Cloud 9 Enters TV Production With Zeroman. Marina Del Rey, California-based
children's entertainment company, Cloud 9 Interactive, is moving into television
production with the formation of a new division, Cloud 9 Media. Jeff Segal,
former president of MCA/Universal Family Entertainment and Universal Cartoon
Studios, joined Cloud 9 in April to head the startup of the media division.
Zeroman, a property Segal created with fellow Cloud 9 staffer and Universal
alum Michael Torres, is now being developed and is entering pre-production
as a co-production with Canadian Amberwood Productions, a new company founded
by Sheldon Wiseman of Lacewood Productions. The Cloud 9/Amberwood partnership
emerged out of Cloud 9's "need to have an association with a company
with film production capabilities," said Segal. Zeroman will
be predominately 2D animation with some CGI effects, and will star actor/comedian
Leslie Nielsen, who, coincidentally (or not), had planned to lend funds
to Lacewood Productions before it was acquired by Paragon Entertainment
this year. This is not the first animation project for Canadian-bred Nielsen.
He is the narrator on Lacewood's animated series, Katie and Orbie,
which now airs on the Disney Channel (U.S.), and just completed filming
the live-action feature version of the classic UPA cartoon Mr. Magoo
for Walt Disney Pictures. In the Cloud 9/Amberwood series, Nielsen voices
the character of Zeroman, a comedic spoof on superhero action/adventure
characters. Neither a distributor or pre-sold broadcasters for Zeroman
could be confirmed at the time of this report, but negotiations are
underway. Cloud 9 is also in development on several other (mostly live-action)
television projects, including another animated series called I Can
Be Three, a co-venture with Epoch Entertainment's Joe Pearson (Captain
Simian and the Space Monkeys ) and writer John Loy (The Land
Before Time sequels). Cloud 9 Media's plans also include development
and licensing of original animated characters from their interactive Learning
Adventure CD-ROM titles.
Locomotion Enters Europe Via Spain. The Locomotion Channel, an all-animation
cable channel run by Hearst Entertainment and the Cisneros Group, launched
in Spain in September. Distributed through Via Digital's DTII platform
as part of its basic 35-channel package, Locomotion plans to customize
its programming for the Spanish market, by using local voice talent and
animators. "Launching in Spain is a significant step for the growth
of the channel and an initial step in our plans for European distribution."
said Locomotion general manager Gustavo Basalo. Locomotion is currently
seen 24 hours a day in 11 Latin American countries via the satellite service
DirecTV, and is also part of Imagen Satelital's channel repertoire in Argentina.
On November 1, the channel will become accessible to more viewers in Latin
America through their first cable launch.
Production has begun on The
Bob and Margaret Show, an animated series
about mid-life crisis, based on Alison Snowden and David Fine's Oscar-winning
animated short, Bob's Birthday. © Snowden Fine Productions.
Snowden & Fine's Bob & Margaret is
in Production. Nelvana Limited and Global
Television Network have confirmed that Bob and Margaret,
an animated series based on Alison Snowden and David Fine's Oscar-winning
short, Bob's Birthday, is in production. The British duo optioned
the property early this year (AF 2/21/97), and have been in development
while lining up production partners. Bob and Margaret is a Canadian/United
Kingdom co-production between Nelvana Limited and Channel 4 Television,
in association with Global Television Network. The budget for the series
is Canadian $7.3 million, with Nelvana financing roughly 75% as the majority
financier. The series will air on Channel 4, Global Television Network,
and has just been sold to Comedy Central. Aimed at an adult, prime-time
audience, the 13 episode series is being written and executive produced
by Alison Snowden and David Fine, who will work out of their London-based
studio.
For information about the creators of this show, visit Alison Snowden and David Fine's
web site on Animation World Network.
