From Garry Trudeau, the creator of the DOONESBURY comic strip, comes this collection of more than 30 computer animated shorts, featuring Duke, the maverick Reform Party candidate for the presidency of the United States. The DUKE 2000 WHATEVER IT TAKES DVD captures more than 90 minutes of the 3D animation that put the outspoken candidate live on LARRY KING, TODAY and dozens of other shows. It sells for $19.95.
Contender Entertainment Group has secured a VHS/DVD deal in Australia with Roadshow Entertainment for its pre-school favorite TRACTOR TOM.
TRACTOR TOM has become an enormous success amongst pre-schoolers, combining a farmyard environment, cheery sing-alongs and bright imagery. It debuted down under in November 2004 on the Seven Network.
Roadshow Ent. will release the first TRACTOR TOM title, BAA BAA TOM SHEEP & OTHER STORIES VHS/DVD on May 19, supported by a huge integrated marketing campaign.
To amplify Showtime Networks' efforts to develop strategic product integration relationships that will complement its marketing campaigns for its original programming, Showtime has hired Penny Reiss in the newly created position of vp, product integration. Reiss, who will be based out of Showtime Networks' Los Angeles office, will be responsible for coordinating the day-to-day responsibilities associated with product integration. This includes forging product alliances, commercial tie-ins and merchandising opportunities with outside companies.
Game Playmakaz ContestWorld Wide WebSeptember 9, 2005Deadline: July 31, 2005
Zango, the provider of exclusive free premium content online, announced the official launch of its Game Playmakaz Contest for independent game developers. The winning submission will be awarded a $50,000 game development contract with Zango. Finalist submissions will also be considered for Zango licensing agreements. Zango will announce the winning game during the Austin Game Conference in Austin, Texas.
20th Century Fox Animation and Blue Sky Studios are adapting Dr. Seuss' HORTON HEARS A WHO into a CG-animated movie, according to THE HOLLLYWOOD REPORTER. The disclosure on Wednesday was timed perfectly in consort with the launch of ROBOTS, directed by Blue Skys Chris Wedge, on Friday, March 11, 2005.
Digital-Tutors announced the worldwide availability of FUNDAMENTALS OF FLASH: ACTION SCRIPTING training kit, the latest release in a library of industry leading training resources for digital artists and programmers. In two hours of invaluable training methods, users will easily learn how to integrate Flash into their workflow.
FUNimation Prods. properties DRAGON BALL GT, DRAGON BALL Z, FULLMETAL ALCHEMIST, CASE CLOSED AND YU YU HAKUSHO ruled the "Best of Anime" awards in the inaugural 2005 Anime Awards at About.com.
American Greetings Corp. and DIC Ent. (DIC) kick off the spring season with a STRAWBERRY SHORTCAKE Seaberry Beach national promotion. Developed by DIC, on behalf of American Greetings, the promotion features a sweepstakes with tropical prizes.
Sundance Channel has acquired the pay television rights to the recent Oscar-winning short film, RYAN, directed by Chris Landreth and will broadcast it in fall 2005.
Karl W. Homburg (48) has been appointed finance director at TV-Loonland, following Selma Käppel, who has been chairman of the managing board at TV-Loonland since Jan. 21, 2005. Homburg, who answers directly to the managing board, oversees mergers, acquisitions, finance and controlling.
The production/distribution companys finances came into question earlier this year when TV-Loonland head Peter Voelkle left the company as shadows of tax evasion charges loom over him from the Munich district attorney's office.
Sony Computer Entertainment America Inc. (SCEA) is staging its biggest presence ever at the 2005 Game Developers Conference, held March 7-11, 2005, in San Francisco to feature the newest PlayStation platform, PSP (PlayStation Portable), innovations for the PlayStation2 computer entertainment system and EyeToy, as well as tools and technologies designed to encourage game development on all platforms.
Sony experts in game development, programming and technology have been scheduled to speak at numerous sessions during the 19th annual conference.
HALF-LIFE 2 and Eugene Jarvis took top honors in the 5th annual Game Developers Choice Awards given by the International Game Developers Association (IGDA) at a ceremony the evening of March 9, during the 2005 Game Developers Conference (GDC) in San Francisco.
The big guns at the show were 3: HALO 2 (from Bungie/Microsoft), HALF-LIFE 2 (Valve/Vivendi) and WORLD OF WARCRAFT (Blizzard) all of them huge budget productions with great visuals and sound, but a surprising audience favorite was KATAMARI DAMACY (Namco), which was simple, but very creative.
