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AWN Headline News

Animation Headline News

VooDooDog Gets Nanny to Seoul

London based VooDooDog, run by David Z.Obadiah and Paul and Noel Donnellon, have been selected for the official competition in the commissioned films category at the Seoul International Cartoon and Animation Festival with the end credit sequence they created for the Working Title/Universal Studios film NANNY MCPHEE.

The sequence directed by Irish animator Paul Donnellon was nominated at the British Animation Awards and also won the silver medal at the New York Festivals recently.

Series Headline News

Turntable Timmy to Turn Up as Hip Hop Online Cartoon

Childrens author, Michael P., and illustrator, Doug DUG1 Cunningham have teamed with startup animation house, Rebel Static, for a groundbreaking new hip hop cartoon based on the critically acclaimed childrens book, TURNTABLE TIMMY (Last Gasp Publishing).

Headline News

FOX Orders More Simpsons and King of the Hill

Fox Broadcasting Co. has ordered two additional seasons of THE SIMPSONS and one additional season of KING OF THE HILL. This gives viewers 19 seasons of THE SIMPSONS, through 2007-2008 while Mike Judges KING OF THE HILL is picked up for its 11th season.

Having debuted on Jan. 14, 1990, THE SIMPSONS reigns as the longest-running primetime series currently on television. Considered a cultural institution and popular icon, THE SIMPSONS will celebrate milestone 400 episodes in May 2007.

Headline News

boujou bullet PXC Announced

Pixel Corps, the global guild for aspiring and professional digital craftsman, and 2d3, a leading developer of professional 3D camera matchmoving software, announced boujou bullet PXC, a limited version of boujou bullet 2. With a scaled down image support function, boujou bullet PXC includes many of the same helpful features found in boujou bullet 2, including automated tracking, matchmoving and a comprehensive wizard-based help.

Headline News

NVIDIA, Havok to Demo First GPU-Powered Game Physics Solution at GDC

NVIDIA Corp. and Havok will demonstrate a physics effects solution that runs completely on a graphics processing unit (GPU) an industry first at this year's Game Developer Conference (GDC) in San Jose, California (March 21 through 24).

Studio Headline News

V For Vendetta Explodes Box Office

Warner Bros. V FOR VENDETTA (with vfx by Cinesite, Double Negative and Baseblack) turned out to be one of the better openings for a graphic novel adaptation, with a smashing $25.6M to lead the box office for the weekend ended March 19, 2006. Paramounts FAILURE TO LAUNCH (with vfx by Lola Visual Effects) slipped to second in its second week, posting $15.6M for a cume of $48.2M. Following in third was Buena Vistas THE SHAGGY DOG (with vfx from Tippett Studio and Stan Winston Studio), which barked up another $13.3M for a two-week cume of $35.6M.

Anime Headline News

AWN Seeks New Anime, Gaming & Int’l Writers

AWN is issuing a call for new freelance writers. Specifically, we need individuals who have knowledge of anime, videogames and the international market. If youre interested, e-mail a brief introduction, your resume and a writing sample for consideration to Sarah Baisley at editor@awn.com.

Animation Headline News

This Week’s Animation Trivia Quiz for March 20, 2006

Test your skills and challenge your brain with AWN's Animation Trivia Quiz. Check out the latest installment from quizmaster Karl Staven, an accomplished independent animator and head of the Animation Department at The University of the Arts in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.

Animation Headline News

TELETOON's Student Scholarship Joins Ottawa Animation Fest

TELETOON announced an expanded partnership with the Ottawa International Animation Festival (OIAF) in support of the TELETOON Canadian Student Animation Scholarship. The program gives finalists and winners exposure with a screening of their films during the festival. TELETOON has been associated with the OIAF as a festival partner since the networks inception, in 1997.

Headline News

Superman Returns Filmmakers Plot Four Comic Book Prequels

DC Comics and Warner Bros. Pictures announced that SUPERMAN RETURNS director Bryan Singer and SUPERMAN RETURNS screenwriters Michael Dougherty and Dan Harris are providing the plots to four comicbook prequels to the upcoming film. The four forty-page prequels will be published by DC Comics throughout the month of June and will bridge the gap between the first SUPERMAN film and SUPERMAN RETURNS, which premieres in theatres on June 30, 2006.

Game Headline News

EMotion FX 3 Character Animation System Now Supporting Xbox 360

Rotterdam, Netherlands-based Mystic Game Development announced that its latest next-gen product, EMotion FX 3 the realtime character animation SDK for multi-core processor systems will fully support the Xbox 360 videogame system from Microsoft.