Space Ghost On Mars. Apparently, NASA's Mars Pathfinder team members
are real cartoon fans. They have just named a few more space rocks after
Cartoon Network/Hanna-Barbera characters. Inspired after an interview with
Mars Pathfinder project leader Matthew Golombek on the TV series, Space
Ghost Coast to Coast, the team named four Mars rocks, Space Ghost,
Zorak, Moltar, and Brak. This strange sort of cartoon character fame is
shared with Yogi Bear, Boo Boo, Scooby Doo, Casper, Calvin & Hobbes
and other stars who have also had Mars rocks named after them. Images of
the rocks can be seen online at http://mpfwww.jpl.nasa.gov
Modern Cartoons Hit Network TV. There are a few new programs on U.S. television this
Fall featuring real-time, or, motion-capture animation. More than one of
them features characters created by Venice, California-based real time
animation studio, Modern Cartoons. Cyber Lucy, not to be confused
with MTV's Cyber Cindy, is a 3D animated character created by Modern
Cartoons, who makes her debut performance on CBS this Saturday morning
(9/13), as co-host on the live-action children's series Wheel 2000 a
spin-off of the popular game show Wheel of Fortune. NBC aired
Steve/Oedekerk.com, a mixed media comedy special featuring real-time
animation segments created by the studio. Modern Cartoons is now in development
on several projects, including an all-real-time animation political satire
series for HBO, starring Harry Shearer, the voice of Mr. Burns and many
other characters on The Simpsons. Despite real-time animated characters
such as Cartoon Network's Moxy, and Canal +'s Clio, it was
NBC's real-time animated interstitals host, Johnny Chimes, created
by Medialab Studio L.A., that first brought real time animation to network
television.
Stay tuned for the Motion Capture and Stop Motion Animation issue of Animation
World Magazine, coming up in February 1998.
Van-Pires, the animated series. © Abrams Gentile Entertainment.
Van-Pires Premiere.
Van-Pires, a new series combining live-action with 3D computer animation,
will premiere on U.S. network television this Saturday (9/13) as part of
Summit Media's syndication block. Produced by Abrams-Gentile Entertainment,
New York (creators of Sky Dancers) and MSH Entertainment, San Francisco,
Van-Pires depicts a group of teenagers who protect the world from
evil anthropomorphized vans (Van-Pires) by turning into robo-cars themselves
(Motor-Vaters), upon yelling, "Mission Ignition!" A full line
of show-related merchandise will, of course, soon be available in toy stores.
Syndicator Summit Media is a division of 4 Kids Entertainment, an independent
licensing company. Check your local listings for show times.
Energee's Distribution Energy. Australia-based Energee Entertainment
has sold 26 episodes of Crocadoo, their animated series, to Cartoon
Network Asia-Pacific. This is the first time that Cartoon Network has purchased
an Australian-made series for broadcast in Asia, India, Australia and New
Zealand. Already sold in over 30 territories worldwide, Crocadoo
is being distributed in the U.S. and Europe by All American Fremantle.
Energee's new animated Christmas special, Scrooge Koala's Christmas,
has recently been sold to The Seven Network in Australia, and will be shopped
to other markets at MIPCOM in late September.
For more
information on Energee Entertainment, see the
September 1996 issue of Animation World Magazine, which featured an article
profiling the studio.
Zen On Chrono Quest. Santa Monica-based Zen Entertainment,
a sister company of Sei-Young Animation in Korea, is working on a 26 episode
series titled Chrono Quest. The show combines 3D and 2D animation,
with the majority of the animation being produced with Animo software,
to which Zen recently purchased 41 licenses from Cambridge Animation Systems.
Chrono Quest is Zen's first original animated series, set for international
distribution in fall 1998. Pre-sale distribution agreements have been established
in Japan, Korea and Europe.
Film Roman Gets Out Of Red With Blues. UPN has green-lit Film Roman's
The Blues Brothers: The Animated Series to begin production. The
series had been in development since early this year, but was "on
hiatus" as of last spring, when unspecified "creative differences"
were met between Film Roman and UPN. Film Roman, a public company, has
suffered recent downsizing and decrease in stock prices. Now that the Blues
Brothers series is moving forward for a planned fall 98 premiere of
13 episodes on UPN, Film Roman should experience a recoup in finances.
Blues Brothers, a property which Film Roman initially optioned the
rights to, marks a step forward in the company's plan to own the shows
that they produce. As the producers of The Simpsons, Film Roman
has seen that producing even the most successful series is profitable mostly
to those who own merchandising and distribution rights. "This is one
of the reasons we went public," stated Film Roman senior vice president
John Vein, "to produce proprietary programming." Jim Belushi
and Peter Akroyd (both brothers of the original live-action Blues Brothers
characters, John Belushi and Dan Akroyd), are already set to record the
character voices, while David Misch, executive producer of Klasky-Csupo's
Duckman, will be executive producer with Phil Roman and Michael
Waeghe.
Animation World News is compiled daily for publication in the AWN Daily Flash, the weekly Animation Flash email newsletter, and monthly issues of Animation World Magazine.
Send your newsworthy items, press releases, and reels to:
Email: wendyj@awn.com
Fax: (213) 464-5914
Mail: Animation World Magazine
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