Just as Nickelodeon's hit animated comedy/adventure series, AVATAR: THE LAST AIRBENDER, premieres in an all-new epic adventure titled, "Avatar: Secret of the Fire Nation" on Sept, 15, 2006, from 8:00-9:00 pm, THE HOLLYWOOD REPORTER reveals that Nick will air the show weeknights at 6:30 pm, starting Sept. 25. An expanded online initiative will also be launched for the show.
Licensing veteran Cynthia Money joins the Taffy Ent. team as president, worldwide consumer products, to build the consumer awareness and innovative marketing platforms for all of the companys award-winning brands. Money will be based in Los Angeles.
Director Terry Gilliam and actor Andy Serkis will be honored at the eDIT 9. Filmmakers Festival in Frankfurt, Germany, Sept. 24-26. Gilliam enjoys cult-status amongst generations of film-lovers. The writer, director and lead cartoonist shaped the style of the Monty Python group and their time. Films such as BRAZIL and 12 MONKEYS further cemented his reputation as an uncompromising filmmaker of extraordinary visionary power and humor.
Havok 4.0, the leading gameplay physics and animation solution from Havok, has been licensed to Blizzard Ent.
Havok 4.0 will add power and flexibility to our development process, said Mike Morhaime, president/co-founder of Blizzard Ent. Were looking forward to utilizing this technology with our upcoming games.
ASIFA-Hollywood has issued its official call for entries for the 34th Annual Annie Awards honoring outstanding achievement in animation across film, television, commercials and short subjects. All rules, category information and entry forms are available online at www.annieawards.org or by contacting ASIFA-Hollywood at (818) 842-8330. The deadline to receive entry forms is Friday, Oct. 6 2006. All nomination judging material is due by Oct. 27, 2006. Final nominations will be announced by ASIFA-Hollywood on Dec. 5, 2006.
The eDIT 9. Filmmakers Festival in Frankfurt, Germany, Sept. 24-26, 2006, takes a look at the latest trends in animation in a variety of screenings, panels, presentations and workshops that are not only aimed at professionals, but also at anyone interested in the subject of animation.
The program Best of Festivals opens on Sept. 24 with some outstanding international animation screenings:
Luc Besson (THE PROFESSIONAL, THE FIFTH ELEMENT) has told the ASSOCIATED PRESS that his forthcoming film, ARTHUR AND THE MINIMOYS, will be his last directorial effort. Besson plans to focus his energy on civic projects, including a foundation he is forming to help youths in France's inner cities.
MINIMOYS will open in France on Dec. 13, 2006, and in North America on Jan. 12, 2007.
"They are my 10 little babies," he said. "I love them all. I am pleased to have completed this cycle. That is finished."
Walt Disney Pictures PIRATES OF THE CARIBBEAN: DEAD MANS CHEST officially crossed the $1 billion mark at the global box office on Friday, Sept. 8, thus becoming only the third film in history (behind TITANIC and THE LORD OF THE RINGS: THE RETURN OF THE KING) to achieve this rare feat. DEAD MANS CHEST did it in nine weeks compared to 10 for THE RETURN OF THE KING. However, through the weekend ended Sept. 11, DEAD MANS CHEST has run its total to $1,004, 091,183, according to boxofficemojo.
NVIDIA Corp. announced that its NVIDIA GoForce handheld graphics processing units (GPUs), are powering some of the world's first mobile TV production rollouts.
DVB-H, or Digital Video Broadcasting for handheld devices, delivers digital broadcast quality TV to your mobile phone. NVIDIA GoForce handheld GPUs provide hardware acceleration for Mobile TV, delivering higher quality visuals than devices using only software, and with less drain on the battery thanks to new power saving technologies employed by the GPU.
HIT Ent. is expanding with a new office servicing the Asia Pacific region in Hong Kong. HITs Asia Pacific licensing, TV sales and distribution will be handled out of Hong Kong, enabling the company to work more closely with its broadcasting partners, licensees and licensing agents.
The Hong Kong office will service Australia, Korea, South East Asia and India. HIT already operates an office in Japan.
Animator Jan Svochak died of lung cancer Sept. 6, 2006, in Florida at the age of 80. J. J. Sedelmaier (J.J. Sedelmaier Prods.) relates, "Most people know Jan's work from the years he put in on the Hawaiian Punch campaign. He was the head animator from the '60s up to the early '90s.
Shorts Intl, the programming and distribution arm of leading short films specialists Brit Shorts, announced that a special collection of 10 animated films from the world's hottest independent animators are available for purchase on the iTunes Music Store (www.itunes.com).
