AWN Headline News

Nick Jr. To Debut New Original Mini Pilots

Nick Jr. has announced that it will debut new, original mini pilots across multiple platforms with the first window kicking off on wireless carriers beginning Tuesday, June 6. The three mini pilots, originated from Nick Jr.s Institute of Applied Play, will premiere on wireless carriers marking the networks first-ever launch of original short-form content on a wireless platform. Nick Jr. will continue the multi-platform roll-out of the mini pilots PASS THE PINHA, JINNY STARFLY and ALL ABOARD on Nick Jr.

In Interactive, Games, Interactive | Headline News | Geographic Region: All

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Pee-wee’s Playhouse Makes TV Return on Adult Swim

PEE-WEES PLAYHOUSE, the winner of 22 Emmy Awards, returns to TV, joining the Adult Swim lineup beginning Monday, July 10. The acclaimed series, which has been largely absent from the airwaves for nearly 15 years, stars Paul Reubens as his alter-ego Pee-wee Herman, and features a rich cast of characters who drop by the place where anything can happen.

In Television, Television | Headline News | Geographic Region: All

Films Headline News

Rob Zombie to Helm Halloween Re-imagining

Dimension Films has announced that they will make a new HALLOWEEN movie with Rob Zombie (THE DEVIL'S REJECTS, HOUSE OF 1000 CORPSES) writing, directing and serving as a producer. Malek Akkad of Trancas Intl Films (HALLOWEEN H20: 20 YEARS LATER) will produce along with Andy Gould of Vision Ent. Group (THE DEVIL'S REJECTS, HOUSE OF 1000 CORPSES). Zombie will also serve as music supervisor. Miramax Films will co-finance the development with Dimension Films.

In Films, Visual Effects, Films, Visual Effects | Headline News | Geographic Region: All

Headline News

WB Builds Casey Affleck’s Ark

Warner Bros. has acquired the animated family script, AARDVARK ART'S ARK, from Casey Affleck, who is set will exec produce, reports VARIETY. The story centers on the adventures of an animal family aboard Noah's Ark. Afflecks previous screenwriting credit was with Matt Damon on Gus Van Sants GERRY.

In Films, Films | Headline News | Geographic Region: All

Show Headline News

American Dad Gets 22 More Episodes

Fox has greenlit 22 additional episodes of AMERICAN DAD, extending the shows run through the 2007-08 TV season, reports the trades. In the fall, the series will move to the coveted timeslot following THE SIMPSONS.

"It's definitely a good show of faith," said exec producer Mike Barker. "From a writing standpoint, we feel there's certainly a lot of things left to explore in our characters. We never realized there'd be so many layers to a right-wing, conservative father.

In Television, Television | Headline News | Geographic Region: All

Animation Headline News

Toon Boom Animation Acquires Pegs

Emmy award-winning Toon Boom Animation Inc. announced that it has signed a definitive agreement with Pegsn Co, a privately held developer of 2D bitmap animation technology.

"Toon Booms software solutions are recognized as the market leading technology in the animation industry and the integration of Pegs technology in Toon Booms portfolio will enable the company to continue delivering quality, efficiency and reliability to the animation community - for all animation styles, formats and users," said Joan Vogelesang, president/ceo at Toon Boom.

In Business, Business | Headline News | Geographic Region: All

Marvel Headline News

Avi Arad Leaves Marvel Stewardship to Produce Independently

Marvel Ent. Inc. has entered into a new arrangement with Avi Arad to independently produce films for Marvel under his own production company banner, Avi Arad Prods. Arad will remain actively involved in Marvel's upcoming film slate, including IRON MAN and HULK, the first two films anticipated to be financed and produced by Marvel under its new film financing slate.

In People, People | Headline News | Geographic Region: All

Effects Headline News

RE:Vision Effects Adds Mac Updates to After Effects Plug-Ins

RE:Vision Effects has upgrades for its Macintosh After Effects-compatible plug-ins. Notably, all of their plug-ins that work within Final Cut Pro (that is, all of their products except RE:Flex) now run in FCP 5.1 on Intel Macs. The latest updates also run significantly faster within Adobe After Effects 7.0 on G5 CPU Macintoshes running Tiger (OS 10.4).

