Disney’s Frozen Kingdom of Arendelle

Check out this first look at the kingdom of Arendelle from Disney’s upcoming animated feature film Frozen which is trapped in eternal winter. The story is based loosely on Hans Christian Andersen’s fairy tale The Snow Queen. Frozen will feature the voices of Kristen Bell as Anna, Idina Menzel as Elsa the Snow Queen, and Jonathan Groff as Kristoff, in speaking as well as singing roles. Anna must team up with mountaineer Kristoff to find the Snow Queen so they may put an end to the eternal winter she has cursed Anna’s kingdom to suffer. Frozen is scheduled to release on November 27, 2013.

IDW My Little Pony Comicfolio

IDW has released two new My Little Pony Comicfolios featuring Rarity and Fluttershy for pre-order. The collectible My Little Pony Micro-Series comics features an exclusive variant cover, special collector’s lithograph, in a die-cut hardcover portfolio handbuilt for this special release. You can pre-order the entire collection which features Twilight Sparkle, Rainbow Dash, and the newest Fluttershy and Rarity through IDW now for $25.00USD each. Check out the video below to see the comicfolio in its entirety.

Here is the exclusive animated trailer for Dan Krall‘s upcoming children’s novel titled ‘The Great Lollipop Caper’ which follows a “cranky caper” who hatches a salty plan to win the hearts of children everywhere. You can pre-order The Great Lollipop Caper now through my site via Amazon with a release date of May 7, 2013. Check this silent movie-inspired trailer for the book animated by Screen Novelties below.

For those who have not seen these, Lionsgate Films last month released The Capitol Couture Portrait Series to promote “The Hunger Games Catching Fire” I wanted to share the complete collection. The series features the main actors in fabulous costumes designed by Trish Summerville. Based on Suzanne Collins’ best-selling series, The Hunger Games films take place in a not-too-distant future in which North American society has collapsed and been replaced by Panem, in which every year two teenagers from each of the country’s 12 districts are summoned to the corrupt Capitol to participate in the deadly Hunger Games, a spectacle televised throughout the land.

Author Tara Bennett has released a new book The Art of Epic, a film by 20th Century Fox Animation and Blue Sky Studios. Epic tells the story of an ongoing battle deep in the forest between the forces of good and the forces of evil. When a teenage girl finds herself magically transported into this secret universe, she must band together with a rag-tag team of fun and whimsical characters in order to save their world — and ours.

The Art of Epic shines a light on the previously hidden world of Epic, with over 300 pieces of concept art, character sketches, storyboards and digital paintings, along with interviews with the key animation talent. The Art of Epic is in pre-order status for $25.05 and will release April 23, 2013. You can buy now through my site via Amazon.

Lionsgate released the frist online the first trailer for The Hunger Games: Catching Fire , which opens up in theaters on November 22, 2013. This is the sequel to 2012 The Hunger Games which will bring back stars Jennifer Lawrence, Josh Hutcherson, Liam Hemsworth, Lenny Kravitz, Elizabeth Banks, Stanley Tucci, Donald Sutherland, Toby Jones, Woody Harrelson, Jena Malone, Philip Seymour Hoffman, Amanda Plummer, Lynn Cohen, Patrick St. Esprit, Meta Golding, Bruno Gunn, Alan Ritchson, E. Roger Mitchell, Maria Howell, Stephanie Leigh Schlund, Sam Claflin and Jeffrey Wright.

The Hunger Games: Catching Fire, begins as Katniss Everdeen has returned home safe after winning the 74th Annual Hunger Games along with fellow tribute Peeta Mellark. Winning means that they must turn around and leave their family and close friends, embarking on a “Victor’s Tour’ of the districts. Along the way Katniss senses that a rebellion is simmering, but the Capitol is still very much in control as President Snow prepares the 75th Annual Hunger Games (The Quarter Quell) – a competition that could change Panem forever.

LAIKA and Focus Featurescome together again to announce they have begun production The Boxtrolls, a 3D stop-motion and CG hybrid animated feature based on Alan Snow’s bestselling fantasy adventure novel “Here Be Monsters! .” Set to release October 17, 2014, The Boxtrolls is being directed by Anthony Stacchi and Graham Annable, produced by David Ichioka and Knight, with a voice cast Ben Kingsley, Toni Collette, Elle Fanning, Isaac Hempstead-Wright, Jared Harris, Simon Pegg, Nick Frost, Richard Ayoade and Tracy Morgan.

