‘Hotel Transylvania’ Theme Park Attraction Opens in Moscow
Dream Island Theme Park partnered with Sony on new attraction that offers visitors an authentic ‘scary’ experience worthy of the franchise; ‘Hotel Transylvania: Transformania,’ the film franchise’s final entry, hits theaters Summer 2021.
Netflix’s ‘Headspace Guide to Sleep’ Coming April 28
Want to get a good night’s sleep; tuck yourself in and watch this innovative animated series as it addresses the myths and facts around the sometimes-elusive necessity – sleep.
Moves by Maxon Update Now Available
Mobile facial and body motion-capture iOS app for motion designers and VFX artists capitalizes on Apple’s AR-Toolkit; motion sequences can easily be brought into Cinema 4D.
Cartoon Network Launches ‘Cartoon Cartoons’ Animated Shorts Program
Studio’s latest effort to nurture animation talent will give voices to a new and diverse generation of artists with mentorship and support; program’s creative council will include veteran producers Pete Browngardt, Manny Hernandez, Katie Rice, and Aminder Dhaliwal.
Cartoons on the Bay 2021 is Now Open for Submissions
25th edition entry deadline is June 21; event date for noted children’s animation festival is yet to be announced.
WATCH: ‘The Wall’ Trailer for ‘Solar Opposites’ Season 2
We all know it’s a weird, often trecherous place, but we’re mesmerized by what the tiny humans are up to in their dystopian Habitrail…
CLIP: Steve Trevor Proposes to Wonder Woman in ‘Justice Society: World War II’
This time it might be love; Steve Trevor’s relentless pursuit of Wonder Woman’s heart takes the ultimate next step.
Exciting New Stop Motion Kickstarter Project
Vokabulantis is a whole new dimension of interactive stop motion, check it out!
KFF INDUSTRY: CALL FOR PROJECTS FOR PITCHING ANIMATED IN POLAND
The deadline for submissions for participation in ANIMATED IN POLAND is 15 April.
‘Arlo the Alligator Boy’ Celebrates the Beauty in the Bizarre
Ryan Crego spent over a decade developing his red-headed bayou crooner, who stars in a new animated musical alongside a group of misfits all looking for a place to belong, premiering on Netflix April 16.
Noggin Launches ‘Big Heart World’ Social Initiative
Featuring Nickelodeon fan-favorite characters, the campaign is designed to help kids meet social and educational challenges; ‘Big Heart Beats’ album provides empowering and catchy songs to bolster the campaign’s messages, and will also be available Nick Jr. and the Nick Jr. YouTube channel.
FMX 2021: Dive into ‘WandaVision’ and the Spectacle of ‘Godzilla vs. Kong’
MARZ VFX supervisor Ryan Freer will share the often-invisible VFX on Marvel’s first Disney+ series; three presentations will peek behind the curtain surrounding the year’s first blockbuster VFX-driven tentpole to see monster making up close and personal.
EXCLUSIVE: ‘Make a New Day’ Music Video from ‘Barbie & Chelsea The Lost Birthday’
Barbie’s youngest sister Chelsea and her friends jam away in CG video of lead track from the new film, launching this Friday on Netflix.
Apple and Skydance Announce ‘Blush’ Animated Short
Written and directed by Emmy Award winner Joe Mateo, the CG film follows a horticulturist-astronaut trying to survive after crash landing on a desolate dwarf planet; short is first under new Apple/Skydance animated film and TV partnership.
Escape Studios Launches Unreal Engine Fundamentals Course
New five-week program covers an interactive introduction to the real-time 3D platform; features a range of artistic and technical tasks with each participant getting direct feedback from an assigned tutor.
Epic Games’ MetaHuman Creator Early Access Now Open
Program now open for anyone to create unique MetaHumans for direct use in Unreal Engine; new innovative cloud-based app can create digital humans - in minutes - almost indecipherable from the real thing.
Hank Azaria Apologizes for Portrayal of Apu on ‘The Simpsons’
The actor is reaching out to make amends for his inherently racist and insulting voice work as the show’s Kwik-E-Mart owner, which for three decades he portrayed with an outrageously exaggerated Indian accent.
Final Draft 12 Now Available
Upgrade is free for anyone who purchased V11 after February 15, 2021; company is donating free licenses to two non-profits that foster diversity and inclusion in the entertainment industry.
Sesame Workshop Names Olexa Hewryk VP & Head of Animation
Other recently announced promotions include Sal Perez to supervising producer and VP for Sesame Street Productions, and ‘Sesame Street’ EP Ben Lehmann to senior VP & head of live-action.
Re-VIEW: ‘Soul’ and the Cinematic Empathy Machine
Directors Pete Docter and Kemp Powers invite audiences to ponder their own life choices, forging a link between storyteller and spectator that reaffirms the emotional power of cinema.
‘The Way of the Househusband’ Anime Style Divides Viewers
While the plot and voice acting of J.C. Staff and Netflix’s series are well done and entertaining, audiences are complaining the unconventional visuals feels more like a motion comic than an animated show.
Maxon Releases Cinema 4D S24
New subscription-only version lets users easily browse and intuitively place assets within scenes; includes key animation workflow enhancements and sneak peek at new scene nodes and manager interface.
NVIDIA’s GTC Kicks-Off with a View of the Omniverse
Founder and CEO Jensen Huang’s keynote shares breakthroughs in building virtual worlds through a convergence of technologies; new Omniverse Enterprise 3D design platform will soon be widely available, allowing for real-time global collaboration across multiple software suites.
Hanging by a Thread on a Windy Day in Team Salut’s ‘Boom Bam’ Lyric Video
To capture the song’s beat and energy, artist Lauren Brems drew fast scribbles over video frames of her friends dancing, integrated with subtle word movement, in her 2D animation short for Universal Music Group’s °1824 division.
Crunchyroll Announces New Slate of Spring Anime Dubs
Upcoming international line-up includes multi-language dubs of popular anime including ‘That Time I Got Reincarnated as a Slime,’ ‘Re:ZERO − Starting Life in Another World,’ and ‘The Rising of the Shield Hero.’