Studio Headline News

Silicon Studio Highlights Products, Hosts Party at GDC

Silicon Studio Corp., a leader in digital content development products targeted at the entertainment industry, is showcasing two of its latest products and sample technology at the Game Developers Conference 2006 (GDC 2006) to be held from March 20, 2006 in San Jose, California, at the booth # 1346. In addition, Silicon Studio is hosting a Happy Hour with complementary beverages and hors doeuvres from 5:00 pm on March 22, the first day of GDC, during the GDC Expo Booth Crawl.

Autodesk Headline News

Autodesk Unleashes Weapons of Mass Creation at GDC

Autodesk Inc. is heading to the 2006 Game Developers Conference (GDC) with arguably the worlds leading portfolio of animation tools for next-generation game development. Autodesk will showcase the latest versions of its 3D animation software products at booth #526. GDC will take place from March 22-24 at the San Jose Convention Center.

Television Headline News

TV Academy Student Winners Announced

Students from Savannah College of Art & Design and CalArts took first place in the animation categories of the Academy of Television Arts & Sciences Foundation�s 27th Annual College Television Award. The winners were announced March 19, 2006, at a gala ceremony at the Culver Studios in Culver City, California.

Headline News

BOXX Launches AMD-Powered GoBOXX 1400 Mobile Workstation

BOXX Technologies Inc. announced the new version of its award-winning mobile high-performance workstation, GoBOXX 1400, now powered by AMDs Athlon 64 X2 Dual-Core processors. Designed to maximize productivity and performance, GoBOXX 1400 combines the powerful AMD Athlon processor technology with a WUXGA GlassView Type Active Matrix display for 2D/3D graphics and animation professionals on the go.

Headline News

RE:Vision Effects Releases RE:Flex for Fusion

RE:Flex brings intuitive morphing and warping directly to eyeon Software's Fusion 5. Superior results are achieved using RE:Vision Effects' proprietary and sophisticated technology. RE:Flex is especially easy to learn because it uses the Fusion's own drawing and masking tools to direct the warping and morphing; as such, there is no need to learn a whole new user interface.

Design Headline News

Concept Designers James Clyne and Neville Page Join Gnomon

Concept design luminaries James Clyne and Neville Page will be teaching two new courses at Gnomon School of Visual Effects during the spring 2006 term, which begins April 3. Clyne has developed and will teach Environment Workflow Techniques, while Pages course is Character Workflow Techniques. Both courses are five weeks in length.

Headline News

SCI FI Channel Restructures Online Group To Focus on Broadband

SCI FI Channel has restructured SCIFI.COM to focus on broadband development and feature a richer balance of original online content and channel-related fare, with video playing a prominent role in every facet of the site.

Matthew Chiavelli will oversee the effort as Multimedia director and will be assembling a broadband team charged with developing the site's new broadband network, which will debut in May 2006. Also as part of the SCIFI.COM restructure, Marlon Jackson has been named web director and Shara Zoll has been named project director.

Headline News

Simon Kenny to Head Warner Bros. Digital Distribution

Simon Kenny moves into the new role of president of the newly formed Warner Bros. Digital Distribution, one of the companies that make up the Warner Bros. Home Ent. Group. In this newly created role, Kenny will manage the worldwide electronic distribution streams of the studios product over existing, new and emerging digital platforms, including pay-per-view, electronic sell-through, video-on-demand, subscription-video-on-demand, wireless and more.

Universal Headline News

SCIFI.com Hosts World Premiere of King Kong's Skull Island

To celebrate the DVD release of King Kong on March 28, 2006, SCIFI.com will host the world premiere of KING KONG'S SKULL ISLAND, a fascinating look at the unforgettable setting of three-time Academy Award-winning picture on March 18. SCI FI Channel will broadcast the featurette, beginning March 21, making the website and the cable network the only places audiences can experience this intriguing behind-the-scenes look at KING KONG before the release of the two-disc special edition DVD.

Home Headline News

Warner Home Video to Deliver First HD DVD Titles to Marketplace

Warner Home Video (WHV) announced it will launch its first titles on HD DVD. Clint Eastwood's four-time Academy Award-winning, Best Picture of 2004, MILLION DOLLAR BABY; four-time Oscar-nominated epic, THE LAST SAMURAI and THE PHANTOM OF THE OPERA, Joel Schumacher's movie adaptation of Broadway's longest running show will all be released on April 18, 2006. Each of these titles will be available for $28.99.

Dreamworks Headline News

Viacom to Sell DreamWorks Film Library For $900M

Soros Strategic Partners LP and Dune Ent. II Llc., an affiliate of Dune Capital Management LP, have signed a definitive agreement with Viacom Inc. to purchase the film library of Paramount Pictures' DreamWorks Llc. in a transaction that values the film library at $900 million. The library sale, subject to customary closing conditions, is expected to close in April. The transaction completes the second stage of the DreamWorks acquisition.

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