The Boxtrolls is a comedic fable that unfolds in Cheesebridge, a posh Victorian-era town obsessed with wealth, class, and the stinkiest of fine cheeses. Beneath its charming cobblestone streets dwell the Boxtrolls, foul monsters who crawl out of the sewers at night and steal what the townspeople hold most dear: their children and their cheeses. At least, that’s the legend residents have always believed. In truth, the Boxtrolls are an underground cavern-dwelling community of quirky and lovable oddballs who wear recycled cardboard boxes the way turtles wear their shells. The Boxtrolls have raised an orphaned human boy, Eggs (voiced by Hempstead-Wright), since infancy as one of their dumpster-diving and mechanical junk-collecting own. When the Boxtrolls are targeted by villainous pest exterminator Archibald Snatcher (Kingsley), who is bent on eradicating them as his ticket to Cheesebridge society, the kindhearted band of tinkerers must turn to their adopted charge and adventurous rich girl Winnie (Fanning) to bridge two worlds amidst the winds of change – and cheese.

Fantagraphics has just released the Walt Disney’s Donald Duck: The Old Castle’s Secret (The Complete Carl Barks Disney Library Vol. 6). A 232-page full-color 7.5″ x 10.25″ hardcover for $28.99. “The Old Castle’s Secret,” is notable not just for being the first full-length 32-page adventure instigated by Scrooge McDuck (in his second-ever appearance), but for featuring some of Barks’s spookiest, lushest settings in old Clan McDuck castle of Dismal Downs. The other long story, “The Sheriff of Bullet Valley,” plunks Donald and the nephews in the Wild West, with Donald as an overconfident deputy having to deal with some high-tech rustlers. The book also includes the less-known “In Darkest Africa,” originally published in a giveaway and unreleased for decades. Check out more from the press-release below. If you want you can buy Walt Disney’s Donald Duck: The Old Castle’s Secret through my site via Amazon that will have a ship date of June 1, 2013.

This volume also features an even 10 of Barks’s dynamic “Walt Disney’s Comics and Stories” 10-pagers, including “Wintertime Wager” (the first appearance of a not-yet-lucky-but-still-obnoxious Gladstone Gander); “Spoil the Rod” (in which the exquisitely named educational professor Pulpheart Clabberhead is brought in to help tame the nephews); “Rocket Race to the Moon” (a rare full-on adventure — interplanetary, no less — in the short form); “Gladstone Returns” and “Links Highjinks” (two more Gladstone yarns); and five more stories… plus a half-dozen hilarious one-page gags.

Of course, once again all the stories have been shot from crisp originals, then re-colored (and printed) to match, for the first time since their original release over 60 years ago, the colorful yet soft hues of the originals — and of course the book is rounded off with essays about Barks, the Ducks, and these specific stories by Barks experts from all over the world.

Pixar’s Art of Monsters University book has released the final cover and is in pre-order status, for $40.00USD, The 160 page hardcover will be released on June 11, 2013. Published by Chronicle Books, written by Karen Paik, preface by John Lasseter and a foreword by Dan Scanlon. The Art of Monsters University features full-color concept art including character sculpts, color scripts, storyboards, and more, The Art of Monsters University fully explores the process of creating this new and expanded Monsters universe. Going behind the scenes with interviews of the film’s many artists and provides the ultimate inside look at the conception and production of this highly anticipated film.

In Monsters, Inc. (2001), Pixar Animation Studios introduced audiences to the #1 scaring team, Mike and Sulley, and the monstrous world behind our bedroom closet doors. In this prequel to the much-loved classic, Mike and Sulley meet for the first time at Monsters University—where they are joined by a few familiar faces and a host of delightful new characters—as they seek to attain degrees in scaring.

You can pre-orderArt of Monsters University through my site via Amazon now.

Here is a first look at The Hunger Games: Catching Fire “Victory Tour Posters” featuring winners of the 74th Annual Hunger Agames, Katniss Everdeen (Jennifer Lawrence) and Peeta Mellark (Josh Hutcherson). I love the clean lines and cool colors.

Directed by Francis Lawrence, The Hunger Games: Catching Fire begin with Katniss and Peeta having to leave their friends and family behind after winning the 74th Annual Hunger games the two embark on a “Victor’s Tour’ of the districts. Along the way Katniss senses that a rebellion is simmering, but the Capitol is still very much in control as President Snow prepares the 75th Annual Hunger Games (The Quarter Quell) – a competition that could change Panem forever.

The Hunger Games: Catching fire hits theaters November 22, 2013, staring Liam Hemsworth, Lenny Kravitz, Donald Sutherland and Woody Harrelson.

Check out the full posters below.