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AWN Headline News

Headline News

Handful of Updates to the Theatrical Release Database

This week in the Theatrical Release Database, we have a handful of updates, including a gigantic trailer and some new pages. The trailer for Peter Jacksons KING KONG was hit the Net. As for new pages, we have videogame turned feature MAX PAYNE, BATMAN BEGINS writers THE INVISIBLE, GOTHIKA directors BABYLON A.D. and a live-action/animated EMILY THE STRANGE.

Headline News

J.Walt Adamczyk’s New Spontaneous Fantasia Comes to SIGGRAPH 2005

J.Walt Adamczyk will perform his new graphic performance piece AUTOCOSM: GARDENS OF THUBAN at the annual ACM SIGGRAPH convention in Los Angeles on Aug.1-3. J.Walt's graphic performances are a new performing art form, which utilizes high-tech interactive 3D animation techniques developed for videogames, simulation and VR. These performances, which Adamczyk calls "Spontaneous Fantasia," are a kind of "live animation" in which Adamczyk draws fantastic, ethereal imagery with musical accompaniment live before an audience.

Shop Headline News

Henson’s Creature Shop Closes in London

As a result of the dollars unfavorable exchange rate and a lack of concrete tax incentives in the U.K. production market, The Jim Henson Co. will no longer have a full time staff at its London location of Jim Hensons Creature Shop, the companys visual effects and animatronics division. However, the companys own television and film projects are not affected and the Creature Shop will continue to service third party clients out of its Los Angeles and New York locations, as well as hiring freelance crews in London on a project-by-project basis.

Headline News

Madagascar’s Penguins Release Supercomputers into the Wild

The Council on Competitiveness, a national organization of business, academic and labor executives, announced that the popular Penguin characters from MADAGASCAR will be appearing in a video at the Second Annual High Performance Computing (HPC) Users Conference. The video by DreamWorks Animation depicts how HPC impacts the daily life of the average consumer and will be shown for the first time at the conference on July 13, 2005 in Washington, D.C.

Awards Headline News

Grrr Growls to Top Midsummer Awards

The 12th Midsummer Awards were recently handed out, celebrating London's advertising industry. Founded in 1992 by Paul Cover and Terry Howard with the aim of promoting excellence in creative work in the specific area of film and television, and judged solely by working creatives, the Midsummer Awards are an opportunity for the top creative names in the industry to gather and celebrate the joys of the English summer.

Effects Headline News

NewTek, e-on Offer 3D Natural Environment Creation

NewTek Inc. and e-on software are teaming for a special offer providing Vue 5 Infinite, e-on's flagship solution for the creation of natural 3D environments, and LightWave 3D, NewTek's Emmy-award winning 3D content creation and rendering package, to purchasers at the special price of $995. The special offer represents a savings of $1,199 off the combined regular prices of $599 for Vue and $1,595 for LightWave. Vue 5 Infinite will also be available with LightWave upgrades at $495, a $599 savings. This limited-time special offer is available for Mac OS X and Windows 2000/XP platforms.

Headline News

AWN & VFXWorld Reminds Filmmakers’ To Enter eDit/VES’ eDwards

Animation World Network and VFXWorld would like to remind young filmmakers that we are a special media sponsor for the Visual Effects Societys eDIT 8. Filmmakers Festival in Frankfurt, Germany, Oct. 9-11, 2005. We will be sponsoring eDward VI, a young filmmakers contest and awards which celebrates the work of talented artists under the age of 30.

Animation Headline News

Animation Ad Vet Lou Hertz Passes On

Animation advertising veteran Lou Hertz died at his home in Atlanta on July 4, 2005, after a brief battle with cancer; he was 73.

Hertz was born in Birmingham, Alabama, and studied at the University Of Miami, where he claimed to have majored in suntanning, according to a family bio. He served two years as a lieutenant in the Air Force where he began his career as an animator by making training films for bomber crews. Hertz was an animator for United Artists in Hollywood before he settled in Atlanta in 1957.

Nick Headline News

Nick Offers Full Length Series TurboNick Broadband Platform on the Net

Nickelodeon will offer full length series via the Internet for the first time as it launches TurboNick, a broadband video platform available on Nick.com. TurboNick will feature up to 20 hours of new programming every week and includes advertising. In its soft launch phase that commenced July 1, 2005, TurboNick has garnering more than 1.25 million streams and will officially launch with a full advertising and promotional campaign on July 17.

