Minnie Driver will provide the voice for Lara Croft in GameTap's REVISIONED, the online animated series that will ask various artists to give their take on TOMB RAIDER for the first season. The 10-episode animated webseries debuts July 10, 2007.
"Minnie Driver really does have a fabulous voice," Ricardo Sanchez, GameTap's vp of content, said. "She's had experience doing animation as well, which was good. She was perfect."
Karen Rupert Toliver is the new vp production at 20th Century Fox Animation, replacing John Cohen. Her duties will include the development and production of animated projects. She reports to recently appointed TCF Fox Animation president Vanessa Morrison.
"Karen has the expertise and sensibility with the development and production of big, all-audience, animated movies, and her taste and talents fall perfectly in line with the films that we make here at Fox Animation," Morrison commented.
J.J. Abrams is in works on a very secret monster movie project, hiring Matt Reeves to direct, reports AIN'T IT COOL NEWS. Reeves is the creator of the Abrams-produced TV series, FELICITY. CLOVERFIELD is a working title for the film, which was written by LOST producer/scribe Drew Godard. The plot is being kept very hush-hush, but the film will be shot with handheld cameras as if it were being filmed live. A teaser trailer is set to run before prints of THE TRANSFORMERS.
Calon has sold BIG TATTIE, its first animated series for mobile media, to leading mobile distributor, Player X. Additionally, S4C has commissioned Calon to make 20 shorts of a BIG TATTIE for its Rugby World Cup coverage.
A DOGâS BREAKFAST, a dark comedy shot by the cast and crew of the hit STARGATE television series, makes its digital debut today (July 3, 2007) on the iTunes Store (www.itunes.com) and Amazon Unbox (www.unbox.amazon.com). The film, which has developed a cult following online and features STARGATE ATLANTIS star David Hewlettâs theatrical directorial debut, is available for download now on both services.
Fans of the LIVE FREE OR DIE HARD film from Twentieth Century Fox Films should check out the new LIVE FREE OR DIE HARD BARE-KNUCKLE BRAWL GAME at www.livefreeordiehard.com/index_site.html?section=brawlgame.
This game can be played using a browser or a Nintendo Wiimote. (This game is not associated with nor endorsed by Nintendo.)
LucasArts announced that THRILLVILLE, the videogame where players create and experience the theme park of their dreams, will expand with a whole new season in THRILLVILLE: OFF THE RAILS. It features some of the most outlandish roller-coaster concepts ever imagined, as well as new ways to talk to park guests and a wider array of carnival games. In October 2007, the release amps up the family-friendly mix of gameplay that made the original THRILLVILLE such a hit.
Intel Corp. joined forces with Walt Disney Pictures and Pixar Animation Studios on the animated RATATOUILLE. And for the first time, Intel is working hand-in-hand with Disney/Pixar as a major promotional sponsor.
TWEETY'S HIGH-FLYING ADVENTURE, which lands on DVD Sept. 18, (Warner Home Video, $14.98) features everyoneâs favorite yellow canary, Tweety, headlining his own full-length animated adventure. Joining Tweety on his travels are some of his best Looney Tunes pals, including Bugs Bunny, Daffy Duck, Pepe Le Pew and several others.
UNIT, one of the U.K.âs leading post-production and creative services companies, has launched UNIT Effects, a new in-house visual effects division, which provides a full range of 2D and 3D effects across all genres from commercials and HD TV productions to 2K or 4K resolution films.
The division will be overseen by UNIT co-founder Roland Woolner, formerly joint-md of vfx company Split Image, who becomes head of UNIT Effects. Split Image was recently acquired by UNIT, making it the U.K.âs leading Final Cut finishing house.
Russell Bekins caught up with Alexandre Petrov and talked with the filmmaker about his new film, My Love, as well as his career and his love of animation.
Prince Caspian Fan Art ContestWorld Wide WebJuly 6, 2007Deadline: July 6, 2007
Bill Desowitz discovers how Transformers required some of the most complex modeling and animation ever attempted at Industrial Light & Magic.
Joss Whedon Dinner ContestWorld Wide WebJuly 2-12, 2007Deadline: July 12, 2007
Muuuvi International Film Festival 2007Lazarea, Transylvania, Romania Aug. 3-5, 2007Deadline: July 20, 2007
Muuuvi International Film Festival will be organized this year for the third time in Lazarea (Transylvania) in a medieval castle. Lazarea is a village, very close to Gheorgheni. The aim is to ensure new opportunities for filmmakers from Romania and abroad who produce shorts and animation.
Very interesting contrast last week when I caught back-to-back screenings of a pair of fantasy flicks: Stardust and Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix.
For one, the Stardust screening was deserted - just me, one other person and a friend I brought along. (A tumbling tumbleweed blocked my view of the screen for a while). The Phoenix screening was packed - they had to bring in folding chairs for the overflow, and held the start until some bigshot could make it.
