Nintendo has broken records with their new title ‘Super Smash Bros. Brawl’. In the first week, they sold 1.4 million units, elevating it to the status of Nintendo’s fastest-selling title ever in the United States. Variety reports,

By comparison, Nintendo’s successful “Super Mario Galaxy” sold just 500,000 units in its first week in November.

Produced exclusively for the Wii console and drawing critical plaudits, “Smash Bros. Brawl” pits classic Nintendo characters against one another, along with several characters from competitors Sega and Konami.

“Super Smash Bros. Brawl” by no means crushed the record of the biggest game premiere– Microsoft’s “Halo 3″ sold more than 2.5 million units in its first day last fall.

RottenTomatoes reports a new Heavy Metal movie is in development at Paramount with David Fincher, director of Seven, set to helm it. According to RottenTomatoes, a Variety article reported that

the new film will bundle the work of “eight or nine” directors, each of whom will be responsible for his own animated segment. From the article:

Fincher will direct one of the segments; Kevin Eastman, the “Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles” co-creator who is now owner and publisher of Heavy Metal, will direct another. So will Tim Miller, whose Blur Studios will handle the animation for what is being conceived as an R-rated, adult-themed feature.

Reuters reports Dreamworks Animation has announced their cast for the upcoming film, How to Train Your Dragon. A CGI fantasy feature, Dreamworks will be using their own Ultimate 3D process to create it. This film will be their second venture into 3D (first is Aliens vs. Monsters due out in 2009), and will premiere in theaters in March 2010.

Based on Cressida Cowell’s first novel in the children’s book series, the story centers on the timid son of a Viking chief who must capture and train a dragon in order to be initiated into his tribe.

Stars lined up for the project include Ugly Betty’s America Ferrera, Knocked Up’s Jonah Hill and Jay Baruchel, and 300’s Gerard Butler.

PRnewswire reports Nicktoons Network and Marvel Entertainment have collaborated on two new series which will debut exclusively on the Nickelodeon’s Nicktoons Network in 2009. The new shows will chronicle the adventures of two beloved characters in Marvel’s comic books, Iron Man and X-Men’s Wolverine. The two animated series are named “Iron Man: The Animated Series” and “Wolverine and the X-Men” and will air 26 half hour episodes. Keith Dawkins, Senior Vice President and General Manager of Nicktoons Network says,

“The fact that these Marvel characters span books, feature films and TV speaks to their massive appeal. We hope this deal signals to the marketplace and our audience, particularly boys, that we are the home for big hits and exciting, adrenaline-fueled animation.”

Horton Hears a Who took home the biggest weekend haul for 2008 so far with a hefty 45.1 million dollars, studios are estimating. USA Today reports,

The haul was about $5 million more than projected and broke Disney’s stranglehold on the top five openings for animated movies. 20th Century Fox’s Horton took fifth place, behind Finding Nemo, Monsters, Inc., Cars and Ratatouille.

And the film, featuring the voices of Jim Carrey and Steve Carell, did it largely with teens and adults without children. About 47% of the audience was non-family, according to Fox’s exit surveys.

Horton looks like it will easily surpass the 100 million mark with only April 4th’s release of Nim’s Island offered as alternative family audience fare. With the success of Horton, it looks like more Seuss films are on the horizon. Blue Sky Studios is already in the process of developing Green Eggs and Ham as a feature film with a tentative release date for 2011.

Variety reports that Yair Landau, president of Sony Pictures Digital for the last 10 years, and with Sony for the last 17, is leaving his position to start his own animation and videogame venture. Landau is officially leaving in April of this year, and so far, no replacement has been named. He will, however, remain as executive producer on Sony’s next year CG film release, “Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs”.

Landau and Tim Sarnoff are credited with building Imageworks into one of the leading vfx companies in the industry.

News of Landau’s departure, however, puts a further cloud over Imageworks, which is up for sale — if Sony can find a buyer.

Landau promised a further announcement about his venture in the near future. He said he is joining the boards of several startups, has been approached by venture capitalists and plans to invest in media, entertainment and technology companies.

Reuters reports that the premiere of Britney Spears’ new music video is happening today on a dedicated website (www.BlackoutBall.com) at 6:30 p.m. EDT. The video is for her song, “Break the Ice”, her third single from her latest album Blackout. The video is completely animated in a japanese anime style and features her as a superhero fighting in a futuristic world.

The release of the video, along with an upcoming acting role on U.S. television comedy “How I Met Your Mother,” marks something of a comeback for Spears, 26, whose career has been sidelined by psychiatric problems and months of bitter child custody battles.

Variety announced that the Academy of Motion Pictures Arts and Sciences is honoring two giants in the Animation industry on March 24th. Tex Avery and Michael Maltese will be toasted in a tribute fondly called, “Putting L0oney in the Toons”. This event is to celebrate the centennial of their births, both in 1908, and will highlight their amazing careers in animation.

Highlights from the duo’s iconic “Looney Toons” collection — and individual contributions to animated film — will be shown alongside rare recordings from an interview with film historian Joe Adamson. A panel including Maltese’s daughter Brenda Maltese Moulthrop and Looney Toons vets Martha Sigall, Jerry Eisenberg and Don Jurwich will further illuminate the pair’s work.

The event will be held at the Linwood Dunn Theater in the Pickford Center located in Hollywood. For more information and tickets, check out the AMPAS website.

SFGate reports that Dreamworks Animation CEO Jeffrey Katzenberg made $1 last year as his salary.

Katzenberg gave up annual stock awards for 2006, 2007 and 2008 that would have been worth $5 million a year as a way to accommodate the salary and equity-based compensation of company president and chief financial officer Lew Coleman, who was hired in 2005.

Katzenberg also waived equity awards based on performance that would have been worth $1 million to $3 million a year.

Even though Katzenberg waived his salary and other various forms of compensation, he could be eligible for stock options that will be vested in Oct. 2009. These were worth 15.8 million dollars on Dec. 31st of last year.

IESB.net is reporting that Dreamworks Animation announced today their star-studded cast lineup for their upcoming film, “Monsters vs. Aliens”. The movie is slated for release domestically in March of 2009. The story is intended to play on the monster movie genre of the 1950’s, but playing it up as an action comedy of today. The cast includes:

Oscar® winner Reese Witherspoon (“Walk the Line,” “Rendition”) as Susan Murphy, a.k.a. Ginormica; Golden Globe winner Hugh Laurie (TV’s “House,” “Stuart Little”) as Dr. Cockroach, Ph.D.; Will Arnett (TV’s “Arrested Development,” “Blades of Glory”) as The Missing Link; Seth Rogen (“Knocked Up,” “Superbad”) as B.O.B.; Rainn Wilson (“Juno,” TV’s “The Office”) as Gallaxhar; Emmy winner Stephen Colbert (TV’s “The Colbert Report,” “Bewitched”) as The President of the United States; Golden Globe winner Kiefer Sutherland (TV’s “24,” “Phone Booth”) as General W.R. Monger; and Paul Rudd (“Knocked Up,” “Night at the Museum”) as Susan’s boyfriend, Derek.

“Monsters vs. Aliens” is directed by Conrad Vernon and Rob Letterman, and produced by Lisa Stewart. This will also be Dreamworks Animation premiere of their proprietary 3-D movie-making process called “Ultimate 3D”.