New Line Cinema is in final talks with filmmaker Don Coscarelli to resurrect his cult horror franchise PHANTASM, reports HOLLYWOOD REPORTER. Coscarelli would serve as producer on the remake. New Line exec Jeff Katz, who championed the project, will oversee the film along with George Waud and Stokely Chaffin. The original 1979 film followed the emerging psychic Mike and his friends as they went up against the grave robbing Tall Man and his deadly flying spheres.
Seth McFarlanes Emmy Award-winning animated comedy series FAMILY GUY celebrates its historic return to primetime network television with the U.S. premiere of the unprecedented live stage event, FAMILY GUY LIVE!, starring the cast of the series. The show features a live reading of a classic episode, a live performance from the eagerly anticipated FAMILY GUY LIVE IN VEGAS comedy album, a sneak peek at the new FAMILY GUY episode and a Q & A with the cast/creators of the series.
The Orphanage Inc. announced that it has completed nearly 600 visual effects shots for the That Yellow Bastard chapter of the highly-anticipated feature film, SIN CITY, directed by Robert Rodriguez and Frank Miller and adapted from Millers graphic novels. Visual effects supervisor and company partner Stu Maschwitz headed up The Orphanages team with Marc Sadeghi serving as exec producer in charge of the production and Jody Echegaray serving as producer.
Expression College for Digital Arts announced that it is teaming up with Spatial View Inc. (SVI) to open a new dimension in visual arts and gaming. SVI is donating its new technology: polarized, lenticular, computer screens and the software that displays movies, animations and images in 3D without the need for glasses to Expression College for use in its academic environment.
Avid Technology Inc. announced that its Softimage subsidiary and Epic Games have collaborated to co-develop the UnrealActor X Exporter for the XSI toolkit a solution for those interested in creating interactive titles with SOFTIMAGE|XSI animation software and Epics Unreal Engine technology. The Unreal Actor X Exporter for the XSI toolkit enables game developers to use technologies from both companies together in a game development pipeline.
Blur Studios short ROCKFISH will be transformed into a CG feature via Vin Diesels One Race Films. Diesel will also lend his voice to the main character. One Race is trying to secure financing for the sci-fi film, which it believes will cost under $30 million. In addition Diesel will produce alongside his partner George Zakk and Blur creative director Tim Miller, who wrote and directed the short and will direct the feature.
Disney Interactive announced new details about its upcoming action/adventure title, THE CHRONICLES OF NARNIA: THE LION, THE WITCH AND THE WARDROBE, for the PlayStation 2, PSP, Xbox, Nintendo GameCub, Game Boy Advance, Nintendo DS and PC. Inspired by the upcoming highly anticipated motion picture from Walt Disney Pictures and Walden Media, the games will launch this holiday season, in conjunction with film's release.
Warner Bros. Online announced that IBM will provide the on-demand technology and services to power THE MATRIX ONLINE, Warner Bros. Interactive Ent.'s first massively multiplayer online role-playing game (MMORPG), co-published with SEGA of America. Based on THE MATRIX film trilogy, THE MATRIX ONLINE will be released in North America on March 22, 2005, and in Europe on April 8, 2005.
Canadas TELETOON has launched an on-air and online promotion to support the new Mattel toy SMAX! The online initiative includes a TELETOON-designed SMAX! Squeeze Web game, which highlights the new toy and uses color combinations to collect points. The campaign will run until March 27, 2005.
SMAX! are new collectible action figures whose heads pop off to reveal a colored "brain" inside. Each color, (purple, green, orange) indicates the winner in each battle, while all the characters have special personalities and names.
With GDC taking place in San Francisco this week, VFXWORLD asked Fred Galpern to review TEKKEN 5, the latest entry in Namcos 10-year fighting game franchise. From a vfx and animation standpoint, TEKKEN 5 offers lush cinematics, three brand new characters, all new in-game animations, a story mode, all-new environments and unlockable bonus accessories for all characters. You can read all about it later this week.
Renowned director/screenwriter/storyboard artist/designer/animator Jorgen Klubien has been named a director of story for feature film at Vinton Studios where he will be responsible for developing animated feature film properties for the Portland-based entertainment studio, including his own original concepts as well as story ideas already in the Vinton pipeline.
Nickelodeon will roll out six new live-action and animated series for the 2005-06 season, and premiere 248 episodes of 18 returning hit Nick and Nick Jr. series, totaling 124 hours of new, original programming. Cyma Zarghami, president, Nickelodeon Television, announced the ambitious slate during the networks upfront meeting presentation to advertisers in New York City.
Registration for the spring term at the Gnomon School, which runs April 4 through June 12, is in full swing. You can register online at www.gnomon3d.com/registernow.html, in person, via mail or by fax. Office hours are Monday through Friday from 9:00 am to 6:00 pm. You can also call 323/466-6663 to make an appointment.
