Fans of the down and dirty wrestling parody THUMB WRESTLING FEDERATION: TWF are gearing up for this Saturday's new season premiere. Featuring new characters, matches and the usual over-the-top thumbtastic action, season three of the hit show will debut April 4 on Cartoon Network during the popular Saturday morning "Crush Zone" block.
Jack Dunham, an animator at Disney starting with SNOW WHITE AND THE SEVEN DWARFS, died a few weeks ago at the age of 98, reports CARTOON BREW.
Dunham worked at Universal on Oswald shorts before heading over to Disney in the mid-1930s, working as an inbetweener on SNOW WHITE. He moved into management and was a unit manager until 1947.
Dunham moved to Canada to work for the Associated Screen News in Montreal, later working in live action and animated commercials in Montreal and Toronto Canada.
HIT Ent. is lining up its biggest retail promotion ever for THOMAS & FRIENDS this Easter.
THOMAS & FRIENDS has launched at Hamley's as part of the famous toy store's Cartoon Crazy promotion with themed in-store activity and a special THOMAS & FRIENDS-themed window. The promotion showcases new product lines from TOMY, Golden Bear and RC2 as well as in-store competitions to win tickets to Thomas Land as part of the U.K. theme park's first anniversary celebrations. The promotion runs until May 11 in Hamley's Regent Street and Dumfries, Ireland stores.
This April 1, spend a primate-packed day with Boomerang as the commercial-free network celebrates "Ape-Reel Fool's Day." The big star of the day is everyone's favorite fun-loving (and well-dressed) gorilla, Magilla. Debuting in 1964, THE MAGILLA GORILLA SHOW chronicles Magilla's antics in Mr. Peeble's Pet Shop. This classic cartoon will air in three-hour blocks on Wednesday, April 1, at 9 a.m. (ET) and 5 p.m. (ET), and again overnight at 2 a.m. (ET).
Stars Beyonce, Will Smith, Vanessa Hudgens, Jack Black, Selena Gomez, The Jonas Brothers, Jesse McCartney and Miley Cyrus captured the coveted orange Blimp trophies at Nickelodeon's 22nd Annual Kids' Choice Awards live telecast, Saturday, March 28.
Following hot on the heels of the news that CAKE Ent. has sold Fresh TV Inc.'s new animated surf comedy STOKED (26 x 22) to Cartoon Network USA, the kids' entertainment specialists have announced that the show has a double platform with CANAL+ and TPS Jeunesse.
SLUMDOG MILLIONAIRE, MARLEY & ME and SEVEN POUNDS debut on DVD/Blu-ray, along with HANDY MANNY and SCHOOLHOUSE ROCK DVDs and THE CHRONICLES OF RIDDICK and PITCH BLACK on Blu-ray for the first time.
National Geographic Television International finalized a raft of key new sales for its preschool animated series TOOT & PUDDLE (52 x 11), launched at MIPCOM in 2008.
Recent deals have been finalised with France 5, Cartoon Network Spain, SVT Sweden, TVB Hong Kong, RUV Iceland and Egyptian TV. These new sales join those made previously, which include Nickelodeon in the U.K., Germany, Australia and New Zealand, YLE Finland and TV2 Norway.
New independent production company, Everything Works, has been commissioned by Anne Gilchrist, Controller of CBBC to produce its first ever show.
Premiering on CBBC and BBC1 on March 30, the comedy show sees crazy animated monsters interacting with the real world in a series of 20 x 2 minute sketches.
STREET MONSTERS is a comedy sketch show with a difference. It stars an outrageous cast of monsters who wreak havoc on live-action streets. It's laugh-out-loud funny, silly, edgy, chaotic and totally and utterly unique.
marblemedia has begun production on the North American version of the U.K.'s smash-hit, animated/live-action series, SKATOONY.
D3Publisher has signed a worldwide publishing agreement with Cartoon Network Enterprises, the global licensing and merchandising arm of the network, for videogames based on action-adventure series THE SECRET SATURDAYS. The first game based on THE SECRET SATURDAYS is scheduled to be released for console and handheld systems in Q4 2009.
At its upfront, Cartoon Network unveiled 19 new programming ventures, including three new action-adventure and four new comedy animated series; six live-action "alternative" half-hour series; three original live-action and one CG-animated movie special; and two hour-long original, scripted live-action pilots. Coupled with 164 new half-hour episodes of returning comedy and action-adventure animated series, today's announcements represent the largest commitment to new content development in Cartoon Network history.
New Comedy and Action-Adventure Animated Series include:
Artist Ray Aragon, who worked in layout, production design and storyboarding at various studios, died on Sunday, March 15, reports CARTOON BREW. He has 83.
