After conquering the digital music business, Apple is now in talks with the movie studios to make feature films available through its iTunes Music Store, reports various news outlets.

However, the main issue is price. Apple ceo Steve Jobs, who is personally involved in the talks, proposed selling all films at a flat price of $9.99, which the studios flatly rejected.

Baggy Shorts, a dedicated portfolio of directors with digital production skills and a satellite of Qi Commercials, and Disqo, a division of Golden Square Post Prod., have formed an affiliation with the aim of offering creative and production expertise in the digital arena.

New animation studio, Amputee Chicken, has launched with its first short film, IF I HAD A HAMMER. Downloadable from the Web (www.amputeechicken.com), IF I HAD A HAMMER is now set to make the festival scene worldwide in the coming months.

LAIKA Inc. will build a state-of-the-art feature film animation campus to house its burgeoning entertainment division. LAIKA owner/chairman of the board Philip H. Knight has purchased 30 acres of land in Tualatin, Oregon, just 12 miles south of Portland, as the future site of LAIKA’s world-class animation facility, scheduled to open in 2008.

With its expanding film production schedule, LAIKA anticipates its employee roster to soar to more than 400 within the next two years.

Industrial Light & Magic is in discussions to sell its physical production unit, the legendary unit that works with models, miniatures and stage work, VARIETY reports. The sale would mark the end of an era—beginning as the unit that produced the effects for George Lucas' original STAR WARS movies—and solidify ILM's status as a digital effects house.

Leading up to the 20th Century Fox launch its feature version of THE SIMPSONS next year, parent company News Corp. will synergize all units throughout its empire promote the film, president/coo Peter Chernin said today (June 14, 2006), according to THE HOLLYWOOD REPORTER.

DIC Ent. (DIC) has acquired the privately-owned, pan-European licensing agency, Copyright Promotions (CPLG), which significantly expands DIC's place in the European licensing arena.

Emmy award-winning Toon Boom Animation Inc. announced that it has signed a definitive agreement with Pegs’n Co, a privately held developer of 2D bitmap animation technology.

"Toon Boom’s software solutions are recognized as the market leading technology in the animation industry and the integration of Pegs’ technology in Toon Boom’s portfolio will enable the company to continue delivering quality, efficiency and reliability to the animation community - for all animation styles, formats and users," said Joan Vogelesang, president/ceo at Toon Boom.

Mumbai-based Crest Animation Studios Ltd., one of India’s leading animation studios has moved to a new state-of-the-art digital studio in Ghatkopar and has landed a big series deal with French producer Marathon.

The shift to this spacious 45,000-square-foot studio will accommodate the company’s expansion plans to moves up from work for hire into production of its own full-length 3D animation feature films for a global audience.

Vicon and House of Moves, the company's motion capture service division, announced the opening of a new 25,000-square foot facility in Los Angeles. The studio brings together House of Moves' motion capture production services with Vicon’s world-leading hardware and software development, product support and consulting to uniquely provide film, games and television customers end-to-end motion capture resources and services under one roof.