David Fincher, director of PANIC ROOM and FIGHT CLUB, has signed with Paramount Pictures and Warner Bros. Pictures to helm two pictures ZODIAC, starring Mark Ruffalo, and THE CURIOUS CASE OF BENJAMIN BUTTON, with Brad Pitt and Cate Blanchett, reports VARIETY.
20th Century Fox has bought the rights to Chuck Konzelman and Cary Solomon's TOKYO GHOST STORY script for Davis Ent. to produce, according to THE HOLLYWOOD REPORTER. The supernatural thriller is based on the Japanese Yurei myth, where the ghost of a jilted lover who commits suicide returns to torment and ruin their former lover.
Peter Kang will oversee the film for the studio. Davis Ent.'s evp production Brian Manis brought the script to Davis president Wyck Godfrey, who took it to Kang.
L.A. Center For Digital Art Open Show for Digital Art and PhotographyLos Angeles, California, USASeptember 8 - October 1, 2005Deadline: August 28, 2005
LACDA announces its Un-Juried Competition: Snap to Grid. In its second annual exhibition of this kind participants each upload one image to be printed on high-quality paper (8.5x11) and hung in a grid in the gallery. The show will be widely promoted and will include a reception for the artists.
Lions Gate has secured the North American rights to HIGHLANDER THE JOURNEY CONTINUES, the fifth film in franchise, reports VARIETY. Sales agent IAC Film struck this deal, along with 20 others, via its work at this years Cannes.
Creator Davis Panzer is planning three HIGHLANDER features over the next two years, starting with THE JOURNEY CONTINUES, directed by Bret Leonard and starring Adrian Paul as the immortal Scottish swordsman.
Screenplay Festival World Wide WebSeptember 1, 2005Deadline: September 1, 2005
Sponsored by several top production and management companies, Screenplay Festival offers an honest opportunity for undiscovered writers to get their work into the right hands. Awards given for each of the following five categories: Action/Adventure, Comedy, Drama, Family and Thriller / Horror. Prizes include cash, gifts from sponsors and announcement to more than 6,500 industry professionals. Visit www.screenplayfestival.com to learn more.
Cartoonist Rowland B. Wilson passed away on June 28, 2005. Wilson is best known for his strips for magazines such as TV GUIDE, PLAYBOY and THE NEW YORKER. He also worked in animation at Walt Disney Feature Animation on such films as THE LITTLE MERMAID, THE HUNCHBACK OF NOTRE DAME, TARZAN and HERCULES). He moved on to work with Don Bluth on THUMBELINA) and for the Richard Williams studio. He won a daytime Emmy for Educational Animation for his work on ABCs SCHOOLHOUSE ROCK, as well as PLAYBOY MAGAZINE's Cartoonist of the Year Award.
The Gnomon Workshop, in conjunction with Design Studio Press, has introduced three new titles from matte painting artist Dylan Cole.
Dylan Cole brings to The Gnomon Workshop years of experience working as a matte painter and concept artist for film, television and video games. He has worked on such films as RETURN OF THE KING, THE CHRONICLES OF RIDDICK, I, ROBOT, VAN HELSING, SKY CAPTAIN AND THE WORLD OF TOMORROW, and THE AVIATOR.
Pixar Animation Studios announced an update to its fiscal second quarter 2005 guidance, following a review of the most current domestic and international home video sales data for THE INCREDIBLES. The company is updating its second quarter home video projections to increase its reserves for returns. As a result, Pixar is modifying its earlier projection of roughly $0.15 per diluted share for the quarter ending July 2, 2005, to approximately $0.10 per diluted share, which equates to around a $6 million difference in net income.
Jason Statham, Leelee Sobieski, John Rhys Davies, Ron Perlman, Matthew Lillard, Burt Reynolds and Kristanna Loken are set to star in director Uwe Boll's the sword-and-sorcery videogame DUNGEON SIEGE, according to THE HOLLYWOOD REPORTER. The $60 million adaptation starts filming July 3, 2005, in Vancouver, British Columbia.
Disney has officially announced that its will indeed bring a stage musical version of TARZAN to Broadway next spring, reports VARIETY. The project had been in the development stage for years. No theater has been announced and Shuler Hensley (THE GREAT AMERICAN TRAILER PARK MUSICAL) is in final negotiations to take on the title role.
Cast size for DISNEY PRESENTS TARZAN will be 34. There will be no out-of-town tryout, and a previously announced workshop for this summer will not take place.
TELETOON pays tribute to Canada and its great Canadian series with a full day of Canadian produced programs on Canada Day, Friday, July 1 from 11:00 am 9:00 pm. The lineup includes:
MISS SPIDERS SUNNY PATCH FRIENDS Fly Away Friends/Bedtime Stories 1:30 pmIn Fly Away Friends Squirt feels left out when his two winged siblings, Shimmer and Dragon, have high-flying fun that a little spider cant join in.
