DreamWorks Animation SKG Inc. confirmed that it has been informed by its principal shareholders that they will not proceed at this time with the secondary offering of $500 million of Class A common stock which was filed in a preliminary registration statement with the Securities and Exchange Commission on March 28, 2005.
TIME WARP TRIO combines humor and great stories to ignite kids interest in history in a new action-adventure animated series, which debuted on the Discovery Kids on NBC Saturday morning block on July 9, 2005. The show will air weekly at 10:30 am (ET)/8:30 am (PT) (check local listings), and also airs on the Discovery Kids Channel.
Switch VFX, a Toronto-based visual effects studio, recently completed work on LAND OF THE DEAD, the latest installment in legendary filmmaker George A. Romeros DEAD horror franchise.
Switch VFX was responsible for 155 of the films more than 300 shots. Headed up by visual effects supervisor Jon Campfens, Switch VFX created complex zombie decapitations, digital gore, matte paintings and greenscreen composites.
Dan Maas of Maas Digital received an Emmy Award nomination for his animation featured in the PBS Nova documentary, MARS DEAD OR ALIVE.
The 26th Annual News and Documentary Emmy Award nominees were announced July 7 by the National Television Academy. The awards, recognizing outstanding achievement by individuals and programs broadcast during 2004, will be given Sept. 19, 2005, in New York City.
DARE is the latest single from Gorillaz's celebrity strewn DEMON DAYS CD, and this time round the video sees the cartoon heroes being joined by the head of Shaun Ryder. Compositing involving 3D backgrounds, 2D animation and live-action footage of Shaun Ryder's head had was by Passion Pictures and The Mill ran two Flame machines for three days to finished their portion of the work. As usual all the characters have been designed by the ferociously talented Jamie Hewlett.
New Line Cinema has tapped Josh Olson (A HISTORY OF VIOLENCE) to adapt Naoki Urasawas best-selling manga series, MONSTER, into a live-action feature, according to THE HOLLYWOOD REPORTER. In addition, Olson will write a treatment for a sequel, which he would also write.
Dark Horse Comics will be riding into Comic-Con July 14-17, 2005, with a host of signings and panels. The main Dark Horse Booth is #2715 with Dark Horse Retail at #2615 and WETA Collectibles/Dark Horse at #2621.
Signings include:Wednesday, July 13 (Preview Night):6:30 - 8:00 pm: John Landis: TEENAGE VAMPIRE
Thursday, July 14:10:00 - 11:00 pm: Stan Sakai: USAGI YOJIMBO11:00 am - 12:00 pm: Greg Ruth: FREAKS OF THE HEARTLAND12:00 - 1:00 pm: Steve Rude: NEXUS12:00 - 1:00 pm: Peter Gross: THE CHOSEN
Both Paramount and Columbia are readying their own 9/11 films.
Paramount Pictures will finance and distribute an untitled feature about the rescue of two Port Authority police officers from the rubble of the World Trade Center. Oliver Stone will direct with Nicolas Cage starring. Double Features partners Michael Shamberg and Stacey Sher will produce alongside Moritz Borman, the former Intermedia ceo who produced Stone's ALEXANDER. Andrea Berloff has penned the script.
Viewers may want to camp out in from of their TV sets this summer with Cartoon Networks new offering, CAMP LAZLO, a 30-minute animated comedy from creator Joe Murray, which premiered July 8, 2005 at 8:00 pm. The series chronicles the odd and happy camping life of colorfully crazy critters, featuring a Bean Scout named Lazlo and his bunkmates at Camp Kidney.
The Walt Disney Company, Roy E. Disney and Stanley P. Gold announced today (July 8, 2005) that they have agreed to put aside the differences of late and has brought Roy Disney back to the company board as a diorector emeritus. Disney and Gold will not to run a rival slate of directors, submit shareholder resolutions for the next five years and have also agreed to dismiss all their pending lawsuits against the Disney Co.
Y TU MAMA TAMBIEN writer Carlos Cuaron has formed an animation production company, reports VARIETY. His partner in the firm will be Mexican animator Rene Castillo. Cuaron will continue to write live-action scripts.
Castillo is bets known for his award-winning clay-animation shorts, NO SUPPORT (SIN SOSTEN) and DOWN TO THE BONE (HASTA LOS HUESOS).
The unnamed companys first project could be an adaptation of a childrens play, which Cuaron wrote several years ago.
Beverly Hills auctioneer Profiles in History will auction treasures from the archive of filmmaker Gary Kurtz on July 29, 2005, at 11:00 am PDT. Kurtz was the producer of STAR WARS and STAR WARS: THE EMPIRE STRIKES BACK, as well as AMERICAN GRAFFITI, RETURN TO OZ and DARK CRYSTAL. He received two Academy Award nominations for Best Picture (STAR WARS & AMERICAN GRAFFITI). Working closely with George Lucas from 1973-1981 as vp of Lucasfilm, Kurtz was instrumental in developing the STAR WARS trilogy and bringing the first two blockbuster films to the silver screen.
To kick off the opening of the SIGGRAPH Exhibition, Women In Animation will host its 3rd annual Birds of a Feather Meet-n-Greet in the Convention Center, Room 506, starting at 9:30 am - 11:00 am on Aug. 2, 2005. The event is an opportunity to meet people from all over the U.S. and the world and learn more about WIA. For more information, contact info@womeninanimation.org.
Leonardo DiCaprio's Appian Way production company is set to develop and produce a feature adaptation of Kurt Vonnegut's CAT'S CRADLE, reports VARIETY. Appian Way will partner with manager-producer Hillard Elkins' Elkins Ent. on the project.
James V. Hart (SAHARA) and his son Jake Hart (GLENGARRY, BOB ROSS) have adapted the novel, which is an apocalyptic tale following humans race to recover the world's most dangerous substance, Ice-Nine, a new form of ice that freezes at room temperature.
Lisa Kirby, the daughter of the late Jack Kirby, artist and co-creator of the Fantastic Four, the X-Men, the Hulk, Captain America and many other comicbook characters and stories, announced the creation of the Jack Kirby Museum and Research Center (JKMRC).
The Shout! Factory signed an exclusive licensing agreement with DIC Entertainment to release a slate of hit animated television series from DICs catalog as collector DVD sets. The first title under the new agreement is a four-disc collection, HEATHCLIFF & THE CATILLAC CATS, which will to be released on Sept. 20, 2005. Other titles will include THE LEGEND OF ZELDA, SUPER MARIO BROS. SUPER SHOW, INSPECTOR GADGET and SABRINA THE ANIMATED SERIES.
Norman Prescott, chairman, co-founder and exec producer at Filmation Studios, died July 2, 2005, of natural causes in Los Angeles, according to VARIETY. He was 78.
Switch VFX, a Toronto-based visual effects studio, recently completed work on LAND OF THE DEAD, the latest installment in legendary filmmaker George A. Romeros DEAD horror franchise.
Animation World Network and VFXWorld will have a booth this year at Comic-Con.
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.
Test your skills and challenge your brain with AWN's Animation Trivia Quiz.
This week in AWN's Forums, a member asks is collecting sericels a waste of money?
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.
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.
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.
