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AWN Headline News

Headline News

Narnia Dethrones Potter at the Box Office

Exceeding all expectations, Disney's THE CHRONICLES OF NARNIA: THE LION, THE WITCH AND THE WARDROBE bowed with a strong $65.5M at the box office for the weekend ended Dec. 11, 2005. Disney confirmed that it would now greenlight the next movie in the epic C.S. Lewis NARNIA saga: PRINCE CASPIAN. VFX provided by Rhythm & Hues, Sony Pictures Imageworks, ILM and others.

Studio Headline News

EA Forms Development Studio in Singapore

Electronic Arts has launched a studio in Singapore to localize and customize popular EA games into at least five different languages for distribution throughout the Asia region. Based in the heart of the city at No 1, Fifth Ave #04-07 Guthrie House, the studio is poised to evolve into an online game development facility. A development team is already in place and the first localized projects have already started to be shipped.

Headline News

Park Village Signs Directors James Rogan & Aasaf Ainapore

Park Village, one of Londons leading production companies, has signed directors James Rogan and Aasaf Ainapore. They join Park Village alongside Johan Brisinger, Jim Hayton, Omid Nooshin, Charlie Stebbings, Peter Webb and Roger Woodburn.

Rogan started his film career at the tender age of 14 when he worked as a cameraman on the Channel 4/Childrens Film Units production, WILLIES WAR. He went on to shoot another two further features for the CFU as cameraman and advanced to director of photography.

Games Headline News

Sesame Street TV-Based Interactive Games Announced

Cablevision Systems Corp. and Sesame Workshop announced the launch of SESAME STREET Games, a new subscription interactive games service featuring the Muppets from SESAME STREET available to iO: Interactive Optimum digital cable customers throughout the New York metropolitan area. The SESAME STREET Games package offers unlimited access to easy-to-play games designed to educate and entertain young children 2-5 with Elmo, Grover, Zoe and the rest of their favorite SESAME STREET characters by pressing a single button on the television remote control.

David Headline News

Cartoon Kings Chronicles History of Cosgrove & Hall

In the week that beloved British actor David Jason married long time partner Gill and received his knighthood from the Queen he also quietly returned to a leafy suburb of Manchester where he helped bring to life the classic characters of DangerMouse and Count Duckula.

Dreamworks Headline News

Paramount to Purchase DreamWorks SKG for $1.6 Billion

Paramount Pictures has signed a definitive agreement to acquire DreamWorks SKG for $1.6 billion in cash and assumption of debt. The deal brings Paramount key assets, including:

* All of DreamWorks' current projects in development* An ongoing production partnership with Steven Spielberg and David Geffen* An exclusive, worldwide distribution agreement with DreamWorks Animation beginning in 2006* DreamWorks' live-action library* DreamWorks' television division and its properties

Film Headline News

Film Critics Love Wallace & Gromit, Howl’s & Corpse Bride

Its the end of the year and film critic organizations in cities across the U.S. have begun naming their favorites of the year.

The Los Angeles Film Critics went with the best-reviewed animated film of the year, WALLACE & GROMIT: CURSE OF THE WERE-RABBIT as their choice for top toon feature. Moreover, they honored Hayao Miyazakis HOWLS MOVING CASTLE with an award to Joe Hisaishi for his musical score.

Animation Headline News

This Week’s Animation Trivia Quiz for December 12, 2005

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.

Peter Jackson's remake of the classic film KING KONG is set to open on screens shortly. This quiz looks back to the original film for its questions.

Production Headline News

DreamWorks Animation Adds On Production Positions

DreamWorks Animation announced two new hires and a promotion, to support the company's strategy of producing two CG films a year plus direct-to-video movies.

John Batter rejoins DreamWorks Animation as a senior production executive; Jane Hartwell, a nine-year veteran with the company, has been promoted to head of global production and Nancy Bernstein joins as head of production for the studio's Glendale, California campus.

Headline News

Rhythm & Hues Uses Massive For Narnia's Armies

Rhythm & Hues took advantage of Massive Software's autonomous agent 3D animation and digital stunts system on The CHRONICLES OF NARNIA: THE LION, THE WITCH AND THE WARDROBE, filling the screen with fantastical CG armies that interact via artificial life. The film breaks ground for the variety of characters and animals bought to life using Massive crowds. It also for the first time demonstrates that Massive-generated performances are realistic enough to appear in close proximity to the camera and to hero characters in the scene.

Headline News

BlueArc Provides Rhythm & Hues with Storage for Narnia

Rhythm & Hues chose BlueArc's Titan Storage System as the storage foundation for the company's visual effects work on THE CHRONICLES OF NARNIA: THE LION, THE WITCH AND THE WARDROBE.

For the film, Rhythm & Hues provided 400 shots, using a production pipeline that included motion capture, modeling, rigging, animating, technical animation/fur, lighting, rendering and compositing.

