Debuting Sept. 7, Gap's new KEEP IT SIMPLE TV spots juxtapose classic footage of Audrey Hepburn from the movie FUNNY FACE dancing in skinny black pants to the 1980 AC/DC hit song Back in Black."
Antitrust conditions and preliminary approvals of AMDs proposed acquisition of ATI have been cleared, and the transaction is expected to be completed during ATIs first quarter of fiscal 2007, which ends Nov. 30, 2006. The proposed acquisition remains subject to the approval of ATI shareholders, court approval of the plan of arrangement and certain other regulatory approvals.
Amy Pascal has been promoted to co-chairman of Sony Pictures Ent. (SPE) and has extended her deal with the studio to 2011.
In addition to her new title, Pascal will continue to serve in her role as chairman of the studio's Motion Picture Group. Michael Lynton, chairman/ceo of SPE, and the two will continue to report to Sir Howard Stringer, chairman/ceo of Sony Corp.
Olivia King Canter joins Entertainment Rights Plc. as director of sales for Latin America and Canada. She will be responsible for driving ERs business in these key territories and will be based in ERs New York City office.
King Canter report to Kathleen Hricik, evp/md of the United States of America, Canada and Latin America, as well as heads up ERs U.S. operations.
When Chris Landreth, the Oscar-winning director of RYAN, offered to cover the SIGGRAPH 2006 Electronic Theater in Boston, we were naturally thrilled. Chris has been attending the celebrated EA for 18 years and continues to find inspiration in the yearly CG offerings, though the former Maya engineer at Alias admittedly longs for more cutting edge technical demos too.
New market research detailing the growth of the online game industry will be announced at the Austin Game Conference (AGC) this week on Sept. 6-8, 2006. The fourth annual Austin Game Conference will bring together more than 2,400 game industry professionals from 20 countries representing more than 520 companies.
Running until Sept. 21, 2006, participating McDonald's restaurants will feature six toys from the world of Mario, encouraging youngsters to get up, get active and "Take the Mario Challenge."
New York animator Patrick Smith premieres his latest animated short, PUPPET, in Los Angeles on Thursday, Sept. 7, at 7:45 pm in the Arclight Theater. PUPPET recently become eligible for the 79th Academy Awards, and has been selected to screen at more than 50 film festivals worldwide for the 2006-2007 season.
The Arclight is located at 6360 Sunset, west of Vine Street. The L.A. premiere is hosted by the 2006 Los Angeles International Short Film Festival and is part of a line-up of other shorts.
Illumitoon Ent. Ltd., a newly formed collaboration of business and creative professionals focused on delivering customized entertainment to the North American markets, announced that it will be utilizing Westlake Ent. Inc. for home video distribution on its new acquisitions, including BEET THE VANDEL BUSTER and AM DRIVER. The announcement comes on the heels of Westlake Ent.s announcement of the companys repositioning in the marketplace to release first-run features, including theatrical and new title acquisitions in other key core categories.
A trio of Kansas University students has begun to drum up interest for their upcoming webtoon ZOOK MAYHEM AND THE BANDITS by releasing a short one-minute prequel at www.zookmayhem.com, reports THE KANSAN.
Having worked on the cartoon for the past seven months, creator Nolan T. Jones felt the prequel would be a great way to introduce the characters and spur interest in the series before the first episode launches in October.
The Warner Bros. Television Group is establishing a new digital production venture, dubbed Studio 2.0, which will work with creative talent and advertisers to create original live-action and animated short-form programming for broadband and wireless devices. WBTVG has tapped multi-award-winning producer and senior advertising exec Rich Rosenthal to head Studio 2.0.
GDH K.K. has announced it will release PROJECT PAPO on both next-generation high-definition formats Blu-ray and HD DVD. The Blu-ray DVD will be distributed by Sony Pictures Ent. (Japan) lnc.
PAPO is a mysterious robot that also functions as a speaker. People who become mesmerized by PAPO's mystifying music experience various bizarre but unique events. What could the true identity of PAPO be?
HAPPY FEET wont be dancing in IMAX 3-D just yet. Warner Bros. Pictures and IMAX announced that due to time constraints the animated feature about a tap-dancing penguin from Animal Logic would open in IMAX 2-D rather than 3-D on Nov. 17. There just wasnt sufficient time to deliver the master print and then convert it to 3-D by IMAX.
