Oporto Festival Wants Your Fantasy & Sci-Fi Flicks
Oporto International Film Festival 2005Porto, PortugalFebruary 21 - March 7, 2005Deadline: December 15, 2004
Geographical Region: Europe
Codemasters Ships Soldiers: Heroes Of World War II
Codemasters has shipped its innovative realtime strategy game, SOLDIERS: HEROES OF WORLD WAR II, to North American retail outlets. Developed by Ukrainian company Best Way, SOLDIERS is now available exclusively for PC/CD-ROM.
U.K. Animation Co. Makes LEGO Spider-Man Paraody
Spite Your Face Productions Ltd. presents its new film SPIDER-MAN: THE PERIL OF DOC OCK, which will debut exclusively on http://movies.yahoo.com and http://yahooligans.yahoo.com July 2-6, 2004. The short, featuring animated LEGO toys, is an action-packed, comical take on the SPIDER-MAN movies, commissioned by Sony Pictures, Marvel Studios and The LEGO Group to tie in with the feature release of SPIDER-MAN 2.
Burton Dips Into Charlie and the Chocolate Factory
Director Tim Burton is busy indeed. Simultaneous to production commencing in London on the stop-motion CORPSE BRIDE, he has also started production in the same city on CHARLIE AND THE CHOCOLATE FACTORY. Based on the classic Roald Dahl novel and filmed once before in 1971 as WILLY WONKA AND THE CHOCOLATE FACTORY, CHARLIE is a Warner Bros. Pictures and Village Roadshow Pictures production.
Lilo & Stitch Director Doing His Own Live-Action Ghost Story
With Chris Sanders moving forward with his animation feature AMERICAN DOG, LILO & STITCH co-director Dean DeBlois will direct a live-action version of his own script titled THE BANSHEE, reports VARIETY. The period film set in Ireland chronicles a young boy who pretends to be a ghost who ends up meeting a real ghost. The film is being produced by Sanders and DeBlois' Stormcoast Pictures with DeBlois producing. Storyline partners Craig Zadan and Neil Meron will also produce with Storyline exec Travis Knox co-producing.
NVIDIA Offers New PCI Express Line
NVIDIA Corp. broadened its already expansive graphics line with the introduction of four new NVIDIA Quadro professional graphics solutions based on PCI Express. Leveraging this next-generation bus architecture, NVIDIA doubles the bandwidth of its AGP 8X-based products to more than 4GB per second in both upstream and downstream data transfers.
In Technology, Visual Effects, Technology, Visual Effects | Headline News | Geographic Region: All, Asia, Europe
COMDEX Las Vegas 2004 Postponed
COMDEX Las Vegas 2004 has been postponed in order to reshape the event with the cooperation of information technology (IT) industry leaders, it was announced by organizer MediaLive International Inc. COMDEX 2004 had been scheduled to open November 14, 2004, in Las Vegas. The company has established a COMDEX Advisory Board representing the IT industry's foremost companies to determine how COMDEX can reboot itself to best meet the future needs of the industry.
In Event, Visual Effects, Event, Visual Effects | Headline News | Geographic Region: All, Asia, Europe, South America
SIGGRAPH 2004 Sets Computer Animation Festival Program
ACM SIGGRAPH announced the program for the Computer Animation Festival for SIGGRAPH 2004, the 31st international conference on Computer Graphics & Interactive Techniques, to be held Aug. 8-12 at the Los Angeles Convention Center.
The Computer Animation Festival jury chose 83 selections out of a record 643 entry for exemplary use of computer-generated imagery and compelling storytelling. There are 40 international selections and 27 student pieces in the Festival.
In Anime, Event, Anime, Event | Headline News | Special Events: SIGGRAPH | Geographic Region: All, Asia, Europe, North America
Depp Leads Corpse Bride Voice Cast
Johnny Depp, who plays Willy Wonka in Tim Burton's upcoming adaptation of Roald Dahl's CHARLIE AND THE CHOCOLATE FACTORY, has just been tapped as one of the voice over leads in Burton's stop-motion animated feature, CORPSE BRIDE, currently in production in London for Warner Bros. Pictures. Tim Burton Animation Co. in London and Vinton Studios in Portland, Oregon, are listed as animation producers.
NVIDIA Launches New Multi-GPU Technology
NVIDIA Corp. unveiled a new technology that enables multiple NVIDIA GeForce 6 Series or NVIDIA Quadro graphics cards to operate in a single PC or workstation for a stunning increase in graphics horsepower. Appearing later this year in PCI Express-based PCs and workstations from top manufacturers, the new NVIDIA SLI technology takes full advantage of the additional bandwidth and features of this new high-bandwidth bus architecture.
Fahrenheit 9/11 Ignites Record Opening
Michael Moore's incendiary FAHRENHEIT 9/11 ignited the box office with a record $23.9M for the weekend ended June 27, 2004, the highest opener for any doc and the first to ever hit No. 1. The Lions Gate release opened in 868 theaters for a five-day cume of more than $24M and a per-screen weekend average of $27,558.
Endemano Takes BVITV Financial Reigns
Mark Endemano has joined Buena Vista International Television (BVITV) as vp, finance, Europe, Middle East & Africa. He will oversee all aspects of the international TV distributors financial operations including financial reporting, cost control, liaising with BVITVs operations in Asia-Pacific and Latin America, and producer group support.