Disney Headline News

Disney Launches Winnie the Pooh's 80th Celebration

Disney is marking Winnie the Pooh's 80th anniversary in 2005/2006 with an 18-month celebration to be commemorated with new Winnie the Pooh entertainment from Disney Live!, Buena Vista Home Ent. and Walt Disney Records; special edition product from Disney Consumer Products; and international support in all major regions leading to the 2007 premiere of Disney Channel's learning-focused 3D-animated series for preschoolers, MY FRIENDS TIGGER AND POOH. Winnie the Pooh's 80th Anniversary kicked off this week with the New York premiere of DISNEY LIVE!

Films Headline News

New Tax Credit System Offered to British Film Industry

The government of the U.K. announced a new tax credit system this week designed to support the British film industry, which was applauded by the UK Film Council. In the Pre-Budget report, the Chancellor of the Exchequer confirmed the new rate of tax relief for low budget films (films budgeted up to £20 million) would be a net 20%. For big budget films (£20 million and above), the rate will be a net 16%. Both rates apply to the U.K. spend of a films budget, capped at 80%.

Headline News

NaturalMotion Releases endorphin Student Edition

NaturalMotion Ltd. announced the immediate availability of the endorphin 2.5 Student Edition. The endorphin Student Edition contains all the same powerful features found in the endorphin 2.5 commercial version, including fully enabled export functionality; however, it is only available to students and teachers and is not to be used for commercial production. A single license retails at $995 and is available for immediate purchase from NaturalMotions online store at www.naturalmotion.com.

Headline News

MAXON Adds ‘HAIR’ to CINEMA 4D

3D software developer MAXON has launched the first completely integrated professional CINEMA 4D module for the creation of hair, fur and feathers. Known simply as HAIR," this new module lets users quickly and easily add realistic-looking hair to objects. The hair can be styled using HAIR's extensive tool palette, and a custom 3D shader gives artists complete control over the appearance of the hair. HAIR is not only easy to use, it's very fast, offers excellent rendering quality, and requires very little memory. An average configuration can easily render millions of hairs.

Disney Headline News

Disney Puts Animated Peter and the Starcatchers in Development

Disney Feature Animation has set its sights on a 3D-animated adaptation of PETER AND THE STARCATCHERS, the bestselling Peter Pan prequel penned by Dave Barry and Ridley Pearson, published by Disney Editions/Hyperion Books, THE GUARDIAN reports.

The movie will be scripted by Jay Wolpert (THE PIRATES OF THE CARIBBEAN: THE CURSE OF THE BLACK PEARL) and will focus on the origins of Pan, an orphan who flees a life of servitude by stowing aboard a merchant ship and discovering a magic substance that enables him to fly.

Million Headline News

SCI FI's Strikes Ratings Gold With The Triangle

SCI FI Channel has struck ratings gold with THE TRIANGLE. The six-hour original miniseries event scored an average 3.6 HH rating over its three nights (Dec. 5-7 at 9-11:00 pm), making it the highest-rated miniseries on SCI FI since the Emmy Award-winning STEVEN SPIELBERG PRESENTS TAKEN in 2002.

THE TRIANGLE made SCI FI Channel the #1 primetime (8-11:00 pm) destination in cable among P25-54 for all three nights that it aired. And 45% of those P25-54 were women SCI FI's best delivery of F25-54 since TAKEN. The miniseries averaged 4.2 million viewers a night (P2+).

Film Headline News

TV-Loonland’s Heidi Valuable to the Wiesbaden Film Evaluation Board

The renowned Wiesbaden Film Evaluation Board (FBW) honored the new TV-Loonland feature film HEIDI and others this week with the distinction of "valuable." The co-production of TV-Loonland, Telemagination and Nelvana directed by Alan Simpson marks its premiere in German cinemas on Dec. 22, 2005.

"We are very pleased at FBW's recognition and are convinced that HEIDI will be a very special movie experience for moviegoers, young and old alike," said Selma Käppel, ceo of TV-Loonland.

Headline News

Studio Arts and Venice Skills Center Launch Affordable CG Training Program

Studio Arts, in collaboration with LAUSD's Venice Skills Center, will be hosting a special, full-time computer animation training program beginning Jan. 9, 2006. This intensive, high-end, low-cost animation program will meet daily, Monday through Friday from 8:00 am to 3:00 pm and will consist of daily lectures, demonstrations, lab time and additional video support in award-winning Alias Maya. The course runs for 20 weeks and costs only $75 for the entire semester. The semester ends June 23, 2005.

Henson Headline News

Henson Hires Jason Lust

Jason Lust has joined the Jim Henson Co. as svp, Feature Films. In his new role, Lust will oversee and expand the companys strong film development slate by continuing to pursue strategic creative partners as well as tap into the companys dedicated development fund for optioning existing properties, such as childrens books, comics and video games.

Animation Headline News

Fox/Blue Sky Set for ‘Horton Hears a Who’

Twentieth Century Fox Animation/Blue Sky Studios have begun prepping the 3D-animated HORTON HEARS A WHO, with ROBOTS story consultant and former Pixar animator Jimmy Hayward co-directing with ROBOTS art director Steve Martino, VARIETY reports. A spring 2008 release is set.

Ken Daurio and Cinco Paul have finished the script, and storyboarding has begun under the supervision of Fox Animation president Chris Meledandri and Blue Skys Chris Wedge, both of whom are producing.

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