Fanboys and fangirls get ready to set your fun-meter to laughgasmic. Futurama is coming back.

I’ll give you a moment to let that sink in.

Futurama, the hit show from creator Matt Groening, will be making its Direct to DVD debut in November with Futurama: Bender’s Big Score. Three more films will be released through 2008. Even better news - all the original creative team and voice cast are back as well.

The plot centers on the “Futurama” crew fighting to save Earth in an epic battle against nudist alien Internet scammers. Bender the robot soon comes under the alien’s spell and is sent back in time to loot the Earth of its greatest treasures; at one point he runs into Al Gore, who guest stars as himself, during the 2000 presidential recount. Other guest stars include Coolio and Sarah Silverman.

Futurama is also set to return to cable with 13 episodes being produced for Comedy Central.

via Hollywood Reporter

I…Can…Not…Wait!

The New Frontier animated movie is set for direct-to-DVD release in February, and the New York Times posted an image from the movie in an article about the film.

Mr. Cooke recalled another phone call, this time with Bruce Timm, a producer, writer and director on many of the animated cartoons featuring DC’s heroes. “Bruce said: ‘I told them not to make this! This is at least two DVDs!’ ” Mr. Cooke said.

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The Superman Doomsday direct to DVD animated movie is scheduled to arrive in stores on September 28, 2007, but until then you can head over to the official website to check out all sorts of goodness, including this sizzle reel.

via Superman Doomsday

Movie is The First Ever Animated Superman Project to Be Rated PG-13

Oh Man! I Can Not Wait For This DVD! Most of us certainly remember the hype surrounding the Death of Superman, and even if the story was a little shaky in places, you have to admit it was a fun ride. There are a couple of things I’m looking forward to seeing in this DVD. The first is the level of cartoon violence taking place in the flick causing the PG-13 rating. I’m also interested in seeing how Adam Baldwin will do as the voice of Superman, Anne Heche as Lois Lane, and James Masters as Lex Luthor. I’m sad that Timothy Daly and Dana Delany won’t be reprising their roles from the Animated Series, but I’m willing to give it a chance.

The complete release follows, with another image of the action figures and info on the other PG-13 animated movies from Warner Bros.

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POW Entertainment has a brand new direct-to-DVD animated movie written by comic legend Marv Wolfman. Stan Lee Presents: The Condor will drop March 20, 2007.

Amazon (you can preorder now) describes the animated movie as follows:

Tony Valdez (voiced by Wilmer Valderrama) is a college dropout who turned his back on his family’s robotics corporation to become a champion skateboarder. But when his parents are murdered and Tony’s legs are destroyed in a brutal beating, he uses his father’s experimental NanoBot technology to walk again. Now as the superhuman skater known as the Condor, Tony must reconcile a crime fighting conscience with his rage for vengeance. What is the missing component to his parent’s DNA regeneration formula? Why is their sinister ValTech partner creating a race of adrenaline-crazed killers? And who is the depraved super-villain sworn to destroy Condor? Maria Conchita Alonso co-stars as the voice of Mrs. Valdez in this all-new superheoro sensation written by Marv Wolfman (co-creator of TEEN TITANS and BLADE) from an explosive story by Executive Producer and comic book legend Stan Lee!

via Amazon.com (link)

If you haven’t read the very fast interview I did with Tad Stones yesterday, you really need to read it. Like now would be good (I’ll wait).

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Back? Did you catch the bit about Turok, Son of Stone? The Animation Guild (TAG) official blog has a quick quip about Turok as well.

Another project in the building is Turoc, Son of Stone, a property that’s seen service as a Gold Key comic and video game. Well, it’s now boing to be a 70-minute DVD produced for Classic Media being supervised by animation veteran Tad Stones.

Cool, a full on feature. With what Marvel and DC are doing with their direct to DVD animated features, I have a feeling more companies will jump on board with their characters as well. If Tad does to Turok, what he did with Hellboy, I think we will all be very very happy campers.

via TAG Blog (link)

Hellboy Animated just one of many projects

Major Spoilers had a moment to catch up with the ever busy Tad Stones, producer for the upcoming Hellboy Animated: Blood and Iron. In the rush, there was only time for a few quick questions that range from Tad’s past to future projects.

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Ultimate Avengers and Iron Man composer spills the beans on creating Marvel soundtracks

Marvel.com spoke with composer Guy Michelmore about his work on Marvel’s animated features.  A portion of the interview is here, and the link at the end will take you to a page where you can download four mp3s from the soundtrack.

Marvel.com: Who are your film composer inspirations?
Guy Michelmore: I think every composer working in commercial films draws on landmark composers like Bernard Herrmann, John Williams, Danny Elfman and Hans Zimmer, all of whom have taken the genre forward in their own way. I’m a big fan of John Powell and Harry Gregson Williams who are both at the top of their game at the moment. Ennio Morriconne is one of the greatest living film composers, “The Mission” was a huge achievement. Most composers have also been influenced to some degree by minimalists like Steve Reich, Phillip Glass and John Adams.

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The trailer for Blood and Iron has been made available, and it looks pretty cool.

Here is the official description of the feature:

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I’ve been rather lax in getting all of you wonderful marvelous readers updates on the next installment of the Hellboy animated movie, Blood and Iron. Tad Stones has been super busy locking the picture and doing ADR (Audio Dialogue Replacement), but had a chance to update his blog with news on the upcoming flick.

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If you have enjoyed the Marvel direct to DVD animated features that have been released, Marvel has announced the soundtracks to Ultimate Avengers, Ultimate Avengers 2 and Iron Man are now available via the iTunes music store.

Each album sells for $9.99.

Marvel Comics has posted a trailer to the upcoming Invincible Iron Man animated DVD.  I’m pretty excited about seeing this interpretation of the Tony Stark character and seeing how he fits in the overall Marvel animated universe.  This is an origin story, and as the trailer lets on, we will see Stark don various Iron Man suits.

Watch the trailer here (link).

It looks like there is a great deal of celshaded 3D Animation in the movie, which if not done tastefully will really detract from the overall story.  As this is an origin story, I’m interested to see if there is any tie to the Ultimate Avengers DVDs Marvel has previously released.  The direct to DVD movie will be available January 23, 2007.

This January, Marvel Studios and Lionsgate will release to DVD the latest title in the very successful Marvel Animated Features video series — THE INVINCIBLE IRON MAN, inspired by one of Marvel’s most popular Super Hero franchises. The third release of a multi-picture direct-to-DVD deal signed by the two companies, THE INVINCIBLE IRON MAN follows on the heels of the enormously successful ULTIMATE AVENGERS: THE MOVIE and ULTIMATE AVENGERS 2: RISE OF THE PANTHER, which have sold more than 1.5 million units combined since debuting in February 2006, and currently rank among the top 10 children’s releases year-to-date according to Nielsen Videoscan (10/8/06). THE INVINCIBLE IRON MAN is an origin story that follows billionaire inventor Tony Stark as he raises a long-buried city in China and awakens an unspeakable evil that only the armor-clad Iron Man(TM) can destroy in a battle of modern technology versus eastern mythology.

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Best gets better on DVD

While The Justice League had an awesome run on Cartoon Network, it wasn’t until Justice League Unlimited debuted that we really saw what an ensemble series could really do. Season One is out on DVD now, and is simply incredible.

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Hellboy: Sword of Storms debuts this weekend on the Cartoon Network (check your local listing for times). Stephen Schleicher had a chance to talk with Producer/Director/Writer Tad Stones to discuss Hellboy’s transition to animated features, styles, and future Hellboy animated projects.

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