Hello fellow readers,
I take a break from my…break…(ironic?)…to wrap up the year like I did last year: with a preview of the upcoming year’s animated films. Below, you’ll find a list of all the animated movies scheduled to be theatrically released (in America) with their respective trailers/posters/images (if available) and brief descriptions.
1) STRANGE MAGIC [January 23, 2015]
Produced by Disney-acquired Lucasfilm Animation, this film takes us into the mind of George Lucas and gives us an animated film based on A Midsummer Night’s Dream featuring goblins, elves, and the like. I, for one, am not looking forward to this at all as the animation looks dirty, the story looks pathetically weak, the voicework mediocre, and I feel that I’ve already seen much better versions of this movie in Epic and Arthur and the Invisibles. W/the voices of Alan Cumming, Evan Rachel Wood, Kristin Chenoweth, Maya Rudolph, Sam Palladio, Alfred Molina, Elijah Kelley, Bob Einstein, Peter Stormare, etc.
2) HOME [March 27, 2015]
Originally planned for a 2014 release, this Dreamworks Animation film features an alien race who decides to hide on Earth to escape their enemies and make it their new home. They decide to relocate the human race, but one teenager manages to avoid capture. She soon bumps into an alien who’s accidentally informed its enemies of where they are and I assume they befriend each other and learn to work together. I’ve never been excited for this movie (I mean, Rihanna?! Really?!) and it’s sad that this is the only scheduled 2015 release for Dreamworks Animation since they postponed B.O.O.: Bureau of Otherworldly Operations and Kung Fu Panda 3. W/the voices of Rihanna (sigh…), Jennifer Lopez, Jim Parsons, Steve Martin, etc.
3) INSIDE OUT [June 19, 2015]
Pixar’s first film of the year, this film goes inside the minds of a young girl and her parents and literally deals with their emotions. I’ve yet to find someone who isn’t excited about this movie! W/the voices of Amy Poehler, Lewis Black, Mindy Kaling, Bill Hader, Phyllis Smith, Diane Lane, Kyle MacLachlan, John Ratzenberger, etc.
4) MINIONS [July 10, 2015]
From Illumination Entertainment, this film is a spin-off of the Despicable Me franchise in which we learn all about the Minions and what they were up to before they met Gru. Since I love the Minions (and don’t find them annoying whatsoever), I’m SOOOO looking forward to this movie! The trailer is absolutely hilarious! I hope they don’t mess this film up! W/the voices of Pierre Coffin, Sandra Bullock, Jon Hamm, Michael Keaton, Allison Janney, Steve Coogan, etc.
5) HOTEL TRANSYLVANIA 2 [September 25, 2015]
From Sony Pictures Animation, this sequel to Hotel Transylvania features Dracula’s old-fashioned father coming to visit for an impromptu family reunion. W/the voices of Adam Sandler, Mel Brooks, Selena Gomez, Andy Samberg, David Spade, Keegan-Michael Key (replacing CeeLo Green), Kevin James, Steve Buscemi, Fran Drescher, etc.
6) THE PEANUTS MOVIE [November 6, 2015]
In their first feature-length movie since 1980, the Peanuts characters are back in CGI form creating what appears to be Blue Sky Studios’ magnum opus! Please don’t disappoint! W/the voices of a whole bunch of non-celebrity kids without Wikipedia pages! AWESOME!
7) THE GOOD DINOSAUR [November 25, 2015]
Pixar’s second 2015 film famous for its production problems, postponing, and rewrites, this tells the story of what if the dinosaurs never went extinct? I wish we had a teaser trailer for this already! W/the voices of Lucas Neff, John Lithgow, Frances McDormand, Neil Patrick Harris, Judy Greer, Bill Hader, etc.
There are also a few animated/live-action hybrid movies planned for 2015 releases including The Spongebob Movie: Sponge Out of Water, Monster Trucks, Pixels, and Alvin and the Chipmunks 4 (yep, another one!).
(Disney is also making a live-action adaptation of The Jungle Book with actors voicing the characters, but I’m unsure of whether the characters will be animated or just have voices. If anyone knows the answer to this, please let me know. Thanks!)
So, that wraps up the list. It’s sad that there’s no planned animated film from the Disney Canon in 2015, but at least we get 2 from Pixar to make up for having none this year!
Minions, The Peanuts Movie, and Inside Out are my top 3 awaited animated films of 2015! What are yours? Let me know in the comments below!
The Animation Commendation 
I am excited for 2015! Two Pixar movies! Whoo!
Plus the Minions movie. One of the main guys is named Kevin 🙂
I wonder why that name interests you so 😉 !
Overall, I think 2014 had a better selection of animated films, but hey like you said, you can’t go wrong with 2 Pixar films!
Okay….here my thoughts:
1) Kind of disappointed…when I first heart about the concept, I was intrigued, but I don’t think that they tackled it the right way. A Midsummer Nights dream mostly works because of the poetic tone and the language. The story in itself is not that compelling. And in a dreamworksy version….eh….big ehhhhhhhh…..
2) I already hate the premise. Honestly, if you want to hide, is there something more attention seeking than relocating the population of an entire planet?
3) Pretty excited about that one, but I have a few concerns.
4) Not sure if the minions really can carry a movie, but the trailer looked good.
