AWN Headline News

Speaking at the First Chinese International Animation, Cartoon and Game Fair, which opened yesterday in Shanghai, head of the animation department at Nanjing Normal University Wu Yue said that after decades of slumber, Chinese animators have begun developing new products, reports CHINA VIEW.

Since 2000, more than 100 university animation programs have formed and graduates have gone on to start their own businesses, mostly in the Yangtze River Delta.

"There are many small studios," Wu said. "They are clustered in East China."

Screamfest Horror Film Festival Universal City, California, USAOctober 1423, 2005Deadline: August 15, 2005

Screamfest Horror Film Festival is the largest genre film festival in the U.S. The festival takes at Loews Universal Studios Cinemas at Universal CityWalk. Winners will be announced at the Dinner Award Ceremony to be held on October 23 at Maggiano's located in The Grove. Screamfest is an internationally recognized showcase for independent filmmakers and writers of the horror, science fiction and fantasy genres.

Activision Inc. has extended its license with Marvel Enterprises to expand their long-term, broad-based strategic alliance through an additional license agreement for a non-persistent role-playing game (RPG).

Paramount has announced that Maggie Gyllenhaal and Maria Bello have been cast as the wives of Port Authority officers rescued from the World Trade Center in the studio's untitled Oliver Stone project, reports VARIETY. Nicolas Cage and Michael Pena have already been cast in the respective roles of Sgt. John McLoughlin and Officer William J. Jimeno. The film is scheduled to start filming in New York this fall.

Lucasfilm Animation Ltd. announced that it has hired Christian (Chris) Kubsch, a production and animation exec with more than 20 years of experience, to helm its animation studio in Singapore. As gm of Lucasfilm Animation Co. Singapore B.V., Kubsch will pull together and oversee all elements of the digital animation studio, including recruiting key talent and running its day to day operations. Kubsch will report to Gail Currey, head of animation.

InterSense Inc., the market leader in body worn, inertial tracking technology, continues to support Animazoo, a world leader in motion capture technology, with InertiaCube3 sensors for use in the GypsyGyro-18 MoCap suit. Animazoos most recent delivery of the GypsyGyro-18 went to Piranha Bytes, for speeding the production of character animation in the upcoming game title GOTHIC III. Piranha Bytes is a German game developer who created one of Europes most popular role playing games with its GOTHIC series.

The be-your-own-superhero site Urbaniacs has launched the beta versions of two new games HENCHLING THROTTLE and TRIVIA ROYALE. In HENCHLING THROTTLE, players don the identity of either Freaky Sneaky Tiki, Tricky Kicky Chick, Afro-liscious Funk Daddy or Super Speedy Dude in a mission to rescue townfolk from the GoatFists shadowy henchlings that are prowling the city. TRIVIA ROYALE is an Urbaniacs trivia game that tests members knowledge of all things Urbanville.

NBC Universal is in talks to buy DreamWorks SKG, in what could be a deal worth $1 billion, according to the trades. Universal Studios already distributes DreamWorks' videos and DVDs via Universal Studios Home Video, and its films internationally through United Pictures International, the foreign distributor jointly owned by Universal and Paramount. Additionally, the two studios have co-financed films such as the 2000 Oscar-winner GLADIATOR and Steven Spielberg's upcoming MUNICH, which Universal will release in December.