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AWN Headline News

Headline News

Tricky Women Calls for 2007 Event

Tricky Women 2007Vienna, Austria March 1-5, 2007Deadline: November 15, 2006

"Tricky Women" is specifically dedicated to animation made by women. The international competition with the "Tricky Women Award of the City of Vienna" constitutes the main part of the festival. Country focuses, retrospectives, curated programs, lectures and discussions offer the chance to look at animated films from a theoretical as well as practical perspective. For more information, visit www.culture2culture.at.

Headline News

Neptuno Films Sets New Deals In Latin America

The production/distribution company Neptuno Films has sealed new pan regional sales of its animation production portfolio in Latin America.

Cartoon Network Latin America has acquired seasons 1 and 2 of KING ARTHURS DISASTERS. A co-production of Neptuno Films with Zenith Ent., KING ARTHURS DISASTERS has been airing on ITV in the U.K. Other partners include Nick UK, Cartoon Network France, ABC Australia, Disney Italy, among others.

Animation Headline News

Judges Set for 3rd Annual Nicktoons Network Animation Festival

The third annual Nicktoons Network Animation Festival has selected six judges for this years festivities. Comedic brothers Shawn and Marlon Wayans, creators of a brand new an animated special for Nickelodeon and Nicktoons Network, will serve on a panel of artists that also includes FAMILY GUY creator Seth MacFarlane, Disneys Andreas Deja, famed independent animator Bill Plympton and last year's Producers Choice and Student Award Winner JG Quintel.

Television Headline News

SPTI Ups Tom Davidson to International Networks VP

Sony Pictures Television International (SPTI) has promoted Tom Davidson to vp, International Networks, where he will play a key role in developing SPTI's television networks business in Europe, the Middle East and Africa, with a focus on increasing distribution for its global channel brands AXN, Animax and Sony Ent. Television on both traditional pay-tv platforms and increasingly into the broadband and mobile worlds.

Headline News

Benoit Runel New BKN New Media Ltd. Managing Director

BKN International AG has appointed Benoit Runel md of the companys largest operating subsidiary, BKN New Media Ltd. in Great Britain. Runel will oversee all sales and marketing for the BKN in the U.K., Germany, Benelux, Scandinavia, North America and emerging markets, such as Eastern Europe, Africa and the Middle East. He will also oversee all development and pre-production activities in the London-based studio, as well as secure and manage all co-productions with international partners.

Advertising Headline News

Exent Technologies Launches In-Game Advertising Solution

Exent Technologies, a global market leader in broadband-based solutions for monetization of PC and videogames, has launched a suite of in-game advertising solutions enabling in-game ads for new and existing titles without the need to access the videogames source code or any SDK integration.

Media Headline News

DECODE and Halifax Film Go Public as DHX Media

Leading kids and family entertainment specialist DECODE Ent. and Canadian independent The Halifax Film Co. have joined forces to create DHX Media.

The new entertainment ventures shares launched on both the AIM in London and the Toronto stock exchange, the TSX, with trading starting on May 19. 2006.

Kids Headline News

'FETCH! With Ruff Ruffman' Unleashed on PBS KIDS GO!

The first episode of FETCH! WITH RUFF RUFFMAN part game show, part reality TV, and part spoof debuts online at www.pbskidsgo.org/fetch May 22, 2006. The series, targeting kids 6-10, mixes unscripted live-action with animation with an educational and comical take on one of America's most popular television genres.

The show features real kids, real challenges, real science, and an unreal animated host, a dog named Ruff Ruffman. Online, FETCH!s website offers FETCH! viewers the opportunity to play along with the show, even after the TV is turned off.

Headline News

Da Vinci Goes Over Box Office Hedge

Capturing $77M, THE DA VINCI CODE exceeded low expectations and overcame negative reviews during its opening weekend ended May 21, 2006. In fact, the controversial blockbuster from Sony Pictures (with vfx from MPC and Rainmaker UK, among others) collected an exceptional opening worldwide gross of $238.1, according to the studio, second only to STAR WARS: EPISODE III. Sony is even contemplating making Dan Browns literary prequel, ANGELS AND DEMONS, into a movie.

Animation Headline News

Catscratch Wins at 2nd China Int’l Cartoon & Animation Festival

Nickelodeon's CATSCRATCH was awarded Best Foreign Animation Series recently at the 2nd annual China International Cartoon & Animation Festival, which took place April 28-May 3, 2006, in Hangzhou, China. CATSCRATCH was judged by a panel of nine judges from the China Film Association, International Animated Film Association, China Animation Academy, Korea Animation Association and design industry.

