John Yu has returned to Sideshow, where he previously worked as a senior inferno artist/designer, as its new art director. Yu has left his post as designer at Liquid Light, where he worked on projects such as the redesign of WNBC News Channel 4, the launch of the YES Network and a Dove Shampoo campaign.
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.
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.
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.
Playhut Co., a toy designer and manufacturer, launched its own production and distribution company, Playhut Entertainment, to produce anime and childrens programming for home video and broadcast.
Hong-Kong-based animation production house Stvdio Media has established an office in Los Angeles to handle sales and marketing for the North American Market. Founder/ceo Larry Feign, an American animator and cartoonist, has appointed Susan Goldstein to head the U.S. office. Goldstein worked for the Screen Actors Guild, the National Academy of Television Arts & Sciences and was evp of VIDEO INSIDER.
Vicon reported record sales of new and upgraded motion capture systems at the close of the first half of fiscal year 2003. The impressive sales figures included new system installs at customer sites worldwide in biomechanics, medicine, film, VFX, game development, broadcast, education, engineering and government market sectors. The sales period, tallied through March 2003, represents the best six months in the U.K.-based company's history.
Cyborg 009 will join Cartoon Network's "Toonami" line-up on Monday, June 30, 2003, airing weekdays at 6:00 pm. Combining elements of JAMES BOND movies and ASTRO BOY, CYBORG 009 follows the adventures of a world-class sprinter who, after being seriously injured, is kidnapped by the Black Ghost, a villain plotting to take over the world. The athlete is rescued by a kind-hearted professor, who turns him into the ninth series of cyborg warriors that were originally designed as "super soldiers" to help carry out the plot to conquer the world, but are now dedicated to stopping them.
For the past three weeks, members of the Academy of Television Arts & Sciences have been coming home to mysterious packages set upon their doorsteps as networks, TV producers and their public relations firms vie to get their vote for the Primetime Emmy Awards. Some of the gimmicks are so arresting that AWN decided to look into who is responsible for these bizarre campaigns and what is involved. The votes to nominate productions, talent and craft people were due June 20, 2003, so a bit of disclosure should not sway results.
Korean and Los Angeles-based 3D-animation house FX Digital/DiFarm and French-American production firm Media Concepts have partnered up to create the 3D-animated musical feature BREMEN. The two companies will share financing and ownership equally and hope to start production in late June of this year.
Vancouver-based Bardel Entertainment seems to be doing exceptionally well with holiday programming. Bardel's big Leo Award-winning production, THE CHRISTMAS ORANGE, has recently been sold to SVT Sweden and is in final negotiations with TV2 Denmark and CBBC London. This family holiday classic has aired on ABC Family in the U.S., TELETOON in Canada, TV12 in Singapore, Asia TV in Hong Kong and Teletoon in France, charming audiences with its thoughtful message and unique 2D and Flash-animatied style.
Although it took many years of intense lobbying by the VFX community, stop-motion pioneer Ray Harryhausen (IT CAME FROM BENEATH THE SEA, THE 7TH VOYAGE OF SINBAD, MYSTERIOUS ISLAND and JASON & THE ARGONAUTS) finally got a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame, June 10, 2003, right next to the legendary El Capitan Theater.
The coveted short film grand prize at the 27th International Festival of Animated Film at Annecy went to Koji Yamamura's ATAMA YAMA, while Serge Elissalde's VERTE was honored with the grand prize for Best TV Animation Production. 295 films were screened in the "Annecy 2003" official selection. The awards were presented at the closing ceremony held on Saturday, June 7, 2003. Congratulations to all the winners!
The Short and Feature Fiction Films jury, made up of Susie Campbell, Mikhail Aldashin, Giannalberto Bendazzi, Gabor Csupo and Bill Plympton, has awarded:
In its continuing effort to embrace more commercial event films (with the cooperation of the CAA talent agency), IMAX will release Warner Bros.' THE MATRIX RELOADED in select theaters on Friday, June 6, 2003, and, for the first time, in various international venues through early July (including the U.K., Germany, Russia, Singapore, South Africa and Japan). The timing couldn't be better, as the second mind-bending film in the Wachowski Brothers' trilogy recently set a new international box office record in its opening weekend (more than $113M).
In accordance with its new emphasis on VFX, New York City-based Rhinoceros Visual Effects and Design has changed its name to rhinofx. In addition, the studio has added three of its freelance artists to the roster: Ronen Sharabani, Joseph Burrascano and Joshua Frankel.
According to partner/senior exec producer Rick Wagonheim, hiring freelancers works for both parties. "Team chemistry and collaboration is important at rhinofx." Some of the projects they have been working on at rhinofx include Dentyne Ice, L'Oreal, Baskin-Robbins, Scotch-Brite, Cadillac and Krylon.
