DreamWorks Animation recently hosted a behind-the-scenes preview of its upcoming fall release, BEE MOVIE at New York's Museum of Modern Art. DreamWorks head Jeffrey Katzenberg, voice stars Jerry Seinfeld, Matthew Broderick, Renée Zellweger and Chris Rock were on hand, along with co-director Steve Hickner. (THE PRINCE OF EGYPT).
Frederator Studios is now branching out into 2D genre features with the launch of Frederator Films, according to VARIETY. Frederator head Fred Seibert will produce the films with animation vet Kevin Kolde and talent management head/producer Eric Gardner. The films will be budgeted under $20 million.
Emmy award-winning Toon Boom Animation Inc. announced its partnership with FableVision, the award-winning educational media and interactive developer and publisher, to jointly develop educational solutions for K-12 and consumer markets.
"Toon Boom is fully committed to the educational market and our close collaboration with FableVision reinforces our intention to develop easy-to-use, educative and fun applications for students and schools," stated Joan Vogelesang, president/ceo at Toon Boom.
Starz Media and Vanguard Animation and Film have inked a licensing deal with Dole Food Co. to place 100 million collectable stickers with characters from the upcoming animated feature SPACE CHIMPS on bananas, reports VARIETY. Due to hit theaters in 2008, the film's characters will also make appearances on Dole salad packages and pineapples. The deal also includes a Dole SuperKids website and in-store CHIMPS circulars and displays.
Legendary Pictures, the producers of films such as 300, BATMAN BEGINS and SUPERMAN RETURNS, has re-upped its deal with Warner Bros., which includes an injection of more than $1 billion, reports THE HOLLYWOOD REPORTER. This new deal comes only halfway into its previous deal signed in 2005, extending the pact between the two companies until 2012.
Bringing 30-foot-tall robots to life in TRANSFORMERS incorporated some of the most complex modeling and animation ever attempted at Industrial Light & Magic (ILM). Taking place on Tuesday, Aug. 7, 2007, from 8:30 - 10:30 am, the experts behind the film will discuss their challenges and successes during a special session at SIGGRAPH 2007, the 34th International Conference and Exhibition on Computer Graphics and Interactive Techniques held Aug. 5-9 at the San Diego Convention Center in San Diego, California.
AvatarLabs, a full-service motion graphics and online design studio, has been retained to design, create and deliver the MySpace advertising campaign promoting the upcoming Disney-Pixar animated feature film, RATATOUILLE, which will be released June 29, 2007. AvatarLabs' RATATOUILLE MySpace page can be viewed at: www.myspace.com/ratatouille.
Dassault Systemes (DS), a world leader in 3D and product lifecycle management (PLM) solutions, announced an expanded partnership with REALVIZ, whose technology will be integrated with DS's 3DVIA online platform and services. REALVIZ' VTour software enables the creation of photorealistic 3D environments, from pictures to videos, to be extensively reused in interactive 3DVIA life experiences created with Virtools.
Bonus.com has launched a new webcomic for kids called THE PARANORMALS. The webcomic is set in a small town in Southern California named Cayce, where the strange and unusual has become the norm. A young girl named Rose Thornton moves into town with her dad, like most kids she's worried about fitting in, making friends and homework. However, unlike most she's hiding a major secret. Rose is a werewolf but the funny is in Cayce she's not the strangest girl at school.
Platform is an international, competitive festival for animated films of all kinds including traditional and new media, and a unique new category of installations.
The festival will also feature a packed program of tributes, retrospectives, exhibitions, workshops, master classes panels and debates. There will be something for everyone, professionals and students, grown-ups and kids. To encourage up-and-coming talent, there will be special student classes, competitions and dorm-style lodging. For more information, visit www.platformfestival.com.
Animofest is a festival celebrating the work of secondary school animation students. In its second year, the international animation festival will take place in the sport gym of the Academy of Animation (SSPSAT). For more information, visit www.uat.sk.
The newest downloadable Acrobat edition of ANIMATION WORLD MAGAZINE is now online! This issue details with the growing and widening field of gaming. Christopher Harz looks at the fundamental change that may be occurring in online game development, with implications for game producers, players and toolset developers. As Janet Hetherington discovers, the groundbreaking videogame franchise, FINAL FANTASY, is far from final -- and there's a party going on, too.
