I spent Veterans Day in NYC at my favorite TV show - "Live with Regis and Kelly" (more on that later in the week), but got home in time to read the great news: a record 20 films have been entered for consideration for the best animated feature at the Academy Awards, meaning we should have a full category, with five nominees.

The AMPAS rules state that if at least 16 films qualify, there will be 5 nominees in the category, and that appears to be a sure thing, even though all of the December films still have to complete their necessary one-week runs in Los Angeles to be elidgible.

Here is the list of the 20 2009 animated films that will get Oscar consideration:

"Alvin and the Chipmunks: The Squeakquel"
"Astro Boy"
"Battle for Terra"
"Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs"
"Coraline"
"Disney’s A Christmas Carol"
"The Dolphin – Story of a Dreamer"
"Fantastic Mr. Fox"
"Ice Age: Dawn of the Dinosaurs"
"Mary and Max"
"The Missing Lynx"
"Monsters vs. Aliens"
"9"
"Planet 51"
"Ponyo"
"The Princess and the Frog"
"The Secret of Kells"
"Tinker Bell and the Lost Treasure"
"A Town Called Panic"
"Up"

Here's my prediction for the five nominees: "9", "Up", "Fantastic Mr. Fox", "Ponyo", and "Disney's A Christmas Carol", however I reserve the right to change my mind after I see all of the films.

Up until now, the only year there was a full category of 5 nominees for best animated film was 2002. 

According to Box Office Mojo, 20th Century Fox has changed the release date for "Alvin and the Chipmunks: The Squeakquel" from Christmas Day to December 23rd. This is a great move.

Since Christmas is a Friday this year, chances are that "Alvin 2" would not have had a good opening day at the box office because most kids wouldn't want to leave all their presents and fun at home to go to the theater to see a movie.

The original "Alvin" made $45M it's first weekend back in 2007. A Christmas Day opening would have made it very difficult for the sequel to match or top that. However, since most kids get out of school for holiday vacation on the 23rd, and parents will be heading to the malls for last-minute shopping that night, "Alvin" should draw big crowds, and on Christmas Eve day as well.

Will "The Squeakquel" top the $236.1M the original film made domestically? Probably not. But it will be one of the box office hits of the holiday season and into mid-January.

Meantime, Disney's next animated film, following next month's "The Princess and the Frog" is "Rapunzel", and it finally has a release date: Nov. 24, 2010. The studio used that Thanksgiving week slot last year for "Bolt" and it paid-off nicely. This year the live-action comedy "Old Dogs" is on Disney's turkey-week menu. We'll see how that works out. 

Are you ready for this: There will be TWO hosts of next year's Academy Awards - Alec Baldwin...and Steve Martin.

Interesting choices to say the least. Baldwin, thanks to his Emmy-winning role on "30 Rock", is very hot right now. But I don't think of him as a movie star or a candidate to host the Oscars (though he's hosted "Saturday Night Live" several times). He has been in a lot of movies, including 2003's "The Cat in the Hat", and he did voices in both "Madagascar 2: Escape 2 Africa" and in one of my all-time favorites, "The SpongeBob SquarePants Movie".

Martin, of course, has been seen recently in the "Pink Panther" and "Cheaper by the Dozen" movies, and he's got Oscar hosting experience.

Why the need for co-hosts? The last time more than one person hosted the ceremony was back in 1987, when Chevy Chase, Goldie hawn and Paul Hogan handled the duties. The producers of the show have said they want this year's Oscar's to be FUN! Well, they've picked two funny guys to run things.  Let's hope it works. But they've got a tough act to follow. Remember the great job Hugh Jackman did this past February. Jackman turned-down the offer to host again.

Martin hosted the show two previous years: 2001 and 2003. This will be Baldwin's first time, though he was a presenter in 2004. He was also nominated for an Academy Award for his supporting role in 2003's "The Cooler".

At least these two guys should be comfortable with each other. They co-star in "It's Complicated", which hits theaters in December. 

The 82nd Academy Awards will take place March 2nd, 2010.

The '09 holiday movie season is about to begin, but already I'm looking forward to what is going to be a monumental "battle at the box office" next summer.

Think about it - Three HUGE movie are set to be released within 6-weeks of each of other: "Iron Man 2" (5/7), "Shrek Forever After (5/21) and Toy Story 3" (6/18). All three should do incredible business, but which one will be the box office champ? It seems like every year lately has been "The Year of the Sequel", but with these three leading the way, '10 may be the year of the best sequels.

Early prediction in this showdown: "Toy Story 3" wins, followed by "IM 2", with "Shrek FA" finishing a close third. Of course a lot will have to do with how good the movies are, though people will fill theaters around the country the first weekend for all three even if there reviews aren't great.

Other news: Sony has decided to extend the release of "Michael Jackson's This Is It" past the two weeks it was originally supposed to run. This is not a surprise, considering how well the film is doing at the box office and the positive reviews. "This Is It" has already grossed over $100M worldwide.    

