4Kids Ent. Inc. announced the next chapter of the successful YU-GI-OH! franchise with the premiere of YU-GI-OH! GX. Set a generation in the future and appealing to a younger audience, YU-GI-OH! GX will debut on Cartoon Network beginning this October.
Paramount Home Ent. and PBS Home Video have acquired the North American rights to PorchLight Ent.s JAY JAY THE JET PLANE, with plans to relaunch the property on home video in the spring of 2006. Under the multi-year deal, Paramount Home Ent. will distribute and market a minimum of two new titles per year in North America under the PBS Kids label.
THE MUPPETS WIZARD OF OZ, the recent TV movie in which the lovable Jim Henson characters recreate L. Frank Baums famous story, comes to DVD on Aug. 9, 2005 (Buena Vista Home Ent., $24.99) in an extended version thats 20 minutes longer. The Emerald City will never be the same after Kermit, (as the Scarecrow) Miss Piggy (as the Wicked Witch of the West), Pepe (as Toto) and all of their friends wreak havoc along with Ashanti (as Dorothy), Jeffrey Tambor (as the Wizard), Queen Latifah (as Auntie Em) and Quentin Tarantino (as himself). Directed by Kirk R.
Once again this September, Ottawa will play host to some of the leading animation execs from North America and around the world. Representatives from internationally renowned studios such as Aardman Animation and Nelvana as well as broadcasters such as Cartoon Network, Nickelodeon and Kids WB! will converge at the 2nd Annual Television Animation Conference (TAC), taking place on September 21 and 22 at the Chateau Laurier.
Veteran production exec Jon Gordon has been named president of production, Universal Pictures, joining recently named president of production Donna Langley. The two execs will work in tandem, overseeing the development and production of the studios motion pictures. Langley and Gordon will both report directly to Stacey Snider, chairman Universal Pictures. Gordon, who is currently co-president of production at Miramax Films, will start with Universal in October.
Joshua Katz, an entertainment-industry vet, who has led the successful launch and marketing efforts behind Cartoon Network and VH1, has been named vp of marketing for Lucasfilm Ltd.
Katz will lead the global marketing initiatives for all upcoming television and feature film projects from Lucasfilm Ltd. and also guide the company's corporate-branding projects, and will report to Jim Ward, svp of Lucasfilm.
Billy Wright has been named vp, worldwide wireless, Warner Bros. Online. Reporting directly to Jim Noonan, svp/gm, Warner Bros. Online, Wright will lead the company's Americas, Europe/Middle East/Africa (EMEA) and Asia-Pacific (APAC) strategic mobile teams as they develop, produce, publish and market content, including wallpapers, video and games based on the studio's world-renowned brands. The group also works to develop promotional mobile content that raises awareness for upcoming studio projects. Currently based in London, Wright will relocate to Glendale, California, in the fall.
Pixologic, makers of ZBrush 2, the award-winning modeling, texturing and painting application, announced that Industrial Light and & Magic has integrated ZBrush's sub-division modeling and texturing toolsets into its production pipeline. Industrial Light & Magic selected ZBrush for its unparalleled ability to handle large datasets, its Pixol technology and production tested displacement-mapping abilities.
VFXWORLD is back from SIGGRAPH 2005 with plenty of news plus an overview later in the week and a report next week by Mary Ann Skweres on the Electronic Theater and Animation Theater. No great technological breakthroughs on display (we appear to be in a period of incremental change). But if there was a common theme among exhibitors and other participants beginning with George Lucas keynote Q&A it was in looking at ways of improving production efficiency and freeing up the creativity of the artist.
FlickerLab founder, Harold Moss, and independent producer Tammy Walters, have formalized their long-term association, as Walters becomes a partner in his fast-growing animation studio. Moss and Walters first met at Curious Pictures, where Walters was head of the companys digital division.
Damien gets a mommy and daddy for Foxs remake of THE OMEN, according to VARIETY. Liev Schreiber (SCREAM series) and Julia Stiles (MONA LISA SMILE) have been hired to play the roles of the anti-christs unknowing parents, who were originally played by Gregory Peck and Lee Remick. John Moore (2004s FLIGHT OF THE PHOENIX) will direct the film, which is set to start filming in October. Dan McDermott (SELLING TIME) has adapted the script. In a marketing ploy, THE OMEN 666 will be released on Tuesday, June 6, 2006.
Disney Pictures and Spyglass Ent. are in talks with RACING STRIPES director Frederik Du Chau to direct the live-action adaptation of UNDERDOG, reports VARIETY. The film will combine CG and live-action to make a real dog talk and appears to have superpowers. Spyglass Roger Birnbaum, Gary Barber and Jonathan Glickman are producing aside with Jay Polstein.
On Saturday, Sept. 10, 2005, MAGICAL DOREMI will make its long-awaited U.S. debut at 8:00 am (ET) on 4Kids TV on Fox affiliates nationwide. The brainchild of Toei Animation (DRAGONBALL, DIGIMON and ONE PIECE), MAGICAL DOREMI has already become one of Japan's most popular and longest running girls series with more than 200 episodes airing over a four-year span.
