Animation World Network

Former DreamWorks Artist Ittina Strives to Bring High-Quality Animation to India

Manu Ittina, who has worked on such films as SHREK 2 and MADAGASCAR, has set up his Ittina Studios in Bangalore, India, with the hopes of bringing high-quality animation to India.

However, he knows the feat will be difficult, because 95% of the work being done in India is outsourced work. Under quick deadlines, studios are forced to produce up to 12 seconds of animation per day, compared to major U.S. studios like Pixar and DreamWorks that produce three to five seconds per week.

In Business, Business | Headline News | Geographic Region: All, Asia

Comedy Headline News

Comedy Central Sets 2006 Slate for MotherLoad Broadband Channel

Comedy Central is taking original broadband programming to new heights with its development slate for early 2006, which includes an extensive lineup of original programming including animation, live-action narratives, topical stand-up performance and sketch comedies.

Comedy Central MotherLoad, which launched Nov. 1, 2005, is one of the first network broadband channels to premiere original series. To view Comedy Central MotherLoad, log on to www.comedycentral.com/motherload.

In Interactive, Games, Interactive | Headline News | Geographic Region: All

Headline News

Greg Gilhooly New Cookie Jar VP Business & Legal Affairs

Greg Gilhooly joins Cookie Jar Ent. Inc. as vp, business and legal affairs. Based in the companys Toronto head office, his responsibilities will support Cookie Jars dynamic growth as the company continues to introduce several new shows a year, expands its entertainment operations globally and solidifies its new business initiatives.

In People, People | Headline News | Geographic Region: All, Europe, North America

Blu-ray Headline News

Dinosaur Among First Buena Vista Home Ent. Blu-ray DVDs

Buena Vista Home Ent. (BVHE) announced that it will begin releasing titles beginning summer of 2006 on the Blu-ray Disc format in conjunction with the hardware manufacturer's release of Blu-ray Disc products. Titles will include Walt Disney Pictures DINOSAUR; Quentin Tarantino's KILL BILL: VOL. 1; HERO; DARK WATER; LADDER 49; THE BROTHERS GRIMM; THE GREAT RAID; ARMAGEDDON, directed by Michael Bay and produced by Jerry Bruckheimer; Kevin Smith's JAY AND SILENT BOB STRIKE BACK; and the documentary EVEREST narrated by Liam Neeson.

In Home Entertainment, Home Entertainment | Headline News | Geographic Region: All

Digital Headline News

Imagina 2006 Conference Schedule Announced

Imagina 2006, to be held Feb. 1-3 in Monte Carlo, Monaco, has released details of its conference schedule.

Feb. 1* 2:00 pm 3:30 pmKeynote: Ken Perlin (professor, Information Science department), Media Research Laboratory, New York UniversityTHE ILLUSION OF LIFE - REVISITEDProcedural animation has reached a degree of verisimilitude, which enables an interactive virtual actor to express emotions. Videogames are thus gaining access to a type of narration that was previously limited to the cinema.

* 3:45 pm 4:45 pm

In Event, Visual Effects, Event, Visual Effects | Headline News | Geographic Region: All, Europe

Imax Headline News

Goblet of Fire Sets IMAX Box Office Record

HARRY POTTER AND THE GOBLET OF FIRE: THE IMAX EXPERIENCE is now IMAX's highest grossing digitally re-mastered 2-D release. With total grosses of more than $16 million on 89 IMAX screens worldwide, it passes the record set by BATMAN BEGINS: THE IMAX EXPERIENCE, which grossed $15.9 million last year.

In Films, Visual Effects, Films, Visual Effects | Headline News | Geographic Region: All

Autodesk Headline News

‘Pro Booleans’ Announced for 3ds Max Subscribers

Autodesk is will soon be offering an exclusive new 3ds Max subscription service called Pro Booleans, which delivers expanded flexibility for the installed modeling tools in 3ds Max.

In Technology, Visual Effects, Technology, Visual Effects | Headline News | Geographic Region: All

Headline News

Google to Launch Video Marketplace

At the 2006 Consumer Electronics Show (CES), Google Inc. announced the planned opening of the Google Video Store, the first open video marketplace enabling consumers to buy and rent a wide range of video content from a major television network, a professional sports league, cable programmers, independent producers and filmmakers.