He becomes a member of BVITVs senior executive team, delivering strategic, operational and financial input. Endemano will be based in London and report directly to Tom Toumazis, svp/md, EMEA, BVITV
Acclaim Unleashed Legends of Wrestling
Acclaim Ent. has unleashed the ultimate wrestling game SHOWDOWN: LEGENDS OF WRESTLING for the PlayStation 2 and Xbox. Developed by Acclaim Studios Austin, the game was designed in conjunction with professional wrestling experts and features 73 of the greatest wrestlers in history, including Hulk Hogan, Sting, Andre the Giant, Ultimate Warrior, Randy "Macho Man" Savage, Bret "Hitman" Hart, Diamond Dallas Page, Jake "The Snake" Roberts, "Rowdy" Roddy Piper, Eddie Guerrero and "The American Dream" Dusty Rhodes.
In Interactive, Games, Interactive | Headline News | Geographic Region: All, Australia, Europe, North America
2.5M Units of DRIV3R Race Into Stores
Atari Inc. has announced that it has shipped 2.5 million units of its highly anticipated DRIV3R to retails outlets worldwide. Since DRIV3R hit store shelves on June 21, 2004 in the U.S. and June 22 in Europe and Australia, consumer demand has been extremely strong.
"Our worldwide shipment is right in line with our plan for DRIV3R," said Bruno Bonnell, chairman/ceo of Atari. "The global DRIVER fan base is as robust and passionate as ever, as indicated by retail reaction in the U.S., the U.K., Germany, France and other key territories."
V12 + Panopoly Pictures design = Full Circle
V12 and Panopoly Pictures are merging their respective design and production departments to form Full Circle, a the new company that will provide live-action production, branding motion graphic design and animation to clients in the feature film, commercial and broadcast arenas. Leading the joint venture are V12 founder David Hwang and Panopoly Pictures co-founder Kathryn Peaslee.
In Anime, Business, Visual Effects, Anime, Business, Visual Effects | Headline News | Geographic Region: All, Europe
DECODE Seasons Renewed at ABC TV Australia
DECODE Entertainment digs in down under, securing second season commitments across it catalogue of hit shows from ABC TV in Australia. The broadcaster has committed to five series across all ages.
In Television, Television | Headline News | Geographic Region: All, Asia, Australia, Europe, North America
Mt. Head Wins Zagreb
Wrapping up its run on June 19, 2004, Zagreb: 16th World Festival of Animated Films awarded its Grand Prix to Koji Yamamura's Oscar-nominated short, MT. HEAD. Virgil Widrich's FAST FILM was a three-time winner, taking home the Zagreb Award, Jury Of The Croatian Filmmakers Guild (Animation Section) Grand Competition and Jury Of The Croatian Film Critics prizes. The top audience award went to WARD 13 by Peter Cornwell.
Below is complete list of winners:Grand Prix ATAMA YAMA (MT. HEAD) by Koji Yamamura, Yamamura Animation
Zagreb Award
FIKE Wants Your Films
FIKE 2004 - Évora International Short Film FestivalEvora, PortugalNovember 19 27, 2004Deadline: July 31, 2004
DodgeBall No Underdog at the Box Office
Fox's comedy DODGEBALL: A TRUE UNDERDOG STORY beat all comers in its debut to take the weekend ended June 20, 2004, racking up $30M. Steven Spielberg's gentle fable starring Tom Hanks, THE TERMINAL, debuted in second place, offering up $19M for DreamWorks.
Pendulum Transforms Mecha-Inoki For Heiwa
Pendulum designed and created a complex 3D transforming robot for MECHA-INOKI, a :30 spot for Japanese pachinko manufacturer Heiwa Corp. The spot, for the Japanese market, focuses on the popular Japanese wrestling and film star, Antonio Inoki. The directors concept was to have Inoki interfere with the imminent clashing of two vast armies, and through an awe-inspiring display of robotic power, bring peace to the warring land.
Geneon To Bring Appleseed to the World
Geneon Ent. has acquired worldwide theatrical and home video rights from Micott & Basara to anime feature APPLESEED. The pact excludes Japan and South Korea. North American theatrical distribution is scheduled for late summer. The film will mark the debut of Geneon Films, which will focus on marketing and distributing Japanese and Asian live-action and animated features around the globe.
Zoic Expands for Second Anniversary
Responding to industry growth and an increasing number of projects, leading visual effects company Zoic Studios has just completed a major expansion, adding new talent, technology and studio space.
Monster Distributes Finds Religious Programming Sells
Monster Distributes Ltd. recently completed deals with ITV in the U.K. and Kika in Germany to broadcast KIDS TEN COMMANDMENTS. The series, which Monster picked up at NATPE, ahs a few minor deals and is ready for a big launch at MIPCOM, reports Andrew Fitzpatrick, chairman of Monster Distributes.
In Television, Television | Headline News | Special Events: MIPCOM, NATPE | Geographic Region: All, Europe
IDT Pumps Up Sales/Distribution Arm
A few months ago Rick Mischel, ceo of Mainframe Ent., alluded to AWN that a sales/distribution entity would be in place soon for IDT Ent. and now that has become a reality. IDT Ent. has formed IDT Ent. Sales (IDTeS) a new company responsible for the worldwide distribution of content from its companies, as well as third-party producers. IDT Ent. companies include Anchor Bay Ent., Manga Ent., DPS, DPS/Film Roman, Mainframe Ent. and DKP Effects.
In Business, Business | Headline News | Special Events: MIPCOM | Geographic Region: All, Australia, Europe, North America
Cenega Publishing Gets UFO: Aftershock for PC
Prague, Czech Republic-based Cenega Publishing has signed a deal with Altar Interactive to publish the forthcoming PC-CD ROM title, UFO: AFTERSHOCK, due to release in Q3 2005.
In Interactive, Games, Interactive | Headline News | Geographic Region: All, Africa, Asia, Australia, Europe, North America
