On Sept. 15, 2005, Animation Block Party will end the sweltering NYC summer with a festival featuring more than 50 short films in three September screenings at BAM Rose Cinemas in Brooklyn. Animation Block Party received almost 650 submissions over the course of 2005.
MTV Films announced that it has acquired an option on the worldwide film rights to the award-winning, action-horror videogame property, THE SUFFERING, from Surreal Software, a subsidiary of Midway Games Inc.
Nickelodeons popular Danny Phantom character is available for the first time as a videogame, DANNY PHANTOM: THE ULTIMATE ENEMY, which THQ Inc. has released to retail outlets throughout North America. This fast-paced, action game based on a special episode of the popular Nickelodeon television series, DANNY PHANTOM.
The videogame recreates all of Danny's TV powers, allowing players to walk through walls, shoot ghostly beams and howl a ghostly wail as he travels through time to save the world.
Marvel Enterprises Inc. announced the completion of a $525 million non-recourse debt facility, which will finance Marvel's production of up to 10 films based on characters from its stable of comicbook characters, including Captain America, Nick Fury and The Avengers. Paramount will distribute the film slate, with the first theatrical release expected for summer 2008. This arrangement gives Marvel complete creative control, the ability to build a film library and greater profit potential than it has received from films licensed to other studios.
The 2005 Maya Masters, announced and honored at the Alias Global Users Assn. (AGUA) annual event last month during SIGGRAPH in Los Angeles, include:
* Drew Berry works for The Walter and Eliza Hall Institute of Medical Research in Australia and creates scientific visualizations for science documentaries, museum exhibits and gallery installations around the world. His most recent project involved creating animations of the very nasty bugs Smallpox, Ebola and Anthrax for a National Geographic documentary on Bioterrorism.
China's national broadcaster, CCTV and Nickelodeon are co-producing the first kids' show in China, THE CCTV-NICKELODEON KIDS' CHOICE HONORS. The event will be held at Tian Qiao Theatre in Beijing on Sept. 10, 2005, at 7:30 pm and will be televised on CCTV14 on September 23 at 8:00 pm and, additionally, on CCTV1 and CCTV4, reaching 300 million households throughout China.
The ultimate TITANIC DVDs will be released on Oct. 25 in a special edition, a special collectors edition and a deluxe collectors edition, it was announced by Paramount Home Ent., Twentieth Century Fox Home Ent. International and James Camerons Lightstorm Ent. The three-disc special collectors edition ($29.99) will be available in the U.S., Japan and Korea, while the two-disc special edition will be available in Europe, Australia and Latin America.
Ballistic Publishing is now calling all artists to submit digital images for consideration to be included in EXOTIQUE. Images can be created in any 3D or digital illustration application. Ballistic is interested in digitally-created fine art, whether it be 2D or 3D, for commercial use or personal satisfaction. Ballistic seeks all types of characters from heroes and heroines to damsels, monsters and malicious villains. All genres are welcome, whether it be science fiction, fantasy, anime, photorealism or stylized realism. Entry deadline is Oct. 3, 2005, midnight GMT.
Numerous animated flicks will be on the big screen at this year's Palm Springs International Festival of Short Films, to be held from September 20 to 26 at the Camelot Theatres in Palm Springs.
The fest has announced its roster of 324 films, selected from more than a record-setting 2,400 worldwide entries, up 10% from last year. It will showcase 86 world premieres, 27 North American premieres and 15 U.S. premieres. Some of the animated films:
6:30 pm, Tuesday, Sept. 20 Opening Night: International Award Winners
Tickle U, Cartoon Networks new programming block for pre-school children, has launched in the U.S. Animal Logic has worked with Cartoon Network to create packaging and bumps to help launch Tickle U and carry it through subsequent months of programming.
PorchLight Entertainment has acquired exclusive distribution and licensing and merchandising rights to NEW MACDONALDS FARM, Beyond Distributions hit childrens series which airs on Australias Network Nine.
The hit series, targeting kids 2-5, features child-like farmers Max and Milly in a combination live-action and puppetry setting. There are 45 half-hour episodes completed with an order for 45 more. PorchLight will market the series for domestic broadcast distribution and actively seek U.S. licensees.
The Ottawa International Animation Festival (OIAF) focus on Singapore at the 2nd annual Television Animation Conference (TAC), which takes place Sept. 21-22, 2005. Media Development Authority of Singapore (MDA) is sending production and policy executives from Singapore's animation industry to the conference and meet with Canadian counterparts at a roundtable to establish business contacts explore co-production possibilities.
For those who were disappointed by the STITCH! THE MOVIE DVD sequel (the precursor to the TV series), youll probably find LILO & STICH 2: STITCH HAS A GLITCH (Buena Vista Home Ent., $29.99) closer to the original Disney animated feature. Animated at the recently shuttered Walt Disney Animation Studios in Sydney, Australia, LILO & STITCH 2 streets Aug. 30, 2005. The Australian team, guided by unit director Kelly Baigent and unit producer Kara Lord Piersimoni, strove for lush watercolor backgrounds and stylized imagery, which characterized the Chris Sanders feature.
