 2007 will make 2008 a difficult year for comparison,” said chief financial officer Lew Coleman.

Dreamworks Studios today announced they would be pushing back the release of  their 3-D Movie “How to Train Your Dragon” to March of 2010. Moving away from Fox’s “Avatar” and Disney’s “A Christmas Carol” both of which would be taking up the preciously few 3-D screens. Variety reports that

It’s the second DreamWorks toon to be moved because of “Avatar.” Previously, 2009’s “Monsters vs. Aliens” was moved from May to March, before Fox delayed “Avatar” to December.DreamWorks Animation topper Jeffrey Katzenberg admitted Tuesday that he considered putting “Monsters” back in May after the shift, but decided to stay with March for other reasons.”The international marketplace is also a big consideration for us in terms of the other 3-D releases already in place for summer 2009,” he explained.

In a press release today iZ3d announced they would be giving away 1 of the 5 grand prizes for the cgarena.com “Ancient Times” 3D Challenge. DBusinessNews reports

The contest began on February 15, 2008 and ends April 28, 2008. Contestants are to create a 3D image that addresses any city, culture, war, mystery etc. in the theme of Ancient Times.

“The commercial 3D image quality of the iZ3D monitor is an ideal solution for graphic artists to view their 3D art in actual 3D as they’re creating it. Many digital artists are embracing the new 3D graphics and video software programs in response to the growing 3D trend. So why design 3D objects on a flat 2D monitor? Our monitors offer smart capabilities so they can easily hot switch between 2D and 3D viewing to see their work in either dimension,” remarked Thomas Striegler, CEO of iZ3D, LLC.

Contest entries must be based on a time period that is at least 60 years old, but contestants can show time period from a current viewpoint. The challenge is a WIP (Work in Progress) Challenge. The purpose of a work in progress challenge is that everyone involved learns from the experience. The community offers critiques and everyone benefits from the discussions. Each challenger is required to regularly submit Work In Progress (WIP) images, from initial concept sketches to the final render.

You can find out all the contest details at www.cgarena.com

Last night at the 80th Annual Oscars ceremony Ratatouille walked away with the golden statue, winning for Best Animated Feature Film. Here is the list of the other winners in the Animation and VFX categories.

• Visual FX - The Golden Compass
• Animated Short-Peter & The Wolf
• Art Direction - Sweeney Todd
• Film Editing- The Bourne Ultimatum
• Animated Feature- Ratatouille   

For a list of all the winners you can visit the Oscars.com