MPC LA finishes a new spot, Road Trip, for DIRECTV, complete with World War II epic, a medieval fantasy battle, and a bit of science fiction thrown in.

Culver City/Vancouver-based visual effects house Zoic Studios signs veteran VFX Supervisor and Flame artist Robert Moggach.

Blue Sky Studios moves ahead on two new animated feature projects, Anubis and Ferdinand .

DeamWorks Animation moves the release dates for two of its forthcoming features.

Studio 100 Film, Studio 100 Media’s new film division, launches “Maya the Bee” animated feature.

Gaumont Animation will celebrate the 50th anniversary of “Calimero” by hosting the opening night party of MIFA on June 12.

Twentieth Century Fox releases a new teaser trailer for the highly-anticipated “Rio 2.”

Psyop partners with David and Goliath to create the imaginative campaign, “More Luck For Your Buck” for the California Lottery’s Fortune 55 Scratchers game.

e-on announces the availability of LumenRT 4.1 Studio, which features extended capabilities for large microstation models and Revit.

Chaos Group announces the open beta for V-Ray 1.6 for SketchUp with significant enhancements to rendering speed, workflow, visualization and lighting features.

In one of most high-profile deals of the year, Sony Pictures Entertainment wins the exclusive worldwide distribution rights to the eagerly anticipated “Angry Birds” animated film.

ABC announces “Toy Story of Terror” special from Pixar, based on the hit film and starring the original cast.

Shotgun 5.0 features simplified access to essential tasks and updates on top of powerful project management, review and asset tracking toolset.

Nathan Love’s Jim McKenzie draws on 80s nostalgia in a spot for NatGeo’s new miniseries “The 80s: The Decade That Made Us.”

2nd Screen Global Con presents “Everything Small Screen,” a family-friendly expo and conference featuring kids’ entertainment, animation, second-screen, tech, and CGI.

SIGGRAPH 2013 releases an early preview of its schedule of production sessions to be featured at this year’s conference and as part of the Computer Animation Festival.

Editorial house Spot Welders launches Shipping + Handling, headed up by VFX supervisor Casey Price and executive producer J. Patrick McElroy.

Visual effects house Zoic Studios delivers a dose of spine-tingling transformations from human to beast in the new Netflix original murder mystery series “Hemlock Grove.”

VFX company Luma Pictures recently contributed to Marvel Studios' new Iron Man 3 film, creating full-body CG armor replacements for both Iron Man and Iron Patriot.

Global VFX house welcomes Erik-Jan de Boer, James Jacobs and Keith Roberts.