It only took one day for the Michael Jackson documentary, "This Is It", to land on the list of all-time, highest-grossing music documentaries. With $7.4 million is sales on Wednesday, "This Is It" is in 5th place on the list, but should move-up to 2nd by the end of the weekend. The Miley Cyrus "Best of Both Worlds" concert movie is the #1 all-time music documentary. It made $65.3 million last year. M.J. should give Hannah Montana a run for her money.

Sony is so high on "This Is It" that they have begun a campaign to get it a Best Picture Oscar nomination. That may be a stretch, but with that category now expanded to 10 films, you never know. 

I'll be seeing "This Is It" Friday night and will tell you then whether or not it deserves Academy Award consideration.

Ricky Gervias has been chosen to host the 2010 Golden Globes awards, and it's a great choice. The Globes hasn't had a host since 1995.

Gervais was chosen because of his very funny presentations during this year's Emmy's and Globes. Plus, he's got his animated movie "Flanimals" in the works. The 67th Annual Golden Globes will take place January 17th in Hollwood and will air on NBC. 

Meantime, more trouble on the "Footloose" set. Director Kenny Ortega has dropped out of the movie. Originally Oretga, who directed "High School Musical", and "HSM" star Zac Efron were supposed to work together on the re-make of the Kevin Bacon hit. But first Efron quit and now Ortega is gone.

According to Variety, Ortega wanted "Footloose" to be a full-blown musical while Paramount only wants a few songs and no big production numbers. The movie is still scheduled to be released next summer.

And Liz Taylor, Michael Jackson's longtime friend, says "This Is It" is one of the greatest movies of all time. It's opening to sold-out theaters on Wednesday. I won't get to see it until Friday, but I got my tickets today so I won't get shut-out. I'll have my review on the site Friday night.  

The soon-to-be released animated film "Planet 51", starring Dwayne (I can't believe I'm going back to my wrestling name "The Rock") Johnson is right now where no film has gone before: IN SPACE!

Back in late August a copy of the film was launched into space (in a rocket, of course) and it's now aboard the International Space Station, orbiting the Earth.

Wouldn't it be cool if they did a Galaxy Premiere, and projected the movie into outer space. Then, if there are aliens on other planets out there, they could watch it. And, maybe those of us back here could catch a preview through our telescopes.

The Space Station is getting a lot of movie attention these days. Last month a Buzz Lightyear figure took a ride to help promote the release of "Toy Story/Toy Story 2" in 3-D. Of course this is all for marketing and money, but it's still fun.

"Planet 51" opens on planet Earth on November 20. I wonder of the astronauts liked it. 

I love movies. You love movies. But will viewers of The Weather Channel love movies?

Yes, for the first time in it's 27 years on TV, The Weather Channel is going to start showing movies. The first, "The Perfect Storm" (good choice), will air next Friday night, Oct. 30, which also happens to be the 18th anniversary of the real-life storm that the movie is based on.

The Weather Channel will show Friday night movie for 4 straight weeks. The other films will be "March of the Penguins", "Deep Blue Sea" and "Misery".

But will die-hard weather fans be upset when they tune-in for weather info and, instead, get a film? Well, the weekend forecast will be updated on the screen six times an hour. And meteorologist Jennifer Carafagno will host movie night and offer commentary.

And I'm sure if a real "perfect storm" breaks out somewhere in the world while the movie is playing they'll hit "pause" and break in. 

So much for one of my all-time favorite movies - Disney's "Beauty and the Beast" coming out in 3-D next February. The studio has decided to push the  3-D release of the Oscar-nominated film until 2011!

Why you ask? Well, here are a few possible reasons (no one's really saying for sure):

- Dick Cook, who recently (and surprisingly) "resigned" has chairman of Walt Disney Studios was the guy behind the 3-D rerelease of "Beauty" (and other films). Now that he's gone, the support for such projects is gone.

- Animation expert (and personal friend) Jerry Beck tells me that he saw a preview clip of the 3-D version of "Beauty" and he thought it was terrible. Maybe enough other people agreed so the studio needs more time to get it right.

Either way, the Blu-ray edition of "Beauty and the Beast" is still expected to come out in 2010.

Meantime, "Toy Story"/"Toy Story 2" in 3-D is sticking around in theaters for a little while longer. The double feature was originally supposed to be gone after 2 weeks, but since it's doing so well at the box officie the studio has decided to keep in around. It could stay in theaters for three more weeks, but will definitely be gone by Nov. 6, when "Disney's A Christmas Carol" come out.    

The long-awaited Walt Disney Family Museum is finally open. The museum is located in San Francisco, and it includes:

- A state-of-the-art theater for showing Disney films

- The one-of-a-kid 8 Oscars that Walt won for "Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs"

- Over 200 video displays

- The actual train and Walt gave visitors rides on

- Walt's original lay-out for Disneyland, in model form

- Hundreds of sketches, drawings and cels from all the classic films

I've never been to San Francisco but the next time I'm on the West Coast I've got to get to this museum, and if you're a Disney fan you have to make plans to see it too. In the meantime, check out the museum website.