Sony Pictures Television International (SPTI) and Korean satellite TV broadcaster SkyLife will launch their joint venture channel Animax in Korea on April 29, 2006. Animax in Korea is a 24-hour local program provider carrying animation programming carried exclusively on SkyLifes DTH platform, which has a subscriber base of about 1.9 million in Korea.
Apple unveiled its new 17-inch MacBook Pro notebook computer featuring the Intel Core Duo processor and an all new system architecture that delivers up to five times the performance of the PowerBook G4. The new 17-inch MacBook Pro features an aluminum enclosure just one inch thin, weighs only 6.8 pounds, includes a built-in iSight video camera for video conferencing on-the-go and the Front Row media experience with Apple Remote. The new 17-inch MacBook Pro also features a MagSafe Power Adapter, invented by Apple especially for mobile users.
Paramount Pictures has tapped Mike Myers to headline HOW TO SURVIVE A ROBOT UPRISING, reports VARIETY. Michael DeLuca, who oversaw production at New Line when Myers made the AUSTIN POWERS films, will produce.
Have no fear, Jason Lee is here. MY NAME IS EARL star Lee has signed on to voice for the title character of Underdog for Spyglass Ent. and Walt Disney Pictures' live-action adaptation of the classic 1960s cartoon.
UNDERDOG chronicles the adventures of a humble dog named Shoeshine Boy who turned into the superhero Underdog, who spoke in rhyme. For the film, Shoeshine Boy is adopted by a 12-year-old boy and uses his superpower to protect his love, Polly Purebred, and the citizens of Capitol City from the evil Simon Barsinister, who will be played by Peter Dinklage.
J. Paul Peszko looks into the growing business trend of VFX companies branching out into 3D animation.
Cannes has added two new toons to its 2006 festival lineup.
To be featured in the Directors' Fortnight sidebar, which opens May 18, the Danish anime-style film PRINCESS will make its debut. It was co-written and directed by Anders Morgenthaler and follows a priest who embarks on a bloody mission to destroy all pornographic material featuring his dead porn star sister. The film was produced by Zentropa, with Trust Film Sales handling international sales.
Joe Strike uncovers the voice over actors are finding lucrative work in the videogame industry.
Mexican toon UNA PELICULA DE HUEVOS grossed almost 30 million pesos ($2.7 million) this past weekend, making it the second-largest opening for a local film ever behind THE CRIMES OF FATHER AMARO.
Videocine, who released the picture Thursday, April 20, 2006, on 435 screens, will increase the screens to 460 this week.
The film tells the story of a group of talking eggs, trying to live in the human world.
TBI Kids Summit 2006. which tackles the issue of creating kids brands for a multi-platform world, has announced its lineup of speakers.
Speakers now confirmed on the program include:* Mahmoud Bouneb, egm, Al Jazeera Children's Channel (JCC) * Peter Urie, chief development officer, TV Loonland * Howard Litton, svp/gm/director of channels, Nickelodeon UK* Elaine Sperber, head of family & children's drama, RDF Media* Julian Scott, head of children's drama and animation, Zenith Ent.
The Pennsylvania Supreme Court has ruled that prosecutors may use computer animation to illustrate their murder case, but the animation has to be relevant and must authentically depict the crime scene, reports THE PHILADELPHIA INQUIRER.
On April 25, 2006, the court said that the animation was handled properly in the case of Michael Serge, 60, a retired Scranton police detective who shot and killed his estranged wife. Serge claimed that she had attacked him with a knife and was too intoxicated to have intended to kill her. He is now serving a life sentence.
Much maligned by many critics and even movie-goers, I feel this film is still a ton more enjoyable, smart and engaging than 99% of the romantic comedies that are thrust upon the public on a yearly basis. 10 WAYS TO LOSE A MAN anybody? It’s not as good as the original, it goes to the embarrassing Bridget well a few too many times, it recycles jokes and rips off plot points from other movies, but in the end the characters that made the first film great are expanded upon and just as likeable.
The plot picks up four weeks after the first film and follows the budding relationship between Bridget (Renee Zellweger, COLD MOUNTAIN) and Mark Darcy (Colin Firth, GIRL WITH THE PEARL EARRING). The film has an observant eye for little details that bring a richness to the characters. Bridget may be an exaggeration of female insecurities, but it is rooted in truth. There’s an argument between Bridget and Mark right after a party that is one of the more honestly written relationship scenes I’ve scene in awhile.
