Peter Dinklage (THE STATION AGENT, ELF) has been cast as the villain in Walt Disney Pictures and Spyglass Ent.s UNDERDOG, reports VARIETY. Live-action rendition of the TV cartoon starts shooting April 10 in Rhode Island with Frederik Du Chau (RACING STRIPES) at the helm.
Dinklage will play Simon Barsinister, an evil scientist who once created a Big Dipper Machine in an effort to steal the world's water supply.
Paramount Pictures has scooped up the film rights to Mark Waldens young-adult novel, H.I.V.E., according to VARIETY. Lynda Obst is set to produce.
Title stands for the Higher Institute of Villainous Education, a school where kids with superior criminal potential are trained to become supervillains.
Bloomsbury U.K. holds the book rights in the U.K. while international publishing rights are up for grabs at this weeks Bologna Book Fair. The deal was brokered by exec Ben Cosgrove, his first since leaving Section Eight to join Paramount.
Madrid-based D'Ocon Films Prods. is moving into the production of a slate of animated TV movies, according to VARIETY. Announcement comes on the heals of the companys success with its first TV movie, the Charles Dickens riff, SCRUFF AND THE CHRIST-MAS TALE.
Set for a late April finish will be SCRUFF IN THE SAINT GEORGE LEGEND while three more toon telepics will follow.
As part of the move, DOcon is eligible to take advantage of Spanish broadcasters obligation to invest 5% of their annual turnover in Spanish or other-European-country films.
Nicktoons Network and MTV Networks International announced plans to secure 26 additional episodes of Animation Collectives property KAPPA MIKEY, which became the networks first-ever global acquisition when it was originally commissioned in 2005.
With the re-launch of their new website on March 28, 2006, JoeCartoon is launching the North American release of JOECARTOON GREATEST HITS VOLUME ONE on April 25.
Nelvana comes to MIP-TV 2006 with a U.S. sale in tow for its new preschool property from the creative mind of author Dan Yaccarino.
Nick Jr. has commenced production on the second season of THE BACKYARDIGANS, the hit series that takes preschoolers on epic adventures filled with original music. The network has ordered 20 new episodes of the half-hour CGI-animated preschool series. Season two of THE BACKYARDIGANS is slated to kick off in October 2006.
In its inaugural season on Nick Jr., the series ranked among the top 5 preschool shows on all of commercial TV. THE BACKYARDIGANS airs regularly weekdays on Nick Jr. at 10:30 am (ET/PT).
Adult Swim announced that AQUA TEEN HUNGER FORCE will make its big screen debut this September.
THE AQUA TEEN HUNGER FORCE MOVIE FILM FOR THEATRES is an action-adventure epic that tackles the mysterious circumstances that brought Meatwad, Frylock and Master Shake together. An immortal piece of exercise equipment threatens the balance of galactic peace, and it is up to the Aqua Teen Hunger Force to run away from it. Complicating matters, the Plutonians team up with the Cybernetic Ghost of Christmas Past for ultimate control of the deadly device.
CBS and DIC announced the programming slate for their new 2006/07 children's programming lineup.
SUPERMAN RETURNS will become the first live-action Hollywood feature to be converted from 2D to IMAX 3-D. IMAX Corp. will use its proprietary 2D to 3-D conversion technology to convert approximately 20 minutes of the film into An IMAX 3-D Experience.
"Releasing select sequences of SUPERMAN RETURNS in IMAX 3-D marks a groundbreaking moment in movies," said Dan Fellman, president of Domestic Distribution at Warner Bros. Pictures. "This film is going to give fans an opportunity to be immersed in a major live-action motion picture like never before."
National Geographic Television & Films (NGT&F) Kids programming and production unit has promoted Michael Karsh to manager, current series & development. Karsh will serve as the primary exec on several projects in various stages of development and production.
Apple is now shipping the first Universal version of its Final Cut Studio video production suite that delivers up to 2.5x the performance when running on a MacBook Pro notebook computer. Final Cut Studio features state-of-the-art tools that complement Final Cut Pro 5, including Soundtrack Pro, a new audio editing and sound design application that makes video projects sound as good as they look; Motion 2, the first realtime motion graphics application with GPU accelerated 32-bit float rendering; and DVD Studio Pro 4 for professional DVD authoring.
NVIDIA Corp. announced a new line of NVIDIA Quadro FX graphics solutions. This new lineup includes:
* The NVIDIA Quadro FX 350M: the company's first professional GPU designed specifically for thin and light mobile workstations.* The NVIDIA Quadro FX 1500M: offering outstanding application performance and the industry's highest image precision and quality.* The NVIDIA Quadro FX 2500M: bringing an industry best 512MB of graphics memory for customers looking for the highest performance.
