DAZ 3D Releases Carrara 6
DAZ 3D Inc. announced the release Carrara 6, the latest version of their popular 3D modeling, animation and rendering application.
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AnimeTV To Air on Comcast's On Demand Network
The Comcast Corp. has picked up the nine-episode first season of AnimeTV -- Bang Zoom! Ent.'s popular anime info show -- for its Anime Selects On Demand network. The program has attracted a growing legion of fans with informative commentary and interviews with a variety of anime industry luminaries. The broadcast is significant because it marks the first time an independently produced program dedicated to covering the burgeoning anime market will be made available in so many major national markets.
This Weekend's Film Festival Celebrates Horror That Was Good the First Time Around
With Rob Zombie's remake of HALLOWEEN hitting theaters this weekend, I felt a proper theme for This Weekend's Film Festival, in light of the many horror remakes in the past few years, would be to look at the originals that we good the first time around. In doing so, I'm not making a judgment on Mr. Zombie's film, because I have not seen it. However, it's hard for me to see how you can improve on John Carpenter's HALLOWEEN, which is one of the all time best horror films. I tried to pick films that cover a wide breath of what kinds of horror is being remade and address how it's being remade. I thought about doing a compare and contrast lineup, but rethought that idea wanting to save viewers from wanting to gouge their eyes out or wanting to gouge my eyes out for recommending them watch such gruesome and horribly remade films. Here is a weekend of chills for you that for some may require three days of watching the TV through the spaces between fingers.
Pixar Releases RenderMan Pro Server 13.5
Pixar Animation Studios is now offering RenderMan Pro Server version 13.5 software, together with a new licensing policy greatly increasing throughput on multi-processor computers.
Icon Animation Joins with Panini to Market Lola & Virginia
Icon Animation, Spain's leading production and distribution company specialising in youth programming, has scored a multi-territory deal with leading collectible stickers and trading card company Panini for its popular girl-skewed animated show LOLA & VIRGINIA. Panini will launch a series of products across Spain, Portugal, Italy and Brazil, including a sticker stack book, story albums, and puzzle and coloring books. The roll out will begin in Italy, where the series airs on the Disney Channel.
In Licensing, Licensing | Headline News | Geographic Region: All, Asia, Australia, Europe, South America
Edgar & Ellen Lands More TV Deals
Star Farm's new half-hour version of EDGAR & ELLEN has picked up more broadcast venues, reports KIDSCREEN. The growing list now includes MBC3, which will air the series in 26 countries spanning North Africa, the Levant and the Persian Gulf.
The 2-D animated children's show will debut on Nicktoons Network US and Nickelodeon UK in the fall, followed by broadcasts in France, Italy, the Netherlands and Scandinavia. Beginning in 2008, the series will also be seen in 17 Asia-Pacific countries, including Australia, New Zealand, Korea and Singapore.
Starz Teams Up With AMD to Promote Vongo Download Service
Starz Ent. has signed a co-marketing agreement with Advanced Micro Devices (AMD) to promote Vongo, the Starz subscription movie and video download service. The partnership gives consumers who purchase select AMD processors, motherboards or ATI Radeon Graphics one free month of Vongo. Vongo provides unlimited access to more than 2,500 movie and video selections.
Kids' WB! Locks Fall Lineup on The CW
Kids' WB! on the CW has locked down its fall lineup, premiering four new series on Sept. 22, 2007, when the #1 rated Saturday morning kids broadcast network officially begins its 2007 season.
EON KID, MAGI-NATION, WILL & DEWITT and SKUNK FU! make their American network debuts on Kids' WB!, joining returning favorites THE BATMAN, SHAGGY & SCOOBY-DOO GET A CLUE!, LEGION OF SUPER HEROES, TOM AND JERRY TALES and JOHNNY TEST.
Cartoon Network Names Alice Cahn to Social Responsibility Post
Alice Cahn has been promoted to the newly created position of vice president, social responsibility for Cartoon Network, it was announced today. In her new role, Cahn will be responsible for providing guidance, content direction and coordination on the design and implementation of outreach and social-responsibility initiatives across all Cartoon Network divisions. She also will continue to develop key relationships with media and child advocacy communities, appropriate sponsors, educators, nonprofit organizations and trade associations.
Zack Snyder Inks Illustrated Man Gig
Warner Bros. has inked a deal with Zack Snyder to direct and produce the remake of THE ILLUSTRATED MAN, VARIETY reports. WATCHMEN writer Alex Tse will adapt the screenplay based on Ray Bradbury's 1951 collection of short stories.
The original followed a tattooed man, who searches for the woman who inked the images on his body. Anyone who stares at the tattoos is drawn into a futuristic tale.
Zombie Walks Away with Two-Picture Dimension Deal
Writer/director/rocker Ron Zombie has signed a two-picture deal with Dimension Films, reports VARIETY. HALLOWEEN producer Andy Gould, who is also Zombie's manager, is part of the deal as well. No details of the projects were announced, but Zombie will write and direct both projects.
The Rock Ascending Witch Mountain
Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson is in talks to star in Walt Disney Pictures' WITCH MOUNTAIN, reports the trades. Andy Fickman (THE GAME PLAN) is the director of the film, which will start filming in March.
The original was based on a novel by Alexander Key that followed a brother and sister duo who goes on the run with a devious group, which tries to exploit their paranormal abilities. The Rock would play a Las Vegas cabbie who picks up the siblings.
Nintendo's Epic Trilogy Concludes With Metroid Prime 3: Corruption
Nintendo has launched METROID PRIME 3: CORRUPTION for Wii, marking the end of a trilogy. With the motion-sensitive Wii Remote, you become one with heroine Samus Aran's powerful arm cannon, while the Nunchuk can literally yank armor off enemies.
"METROID PRIME 3 has a revolutionary control style that makes it easy for anyone to immediately jump into the action," says George Harrison, Nintendo of America's SVP of marketing and corporate communications. "Now, an entirely new audience can experience this amazing first-person adventure."
MTVN Shows Coming to iTunes in the U.K.
MTV Networks Int'l (MTVNI), owned by Viacom Inc., and Apple announced an agreement to distribute full-length TV shows from MTV, Nickelodeon and Paramount Comedy channels for purchase and download from the iTunes Store in the U.K. The agreement is the first between the two companies outside the U.S.
John Goodman to Voice Paul Bunyan
Exodus Film Group announced today that it has cast Golden Globe winner John Goodman in the role of Paul Bunyan for their upcoming CG-animated family adventure film BUNYAN & BABE, based on the famous legend. Goodman joins comedian Eddie Griffin (UNDERCOVER BROTHER, NORBIT), who will provide the voice of Bunyan's sidekick Babe, a blue ox.
"John is dream casting for us," said Max Howard, Exodus president and executive producer. "He epitomizes the true American spirit of Paul Bunyan."
Digital Musings From the Editor:
We finish August with more new technology advancements, including the impact of the hybrid workflow and 3-D on production pipelines. J. Paul Peszko looks at how the hybrid workflow is expanding creative control for moviemakers, and Tom McLean reports on such issues as organizing and tracking extra data, setting up an accurate review and approval procedure, developing new software tools, how the extra work affects staffing levels and schedules and preparing a film for exhibition in different formats.
Bill DesowitzEditor
Xilam Cements Distribution Deal with Cake
French animation company Xilam has allied with the U.K.'s Cake Distribution to handle English-speaking territories, reports C21 MEDIA. The alliance with Cake, which is headed by Xilam's former exec VP of business development, Ed Galton, will have the London-based distributor handling sales to all English-speaking markets, including the U.K., Ireland, the U.S., Canada, Australia and New Zealand.
In Television, Television | Headline News | Special Events: MIPCOM | Geographic Region: All, Australia, Europe, North America
Glasses Required: The 3-D Effects on CG Pipelines
Greg Singer muses on the contribution of the animation community in promoting themes of peace and cooperation, as exemplified in films such as Azur and Asmar, The Iron Giant and the Hiroshima International Animation Festival.
