Animarte 2009 Call for Entries
Deadline: September 30, 2009

The 4th Animarte - International Animation Festival is receiving submissions until September 30, 2009. Animarte is open to animated and mixed media shorts with a duration of 15 minutes or less. There is no entry or registration fee and all animation techniques are accepted.

Per VARIETY, Columbia Pictures has hired Kurt Wimmer (SALT) to write TOTAL RECALL.

Neal Moritz and Original Films will produce the project, a remake of the 1990 sci-film starring Arnold Schwarzenegger and based on the Philip K. Dick story "We Can Remember It for You Wholesale." The new film will be updated to modern times.

Columbia got the rights from Miramax, which has the option to co-finance the film. Wimmer wrote the story for upcoming Angelina Jolie thriller SALT with Brian Helgeland.

-- By News Editor Annemarie Moody

Press Release from Paramount Pictures

Warner Bros. Consumer Products is set to expand the PUCCA animated series' merchandise to the U.S., Canada and Mexico, reports VARIETY. The South Korean series originated on the internet and has a successful consumer products industry in Brazil.

Vooz Co. launched PUCCA on the internet in 2000 as a short Flash series about the young daughter of a Chinese restaurant owner who falls in love with a 12-year-old ninja. The series then got a place on Disney XD.

Press Release from Titmouse, Inc.

Press Release from Disney Interactive Studios

BURBANK, Calif. -- Live to tell the tale of becoming a notorious pirate captain or suffer a fate of eternal damnation. Disney Interactive Studios today announced the development of PIRATES OF THE CARIBBEAN: ARMADA OF THE DAMNED, an epic, action role-playing game (RPG) from Propaganda Games, Disney's video game development studio in Vancouver, British Columbia.

Press Release from Imira Entertainment

Barcelona, 26 May 2008: Imira Entertainment, Spain's leading production and distribution company specialising in youth programming, has boosted its reputation for representing live action entertainment rights with a raft of new broadcast, home entertainment and merchandising deals for ZDF Entertainment's shows H2O: JUST ADD WATER and THE ELEPHANT PRINCESS alongside further deals from its established animation library.

Michael Eisner's Tornante Co. has hired Mike Hammer to write the screenplay for a BAZOOKA JOE feature, based on the comicstrip that where included in Bazooka bubble gum, according to THE HOLLYWOOD REPORTER. This will be Hammer's first professional script after graduating from Chapman University. Hammer's spec script, SONNY TAKES TO PERU caught the attention of Tornante execs. Eisner acquired Bazooka in 2007 when he purchased the Topps trading card company for $380 million.

Press Release from Aardman Rights

Bristol, 20 May 2009. Leading independent distributor Aardman Rights has concluded a number of new licensing deals for its brand new preschool series TIMMY TIME, which has made a hugely successful debut on CBeebies in the UK.

In Central and Eastern Europe, Regio is on board as toy partner for TIMMY TIME in Hungary where Minimax has the broadcast rights. Also One 2 Play is managing all rights to the property in ex-Yugoslavia.

Press Release from Fitz Roy Media

NEW YORK -- (May 18 2009) -- New York-based Fitz Roy Media, has secured new international licensing deals for leading UK girls' brand SECRET WINGS.

The company has secured a Pan-European deal with E-Max Ensobrados Martorell, S.A.U of Barcelona, Spain to produce a variety of children's paper based collectibles for the property. Brazil's Keterly Cateras Bolsas Limited has signed to produce a variety of stationery products including pencil cases, backpacks, vanity cases, folders, binders, lunch bags and wallets.