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.
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.
Animation veteran Thom Richardson travels to the inaugural AFF event, uncovering the truth about the controversy that has swirled around the new traveling festival.
The Web Marketing Association announces the launch of its fourth annual Internet Advertising Competition (IAC) Awards. The IAC Awards is the first and only industry-based advertising award competition dedicated exclusively to online advertising. The competition website is located at www.iacaward.org and the deadline for entry is Jan. 31, 2006.
2005 Best of Show Awards were awarded in each of the online medium categories. Last year's winners include: EVB, Inc., TMX Communications, she communications (Hong Kong), Power Design, Organic, Inc., i33 Communications, and Agency.com.
Independent Exposure is based in San Francisco and Houston. The program, held continuously since 1996, has presented the short moving image works of more than 1,500 artists from all over the world. Beyond the San Francisco and Houston screenings, Independent Exposure tours many worldwide venues
Headed by: Ernest Adams / Guest Speaker: Jessica Mulligan / March 31 2006 - April 06 2006, Academy for TV and Film, Munich
Alain Bielik wraps himself around the CG creatures and other creepy vfx that inhabit Slither.
There was no meltdown at Blue Sky Studios when it came to creating all-new fur and water technology for its Ice Age sequel. Bill Desowitz gets the scoop from first-time director Carlos Saldanha and others. Includes a QuickTime clip!
The Crossroads Film Society presents the 7th annual Crossroads Film Festival with entries from Mississippi and around the world. More than 50 films, which range from two minutes to two hours, will be shown at Parkway Place Regal Cinema in Flowood, Mississippi.
Legendary stop-motion animator Ray Harryhausen has wowed film audiences for generations, bringing chess-playing apes, fighting skeletons and legions of fantastic creatures to life using his self-styled
SUPERMAN RETURNS will become the first live-action Hollywood feature to be converted from 2D to IMAX 3-D. IMAX Corp. will use its proprietary 2D to 3-D conversion technology to convert approximately 20 minutes of the film into An IMAX 3-D Experience.
"Releasing select sequences of SUPERMAN RETURNS in IMAX 3-D marks a groundbreaking moment in movies," said Dan Fellman, president of Domestic Distribution at Warner Bros. Pictures. "This film is going to give fans an opportunity to be immersed in a major live-action motion picture like never before."
Apple is now shipping the first Universal version of its Final Cut Studio video production suite that delivers up to 2.5x the performance when running on a MacBook Pro notebook computer. Final Cut Studio features state-of-the-art tools that complement Final Cut Pro 5, including Soundtrack Pro, a new audio editing and sound design application that makes video projects sound as good as they look; Motion 2, the first realtime motion graphics application with GPU accelerated 32-bit float rendering; and DVD Studio Pro 4 for professional DVD authoring.
NVIDIA Corp. announced a new line of NVIDIA Quadro FX graphics solutions. This new lineup includes:
* The NVIDIA Quadro FX 350M: the company's first professional GPU designed specifically for thin and light mobile workstations.* The NVIDIA Quadro FX 1500M: offering outstanding application performance and the industry's highest image precision and quality.* The NVIDIA Quadro FX 2500M: bringing an industry best 512MB of graphics memory for customers looking for the highest performance.
Vicon has released Vicon iQ 2.5, the most recent installment of the company's industry-leading Vicon iQ software. Vicon iQ has consistently streamlined and automated motion capture workflows by providing intuitive controls and a user interface that simplifies the tasks associated with recording and managing even the most complex motion capture data.
With its year anniversary upon us, PSPs proprietary Universal Media Disc may soon be a home entertainment avenue of the past, according to THE HOLLYWOOD REPORTER. Universal Studios Home Ent., Paramount Pictures Home Ent. and Image Ent. have stopped releasing titles on the UMD format while retailers are shrinking the amount of shelf space they've been devoting to UMD movies. Rumors are abuzz that Wal-Mart will soon discontinue the sale of UMDs completely. Moreover, Buena Vista Home Ent. and 20th Century Fox Home Ent. have significantly pulled back on their UMD release schedules.
Buena Vista Home Ent.'s CHICKEN LITTLE has clucked up enough cash to secure the top spot on the First Alert DVD sales chart for the week ending March 26, 2006. VideoScan data reports that CHICKEN LITTLE, which grossed more than $135 million in theaters, outsold second-ranked debut DREAMER: INSPIRED BY A TRUE STORY, from DreamWorks, by a nearly 4-to-1 margin. Paramount's seventh-season set of Comedy Central's SOUTH PARK debuted at #9. In rental stores, Chicken Little arrived ay #7, with $3.9 million.
Cartoon Network U.K. is producing SKATOONY, the worlds first animated game show with real life kid contestants. It is scheduled to premiere in October 2006.
Hosted by animated characters Chudd Chudders and The Earl, the 13x30 series is animated entirely in-house by the Cartoon Network team at its London headquarters. Each week real-life and cartoon contestants will play each other through three rounds of challenges, with the final contestant taking everything in an against-the-clock challenge.
Completing its first full year as an individually rated network, the late-night service announced the new slate of programming on deck for 2006 at the Adult Swim Upfront event in New York. New series for the year are DEATH CLOCK METALOCALYPSE, FRISKY DINGO, ASSY MCGEE, SAUL OF THE MOLE MEN and LUCY, THE DAUGHTER OF THE DEVIL.
Adult Swim announced that AQUA TEEN HUNGER FORCE will make its big screen debut this September.
THE AQUA TEEN HUNGER FORCE MOVIE FILM FOR THEATRES is an action-adventure epic that tackles the mysterious circumstances that brought Meatwad, Frylock and Master Shake together. An immortal piece of exercise equipment threatens the balance of galactic peace, and it is up to the Aqua Teen Hunger Force to run away from it. Complicating matters, the Plutonians team up with the Cybernetic Ghost of Christmas Past for ultimate control of the deadly device.
CBS and DIC announced the programming slate for their new 2006/07 children's programming lineup.
National Geographic Television & Films (NGT&F) Kids programming and production unit has promoted Michael Karsh to manager, current series & development. Karsh will serve as the primary exec on several projects in various stages of development and production.
M.J. Lallo is holding a five-week pro animation workshop for VO artists who have had previous classes in VO and feel ready to work out with professional directors and agents. The class is a good opportunity to work with guest directors and make contacts. All guest directors will accept your demos at the class that night.
Guest directors include:* Casting Director for Disney TV Animation
Janet Hetherington looks at the hot direct-to-DVD and video market, which seeks to woo viewers with classic content and original programming.
VFXWORLD finishes March off with two more articles on non-entertainment 3D visualization.
The Ann Arbor Film Festival wrapped up its 2006 event on March 26, 2006 with the awarding of its prizes. The Chris Frayne Award Best Animated Film went to MARVELOUS KEEN LOONEY BIN by Lizzi Arkana. Moreover, David Chais FUMI AND THE BAD LUCK FOOT won the Prix DeVarti Funniest Film award. In honorable mentions, Bruce Alcocks AT THE QUINTE HOTEL was a recipient. For a complete list of winners, visit www.aafilmfest.org/.
