Category: Business

Aardman Animations, the Bristol-based Academy Award-winning animation studio has restructured its Marketing, Licensing and International TV Distribution departments, merging them all into a newly formed division called Aardman Rights. The new division is set up to market and sell Aardman content across all media and it will seek to expand its IP portfolio by representing third-party properties.

According to the ASSOCIATED PRESS, Electronic Arts and Take-Two Interactive are speaking privately, just a week after EA let the deadline for its $2 billion tender offer expire.

EA has offered $25.74 per share for Take-Two, publisher of the successful GRAND THEFT AUTO franchise, but Take-Two said the offer was too low. On Monday, the two companies signed confidentiality agreements, and the Federal Trade Commission last week cleared EA's old offer.

THE LOS ANGELES TIMES has an in-depth article on a 1908 copyright law that may technically give Mickey Mouse (the STEAMBOAT WILLIE-era Mickey, that is) up to the public domain.

Disney's team of lawyers are calling the idea "frivolous," but Roy E. Disney acknowledges during the 1920s, "Nobody knew what they were doing," in regards to often-convoluted copyright law.

Mainframe's London headquarters is investing more than 1.2 million pounds as part of a continuing expansion project that has necessitated a move to a larger studio.

Hot on the heels of opening Mainframe North in Manchester, the London studio will be moving in mid-September to the top floor of a beautiful old Clerkenwell warehouse, situated next to the Guardian's offices, in order to secure extra space for current and future expansion. Mainframe has bought the property outright for just under 1 million pounds.

Electronic Arts has withdrawn its $2 billion tender offer for Take-Two Interactive, publisher of GRAND THEFT AUTO, to enter into private negotiations, per VARIETY. This move comes six months after the public battle started.

EA received little interest in its bid of $25.74 per share, which due to the success of the latest GTA title, has been lower than Take-Two's trading price some days this summer. EA let the offer expire at 12 a.m. Monday.

Cheryl Boone Isaacs, a Public Relations Branch governor of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, was re-elected Tuesday night as president of the Academy Foundation, the educational and cultural arm of the Academy. This is Isaacs' second term as president.

Sid Ganis was re-elected president of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences Tuesday night by the organization's Board of Governors. This will be his fourth consecutive term in the office.

In addition, Robert Rehme, an Executives Branch governor and past Academy president, was re-elected first vice president; Producers Branch governors Kathleen Kennedy and Hawk Koch were elected to vice president posts; Executives Branch governor Tom Sherak was elected treasurer and Public Relations Branch governor Cheryl Boone Isaacs was elected secretary.

The principals behind Los Angeles-based editorial company Rock Paper Scissors (RPS) (www.rockpaperscissors.com) and visual effects company a52 (www.a52.com) announced the launch of a new, full-service, design-driven company named Elastic.

To support their new venture, RPS and a52 co-founders Angus Wall and Linda Carlson have hired Alex Gorodetzki as Elastic's executive producer and Trevor Shepard as its creative director of design.

IMAX Corporation today reported that it recorded a net loss per diluted share of $0.29 for the second quarter of fiscal 2008, compared to a net loss of $0.11 per diluted share for the second quarter of fiscal 2007.

At the same time, the company announced that the roll out of its IMAX Digital system technology launched as scheduled, with the successful delivery and installation of its first three digital projection systems at three AMC Entertainment theatres located in the Baltimore/Washington D.C. area, during the second quarter.

Red Giant Software, with products Magic Bullet, Knoll Light Factory, and Trapcode, has acquired the video plug-in portfolio of Digital Anarchy, a San Francisco-based plug-in developer.

Digital Anarchy is known for its high-quality creative software for broadcast designers and 2D animators. The acquisition will add six new products to Red Giant Software's roster, which will be repackaged under Red Giant Software's own product names.

Activision Blizzard, which was formed on July 9 as a result of the closing of Activision's transaction with Vivendi, announced record stand-alone June quarter financial results for Activision, Inc.

For the quarter ended June 30, 2008, DreamWorks Animation reported total revenue of $140.8 million and net income of $27.5 million, a 37 percent drop from the same time period last year.

This equals a $0.30 per share on a fully diluted basis, compared to revenue of $222.5 million and net income of $61.8 million, or $0.60 per share on a fully diluted basis, for the same period in 2007.