Marvel's Spider-Man Season 2 Release Date Confirmed

In This Week in Animation News, I’ll take a look at the previous week in the world of animation in order to get you caught up on everything you might have missed. It’s your one-stop shop for news regarding cartoons, anime, and animated web series. We’re talking movies, TV shows, digital shorts, and everything in between!

For the latest animation stories we’ve already covered on the site this week, take a look at the following links. Then, check out a selection of new stories below. Be sure to let us know your thoughts in the comments!

Marvel's Spider-Man Season 2 Arrives June 18th in a One-Hour Premiere

marvels-spider-man-season-2-release-date — Image via Disney XD

Marvel's most popular superhero, Spider-Man, returns in an all-new action-packed season when Marvel's Spider-Man season two debuts with a one-hour telecast featuring back-to-back episodes, Monday, June 18th (6:30 p.m. EDT), on Disney XD, DisneyNOW and Disney XD VOD. Following the premiere weekend, new episodes will debut every Monday through August. Season two will feature higher stakes and epic battles as Spidey faces-off against new heroes and villains, some of which are voiced by exciting guest stars, including Sofia Carson (Disney's "Descendants"), Booboo Stewart (Disney's "Descendants"), Nathaniel Potvin ("MECH-X4"), NASCAR racer Ryan Blaney and social media sensation Teala Dunn.

The second season finds Peter Parker in his "sophomore year," as he's no longer an inexperienced new superhero nor a brand new student, at the intimidating Horizon High. However, his foes are also no longer inexperienced and his ever-growing Rogue's Gallery is focused on taking Spider-Man down. Picking up where season one left off, the stakes are much higher in Peter's personal life and Spider-Man's Super Hero life. He also must learn how to balance working at "The Daily Bugle" to afford tuition at the prestigious Horizon High while surviving Doc Ock's series of obstacles in an attempt to get rid of Spider-Man once and for all. The action-packed season will continue to touch on Spidey's relatable themes, including friendship, loyalty and heroism while staying true to its signature sense of comedy.

Adult Swim Acquires 'Pocket Mortys' Game Developer Big Pixel Studios

Turner’s Adult Swim announced this week the acquisition of UK-based game developer Big Pixel Studios. This acquisition is part of the network’s increased investment in gaming and overall commitment to creating more multi-platform content with Adult Swim’s popular IP.

Along with other mobile titles for the network, Big Pixel developed the highly successful game Pocket Mortys based off characters from Adult Swim’s hit animated series Rick and Morty, the #1 comedy across all of television in 2017, that was recently picked up for an additional 70 episodes. The studio is continuing to add more elements to Pocket Mortys for fans to explore.

After more than eight years of rolling out highly original and addictive titles like Amateur Surgeon and Robot Unicorn Attack, Adult Swim Games has built a respected reputation in the industry as a top indie publisher and now looks to take its success to the next level.

“We’re thrilled to have Dave and the team at Big Pixel join Adult Swim Games,” said vice president of Adult Swim Games, Jeff Olsen. “Having such a talented creative team in-house will allow us to build much deeper and more immersive games for fans.”

This past summer Pocket Mortys introduced multiplayer capability and launched a weekly release of all-new avatars timed to season three episodes of Rick and Morty for fans to collect including: Commander Rick, Judge Morty, Summer, Tinkles, Scary Terry, Ants in My Eyes Johnson, and many more. In total, fans can currently collect more than 250 Mortys and over 100 avatars in the game, with even more new content and characters being introduced in 2018.

“We are extremely proud of the relationship between Big Pixel Studios and Adult Swim Games resulting in the success of Pocket Mortys,” said David Burpitt, managing director of Big Pixel Studios. “I hope our players are as excited as we are knowing that this new chapter puts us in a fantastic position to develop existing and new titles for them to enjoy.”

Pocket Mortys lets players assemble the best team of Mortys to train and battle each other in the delight of the Council of Ricks. With multiplayer, fans can battle each other across new dimensions putting their Morty training skills to the ultimate test while collecting dozens of new Mortys and avatars.

