SquareOne Ent, the Munich-based independent film and TV distribution company, has acquired European distribution rights to the groundbreaking micro-series, LOVEBITES, from JWTwo Ent., Greif Prods. and Paul Reiser's Nuance Prods. LOVEBITES, which airs with strong ratings on TBS in the U.S. LOVEBITES is an original micro-series that takes an unflinching look at modern love between two newly coupled twenty-somethings.
"My cell phone plays the Berlin Philharmonic orchestra," brags Rat Man. It rings, and sure enough, in marches the orchestra to play a short allegro non troppo. Looking a little like Calvin in his "Stupendous Man" outfit, the dim-witted not-so-superhero is the protagonist of a much anticipated TV series (52x13), co-produced by public TV network RAI and Florence-based Stranimani, that will start airing Saturday mornings on RAI, it was announced during a press conference in Rome.
The American version of CREATURE COMFORTS, the hit British television series, premieres tonight, (June 4, 2007) at 8:00-8:30 pm on the CBS. Based on the original Academy Award-winning short film of the same name created by Nick Park and Aardman Animations Ltd., the stop-motion animated series employs a unique format that culls excerpts from real person interviews in the U.S. and places them in the mouths of a wide variety of animated animals to produce humorous, charming and insightful commentaries on everyday life.
McCann Erickson and Bitfilm have started a strategic partnership called PITCH!, which set out to tap into the viral market. By August 1, 2007, creative people from all over the world may submit a film with the topic "Coke Zero: A man's life as it should be" for McCann's customer Coca-Cola in the Bitfilm Club (www.bitfilm.com/club). This is not about classical advertising films, but free works especially made for the Internet.
NCircle Ent. announced that it has entered into an exclusive multi-year distribution partnership with Granada Int'l, which makes NCircle the exclusive U.S. home entertainment distributor for the award-winning animated children's series POCOYO.
The latest Acrobat edition of Animation World Magazine is now online and ready for download. This issue tackles the world of direct-to-video. Despite a recent burst in production of animated shorts, short film compilation discs remain a tiny niche within the DVD market. Karen Raugust reports. John Cawley looks into the business of expanding a franchise in the world of direct-to-video. Janet Hetherington examines how original animated direct-to-DVD animated adventures based on toy brands may extend the play value of popular toys.
Marriott International Inc., Nickelodeon, (MTV Networks and Miller Global Properties, Llc., an international real estate investment and development company, today (May 31, 2007), announced an agreement to co-develop a breakthrough new lodging resort brand and concept for travelers seeking fun and adventure, "Nickelodeon Resorts by Marriott." They plan to have 20 potential hotels under construction by 2020, with first hotel expected to open in San Diego in 2010
Teri Meyer has been promoted to the newly created position of evp of worldwide publicity for Walt Disney Studios Motion Picture Marketing. She will be responsible for formulating and executing worldwide publicity campaigns for all live-action and animated features released under The Walt Disney Pictures (live action and animation), Touchstone Pictures and Hollywood Pictures banners.
PIRATES OF THE CARIBBEAN: AT WORLD'S END (with more cutting edge vfx from ILM) continued to chart new waters and rewrite the record books at the global box office with its unprecedented six-day opening tally of $404M. The film easily surpassed the previous opening record of $382 million set by SPIDER-MAN 3 just a few weeks ago.
PERSEPOLIS, an animated feature about a young girl's life under Iran's ayatollahs shared the jury prize March 27, 2007, at the Cannes Film Festival.
The animated short, MADAME TUTLI-PUTLI, from The National Film Board of Canada, also picked up two major awards. The avant-garde, stop-motion film from Chris Lavis and Maciek Szczerbowski won the Canal + Award for Best Short Film and the Petit Rail d'Or for Best Short Film.
The new anime network, GONG, dedicated to teens and adults, has launched as the first international on-demand, online Japanese animation channel in Europe and North America.
GONG is the only on-demand Anime channel, available anywhere, anytime, on any screen (TV, mobile, Internet, VOD), in 36 countries across Europe and North America, offering manga and anime fans top-rated and popular anime series and movies.
A Munich regional court has rejected Pumuckl creator Ellis Kaut's request for a temporary injunction, stopping Pumuckl's original illustrator Barbara von Johnson from giving the character a girlfriend, reports THE HOLLYWOOD REPORTER. The goblin Pumuckl is a kids' icon in Germany on the level of Big Bird. The row between Kaut and Johnson started when Johnson okayed a TV broadcaster to sponsor a contest to pick the look of Pumuckl's girlfriend. Kaut claims that the character is asexual, despite various occasions over the years being referred to as a boy.
