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As a longtime fan of hand-drawn animation, it did my heart good this past weekend to see Disney's "The Lion King" once again wind up on top of the box office heap. To have the 3D version of this 1994 Academy Award-winner gross $30.1 million (which is more than twice what the No. 2 film...

There's a joke from " Annie Hall " that I love: Two elderly women are at a Catskill mountain resort. And one of them says, "Boy, the food at this place is really terrible." And then the other one says, "Yeah, I know; and such small portions." I bring this story up today...

"Book publishers send me out to schools all the time. And the kids there always ask me how they can get a job like mine. And my answer is: Put your stuff up on the Web. Because you never know who's going to see it." Trust me, folks. Noah Z. Jones knows of what he speaks. You see, this illustrator...

This past Sunday, I spent an hour or two wandering around the Disneyland Hotel . Photo by Jim Hill Which was something of a challenge. Given all of the construction that's going on at that Resort right now. Photo by Jim Hill "So what's going on behind all of those construction fences?,"...

Remysthe14me writes in to say: Copyright Disney Pixar. All rights reserved I saw Jon Nadelberg 's story about the " Pixar: 25 Years of Animation " exhibit at the Oakland Museum of California and was wondering if this is the same exhibition of art that was presented at the MOMA in 2005?...

It is arguably the best-loved film of that trio of fairy tales that Walt Disney Animation Studios produced during its Second Golden Age. The first hand-drawn animated feature ever to be nominated for Best Picture, " Beauty and the Beast " has been discussed, dissected and written about so often...

Okay. I know. You’re probably chilling out on this Memorial Day Monday. Maybe doing a little barbequing in the backyard. Or – more likely – just collapsed on the couch, watching ‘way too much cable TV. Animation artwork from "Mulan" to be featured in the Pres-Aid live auction. Image courtesy of Pres...

David Kracov remembers the night that he decided to quit working in animation. “A bunch of my friends took me out to Astroburger . And while we were eating, Brad Bird tried to talk me out of quitting. Brad said that he wanted me to come work with him on this new movie he wanted to make. Which was about...

Trina P. wrote in to say: Thanks for sharing those pictures from the Tim Burton exhibition at the MoMA . I’m a huge Burton fan and had wanted to get down to NYC while that exhibit was there, but never found the time. I noticed that you had a lot of pictures from Tim Burton movies that never got made...

To hear Lella Smith , Creative Director of the Animation Research Library , tell this particular once-upon-a-time, it was John Lasseter who actually came up with the concept for this one-of-a-kind celebration of Disney fairy tale art. (L to R) John Lasseter, chief creative officer of Pixar & Walt...

If you ever start to feel overwhelmed this time of year, I want you to take a moment and think about how Mike Gabriel ’s Mom & Dad handled Christmas. You see, this Walt Disney Animation Studios veteran came from a rather large family. 9 siblings (six brothers and 3 sisters, to be precise). And given...

Today is a day when most people here in the US traditionally take a moment or two to reflect on whatever it is that they have to be thankful for. And for the more-than-a-thousand Southern California students who’ve taken part in the Ryman Arts program over the past 19 years … Well, they’re just thankful...

If you’re ever lucky enough to get inside of the Sorcerer Mickey building , you then HAVE TO go check out the 1300 corridor. Copyright Disney. All Rights Reserved This is where the personal artwork of Walt Disney Animation Studios staffers is displayed. They literally just wrapped up this year’s Halloween...

Over the years, I have heard a lot of stories from Disney insiders that I’ve been lucky enough to interview. Like how Alice Davis once told me that she knew that Mary Blair must be dealing with some horrific personal problems. Given that – in the early 1970s – this Disney Legend’s acclaimed sense of...

Spring brings many things. April showers. May flowers. As well as the catalog for the Spring S/R Laboratories animation art auction. This time around, there are some absolutely amazing pieces of animation history up for bid. Take -- for example -- this gag drawing that Disney Legend Carl Barks did for...

In response to last week's review of Jeff Kurtti 's newest book , " Walt Disney's Imagineering Legends and the Genesis of the Disney Theme Park ," I got the following e-mail: Not everyone who reads JimHillMedia is interested in the Disney theme parks. Some of us come to your site because we want to learn...