Since its launch in January 2016, Pocket Mortys is one of Adult Swim’s most downloaded mobile games to date. Pocket Mortys is available now for free on Google Play and the App Store.

NIckelodeon Developing Animated Project 'Man of the House'

nickelodeon-man-of-the-house — Image via Nickelodeon

Nickelodeon today announced the development of a new animated project, Man of the House (working title), from Norman Lear’s ACT III Productions. With creative concept by Colombian-American writer and illustrator Michael Molina (Trivia Night), Man of the House follows 11-year-old José as he helps his mother Maria watch over his two younger siblings, Maria Juliana (Maju) and Diego, while trying to form a hip-hop group with his quirky classmate and neighbor, Wilbur, that lives downstairs. Lear (All in the Family, The Jeffersons) and Brent Miller (One Day at a Time) will serve as executive producers.

The development of Norman Lear’s project will be overseen by Claudia Spinelli, who has been promoted to the role of Vice President, Animation Development. Formerly Vice President of Current Series, Spinelli will oversee the development pipeline of all new animated content, while identifying potential creators, showrunners, writers and directors. She will also work closely with Nickelodeon’s talent relations department and the animation community to scout new talent for animation development.

“Norman has been telling stories about families, parents and kids for many years, and it’s so exciting that he and his producing partners Brent and Michael, want to tell this story to today’s generation of Nick kids,” said Chris Viscardi, Senior Vice President, Nickelodeon Animation.

Viscardi continued, “I am also incredibly excited that Claudia will oversee the development of this project, among many more, as Nick’s new head of development. Claudia has shepherded some of today’s most popular series including SpongeBob Square Pants and Sanjay and Craig. She is a true creative partner and a trusted voice with a love for storytelling. I look forward to her continued leadership in our animation group.”

New Trailer for 'Fireworks' Reveals Its Splendor

Producer Genki Kawamura follows up his mega-hit Your Name with Fireworks, another tale of star-crossed teenage lovers with a sci-fi fantasy twist.

Shy Norimichi and fast-talking Yusuke, are goo-goo-eyed over the same elusive classmate, Nazuna. But Nazuna, unhappy over her mother’s decision to remarry and leave their countryside town, plans to run away and has secretly chosen Norimichi to accompany her. When things don’t go as planned, Norimichi discovers that a glowing multi-color ball found in the sea has the power to reset the clock and give them a second chance to be together. But each reset adds new complications and takes them farther and farther away from the real world – until they risk losing sight of reality altogether.

Directors Akiyuki Shinbo (studio Shaft) and Nobuyuki Takeuchi's new anime film, the first of five new titles announced by GKIDS presented through Fathom Events, will premiere in movie theaters nationwide on July 3rd with encore showings on July 5th and 7th. The film will receive a theatrical release by GKIDS starting on July 4th!

Fireworks is the newest release from Toho animation and producer Genki Kawamura, following the worldwide blockbuster Your Name, the highest-grossing anime of all time. It will be shown in both its original Japanese version and a new English-language version produced by GKIDS.

Chris Miller and Phil Lord Bring 'The Mitchells vs The Machines' to the Big Screen with Sony

Get ready for The Mitchells vs The Machines, Sony Pictures Animation's new CG feature coming to theaters January 10, 2020!

The Mitchells Vs. The Machines is an original animated comedy from producers Chris Miller and Phil Lord (The Lego Movie, 21 Jump Street). The Mitchells are a dysfunctional but loving family whose road trip is interrupted by a tech uprising that threatens mankind: all around the world, the electronic devices people love–from phones, to self driving cars, to a sleek new line of personal robots–turn on humanity. With the help of two malfunctioning robots and the family's delightfully overweight pug, the Mitchells will have to get past their problems and work together to save each other and the world!

The Mitchells Vs. The Machines is directed by Mike Rianda who wrote the screenplay with co-director Jeff Rowe; Phil Lord & Christopher Miller produce along with Kurt Albrecht.