Press Release from Cartoon Network Enterprises

Press Release from Echo Bridge Entertainment

NEEDHAM, MASS and LOS ANGELES, CA (April 14, 2009) -- Continuing its international expansion of sales operations, independent global distributor Echo Bridge Entertainment has appointed Natalie Yuen to the newly created position of Vice President, International Sales, Asia Pacific, effective immediately. The announcement was made today by Dan March, Executive Vice President, Echo Bridge Entertainment, to whom she will report.

Press Release from Sony Pictures Entertainment

Press Release from Luma Pictures

Press Release from VIZ Pictures

San Francisco, CA, APRIL 10, 2009 -- VIZ Pictures, an affiliate of VIZ Media, LLC that focuses on Japanese live-action film distribution, has partnered with Trans World Entertainment (TWE) to sponsor a special retail ticket giveaway campaign at participating F.Y.E. and SUNCOAST stores nationwide in support of the U.S. theatrical premiere of DEATH NOTE: L, change the WorLd. VIZ Pictures and NCM Fathom will present this live-action film, in a two-night, multi-city event taking place on April 29th and 30th.

Press Release from Activision Publishing, Inc.

This week in AWN's Forums, a member wants to know what's the term for when a cel of animation is mispainted? For example, Daffy's hands are yellow instead of black for a frame of animation. Maybe a glossary of little-used terms is in order. Besides AWN, which networking site works best for your professional needs? Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter? Or another? A member is looking for royalty-free vehicle models for Maya; anyone know where to find a site online that sells them? Anyone know how to pitch a show idea in Australia? A member has an idea.

10th Anima Mundi Web 2009 and 5th Anima Mundi Cell 2009

Entry rules and submission form are already available at our website. To submit films, it's necessary to register at the website first to fill the online entry form and upload the animation.

Anima Mundi Web 2009 is the tenth edition of the traditional international internet animation contest of Anima Mundi, International Animation Festival of Brazil. The contest is open to animated works produced by professional or amateur animators, specially created for the Internet.

Deadlines:

TV-Loonland has closed a multitude of sales with broadcasters worldwide for its animated series LEON. Following the show's recent acquisition by German kids broadcaster SUPER RTL, CBBC in the U.K. and ABC in Australia, yet more high profile broadcasters have picked up the series co-produced by Studio Hari, TV-Loonland and France 3.

Nickelodeon has announced the pickup of a third season of the live-action preschool music series YO GABBA GABBA!. The network will commence production on 13 new half-hour episodes produced by The Magic Store and W!LDBRAIN in August in Los Angeles, Calif. YO GABBA GABBA!, created by Christian Jacobs and Scott Schultz, is executive produced by Jon Berrett and Charles Rivkin.

YO GABBA GABBA! currently airs daily at 1:30 p.m., 4:30 p.m. and 10:30 p.m. (ET) on NOGGIN.

Production company Nexus have signed Brazilian director, CISMA.

Otherwise known as Denis Kamioka, CISMA, which is Portuguese for a "strong and irrational conviction", has lived up to his adopted name and has a reputation for pushing creative boundaries to their limits. Effortlessly combining what would seem to be polar opposite visual styles, CISMA's creative work speaks a universal language.

BEDTIME STORIES makes its DVD debut two days after its Blu-ray bow, along with DVD/Blu-ray releases of THE DAY THE EARTH STOOD STILL, THE TALE OF DESPEREAUX, plus volume three of BEN 10: ALIEN FORCE on DVD, Disney Animation Collection, volumes 1-3 on DVD, MAX FLEISCHER'S SUPERMAN on DVD and more.

BEDTIME STORIES on DVD and Blu-ray

Australian vfx company Rising Sun Pictures say they had nothing to do with X-MEN ORIGINS: WOLVERINE leaking online earlier this week. The ASSOCIATED PRESS reported Thursday that the company's name appears in a caption dated March 2 a few minutes into the leaked copy of the Twentieth Century Fox film.

ASIFA-SF is co-presenting a program of short animated films at the San Francisco International Film Festival The program, called "A Thousand Pictures," features excellent unusual experimental animation for adults. PHOTOGRAPH OF JESUS by Laurie Hill from England is a comedy about unusual requests photography archives get including, "Please send me a photograph of Jesus." LI ES by Jonas Odell from Sweden illustrates three real stories (doozies!) concerning lies.

Australian prod company Sticky Pictures has completed production on a new animated series of adult comedy shorts for SBS Australia entitled MONSTER AUDITIONS (10 x 1).

Ubisoft will develop and publish a videogame based on Columbia Pictures' and Sony Pictures Animation's CG film, CLOUDY WITH A CHANCE OF MEATBALLS. Designed for handheld and home gaming consoles, CLOUDY WITH A CHANCE OF MEATBALLS is scheduled for release later this year in conjunction with the September 18, 2009 release of the feature film.

April 2009 will see the launch of the online SCARYGIRL gaming site, based on Nathan Jurevicius's Scarygirl concept. The project has been produced by Passion Pictures Australia with financial assistance from the Film Victoria Digital Media Fund. The game has been designed and developed by Touch My Pixel with in-game Flash animation from Renmotion and has taken the dedicated and creative team 22 months to develop and complete.

fmx/conference presents and reflects upon the latest trends in an extraordinarily dynamic industry. And one trend can be seen very clearly throughout animation, visual effects, games and postproduction: story is king. Computer-generated imagery or effects are only effective to the degree that they serve a suspenseful and overwhelming narration. A few highlights from the conference (held May 5-8 in Stuttgart, Germany), include:

Aardman Rights has concluded a number of television and home entertainment pre-sales for its brand new preschool series TIMMY TIME.

Currently in production, the 52 x 10-minute series has already been pre-bought by CBeebies in the U.K. for debut in 2009 and it has been picked up by Disney Channels worldwide, including the US. ABC TV Australia, TF1 France, DRTV in Denmark, YLE Finland, NRK Norway and SVT Sweden have also committed to the broadcast rights to the show.

The Jim Henson Company and BIG Communications are showcasing their new CG animated series DINOSAUR TRAIN at this year's MIPTV market. DINOSAUR TRAIN is produced by The Jim Henson Company with Singapore's BIG acting as co-producer and with the participation and assistance of the Singapore Media Development Authority.