STASH DVD MAGAZINE has announced the winners of its First Annual Global Student Animation Awards. Animation award went to Don Pans CONEHEAD (Bournemouth University). The Motion Design winner was Andrew Grahams MIND/MATTER (National Institute of Design Victoria Australia). The VFX prize went to Jan Mathias Steinforths FUNKSTORUNG - PUNK MOTHERFUCKER (HAWK Hildesheim).
im Kennedy joins Sony Pictures Entertainment (SPE) as svp, Corp. Communications, responsible for developing and directing the company's communications strategy, overseeing media relations and issues management, and serving as communications counselor to the executive team. He will replace Susan Tick, who announced her resignation last May.
Anchorage International Film FestivalDecember 2-11, 2005Deadline: September 1, 2005
The Anchorage Film Festival is going into its 5th year. The event strives to bring the world of independent cinema to the far reaches of Alaska. As part of the event, the festival holds the Golden Oosik Awards Gala. Regular screenings are held throughout the festival at the Alaska Experience Theatre. It boasts a half dome screen, plus the intimate Earthquake Theatre with 25 shaking seats. As well Alaskan talent is highlighted in the Snowdance Showcase.
The latest in a flurry of appointments at Munich-based production/distribution outfit, TV-Loonland is the appointment of Justine Bannister to head of international distribution and acquisitions, responsible for managing the television, video/DVD and licensing sales and pre-sales worldwide for the extensive TV-Loonland catalog. Bannister will be based in the companys London office and report directly to Olivier Dumont, TV-Loonlands recently appointed coo.
Investors must be glad they got in the game with THQ Inc. which today (Aug. 9, 2005) declared a three-for-two stock split of the company's outstanding shares of common stock to be dolled out as a 50% stock dividend.
On or about September 1, stockholders will receive one additional share of common stock for every two shares owned on the record date of August 19 with cash to be paid in lieu of any fractional shares.
After the split, THQ will have approximately 62 million shares of common stock outstanding.
WHATS NEW SCOOBY-DOO? VOL. 6 MONSTER MATINEE features episodes from the hit TV series, including four episodes selected for Halloween viewing for DVD viewing. This 88-minute offering of Hanna-Barbera produced SCOOBY episodes is a Warner Home Video is a release and streets Aug. 9, 2005, with a SRP of $19.97.
One of the episodes, A Scooby-Doo Halloween, includes an amped-out performance by KISS and a ghost seeking revenge for wrongs done to him 100 years ago.
Mark Spatny has been appointed supervising producer at Stargate Digital to manage the producers and coordinators at Stargates Los Angeles facility, and help coordinate schedules and staffing company-wide. He will also continue to work on select projects as a visual effects supervisor.
Spatnys recent work for Stargate includes supervising the effects for the pilots THE BOOK OF DANIEL and AMY COYNE, and producing for the FOX feature IDIOCRACY. He is also working with Indian director Anubhav Sinha on visual effects for the Bollywood film DUS.
Nick Foster was formerly head of Global FX at DreamWorks Animation, will take over as cto at IDT Ent., effective Aug. 15, 2005, with responsibility for unifying the technology and staff of the FX departments at the Los Angeles and Bay Area production studios. Robert Taylor has joined IDT Ent. as vp, animation finance, to oversee all production finance matters related to the animated slate.
Animator John Lasseter and VFX Artist Craig Barron are among five new governors, three of them serving for the first time, who have been elected to represent their branches on the board of governors of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences. Nine incumbent governors were reelected.
Huge crowd scenes were needed for Carlton Draughts latest advertising epic, the BIG AD, a hilarious parody of pompous beer ads, with an ode to BRAVEHEART comprised of unlikely armies of choral-robed gladiators singing about the glories of beer, accompanied by the bombastic CARMINA BURANA.
Animal Logic created 3D computer-generated human extras for all the large, aerial crowd shots, clothed them in flowing robes and then brought them into Massive, the award-winning AI-driven crowd simulation software from Massive Software.
In helping realize Tim Burtons vision for the Nut Room factory sequence in CHARLIE AND THE CHOCOLATE FACTORY, Framestore CFC delivered photoreal digital, working closely with vfx supervisor Nick Davis. Combining its artistry with footage of both real and animatronic squirrels, Framestore CFC delivered 130 shots for the film, including some 64 featuring CG squirrels.
VFX have obviously come a long way since the two GHOSTBUSTERS movies hit the screen in 84 and 89. Indeed, you can witness the vast differences between the two movies themselves, supervised by Richard Edlund and Dennis Muren, respectively, and created by EEG and ILM).
In fact, the vfx evolution is much more evident, thanks to the remastered DVDs that comprise the GHOSTBUSTERS I & II DOUBLE FEATURE GIFT SET (Sony Pictures Home Ent., $19.94). Welcome back to slime time with Bill Murray, Dan Aykroyd, Harold Ramis and co., courtesy of Ivan Reitman.
