10th BROOKLYN Int'l FILM FESTIVAL June 1-10, 2007 http://wbff.org/submit/
- CATEGORIES: Feature Documentary Short Experimental Animation
- AWARDS: US$80,000 / Festival winner=$30,000 / Best Doc=$5,000
- SUBMISSION DEADLINES November 30, 2006 (early) March 15, 2007 (final)
ENTRY FORM AND RULES AVAILABLE AT: http://wbff.org/submit/
The Nashville Screenwriters Conference (NSC) brings Tinsel Town's top writers, agents, managers, producers and studio execs together for one open-to-the-public event. This year's conference takes place at the Union Station Hotel.
USA Network has gained the cable rights to PIRATES OF THE CARIBBEAN: AT WORLD'S END from Disney-ABC Domestic Television, reports the trades. USA already holds the cable rights to the previous films in the trilogy, CURSE OF THE BLACK PEARL and DEAD MAN'S CHEST.
The price tag for the third PIRATES film is rumored to have been between $25-30 million. USA paid between $20-25 for DEAD MAN'S CHEST. The deal gives USA the network cable window, starting in Sept. 2009.
20th Century Fox and Regency Enterprises have re-teaming original RINGU director Hideo Nakata and producer Taka Ichise to direct and produce, respectively, the horror film, INHUMAN, according to THE HOLLYWOOD REPORTER. Vertigo Ent.'s Roy Lee and Doug Davison will also produce.
The project was pitched to Regency by Eric Heisserer, who acquired the idea for the film from Orion Prout, who will serve as an associate producer on the project, which is loosely based on a real Japanese murder investigation.
NBC will be adding THE SOPRANOS actress Dania Ramirez to the cast of its hit series, HEROES, in the fall, according to THE HOLLYWOOD REPORTER. Ramirez is actually not new to the world of superheroes having played Callisto in X-MEN: THE LAST STAND.
The actress will play a new hero named Maya in the NBC Universal TV Studio series. For now her powers are on the QT.
Bangalore, India-based Paprikaas Animation Studios announced that it would be doubling its staff, adding 150 new jobs, according to THE HOLLYWOOD REPORTER. The computer animation studio provides services for feature films, television, commercials and videogames.
Earlier in the year, Thomson, via its Technicolor Content Services, invested in the firm. That deal made Thomson the majority owner of Paprikaas.
The branding partnership between rhinofx and ATI Technologies Inc. (pre-AMD acquisition) once again delivers with the recent release of COLD BLOODED. This is the fourth installment of webisodic mini-series that spawned Ruby, the global branding icon of ATI. Ruby's adventures continue in this effects-driven to-minute animated webisode depicting a high-action snowboard chase sequence to showcase the new product features and graphic technology of ATI's video cards.
Traktor has directed MAIL ON SUNDAY'S new theatrical commercial for the weekly newspaper supplements YOU/LIVE MAGAZINE. The ad agency was BBH London and the post work was carried out at MPC. The comical ad, titled "Battle," centers around a GLADIATOR style battle scene appropriately set in the same location as the field seen in the opening sequence of the movie. The fight takes place between an army of men on one side and women on the other.
Exec producers Ronald D. Moore and David Eick have decided to end BATTLESTAR GALACTICA, SCI FI Channel's Peabody Award-winning original series, season 4. They will use the 22-episode season, currently in production, to draw the saga of humanity's struggle for survival to a close.
Toonz Animation Academy has appointed S. Ramaprasad as exec director, reports INDIANTELEVISION.COM.
Toonz Animation is launching an Animation Academy in Mumbai in June, which will be followed by animation academies in Nagpur, Delhi, Bangalore and Chennai. Ramaprasad will spearhead the operations in all these academies
Ramaprasad has spent 20 years as a senior management professional. Most recently, he was president/ceo of Maini Info Solutions Pvt. Ltd. Previously he was gm of Aptech, overseeing its operations in Karnataka and Goa.
JUSTICE LEAGUE UNLIMITED comes to Boomerang with the world's greatest superheroes, led by Superman, Batman, Wonder Woman and the Green Lantern, as they enlist some help from their friends to take a more aggressive approach to thwarting alien invasions, criminal threats and global conspiracies. The 30-minute action-adventure series, produced by Bruce Timm, James Tucker, Linda Steiner and Dwayne McDuffie at Warner Bros. Animation, will premiere on Boomerang starting Sunday, June 3, 2007, at 11:00 pm (ET).
WGBH Boston and Canada's Studio B Prods. Inc. have teamed up to develop and co-produce a new animated series based on the award-winning MARTHA SPEAKS children's book series by Susan Meddaugh, for public television in fall 2008.
The property will be developed into 40 half-hour episodes, designed to enrich children's vocabulary within the context of compelling stories. Studio B has international distribution rights for the property.
