The all-new FANTASTIC FOUR animated series will premiere Saturday, Sept. 2, 2006, at 8:00 pm during Toonami on Cartoon Network in the U.S. Cartoon Network has exclusive domestic rights to the 26-episode, half-hour FANTASTIC FOUR series produced in France by Moonscoop (formerly Antefilms, the creators of CODE LYOKO) with Marvel Studios Cartoon Network and M6.
DE Shaw group has invested in a 14.99% stake in Mumbai-based Crest Animation Studios and another 26% in its U.S. subsidiary Rich Crest Holdings for an aggregate infusion of up to $40 million.
RichCrest Animation Inc., located in Burbank, California, has entered into an agreement with Lions Gate Inc. for the production of three full-length, 3D feature films.
The first movie, SYLVESTER AND THE MAGIC PEBBLE, is scheduled for release in 2008. The second movie project titled, ALPHA & OMEGA, is in the development and is planned for release in 2009.
Animation legend Ed Benedict passed away in his sleep on Aug. 28, 2006. He was 94.
In 1930, Benedict began his animation career at Disney, working on such shorts as THE CHINA PLATE and BLUE RHYTHM. Benedict left Disney and moved to Universal to work on Walter Lantzs OSWALD shorts, beginning with THE DIZZY DWARF. Universal would remain his home for most of the 1930s, minus short periods at the Charles Mintz Studio and the time he formed his own studio, Benedict-Brewer, with Jerry Brewer.
Electronic Arts Inc. announced two separate agreements with Massive Inc. and IGA Worldwide Inc. in a move that will offer to marketers on a global basis new dynamic advertising opportunities across select EA franchises on the Xbox 360.
A portfolio of EA games developed for the Xbox 360 and PC worldwide will be incorporated into Massive's Video Game Network. Massive is a wholly-owned subsidiary of Microsoft. Financial terms of today's agreement were not disclosed.
Aardman Animations will, this week, launch its own mobile TV channel on the Orange TV service.
The channel, Aardman Animations will consist of a video loop, refreshed weekly of its own content combined with some of the best animation sourced elsewhere in Britain and around the world.
Sesame Workshop and Bear Stearns, a leading investment banking and securities trading and brokerage firm, have teamed up to launch a new educational outreach program designed to help children 2-5 and their families prepare physically and emotionally for the challenges of today's complex world and the possibility of confronting traumatic events.
Production will soon begin on DAMBUSTERS, the World War II adventure based on one of the most daring missions in aeronautic military history, for Universal Pictures in association with StudioCanal. Peter Jackson will produce and vfx vet Christian Rivers will make his directorial debut.
Warner Home Video announced that the stop-motion TIM BURTONS CORPSE BRIDE will debut in high-def on Blu-ray Disc (BD) on Sept. 26, while three Looney Tunes shorts (including RABBIT HOOD and ROBIN HOOD DAFFY) will be the first classic animation high-def bow on the same day in the rival HD-DVD format as bonus features on THE ADVENTURES OF ROBIN HOOD set.
STAR TREK is getting a 21st century makeover. CBS Paramount Domestic Television is releasing digitally remastered HD episodes of the iconic 1960s sci-fi series, with all new vfx and music, to celebrate the groundbreaking series' 40th anniversary, it was announced by John Nogawski, president of CBS Paramount Domestic Television.
Across the Pond Studios has optioned its ATOMIK MIKE for use on the new Comcast Cable morning TV program, KIDSQUEST ADVENTURES. The TV series is scheduled to begin airing this fall.
ATOMIK MIKE creators Stephan Nilson and Israel Cruz will write the ATOMIK MIKE segments, with Nilson also serving as one of the shows exec producers.
Rachelle Lewis, a long-time professional recruiter in the entertainment industry, has started her own recruiting company, Rachelle Lewis Recruiting and Talent, which specializes in placing animation and vfx artists for studios worldwide.
"My company specializes in placing animation and vfx artists for feature, TV and gaming," Lewis told AWN/VFXWORLD. We also represent artists who have television or feature treatments and help them in developing and pitching their ideas to major studios."
IDT Ent. has been renamed Starz Media and Starz Ent. Group has been renamed Starz Ent., both wholly owned subsidiaries of Starz Llc., which is a wholly owned subsidiary of Liberty Media Corp. Liberty recently acquired IDTE from IDT Corp. Robert B. Clasen will serve as chairman/ceo of both entities and of Starz Llc., which will be the umbrella company overseeing the two operating units.
