aniBoom, a unique web animation site, continues to gain popularity. aniBoom enables users to use free software available on their website, to create animation which are then posted online in a YouTube like format. Since it’s founding, it has held a number of contests including a recent one with Radiohead to promote their new album “In Rainbows” which recieved over 9000 entries, and has built partnerships with YouTube, Veoh Networks and Metacafe as well as mobile entertainment deals with companies like MobiTV. And though the sites 4,000 animators, some who have made it their career, is impressive; founder and CEO Uri Shinar is still waiting for that big hit that will take his site to the next phase.

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LA Times is reporting that the little Pixar robot with a big heart has won over audiences this weekend, bringing in an estimated $62.5 million in ticket sales. This is the third best opening for a Pixar film, and the largest June premiere for any Disney film.

What’s really remarkable is that Pixar seems unable to make a non-hit movie. This is the ninth consecutive commercial and critical hit for the studio, with its highest opening in 2004 for “The Incredibles” where they brought in $70.5 million. According to a box-office tracker, movies brought in $179.2 million dollars this weekend, which is up 22% from the same time last year.

“The box office is incredibly robust right now,” Dergarabedian said Sunday, noting that sales have surpassed last year’s record levels. “Historically, films do well when times are tough, when going to the movies is an inexpensive way to forget about your troubles. This is a perfect example of that.”

“Wanted” starring Angelina Jolie came in second place at $51.1 million. Kung Fu Panda hung on at 4th place taking in $11.7 million in sales.

This weekend sees the premiere of two different movies “Wall-E” from Disney-Pixar and “Wanted” from Universal. Both of these movies are very different, one a G rated family flick and the other an R-rated action flick based on a comic book. However, that was not intentional. “Wanted” was in fact moved to this weekend during filming.

“We saw an opportunity for counterprogramming and took advantage of it,” Universal distribution head Nikki Rocco said. “The movie is very fresh and very different. And it’s always a great thing when there’s room for two films to play to different audiences.”

While “Wanted” is not expected to do as well as “Wall-E” this weekend, which has been receiving stellar reviews in addition to being the latest from Pixar, it is expected to be in the $30 million range. “Wall-E” on the other hand, is expected to gross around $50 million this weekend.

Ever since Pixar and Disney made nice again, many animation fans have been waiting to see if John Lasseter, founder of Pixar and now head honcho at Disney can change that studios reputation from being a sequel factory, to the animation giant it once was. Now, the trailer for the first film entitled “Bolt” is available online.

Bolt tells the story a dog who plays a heroic pup in a hit TV show and has some trouble recognising that he is in fact not possessed of extraordinary powers beyond the ability to lick his own nether regions. This becomes something of a hindrance when he is accidentally shipped from Hollywood to New York City. From there he has to make his way home with only the help of a manky old cat and an overweight hamster in a plastic ball. John Travolta, Miley Cyrus, Susie Essman and Mark Walton provide voices.

Story and trailer are available at Empire Online

According to the Hollywood Reporter, the Academy of TV Arts and Sciences is doing things a little differently this year by revealing who the top 10 finalists are in the categories of Outstanding Comedy Series and Outstanding Drama Series. A big surprise was that “Family Guy” made the cut in the comedy category

the result of creator-producer Seth MacFarlane having opted to switch his subversive ‘toon to comedy series contention while simultaneously submitting a special episode to the animated program category.

No animated series has ever received a nomination for outstanding comedy. “Family Guy” would be the first, and it’s halfway there. The only other series to try a similar gambit was “The Simpsons” in the early 1990s, but it was never able to crank the comedy series list and opted thereafter to place all of its eggs in the animated program basket.

Family Guy is going head to head with HBO’s “Flight of the Conchords”, “Entourage”, and “Curb Your Enthusiasm”, as well as NBC’s “The Office” and “30 Rock”, and ABC’s “Pushing Daisies” and “Ugly Betty”.

Today, Microsoft will hold it’s “Games for Windows Presents: The Big Picture” showcase event in San Francisco. There, attendees will get a chance to have hands on experience with a variety of PC games from some of the largest publishers. The titles exhibited range from fun and family friendly games for casual gamers to action packed shooting games for hardcore gamers.

Microsoft will also be announcing 16 other games that will be released under the Games for Windows line including Crysis Warhead, the sequel to last years hit Crysis. Games for Windows now has more than 85 titles from nearly every major publisher.