In Interactive, Games, Interactive | Headline News | Geographic Region: All, Asia, Europe

Shorts Events

Fourth Annual Flickering Image Festival Shorts Competition

Begins: January 7, 2006

Flickering Image presents the Fourth Annual "Flickering Image Festival Shorts Competition"

In Event Types: Non-competitive Festivals, Screenings, Animation, Live Action, Short Films

Headline News

Caved In Debuts on SCI FI Jan. 7

The SCI FI Channel opens 2006 with giant killer beetles in its original movie, CAVED IN: PREHISTORIC TERROR, premiering Jan. 7 at 9:00 pm with a repeat at 1:00 am and an encore airing Jan. 12 at 9:00 pm.

CAVED IN, a cavernous adventure starring Christopher Atkins (THE BLUE LAGOON), Colm Meany (STAR TREK: DEEP SPACE NINE and STAR TREK: THE NEXT GENERATION) and Angela Featherstone (ARMY OF DARKNESS), was produced by CineTel Films Inc. in conjunction with the SCI FI Channel.

In Television, Visual Effects, Television, Visual Effects | Headline News | Geographic Region: All, South America

Headline News

EA Announces Lord Of The Rings, Battle For Middle-Earth II Collector’s Edit

Electronic Arts announced THE LORD OF THE RINGS, THE BATTLE FOR MIDDLE-EARTH II COLLECTORS EDITION the first ever Collectors Edition DVD release from the highly successful THE LORD OF THE RINGS franchise. The sequel to last holidays critically acclaimed PC game is filled with exclusive THE LORD OF THE RINGS game content.

Scheduled to ship simultaneously with THE LORD OF THE RINGS, THE BATTLE FOR MIDDLE-EARTH II in February 2006, the collectors edition will be available at select retailers for $59.99 and is rated T for Teen by the ESRB.

In Interactive, Games, Interactive | Headline News | Geographic Region: All

Animated Headline News

Toonz to Produce Mahabharat Animated Musical Series

Toonz has signed a deal with Mumbai-based production house Impact Vision to produce the great Indian epic, MAHABHARAT, as an animated musical, reports ChennaiOnline.com.

"The song sequences will be suitably strung together to create standard half-hour episodes for television," Toonz ceo P Jayakumar said.

Satish Mutatkar, Impact Vision ceo, who wrote lyrics for the animated feature film HANUMAN, will be the creative director of the project, which is going by the title Titled GEET MAHABHARAT.

In Television, Television | Headline News | Geographic Region: All, Asia

Comics Headline News

Virgin Forms Virgin Comics & Virgin Animation

Sir Richard Branson and Virgin Books Ltd. announced a new entertainment partnership with world-renowned author Deepak Chopra, acclaimed filmmaker Shekhar Kapur and South Asia's leading publisher of comic magazines, Gotham Ent. Group Llc. The partnership will launch two new Virgin branded companies, Virgin Comics Llc., based in New York City and Virgin Animation Private Ltd., based in Bangalore, India, focused on creating original comic books and character properties for a global audience.

In Anime, Business, Anime, Business | Headline News | Geographic Region: All, Asia

Television Headline News

LA ACM SIGGRAPH, Autodesk & nVidia Give a Taste of TV

A Taste of TV A Smorgasbord of Effects for the Small ScreenNorth Hollywood, California, USAJanuary 10, 2006

The Los Angeles Professional Chapter of ACM SIGGRAPH along with Autodesk and nVidia presents "A Taste of TV A Smorgasbord of Effects for the Small Screen. The event will present the latest in the world of computer graphics on television. This soup to nuts presentation will cover visual effects and animation in episodic television, commercials, music video, 2D animation and broadcast packages.

In Event, Event | Headline News | Special Events: SIGGRAPH | Geographic Region: All, North America

Headline News

Ballance and Messana Rejoin NewTek

Don Ballance and Ralph Messana have rejoined NewTek. They have spent the last two years developing and promoting the 3D Arsenal suite of software tools, a companion to LightWave 3D. 3D Arsenal is designed to make the creation of motion graphics quick and easy for video producers and editors not already versed in 3D animation.

In Anime, People, Visual Effects, Anime, People, Visual Effects | Headline News | Geographic Region: All

Home Headline News

Incredibles DVD Wins Top DEG Honors

DEG: The Digital Ent. Group, which held its annual reception at CES 2006 in Las Vegas, honored THE INCREDIBLES: COLLECTORS EDITION (Buena Vista Home Ent.) as the Theatrical DVD Title of the Year.

Other winners included KING KONG: COLLECTORS EDITION (Warner Home Video) for Catalog; LOST: THE COMPLETE FIRST SEASON (Buena Vista Home Ent.) for TV; and the animated FAMILY GUY PRESENTS: STEWIE GRIFFIN, THE UNTOLD STORY (Twentieth Century Fox Home Ent.) for Direct to DVD.