We've just added a new Feature Article to the website.
Test your skills and challenge your brain with AWN's Animation Trivia Quiz. Check out the latest installment from quizmaster Karl Staven, an accomplished independent animator and head of the Animation Department at The University of the Arts in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.
Several early television shows had animated openings to lead into the live-action programs.
In her column, Nancy Cartwright continues her series of chats with animation veterans talking with veteran voice over director Ginny McSwain.
This week in AWN's Forums, a student has a question about using a short story as the basis on an animation project he is working on.
American Animation Studios is set to debut their first film, PATRICK HENRY: QUEST FOR FREEDOM, at a private screening on June 28, 2007, at the Princess Theatre in Prosser, Washington, reports the YAKIMA HERALD-REPUBLIC. A public screening, which includes a making of featurette and barbershop quartet performance, will take place on July 4, at 3:30 pm.
Producer/director Ravi Chopra has shelved plans to make the animated film, LORD KRISHNA, and has now embarked on a new animation film, HUM PAANCH, based on the childhood of the Pandavas, reports BUSINESSOFCINEMA.COM.
Budgeted at slightly more than $3 million, animation studio Pix N Prix has been assigned to the animation.
Producer Kumar Mangat is making a 3D animated/live-action film titled, TOONPUR KA SUPERHERO, with actor Ajay Devgan for release in India in October 2008, reports BUSINESSOFCINEMA.COM.
Budgeted at nearly $10 million, 2nz Animation started work on the film six months ago with a team of 50 people.
2nz Animation ceo Kireet Khurana, who is directing the film, told BUSINESSOFCINEMA.COM, "Another 15 months of work will go into the film and it should be ready for a Diwali release next year."
Nickelodeon and BRB Internacional have struck a deal to air animated TV series, ANGUS & CHERYL, across several European and Latin American territories this fall. This first-ever broadcasting deal between Nickelodeon and BRB gives the network cable and satellite TV rights to the series for Belgium, France, Holland, Italy, Latin America, Luxembourg, Portugal, Scandinavia, Spain and Switzerland. Additionally, Nickelodeon in Holland will also screen the show in an open-broadcast format.
Universal's Noah-influenced comedy, EVAN ALMIGHTY (with vfx from ILM and Rhythm & Hues), lead the box office with $31.1M in its debut for the weekend June 24, 2007. Another newcomer, the chilling 1408 from MGM/Weinstein Co., followed in second place with $20.6M. Last weekâs leader, FANTASTIC FOUR: RISE OF THE SILVER SURFER (with vfx by Weta Digital, SOHO VFX, Hydraulx, Giant Killer Robots, Hammerhead, The Orphanage, Frantic Films, Lola Visual Effects, Digiscope and Image Engine), finished third for Fox with $20M and a cume of $97.4M.
Coming on the heels of the highly anticipated live-action theatrical film being released July 3, 2007, by DreamWorks Pictures and Paramount Pictures, Cartoon Network and Hasbro Inc. are teaming on the next generation of the epic animated for a 2008 debut on the network in the U.S. The 2D animated series is a new twist on the original series with new characters alongside legends such as Optimus Prime and Megatron. Each episode will present a standalone storyline featuring everyday heroes who do good deeds that triumph over evil.
The fledgling new cable and broadband channel, ReelzChannel, is producing the animated short series, MISCASTING, for debut this summer, reports VARIETY. Reelz is producing the 26-episode interstitial series in-house. The series depicts actors trying out for roles that do not suit them, such as Al Pacino auditioning for BLADES OF GLORY and Woody Allen trying out for 300. MISCASTING is part of Reelz expansion of its daily programming block from three hours to four.
fxguide has launched the debut episode of its fxguidetv, the first regular webseries dedicated to the CG and visual effects industry. In the first episode, Mike Seymour interviews Chuck McIlvain from Sony Pictures Imageworks about SPIDER-MAN 3, covering the challenges of animation and the f/x work on sand and goo. Additionally, John Montgomery of fxphd looks at shape layers in After Effects CS3. Each episode kicks off with host Angie Richards running down the lasted hot news in the animation and visual effects industry.
Massive Software was tapped by Rhythm & Hues to create lifelike CG animals for Universal's EVAN ALMIGHTY. These included large establishing shots of hundreds of animals paired two-by-two as described in the biblical story of Noah's Ark.