Also present will be NVIDIA and ATI to debut their newest graphics cards and GPU’s.

This event comes right after the announcement of the most successful PC gaming launch of 2008 with the Games for Windows-branded title “Conan: Hyborian Adventures” which shipped an astounding 1 million units worldwide, one of the biggest Games for Windows debut and the most successful massively multiplayer online game launch since World of Warcraft.

“The big picture of the PC gaming market is unparalleled growth,” said Kevin Unangst, senior global director of Windows gaming in the Entertainment and Devices division at Microsoft. “By all accounts, Windows continues to lead the gaming industry worldwide in both users and total revenue, and DFC Intelligence expects the PC gaming market to grow by a staggering 73 percent from 2007 to 2013. Compelling online experiences, industry-leading graphics, high-quality games and innovative hardware are driving that growth, and we’re proud to partner with other leaders and showcase the best of Windows gaming at this event.”

With 24 reviews so far and still counting, Wall-E has a 96% rating so far on Rotten Tomatoes. There’s a great review in the Hollywood Reporter by Kirk Honeycutt. He says,

This is getting to sound like a broken record: Pixar Animation Studios has just topped itself. Again.

The film is so clever and sophisticated that you worry, slightly, that it may be too clever to connect with mainstream audiences. But like those worries last year that having a rat for a hero in “Ratatouille” might throw off audiences, “Wall-E” is so sweet and funny that the multitudes will undoubtedly surrender to its many charms.

Hopefully with Wall-E’s success this summer, other studios will be willing to take the plunge and develop more sophisticated stories in the animation medium.

Prior to the release of “Grand Theft Auto IV” analysts had predicted a large increase in hardware sales which usually accompanies a high profile game like “Grand Theft Auto:IV”. However, this has not happened. While “Grand Theft Auto IV” was the top selling game two months in a row, those same two months the Wii (the only current gen system that “Grand Theft Auto: IV” is not on) doubled the sales of PS3/360’s combined. This has caused some to wonder whether casual market games such as “Rock Band” and not high profile AAA titles will lead gaming from now on. However, others such as this Variety blogger are not yet convinced. That blogger claims that it is still to early to tell.

To make any really definitive claims, I think we have to wait until the end of the year. That’s when we’ll have seen huge PS3 exclusive “Metal Gear Solid 4,” huge 360 exclusive “Gears of War 2,” and the holidays. If none of those 3 things, along with “GTA IV,” can move hardware sales, then we can probably say that the two systems are about tapped out, at least at their current prices. And then we’ll have to start asking some really serious questions about the wisdom of high powered, high priced game systems.

Animation Magazine writes that two animated features, one direct-to-video and one Academy nominated are now available on DVD. “Futurama: The Beast with a Billion Backs” is

the second of four new feature-length adventures based on the cancelled FOX series. This latest adventure finds Bender, Fry, Leela and the rest of the crew caught up in a disturbing, yet sensuous, interplanetary love story when they run afoul of a repulsive, planet-sized creature with billions of probing tentacles.

Along with its Academy nomination, “Persepolis” won the Jury Prize at Cannes last year and was nominated for a Golden Globe for Best Foreign Film.

The DVD includes the original French-language version with English subtitles, as well as a dubbed English version featuring the voices of Sean Penn, Catherine Deneuve, Gena Rowlands and Iggy Pop. Bonus materials include a making-of featurette titled The Hidden Side of Persepolis; a behind-the-scenes look at the recording of the English-language version…

As a celebration of the 30th anniversary of the classic animated fantasy film “Watership Down”, Warner Home Video will debut the “Watership Down Deluxe Edition” exclusively on DVD on October 7th.

“Watership Down” is an adaptation of British author Richard Adam’s first novel, based on stories he used to tell his children to pass the time on family trips. Since it’s release, the novel has never been out of print and has been it’s publisher’s second best-selling novel of all time (the first being “Animal Farm”).

The novel itself is a thrilling allegorical adventure about a small group of brave rabbits who are forced to leave their home when it is threatened in search of a safer one. On the way, they encounter many obstacles that require them to use all of their strength and cunning to overcome.

The animated version features a voice cast of well-known British actors such as John Hurt, Richard Briers, Harry Andrews, Simon Cadell, Nigel Hawthorne and Roy Kinnear.

The DVD will have an MSRP of $19.95.

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