Universal has caged the rights to the sci-fi comedy pitch ZOO from ELF scribe David Berenbaum, reports VARIETY. Berenbaum developed the pitch from a treatment by Ehren Kruger, who will produce with Daniel Bobker through their Bobker/Kruger company.
The plot is being kept on the down low.
Berenbaums other writing credits include an adaptation of kids' fantasy series THE SPIDERWICK CHRONICLES, Revolution's upcoming ZOOM'S ACADEMY and Disney's THE HAUNTED MANSION.
IDT Ent. announced the appointment of Chris McGurk to the newly created post of senior advisor, new ventures. McGurks longtime career in the entertainment industry includes stints atop MGM, Universal Pictures and the Walt Disney Co. Motion Picture Group. In his new position, McGurk will focus his industry experience on leveraging IDTs assets to build a new live-action theatrical production and distribution arm. He will report to IDT Ent.
The supervisory Board of TV Loonland AG announced the appointment of Simon Flamank as the new ceo of TV Loonland. Flamanks appointment follows the departure of former ceo Selma Kappel, who leaves the company following a disagreement with the supervisory board about the future development of the company.
PBS announced the planned launch of a new 24-hour digital broadcast channel for early elementary school-age children, called the PBS KIDS GO! Channel, in October 2006. The new channel, which follows the success of the PBS KIDS GO! afternoon programming block on PBS member stations, will be entirely devoted to early elementary school kids.
BroadRelay Inc. announced that it has signed a one-year deal with Films By Jove (FBJ) to broadcast FBJ's Russian animation online. The animated series will be added to BroadRelay's existing slate of online programming under the SIVOO brand name (www.SIVOO.com).
During MIP-TV this week in Cannes, production company BRB Internacional has just closed the sale of its first CG series, BERNARD, to the BBC, which is likely to broadcast the series in 2007. Consisting of 52 episodes in the sketch genre, this series, co-produced by BRB, its creative studio Screen 21, EBS, M6 and RG, is entirely in High-Definition.
Cookie Jar Ent. enters the boys action arena with the launch of the 52 half-hour action-adventure series SPIDER RIDERS, a co-production between Cookie Jar Ent. and leading Japanese advertising agency, Yomiko. SPIDER RIDERS has made its debut at MIP-TV. Cookie Jar heads into the market with the companys first sale to TELETOON, Canadas all-animation channel, which will debut the series using an interesting mix of a movie premiere and weekly timeslots culminating in a daily strip show starting June 2006. animation is being produce by Japans Bee Train.
Gameloft announced an agreement with Sony Pictures Digital to develop, publish and distribute mobile games based on OPEN SEASON, the first CG animated feature from Sony Pictures Animation, as well as future Sony releases.
Buena Vista Games Inc. announced Walt Disney Pictures Presents THE WILD for the Game Boy Advance is now available at retail outlets across North America. A videogame adventure that will test kids' animal instincts, THE WILD is inspired by the upcoming animated feature film of the same name from Walt Disney Pictures, which hits theaters on April 14, 2006. The game features Samson the Lion and Benny the squirrel, who must leave their pampered lives and set out on an adventure to save Samson's son, Ryan, who accidentally gets shipped from the New York City Zoo to the wild.
At MIP-TV 2006, Nelvana announced that Nickelodeon International (MTV Networks BV) has picked up 26x30 of the 2D-animated comedy WAYSIDE SCHOOL for broadcast in the U.S., U.K., France, Germany, Spain, Italy, Scandinavia, Benelux, Israel, Eastern Europe, Latin America, Asia and Australia.
With its penchant for the irreverent, Nickelodeon is the ideal global partner on a cable basis for this madcap series from the creative and comedic mind of Louis Sachar, said Scott Dyer, evp of production and development, Nelvana.
Prix Jeunesse 2006 finalist TOOPY AND BINOO is invading MIP-TV. An original production from Canadas preschool broadcaster Treehouse, TOOPY AND BINOO is produced by Spectra Animation and distributed by Spectra International Distribution. The series has been airing for several months in both English and French.
VFXWORLD is pleased to offer this week the first public review of Toxik, Autodesks collaborative digital compositing suite for feature film production.