Upgrades are free if the main version number of a product is the same as the main version number of the license purchased.

RE:Vision Effects updated plug-ins consist of:

In Technology, Visual Effects, Technology, Visual Effects | Headline News | Geographic Region: All

Headline News

Thursdays Are !mpossible on Discovery Channel

Thursday nights will never be the same after watching an imaginative Discovery Channel promo campaign created by !mpossible Pictures. Charged with "branding the night," the award-winning creative digital studio has designed and produced a series of 12 high-concept animated promos and banners, including the recent Discovery Channel "Atmosfearic Thursdays" and "Conspiracy Thursdays."

In Broadcast Design, Visual Effects, Broadcast Design, Visual Effects | Headline News | Geographic Region: All

Animation Headline News

Crest Animation Studios Moves to Bigger Facility & Lands $18 Million Contract

Mumbai-based Crest Animation Studios Ltd., one of Indias leading animation studios has moved to a new state-of-the-art digital studio in Ghatkopar and has landed a big series deal with French producer Marathon.

The shift to this spacious 45,000-square-foot studio will accommodate the companys expansion plans to moves up from work for hire into production of its own full-length 3D animation feature films for a global audience.

In Business, Business | Headline News | Geographic Region: All

Animation Headline News

Crest Animation Studios Moves to Bigger Facility & Lands $18 Million Contract

In Business, Business | Headline News | Geographic Region: All, Asia, Europe, North America

Motion Headline News

Vicon, House of Moves Open New L.A. MoCap Studio

Vicon and House of Moves, the company's motion capture service division, announced the opening of a new 25,000-square foot facility in Los Angeles. The studio brings together House of Moves' motion capture production services with Vicons world-leading hardware and software development, product support and consulting to uniquely provide film, games and television customers end-to-end motion capture resources and services under one roof.

In Business, Visual Effects, Business, Visual Effects | Headline News | Geographic Region: All

Headline News

Pixar Releases RenderMan Pro Server 13.0

Pixar Animation Studios released version 13.0 of its Academy Award-winning RenderMan Pro Server software.

In Technology, Technology | Headline News | Geographic Region: All

Cartoon Headline News

Pokémon Chronicles Debuts on Cartoon Network June 3

Cartoon Network has secured the U.S. television rights to an all-new Pokémon series, POKÉMON CHRONICLES, which will premiere on Saturday, June 3, 2006, at 7:00 pm, during Toonami, Cartoon Network's high-rated action block.

In Television, Television | Headline News | Geographic Region: All

Animation Headline News

Tokyo Banks Help Animation Biz

Banks in Japan are underwriting a new scheme for animation content development, backed by the Tokyo city government, reports VARIETY. Development Bank of Japan will kick in $460,000 and New Bank Tokyo is giving $640,000 for the initiative.

Last year, the Tokyo city government announced an official policy of supporting the local animation industry through financial and other measures.

In Anime, Business, Anime, Business | Headline News | Geographic Region: All, Asia

Star Headline News

Laura’s Star Rises on DVD

LAURA'S STAR, the acclaimed German animated feature, directed by Thilo Gruf Rothkirch and Piet de Rycker (THE LITTLE POLAR BEAR), makes its way to DVD Sept. 26 (Warner Home Video, $14.98).

LAURA'S STAR was released theatrically in Europe and won numerous awards, including the Adults Jury Price, Animation, at the 2005 Chicago International Children's Film Festival, a Lola for Outstanding Children or Youth Film Award at the 2005 German Film Awards, and was nominated for Best Film at the 2005 Carrousel International du Film.

In Home Entertainment, Home Entertainment | Headline News | Geographic Region: All, Europe

Home Headline News

MGM Reorganizes Distribution for DVD and TV

After reinventing itself and launching a New Media division, MGM will now reestablish its worldwide TV distribution in-house and consolidate its DVD business with Twentieth Century Fox rather than splitting home entertainment releases between Sony Pictures Ent. and Fox. It should be noted that both Sony and Fox are aligned with the Blu-ray format for high-def DVD. Additionally, MGM and Fox will continue their successful international theatrical distribution relationship.

In Business, Business | Headline News | Geographic Region: All

Series Headline News

Marty Krofft’s NYC SuperShow

On May 22, 2006, half of the sibling duo that created some of the 1970s most fondly remembered childrens TV shows spoke at NYCs Makor Center. On tour to promote the ongoing Rhino Video release of his and brother Sids classic series, Marty Krofft looked back at their creation and shared some surprising news about their return.

In Event, Event | Headline News | Geographic Region: All

Headline News

CinemaNow to Offer Download-To-Own Disney Movies

CinemaNow Inc. has struck a non-exclusive agreement with Buena Vista Home Ent. (BVHE) to offer Disney movies on a download-to-own basis through its website. BVHE will additionally offer select new movies beginning with GLORY ROAD on June 6, which will coincide with the timing of its DVD release. This agreement will also allow on demand viewers to move their content onto approved portable devices.

In Interactive, Visual Effects, Games, Interactive, Visual Effects | Headline News | Geographic Region: All

Awards Headline News

Sci-Tech Aps in the Mail for 79th Academy Awards

Officially launching the 79th Academy Awards season, the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences is mailing more than 850 application request forms to individuals and companies representing the scientific and technical community in the U.S. and abroad in the next few days.

In Call for Entries, Visual Effects, Call for Entries, Visual Effects | Headline News | Geographic Region: All

Headline News

Digital Musings From the Editor:

VFXWORLD concludes May with Karen Raugusts fascinating look at The Value of Shorts for studios, including a sneak peek at the new program at Disney following the Pixar purchase. J. Paul Peszko analyzes the summer of CG water in depth, focusing on the latest fluid sim advances in both POSEIDON and PIRATES THE CARIBBEAN: DEAD MANS CHEST. Meanwhile, Tara DiLullo breaks down some of the intriguing vfx work in X-MEN: THE LAST STAND, which just broke the Memorial Day holiday box office record.

In Visual Effects, Visual Effects | Headline News | Special Events: SIGGRAPH | Geographic Region: All

Film Headline News

Two Animated shorts Honored at Cannes

The 59th International Film Festival in Cannes, held May 17 to 28 2006, awarded the Palme d'Or to British director Ken Loach for THE WIND THAT SHAKES THE BARLEY, an incisive look at strife in Ireland circa 1920. Two animated shorts, CONTE DE QUARTIER (URBAN TALE) by Florence Miailhe, and MR. SCHWARTZ, MR. HAZEN & MR. HORLOCKER, a student film by Stefan Mueller, amongst the 55 films from 30 countries in competition.

In Awards, Awards | Headline News | Geographic Region: All, Europe, North America

Headline News

fxphd Opens Professional Online Training School

fxphd, the formal training arm of fxguide.com a long time valued industry source for news and visual effects tips has been launched. Unlike fxguide, fxphd is a formal structured course that builds week to week into a complete understanding of the subject at hand. Students are able to discuss with course leaders each week and have their work reviewed and accessed.

In Education and Training, Visual Effects, Education and Training, Visual Effects | Headline News | Geographic Region: All, Australia

Effects Headline News

Lightborne Launches New CG Division

Motion design and production company Lightborne has expanded its offerings with a new CG division, headed by digital effects supervisor David Lombardi. Lombardi, who has worked extensively in commercials, videogames, feature films, episodics and music videos, will be responsible for new business development, maintaining client relations, overseeing all visual effects work and building the CG department. He is currently working on a CG-driven spot for Hasbro Tooth Tunes via ad agency Wonder Group.

In Business, Visual Effects, Business, Visual Effects | Headline News | Geographic Region: All

Headline News

Animal Logic Brings Piggy Banks to Life for Bank of New Zealand

Animal Logic artists collaborated with director Josh Frizzell and Curious Film to animate scores of piggy banks that travel across land and sea for the Bank of New Zealands latest campaign. Nerissa Kavanagh served as vfx producer for Animal Logic.

In Commercials, Visual Effects, Commercials, Visual Effects | Headline News | Geographic Region: All, Australia