On Friday, June 27, 2003, Marvel Enterprises filed yet another lawsuit worth $10M against SPIDER-MAN partner Sony, this time specifically Sony Electronics, reported VARIETY. Marvel claims in the suit, filed in L.A. Superior Court, that Sony Electronics refused to license the Spider-Man character for its electronic products like radios and portable CD players and has advised sister company Sony Pictures to do the same with competitors.
Slamdance Film Festival January 17-24, 2004Early-postmarked deadline: August 29, 2003 Final postmarked deadline: October 10, 2003.Park City, Utah
The 27-year-old CINANIMA - The International Animated Film Festival of Espinho, Portugal has put out a call for entries. The deadline for entries is July 25, 2003. To celebrate this year's edition, the organization has prepared some programs, retrospectives, seminars, workshops and exhibitions in addition to the International Competitive Section. No entry fees are required.
FIKE 2003: Évora International Short Film FestivalNovember, 14 - 22, 2003Deadline: August 31, 2003.Évora, Portugal
MUTANT ALIENS, the latest feature by maverick animator Bill Plympton, who is graphic in both his art and point of view, resurfaced in a fully-loaded DVD on July 1, 2003 (Ventura Distribution, $19.90). In MUTANT ALIENS, an astronaut left in space returns after 20 years with a vengeance after being betrayed by a greedy corporate shark.
Broadcast design and animation company Humunculus produced two colorful musical broadcast spots promoting Nickelodeon and Paramount Pictures' RUGRATS GO WILD. The two :60s are titled SPIKE SPEAKS! and TOGETHER! The first debuted May 15 and the second premiered on May 26.
The series premiere and first two episodes of DEAD LIKE ME, the new Showtime/MGM Television Entertainment series, will be combined in a mini-marathon on the cable network, July 12, 2003, beginning at 9:00 pm. Laced with gallows humor about life, death and what happens next, the hour series airs Fridays at 10:00 pm. Bob Habros is the visual effects supervisor for Showtime, with Rainmaker Digital serving as the main VFX house. DEAD LIKE ME stars Ellen Muth (THE TRUTH ABOUT JANE), Callum Blue (DEVIL'S GATE), Rebecca Gayheart (SCREAM 2), Laura Harris (24), Jasmine Guy (A DIFFERENT WORLD), Cynthia Stevenson (HOPE & GLORIA) and Mandy Patinkin (CHICAGO HOPE). Exec producers include John Masius (PROVIDENCE) and Bryan Fuller (STAR TREK: VOYAGER).
Digital artist/freelance writer Marian Rudnyk has completed a Website for the L.A. Conservancy (www.hannabarbera.org) to help save the old original 1963 Hanna-Barbera Studio buildings located at 3400 Cahuenga Blvd. in Los Angeles. The site features a history of the studio, photos of the buildings, art gallery, chat room, links to preservation and animation Websites and an online petition, encouraging interested fans and supporters to sign up as well as distribute petitions for more signatures.
Montreal-based CinéGroupe Distribution, a division of CinéGroupe, has signed with HOLA Entertainment to sell its shows in Latin America and the Caribbean. Marie-Christine Dufour, evp of distribution, licensing and marketing for CinéGroupe said HOLA president Mercedes Alvarez "offers an unbeatable combination. She has extensive experience in television sales in Latin America, and, she is based in Montreal. She will be able to build on the relations CinéGroupe has acquired over the years, and solidify our position in this growing market." CinéGroupe (www.cinegroupe.com) is the animation partner of Lions Gate Entertainment.
Some of the shows Alvarez will handle include THE CHINESE SIAMESE CAT, (CinéGroupe/Sesame Workshop) and PIG CITY (CinéGroupe /AnimaKids). CinéGroupe has more than 800 half-hours of animation and live-action family programming. CinéGroupe is producing TRIPPING THE RIFT, a 3D animation series with Film Roman for primetime on the Sci Fi Channel (U.S.) and Space (Canada) plus P3K: PINOCCHIO 3000, a 3D animated feature with Animakids and Castelao.
Canadian TV execs are on the move to Toronto-based Portfolio Entertainment which has named Kate Horton as creative director and Stephen R. Kelley as head of sales and acquisition. Horton, previously director of development at Cabium Entertainment, where she produced MONSTER BY MISTAKE, then oversaw the development and implementation of a successful merchandising program for the show, which generated books, plus dolls and home video product. Horton will seek development partnerships for Portfolio.
Fernesh Akademie Mitteldeutschland will host a fifth European Animation Masterclass September 1, 2003 to January 30, 2004 in Halle, Germany. Applications for 10 participants are due by July 31 for the international training program co-funded in equal portions by the MEDIA Plus Program of the European Commission and the regional film promotion entity, Mitteldeutsche Medienforderung GumbH.
Maybe he couldnt quite afford to buy KirchMedia and its ProSiebenSat1 channel, but media mogul Haim Saban and his philanthropist wife, Cheryl, are donating $100 million in charitable gifts to health care and education in the U.S. and Israel, according to a report in the LOS ANGELES TIMES. The man who got rich on kids programming like the MIGHTY MORPHIN POWER RANGERS and the Fox Kids and Fox Family Channels has dedicated $40 million to Children's Hospital Los Angeles to support ongoing research into cancer and gene therapy as well as further research into neuroscience.