Vicon has released Vicon iQ 2.5, the most recent installment of the company's industry-leading Vicon iQ software. Vicon iQ has consistently streamlined and automated motion capture workflows by providing intuitive controls and a user interface that simplifies the tasks associated with recording and managing even the most complex motion capture data.
With its year anniversary upon us, PSPs proprietary Universal Media Disc may soon be a home entertainment avenue of the past, according to THE HOLLYWOOD REPORTER. Universal Studios Home Ent., Paramount Pictures Home Ent. and Image Ent. have stopped releasing titles on the UMD format while retailers are shrinking the amount of shelf space they've been devoting to UMD movies. Rumors are abuzz that Wal-Mart will soon discontinue the sale of UMDs completely. Moreover, Buena Vista Home Ent. and 20th Century Fox Home Ent. have significantly pulled back on their UMD release schedules.
Buena Vista Home Ent.'s CHICKEN LITTLE has clucked up enough cash to secure the top spot on the First Alert DVD sales chart for the week ending March 26, 2006. VideoScan data reports that CHICKEN LITTLE, which grossed more than $135 million in theaters, outsold second-ranked debut DREAMER: INSPIRED BY A TRUE STORY, from DreamWorks, by a nearly 4-to-1 margin. Paramount's seventh-season set of Comedy Central's SOUTH PARK debuted at #9. In rental stores, Chicken Little arrived ay #7, with $3.9 million.
Cartoon Network U.K. is producing SKATOONY, the worlds first animated game show with real life kid contestants. It is scheduled to premiere in October 2006.
Hosted by animated characters Chudd Chudders and The Earl, the 13x30 series is animated entirely in-house by the Cartoon Network team at its London headquarters. Each week real-life and cartoon contestants will play each other through three rounds of challenges, with the final contestant taking everything in an against-the-clock challenge.
Completing its first full year as an individually rated network, the late-night service announced the new slate of programming on deck for 2006 at the Adult Swim Upfront event in New York. New series for the year are DEATH CLOCK METALOCALYPSE, FRISKY DINGO, ASSY MCGEE, SAUL OF THE MOLE MEN and LUCY, THE DAUGHTER OF THE DEVIL.
The early work of Academy Award-nominated Bill Plympton has been gathered together in one compilation. PLYMPTOONS: THE COMPLETE EARLY WORKS OF BILL PLYMPTON compiles all of his commercials, animated spots and short films and is available for $26.95.
VOOM HD Networks partners up with leading game industry companies to offer exclusive content on Gameplay HD, the first high-definition channel dedicated solely to videogaming. The channel features three tiers of exclusive programming centered on the interests of gamers, including gaming news, original series and specials, and global gaming community coverage featuring tournaments and competitions.
Capcom released MEGA MAN POWERED UP for the PSP. The original MEGA MAN, which was originally released on the Nintendo Ent. System, undergoes a complete transformation in MEGA MAN POWERED UP. The title features a totally redesigned look and feel, combined with new gameplay options. MEGA MAN POWERED UP is rated E for everyone by the ESRB (Entertainment Software Rating Board) and is now available at retailers across North America.
South Park 7th Season Now on DVD
Taieb to Direct, Nick & Viacom Consumer Products, France
Brain Zoo Studios has hired former Stan Winston exec producer and visual effects supervisor André Bustanoby to supervise visual effects at Brain Zoo Studios as part of an expansion into film and TV while continuing to serve the interactive entertainment client base.
Bustanoby brings 12 years of film and television visual effects experience to the Brain Zoo team, having worked on such high-profile projects as TITANIC, FANTASTIC 4, SKY CAPTAIN AND THE WORLD OF TOMORROW and, most recently, EIGHT BELOW.
It may not be SONG OF THE SOUTH, but THE ADVENTURES OF BRER RABBIT (Universal Home Ent., $22.98) is as close as were going to get to Uncle Remus famous tales on DVD for a while. This 2D animated direct-to-DVD from Universal Cartoon Studios, Cuckoos Nest Studios and Wang Film Prods. offers a modern, musical retelling of the clever and mischievous Brer Rabbit, as he outwits Brer Fox, Brer Bear and the rest of the Brer critters. Byron Vaughns directs an all-star lineup that includes Wayne Brady (Brer Wolf), Nick Cannon (Brer Rabbit), Danny Glover (Brer Turtle), D.L.
