Two of the most popular shorts at Annecy this week were Mike Gabriels LORENZO and Chris Landreths RYAN. You can be sure that both cutting edge digital works (from Disney and Copper Heart Ent./National Film Board of Canada, respectively) will be vying for an Oscar next year, and VFXWorld is proud to offer an exclusive visual development gallery for LORENZO and an in-depth profile of RYAN by Greg Singer.
An intrepid group of students from Minneapolis will be trekking to Northern California to attend VES 2004, the Visual Effects Society's sixth annual Festival of vfx, June 18-20 in San Rafael. This will be the third year in a row that the aspiring visual effects artists and animators from The Art Institutes International Minnesota (AIM) will attend the festival, accompanied by faculty member Michael Heagle, an instructor of Visual Effects and Motion Graphics.
I Castelli Animati Animated Film Festival has announce its short animated film project, which brings together eight Israeli students and eight Palestinian students who will work together in Rome on the storyline and the original drawings. The film is being produced by a number of Italian animation studios with the artistic supervision of Emanuele Luzzati and Giulio Gianini.
The aim of the project is not only to make a cartoon, but also to show that a common effort can be made between young Palestinians and Israelis to collaborate constructively and peacefully.
Alphanim has launched its new animated series ZOMBIE HOTEL, a 26 half-hour spooky sitcom, co-produced with Irish partners Magma Films and Telegael.
Entara has announced that it has signed a home video deal for JAKERS! THE ADVENTURES OF PIGGLEY WINKS with Paramount Home Ent. as well as a book deal with Simon Spotlight, an imprint of Simon & Schuster Childrens Publishing.
At BookExpo America, Andrews McMeel said he was planning to release a three-hardcover slipcased complete collection of the popular CALVIN & HOBBES comic strips in 2005, reports ICv2. Similar to this year's two-hardcover slipcased FAR SIDE collection, the CALVIN & HOBBES anthology would sell for around $150.
Sharon Morrill has been promoted to president DisneyToon Studios, and will continue to report to Walt Disney Feature Animation president David Stainton.
In her capacity, Morrill will still oversee all aspects of development and production for the divisions burgeoning line of Disney Video Premiere films and DisneyToon theatrical releases. Additionally, she will continue to be responsible for the divisions day-to-day activities, including synergy, finance, human resources, technology, publicity and legal affairs.
Due to the success of the first 20-chapter series, Lucasfilm Ltd. and Cartoon Network will present five 12-minute episodes of a new CLONE WARS mini-series beginning March 21, 2005. The new series serves as a close warmer for the theatrical release of STAR WARS: EPISODE III on May 19, 2005. Genndy Tartakovsky (SAMURAI JACK, DEXTER'S LABORATORY), who produced the first "micro-series," will serve as director, co-screenwriter and exec producer of the new mini-series.
Viggo Mortensen has been tapped to star in the New Line Cinema adaptation of graphic novel, A HISTORY OF VIOLENCE, reports VARIETY. David Cronenberg is set to direct from a script by Josh Olson (INFESTED). The film set to go before cameras in the fall.
Based on the Paradox Press graphic novel by John Wagner, Mortensen will play a small town diner owner who lives peacefully with his lawyer wife and children, until a random act of violence propels him to hero status in press and brings him to the unwanted attention of thugs who believe he is a former colleague on the lam.
4Kids Ent. has announced it has added anime series ONE PIECE to its FOX BOX lineup for this fall. ONE PIECE, from Toei Animation Co. Ltd., is one of the most popular children's animated series in Japan and took 4Kids a year of negotiating to secure the rights.
Paramount has announced a deal with Hasbro to release a series of animated direct-to-DVD features based on Hasbro toys such as G.I. JOE, TRANSFORMERS and TONKA, reports VARIETY. This is an extension of Paramount and Hasbro's agreement on the forthcoming animated movie G.I. JOE: VALOR VS. VENOM. That movie and a Tonka flick, TOUGH TRUCK ADVENTURES: THE BIGGEST SHOW ON WHEELS, are scheduled for release in September 2004 with TRANSFORMERS ENERGON and a SECRET CENTRAL picture titled HAVE YOU HEARD? following in October.
With the kick off of the American Institute of Architects (AIA) Convention in Chicago (June 10-12), Discreet announced that leading architectural firms are using its design visualization offerings for a competitive advantage in winning new commissions and securing approval for high-profile design concepts, including Perkins & Will, Skidmore, Owings & Merrill LLP, Kohn Pederson Fox, Ellerbe Becket and Hellmuth, Obata + Kassabaum.
THE NIGHTMARE BEFORE CHRISTMAS director Henry Selick has joined Vinton Studios as supervising director. Selick will be charged with heading up the studios transition into features. He has begun production on the studio's first high-budget CG short, MOONGIRL.
Selick is wrapping up his duties as animation director on Wes Anderson's THE LIFE AQUATIC. He also adapted and will direct Neil Gaiman's CORALINE for Bill Mechanic's Pandemonium.