Kelly Ward and Cliff MacGillivray, writers of the Waking Thor episode of JAKERS! THE ADVENTURES OF PIGGLEY WINKS, that airs on PBS, won the newly upped $25,000 Humanitas Prize for Childrens Animation on June 29, 2005, during a luncheon ceremony at the Universal Hilton Hotel, in Universal City, California. Nine winning writers, representing a diverse slate of work, won these prestigious prizes and $135,000 were awarded in sis categories for film and television writers whose work entertain, engage and enrich the viewing public.
Contender Entertainment Group (CEG) in the U.K. has split its operations into two separate divisions -- Contender Home Entertainment (CHE) and Rubber Duck Entertainment (RDE). The group contends that the new structure will help to capitalize on growth plans ambitions to double its size in the next three years.
Super X Studios is partnering with U.K-based Digital Jesters to bring its long-anticipated game, WILD EARTH, to market worldwide on PC CD-ROM for the upcoming holiday season.
REN AND STIMPY has returned to the Nickelodeon airwaves and it now has a feline cousin in CATSCRATCH, a new series created by Doug TenNapel which resembles it remarkably in design, cartoony gags and character expressions. This is also not your typical kids fare and is appropriately scheduled in primetime, Fridays at 8:30 pm. The premiere episodes were broadcast back-to-back, 8-9:00 pm on July 9, 2005.
As comics studies have become much more complex and sophisticated, a wealth of resources has been compiled into a new, provocative anthology, THE EDUCATION OF A COMICS ARTIST, edited by Michael Dooley and Steven Heller and published by Allworth Press. This portable comics convention offers insights from pros into the booming changing comics field.
Ghost House Pictures announced that Kristen Stewart (PANIC ROOM), Dylan McDermott (TVs THE PRACTICE), Penelope Ann Miller (THE RELIC, CARLITO'S WAY) and John Corbett (MY BIG FAT GREEK WEDDING, TVs SEX AND THE CITY) have joined the Untitled Pang Brothers Horror Project, which started shooting recently in Saskatchewan, Canada.
Alien tripods are set to invade your phone with the release of WAR OF THE WORLDS, the mobile game, from Gameloft. The exclusive agreement with Viacom Consumer Products Inc. enables Gameloft to develop, publish and distribute the wireless game version of the highly anticipated War of the Worlds movie directed by Steven Spielberg, starring Tom Cruise.
In-game advertising provider Massive Inc. will start offering 10-second spots through its network next month, according to THE HOLLYWOOD REPORTER. The ads will play on natural elements in the game like TV sets and computers. Massive will charge higher rates than for its static ad displays within games. Ad partners and games using the new spots will be announced later.
On June 29, 2005, the SAG board voted to send its gaming contract to the 1,900 members who regularly work in game as well as any other active member who requests a ballot for a final vote, according to THE HOLLYWOOD REPORTER. To accommodate the new vote, gaming publishers, including Electronic Arts and Activision, have extended the contract offer to July 31. Ballots will go out July 13 and are due back July 28.
Sister acting guild AFTRA has already agreed to the 3 1/2 year contract.
Award-winning digital artist Greg Shultz has launched Minneapolis, Minnesota-based Gasket to serve the commercial, music video and feature markets with a creative collective offering design, visual effects and 2D/3D animation.
Steven Spielbergs WAR OF THE WORLDS bowed with the seventh highest Wednesday opening ever of $21,256,483 in 3,908 theaters domestically (SPIDER-MAN 2 holds the record with $40.4M). Meanwhile, the $135M sci-fi remake grabs an estimated $13.350M overseas in 46 territories, though it has yet to open in 10 markets, including the U.K., France, Belgium and Korea.
The opening day number represents the largest in Paramount history and for star Tom Cruise.
Box office information obtained from boxofficemojo.com.
Tigar Hare Studios has completed a :60 3D-animated theatrical trailer for Microsofts PROJECT GOTHAM RACING III Xbox 360 game. The HDRI photoreal trailer dramatically exemplifies the games slogan, Life Begins at 170, as it introduces three high-end race cars from the game, the Ferrari F430, the Lamborghini Murcielago and the Saleen S7, as they streak in furious competition through the streets of Gotham.
Boris FX will acquire Final Effects Complete from Optibase. Boris FX will acquire all associated trademarks, including Studio Effects, Next Effects and Ice FX. The products will continue to be offered with Boris FX providing maintenance, support and future development.
Iridas, an industry leader in uncompressed playback technologies announced the release of Service Pack 2 for FrameCycler 3.5. This update introduces a key component of the new Iridias color pipeline. With SP2, FrameCycler playback applications now allow users to view sequences with SpeedGrade .look files applied. Color graded playback is thus now possible from every workstation or screening room at any point in the filmmaking process.