In Awards, Awards | Headline News | Geographic Region: All, Asia, North America

Watch Headline News

Night Watch Invades U.S. on Feb. 17

With the popular Russian sci-fi thriller, NIGHT WATCH (NOCHNOI DOZOR), set to platform Feb. 17 in Los Angeles, New York and San Francisco from Fox Searchlight Pictures, the second part of the trilogy, DAY WATCH, has just shattered box office records in Moscow. Fox Searchlight will release DAY WATCH theatrically later in 2006. The third part, DAWN WATCH, is currently in pre-production.

DAY WATCH premiered in Moscow on Jan. 1 with the biggest opening day gross ever at $2.1M. The three-day cume was $7.8M. DAY WATCH is now approaching a record $30M.

In Films, Visual Effects, Films, Visual Effects | Headline News | Geographic Region: All

Headline News

VFX Continues to Dominate Domestic Box Office

The final box office numbers for 2005 are in and, not surprisingly, seven of the top 10 finishers were vfx-intensive blockbusters. Foxs STAR WARS: EPISODE III REVENGE OF THE SITH led the way with $380.2M. Following in second, third and fourth place were Warner Bros. HARRY POTTER AND THE GOBLET OF FIRE with $278.6M, Paramounts WAR OF THE WORLDS with $234.2M and Buena Vistas THE CHRONICLES OF NARNIA: THE LION, THE WITCH AND THE WARDROBE with $232.1M.

In Films, Visual Effects, Films, Visual Effects | Headline News | Geographic Region: All, Asia

Animation ANIMATIONWorld

Apes to Dragons: Weta’s Production of 'Jane and the Dragon'

Mike Fallows looks into Weta Prods. move from creating King Kong for the big screen to creating dragons in Jane and the Dragon for the small screen. It begins with his experiences on the smaller MoCap Donkey Kong Country for TV.

In Production | ANIMATIONWorld

Wild Headline News

The Wild Trailer Debuts On Starz Jan. 9

The world television premiere of the trailer for Walt Disney Pictures THE WILD will escape onto Starz screens Jan. 9, 2006. Starz Ent. Group (SEG) partners once again with Walt Disney Pictures to bring the 1:40 teaser trailer to its flagship channel.

In Television, Television | Headline News | Geographic Region: All

Effects VFXWorld

'BloodRayne': Taking a Stab at ‘Vampire Vision’

Mary Ann Skweres discusses CGI vampires on BloodRayne with director Uwe Boll and vfx supervisor Doug Oddy.

In Production | VFXWorld

Comedy Headline News

South Park Going Mobile

For the first time ever SOUTH PARK and CHAPPELLES SHOW will be available on mobile phones beginning January 2006

"These deals further represent Comedy Central's multi-platform strategy to deliver content anywhere, anytime," said Michele Ganeless, evp/gm, Comedy Central. "We are committed to giving our audience quality programming beyond the boundaries of television. With the mobile launch of SOUTH PARK and CHAPPELLE'S SHOW, two of the top-rated shows on our network, Comedy Central is leading the charge in the wireless entertainment content arena."

In Interactive, Games, Interactive | Headline News | Geographic Region: All

International Events

2006 International CES

Begins: January 5, 2006

The International CES is center stage for the interaction of digital content, technology, media and delivery. More than 100,000 industry professionals-retailers, manufacturers, content providers, government leaders, corporate buyers, financial analysts and journalists are expected to attend each year. For more information, visit www.cesweb.org.

Technology Events

2006 International Consumer Electronics Show (CES)

Begins: January 5, 2006

The International Consumer Electronics Show (CES) is the world's largest annual tradeshow for consumer technology. Manufacturers, developers and suppliers of consumer technology hardware, content, technology delivery systems and related products and services attend and exhibit at the event. Attendees come from more than 110 countries. More than 100 sessions with the industry's leading speakers help attendees discover the newest trends, strategies and profit opportunities in the consumer technology industry.

In Event Types: Conferences, Discussion, Exhibits, Seminars / Workshops, Screenings, Trade Shows, Animation, Business / Management, Interactive, New Media, Web / Internet, Other

Animation Headline News

AWN Discussion Forums - What's New? for January 3, 2006

This week in AWN's Forums, members share some Flash tutorials. Theres a thread about drawing the body. A post looks a whats ahead in the next year for members. Others are still debating the importance of animation history knowledge. A junior members asks how critical is it to pick the right school? Members are chiming in on what they think is some really bad animation. Another member asks what is the correct method to render animation. Others continue to post their work for members to check out.

In Flash, Flash | Headline News | Geographic Region: All