Malkovich Being Overlord in Mutant Chronicles
John Malkovich has been signed to play a 23rd Century corporate overlord opposite Thomas Jane in Simon Hunter's sci-fier, THE MUTANT CHRONICLES, reports THE HOLLYWOOD REPORTER.
AWN Headline News
SCI FI Kicks Off Casting Call For Who Wants To Be A Superhero?
SCI FI Channel is partnering with legendary comic book creator Stan Lee's production company POW! Ent. Inc., and Bruce Nash's Nash Ent. to cast a six-episode, one-hour reality series that will challenge a lucky few to create their very own superhero.
Voice Actor Papenbrook Passes Away
Voice actor Bob Papenbrook passed away on March 17, 2006, due to complications from a chronic lung condition, reports IMDB.com. He was 50 years old. Papenbrook (sometimes credited as "John Smallberries") was a frequent performer in a voice acting roles, including POWER RANGERS ZEO, TENCHI MUYO and GUNGRAVE. Extensively working on dubbing anime imports, his most recent work can be heard as Capt. Blue in the VIEWTIFUL JOE TV series. He is survived by his wife Debbie Rothstein and son Bryce Papenbrook.
March Peg-Board Newsletter Now Online!
The Animation Guild has posted the March issue of their newsletter, The Peg-Board, on their website, which is hosted by Animation World Network.
In Headline News | Geographic Region: All
This Week’s Animation Trivia Quiz for March 27, 2006
Test your skills and challenge your brain with AWN's Animation Trivia Quiz.
In Headline News | Geographic Region: All
Jason Wells New SVP, Mobile Ent. for SPTI
Jason Wells joins Sony Pictures Television International (SPTI) as its new svp, mobile entertainment. Wells will relocate from Los Angeles to SPTI's European headquarters in London and will lead the newly formed mobile entertainment group. He will report to both Michael Grindon, SPTI's president, and John McMahon, president/md of SPTI in Europe.
Fox Launches Biggest Promo Campaign Ever for Ice Age 2
Twentieth Century Fox has announced that its global promotional campaign for ICE AGE: THE MELTDOWN, to be released nationwide March 31, 2006, is among Fox's most far-reaching and ambitious ever.
Fox has garnered more than $100 million in promotional support, including a synergistic tie-in with the Fox Broadcasting Co. ICE AGE: THE MELTDOWN's beloved Scrat character will make a special appearance on the March 26 episode of the network's popular animated comedy series FAMILY GUY, and the Sid the sloth character will host a night of programming that same evening.
Kingdom Hearts II Launch See Stars
Square Enix Inc. and Buena Vista Games hosted star-studded launch party at Wolfgang Puck in the Pacific Design Center in Los Angeles on March 23, 2006, to ramp up for highly anticipated release of KINGDOM HEARTS II videogame, which ships on March 28. KINGDOM HEARTS II is the sequel to KINGDOM HEARTS, one of the top 10 best-selling PlayStation 2 titles of all time in North America.
Africa’s First 3D Animated Series Premieres March 25
MAGIC CELLAR, a 3D series of 20 animated shorts will premiere on the South African Broadcasting Corp. (SABC 2) on March 25, 2006. More than 300 under-privileged children will participate in one-hour nationally-televised special to launch the series.
Wumblers Moves Back in With The Goose
The Silly Goose Cp. Llc. has reassumed all proprietary rights to THE WUMBLERS preschool television series from Peak Ent. Holdings. Peak Ent.will maintain a significant financial interest in the series.
THE WUMBLERS series combines unique storylines, original characters and imaginative fun while embracing a global perspective: "We give preschoolers the tools to make this world a better place, and we do this all through play."
ATI Introduces FireGLT V7350
ATI Technologies Inc. announced the industry's first one gigabyte (1GB) workstation graphics accelerator, the ATI FireGLT V7350, and also a 512 megabyte configuration, the FireGLT V7300. Featuring an extremely powerful ultra-threaded parallel processing GPU, and ATI's industry leading AvivoT video and display technology, these new ultra high-end graphics cards further extend ATI's workstation graphics line, delivering better performance, more advanced features and higher image quality.
In Technology, Visual Effects, Technology, Visual Effects | Headline News | Geographic Region: All, Europe
Intel Introduces First Dual-Core Low-Voltage Intel Xeon Processor
Intel Corp. now offers the first lowvoltage Intel Xeon processor to combine dualcore technology with Intels innovative power management capabilities, helping to boost energyefficient price/performance with up to two to four times the performanceperwatt of previous Intel Xeon processors and platforms.
Hilton Sisters Want to Become Animated
Paris and Nicky Hilton want to turn their lives into an animated TV series, reports TheSuperficial.com. The show is rumored to be in the style of THE SIMPSONS. The debutante duo has convinced Interscope head Ted Fields to produce the series with hopes to air it on U.S. television.
Cartoons on the Bay Announces Short List & First Winners
Cartoons on the Bay, the international competition on television animation, hosted in Positano, Italy from April 5-9, 2006, and organized by Rai Trade, has grown steadily over the last 10 years and announces a record number of 340 entries sent in for this years competition. The 40 titles short-listed to compete come from 13 countries. The U.S. leads this year with seven programs, the U.K., Italy and France follow with five each and Spain, Canada, Germany and Korea each with three. Other countries taking part include Japan, Finland, Belgium, plus first time competitors Slovenia and Iran.