5) Didn’t know that the first one was successful enough to warrant a sequel…still haven’t seen it. Maybe I should. But generally speaking: I am tired of sequels.
6) Meh….not much of a Peanuts fan in the first place, but I think a lot of the charm of them lays in the drawing style. I think they look odd in CGI. That’s certainly a movie for which I would have stuck to traditional animation for sure.
7) Awful title and the constant development hell in which this movie was isn’t very promising. I like the premise, though. I am torn on this one.
I have the bad feeling that the upcoming year might be another dud with perhaps 1-3 good movies between a lot of mediocre ones.
Yeah, I feel that 2014 was a far superior year for animation than 2015 seems to be.
I myself am not too excited for ‘The Good Dinosaur’ yet mainly because we haven’t seen any trailers or clips or anything. I hope when we do, that I’ll love it better!
I am really not sure what to think…it sounds like a creative concept, but it seems like they only have the basic idea for the world, but not really a story to go with it. But who knows….it’s too early to dismiss it.
BTW: Merry Christmas!
Happy Holidays to yourself as well!
There are so little films this year.
1: I am not looking forward to it for the exact same reason you are not. It seems like a more childish, gimmicky, weaker Epic (which had its fair share of problems).
2: They are advertising it as some unpredictable film, though we all know that it will be an extremely predictable film. DreakWorks have not proven to me how they have “topped Pixar or WDAS”, and why they should be taken seriously since I finished reviewing their lineup last year.
3: Not the most excited for it, since I had my fair share of worries as to how in the hell they would pull off the concept, but it seems like they will handle it fine in this film. I hope that the emotions do not make the human characters in themselves flat.
4: I am really looking forward to this film, and it is solely because of the trailers. Seems like they are going to do a better version of Penguins of Madagascar (which I did see today, and I am writing the review for it).
5: Not looking forward to it. I avoided seeing the first movie when it was being promoted (though I know I will have to watch it soon to review the sequel). I heard that the first is bad, and this film looks like a joke.
6: Oh no; Blue Sky is touching this. This is a nostalgic masterpiece that I hope they do not ruin. I remember watching this as a small child with my mother.
7: I am sure I will like and look forward to the film, but the massive production issues has me worry about it.
I get the list of films that I review of the animated films in a year from your upcoming animated films of 20.., so this is very useful to me.
To be fair, ‘Hotel Transylvania’ isn’t really a bad movie. Yes, it’s not the best or maybe not even good, but I wouldn’t even call it bad. It’s probably my favorite Sony Animation film (either that or CWACOM).
Yeah, it’s alarming that Blue Sky is tackling ‘The Peanuts Movie’, but it looks like they’re respecting the material and have said they’re not gonna throw in pop culture references or the like.
Glad I help you out with my lists! I so wished that ‘Kung Fu Panda 3’ had been kept for 2015 though. It was the only DWA film I was looking forward to for 2015.
Yeah doesn’t look bear as strong as 2014 which I loved even more than the average person.
Mr Peabody and Sherman gave me hope for Peanuts that maybe an update on a franchise I love could be good.
Hotel Trans 1 I kind of liked. I guess my expectations with Adam Sandler have gotten so low I was pleasantly surprised.
Minnions could be good. They are my favorite part of Dispicable Me movies by a long shot. So we’ll see. It all comes down to the writing.
Pixars will always have my attention but tje Dreamworks looks super lame. The first one I hadn’t heard of. So is this part of the Disney Lucasfilm? The trailer didn’t look good. At least I will get to watch Song of the Sea when it comes to Utah in February. Excited!
Yeah, ‘Strange Magic’ is part of Disney LucasFilm.
Enjoy ‘Song of the Sea’! I want to see that.
Interesting. The trailers for Lego looked weak so you never know. We’ll see
I didn’t know they did anything other than Star Wars which the Star Wars Rebels series was really good this year. If you can ever get that on DVD it was actually something Star Wars that was good. Makes me even more excited for next year!
This is their first animated film, I think.
Alvin and the Chipmunks 4? …Oh no…
On a brighter note, so excited for Inside Out and The Peanuts Movie! 2015 looks like a good year!
My thoughts exactly!
Ugh, I can’t believe they’re making yet ANOTHER Chipmunks movie. The three you mentioned are actually my top three picks too! I love the little minions . . . that movie looks hilarious! I’m also curious about Inside Out. And this is the first time I’m hearing about The Peanuts Movie! I love Charlie Brown and Snoopy . . . excited about that!!
Oh yeah, The Peanuts Movie is one that we’re quite interested in!
#1-I really hope they don’t do this wrong, as A Midsummer Night’s dream is my favorite Shakespeare play 😦
#2-I’m looking forward to this since the animation looks nice, though casting Rihanna was a mistake >.<
#3-The concept is slightly problematic for me, but other than that it looks really cool!
#4-I'm mixed on this movie, but I like the Minions for the most part, so I will probably end up seeing it.
#5-Eh, good sequels are hard to find, especially in the case of animated movies, and the first one wasn't good much anyway.
#6-It looks quite good for Blue Sky! Hopefully they won't screw it up like what the Garfield movies did 😦
#7-Mildly interested in this one. Probably will see it.
Thanks for the feedback!
I don’t wanna sound like a spoilsport, but I do feel that they will mess up A Midsummer Night’s Dream 😦 .