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Geographical Region: Australia

Final Headline News

Special Extended Return of the King DVD to Street Dec. 14

Its official: The four-disc THE LORD OF THE RINGS: THE RETURN OF THE KING SPECIAL EXTENDED DVD EDITION (New Line Home Ent., $39.99) will hit stores on Dec. 14. As expected, it will contain more than 50 minutes of new footage, including a cameo by director Peter Jackson being quelled by an arrant arrow, and 300 new vfx shots (for a 250-minute running time). A five-disc collectors gift set, featuring a 52-minute film composing doc, will sell for $79.99.

Series Headline News

INDIGO Brings Tenali Raman To Nick

By Rick DeMott | Tuesday, September 21, 2004 at 12:00am

INDIGO has signed a deal with Nickelodeon Asia for its Indian animated series THE ADVENTURES OF TENALI RAMAN. The series will air on Nickelodeons Philippine and Asia feed reaching out to viewers in the Philippines, Hong Kong, Indonesia, Malaysia, New Zealand, South Korea and Singapore. It is due to air in November 2004.

Star Headline News

LucasArts Releases Star Wars Battlefront

By Rick DeMott | Tuesday, September 21, 2004 at 12:00am

LucasArts announced the release of the highly anticipated STAR WARS BATTLEFRONT, an open-ended single-player and multiplayer action game that lets players re-live all of the epic battles from the classic and prequel STAR WARS film trilogies. Shipping September 21 with the classic STAR WARS Trilogy DVD, STAR WARS BATTLEFRONT will be available for PlayStation 2, Xbox and the PC.

Game Headline News

Activision Value Teams with Paintball Legend on New Game

Activision Value Publishing has announced that it has teamed with game developer WXP and paintball legend Greg Hastings to create the first-ever paintball game for a major videogame console -- GREG HASTINGS' TOURNAMENT PAINTBALL for the Xbox. This single and multiplayer game combines the strategy and teamwork of a sports title with the view of a first-person action game. The game will be available this fall and is currently rated "RP" by the ESRB.

Headline News

Activision Ships Call of Duty: United Offensive

By Rick DeMott | Tuesday, September 14, 2004 at 12:00am

Activision Inc. has announced that CALL OF DUTY: UNITED OFFENSIVE has shipped to retail outlets nationwide. Developed by Gray Matter Interactive Studios, CALL OF DUTY: UNITED OFFENSIVE is rated "T" (Teen -- Blood, Mild Language, Violence) by the ESRB and carries a suggested retail price of $29.99.

Headline News

Kangaroo Jack Gets Animated Direct-to-Video

Warner Home Video (WHV) has announced the release of the new animated feature KANGAROO JACK G'DAY U.S.A.!, based on the surprise 2003 box office live-action hit. Price at $24.98 on DVD and $14.94 on VHS, the movie will arrive in stores Nov. 16, 2004.

Digital Headline News

Weta Digital Adds Discreet's lustre to DI Pipeline

Weta Digital has purchased two Discreet lustre digital grading and color correction systems as part of a strategic collaboration between Discreet and Weta Digital that spans multiple products.

Universal Headline News

King Kong Principal Photography Begins

By Rick DeMott | Thursday, September 2, 2004 at 12:00am

Principal photography is set to begin in September on Peter Jacksons KING KONG. Jackson will shoot the epic action flick on location in his native New Zealand. Set to star in the Universal Pictures release is Academy Award nominee Naomi Watts (21 GRAMS), Golden Globe nominee Jack Black (SCHOOL OF ROCK) and Academy Award winner Adrien Brody (THE PIANIST).

Headline News

Abbey Home Media Signs Baby Bright Future with B-Motion

Abbey Home Media has singed a multi-year distribution deal for BABY BRIGHT audio, DVD and book titles with B-Motion, for the Netherlands and Belgian markets.

BABY BRIGHT is a revolutionary new infant learning range developed in conjunction with Professor Annette Karmiloff-Smith, a leading child specialist and a leading authority in baby development. The range of books, audios and videos is full of attractive colors, exciting textures, touch, sensation and music designed to maximize babies attention span and develop their curiosity.

Headline News

New Aardman Flick & Other New Pages Come to The Theatrical Release Database

In the Theatrical Release Database this week, we have a new page for the next Aardman feature FLUSHED AWAY, starring Ian McKellen, Andy Serkis and Hugh Jackman. We also have new pages for the New Zealand/Taiwan co-production LADY WHITE SNAKE, Sony Animations BIG NASTY and THE SPIRIT based on Will Eisners famed comic. Theres also director updates on DEATHLOK and WIDOWS BROOM as well as a date changes for THE BROTHERS GRIMM, SON OF THE MASK and LADDER 49.

Film Headline News

New Zealand Gets Into Fantasy Epic Game for Itself

Wellington-based Silverscreen Prods. and visual effects company Oktobor are forming a company with Taiwan-based Equinox Film to produce a $40 million epic fantasy based on a popular Asian legend, titled LADY WHITE SNAKE, reports THE DOMINION POST. The film will be in English and is set for release in 2008 before the Beijing Olympics.