And the movies deserved their respective audiences. Want to see an uninspired, you'll-leave-the-theater-humming-the(adequate)-special-effects fantasy? Stardust (directed by Matthew Vaughn of Layer Cake) is your film. Everything's pro-forma, out of the twinkly, twee, Edwardian-British faerie school of literary fantasy, without an ounce of conviction showing anywhere; I've had more believable experiences at your average Renaissance Festival.
RomaFictionFest is the world's biggest international television festival dedicated to all types of fiction. The festival will feature numerous sections dedicated to the vast world of TV fiction, from TV series to TV movies and from mini-series and docu-fiction through to comedy. Not to mention retrospectives of great TV fiction from the past. It's an international event that stems from the desire to celebrate and at the same time explore the present day "Golden Age" of world fiction, in which the high artistic quality of the products is reflected by big successes in terms of audience ratings.
Joss Whedon (BUFFY THE VAMPIRE SLAYER), Dark Horse and eBay have teamed to offer fans a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to sit down to a private dinner with Whedon at this year's San Diego Comic-Con. Beginning on July 2, fans will have the opportunity to bid on seats at his table, all for a worthwhile cause. The charity auction also offers additional rarities, including signed editions of Dark Horse's upcoming SERENITY hardcover. For complete details, visit ebay.com/josswhedon.
TRANSFORMERS starts off as a fun summer cruise, but then crashes head on into the medium strip at 100 mph and subsequently kicks it into autopilot. The first third is an entertaining global alien invasion flick in the mold of INDEPENDENCE DAY, but sadly once the Autobots show up the script flips into a juvenile, sitcom-like version of IRON GIANT. Finally in the end, we are given a conclusion with so many plot holes you could drive Optimus Prime right through them.
In Qatar, a U.S. military base is attacked by a transforming helicopter, leaving soldiers Sgt. Lennox (Josh Duhamel, TV's LAS VEGAS), USAF Tech Sgt. Epps (Tyrese Gibson, BABY BOY) and their teammates stranded in the desert. Then we move to the American suburbs, Sam Witwicky (Shia LaBeouf, HOLES) is trying to save up for his first car, going to the point where he's willing to sell his grandfather's glasses on eBay. He pines over the pretty, popular girl Mikaela Banes (Megan Fox, TV's HOPE & FAITH), who turns out to be a grease monkey. Defense Secretary John Keller (Jon Voight, DELIVERENCE) tries to make heads or tails of the robot attack, which includes a hack into the government's computer systems. To do so he calls in tech experts from all walks of life. Young, pretty, Aussie techie Maggie Madsen (Rachael Taylor, SEE NO EVIL) discovers the alien robots hacking into Air Force One computers and when she gets resistance to her idea about the hacks coming from DNA based machines, she goes to her hacker friend Glen Whitmann (Anthony Anderson, HUSTLE & FLOW) for help. Later Sam discovers that his beat-up Camero is really an alien robot named Bumblebee (Mark Ryan, THE PRESTIGE) and that his grandfather's glasses are key to saving Earth from the evil alien robot Decepticons.
PLATFORM International Animation Festival announces competition award winners during closing ceremonies of a six-day long program in Portland, Oregon. Luis Cook took home the Grand Prix for his film, THE PEARCE SISTERS, which also won Best Art Direction.
Awards were given in categories covering commercial and independent films, student animation, installations and films for new platforms, including cell phones and the Internet. In total, more than $50,000 was awarded to the winning artists.
Adobe Systems Inc. announced the immediate availability of Adobe Creative Suite 3 Production Premium and Adobe Creative Suite 3 Master Collection software. Adobe Production Premium CS3 is the comprehensive collection of integrated cross-platform post-production software tools, helping video professionals deliver stunning results for film, broadcast, DVD, web and mobile devices. Adobe Creative Suite 3 Master Collection combines 12 of Adobe's new design and development products in a single box.
Pixarâs eighth animated feature, RATATOUILLE, withstood heavy competition from a rejuvenated franchise to lead the box office for the period ended July 1, 2007, with $47M for Buena Vista. Foxâs LIVE FREE OR DIE HARD (with primary vfx from Digital Dimension and The Orphanage) grabbed $33.3M for the weekend and $48.3M since its Wednesday opening. Dropping to third was Universalâs EVAN ALMIGHTY (with vfx from ILM and Rhythm & Hues), which collected $15.1M for a two-week cume of $60.6M.
Based on the hit original movie RE-ANIMATED, a new live-action series, OUT OF JIMMY'S HEAD, will continue the crazy adventures of Jimmy Roberts and his animated world with Golly and the gang this fall.
Here's what's up at AnimWatch this week:
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