Series Headline News

X-Files 2 Discovers Writer

Frank Spotnitz, the man behind much of the mythology of THE X-FILES, has been hired to help write the next movie based on the hit series, reports SCI FI WIRE.

Long in development, the second X-FILES film has mainly been held up by legal matters between series creator Chris Carter and 20th Century Fox. "David, Gillian and I, and even Chris Carter, all have deals in place, and once the legal issues are over with, we will go on with it," Spotnitz said. "I'm hoping it will get resolved soon."

Television Headline News

Ubisoft Developing Lost Videogame

Ubisoft announced a long-term worldwide licensing agreement with Touchstone Television to develop and publish a videogame based on the Emmy Award-winning television series LOST. Developed by Ubisoft's Montreal studio and scheduled to hit retail shelves worldwide in 2007, the game will be offered for home and portable consoles as well as PCs.

Story Headline News

WB Picks Up Anime Brave Story for Germany

Warner Bros. has snatched up the German rights to anime feature BRAVE STORY, helmed by Koichi Chigira, VARIETY reports. Fuji TV and Gonzo Digimation produced the film, which is being representing internationally by Pony Canyon. Warner Bros. is already the films distributor in Japan and has the first option in various other regions. Budgeted at 1 billion yen ($9 million), the film is based on a manga by Miyuki Miyabe about a boy who lives in a world called Vision.

Henson Headline News

Weinstein Co. Launches CG Unstable Fables Video Line

The Weinstein Co. (TWC) is getting more animated with a new brand of direct-to-video CG feature length films, UNSTABLE FABLES, being produced by The Jim Henson Co. (JHC), Flame Ventures and Prana Studios, with screenplays be overseen by Roger S.H. Schulman (SHREK, MULAN II). The new Unstable Fables brand offers irreverent versions of well-known classic tales and incorporate modern twists on the stories. The first titles being produced are based on GOLDILOCKS, THE THREE LITTLE PIGS and BILLY GOATS GRUFF.

Studios Headline News

THQ Acquires Vigil Games

Interactive entertainment software publisher/developer THQ Inc. has acquired Austin, Texas-based, game developer Vigil Games. The Virgil team will be led by David Adams, previously creator/director of several projects for NCSoft and famed comic artist Joe Madureira, best known for his work on Marvel Comic's Uncanny X-Men and his creator-owned comic series, BATTLE CHASERS. Vigil is currently working on new content for next-gen scheduled for release in 2008.

Dreamworks Headline News

HP, AMD Power Over the Hedge

HP technology helped DreamWorks Animation SKG create the 3D-animated feature, OVER THE HEDGE, which was released today in U.S. theaters and is showing at the 59th Cannes International Film Festival.

HP, which is DreamWorks Animation's preferred technology provider, delivered servers, workstations and HP Halo collaboration studios to meet the demanding business and production needs required to create the new animated comedy.

Special Headline News

Fairly OddParents Holds 'American Idol-Style' Contest in Hour-Long Special

Nickelodeon's THE FAIRLY ODDPARENTS pays homage to the AMERICAN IDOL craze with its very own Idol-like singing competition in FAIRY IDOL, a one-hour special premiering May 19, 2006, at 8:00 pm. The special stars former AMERICAN IDOL contestant Diana DeGarmo, as the singing voice of her biggest fan, Cosmo. The older-skewing special repeats on Nickelodeon May 20 at 7:00 pm and May 21 at 5:00 pm.

Effects Headline News

Rainmaker Announces New Animation and VFX Facility in London

Rainmaker has established a new facility in the Soho district of London: Rainmaker Animation and Visual Effects UK Ltd. In fact, all the visual effects in the St. Sulpice sequence of THE DA VINCI CODE were completed there. Led by Rainmaker visual effects supervisor Mark Breakspear and visual effects producer Nick Drew, the crew produced the longest visual effects sequence in the film.

Animation Headline News

Houdini 8.1 Public Beta Released

Side Effects Software, developer of the award-winning Houdini family of 3D software, announced the public beta of Houdini 8.1. This new version features an artist-friendly Auto Rig, Muscle System, Character Picker and Pose Library, as well as enhancements to the Rigid Body and Wire dynamic solvers. CG artists from around the world are invited to download the Houdini 8.1 public beta for free from www.sidefx.com as part of the Houdini Apprentice Program.

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