International Headline News

Telefilm Canada Sponsors International Tête-à-Tête at VIFF

Telefilm Canada will sponsor the International Tête-à-Tête at the Vancouver International Film Festival (VIFF), a series of one-on-one meetings designed to foster co-production activity and international sales. In association with the festivals Trade Forum, this initiative offers the occasion for Canadian industry players to discuss projects face to face with international producers, distributors and sales agents during private half-hour meetings.

Film Headline News

Disney Gives Date for Narnia, Add F/X House

Disney Pictures has released the date for Andrew Adamson's THE CHRONICLES OF NARNIA: THE LION, THE WITCH AND THE WARDROBE, reports the NEW ZEALAND HERALD. Fans will be able to catch the film Dec. 9, 2005. In addition, Sony Picture Imageworks has been hired to do 400 effects shoots for the film, whose main f/x house is Rhythm & Hues. New Zealand's Weta Workshop will create the makeup prosthetics for all of the creatures.

Film Headline News

The Hole Wins Odense Film Fest Prize

The Iranian animation film THE HOLE by Vahid Nasirian and produced by the Experimental and Documentary Film Center took home the second prize in the international competition section at the 19th Odense International Film Festival, which was held from August 4-9, 2004 in Denmark. The juvenile jury gave its prize to LOVE TRICYCLE by Andrew Goode (Australia).

Game Headline News

Spider-Man 2: The Game Available for Mac Play

Mac gamers can now get in on the SPIDER-MAN 2 fun as thanks to Aspyr Media, Inc. now shipping SPIDER-MAN 2: THE GAME, FOR MACINTOSH. Licensed by Activision, SPIDER-MAN 2: THE GAME, FOR MACINTOSH was developed by Ryan C. Gordon, who has previously worked with Aspyr Media on SHREK 2: THE GAME.

Software Headline News

HP Remote Graphics Software Introduced

HP introduced groundbreaking new software at SIGGRAPH 2004 that allows customers in graphics-intensive fields such as engineering and graphic design to collaborate with teams across geographically dispersed regions in realtime.

Series Headline News

VGI Dogs Fred Basset Animated Series

Fred Basset, star of the famous comic strip by Alex Graham syndicated in 20 countries will star in his very own television series to be produced and distributed worldwide by VGI Entertainment Ltd.

VGI, an independent U.K. producer, distributor and licensor of childrens programming, said it is delighted to be involved in such a landmark project and will be working in close consultation with Arran, Grahams daughter who continues to be very much involved with the daily comic strip.

Agents Headline News

Massive Agents to Invade SIGGRAPH 2004

Massive, developer of the premiere 3D animation system for artificial intelligence-driven, crowd-related visual effects is streamlining the generation of arena spectators, crowds moving en masse and large-scale digital armies with breakthrough Ready-to-Run Agents. These pre-built agents can be easily dropped into shots to create 3D character-based crowd scenarios allowing animators to significantly speed up their workflow. The initial agents, debuting Aug.

Headline News

NVIDIA Expands Gelato Sales with International Resellers

NVIDIA has signed agreements with six companies to sell and support the NVIDIA Gelato 1.0 GPU-accelerated final-frame renderer. The companies are also authorized to sell bundles of NVIDIA Quadro FX professional graphics hardware with Gelato. The NVIDIA Gelato resellers are:

* 3VIS in Montreal and Eastern Canada (www.3vis.ca or www.3vis.com)* BB.TEK.INC in India (www.bbtekinc.com)* Helios|Oceana in Toronto and Central Canada (www.heloc.com)

Media Headline News

Media Design School Hires New Faculty

The Media Design School, New Zealand's premiere learning institution for the digital arts, announces a slate of new faculty additions that include Tom Zuber, Patrick McNabb and Richard Hicks, going into its visit to SIGGRAPH 2004 conference at the Los Angeles Convention Center from August 10-12, 2004 at booth #1958.

Software Headline News

SIGGRAPH 2004 Lines Up New Zealand Players for Tech Talk

New Zealand companies will be featured at a panel session as part of the SIGGRAPH conference Tech Talk series, held this year at the Los Angeles Convention Center, August 10-13. Hosted by NZTE, the session, "Middle Earth: Imagination Made More Real" provides a presentation forum for New Zealand companies and will be moderated by Dr. Steve Upstill, a founding member of Pixar Animation Studios and a recent New Zealand immigrant.

Brazil Headline News

Jurannessic Beats Lorenzo for Anima Mundi Top Prize

Anima Mundi, the international animation festival of Brazil, wrapped up on July 25 with the announcements of the São Paulo winners. The event is like two festivals in one running in Rio de Janeiro (July 9 18) then moves to São Paulo (July 21 25). Taking the Rio short prize was Oscar winning film HARVIE KRUMPET.

Production Headline News

Aussie Fund to Bankroll Faireez

Australia's Film Finance Corp. has approved an investment in the animated series FAIREEZ as part of an overall injection of cash into two features, three miniseries and three children shows, reports VARIETY. FFC ceo Brian Rosen said the agency will invest A$18.5 million (US$13.5 million) in the television projects.

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