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AWN Headline News

Star Headline News

Ubisoft's Star Wars: Lethal Alliance to Launch in Dec.

Ubisoft announced today (Aug. 17, 2006), that STAR WARS: LETHAL ALLIANCE, an action-adventure game developed for the PSP and Nintendo DS, by Ubisofts Montreal and Casablanca Studios, respectively, will launch worldwide in December 2006. STAR WARS: Ubisoft is creating STAR WARS: LETHAL ALLIANCE under a long-term licensing partnership with LucasArts.

Film Headline News

Stop-Motion Peter And The Wolf Premieres the Royal Albert Hall

A Russian extravaganza at the Royal Albert Hall on Sept. 23, 2006, will celebrate the world premiere of a new stop-motion animated version of PETER AND THE WOLF, and mark the 70th anniversary of its first performance in Moscow. The Philharmonia Orchestra conducted by musical director Mark Stephenson, has recorded the soundtrack and will perform live Prokofiev's classic score alongside this first showing of the film.

Headline News

Digital Musings From the Editor:

SIGGRAPH 2006 may have been a smaller show in Boston earlier this month, but there was still a whirlwind of activity in the exhibition hall centered on the latest innovations. You can read the highlights in this weeks report. Meanwhile, Fred Galpern provides a rundown on LightWave 9, assisted by the open beta program of the last year. In film news, Alain Bielik reveals why WORLD TRADE CENTER boasts the essence of great invisible vfx, and Tara DiLullo finds out how the latest in CG technology and animation know-how has aided SNAKES ON A PLANE.

Bill Desowitz

Animation Headline News

Cloudy on Horizon for Sony Pictures Animation

CLOUDY WITH A CHANCE OF MEATBALLS, based on the illustrated book by Judi Barrett and Ron Barrett, is apparently on track to become the fourth 3D-animated feature at Sony Pictures Animation. Yair Landau, president of Sony Pictures Digital, touted the project, one of the first put into development when the animation company was formed in 2002, at yesterdays SPA roadshow presentation on the Sony lot in Culver City.

Headline News

Engine Room Produces Animated Lionsgate Horror Open

From the drama of a darkened theater comes a compelling project driven by Devastudios and Engine Room VFX. A rusted set of gears and weathered gates set an eerie tone for the Lionsgate open that will precede the studios' horror genre theatrical and DVD releases.

Animation Headline News

Animation Mentor Unveils First Student Showcase Reel

Animation Mentor, the online animation school, unveiled its first student showcase reel today, Aug. 16, 2006. Visitors to the site can view the inaugural online exhibition of student work from foundation classes one through four (previous site guests need to empty their cache). From Aug. 16-18, the reel can be seen all day and night, except 7:00-10:00 pm, PST. Beginning Aug.18, it will be accessible 24/7.

Channel Headline News

Doctor Who Second Season Slated for SCI FI Channel with Kick-off Special

BBC Worldwide Americas has licensed a second season of DOCTOR WHO to SCI FI kicking off with a two-hour premiere on Sept. 29, 2006, that will include the Christmas Invasion special in which David Tennant (HARRY POTTER AND THE GOBLET OF FIRE) was introduced as the 10th Time Lord.

The Doctor returns with his feisty young companion, Rose Tyler (Billie Piper), and together they will travel through time and space battling new and returning aliens and monsters.

Animation Headline News

MGM In Talks with Vanguard Animation

MGM is in talks with Vanguard Animation on a three-picture distribution deal, according to THE HOLLYWOOD REPORTER. If the deal goes through John Williams and Terry Botwick's animation house will deliver one film per year starting in 2008. As part of the deal, MGM would have a piece of merchandising and licensing of the properties.