Turbo Squid, worldwide publisher for the Discreet Certified 3ds max Plug-in Program, has released the first two TURBO TOYBOX 3D content packs. Each TURBO TOYBOX contains 30 or more 3D models for gamers to use in customizing their favorite games created with Discreet's gmax. The first two products, Starter TOYBOX and Vehicles TOYBOX, are now available and sell for $9.95 each.
Disney and Jerry Bruckheimer Films have bought Terry Rossio (SHREK, PIRATES OF THE CARIBBEAN) and Bill Marsilii's romantic thriller script DEJA VU for several million dollars, reports VARIETY. Buena Vista Motion Pictures Group president Nina Jacobson will oversee movie with evp production Jason Reed. Rossio and his writing partner Ted Elliott will exec produce with Jerry Bruckheimer Films' Mike Stenson and Chad Oman, who originally brought the script to Bruckheimer.
5th Annual Christian WYSIWYG Film FestivalSan Francisco, California, USAOctober 20-23, 2004Deadline: July 1, 2004
Christian W Y S I W Y G Filmworks presents the 5th Annual Christian WYSIWYG Film Festival. The event will screen feature films, short subject entries and children's films. The festival will include an actors workshop, networking opportunities, a "pitch party" and special guest speakers. For more information, e-mail wysiwygsf@earthlink.net or visit www.wysiwygusa.com.
CHRONICLES OF RIDDICK director/writer David Twohy has announced he is writing a two-hour movie for The Sci Fi Channel that would follow the fate of the Kyra character from the upcoming PITCH BLACK sequel, reports SCI FI WIRE. The character was first introduced as a boyish young teen in PITCH BLACK, but has grown into a beautiful but ferocious fighter for CHRONICLES OF RIDDICK. The movie will serve as an end-around pilot for a potential series tentatively titled KYRA, THE LOST YEARS, which would show what happened when Kyra chose to find Riddick after the events of PITCH BLACK.
When talking with CATWOMAN producer Denise Di Novi, IGN Filmforce discovered that her next project will be a live-action adaptation of the classic cartoon, THE JETSONS. Di Novi said they will be working off a script by Sam Harper (CHEAPER BY THE DOZEN, JUST MARRIED, ROOKIE OF THE YEAR). Adam Shankman (BRINGING DOWN THE HOUSE) is set to direct the film for Warner Bros.
Vanguard Animation has secured the rights to William Steig's THE ZABAJABA JUNGLE from the author's estate, reports VARIETY. Published in 1991, the book chronicles the story of a young boy who journeys through a jungle to find his kidnapped parents.
Vanguard Animation is in production on VALIANT, with Ewan McGregor, for Disney and HAPPILY N'EVER AFTER, starring Sigourney Weaver, Freddie Prinze Jr. and Sarah Michelle Gellar. The studio also has SPACE CHIMPS in development.
The MIFA conference in Annecy, France, kicked off seemingly well on June 14, 2004. However, the Electricians Union shut down the electric to the market for an hour as a protest of the French government's plans to privatize the electric industry. The protest was timed to hit the festival because of the attendance of French Minister of culture and communication Renaud Donnedieu de Vabres. Much like the protests that often accompany the Cannes Film Festival, the animation industry is no longer an outsider in this French tradition.
ADV Films has announced its June 8, 2004 street dates. The titles include: AZUMANGA DAIOH: FESTIVALS!, AURA BATTLER DUNBINE: BATTLERS OF BYSTON WELL and HAPPY LESSON: MAMA MIA! OVA.
On June 8, 2004, Central Park Media set to release URUSEI YATSURA MOVIE 2: BEAUTIFUL DREAMER, BLACK JACK: INCUBATION, SPIRIT WARRIOR: A HARVEST OF CHERRY BLOSSOMS, SPIRIT WARRIOR DVD COLLECTION, DOMAIN OF MURDER, MACHINE ROBO: REVENGE OF CRONOS: VOLUME 3 and THE BONDAGE MASTER on DVD. All DVDs will have audio tracks in both English and Japanese with English subtitles.
Edith Rudman, founder of the first gallery in the nation specializing in animation art, passed away on May 25, 2004 from cancer. She was 62 years old. Many credit her as starting the animation art industry.
Mattel and Miramax Home Ent. have announced an exclusive partnership that calls for Mattel to produce its first direct-to-video full-length animated movie featuring the MY SCENE girls. Miramax Home Ent. will distribute the movie. The My Scene movie is in production and will be released in fall 2005, and follows on the heels of the first MY SCENE entertainment experience, "Jammin' in Jamaica," an in-package DVD released earlier this year that also aired on Nickelodeon June 6, 2004.
Movielink has acquired the rights to carry all 52 episodes of the classic SPEED RACER animated television series from Speed Racer Enterprises. The episodes offered on Movielink will be packaged together and rented as 1 1/2 to two-hour segments. Current titles available include: "The Great Plan," "Challenge of the Masked Racer," "The Secret Engine," "Race Against the Mammoth Car," "The Most Dangerous Race" and "Race for Revenge." Movielink will promote its anime offerings through promotional campaigns, e-mail advertising and on its Website.