Warner Bros. TV has hired David Nutter to helm the pilot for THE SARAH CONNOR CHRONICLES, prompting Fox Broadcasting to officially greenlight production on the TERMINATOR-based project, reports VARIETY. Andy Vajna and Mario Kassar's C2 Pictures, which produced TERMINATOR 3, is producing with Warner Bros. TV. Nutter will also exec produce with Kassar and Vajna.
Fox picked up the script from exec producer Josh Friedman (WAR OF THE WORLDS) last fall.
Casting will begin immediately, with filming set to start early next year in New Mexico.
HOLIDAZE: THE CHRISTMAS THAT ALMOST DIDNT HAPPEN will premiere in this upcoming holiday season with a DVD launch scheduled through Wal-mart in mid-November. The franchise features a newly created set of holiday characters captured in stop-motion animation.
Sarah Michelle Gellar is set to star in supernatural thriller ADDICTED, which will be is loosely based on 2002 South Korean picture, JUNGDOK, according to VARIETY. The Yari Film Group is financing and producing with Vertigo and Spitfire.
Joel Bergvall and Simon Sandquist, who helmed the acclaimed Swedish film THE INVISIBLE, will direct from a screenplay by Michael Petroni.
The story chronicles the tale of woman whose husband and brother-in-law end up in a coma after a horrible accident. When the brother-in-law wakes up, he claims he is her true husband.
Sir Sean Conners Billi Prods. Ltd. and Glasgow Animation are looking to raise £3 million to take their animated CGI short film property SIR BILLI to full length feature.
Digital 04 Studios is proud to announce the addition of LucasArts, Industrial Light & Magic and Autodesk Inc. to the //ADAPT digital art production techniques conference taking place on Sept. 23-24, 2006, at the Hyatt Regency Hotel in Montreal.
As August comes to a close, VFXWORLD continues its focuses on new technology. Renee Dunlap looks at the early buzz behind Movas Contour Reality Capture System; Karen Raugust reports on how the Art Directors Guild and the Society of American Cinematographers are trying to create and promote a non-linear workflow and its impact on the VFX industry; and Paul Peszko examines several new emerging technologies that are helping 3D become more dynamic and interactive.
Luxology Llc. is now offering its imageSynth plug-in for Adobe Photoshop CS and CS2 software. imageSynth is advanced technology that allows Adobe Photoshop users to quickly and easily create seamless textures, synthetic images, backgrounds and generate high-resolution images from low-resolution sources. Previously available exclusively to modo users, the imageSynth plug-in is now available to the entire Photoshop community and can be purchased directly from the Luxology website.
The complete program is now available online for the Visual Effects Societys eDIT 9. Filmmakers Festival in Frankfurt, Germany, Sept. 24-26.
The festival program is subdivided into the following thematic program areas: feature film, animation, commercials, television, media industry and for the first time documentary. In addition, the festival's guests of honor will be interviewed at the Festival Honors Salon.
LucasArts, Industrial Light & Magic and Autodesk will participate in to the ADAPT 2006 digital art production techniques conference taking place on Sept. 23-24 at the Hyatt Regency Hotel in Montreal.
Our goal is to create an environment where art can be studied, discussed and enjoyed. It is heartwarming to see the support and trust from the industry in what is only our first edition, said Digital 04 Studios co-founder Emile Ghorayeb.
Rainmaker Animation & Visual Effects has entered into an agreement to acquire all of Mainframe Ent., with the new corporate name to be Rainmaker Ent. Inc. (REI).
This was the result of Rainmaker acquiring the balance of the 38% of the outstanding shares of Mainframe not owned by Rainmakers majority owned subsidiary, RNK Capital Ltd. Partnership (RNK Capital LP), by way of an amalgamation, resulting in a cash purchase price of $0.24 per share.
Artist-owned-and-operated visual effects studio Brickyard VFX has wrapped two new music videos. The first video was directed by Jonathan Dayton and Valerie Faris and promotes the song "Tell Me Baby" for The Red Hot Chili Peppers. The second promotes DeVotchKa's "Till the End of Time" from LITTLE MISS SUNSHINE.
The School of Cinema-Television at the University of Southern California in Los Angeles has established the John C. Hench Division of Animation & Digital Arts via a $5 million endowment gift from the estate of the late Disney animation artist Hench (PETER PAN, DUMBO, FANTASIA, 20,000 LEAGUES UNDER THE SEA, ALICE IN WONDERLAND).
In an effort to streamline operations and facilitate the expansion of its two channels AXN ASIA and Animax ASIA SPE Networks Asia underwent a re-organization. In the last three months, the organization moved to consolidate the functions of program and brand marketing under the two channel brands AXN and Animax. In the past, staff from programming, marketing and creative services reported to their respective functional heads.
