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AWN Headline News

Game Headline News

Slamdance Guerilla Gamemaker Competition Creates Scholarship

The Slamdance Guerilla Gamemaker Competition and the DigiPen Institute of Technology have announced the establishment of a scholarship to DigiPen Institute of Technology. Every member of the winning student design team for the Physics award will receive a $15,000 scholarship to DigiPen Institute of Technology, subject to admission to the program. Winners choosing not to attend DigiPen, or unable to qualify for admission, will receive cash and prizes valued at $5,000. The Physics Award judges engine, tool and A.I. programming, implementation and game play.

Film Headline News

Vanguard Lands Gnomes!

Vanguard Films has announced that they have acquired the feature comedy GNOMES!, written by Micah Herman and Kyle Newman. The high concept plot centers on a boy who discovers that the garden gnomes in his backyard are actually alive. When the boy starts to suspect that his mom's new suitor is a gnome-eating troll, the boy enlists the gnomes' help and all sorts of trouble ensues. Herman and Newman are slated to direct the project.

Kids Headline News

Nickelodeon Debuts Second Breakfast PSA Series

Nickelodeon unveils the second of its PSA on-air series, which focuses on the importance of breakfast. The spot, entitled "It's Breakfast Time," animated by Klasky Csupo's commercial division ka-chew!, is based on research findings that Nickelodeon released this summer, and features animated utensils rhyming and singing about breakfast foods as needed sources of energy for the start of the day. To view the spot, visit www.cbiapprove.com/ (password: breakfast).

Alien Headline News

Taffy Ent. Adopts Second Season of Pet Alien

Mike Young Prods. begins production on a second season of its groundbreaking 3D, CGI animated character comedy, PET ALIEN. Taffy Ent. has ordered 26 new half-hour episodes (52x11) of the series aimed at kids 6-11 to feed the demand for new episodes now playing in more than 160 countries worldwide.

Game Headline News

Peter Jackson to Exec Produce Halo Feature

Bungie, creator of the HALO game, has announced that Peter Jackson and his partner Fran Walsh have joined the film adaptation of the game as exec producers. In addition, WETA will be fabricating Covenant weapons, building life-sized Forerunner structures and handling live-action/CG integration for the project. Universals Mary Parent and Scott Stuber are producing.

Drawn Headline News

Drawn Together: Season One Uncensored! DVD Hits Stores

Comedy Central Home Ent. and Paramount Home Ent.s DRAWN TOGETHER: SEASON ONE UNCENSORED! DVD arrives in stores in the U.S. Oct. 4, 2005, and will also be available at http://shop.comedycentral.com. DRAWN TOGETHER, TVs first animated reality show, features eight cartoon characters, picked to live together in a house to find out what happens when people stop being real and start getting animated.

Autodesk Headline News

Autodesk to Acquire Alias

Autodesk Inc. announced that it has signed a definitive agreement to acquire Alias for $182 million in cash. This acquisition will grow Autodesk's expertise and offerings for the design of consumer products and automotive, as well as in the media and entertainment markets. The merger brings the chief 3D software applications 3ds Max and Maya under one roof. Autodesk anticipates that the transaction will close within the next four to six months.

Animation Headline News

One Month Left to Enter British Animation Awards

The British Animation Awards (BAA) 2005London, U.K.March 9, 2006Deadline: October 31, 2005

The British Animation Awards (BAA) covers all aspects of the U.K. animation scene, from student work to commercials, childrens entertainment, short and experimental films to music videos, new technologies, scriptwriting and craftsmanship.

Films Headline News

Zoom Girl Seeking Lesbian Shorts

Zoom Girl Media Lesbian Shorts Competition World Wide WebFebruary 1, 2006Deadline: November 30, 2005

Zoom Girl Media is accepting entries for its first competition to name outstanding lesbian-themed comedy short films. Filmmakers are invited to submit original comedies, 10 minutes or under in length, dealing with lesbian themes and related cultural and social issues. Films will be judged on originality of subject matter, production values, technical excellence and overall merit.

Work Headline News

Cinderella Comes to the DVD Ball

As with the earlier BAMBI, CINDERELLA (1950) gets the complete digital treatment for its DVD debut on Oct. 4, 2005 as part of the select Disney Special Platinum Edition (Buena Vista Home Ent., $29.99), including 4K scanning of the original negative. The results are razor-sharp image and 5.1 audio. Voice work included Ilene Woods as Cinderella, Lucille Bliss as Anastasia and June Foray as Lucifer. Directed by Clyde Geronimi, Wilfred Jackson and Hamilton Luske, with standout color and styling contributions from famed illustrator Mary Blair.