Animated Headline News

BKN Does King Kong Deals & Expands USA Activities

BKN International A.G. has signed a number of licensing deals with partners in the U.S. on KONG - THE ANIMATED SERIES AND the animated film, KONG - KING OF ATLANTIS, which is in line with BKN plans to significantly expand its U.S. activities over the next 12-18 months.

Disney ABC Cable Networks Group has licensed BKN's KONG - KING OF ATLANTIS film and KONG - THE ANIMATED SERIES properties. The series will premiere this fall on Jetix, the action/adventure programming block that airs during primetime on Toon Disney and mornings on ABC Family.

Films Headline News

Digital Musings From the Editor:

To celebrate the Independence Day holiday we're turning back the hands of time on VFXWORLD and highlighting the big vfx films of the summer thus far. We're highlighting films ranging from KINGDOM OF H EAVEN to THE HITCHHIKERS GUIDE TO THE GALAXY to REVENGE OF THE SITH to BATMAN BEGINS. And we still have WAR OF THE WORLDS and FANTASTIC FOUR left to come, among others.

Bill DesowitzEditor

Television Headline News

SPTI Names Rozanne Englehart New VP, Programming and Research

Rozanne Englehart joins Sony Pictures Television International (SPTI) as vp, programming and research. Based at SPTI's headquarters in Culver City, California, she will provide research and analysis of feature film and television programming performance worldwide in support of SPTI's three lines of business: distribution, international production and international networks. This includes designing quantitative and qualitative research and managing a team performing analysis to make strategy recommendations.

Headline News

War of the Worlds Attacks Box Office

There definitely were fireworks for Steven Spielbergs WAR OF THE WORLDS, which hauled in $77M for the Independence Day holiday weekend ended July 4, 2005. It ranks second only to SPIDER-MAN 2s $88.2M for Independence Day holiday bows. Overall, WAR OF THE WORLDS grabbed $112.7M in its first six days, the best opening for Paramount Pictures, the best single-day opener for star Tom Cruise and the fastest movie to cross the $100M mark for Spielberg.

Autodesk Headline News

Autodesk Presents Master Classes at SIGGRAPH 2005

Autodesk Inc. will offer its 2005 SIGGRAPH Conference Master Classes for Autodesk 3ds Max, VIZ and Combustion software. Classes will be taught by leaders in the computer graphics, architectural visualization and visual effects industries hailing from award-winning facilities, including Frantic Films, tbdesign, cgtraining, The Orphanage and Blur Studios.

Imax Headline News

IMAX Batman Begins on Record Setting Pace

BATMAN BEGINS: THE IMAX EXPERIENCE continued to post impressive box office results over the holiday weekend, according to IMAX and Warner Bros., grossing approximately $1.45 million on 55 North American IMAX screens from July 1-4, 2005. The film has shown strong legs since debuting in IMAX theaters, setting numerous records for a Hollywood simultaneous release, including best seven-day opening and fastest grossing 2D IMAX DMR (Digital Re-mastering) title.

Framestore Headline News

Framestore Creates Impossible Field for Adidas

If you had to find a new way to represent the raw energy, the elemental skills and the essence of the combat that takes place on a football field, how would you go about it? How about removing the ground altogether, leaving only the lines that define the playing area? Then recreate these lines as metallic rails suspended in a dark but spot lit space. Then have a set of top players demonstrating their extreme talents while running and jumping along these rails.

Series Headline News

CiTV Renews Grizzly Tales For Gruesome Kids

CiTV has recommissioned its hit series GRIZZLY TALES FOR GRUESOME KIDS from Honeycomb Animation and Elephant Productions.

The British Animation Award-winning series, narrated by Nigel Planer and based on the successful books by Jamie Rix, will return to TV in early 2006 with a new series producers claim, will scare even the naughtiest of children into submission.

Disney Headline News

Trouillet Upped To VP Tech & Broadcast Operations, Continental Europe

The Disney ABC Television Group has promoted Rodrigue Trouillet to the newly created position of vp technology & broadcast operations, Walt Disney Television International, Continental Europe. Trouillet will continue to be based in France and will be responsible for the broadcast operations management of the branded TV & Jetix channels based in the EMEA region (France, Germany, Italy, Iberia). He will lead the development and implementation of new businesses, acting as a central body of expertise with a focus on systems, processes and technology.

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