Paramount Pictures recently severed its ties with DreamWorks Animation as the partnership comes to an end at the close of this year. The studio had previously distributed DreamWorks Animation’s films, but now its sights are set on its own animation output. Viacom president and CEO Philippe Dauman announced today (via THR) that a new SpongeBob SquarePants movie will kick off Paramount’s new animation effort with a release targeted for the end of 2014. The SpongeBob SquarePants Movie was released in 2004 to a mediocre response (it grossed $85.4 million domestically and $54.7 million worldwide), but Dauman said today that Nickelodeon “did not have as much of a presence around the world” back then, assuring investors that the outlook for their new SpongeBob movie has bright prospects. Hit the jump for more.

Perennial family favorite Winnie the Pooh returns to theaters this Friday in Disney’s new traditionally animated film of the same name. Pooh Bear is back with all of his friends in the 100 Acre Wood, getting into mischief and looking for honey. It’s a very sweet family film that will make a great first theater experience for many children and manage to keep parents engaged without indulging in any double entendre.

Last weekend I sat down with Jim Cummings (Pooh Bear, Tigger) and Tom Kenny (Rabbit) to discuss their roles in the movie. During our interview they told me about Pooh Bear’s honey issues, how one stays in character for 20 years, Rabbit’s closeness to Bill O’Reilly, and Cummings gives us a quick update on Spongebob Squarepants 2 at the end of the interview.  Hit the jump to watch.

Thanks to the good folks at a few different PR firms, I’ve got a some DVDs to giveaway to some of our readers. Like I’ve been doing for the last few giveaways, entering is easy and requires almost no work. So if you’re interested in getting a free copy of “Crank: High Voltage” on either DVD or Blu-ray, “Wallace and Gromit: The Complete Collection”, or “SpongeBob Squarepants: The First 100 Episodes”, hit the jump to find out how to enter: