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Headline News

Jakers! Writers Win Animation HUMANITAS Prize

JAKERS! THE ADVENTURES OF PIGGLEY WINKS writers Sindy McKay, Dennis Haley & Marcy Brown won the $25,000 HUMANITAS Prize for Children's Animation today, June 26, 2007, during a luncheon ceremony at the Universal Hilton Hotel, in Universal City, California. Twelve winning writers, representing a diverse slate of work, won these prestigious prizes and $145,000 awarded in eight categories for films and television shows that "entertain and enrich the viewing public."

Digital Headline News

Digital Dimension Gets Explosive for Live Free or Die Hard

Digital Dimension has completed nearly 200 visual effects shots -- including a number of the movie's most action-packed sequences -- for the June 27 release of Twentieth Century Fox's LIVE FREE OR DIE HARD.

Festival Headline News

Valley Film Festival Wants Films from the 818

2007 Valley Film Festival North Hollywood, California, USASept. 12-16, 2007Deadline: July 15, 2007

Founded in 2000, The Valley Film Festival, a project of Community Partners, holds the proud title of the first film festival in L.A.'s San Fernando Valley and is designed to bring together established filmmakers, emerging talent, and their audiences on the studio backlot -- just North of Hollywood.

Headline News

Digital Musings From the Editor:

The Fourth of July is nearly upon us and so is TRANSFORMERS, one of the summer's most anticipated movies. ILM outdoes itself in bringing to life the Autobots and Decepticons and making the hard body surfaces look authentic. VFXWORLD will soon bring a full report from visual effects supervisor Scott Farrar and CG supervisor Hilmar Koch.

Bill DesowitzEditor

Animated Headline News

Animated Dreams Wants Your Toons

Animated Dreams at Tallinn Black Nights Film FestivalTallinn, EstoniaNov. 21-25, 2007Deadline: Aug. 15, 2007

Animated Dreams is a tiny, but a strongly viable part of the Tallinn Black Nights Film Festival. Animated shorts were first screened in 1999 as preludes to the main features. It gave birth to the first and only animation festival in Estonia, the country of "a little big nation of animation."

Animation Headline News

ASIFA Wants Animators for Comic-Con Animation Jam

ASIFA-Hollywood is putting out a call for animators to be part of The Second Annual ASIFA-Hollywood Paperless 2D Animation Jam, July 25-29, 2007, as part of Comic-Con in San Diego. Animators, at booth #5434, will use a Paperless Animation system provided by DigiCel FlipBook. Interested animators can sign up at asifa-hollywood.org/blog/con2007/table.html. In addition, ASIFA-Hollywood is looking for volunteers to man the booth during the event.

Film Headline News

Persepolis Yanked from Bangkok Fest

Cannes prize-winning animated feature PERSEPOLIS has been yanked as the opening film from the Bangkok International Film Festival, VARIETY reports. The decision was due to pressure from the Iranian Embassy in Bangkok.

Chattan Kunjara Na Ayutthaya of the tourism authority of Thailand was quote as saying, "It is a good movie in artistic terms, but we have to consider other issues that might arise here."

Series Headline News

Alfie Director Takes Eloise to Paris

ALFIE remake helmer Charles Shyer has been hire by HandMade Films to direct ELOISE IN PARIS, based on Kay Thompson-Hilary Knight famed children's book series, reports VARIETY. Shyer will also adapt the book with his 19-year-old daughter Hallie Meyers-Shyer and Larry Spencer. HandMade topper Patrick Meehan, Thomas D. Adelman and Ron Rotholz will produce with Shyer exec producing.

Music Headline News

Warner to Launch Comedybox

Warner Music Ent., the video content wing of Warner Music Int'l, will launch the online comedy channel, Comedybox, this fall, according to VARIETY. The net network will feature weekly programs, one-off sketches, animation and user-generated content.

John Lloyd (BLACKADDER) is co-producer and Dan Schreiber is head of development.

Headline News

Fishburne Acquires Paulo Coelho's The Alchemist

Laurence Fishburne and A-Mark Ent. have purchased the film rights to Paulo Coelho's bestselling novel THE ALCHEMIST from Warner Bros. Pictures, reports THE HOLLYWOOD REPORTER.

The story follows a wanderer traveling the globe at the time of the Inquisition trying to discover man's purpose while discovering hidden treasure in the pyramids of Egypt. Since first being published in 1988, the book has been printed in 56 languages and sold more than 40 million copies around the world.

Games Events

Hollywood and Games Summit 2007

By Guest (not verified) | Tuesday, June 26, 2007 at 11:00am
Begins: June 26, 2007

The Hollywood and Games Summit is the conference that will bring together talent and executives from both the videogame and the entertainment industries. The second annual Hollywood and Games Summit will allow leaders from their respective industries to interact and discuss best practices for strategically marketing original IP via both media to greatest effect. The conference will enable them to network strategically to identify and exploit crossover opportunities.

Events

2007 Hollywood And Games Summit

By Guest (not verified) | Tuesday, June 26, 2007 at 11:00am
Begins: June 26, 2007

The 2nd Annual Hollywood And Games Summit will unite Hollywood studio and videogame execs under one roof to exchange ideas in an entertainment-specific forum. The summit will also allow leaders from their respective industries to interact and discuss best practices for strategically marketing original intellectual property. This two-day event will include focused sessions, an exhibit floor and a networking reception. The event will take place at the Renaissance Hollywood Hotel, 1755 N. Highland Ave., Hollywood, California. For more information, visit www.hollywoodandgames.com.

Anime Headline News

Death Note Anime Available For Download, Coming to Anime Expo

VIZ Media has announced the availability of DEATH NOTE on a download-to-own basis beginning June 28, 2007, on TotalVid.com. The first 16 subtitled episodes will be available at launch, with one new episode added each week thereafter. TotalVid.com offers consumers unlimited access to thousands of enthusiast, special interest and instructional videos in categories such as anime, action sports, martial arts and travel on a subscription basis for $9.95 per month. Individual DEATH NOTE episodes will also be available on a download-to-own basis for $1.99 each.

Headline News

Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix Videogame Ships

Electronic Arts and Warner Bros. Interactive Ent. shipped the HARRY POTTER AND THE ORDER OF THE PHOENIX videogame today (June 26, 2007) across North America and it will be in-store in Europe June 28. Available on multiple platforms, the HARRY POTTER AND THE ORDER OF THE PHOENIX videogame allows players to explore the many key locations within Hogwarts, and engage in the thrilling adventures described in the rich narrative of the books and films.

Animation Headline News

VCL to Animate 3D Features for Yash Raj Film & Walt Disney

Tata Elxsi has announced that its animation and visual effects arm Visual Computing Labs (VCL), will provide animation for Yash Raj Films' collaboration with the Walt Disney Co. to create a series of original, exclusive 3D-animated feature films. The first in the series is, ROADSIDE ROMEO, directed by Jugal Hansraj, slated for release in 2008. VCL claims this will be India's first original full-length 3D animated film.

Artists Headline News

Digital-Tutors Releases Pipeline Integration with Maya and ZBrush 3

Digital-Tutors announced the availability of PIPELINE INTEGRATION WITH MAYA AND ZBRUSH 3, the latest release in a growing library of interactive training for emerging digital artists using ZBrush 3, the award-winning integrated modeling, texturing and illustration environment developed by Pixologic. Artists will learn a production approach to integrating Maya and ZBrush 3 in a mixed pipeline environment with four hours of project-based training.

Digital Headline News

The Foundry Announces 30% Price Reduction for Nuke 4.7

With the launch of Nuke 4.7, The Foundry has also announced a brand new pricing structure. The Foundry has slashed its Nuke GUI prices by 30%. Digital artists can now purchase a full Nuke license for just £1750/$3,500, and with a price cut of more than 70%, render licenses are now priced at a very competitive £125/$250 per license.

Animation Headline News

Full Sail Joins NaturalMotion's Expanding Academic Partner Program

NaturalMotion Ltd. announced that Full Sail Real World Education is now a member of NaturalMotion's growing Academic Partner Program. This partnership ensures that all students enrolled in the Computer Animation Bachelors Degree Program will benefit from increased access to endorphin, and other innovative 3D technology from NaturalMotion.

Studio Headline News

Pixar Releases RenderMan Studio 1.0 & RenderMan for Maya 2.0

Pixar Animation Studios announced two major releases of its Academy Award-winning RenderMan software, RenderMan Studio 1.0 and RenderMan for Maya 2.0, together with a new licensing policy delivering major performance increases on multi-core computers.

Movie Headline News

Katzenberg & Seinfeld Extol Fiber Optics at Bee Movie Preview

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 Headline News

Frederator Moving Into 2D Features

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.

Toon Headline News

Toon Boom & FableVision Partner on Learning Tools

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.

Headline News

Space Chimps Like Dole Bananas

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.

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