YTV & Treehouse Hop With April Highlights
YTV and Treehouse are hopping with premieres and new special programming in April.
All AWN Content
Matrix Awards 2006
Begins: April 3, 2006
New York Women in Communications (NYWICI) will honor Geena Davis and Candace Bushnell, among others, for its 2006 Matrix Awards. The ceremony, sponsored by the Oxygen Network, will be emceed by Ellen DeGeneres. The 2006 Matrix Awards event will take place at a luncheon in the Waldorf-Astoria.
Content 360
Begins: April 3, 2006
MIPTV featuring MILIA 2006 has launched "Content 360"
MIP-TV 2006
Begins: April 3, 2006
MIP-TV is the world
In Event Types: Conferences, Contests, Competitive Festivals, Discussion, Exhibits, Non-competitive Festivals, Seminars / Workshops, Screenings, Trade Shows, Animation, Business / Management, Documentaries, Features, Interactive, Live Action, Licensing, Short Films, Special, Television, Web / Internet, Other
Loren Carpenter, Senior Scientist at Pixar, Talks at the Science Museum
Begins: April 3, 2006
Monday 3rd April 18.15Loren Carpenter, Senior Scientist at Pixar Studios, will talk about his Academy Award winning work in creating new technology that has enabled Pixar productions to be so fantastical, yet believable. Loren will also be talking about his work on the jaw-dropping 21st Century Zoetrope, one of the main features of the Pixar: 20 Years of Animation exhibition.
San Francisco Women's Film Festival
Begins: April 3, 2006
The San Francisco Women
LAIKA Adapting Here Be Monsters
LAIKA Ent. has secured the film rights for one of the U.K.s bestselling children's novels, HERE BE MONSTERS, by writer/illustrator Alan Snow. LAIKA paid a "significant" six-figure sum to develop it as an animated feature film.
LAIKA ceo Dale Wahl said, "Great animated feature films begin with engaging stories and appealing characters. This book has both, as well as a wonderful sense of humor. It's a great addition to our development and production slate, which currently includes the CG and stop-motion movie CORALINE and the CG film JACK & BEN'S ANIMATED ADVENTURE."
Indian Animated Blockbuster Gets Sequel
In an unprecedented move for Bollywood, The Percept Picture Co. has greenlit a sequel to its first high-budget animated feature, HANUMAN, reports VARIETY. The company hopes to have the film ready for an October 2007 release.
The original film, which followed the adventures of the Hindu monkey god, remain at the top of the Indian box office for a month and grossed more than 100 million rupees ($2.25 million). The film was budgeted at 80 million rupees ($1.8 million) a record for an Indian animated film.
Underdog Feature Casts Human Villain
Peter Dinklage (THE STATION AGENT, ELF) has been cast as the villain in Walt Disney Pictures and Spyglass Ent.s UNDERDOG, reports VARIETY. Live-action rendition of the TV cartoon starts shooting April 10 in Rhode Island with Frederik Du Chau (RACING STRIPES) at the helm.
Dinklage will play Simon Barsinister, an evil scientist who once created a Big Dipper Machine in an effort to steal the world's water supply.
Paramount Enters the H.I.V.E.
Paramount Pictures has scooped up the film rights to Mark Waldens young-adult novel, H.I.V.E., according to VARIETY. Lynda Obst is set to produce.
Title stands for the Higher Institute of Villainous Education, a school where kids with superior criminal potential are trained to become supervillains.
Bloomsbury U.K. holds the book rights in the U.K. while international publishing rights are up for grabs at this weeks Bologna Book Fair. The deal was brokered by exec Ben Cosgrove, his first since leaving Section Eight to join Paramount.
D'Ocon Films Set to Produce Four TV Toon Movies
Madrid-based D'Ocon Films Prods. is moving into the production of a slate of animated TV movies, according to VARIETY. Announcement comes on the heals of the companys success with its first TV movie, the Charles Dickens riff, SCRUFF AND THE CHRIST-MAS TALE.
Set for a late April finish will be SCRUFF IN THE SAINT GEORGE LEGEND while three more toon telepics will follow.
As part of the move, DOcon is eligible to take advantage of Spanish broadcasters obligation to invest 5% of their annual turnover in Spanish or other-European-country films.
Animators Unearthed: 'Never like the First Time!' by Jonas Odell
Chris Robinson excavates Jonas Odells Never Like the First Time! and discovers the first sexual experiences of four people in this months Animators Unearthed.