All-Russian State Institute of Cinematography is set to host
Running along with NAB 2006, iHollywood Forum is hosting IPTV Forum. Attendees will lean how to develop, distribute, sell or market products, services or applications for the IP television industry. Topics include:
* How broadcast networks, telecom providers, carriers, Hollywood content owners, cable operators, broadband service providers, software developers, and hardware manufacturers are delivering IPTV and broadband services to the home.
Sci-Fi-London, the U.K.'s only dedicated sci-fi and fantasy film festival, celebrates its return for a fifth edition. Over the last four years, Sci-Fi-London has proved to be a hit with its audience bringing premieres to the U.K. along with a program of rarely screened classics.
The festival will take place at the new Apollo West End cinema in Lower Regent Street, central London. This five-screen state-of-the-art venue is fully licensed and the audience can take their drinks in with them, so expect some champagne screenings.
Boris FX unveiled the next generation of its award-wining Boris Red at NAB 2006. Boris Red is an integrated 3D compositing, titling and effects solution that provides integrated broadcast-quality features directly inside nonlinear editing systems. Version 4.0 introduces hundreds of new features, including more than 40 new filters, 16-bit color support and a sophisticated new paint engine.
NVIDIA Corp. announced the NVIDIA Quadro FX 4500 X2 graphics solution is the latest addition to the company's growing line of solutions for advanced visualization systems requiring scalable graphics performance. This solution joins the recently announced NVIDIA Quadro FX 5500 card with the NVIDIA Quadro SDI and G-Sync option cards the most extensive line of products for this growing market segment.
Avid Technology Inc. announced version 5.5 of Avid Studio Toolkit, which delivers significant enhancements to a set of tightly integrated, industry-leading software applications, including Avid 3D, Avid FX, and Avid DVD by Sonic. Ideal for any content creator using Avid Xpress Pro software as well as any system in the new Media Composer family. Avid Studio Toolkit delivers new creative toolsets and user interfaces for Avid FX and Avid 3D, as well as enhanced authoring options, including support for the Blu-ray Disc format.
Various news reports say that Microsoft Corp. plans to pay $200-400 million for Massive Inc., a privately held company that places ads in videogames.
The deal to buy the two-year-old startup demonstrates the increasing importance of advertising in nontraditional media, according to a Wall Street Journal report.
Microsoft and Massive spokeswomen have declined comment.
SCI FI Channel's Mark Stern, evp, original programming, announced today (April 26, 2006) an aggressive slate of original scripted dramas, miniseries, alternative reality and late night series for the network. The channel has also greenlit production on MOTEL MAN (working title), a limited series event that will premiere on SCI FI this December.
Pre-production on MOTEL MAN is underway with Lionsgate producing. Co-exec producers Christopher Leone, Laura Harkcom and Paul Workman are writing and developing MOTEL MAN.
With VFXWorld editor Bill Desowitz away covering NAB in Las Vegas, its my turn to fill all our readers in on what is happening on the site.
CON-CAN Movie Festival is an audience-interactive online film festival targeting shorts. Thirty Grand-Prix nominees will be streamed for global viewing on the audience-interactive website.
The Tribeca Film Festival, co-founded by Robert De Niro, Jane Rosenthal and Craig Hatkoff, showcase premieres of studio releases and independent features, documentaries and shorts from all over the world, as well as educational panels and seminars and a family film program. For more information, visit www.tribecafilmfestival.org.
Anifest 06 will highlight the works of animators worldwide, from professionals to students. The festival includes an Animation Theater, a Student Computer Animation Competition open to college-level students, an exhibit on the Art of Animation, and a keynote speaker to be announced later.
The Ink Well is a nonprofit, open-membership artists group that seeks to provide support to children who are battling serious illness in New York City. Come join other Ink Well artists at our next event which will be at Gilda's Club in Park Slope, Brooklyn.
The National Association of Broadcasters and iHollywood Forum, Inc. are hosting the 2nd annual MoTV: Mobile Video and TV Forum during NAB2006 at the Las Vegas Convention Center.
Mobile TV and Video Forum will explore why Hollywood and mobile carriers believe mobile video, including TV broadcasting on cell phones, is a potential lucrative revenue generator and how emerging technologies are shaping the future of audio and video content production.