The Future is Wild in Discovery Kids' New Evolutionary Series
Discovery Kids has announced the upcoming launch of THE FUTURE IS WILD, a new animated series inspired by Animal Planet's CGI documentary specials of the same name. The cutting-edge show turns natural history on its head with scientifically valid predictions for new life forms that seem out of this world, but could really exist millions of years from now.
Trends in Voice Casting
Karen Raugust talks with voice and casting directors who say that, despite fierce competition, there are opportunities for talented, fresh-voiced novices to break in.
Universal and Studio Canal in Joint Distribution Deal
Universal Pictures International Entertainment (UPIE) and Studio Canal have announced the creation of a joint venture to market and distribute home entertainment titles in France.
Effective from January 2008, the joint venture will combine the sales, marketing and distribution skills of the two entertainment entities in France, providing synergies for Studio Canal and Universal Pictures France to build a greater share in a 1.5-billion-euro home entertainment market, and allow further opportunity for significant growth.
rhinofx Helps Scarlett Johansson Fly In Nanny Diaries
New York's rhinofx recently completed all the vfx for MGM/Weinstein Co.'s NANNY DIARIES (including the opening diorama sequence), starring Scarlett Johansson, Laura Linney and Paul Giamatti.
Arman Matin and Harry Dorrington shared the visual effects supervision for the movie. The rhinofx team was constantly on set and helped directors Shari Springer Berman and Robert Pulcini pull off some intricate motion control sequences, CG freeze effects, photogrammetry and image based modeling.
In Films, Games, Visual Effects, Films, Games, Visual Effects | Headline News | Geographic Region: All
BLITHE SPIRIT (1945) (***1/2)
Noel Coward adapts his own stageplay into a screenplay, which was brought to the screen by director David Lean before the famed helmer went on to make classic Dickens adaptations and widescreen epics such as LAWRENCE OF ARABIA, THE BRIDGE ON THE RIVER KWAI and DOCTOR ZHIVAGO. However, Lean started his career with this great light entertainment. With witty dialogue and that effortless British suave demeanor, BLITHE SPIRIT floats across the screen like a smooth waltz.
In researching his next book that features a homicidal medium, Charles Condomine (Rex Harrison, UNFAITHFULLY YOURS), along with his wife Ruth (Constance Cummings) and their friends Dr. George and Violet Bradman (Hugh Wakefield, 1934's THE MAN WHO KNEW TOO MUCH & Joyce Carey, IN WHICH WE SERVE), hold a séance with the genuinely loony Madame Arcati (Margaret Rutherford, MURDER AHOY). After some seemingly sketchy hocus-pocus, everyone believes Arcati to be a charlatan except for Charles, who begins hearing and seeing the ghost of his dead wife Elvira (Kay Hammond). At first Ruth believes Charles is playing with her then she believes he has gone cuckoo, but a floating vase of flowers convinces her that there is now one too many wives in the Condomine household. And so does the wisecracking Elvira. In trying to solve the situation, the help of Madame Arcati and the Condomine's shy maid Edith (Jacqueline Clarke) will be needed.
EA Ships Four Games For The Mac
Electronic Arts Inc. today announced that BATTLEFIELD 2142, NEED FOR SPEED CARBON, HARRY POTTER AND THE ORDER OF THE PHOENIX and COMMAND & CONQUER 3 TIBERIUM WARS are now available to order for Mac users. These are the first games ever published by EA for Mac OS X. Users can go to the Apple Store (www.apple.com) to purchase the games.
National Institute of Design Starts Chitrakatha Student Animation Fest
Chitrakatha '07Paldi, IndiaOct. 25-27, 2007Deadline: Sept. 15, 2007
Chitrakatha '07 is an international animation film festival that celebrates and encourages original content from India. It invites entries in any format from students around the world who practice animation cinema. The length of the entries can be from ten seconds to ten minutes.