Digital Headline News

AccessIT, Christie Commit for Long Term Digital Cinema Agreement

Spurred by positive industry acceptance of their digital cinema funding plan, Access Integrated Technologies Inc. (AccessIT) and Christie Digital Systems USA Inc. (Christie) strengthened the commitment to their Digital Cinema Framework, removing provisions that had originally allowed either party to terminate their agreement by Sept. 30. The companies viewed the move as an expression of their long-term pledge to the innovative template they designed for funding a nationwide rollout of theater-based digital systems.

Imax Headline News

Happy Feet to get IMAX 3D Treatment

IMAX Corp. and Warner Bros. Pictures announced that HAPPY FEET, the animated musical comedy about a tap-dancing Emperor Penguin and his adventures in the Antarctic, will be released domestically in IMAX 3D simultaneous with the film's 2D premiere in conventional theaters on Nov. 17, 2006. The film is directed by George Miller (the BABE films and the MAD MAX trilogy), with an all-star ensemble cast, featuring the voices of Nicole Kidman, Elijah Wood, Robin Williams, Hugh Jackman and Brittany Murphy.

Headline News

LightWave 3D Powers Serenity’s VFX

NewTek Inc. announced that Zoic Studios relied on the award-winning LightWave 3D as a key tool in producing visual effects shots for Universal Pictures SERENITY, directed by Joss Whedon film. Zoic produced about 220 shots for the film, and for many of these LightWave was used to model, texture, animate, light and render the 3D elements. Of those assets that were created in other 3D applications, many were subsequently rendered in LightWave.

Software Headline News

eyeon Software Ships Fusion 5

eyeon Software Inc. has started shipping its core compositing application, Fusion 5. Features include: 3D compositions with lights, cameras and primitives, OpenGL acceleration with display views, and an essential change to ASCII files. These, and all of Fusion 5's advanced features, are the result of significant artist feedback.

Effects Headline News

Flightplan Still Tops at Box Office

For the second consecutive week, Buena Vistas FLIGHTPLAN (with vfx Lola Visual Effects and Peerless Camera Co.) led the box office for the weekend ended Oct. 2, 2005, bringing in $14.8M for a total of $45.9M. Debuting in second place was Universals SERENITY (with vfx from Zoic and Rhythm + Hues, among others), with a less than stellar $10.086M. TIM BURTONS CORPSE BRIDE, the stop motion feature with vfx from MPC, fell to third place with $10.033M. The Warner Bros. release now totals $33.1M.

Headline News

Nick Park on Wallace and Gromit: Curse of the Were-Rabbit Promo Trail

If Nick Park seems slightly dazed, its understandable almost three weeks of non-stop promotion has taken him to Australia, Toronto and recently New York City on behalf of his new movie, WALLACE AND GROMIT: CURSE OF THE WERE-RABBIT, which opens in the U.S. Oct. 7, 2005.

Season Headline News

USA Brings Back The 4400

USA has greenlit a third season of its hit series, THE 4400, reports the trades. With a premiere set for summer 2006, the 13 new episodes will go into production the beginning of the new year.

The sci-fiers second season with the #1 summer cable series with adults 18-49, beating out THE CLOSER and THE SHIELD. The five-episode first season received an Emmy nomination for miniseries.

Digital Headline News

Star Wars Illustrator Matt Busch Conjures Indie Flick

STAR WARS illustrator Matt Busch has signed a deal with Razor Digital Ent. to release his first independent movie, CONJURE, on home video and DVD. In addition to writing, producing and directing the feature, Busch also plays himself along with fellow artist/model Sarah Wilkinson in this supernatural thriller.

Film Headline News

Horror Remake Has An Eye for Zellweger

Renee Zellweger returns to the horror genre in the English remake of the Hong Kong horror flick, THE EYE, reports the trades. One of Zellwegers early feature film roles was as the female lead in THE TEXAS CHAINSAW MASSACRE: THE NEXT GENERATION, alongside Matthew McConaughey. Paramount is producing the redux via C/W Prods. heads Tom Cruise and Paula Wagner.

The film follows the eerie visions a woman (Zellweger) begins seeing after she regains her sight after a cornea transplant.

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