With directors Chris Butler and Sam Fell’s ParaNorman opening in a couple weeks, we’ve been given some swag to send off to one lucky reader.  The 3D stop-motion picture centers on a young boy who can see the dead and must use this gift to lift a curse that threatens his small town.  ParaNorman features the voices of Kodi-Smit McPhee, Anna Kendrick, Christopher Mintz-Plasse, John Goodman, Casey Affleck, Leslie Mann, Jodelle Ferland and more.  The stop-motion animated flick opens August 17th.  Hit the jump to see how you can win some swag.

The visually stunning ParaNorman opens in theaters August 17th, but we have six new clips to tease you with today.  If you missed Steve’s set visit to LAIKA studios, do yourself a favor and check it out.  The technology and man-power involved in the making of this 3D, stop-motion animated adventure comedy is astonishing.  The following clips highlight the film’s technical beauty and give glimpses of its characters, plot and humor.

ParaNorman, from directors Chris Butler and Sam Fell, features the voices of Kodi-Smit McPhee, Casey Affleck, Anna Kendrick, Christopher Mintz-Plasse, Leslie Mann, Jeff Garlin, John Goodman and Alex Borstein. Hit the jump to view the clips.

A featurette filled with new footage from Family Guy creator Seth MacFarlane’s feature directorial debut Ted has been released.  The film stars Mark Wahlberg as a grown man whose childhood wish that his teddy bear would come to life actually came true, and now as an adult he’s having trouble letting go of his foul-mouthed buddy.  In the featurette, MacFarlane describes the film as a warm, fuzzy, heartfelt fucked-up fairy tale.  We get a look at a fair amount of new footage, including Ralph Garman and Alex Borstein as the young version of Wahlberg’s character’s parents.  As with the previous trailers, if you’re not a fan of Family Guy you probably won’t love the footage.  I particularly enjoyed Ted waxing poetic on the sexual stylings of Bostonian women, while there’s also a really funny gag at the end of the clip involving a pair of bare breasts.

Hit the jump to watch the decidedly NSFW clip.  The film also stars Mila Kunis, Joel McHale, Patrick Warburton, and Giovanni Ribisi.  Ted opens on June 29th.

The stop-motion animated film ParaNorman already boasts cutting-edge visuals, but new viral newsletters serve to flesh out the story of the characters behind the puppets.  ParaNorman centers on the title character, voiced by Kodi Smit-McPhee, a gifted but misunderstood young boy who has the power to speak to the ghostly residents of his hometown of Blithe Hollow.  We’ve already seen the gorgeous character and scene work in these images, TV spots, posters and trailers; Steve got an even closer look at the animation process during his set visit to LAIKA Studios.  Now, thanks to these viral newsletters, we get to see a little more background story on on the inhabitants of the cursed little town.

ParaNorman also features the voices of Casey Affleck, Anna Kendrick, Christopher Mintz-Plasse, Leslie Mann, Jeff Garlin, John Goodman, and Alex Borstein.  The movie opens in 3D on August 17th.  Hit the jump to check out the newsletters.

Following on from the US trailer and poster out earlier this month, Focus Features have now released a new, longer international trailer for their stop-motion zombie horror, ParaNorman. When a small town is besieged by zombies, responsibility falls upon Norman, a local boy with the unique ability to speak to the dead, to save everyone from a centuries-old curse.

ParaNorman is Coraline writer Chris Butler‘s directorial debut, although Sam Fell (The Tale of Despereaux) is also co-directing. The film features the voices of Kodi Smit-McPhee, Casey Affleck, Anna Kendrick, Christopher Mintz-Plasse, Leslie Mann, Jeff Garlin, John Goodman, and Alex Borstein. The movie opens in 3D on August 17th. Hit the jump for the trailer.

The new US trailer for the stop-motion animated film ParaNorman has gone online. From Chris Butler (Coraline) and Sam Fell (The Tale of Despereaux) comes the story of Norman, a mysterious and misunderstood boy with the ability to see and talk to ghosts. This new trailer gives us a much better idea of what the plot of ParaNorman will actually be about. It also gives us a good look at some other characters in the film and the famous voices associated with them. While the previous trailer did a good job of piquing my interest, the new one actually made me look forward to the summer release. It hits on all the right notes of comedy and charisma.

Hit the jump to check out the trailer and poster. The film features the voices of Kodi Smit-McPhee, Casey Affleck, Anna Kendrick, Christopher Mintz-Plasse, Leslie Mann, Jeff Garlin, John Goodman, and Alex Borstein. ParaNorman opens in 3D on August 17th.

An international trailer for the stop-motion animated film ParaNorman has gone online.  The movie centers on a young boy named Norman (voiced by Let Me In‘s Kodi Smit-McPhee) who is able to see ghosts but it’s no big deal.  It becomes a bigger deal when his small town comes under attack from the un-dead and he must save the day by stopping a centuries-old curse.  The US teaser trailer is one of my favorite trailers of the year, and the international version is also good, but it’s more focused on introducing Norman and the plot.  The movie still looks like a lot of fun and it will be one worth keeping an eye on in 2012.

Hit the jump to check out the trailer.  The film also features the voices of Casey Affleck, Anna Kendrick, Christopher Mintz-Plasse, Leslie Mann, Jeff Garlin, John Goodman, and Alex Borstein. ParaNorman opens in the US on August 17, 2012; it opens in the UK on September 14, 2012.

The first trailer for the stop-motion animated film ParaNorman has been released. The film comes from LAIKA, the animation studio that brought us Coraline, and centers on a boy whose ability to talk to the dead comes in handy when his town is ravaged by zombies, ghosts, witches, moronic grown-ups, and a centuries-old curse. We don’t get any dialogue from this teaser, as it’s just a montage of scenes with Donovan’s appropriately titled “Season of the Witch” playing over the scenes. The images here are pretty spectacular, as expected, and I like the design of the characters. The tag of the trailer really got me as well. I’m excited to see more from this peculiar little fella.

Hit the jump to watch the trailer. The film features the voices of Kodi Smit-McPhee (Let Me In), Casey Affleck, Anna Kendrick, Christopher Mintz-Plasse, Leslie Mann, Jeff Garlin, John Goodman, and Alex Borstein. ParaNorman opens August 17th, 2012.

For those who think that maybe the return of the once canceled animated comedy series Family Guy has run its course since being brought back from the dead, you may have one pivotal team member on your side: series creator Seth MacFarlane. In a recent cover story from THR, the man who has been dominating Fox’s Animation Domination with series like Family Guy, The Cleveland Show and American Dad, says he thinks the show may need to call it quits on TV. MacFarlane says,

“Part of me thinks that Family Guy should have already ended. I think seven seasons is about the right lifespan for a TV series. I talk to the fans and in a way I’m kind of secretly hoping for them to say we’re done with it. There are plenty of people who say the show is kind of over the hill. But still the vast majority go pale in the face when I mention the possibility.”

However, even if the series were to end, that wouldn’t be the end of the Griffins. Hit the jump to find out why, and for what MacFarlane had to say about the other new shows he has in the works, not to mention an idea that’s sure to be controversial amongst some very passionate sci-fi fans.