Cartoon Network announced a multifaceted partnership with the NBA to develop long- and short-form basketball-themed content across a wide variety of platforms, including online, mobile, VOD and on-air. Through this partnership and the network's alignment with Turner Sports, this announcement continues a long-standing relationship the NBA has had with Turner Broadcasting for over 25 years.
The Ellipsanime studio has announced the launch of its animated series entitled GENIUS : the ultimate inventor with a long white beard and violet hat, based on the much-loved hero of the comic book series by Turk and De Groot, published by Le Lombard.
Each day, the brilliant inventor comes up with new ideas and concepts. He has a sidekick who features in all his adventures: the lazy, clumsy Basil, generally known to his master as "Disciple."
Alphanim's new 52x13 series MATT'S MONSTERS has secured new broadcasts of the series with Cartoon Network in Asia, RTP in Portugal and Noga Communications in Israel.
Co-produced by Alphanim, RAI Fiction and Torino-based animation studio Lanterna Magica, MATT'S MONSTERS is a 2D/Flash comedy starring boy-next-door Matt Average, an 8 year-old monster enthusiast who takes family business quite seriously and, as soon as homework is done, rushes to help out in his mom and dad's monster care agency.
Titmouse Inc., the creative force behind METALOCALYPSE, one of Cartoon Network's highest rated Adult Swim animated-series, announced the creation of its own original game development studio, Titmouse Games.
Whether you know their name or not, you know their work. Animators at Titmouse are the masterminds behind cult favorites like AVATAR: THE LAST AIRBENDER, AFRO SAMURAI and THE AMAZING SCREW ON HEAD.
The heroes of the Republic have repeatedly beaten back the assaults orchestrated by the evil Separatist forces, but an entirely new threat -- lethal mercenary Cad Bane -- will emerge from the shadows in "Hostage Crisis," the thrilling conclusion to the first season of STAR WARS: THE CLONE WARS, airing at 9 p.m. ET/PT Friday, March 20 on Cartoon Network.
Count Dooku seeks to spring a Separatist prisoner from Republic captivity, but his profile prevents him from getting close enough to set in motion his malevolent plan.
Imira Ent. has strengthened the presence of its hit property LOLA & VIRGINIA in Spain and Portugal with a series of renewals and new broadcast deals. In Spain, TVE has renewed the pay TV rights for a further two years and will continue to air the series on its main channel La 2 and Clan TV. In a separate deal, Nickelodeon has acquired pay TV rights for Spain and Portugal.
A U.S. judge ruled Monday that FAMILY GUY creator Seth MacFarlane and producers did not infringe copyright laws when they parodied "When You Wish Upon a Star" in a 2003 episode, REUTERS reports.
Music publisher Bourne Co., who owns the U.S. rights to the song made famous in the Disney animated feature PINOCCHIO, sued Fox Broadcasting Co. in 2007 for copyright breach, saying the show's parody "I Need a Jew" was a thinly-veiled copy of the music from " When You Wish Upon a Star," just with "new anti-Semitic lyrics" that did damage to the original.
CAKE Ent. will handle worldwide distribution for HAREPORT (52 x 11), a fast-paced comedy action 3D series and CAKE's first co-production with TeamTO, Filmwerken and Vivi Film.
March 17 releases include the DVD/Blu-ray debut of PUNISHER: WAR ZONE, plus AZUR & ASMAR, the second through fourth seasons of A PUP NAMED SCOOBY DOO, two volumes of THE SPECTACULAR SPIDER-MAN and season one of THE ZETA PROJECT on DVD. Saturday, March 21 brings the DVD bow of TWILIGHT and the Blu-ray release of BOLT.
Open Development Call for Batman: Brave and Bold Flash GameDeadline: March 27, 2009
Warner Bros. Animation and Mochi Media, in association with DC Comics, are having a casting call for developers to submit ideas for creating a new Flash game as a promotional brand extension for Warner Bros. Animation's hit animated series BATMAN: THE BRAVE AND THE BOLD (www.braveandthebold.com), airing Fridays at 8 p.m. ET/PT on Cartoon Network.
Anyone who believes cartoons are just idle doodlings never met Rod Gilchrist.
For the past 11 years, Gilchrist was cheerleader, town crier and fan No. 1 of the provocative, wacky world of art embodied by SNOOPY, BIZARRO, IRON MAN and every other comic strip or book that made you laugh or shout with excitement.
PINOCCHIO's 70th anniversary edition hits DVD and Blu-ray today, March 10, along with a four-film BATMAN anthology on Blu-ray, SOUTH PARK (12th season) on Blu-ray for the first time, HOWARD THE DUCK on DVD for the first time, SYNECDOCHE, NEW YORK and TRANSPORTER 3 on DVD/Blu-ray and an edition of WOODY WOODPECKER favorites on DVD.