His permanent thank you card will be an 88,500-sqaure-foot facility research facility to be named the Saban Research Institute of Children's Hospital Los Angeles. It is the single largest donation to a childrens hospital to support pediatric research in North America according to Walter W. Noce Jr., president of Childrens Hospital. Cheryl Saban has served on the hospital's board for seven years.
Contrary to the high profile jobs at Pixar, Industrial Light & Magic, PDI/DreamWorks and other prestigious studios, the real growth area for Bay Area animation jobs is coming from other industries looking for people trained in computer graphics, 3D environments, simulation and other animation-related skills.
HP has introduced a powerful line of servers based on Intel Corp.'s new Itanium 2 1.5-gigahertz processor, intending to redefine data center economics by delivering up to $1 million in total three-year cost savings over IBM servers. The new 64-bit HP Integrity servers now combine with the 32-bit ProLiant servers to form a potent lineup.
STAR WARS EPISODE III, the last of the prequels to the legendary George Lucas franchise, began shooting at Fox Studios Australia, June 30, 2003. According to Starwars.com, the first scenes were shot in a new set environment with returning stars Hayden Christensen (Anakin Skywalker) and Ewan McGregor (Obi-Wan Kenobi). Also on set was R2-D2. The final installment will see Peter Mayhew reprise his role as Chewbacca, a part he has not played since THE RETURN OF THE JEDI in 1983.
ZODIAC MEDIA founder/president H. Paul Gill died suddenly of heart failure while playig basketball on June 25, 2003 at the age of 28 in Toronto, Canada.
A free, limited edition read-along CD of SHREK AND FIONA'S HONEYMOON STORYBOOK will be given away to every child attending during the opening weekend of DreamWorks' SINBAD: LEGEND OF THE SEVEN SEAS. The exclusive giveaway lasts July 2-6, for as long as supplies last.
The read-along storybook, which has an estimated value of $9.95, will be given away, one per child, with each paid admission. Theater managers will also have a limited number of rain checks on hand with instructions on how a child can receive his or her CD if the supply runs out before the end of the weekend.
DreamWorks adventure SINBAD: LEGEND OF THE SEVEN SEAS hits theaters on July 2, 2003, but can it fend off tough competition from live-action films like Warner Bros. and Columbia/TriStars TERMINATOR 3:RISE OF THE MACHINES or MGMs LEGALLY BLONDE 2: RED, WHITE & BLONDE? With the track record of 2D features of late, it looks like an upward battle for the tradigital picture, which was directed by Tom Johnson and Patrick Gilmore, featuring the voices of Brad Pitt, Catherine Zeta-Jones Joseph Fiennes and Michelle Pfeiffer.
Dan Lombardo has been named president of Cinesite Hollywood, and Jerry Pooler is stepping up to a new role as exec director, creative. Lombardo will also continue in his new role of general manager. He joined the facility two years ago as vp of production. He succeeds Ruth Scovill as president. Pooler joined Cinesite in 1992 when the facility pioneered the use of digital technology during the restoration of SNOW WHITE AND THE SEVEN DWARFS.
Comedy Central plans to celebrate America's birthday on July 4, 2003 with a 1:00 am broadcast of SOUTH PARK: BIGGER, LONGER & UNCUT, uncensored by the cablenet with encore presentations July 5 and 6 at 1:00 am. The feature film based upon the hit series by Trey Parker and Matt Stone grossed more than $52 million in the U.S. and won both New York and L.A. Film Critics awards. It also received an Oscar nomination for Best Original Song, "Blame Canada."
The new Internet has gotten a lot of press in Europe and Asia, but is still relatively unknown in the United States. It was therefore a real stunner when John Osterholz, the director of architecture and interoperability for the Department of Defense (DoD), announced last week that the Pentagon would only buy networked products that conform to the new specification, starting in October of this year, and DoD hopes to be totally transitioned by 2008 that more than $30 billion of product and services per year.
Michelle Pappalardo-Robinson has been appointed vp of production for the recently renamed DisneyToon Studios, to oversee production for its video/DVD premiere and theatrical properties.
"Michelles 14 years of experience and overall knowledge of production will serve as a tremendous asset as we continue to expand the division and break new ground," said Sharon Morrill, evp at DisneyToon Studios.
HP's Linux-based technology played a critical role in the creation of DreamWorks' SINBAD: LEGEND OF THE SEVEN SEAS, which opens theatrically July 2, 2003. The first film ever created entirely on Linux, SINBAD was developed on HP workstations and servers.
HP's newly introduced Intel Itanium 2-based servers and workstations, delivering up to 50% faster application performance than previous Itanium 2-based systems, are perfectly suited to rendering large digital models.
The new Intel Itanium 2 processor with 6 MB of level 3 cache powers one- and two-way HP Workstations, as well as HP Integrity servers, which range from one- and two-way entry-level servers to the 64-processor Integrity Superdome server.
With the August, 2003 release of MOTIONBUIILDER 5, Kaydara offers a next generation solution for 3D character animators with wide ranging implications in feature films, series broadcasts, TV commercials, VFX, gaming and other interactive 3D media. With a realtime photorealistic rendering engine and Kaydara's "smart" character technology (HumanIK), complex character set-ups and animation can be created in minutes instead of days, according to president Michael Besner.
