Del Toro Howls For Wolf Man Remake
Universal Pictures has tapped Benicio Del Toro to headline its remake of the horror classic, THE WOLF MAN, reports VARIETY. SEVEN writer Andrew Kevin Walker will pen script from which Scott Stuber, Rick Yorn, Mary Parent and Del Toro will produce.
Like the original 1941 Lon Chaney Jr. film, the redo will be set in Victorian England where a man who returns from America to his ancestral homeland and is transformed into werewolf after being bitten.
PlayStation 3 Launch Moved to November
Its official; Sony Computer Ent. Inc. (SCEI) has announced that it has moved the launch PlayStation 3 (PS3) to early November 2006 when it will be simultaneously released in Japan, North America and Europe. With a monthly production capacity of one million units, SCEI will push forward a product launch to spread the platform rapidly throughout the world, together with a strong lineup of game titles.
Animation Celebrates Its Centenary
The ASIFA-Hollywood Animation Archive is celebrating 100th Birthday animation, which began with J. Stuart Blackton's film, HUMOROUS PHASES OF FUNNY FACES, first released on April 6, 1906.
ibanana integrated media Launches in Canada
Industry exec Michael Hefferon, announced the official launch of ibanana integrated media inc., an entertainment company he heads dedicated to developing and producing integrated content for television, web, mobile and gaming platforms.
Responding to industry demand for dynamic content with digital media convergence, ibanana has developed a concept that utilizes the strengths and applications of each platform to develop inherent synergies.
Jesse Rosensweet to Direct Canada’s First Stop-Motion Feature
Director Jesse Rosensweet, winner of the Cannes Film Festivals 2002 Jury Prize for his stop-motion short, THE STONE OF FOLLY, will direct Canadas first stop-motion animated feature, NEWTON AND LEO. The film will be produced by Dean English of Vancouver-based Perfect Circle Prods. Karen Powell is serving as exec producer.
Vicon Increases Game Development Roster for MoCap
Vicon has added several new games industry customers validating its position as the predominant provider of in-house motion capture systems and outside motion capture services for game development. More than 800 Vicon MX40 cameras have been installed since June of last year at leaders in the field ranging from Ubisoft and SQUARE ENIX to Electronic Arts. These companies expand a prestigious roster of Vicon games clients worldwide that already includes Epic Games, Microsoft Games, Midway Games, Quantic Dream, Sony Computer Ent.
Bluefish444 Offers Iridas File Support for HD/Lust
Bluefish444, a leading supplier of uncompressed video cards for the Windows and Linux operating systems, announced that Iridas has certified all of the HD/Lust file formats for use with its applications. This allows colorists and post-production artists to ingest video media for use in SpeedGrade DI or FrameCycler DDS, as well as playing back rendered sequences through an HD SDI output.
VES, ACM SIGGRAPH Los Angeles to Explore Games and Film
The Visual Effects Society (VES) and the Los Angeles Professional Chapter of ACM SIGGRAPH are jointly sponsoring "Experiential Narrative in Games and Film," which will take on the issues of how to keep an audience engaged and participating. The event will take place March 25 at the Digital Cinema Laboratory at the Pacific Hollywood Theater, 6433 Hollywood Blvd., Hollywood, California, 90028. The event begins at 10:00 am with a social hour followed by the panel discussion from 11:00 am to 1:00 pm.
Cinesite Expands 3D Roster With Award-Winning Artists
Cinesite (Europe), which recently completed work on Warner Bros. V FOR VENDETTA (opening March 17), has hired Quentin Miles as animation director. Ben Shepherd recently joined the team as visual effects supervisor and is currently working on X-MEN 3 for Twentieth Century Fox.
Anima Awards Milch Top Prize
Anima, the premier animation festival in Belgium, announced the winner of this years event on March 5, 2006.
As part of the festival, Anima was announced its nominations for the Cartoon dOr 2006, which include: * NOCTURNE, Guillaume Delaunay (France)* VERSUS, François Caffiaux, Romain Noël, Thomas Salas (France)* FLIEGENPFLICHT FÜR QUADRAT KÖPFE, Stefan Flint Müller (Germany)* LOISEAU DO, Henri Heidsick (France)* HOT DOG, Joke Van Der Steen & Valère Lommel (Belgium)
Boomerang Celebrates St. Patrick's Day with Stone-Age Salute to The Great Gazoo
Helping classic cartoon fans enjoy a "Bit of the Blarney," Boomerang, Cartoon Network's 24-hour commercial-free sister network, will celebrate St. Patrick's Day (Friday, March 17, 2006) with five favorite episodes of THE FLINTSTONES featuring the gloriously all-green character from outer-space, The Great Gazoo. Playing three times throughout the day 9:00-11:00 am, 4:00-6:00 pm and 8:00-10:00 pm (ET) THE GREAT GAZOO MARATHON pays homage to the beloved feature character so wittily portrayed by comedian Harvey Korman with a distinctively snooty voice.
Genemation Heads to GDC
Genemation Ltd., sector leading developer of 3D face synthesis and character modeling tools, announced the April launch of GenHead v3.1. The beta will be demoed at the upcoming GDC expo (Booth #1645) in San Jose, California, March 22-24, 2006. GDC attendees can pre-order GenHead v3.1 or via the website: www.genemation.com for $995.00 saving $500. This offer will run for four weeks following the show.