Walt Disney Pictures' PIRATES OF THE CARIBBEAN: AT WORLD'S END landed a hefty worldwide gross of $58 million in its first two days of pre-weekend release. Domestically, the film was virtually sold out in theatres across the country on Thursday night and collected an impressive $17 million from the evening showings. Overseas, the film grossed a swashbuckling $12.1 million from 13 territories on Wednesday, and brought in an additional $29 million from Thursday showings in a total of 39 territories.
Anime director Rintaro (METROPOLIS, X: THE MOVIE, SPACE PIRATE CAPTAIN HARLOCK) and Japanese production house Madhouse (X/1999, X: THE MOVIE, METROPOLIS, TRIGUN) along with Paris-based Denis Friedman Prods. have announced a new CGI-animated feature, YONNA YONNA PEGUIN, reports VARIETY. The film is set to debut in Japan in December 2008.
The story features a little girl who gets sucked into a fantasy world populated by goblins who believe that their savior will be a penguin.
Japan's Madhouse Ent. and France's Denis Friedman Prods. are set to produce the CG-animated feature, YONA YONA PENGUIN, reports VARIETY. Rintaro (METROPOLIS) will direct. The story will follow a trio of children that travel to a fantasy world.
Shochiku will handle distribution in Japan while Hong Kong's Golden Network will tackle other parts of Asia and France's Wild Bunch will rep all other international territories. Madhouse's U.S. division and Shochiku hold the North American rights.
Japanese, French and English soundtracks will be recorded.
REALVIZ announced the immediate availability of version 5.6 of its award-winning software, Stitcher Unlimited. Now firmly established as one of the most powerful and widely recognized image stitching applications on the market, Stitcher enables the creation of high-quality panoramas and 360° virtual tours. Version 5.6 introduces Mac Universal compatibility, as well as HDR capabilities. A Japanese-language version is also scheduled for release later this spring, in addition to the existing English and French versions of the software.
POCOYO has been ranked Spain's top-selling DVD, across all genres, since its Spanish home video debut on April 24, 2007.
According to GFK data, more than 25,000 units have been sold during the initial three-week period, from April 24 to May 15. POCOYO is also attracting strong ratings on Spain's TVE La 2, where it has aired since October 2006.
POCOYO'S additional DVD releases are scheduled for late August (volumes 3 and 4) and mid November 2007 (volumes 5 and 6).
SIGGRAPH 2007 announced record submissions for this year's Computer Animation Festival taking place at the 34th International Conference and Exhibition on Computer Graphics and Interactive Techniques, Aug. 5-9, 2007 in San Diego, California.
Universal Pictures has confirmed that, beginning in October 2007, Christian Grass will become president of the studio's new international production arm at Universal Pictures International (UPI).
Kabillion, the new multi-platform kids' program service, will debut the new animated action/adventure comedy series, I GOT A ROCKET! June 1, 2007, on both Kabillion On-Demand (on Comcast Cable systems nationwide) and Kabillion's broadband site, www.Kabillion.com. New series from Taffy Ent. will get an online sneak peek on Kabillion.com on May 24 and Comcast Cable's Comcast.net on May 29.
The SIGGRAPH 2007 Papers Program features the year's best research innovations in computer graphics and interactive techniques. Of 455 international submissions, a record-breaking 108 of the world's most prestigious papers will be presented at SIGGRAPH 2007 taking place Aug. 5-9 in San Diego, California.
Thailand's MonoFilm will distribute THE LIFE OF BUDDHA domestically and donate the profits to charity, according THE HOLLYWOOD REPORTER. The $5 million, 150-minute, animated feature was produced by Wallapa Pimthong.
The film follows the life of 6th century prince Siddhartha as he renounces his throne on the border of Nepal and India to go search for the meaning of life.
Italy's Dujass Film S.P.A. purchased the rights to the film at Cannes.
Rico Hill has been named vp of programming and acquisitions for Cartoon Network and Boomerang. Based in Atlanta, he will direct all aspects of programming for both Cartoon Network and classic cartoons network Boomerang, including scheduling, on-air event planning and program acquisitions.
At Cannes, sales rep Daniel Marquet is pitching a feature script for the TV series, TOTALLY SPIES, reports VARIETY. The Marathon production is budgeted at $7 million.
The feature's story is an origin tales, following the show's trio of high-school girls as they become spies.
The TV series was created and produced by Marathon's David Michel and Vincent Chalvon-Demersay. It airs in the U.S. on Cartoon Network, in France on TF1, in Germany on Super RTL, in Italy on Mediaset, in Brazil on Globo, in Mexico on Televisa and in parts of Asia on the Disney Channel.
Friends of Transart Institute announced that scholarships have become available to students of the low-residency Master of Fine Arts program. For the academic year 2007/8, up to eight partial $2,500 scholarships will go to students of merit and financial need. Furthermore, two 50% scholarships are available to accepted students in Transart Institute's international MFA in New Media program from East Europe and new EU-member countries through Donau University Krems.