Disney Channel will broadcast the worldwide television premiere of the animated feature, TROLLZ: BEST FRIENDS FOR LIFE, from DIC Entertainment (DIC), on Aug. 27, 2005, at 2:00 pm with subsequent airdates scheduled September 3 and 29 on Toon Disney.
The Trollz world revolves on the adventures of five teenage best friends Amethyst, Onyx, Sapphire, Topaz and Ruby each of whom is very different from the other. Each friend offers her unique style in personality, color, fashion symbol and gemstone, but together they form the Magic of The Five.
SEVEN SWORDS, a new epic Chinese feature film by director Tsui Hark, was realized with six of Autodesk's media and entertainment solutions. Based on Liang Yu-Shen's classic novel SEVEN SWORDSMEN FROM MOUNT TIAN, the film will be released worldwide in fall 2005.
REALVIZ has confirmed that the first leg of its 2005 SFX tour will kick off in the U.K. at the beginning of next month. The tour will run from September through to November 2005, and will visit a selection of towns and cities internationally in the U.K., France, Sweden, Greece and Australia, with additional countries being added over the course of the next few weeks.
Marketing veteran Carol Laumen joins DIC Entertaiment Inc. as vp, retail development to serve as the companys retail expert and liaison between the licensees and retailers. Laumen will be responsible for building relationships with the retailers and developing support for DICs brand properties, including Trollz, Classic Trolls, Strawberry Shortcake and Strawberry Shortcake Baby.
Alliance Atlantis has secured a broadcast deal with Jetix in Latin America for its childrens CGI animated property, DRAGON BOOSTER. The series will launch throughout Latin America in fall 2005. This deal is in addition to agreements already in place with broadcasters in the U.S., U.K., Australia and Canada.
Alliance Atlantis announced that it has secured North American publishing and apparel deals for its childrens CGI animated property, DRAGON BOOSTER. Hyperion Books for Children, having acquired the U.S. and Canadian publishing rights, will launch a series of DRAGON BOOSTER books beginning in fall 2005. Extreme Concepts, who will begin rolling out the clothing line in fall 2005, has licensed the DRAGON BOOSTER apparel rights in the U.S.
Animal Logic has worked with M+C Saatchi Sydney, Filmgraphics, and director Phil Meatchem to create a new television commercial for Optus. The :60 Brand TVC combines seamless 3D animation with a lively music track to animate the Optus animals into a new musical life.
Lions Gate Ent. Toronto announced that it has closed its asset purchase agreement to acquire substantially all of the Modern Ent. Ltd. library, effective today, Aug. 17, 2005. The acquisition had been previously announced.
The acquisition includes the rights held by Modern to leading titles from Vestron, Dino DeLaurentiis and other libraries within the Modern Ent. family, including CONAN THE BARBARIAN, HALLOWEEN II and III, RAGTIME, DEAD ZONE, AND GOD CREATED WOMAN, AMITYVILLE II, EIGHT MILLION WAYS TO DIE, HERCULES IN NEW YORK and EARTH GIRLS ARE EASY.
Kelly Flock is joining THQ Inc. in the newly created position of evp of worldwide publishing, overseeing product strategy, marketing and sales.
Flock has more than two decades of publishing, sales, marketing and licensing experience in the videogame industry, having served as president/ceo of Sony Online Ent., president of 989 Studios and president of Sony Interactive Studios America. Flock also was gm of LucasArts Ent. Co. where he managed the game division of Lucasfilm Ltd.
Nicktoons will present NEXTOONS: THE NICKTOONS FILM FESTIVAL, a week-long festival of shorts submitted by animators worldwide. The festival will kick off on Sunday, Aug. 21, at midnight (ET)/9:00 pm (PT) and will air nightly at midnight (ET)/9:00 pm (PT), leading up to the final episode on Sunday, Aug. 28. Created in partnership with Frederator Studios, NEXTOONS: THE NICKTOONS FILM FESTIVAL is the first on-air festival of its kind, and the only, on-air festival dedicated to showcasing the diversity of independent cartoon filmmaking by animators from around the globe.
Once again this September, Ottawa will play host to some of the leading animation execs from North America and around the world. Representatives from internationally renowned studios such as Aardman Animation and Nelvana as well as broadcasters such as Cartoon Network, Nickelodeon and Kids WB! will converge at the 2nd Annual Television Animation Conference (TAC), taking place on September 21 and 22 at the Chateau Laurier.
Billy Wright has been named vp, worldwide wireless, Warner Bros. Online. Reporting directly to Jim Noonan, svp/gm, Warner Bros. Online, Wright will lead the company's Americas, Europe/Middle East/Africa (EMEA) and Asia-Pacific (APAC) strategic mobile teams as they develop, produce, publish and market content, including wallpapers, video and games based on the studio's world-renowned brands. The group also works to develop promotional mobile content that raises awareness for upcoming studio projects. Currently based in London, Wright will relocate to Glendale, California, in the fall.
