Ray Bradbury Future Fest is a celebration organized by California Institute of the Arts (CalArts) School of Film/Video faculty member E. Michael Mitchell, in association with J.R. Smith, alumni and select advanced students from School of Film/Video Program in Character Animation. The event presents artwork and film exploring the writings of sci-fi master Ray Bradbury, who will make several unscheduled appearances at the event.
Lucasfilm has sent out a letter to potential network buyers inviting bids for the TV broadcast rights to the STAR WARS film franchise, reports VARIETY. The price tag for the six-film series could go as high as $50 million.
Discovery Kids and Mike Young Prods. shows have each scored double finalist honors in the 31st Humanitas Prize childrens animation category. The finalists in all six categories will be competing for $115,000 in prize money to be handed out at the annual luncheon, which will be held on Wednesday, June 29, 2005, at the Hilton Universal Hotel in Universal City, California.
The 2005 Indie Memphis Soul Of Southern Film FestivalMemphis, Tennessee, USAOctober 21-27, 2005Deadline: July 15, 2005
28th Starz Denver International Film Festival (SDIFF)Denver, Colorado, USANovember 10-20, 2005Deadline: August 1, 2005
30th Annual New England Film & Video FestivalBoston, Massachusetts, USAOctober 2005Deadline: August 15, 2005
On Wednesday, Walt Disney Studios unveiled the first public screening of its digitally restored BAMBI at the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences as part of the monthly Gold Standard series. The 1942 masterpiece was digitally projected using the same master provided for the recent DVD.
Family, friends and colleagues of pioneering Disney artist/storyman Joe Grant will celebrate his life and career on June 28 at The Alex Theatre in Glendale at 7:00 pm. Grant, who passed away May 6 at the age of 96, designed the Queen/Witch character in SNOW WHITE AND THE SEVEN DWARFS and co-wrote DUMBO.
Warner Bros. reported that BATMAN BEGINS bowed Wednesday with $15,068,368, ranking it 11th on the all-time list for mid-week openings. Not surprisingly, BATMAN BEGINS tracked very well among males, which comprised 64% of the audience.
RE:Vision Effects has released a major update to its Shake version of Twixtor, the popular retiming solution, and a minor update to ReelSmart Motion Blur (RSMB), which adds and removes motion blur based on per-pixel calculated motion.
Nick Brooks, Academy Award and Emmy Award winner for visual effects, says, "Twixtor 4.5 represents a new touchstone in retiming. The difference in accuracy means that retiming artifacts are either drastically reduced or disappear on the hardest to retime footage. "
Animation house Super 78 supplied the 3D work for CURSE OF THE DARKASTLE debuting this month at Busch Gardens Williamsburg. The next generation attraction, which takes thrill-seekers on an immersive journey through a frozen Bavarian castle, is a dark ride in which patrons travel through the 40,000 square foot castle environment in computer-controlled, motion-based sleighs as rear-projected, 3D imagery appears all around them.
Wildcat Realizm 800 graphics technology from 3Dlabs has been selected by NEC to be incorporated in the TE6 ultra high-end graphics accelerator that powers the NEC Express workstation. The inclusion of Wildcat Realizm 800 graphics into the new TE6 graphics accelerator marks the first time that NEC has integrated third-party graphics technology into its TE-branded line of products. The Express workstation for CAD and broadcast video professionals will be available from NEC in Japan later this month.
Jodi Davis has been promoted to the new position of vp communications, Nickelodeon Preschool and Nickelodeon Digital Television, responsible for the development and execution of all publicity efforts for Nick Jr., Nickelodeon's programming block dedicated to preschoolers; as well as all of Nickelodeon's digital channels including: NOGGIN, Nickelodeon's commercial-free, educational network for preschoolers; The N, the nighttime network for teens; Nicktoons, the 24-hour animation channel; and Nick Games and Sports (GAS).
FIREFLY, the critically-acclaimed space western from BUFFY THE VAMPIRE SLAYER creator Joss Whedon and Twentieth Television, is re-ignited on SCI FI. The channel will present the action adventure series 14 episodes, including three previously unaired in order, beginning July 22 at 7:00 pm. The show will lead into SCI FI's successful SCI FI Friday lineup.
Though short-lived, FIREFLY earned a devoted following which has resulted in the upcoming feature film SERENITY from Universal Pictures, slated for theatrical release on Sept. 30, 2005.
Five films have made the cut for the 8th Annual HBO Short Film Award, with the filmmakers attending Film Life's 9th Annual American Black Film Festival (ABFF) in South Beach, Miami, July 13-17, for the final round of competition. Film Life Inc. and Time Warner, with HBO as founding sponsor, will present the festival.
From co-publishers Electronic Arts and Warner Bros. Interactive Ent., the BATMAN BEGINS videogame has hit retail shelves nationwide for the PlayStation 2, Xbox, Nintendo GameCube and Game Boy Advance. The game, based on the Warner Bros. Pictures film BATMAN BEGINS and DC Comics' legendary character, is rated "T for Teen."
Disney has hired Jonathan Mostow to direct its remake of SWISS FAMILY ROBINSON, according to VARIETY. Mostow will also rewrite Greg Poirier first draft with Sam Montgomery, Mostow's writing partner on his directorial efforts, BREAKDOWN and U-571. Mandeville's David Hoberman and Todd Lieberman will produce the flick.
The remake will take the tale of the shipwrecked family back to the book's 19th-century period.
The film is set to go before cameras in Australia next year. Disney svp Karen Glass is overseeing.
Columbia Pictures is hammering out deals with Ray Winstone (KING ARTHUR), Anthony Hopkins (SILENCE OF THE LAMBS), Brendan Gleeson (TROY) and Robin Wright Penn (FORREST GUMP) to star in director Robert Zemeckis' BEOWULF, reports VARIETY. Steve Bing's Shangri-La Ent. is producing the performance capture feature.
Roger Avary and Neil Gaiman have adapted the Old English epic poem about a knight who slays the monster Grendel and becomes king. Zemeckis and his ImageMovers partners Steve Starkey and Jack Rapke are producing. Martin Shafer will exec produce with the trio writers.
Genre experts Ghost House Pictures will finance and develop the frightening family spec MONKEY'S PAW, from scribes Dave Kajganich and Tom McAlister, according to VARIETY. Ghost House toppers Sam Raimi and Rob Taper will produce along with Kustom Ent. head Tom Lassally and Kustom's Robyn Meisinger.
The story follows a father and his family after a wish-granting artifact begins to wreck havoc on their lives.
Vfx studio Digital Dimension recently contributed a series of high-powered visual effects for MR. & MRS. SMITH, creating 26 explosive shots for the smash movie starring Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie as assassins.
BATMAN BEGINS all right! Comic maven Danny Fingeroth gets to the bottom of Chris Nolans reinvented Dark Knight, which opened Wednesday at midnight. He not only discovers how Double Negative, Moving Picture Co.
The Tampa-based animation studio Tri-Dimensional Animation Studio has completed production on THE STORY TELLER CAFÉ Episode 5 for the Christian Broadcast Network. THE STORY TELLER CAFÉ is the first of 10 episodes the network hired Tri-Dimensional Studios to continue production on, in its successful and award-winning childrens animated series.
3Dlabs Inc. announced that the Wildcat Realizm 800 professional graphics accelerator has been selected by Fujitsu Siemens Computers for its Celsius R630 high-end workstations. Harnessing the power of two onboard Visual Processing Units (VPUs), the Wildcat Realizm 800 is a performance leader.