Television Headline News

Fox To Deliver Movies & TV Shows For Download

Fox Interactive Media (FIM) and 20th Century Fox announced a multi-year agreement to provide feature films and television shows on a download-to-own basis across the FIM network. Fox Interactive Media's network will have access to Fox Ent. Group's catalogue of content including hit feature films such as X-MEN THE LAST STAND and THE OMEN as well as episodes of television series like 24 and PRISON BREAK. IGN Ent.

Cartoon Headline News

Ben 10 & PowerPuff Girls Slip Into New Apparel Deals

Cartoon Network Enterprises (CNE), the global branding and merchandising arm of Cartoon Network, has inked new apparel deals for its hit properties, BEN 10 and THE POWERPUFF GIRLS. CNE announced two new licensing agreements with SGFootwear and ODM for BEN 10. Additionally, CNE has partnered with fashion design studio Mighty Fine on a multi-year deal to develop a line of POWERPUFF knit top tops, t-shirts and fleece tops for the juniors and tweens markets.

Animation Headline News

Changzhou National Hi-tech District Completed

After a one and a half of construction, the Changzhou National Hi-tech District, based in Jiangsu province, China, has been finished. Participation includes more than 40 animation companies from Beijing, Shanghai and Guangzhou, and cooperative agreements from eight overseas entities from Korea, India, Canada, Malaysia and Singapore. Based on the status of their working agenda, by the end of this year, 12 animated productions should be completed, totaling 6,251 minutes.

Advertising Headline News

WPP Makes Strategic Investment in WildTangent

WildTangent, the leading online game publisher, announced a new strategic investment from WPP, one of the world's leading communications services groups. WPP's investment in WildTangent will enhance its global client roster's ability to tap into the WildTangent Game Network (WGN), a videogame advertising network that includes hundreds of popular online and downloadable games from WildTangent's own studios in addition to titles from top publishers like Nickelodeon, The Walt Disney Internet Group and other leading online game developers.

Digital Headline News

ADAPT 2006 Brings Digital Art Masters to Montreal

The first edition of Advanced Digital Art Production Techniques (ADAPT) is just around the corner. The new conference is aimed at bringing world leading international and local digital art masters under one roof in Montreal. Presented by Digital 04 studios, the ADAPT 2006 Conference will take place Sept. 23-24 at the Hyatt Regency Hotel.

Animation Headline News

BET Inks Animation Pact With Film Roman

BET's newly-established animation division announces two new major deals in the world of animation. BET has partnered with Film Roman to produce a slate of animated films and multi-platform series. In addition, BET is re-uniting Denys Cowan, BET svp of animation and his former creative partner, Milestone Media co-founder Dwayne McDuffie (STATIC SHOCK) to create a new action adventure series.

Animation Headline News

Wes Wood New Cosgrove Hall Development Producer

Wes Wood will join Cosgrove Hall Films as its new development producer, staring in September.

After studying animation and illustration at Manchester Metropolitan University, Wood, 26, Wes has worked in the production side of animation as a freelancer and recently for puppetmakers MacKinnon & Saunders.

College Headline News

Presenters for Primetime Creative Arts Emmys Announced & mtvU Garners Governors

Tom Kenny, the voice of SpongeBob SquarePants will be amongst the presenters of the 2006 Primetime Creative Arts Emmy Awards on Aug. 19, 2006, at The Shrine Auditorium in Los Angeles, which is not part of the Emmy awards network broadcast on Aug. 27 on NBC-TV. The ceremony will air as an exclusive two-hour special on E! Entertainment TV on Aug. 26 at 8:00 pm.

Headline News

World Premiere of Fantasia’s Deleted Clair De Lune at Hollywood Bowl

For the first time, conductor John Mauceri and the Hollywood Bowl Orchestra recreate an evening of musical selections from Disneys FANTASIA with film clips on the Bowls big screens, Aug. 18 and 19, 8:30 pm. Included in THE GREAT AMERICAN CONCERT: WALT DISNEYS FANTASIA WITH FIREWORKS will be the world premiere of the deleted CLAIR DE LUNE (found in the FANTASIA ANTHOLOGY DVD box set and retitled as BLUE BAYOU on the MAKE MINE MUSIC DVD), plus a glimpse into the brilliant artwork and unfinished segments of this masterpiece. Followed by fireworks.