Taffy Ent. has signed a major licensing deal with Spin Master for debut show SAMSAM.
Launching at MIP-TV and represented by Taffy Ent., SAMSAM is a new comicbook based 3D animated television property produced by Bayard Jeunesse Animation in HD with a first season of 52x7. Toronto-based Spin Master Ltd. has been granted the master toy license for the U.S., Canada and the U.K. Spin Master will initially focus on figures, plush, role-play and activity toy categories as well as a range of its trademark Marshmallow foam furniture.
GenArts Inc. announced the immediate availability of Sapphire Plug-ins version 2 for Avid editing systems. With 46 new effects and a wide array of new features, Sapphire 2 delivers the next evolution of industry-standard visual effects for Avid users. This release includes a variety of enhancements for users, such as single click application of effects to a title or key, background and mask inputs, 2D moves built into the plug-ins and a versatile new FilmDamage effect.
Apple introduced Boot Camp, public beta software that enables Intel-based Macs to run Windows XP. Available as a download beginning April 5, Boot Camp allows users with a Microsoft Windows XP installation disc to install Windows XP on an Intel-based Mac, and once installation is complete, users can restart their computer to run either Mac OS X or Windows XP. The final version of Boot Camp will be a feature in "Leopard," Apple's next major release of Mac OS X, version 10.5, which will be previewed at Apple's Worldwide Developer Conference in August.
The Digital Cinema Summit, which takes place April 22 and 23 in Las Vegas as part of the NAB conference series, announced its two-day schedule.
Day 1 Program:
Produced by SMPTE, the April 22 program centers on digital cinema mastering, distribution and exhibition including d-cinema package creation, 2K and 4K projection technologies, the visual/psychological impact of 3D installation, and the progress of digital cinema installations in theatres worldwide.
* New Projector Technology8:40 am 10:15 am
The SIGGRAPH 2006 Computer Animation Festival has bestowed its Best of Show Award to ONE RAT SHORT, directed by Alex Weil of New York-based Charlex, while Special Jury Honors went to 458NM, directed by Jan Bitzer, Ilija Brunck and Tom Weber of Filmakademie Baden-Wuerttemberg in Germany.
SIGGRAPH 2006, the 33rd International Conference and Exhibition on Computer Graphics and Interactive Techniques, will be held July 30 through Aug. 3 in Boston, Massachusetts.
NAB2006, The World's Largest Electronic Media Show is the driving force for creativity, innovation, technology and spirit.
It has been March madness in the classroom for 12 graduate students enrolled in New York Institute of Technology's (NYIT) Master of Arts computer graphics program. Students worked long days and late nights even giving up much of their spring break to complete a new, full-screen animation of the National Collegiate Athletic Association's (NCAA) Centennial logo.
The rights to remake the story of the wildly popular Russian animated character Cheburashka have been acquired by TV Tokyo Broadband Ent. Inc. in partnership with Frontier Works Inc.
Casual gaming leader gameLab has entered into an agreement with Curious Pictures to partner on the creative development and production of downloadable online games. Their first joint project will be a game tentatively titled BRENDAS BRAIN, which combines a playful and contemporary visual look with the more adult subject matter of neuroses and psychological quirks.
Carrere Group has obtained the international distribution rights to COTOONS. This animated series of 26 episodes is produced by Zone 3 in Canada and Film en Stock in France. Carrere Group will handle all television sales in the world, excluding the co-production territories Canada and France.
The weather is lovely in Cannes, the spring flowers are in bloom, lots of animation abounds, but many MIP-goes may not experience any of this due to an air traffic controllers strike in France that has cancelled most flights coming into Nice, the closest airport to the MIP market.
Those entered the Palais convention hall on Monday, April 3, 2006, saw a handwritten list of affected flights. While expected to be over before the weekend, this presents a hardship to those expecting to arrive and leave mid-market.
American kids on the AOL KOL service will now get the chance to watch Nelvana's JACOB TWO-TWO. As its first English-language U.S. distribution deal for this property, Nelvana took an unconventional approach by tapping the growing online medium to showcase its popular cartoon.
Global Student Animation Awards 2006 World Wide WebAugust 2006Deadline: June 1, 2006