Peter van Roden joins Sesame Workshop, the nonprofit educational organization, in the newly created position of vp, themed entertainment, reporting to Karen Gruenberg, exec vp of content.
The April Acrobat issue of Animation World Magazine is now online! In this issue, check out what's happening in the business side of animation. Sandrine Pechels de St Sardos explains the ins and outs of the KirchMedia collapse that has impacted not only Germany's media market but the rest of Europe and beyond. Headquartered in Japan and representing more than 20,000 creative individuals, Creek & River has recently opened offices in New York. Rich Gorey speaks with Charlie Schroder to learn about the trends the company sees and its unique positioning for the future.
Ascent Media Creative Services Group, a technical and creative services provider for the entertainment industry, has promoted Robert T. Wenrich to the position of cfo. In his new role, Wenrich will handle the strategic and financial management of the company's the entertainment television, commercial television and creative sound services operations. He originally joined the firm in 2002 as cfo for the Creative Sound Services unit.
Gaming industry veteran Scott K. Tsumura has been named svp of Japan/Asia business strategy at Amaze Entertainment and exec studio director of Amaze Entertainment's BlackShip Games. Tsumura was president of Nintendo Software Technology Corp. managing the production of a variety of Nintendo games, such as POKEMONPUZZLE LEAGUE. A native of Japan, Tsumura has more than 25 years of gaming industry experience in both the U.S. and Japan.
Walt Disney has announced that Disney Stores president Peter Whitford is stepping down and the firm is looking to sell its 548-store chain with locations throughout the U.S. and Europe. The retail stores have struggled in the past few years and U.S. stores have been downsized from 522 to 387. In 2001, Disney sold all its stores in Japan to Oriental Land Co., which runs the Tokyo Disney Resort theme park. However, Disney says it will hold onto the six Disney Stores in Hong Kong, in anticipation of the opening of Hong Kong Disney in the beginning of 2006.
London-based Entertainment Rights (ER), a leading media firm in the ownership and distribution of children's and family entertainment, has some good news and some bad news. ER has a distribution deal with Mattel Inc. for U.K. rights to the next Barbie CGI feature, BARBIE OF SWAN LAKE, but has also announced that Mattel will not be renewing the licensing agreement with ER subsidiary Link Licensing for the U.K. representation of certain non-doll Barbie merchandise and publications.
New York-based Click 3x recently finished up production on a spot promoting Food Network's "Dine In Dine Out Sweepstakes." The idea for the 30-second spot germinated with the cable net's in-house creative staff, after which Click 3x's Creative Director Iain Greenway and his compatriots were enlisted to design the visuals and produce the ad. The commercial interjects Food Network personalities into a stylized 3D kitchen and/or restaurant setting. The visual concept is reminiscent of architectural blueprints, featuring objects rendered in stroked outlines.
MEGAMAN: NT WARRIOR premieres on the U.S. airwaves May 17, 2003 on Kids' WB! following a special preview at the Electronic Entertainment Expo (E3) in Los Angeles May 1416, 2003 where CAPCOM was showcasing the game series. Based on the popular comic book series, MEGAMAN: NT WARRIOR is set in the not-so-distant future during the Cyber Revolution of the year 200X, where virtually all technology is linked to a central computer system. Citizens of ACDC Town interface with this network using their personal "NetNavis" (Net Navigators) via their portable terminals (PETs). The anime/adventure series follows the discoveries and exploits of fifth-grader Lan, whose NetNavi - and alter ego- is a blue-suited, virus-fighting, virtual superhero named Mega Man. Lan and his friends plug in different powerchips to change their personal NetNavis' gadgetry and defense capabilities. These net-warriors unite to expose the darkness within their digital universe. For the latest shows on Kids' WB! check out www.kidswb.com.
Making its first E3 appearance since the recent merger between Square and Enix, Square Enix U.S.A. is poised to take role-playing games (RPGs) to the next level with a variety of titles. The highly anticipated FINAL FANTASY XI, the company's first venture into online gaming, will make its North American debut for PlayStation2 and PC. The company brings several high caliber role-playing games to the North American market for PlayStation 2, including UNLIMITED Saga, FINAL FANTASY X-2, STAR OCEAN TILL THE END OF TIME and DRAKENGARD. Square Enix U.S.A.
Winners for the 1st Annual International 3D Awards were announced at the evening ceremony May 9, 2003 at the Bella Center in Copenhagen, Denmark, running in conjunction with the 3D Festival 2003. The winners each picked up a Digital Hero trophy, hand sculpted by Dan Platt, at the ceremony The winners are:
Feature Film VFX