REALVIZ VTour Now Shipping
REALVIZ announced the availability of VTour, the latest addition to their software portfolio for content creation. The product, which was unveiled at the recent IMAGINA show in Monaco, draws on the award-winning technology of Stitcher and ImageModeler and offers users of all levels an innovative and effective solution for the creation of photoreal 3D environments from 2D pictures or panoramas.
1.1 VFX Streamlines Workflow With Xstoner V2
Maximum Throughput Inc., developers of ultra high performance software-based solutions for networked storage infrastructure and media management, announced that 1.1 VFX, a visual effects/creative finishing company in Venice, California, has deployed Xstoner v2 software throughout its facility to ease data management tasks and speed the flow of jobs through its production pipeline.
Cascade SIGGRAPH Presents "Bring Your Own Art"
Cascade ACM SIGGRAPH, Oregon and Southwest Washingtons local SIGGRAPH chapter announced Bring Your Own Art (BYOA), scheduled to take place April 3 at 6:00 pm at The Art Institute, Exhibit Hall located at 1122 NW Davis in downtown Portland, Oregon. Equivalent to an open mic night, BYOA is a celebration of the Portland computer graphics community and offers artists a chance to share works in progress ranging from animation, 2D and 3D models to web and graphics design.
In Event, Visual Effects, Event, Visual Effects | Headline News | Special Events: SIGGRAPH | Geographic Region: All
Gnomon Announces Spring Semester Lineup
Spring term for Gnomon School of Visual Effects begins April 3 through June 11. New classes include:
* Digital Sculpting and Texturing in ZBrush. This course is a comprehensive look at ZBrush's complete toolset for high-end 3D modeling and texturing. Instruction introduces a complete ZBrush workflow beginning with a base mesh and taking it to a complete ZBrushed finish. Instructor: Scott Spencer.
In Education and Training, Machinima, Education and Training, Machinima | Headline News | Geographic Region: All
John Loiacono to Head Adobe’s Creative Solutions Business Unit
Adobe Systems Inc. announced the appointment of John Loiacono as svp, Creative Solutions. In this role, Loiacono will have responsibility for the development, delivery and marketing of Adobe's entire creative software portfolio, including flagship brands such as Adobe Creative Suite, Macromedia Studio, Adobe Photoshop, Adobe Illustrator, Adobe InDesign, Adobe Premiere Pro, Macromedia Flash Professional and Macromedia Dreamweaver. Based at the company's headquarters in San Jose, he will report to Shantanu Narayen, Adobe's president and coo.
Emergent Game Technologies Launches New Tools at GDC 2006
Emergent Game Technologies has launched Emergent Elements, a powerful new set of modular game development tools that brings together stand-alone metrics, automation and 3D graphics technologies into a flexible, integrated framework. Emergent Elements enables developers to focus on the craft of game development, arming them with powerful new tools for building, testing and managing their games with more flexibility and control than ever before.
The Simpsons Come to Life March 26
Ever wondered what Homer, Marge, Bart, Lisa and Maggie Simpson would look like in real life? Find out when a live-action main title sequence is unveiled on THE SIMPSONS Sunday, March 26, 2006, at 8:00 pm on FOX. The live-action show opening is an homage to televisions longest-running sitcom.
FUNimation Develops Anime Programming Block Distributed by OlympuSAT
FUNimation Ent. announced today (March 23, 2006) that it has developed a two-hour anime block for syndication, composed of programming from the FUNimation Channel, distributed by OlympuSAT and available to broadcasters nationwide. CoLours TV Network, available as part of DISH Network's basic satellite TV package, will be the first broadcaster to carry the block.
The FUNimation Channel a 24-hour digital network featuring programming of top-rated anime brands from Japan.
In Anime, Television, Anime, Television | Headline News | Geographic Region: All, Asia, North America
Nick Ups Marsha E. Williams to SVP Research & Planning
Marsha E. Williams moves up to svp of research and planning at Nickelodeon Networks, responsible for consumer insights for Nickelodeon and Nick Jr., including all brand, programming and production, merchandising, public affairs, online and other corporate consumer research for Nick.
Cars to Premiere May 26 at Lowe's Motor Speedway in Charlotte
Disney-Pixar's new 3D-animated feature, CARS, will stage its World Premiere on May 26 at Lowe's Motor Speedway in Charlotte, North Carolina. Paul Newman, Owen Wilson, Bonnie Hunt, Larry the Cable Guy, NASCAR legends Richard Petty and Darrell Waltrip and others from the film's voice cast will be joined by a host of stars from the racing world and 30,000 guests that are expected to attend the CARS World Premiere, taking place at the same location as that weekend's famous Coca Cola 600 NASCAR race.
Dell to Purchase Alienware
Dell has entered into a definitive agreement to acquire Alienware to further satisfy the growing number of consumers and businesses, including those used for gaming and multimedia digital content management. Terms of the planned purchase will not be disclosed.
In Business, Visual Effects, Business, Visual Effects | Headline News | Geographic Region: All, Australia, Europe
