Dean Valentine, former UPN president/ceo and president of Walt Disney Television, has partnered with prominent entertainment execs Richard Cohen and Nicolas Van Dyk to form First Family Entertainment in Los Angeles. The new company will develop and produce niche-oriented, direct-to-DVD/video programming for family audiences. The new venture already has inked a home video distribution deal with MGM.
Acclaim Ent. Inc. and Buena Vista Interactive they have shipped ALIAS for PlayStation2 and Xbox for a suggested retail price of $49.99. Based on ABC's hit television series, ALIAS is a third-person action adventure that allows players to step into the role of the series' lead character, Sydney Bristow (played by Jennifer Garner), an agent for the CIA.
wondertouch, the leading software developer of particle effects, was the tool of choice for Eden FX in its work on HELLBOY.
Buzztime Ent. Inc. and EchoStar Communications Corp. have teamed to launch a premium interactive trivia game service on EchoStar's DISH Network. The new in-home, multiplayer game service combines Buzztime's proprietary Countdown trivia game format and vast library of trivia game show content with EchoStar's application software to allow DISH Network subscribers to play the games on their existing, in-home set-top boxes.
13 member-companies of TV France International will be presenting programs at the Second Regional Showcase in Beirut at the Sofitel Gabriel, April 20 21, 2004. To date, 44 executives, representing Bahrain, Egypt, the United Arab Emirates, Jordan, Kuwait, Lebanon, Oman, Syria, and Tunisia, have confirmed their presence. The Film and Television sections of the French embassies in Amman and Beirut are supporting the event, which is aimed at promoting the French productions in the Near and Middle East.
New York University is hosting the first Camp/Game: Intensive Video Game Creation this summer, from July 6 to August 6, 2004. The summer camp is geared toward high school seniors and undergraduate students (17-25) interested in learning the finer points of the videogame industry. Camp/Game is created and run by the Division of Entertainment, Technology, Digital Arts and Design (ETDAD), part of NYU's School of Continuing and Professional Studies (SCPS).
Warner Bros. has announced that HARRY POTTER AND THE GOBLET OF FIRE will be released in theaters Nov. 18, 2005, reported Zap2It.com. However, VFXWorld has learn from WB that the production team was not set a firm date for the film's release. Directed by Mike Newell (FOUR WEDDINGS AND A FUNERAL), the fourth film in the popular series will go into production later this year. Unlike the other POTTER films that begin with Harry at his aunt and uncle Dursley's house, this film will kick off with Harry and friends attending the International Quidditch Cup.
Visual effects vet and former Secret Lab head Hoyt Yeatman has formed Whamaphram Prods. to produce CG animated features, reported VARIETY. Burbank-based toon house will specialize in completely animated and hybrid live-action/animated films.
The new studio is pitching its first project G-FORCE to several studios. The live-action family adventure would chronicle the NSA's top secret unit of highly intelligent, talking animals. Yeatman plans to direct the film.
Bringing animation to TV in a new way, Acme Filmworks and comedian Drew Carey are joining forces to create the improv comedy pilot, THE GREEN SCREEN, for The WB. Carey will re-team with his WHOSE LINE IS IT ANYWAY cast to perform improv comedy sketches, which will be filmed in front of a greenscreen, allowing animation to be added to the backgrounds. The cast includes Ryan Stiles, Kathy Kinney, Colin Mochrie, Greg Proops, Brad Sherwood, Sean Masterson, Kaitlin Olson and John Mangum.
Sir Paul McCartney would someday like to make a traditional Disney-like animated feature and is currently developing a story that he first wants to publish as a children's book. In fact, he told journalists, including REUTERS, that it's been his ambition since he was a Beatle back in the '60s. As part of a baby step toward achieving that goal, McCartney has produced PAUL MCCARTNEY: THE MUSIC AND ANIMATION COLLECTION, a DVD to be released through Miramax Home Ent. on April 13. The DVD contains three animated musical shorts made in collaboration with director Geoff Dunbar.
Roy Disney sued the Walt Disney Co. on April 8 to release information on how many employees participated in last month's protest vote against the reelection of chief exec Michael Eisner, the LOS ANGELES TIMES reported.
In the suit filed in Delaware Chancery Court, Disney asked the court to make the company show documents, records, proxies and ballots from the annual meeting in Philadelphia.
Nick Jr.s number-one preschool heroine Dora gets her own primetime special, DORAS SUPER SILLY FIESTA, broadcast April 12, 2004 at 8:00 pm on Nickelodeon. The special episode invites kids to join Dora on her journey to the Super Silly Fiesta, a party filled with funny games and riddles plus silly songs and all of Doras pals including cousin Diego, Boots, Swiper and the Silly Mail Bird.
In its seventh week in release, Mel Gibson's THE PASSION OF THE CHRIST jumped back to number one with $15.2M, thanks to the Easter holiday weekend ended April 11, 2004. So far, the biblical epic (with vfx by Keith Vanderlaan's Captive Audience) has racked up a phenomenal $353M to place eighth on the all-time list.
Vivendi Universal Games (VU Games) has appointed Mark J. Halacy to evp, Global Human Resources, overseeing the company's global HR operations across North America, Europe and Asia.
"Mark has led many successful HR development initiatives across large-scale, global organizations," said Bruce Hack, ceo of VU Games, to whom Halacy will report. "He will play an important leadership role at VU Games, as we aim to strengthen our global practices and capabilities."
Pixar's former cfo Ann Mather, who recently stepped down from that post, has joined the board of directors of European broadcast group, Central European Media Enterprises (CME), reported VARIETY. Mather will be a non-exec director on the audit and compensation committees. Prior Pixar, she served as evp/cfo for Village Roadshow Pictures. Prior to that, she was a svp of finance at Disney. CME owns television stations in Romania, Slovenia, Slovakia and the Ukraine.
ADV Films and ADV Manga will be releasing five new manga and four new anime titles as well as the third season of GENE RODDENBERRY'S ANDROMEDA on April 20, 2004. ADV Film's anime DVDs will include AURA BATTLER DUNBINE, KNIGHTS OF THE ZODIAC, MAGICAL SHOPPING ARCADE ABENOBASHI and WEDDING PEACH. ADV Manga's titles include ARIA, Volume 1 of 3, THE RULER OF THE LAND, Volume 1 of 31, TO HEART, Volume 1 of 3, AZUMANGA DAIOH, Volume 4 of 4 and FULL METAL PANIC! Volume 4 of 5.
Matrix Stream Canada is conducting a search for video content material to fill up new digital Video-on-demand channel network. The call is open, but not limited, to children's, sports, documentaries, comedy, animation, movies and other content.
Imagineer Systems will be debuting monet, its new product for broadcast, film and video post-production, for the first time at NAB in Las Vegas April 19-22. monet is a start-to-finish solution for inserting images (moving and still) into moving footage, with a combination of tools that allow artists to handle everything for complex logo replacements, product packaging alterations and product placement into moving footage, whether it be DV, SD, HD or film.
Anima Mundi Web 2004World Wide WebJune 18, 2004Deadline: May 31, 2004
Asheville Film Festival Asheville, North Carolina, USANovember 4-7, 2004 Deadline: July 23, 2004
Last year, AWN compiled its first Hot Spots Showcase to highlight the best in animated and visual effects commercials, IDs and interstitials.
Animation World Magazine is looking for examples of studios producing animated show openings and closes for live-action TV series, specials or movies.
This week in the Theatrical Release Database, we see a handful of new trailers and a few date announcements.