Star Cave Studios Leads Irish Invasion At GDC
Leading Irish game developer, Star Cave Studios Ltd. is heading to GDC to showoff their portfolio of games. Among the products Star Cave Studio is bringing is a AAA online & multiplayer atmospheric, combined FPS shooter and RTS game named TERRA : FORMATIONS, which is in development for PC and scheduled to appear on leading next generation game consoles.
In TERRA : FORMATIONS, players take control of a marine on a mission to stop an alien race from taking over the galaxy. The game is available at GDC by appointment only.
King Kong DVD Features Debut at Live Event
King Kong: The Beast Meets the Legends of Sci-FiHollywood, California, USAMarch 21, 2006
Blur Joins Lapin Blanc Animation For Commercials
Lapin Blanc, animation unit of London commercials and film company Lucky Elliot, has signed Oscar nominated animation studio Blur. Celebrating a 10th Birthday, Blur Studio produce some of the worlds finest digital content for features, commercials, game cinematics, music videos and theme park rides. Blur announced at this year's Sundance Festival they are to develop a feature version of the 2005 Academy-nominated short GOPHER BROKE.
#1 SpongeBob Spurred China to Ban Hybrids
SPONGEBOB SQUAREPANTS is now China's #1 rated TV cartoon, according to THE HOLLYWOOD REPORTER. Since its debut on Jan. 29, 2006, the super sponge has grabbed a stronghold in the country, highlighting the increasing difficulty for home-grown toons to make a dent in the market.
Melissa Rivers To Emcee TV Academy’s College TV Awards
Melissa Rivers, host of TV Guide Channel's event programming, will emcee the Academy of Television Arts & Sciences Foundations 27th Annual College Television Awards at 7:00 pm on March 19, 2006, at the invitation-only College Television Awards Gala at the Culver Studios. The winning entries will be showcased at the annual College Television Awards Festival on March 20 at 7:30 pm at the Television Academys Leonard H. Goldenson Theatre in North Hollywood, which is open to the public.
Basil Brush Gets Tooned, Postman Pat Goes to Germany
Entertainment Rights Plc. (ER) announced that the BBC has commissioned 13 more half-hour episodes of THE BASIL BRUSH SHOW for the BBC and the CBBC channel. The agreement brings the total number of episodes of THE BASIL BRUSH SHOW under license to the BBC to 65.
Rushes Soho Shorts Calls for Entries
Rushes Soho Shorts 2006 Piccadilly, U.K. July 29 August 4, 2006Deadline: May 5, 2006
Rushes Soho Shorts Festival showcases the work of some of the U.K.s most talented young filmmakers. Awards for the best director in each category will be presented on August 3, at the star studded Festival Awards night held at one of Londons hottest venues, The CC Club in Piccadilly.
Two Bursaries Up For Grabs From Animated Exeter
Animated Exeter has launched two new bursaries for Devon. The Honeycomb Animation 2D Bursary 2006 is set up to encourage new talent in 2D animation and the Phoenix Media Digital Animation Bursary 2006 is aimed at supporting new and existing talent and develop the overall practice of digital media in the region.
Dargaud Distribution Makes Key Promotions & Appointments
Dargaud Distribution, home to one of Europes largest animation catalogs, has restructured its sales team, starting with appointing Leon Perahia as the new president of Dargaud Distribution with Véronique Chalandar as deputy gm. Claude de Saint Vincent, ceo of the Dargaud and Dupuis Group, announced the appointments.
Perahia has worked at Dupuis since 1986 in various positions, including finance director and producer. He oversaw production on a number of series, including the popular SPIROU, FLASH GORDON, CEDRIC and KID PADDLE.
BVITV EMEA Ups Maria Kyriacou to Portfolio Development Group VP
Buena Vista International Television (BVITV) EMEA has promoted Maria Kyriacou from exec director to vp, Portfolio Development Group.
Animation Guild Negotiates Three-Year Contract With Producers
The Animation Guild and Affiliated Optical Electronic and Graphic Arts, Local 839 IATSE, has reached agreement with the animation producers on a three-year collective bargaining agreement, effective Aug. 1, 2006 to July 31, 2009. The Animation Guilds negotiating committee has unanimously recommended ratification to the Guild (TAG, animationguild.org) membership.
NaturalMotion Announces euphoria for Next-Gen Game Platforms
NaturalMotion Ltd. announced euphoria, a breakthrough in run-time animation technology for game play and development on next-gen platforms. Based on NaturalMotions DMS technology, first introduced in endorphin (the off-line character animation tool), euphoria uses the CPUs of next-generation platforms (such as Playstation 3 and Xbox 360) to synthesize interactive animations on the fly, resulting in truly unique game moments that occur during the players experience.
Autodesk Presents First Discreet Flame, Smoke Master Class at NAB2006
Autodesk Inc. is offering instruction in Discreet Flame and Smoke systems for the first time at Master Class sessions at NAB2006 in Las Vegas. Learn first-hand from experienced artists, working on real projects, facing real deadlines.
When: Sunday, April 23, 2006
Session 1 (Flame Tips & Tricks): 10:30 am to 12:30 pm.
Session 2 (Smoke Tips & Tricks): 1:30 pm to 3:30 pm.
Cost: $150 per session
Register by March 15 and benefit from early-bird registration: $115 per session.
Registration fee includes:
