Warner Bros. Interactive Ent. announced 300: MARCH TO GLORY, based on Warner Bros. Pictures' film 300 and developed by Collision Studios, for PSP (PlayStation Portable) system simultaneously with the film in 2007.
Filming has begun in Los Angeles on Revolution Studios' NEXT, a science fiction thriller starring Academy Award winner Nicolas Cage, Julianne Moore and Jessica Biel. NEXT, which is being directed by Lee Tamahori (XXX: STATE OF THE UNION and DIE ANOTHER DAY), will be released domestically by Columbia Pictures in 2007. IEG Virtual Studios, an affiliate of Initial Ent. Group, holds the international distribution rights.
With the introduction of the latest software development kit (SDK), ATI Technologies Inc. is giving developers and artists the tools to fully leverage the power of unified shaders and the graphics processing unit (GPU), and a sneak peek at the possibilities of the future Microsoft DirectX 10.
John Cox, who has projects in development at the USA Network and ESPN, has been tapped by by Joel Silver for Warner Bros. Pictures to write SGT. ROCK, an adaptation of DC Comics' World War II adventure comic, according to THE HOLLYWOOD REPORTER.
Sgt. Frank Rock was the leader of his infantry unit called Easy Company. He first appeared in a 1959 issue of OUR ARMY AT WAR. As the characters popularity rose, the comic was renamed SGT. ROCK in 1977 and ran until 1988.
For the seventh year running the eDIT Filmmakers Festival is holding its international competition for up-and-coming filmmakers under 30. The organizers are looking for films that sum up the subject of time travel in only 30 seconds, the length of a classic advertising spot.
Nobody knows the future, and nobody knows what the past was really like. How would it be if we could travel into the past and intervene in the course of history? Or look into the future and find out if todays decisions were the right ones?
The Halle, Germany-based European Animation Masterclass (EAM) initiated a European network of animation film artists and animation schools. Last week, the EAM brought together 25 of the next-generation animation film producers from 11 countries with internationally acclaimed trainers from Italy, the Czech Republic, Germany and the U.S.
VFXWORLD continues its business focus with a report by Karen Raugust on guidelines for the sharing of digital assets as a result of the unique collaboration between Rhythm & Hues, Sony Pictures Imageworks and ILM on THE CHRONICLES OF NARNIA.
The 2006 Festival of Visual Effects has been set for July 7-9, 2006 at the famed Egyptian Theatre in Hollywood, California.
"We are thrilled to be presenting our eighth annual Festival at the Egyptian for the first time," said Visual Effects Society (VES) exec director Eric Roth. "Each year the Festival has grown in scope and number of attendees. This venue shows how much the VES has expanded as well as the visual effects industry's continually increasing influence on the business of films, animation, games and television."
JibJab Media, known for its entertaining Internet political animation satires GOOD TO BE IN DC! and THIS LAND, have launched JokeBox a place for people to get together online and share laughs, sort of a Comedy Central meets MySpace.
"We think of JokeBox like MySpace meets Comedy Central," said JibJab brother and co-founder, Grevan Spiridellis. "We have over 25,000 video, picture and written jokes at JibJab.com and our community is over 640,000 people strong. We're thrilled that so many people are making JibJab the place to come and share laughs."
The Computer Animation Festival jury for SIGGRAPH 2006 selected 97 films and two award winners from 726 entries for exemplary use of computer-generated imagery and animation and compelling storytelling.
The SIGGRAPH Computer Animation Festival is an internationally recognized event that engages and inspires artists and technologists alike. Each year, it serves as a mirror of what is possible today and a window into what can be achieved in the future.
Mobifest 2006Toronto, Ontario, CanadaMay 17, 2006Deadline: April 30, 2006
KROK International Animated Film Festival 2006Various Cities, RussiaAugust 8-18, 2006 Deadline: May 1, 2006
The Gnomon Workshop provides the answer to all your matchmoving questions, with five new titles from artists Tim Dobbert, who joins the Gnomon Workshop with three new releases, and Stephen McClure, whose two new titles introduce tracking in boujou. Ethan Summers rounds out the releases with a new title showing how he creates landscapes in Vue.
Extreme Digital Prods., a New York-based effects company, utilized wondertouchs award-winning particleIllusion for a range of provocative vfx on the HBO/Lovett Prods documentary, TOO HOT NOT TO HANDLE: A GLOBAL WARMING PRIMER. The film debuts on Earth Day, April 22, and will air exclusively on HBO.
Autodesk Inc. launched its Academy Award-winning Discreet Inferno visual effects system running on the Linux operating system. The Discreet Inferno system enables the world's top digital artists in broadcast facilities, post-production houses and film studios to deliver extraordinary moving imagery. This system contains a robust creative toolset for high-speed compositing, advanced graphics and interactive design.
In honor of Earth Day 2006 on April 22, Boomerang will air an exclusive, first-time presentation of the 13 half-hour episodes that comprise the sixth and final season of CAPTAIN PLANET AND THE PLANETEERS. Each episode presents an important environmental concern and will play in order from 7:30-11:30 am, and from 3:30-7:30 pm.
Actor, writer, comedian John Henson (WATCH THIS) will host the 33rd Annual Daytime Creative Arts Emmy Awards in Los Angeles on Saturday, April 22, 2006, at Hollywood and Highland's Grand Ballroom. The non-televised award show honors excellence and achievement in animation and many program categories as well as all technical areas of daytime television. Red Carpet arrivals begin at 4:00 pm and the awards presentation is from 5:00-6:30 pm.
Americas only viewer influenced, music television network, fuse, will premiere EMPIRE SQUARE, the networks convention-shattering cartoon series dubbed by the U.K. press as the British South Park. The six, half-hour episodes, created exclusively for fuse, will debut at 10:30 pm as part of fuses new titillating fuseday tuesday programming block.
ADV Films, on April 18, 2006, released the 11th and 12th volumes of GATCHAMAN as well as the sixth GATCHAMAN COLLECTION, a box set containing both new volumes and a jam-packed extras disk.
For the 10th year, the Academy of Television Arts & Sciences is calling for entries in the television commercial category for the Emmy Awards. Production companies and ad agencies nationwide are eligible to enter commercials that originally aired on television nationally during the current eligibility year (June 1, 2005 through May 31, 2006) during any national primetime period (6:00 pm - 2:00 am).
Electronic Arts and Warner Bros. Interactive Ent. announced they have secured an all-star cast for the voices in SUPERMAN RETURNS: THE VIDEOGAME. The game will feature the voice and likeness of Brandon Routh (Superman/Clark Kent) as well as the voices of Kevin Spacey (Lex Luthor), Kate Bosworth (Lois Lane), Parker Posey (Kitty Kowalski) and Sam Huntington (Jimmy Olsen), all reprising their roles from the upcoming Warner Bros. Pictures film directed by Bryan Singer.
Vivendi Universal Games (VU Games) announced it is bringing the fantasy-adventure ERAGON to the PS2, Xbox, Xbox 360, Game Boy Advance, Nintendo DS, PSP and the PC in November 2006. Developed by Stormfront Studios for consoles and PC, and Amaze Ent. for handhelds, the game is based on the upcoming Twentieth Century Fox feature film inspired by Christopher Paolini's best-selling fantasy novel, featuring Edward Speleers, Djimon Hounsou and Robert Carlyle.
IMAX Corp. and Warner Bros. Pictures announced that HARRY POTTER AND THE GOBLET OF FIRE: The IMAX Experience has grossed more than $20 million, becoming the first digitally re-mastered 2D IMAX release to reach the milestone. The IMAX release has now grossed a total of $20,033,758 million worldwide for a cumulative per screen average of $188,998. The film has shown strong legs since debuting in IMAX theatres, setting numerous records for a Hollywood simultaneous release, including biggest three-day opening weekend and highest per screen average.
Special coverage of the College Television Awards Gala, awarded by the Academy of Television Arts & Sciences, and a sample of the winning works are now available via mtvU.com. To watch, go to www.mtvu.com/on_mtvu/college_television_awards. This is the fist time the ceremony has ever been televised or the films been made available for viewing online.
Continuing our special event specific Flash Newsletters, we will be publishing special editions for E3 and Annecy. The markets are fast approaching and our editorial and advertising staff are gearing up for the E3 and Annecy-specific Flash Newsletter series. Here are the dates for the publications. Please send your news two weeks prior to the publication date.
E3 Flash NewsletterMay 2
Annecy Flash NewslettersMay 30