A spokeswoman for Warner Bros. Pictures noted that a 3-D release of the film was still in the cards at some point.
Autodesk is participating in the 2006 International Broadcasters Convention (IBC) being held in Amsterdam from Sept. 8-12. Autodesk will publicly debut new releases of its visual effects, color grading and editing/finishing systems, and showcase the recently announced versions of its 3D animation, modeling and rendering products.
Buena Vistas real-life football drama, INVINCIBLE, held the top spot at the box office for the second consecutive week over the Labor Day Holiday weekend ended Sept. 4, 2006. INVINCIBLE caught $12.1M for a cume of $34.7M. Two newcomers occupied second and third place: Lionsgates CRANK and Warner Bros. update of THE WICKER MAN (with vfx by Worldwide FX, Pacific Title and Lava Studio). CRANK pulled in $10.4M compared to THE WICKER MANs $9.6M. Fox Searchlights LITTLE MISS SUNSHINE dipped to fourth while increasing its percentage with $7.6M for a cume of $33.7M.
London-based Framestore CFC and Moving Picture Co. (MPC) will be the lead vfx houses on THE CHRONICLES OF NARNIA sequel, PRINCE CASPIAN (a summer 2008 release from Disneys Buena Vista), reports IGNFILMFORCE and confirmed by the production company. Dean Wright resumes overall vfx supervision. Framestore and MPC have worked on several Hollywood franchises, including HARRY POTTER and X-MEN, and are among several London vfx houses that have recently expanded their 3D character animation.
Celebrating its fifth season on Fox, 4Kids TV 4Kids Ent.'s four-hour Saturday morning programming block presents its most action-packed slate of original programming to date on affiliates nationwide, adding four new series to its already successful lineup of popular returning shows. VIVA PINATA and YU-GI-OH! CAPSULE MONSTERS premiere on Sept. 9, 2006 (check local listings for time). TEENAGE MUTANT NINJA TURTLES: FAST FORWARD got a jumpstart on July 29 at while Chaotic starts airing on Sept. 30.
David Pierce is the new president/ceo of Atari Inc., assuming the responsibilities of ceo previously held by Bruno Bonnell. Pierce is in charge of the operational management of Atari and will partner with Bonnell to achieve strategic objectives while Bonnell will continue to serve as the company's chairman/coo, steering the creative vision for Atari.
Various news organization report that Viacom Inc. exec chairman/founder Sumner Redstone has ousted Tom Freston and the company's board of directors has appointed Philippe P. Dauman, 52, president/ceo. The board also named Thomas E. Dooley, 49, to the newly created position of svp/chief administrative officer.
For the new fall season, Discovery Kids has a new animated series, GROWING UP CREEPIE, about a girl who was raised by bugs, plus new seasons of FLIGHT 29 DOWN, ENDURANCE, TUTENSTEIN and SERIOUS as well as two specials with a social conscience, SAVING A SPECIES: THE GREAT PENGUIN RESCUE (hosted by Elijah Wood) and A YEAR ON EARTH, that examine how kids can play a role in protecting the environment.
In a broadcasting first, SCI FI will launch its season online, with a five-week, 10-episode online-only prequel season called BATTLESTAR GALACTICA: THE RESISTANCE. Premiering today (Sept. 5, 2006) SCIFI.COM will begin airing two- to three-minute episodes every Tuesday and Thursday at midnight, at www.scifi.com/battlestar, leading up to the Oct. 6 season 3 premiere on television.
Why compromise? Change the Way You Work and Play with the Razer Pro|Solutions Pro|Click v1.6. Take advantage of its increased precision to manipulate graphics with faster speed and better control. Increase your productivity up to 36% to 49% with less repetitive mouse movements. Enhance your accuracy via the 1600 dpi infrared optics. Maneuver flawlessly with the acoustic Teflon feet that assure smooth motion; and never power down with the Always-On mode that allows for instantaneous response at all times.
Pierre Berton's THE SECRET WORLD OF OG premieres as an animated series on CBC Television in Canada, Saturday, Sept. 9 at 9:30 am. The series of nine episodes will continue to air weekly on Saturday mornings.
Test your skills and challenge your brain with AWN's Animation Trivia Quiz.
This week in AWN's Forums, a member is looking for advice on pitching to Disney.