Nicktoons Picks Up Kappa Mikey For Second Season
Nicktoons Network and MTV Networks International announced plans to secure 26 additional episodes of Animation Collectives property KAPPA MIKEY, which became the networks first-ever global acquisition when it was originally commissioned in 2005.
JoeCartoon Finds New Life in New Media
With the re-launch of their new website on March 28, 2006, JoeCartoon is launching the North American release of JOECARTOON GREATEST HITS VOLUME ONE on April 25.
Nelvana Gets Wild With Willa
Nelvana comes to MIP-TV 2006 with a U.S. sale in tow for its new preschool property from the creative mind of author Dan Yaccarino.
Nick Jr. Starts Production on Backyardigans Season Two
Nick Jr. has commenced production on the second season of THE BACKYARDIGANS, the hit series that takes preschoolers on epic adventures filled with original music. The network has ordered 20 new episodes of the half-hour CGI-animated preschool series. Season two of THE BACKYARDIGANS is slated to kick off in October 2006.
In its inaugural season on Nick Jr., the series ranked among the top 5 preschool shows on all of commercial TV. THE BACKYARDIGANS airs regularly weekdays on Nick Jr. at 10:30 am (ET/PT).
Fox Announces Director & Date for Simpsons Movie
Surprising theater-goers who went to see ICE AGE: THE MELTDOWN with a teaser trailer, Twentieth Century Fox has announced details about the highly-anticipated SIMPSONS MOVIE.
The film will open worldwide in theaters on July 27, 2007. David Silverman, THE SIMPSONS supervising animation director, who also co-helmed Pixars MONSTERS, INC., is directing.
Don’t Miss Out On Getting Into Animation World Magazine & VFXWorld!
Each month, ANIMATION WORLD MAGAZINE focuses its attention on a particular theme.
In Headline News | Geographic Region: All
SpongeBob & Potter Win Nick's Kids' Choice Awards
Slime and stars were featured at the 19th Annual Nickelodeon's Kids' Choice Awards, televised live from the UCLA campus on Saturday night. Will Smith, Lindsay Lohan, Chris Rock, Kelly Clarkson, Drake Bell, Jamie Lynn Spears, Lance Armstrong, Jesse McCartney, Green Day, SPONGEBOB SQUAREPANTS, HARRY POTTER were among those who captured the coveted Kids' Choice Blimp Award.
This Week’s Animation Trivia Quiz for April 3, 2006
Test your skills and challenge your brain with AWN's Animation Trivia Quiz.
In Headline News | Geographic Region: All
Eovia Releases Carrara 5.1
Eovia Corp., developer and publisher of leading 3D software tools, released Eovia Carrara 5.1, a free update to its complete 3D solution. Carrara 5.1 delivers enhanced stability and an array of compelling new capabilities.
AWN Discussion Forums - What's New? for April 3, 2006
This week in AWN's Forums, the members are abuzz with the release of THE SIMPSONS MOVIE teaser trailer. In more SIMPSONS debate, theres a poll asking whether the Simpsons kids should grow up. A member needs soft shading help. A CG fan is looking for the name of an elusive CG film. A member from Europe is curious about the 2D prospects in the U.S. Theres also a thread collecting the worlds funniest cartoon quotes.
King Kong DVD Amasses $100 Million in First Week
KING KONG provided blockbuster numbers in its first six days in release, selling more than 6.5 million DVDs, generating $100 million in consumer spending, the largest six-day performance in Universal Studios history.
KING KONG ranks as the studio's fourth-highest grossing film in the studio's 94-year history. To date, the film has amassed approximately $550 million in ticket sales worldwide, following on the heels of JURASSIC PARK, E.T. and THE LOST WORLD: JURASSIC PARK.
SPHE Launches Download-to-Own Business
Sony Pictures Home Ent. (SPHE) will launch its digital sell-through business on April 3. Partnering with Movielink and CinemaNow, the service will allow broadband Internet users in the U.S. the opportunity to download-to-own for the very first time a wide range of entertainment content from the SPHE and MGM collective libraries.
In Home Entertainment, Visual Effects, Home Entertainment, Visual Effects | Headline News | Geographic Region: All
Ice Age Sequel Melts Away Competition with $68 Million
Fox/Blue Skys ICE AGE: THE MELTDOWN, hailed as the first blockbuster of 2006, opened with a very hot $68M in its opening bow for the weekend ended April 2, 2006.