Iridas will bring the complete 2006 SpeedGrade and FrameCycler product portfolios to IBC 2006. IRIDAS will exhibit with Ciprico (stand 7.510) from Sept. 8-12, 2006, at the Amsterdam RAI.
Luma Pictures completed more than 75 visual effects shots for THE COVENANT, the new supernatural thriller from ScreenGems and Lakeshore Ent., and director Renny Harlin (opening Sept. 8, 2006). Included in the package are the films eerie opening sequence in which four teenage boys leap off a towering cliff, a mystical rite of passage sequence, as well as its climactic battle sequence.
Taffy Ent., the brand management company for childrens and animation company MoonScoop and U.S.-based animation studio Mike Young Prods. (MYP), has promoted Lionel Marty in its Paris office to president of worldwide distribution. In the newly created position, Marty heads television and video sales for all Taffy Ent.s library of popular kids programming worldwide, including the MYP-produced multi-award-winning JAKERS!, for which Taffy holds worldwide television distribution rights, and MoonScoops hit show, CODE LYOKO.
NVIDIA Corp. redefined performance expectations for graphics cards at two of the most popular price segments for PC gamers. Available immediately, NVIDIA SLI-ready GeForce 7900 GS graphics processing units (GPUs) deliver exceptional performance and cutting-edge features at the widely accessible $199 to $249 price point. Available Sept. 14, the GeForce 7950 GT GPU brings increased performance and a 512MB frame buffer to the $299 to $349 price segment.
The nominations for eDward VII, the young filmmaker's award on Time Travel, have been announced: Robert Waddilove, Jens Tomat, Andreas Gaschka, Kai Oliver Schonrath/Jan Christoph Bieselt, Sascha Schreier/Simon Rauland/Markus Härtel, Erika Kram, Thomas Heinrich, Daniel Stieglitz, Ditte Soria, Alex York.
Three of these will be invited to Frankfurt, Germany, and awarded at eDIT 9. Filmmaker's Festival, Sept. 24-26.
AWN and VFXWORLD are special media sponsors of eDward VII.
David Pierce is the new president/ceo of Atari Inc., assuming the responsibilities of ceo previously held by Bruno Bonnell. Pierce is in charge of the operational management of Atari and will partner with Bonnell to achieve strategic objectives while Bonnell will continue to serve as the company's chairman/coo, steering the creative vision for Atari.
iEntertainment Network, the award-winning developer of the World Famous WARBIRDS TOTALSIMS series, will develop the first Massively Multiplayer Online Game to tie in with the theatrical release of FLYBOYS, the true life World War I aerial adventure (with vfx by Double Negative and Framestore CFC), to be released on Sept. 22 through MGM.
The all-new FANTASTIC FOUR animated series will premiere Saturday, Sept. 2, 2006, at 8:00 pm during Toonami on Cartoon Network in the U.S. Cartoon Network has exclusive domestic rights to the 26-episode, half-hour FANTASTIC FOUR series produced in France by Moonscoop (formerly Antefilms, the creators of CODE LYOKO) with Marvel Studios Cartoon Network and M6.
Electronic Arts Inc. announced two separate agreements with Massive Inc. and IGA Worldwide Inc. in a move that will offer to marketers on a global basis new dynamic advertising opportunities across select EA franchises on the Xbox 360.
A portfolio of EA games developed for the Xbox 360 and PC worldwide will be incorporated into Massive's Video Game Network. Massive is a wholly-owned subsidiary of Microsoft. Financial terms of today's agreement were not disclosed.
Aardman Animations will, this week, launch its own mobile TV channel on the Orange TV service.
The channel, Aardman Animations will consist of a video loop, refreshed weekly of its own content combined with some of the best animation sourced elsewhere in Britain and around the world.
Production will soon begin on DAMBUSTERS, the World War II adventure based on one of the most daring missions in aeronautic military history, for Universal Pictures in association with StudioCanal. Peter Jackson will produce and vfx vet Christian Rivers will make his directorial debut.
The complete program is now available online for the Visual Effects Societys eDIT 9. Filmmakers Festival in Frankfurt, Germany, Sept. 24-26.
The festival program is subdivided into the following thematic program areas: feature film, animation, commercials, television, media industry and for the first time documentary. In addition, the festival's guests of honor will be interviewed at the Festival Honors Salon.
Rachelle Lewis, a long-time professional recruiter in the entertainment industry, has started her own recruiting company, Rachelle Lewis Recruiting and Talent, which specializes in placing animation and vfx artists for studios worldwide.
"My company specializes in placing animation and vfx artists for feature, TV and gaming," Lewis told AWN/VFXWORLD. We also represent artists who have television or feature treatments and help them in developing and pitching their ideas to major studios."