Headline News

NVIDIA Starts Shipping New nForce Additions

NVIDIA Corp. announced new additions to the company's family of NVIDIA nForce Professional core-logic solutions designed to offer enterprise customers a high-performance, scalable platform solution for professional servers and workstations. To date, NVIDIA nForce Professional MCPs have been selected to power a variety of server and workstation platforms from leading companies such as HP, IBM, Sun, Fujitsu-Siemens and others.

Headline News

Complete Magilla Gorilla and Hong Kong Phooey Debut on DVD

Theres more Hanna-Barbera TV treasures on DVD with the first-time offerings of MAGILLA GORILLA (64-67) and HONG KONG PHOOEY (74-75). MAGILLA GORILLA: THE COMPLETE SERIES and HONG KONG PHOOEY: THE COMPLETE SERIES (Warner Home Video, $44.98 and $26.99, respectively) street on Aug. 15, 2006.

Effects Headline News

Rainmaker Selects Qube! for Global Render Farm Management

Rainmaker Animation & Visual Effects has chosen Qube! from PipelineFX as its render farm management system for both the Vancouver and U.K. studios.

After careful consideration of queue managers on the market, our decision on Qube! was an easy one, said Ronald Knol, IT supervisor at Rainmaker. PipelineFX's support is outstanding and Qube! is a mature, stable and extremely scalable product. Qube! supports all our applications and platforms, and will allow us to manage our remote locations, simplifying IT and render wrangler tasks.

Headline News

NaturalMotion Gets Funding from Benchmark Capital Europe

NaturalMotion Ltd. announced that it has closed a major financing round with Benchmark Capital Europe, the top-tier venture capitalist behind eBay, Betfair, Setanta and bebo.com. The additional capital will help NaturalMotion extend its lead in the development of innovative and interactive 3D entertainment technologies such as euphoria, a groundbreaking motion synthesis technology for next-generation videogame consoles.

Autodesk Headline News

Autodesk Introduces Lustre 2007

Autodesk Inc. has launched the Autodesk Lustre 2007 digital color grading solution. Lustre has shaped hundreds of films, including KING KONG, CLERKS II and the upcoming films MACBETH and THE BLACK DAHLIA. There is also growing demand for specialized digital grading tools such as Lustre in the TV industry and for films shot in high definition (HD). With Lustre, colorists can deliver stylized looks, maintain continuity across shots and change the time of day during which a story takes place.

Games Headline News

Research Reveals Casual Games Provide Mental Balance, Stress Relief

RealNetworks Inc., the leading developer, publisher and distributor of casual games, announced research findings that demonstrate U.S. adults who play computer games play casual games for a quick mental break. Sixty-four precent of respondents cited gameplay as a way to unwind and relax, while 53% play for stress relief.

Creative Headline News

Nickelodeon Latin America Unveils New On-Air Creative Campaign

Nickelodeon Latin America unveiled a new, creative on-air look. The new image will include more than 60 vignettes per feed (North, South and Brazil), a new animated Nickelodeon logo and the debut of Nickelodeon Latin Americas new mascot, Cubito.

Show Headline News

David Tench Becomes First Virtual Host

On Aug. 17, 2006, at 8.30 pm (AEST), Australias Network Ten will launch DAVID TENCH TONIGHT, a new talk show featuring an animated talk show host, reports SMH.com. The show was created by ENOUGH ROPE presenter Andrew Denton and his production company, Zapruder's Other Films.

Using motion capture and digital enhancement technologies, digital host David Tench will interview real people in realtime. Like other talk show hosts, viewers will watch Tench perched behind a desk, interviewing his guests live in a studio.

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