Azureus, a global leader in aggregating and distributing long-form, high quality video via the Internet's most popular media peer-to-peer (P2P) application, struck a content agreement with Geneon Ent. to release popular anime series on its digital media platform. The agreement includes an episode of LUPIN III, "To Be or Nazi Be" (episode 3) that couldn't be aired on TV because of its outrageous storyline. Azureus will make the programs available on its video sharing site, Vuze (www.vuze.com), a premier broadband distribution platform.
Bill Desowitz speaks with Russian visual effects supervisor Vladimir Leschinski about Day Watch and the state of his country's industry.
Prior to the Disney/Pixar Ratatouille presentation at WonderCon earlier this year, Andrew Farago was granted a one-on-one interview with comedian/actor/writer Patton Oswalt to discuss his starring role in the upcoming film.
DIC Ent. (DIC) has been named by HandMade Group as the exclusive worldwide licensing agent for the evergreen girl's property, ELOISE and all the ELOISE rights controlled by HandMade.
NCircle Ent. announced that it has entered into an exclusive multi-year distribution partnership with Granada Int'l, which makes NCircle the exclusive U.S. home entertainment distributor for the award-winning animated children's series POCOYO.
After a triumphant start to this franchise, I'm sad to report that the final installment in the original trilogy is only partly successful, leaving me vastly disappointed in all the potential wasted. Convoluted, over-long, dramatically weak in too many areas, contrived and often unfunny, this bloated exercise in over spending on razzle-dazzle to distract audiences from a void of enough new ideas will probably satisfy some with a solid conclusion, but others might find the time invested not worth the journey.
With Lord Cutler Beckett (Tom Hollander, THE LIBERTINE) wielding his control over Davy Jones (Bill Nighy, SHAUN OF THE DEAD), Will Turner (Orlando Bloom, ELIZABETHTOWN), Elizabeth Swann (Keira Knightley, PRIDE & PREJUDICE), Barbossa (Geoffrey Rush, SHINE) and Tia Dalma (Naomie Harris, TRISTRAM SHANDY: A COCK AND BULL STORY) must begrudgingly team up to help save Captain Jack Sparrow (Johnny Depp, ED WOOD) from Davy Jones's locker, so that the nine members of the pirate alliance can free goddess of the ocean, Calypso, and stop Davy Jones from terrorizing the sea.
The Art Directors Club will host the 86th annual ADC Awards. Winners take their place in the industry's revered archive of the best work ever produced in advertising, graphic design, photography, illustration and interactive media. The ADC Annual Awards has kept pace with the changing nature of visual communications since its inception in 1920.The Hybrid category transcends traditional uses of media, and Playground was created to give great unproduced advertising work a chance at daylight.
Gnomon School of Visual Effects will present "An Evening with Dan Curry," vfx supervisor and producer of the recent iterations of STAR TREK, which have earned him seven Emmys, a Visual Effects Society Award and three International Monitor Awards.
The evening in which Curry will discuss his nearly 20-year career will take place at Gnomon on May 31, from 6:00-9:00 pm.
New York-based Big Tent Ent. announced a broadcasting agreement with Nicktoons Network based on Big Tent's hit property THE STAR GIRLS. Nicktoons Network will debut PLANET GROOVE FEATURING THE STAR GIRLS, a new series of 13x2 minute animated music videos based on the original music from Australia's chart-topping group.
Luc Besson's film production company, EuropaCorp, is going public, according to THE HOLLYWOOD REPORTER. The company has filed for a listing in the Euronext Paris market.
EuropaCorp's productions include TRANSPORTER 2, UNLEASHED and ARTHUR AND THE INVISIBLES. The company has eight films in development, including TAKEN, with Liam Neeson, and a third TRANSPORTER film with Jason Statham.
Besson controls EuropaCorp through the holding company Front Line and will mostly likely hold a majority stake in the firm following the IPO.
Marriott International Inc., Nickelodeon, (MTV Networks and Miller Global Properties, Llc., an international real estate investment and development company, today (May 31, 2007), announced an agreement to co-develop a breakthrough new lodging resort brand and concept for travelers seeking fun and adventure, "Nickelodeon Resorts by Marriott." They plan to have 20 potential hotels under construction by 2020, with first hotel expected to open in San Diego in 2010
Ubisoft has shipped the SURF'S UP videogame to store shelves, in anticipation of the June 8, 2007, release of the Columbia Pictures/Sony Pictures Animation theatrical release of SURF'S UP.
SURF'S UP for the PSP, consoles and PC are rated E10+ and have a MSRP of $49.99 for PlayStation 3, Xbox 360 and Wii; a MSRP of $39.99 for the PlayStation 2, PSP and GameCube; and a MSRP of $19.99 for the PC. SURF'S UP for the Nintendo DS and Game Boy Advance is rated E and has a MSRP of $29.99.
Neopets.com, the worldâs leading youth community and online virtual world, will debut the first series of animated NEOPETS MINI-SHOWS on Nickelodeon television, beginning June 23, 2007. The Mini-Shows will air in between Nickelodeon programming and reveal pivotal story moments from the world of Neopia, such as characters outsmarting each other, escaping dangers, taking chances or setting evil plans in motion.
