In anticipation of the first WALLACE & GROMIT theatrical feature, WALLACE & GROMIT: THE CURSE OF THE WERE-RABBIT, a collection of Aardmans three acclaimed shorts has been reissued on DVD Sept. 20, 2005, along with some new goodies.
WALLACE & GROMIT IN THREE AMAZING ADVENTURES (DreamWorks Home Ent., $19.99) contains:
Moving Picture Co. (MPC) was victorious at the News and Documentary Emmy Awards Monday night for its work on VIRTUAL HISTORY: THE SECRET PLOT TO KILL HITLER in the category for Outstanding Individual Achievement in a Craft: Graphic and Artistic Design.
Jim Radford, MPC's creative head of 3D, Commercials and TV, picked up the award in New York.
The acclaimed Tiger Aspect doc for the Discovery Channel transformed the faces of actors into exact replicas of Adolf Hitler, Winston Churchill, Franklin D. Roosevelt and Josef Stalin.
Four of INTERspectacular's animated pieces for Comedy Central (ROBOGIRL, ALPHONSE AND ORVILLE, MONSTER MUNCHIES and STUMPY) have been accepted into the Ottawa International Animation Festival. The shorts will screen this week as part of the festival's Short Competition One. Screenings will take place at the Bytowne Cinema on Wednesday, Sept. 21, 2005, at 9:00 pm and Sunday, Sept. 25, at 3:00 pm.
Hot off the announcement that MADAGASCAR 2 will hit theaters in 2008, DreamWorks Animation has announced that KUNG FU PANDA will also be released that year, reports VARIETY. The studios still hopes to release two animated films per year at least until 2009. PANDA will star Jack Black as the voice of a lazy panda prophesied to save the Valley of Peace. John Stevenson and Mark Osborne are set to direct with Melissa Cobb producing from a script by Dan Harmon and Rob Schrab.
Eden FX has been signed to produce original CG vfx for two major new fall 2005 TV series, NBCs SURFACE (which debuted Sept. 19, 2005) and ABCs INVASION (which debuts Sept. 21). The two new series join Edens contributions to COMMANDER IN CHIEF, and its on-going contributions to the hit TV series LOST, ALIAS and NAVY: NCIS.
Renowned vfx supervisor Michael Fink (CONSTANTINE, the X-MEN movies), who recently joined the advisory board of the Gnomon School of Visual Effects, will present his Visual Effects Paradiso program at Gnomon on Sept. 29, 2005, at 7:00 pm. A meet and greet starts at 6:00 pm.
The 16th Cartoon Forum, which takes place Sept. 21-25, 2005, in Kolding, Denmark, has a record number of broadcasters and investors expected to attend 101 television buyers and co-producers and 147 investors, video distributors and financiers. This co-production forum, which is dedicated to the financing of European animation programs for television, was first held in 1990 in Lanzarote, Spain.
European private equity firm Bridgepoint Capital has signed a merger deal with Marathon, which will create a major new production and distribution group in France, reports C21 and was confirmed by Bridgepoint Capital (which also owns production giant All3Media).
Bridgepoint's French division, Financière Héra (Finhera), has been pursuing Marathon. Finhera is lead by Eric Licoy, previously a top executive at Vivendi Universal when Jean-Marie Messier was ceo.
Alison Homewood has joined HIT Entertainment as evp, worldwide television distribution. Based in the companys London office, her focus will be on global TV licensing and co-production of existing brands such as BOB THE BUILDER, THOMAS & FRIENDS, PINGU, BARNEY and ANGELINA BALLERINA, as well as the development of further TV content.
The new JETIX half-hour 3D animated series GET ED debuted Sept. 19, 2005, at 7:30 pm on Toon Disney and will bow on ABC Family Sept. 24 at 9:00 am. The supped up series from Red Rover is a computer-generated thrill ride with its a genetically engineered teen, Ed, in a futuristic city, running with a team of street-smart couriers, discovering his destiny while saving humanity. The show is broadcast Mondays and Fridays at 7:30 pm and Saturdays and Sundays at 4:00 pm on Toon Disney during the action/adventure programming block JETIX.
Central Park Media has announced that PATLABOR THE MOBILE POLICE: THE ORIGINAL SERIES DVD COLLECTION will be re-released Sept. 20, 2005. This is the show that is currently shown on Comcasts Anime Selects VOD Channel and AZN TV. Directed by Mamoru Oshii (GHOST IN THE SHELL, URUSEI YATSURA, JIN-ROH: THE WOLF BRIGADE), this two-disc set is priced at $29.95. The DVD collection will have audio tracks in both English and Japanese with English subtitles.
BRB Internacional has launched its newest 3D toon-shaded animation project KHUDAYANA. The series was created in BRBs own Barcelona studios and will be presented for the first time at Cartoon Forum, which takes place on the Sept. 21-24, 2005, in Denmark. The series has already aroused the interest of major television networks around the world, with Jetix Spain supporting its launch.
New York City-based BKN New Media Inc. has outsourced animation production of two 26-episode 3D series, KONG THE NEXT GENERATION and another yet to be titled series to UTV Toonz in a $10 million deal.
UTV Toonz has also obtrained distribution, licensing & merchandising rights to some of BKNs animated series, including LEGEND OF THE DRAGON, ROSWELL CONSPIRACIES, STARLA & THE JEWEL RIDERS, SKIPPER & SKEETO and ALI BABA FORTY THIEVES.
Some of these will be featured on UTVs Kids channel, Hungama TV.
U.K.-based audio post and music composition company Tamborine provided the audio post work on LEGEND OF THE DRAGON, now airing on the BBC1 Saturday morning slot. BKNs high-action, 26x30 animation series just completed a run on CBBC, before transferring to BBC1.
McFarlane Toys will put a chill in the air this fall creating many products from TIM BURTON'S CORPSE BRIDE. The film honors the dark, romantic tradition of Burton's EDWARD SCISSORHANDS and THE NIGHTMARE BEFORE CHRISTMAS as it follows the path of Victor, a fidgeting groom who is taken from his own wedding and married to a Corpse Bride in the underworld.
Pixologic has announced the release of the learning edition of ZBrush 2 and the ZBrush Learning Kit. Experience ZBrush 2s innovative modeling and texturing tools. With its realtime sculpting and texturing of multi-million poly models, ZBrush will carry your digital art to that next level of realism and artistry.
Radium, the growing artist-owned visual effects house based in Santa Monica and San Francisco, recently added two new talents to its roster. Jon Townley, who will serve dual roles as artist manager and creative director, has held top positions in numerous digital studios from MetroLight to Sony Pictures ImageWorks to L-Squared. Jeff Blodgett, incoming exec producer, brings with him 15 years of invaluable post-production experience.
Addressing the needs of commercial producers and others involved in high-end visual effects production, Hollywood Center Studios has unveiled a new 4,500-square-foot shooting stage with a three-wall, hard cove cyc. Dubbed Stage 12, the new space can accommodate the popular motorized Fisher Light rigs, making it ideal for car shoots, as well as bluescreen or greenscreen work.
Technology and nature blend together seamlessly to create a breezy and soothingly upbeat vibe in 1st Ave Machine's latest creation, SIXES LAST, a music video for the artist Alias, who is currently signed with record label Anticon. Taken off the musicians album MUTED, the video debuted at RESFEST in September 2005 in the Cinema Electronica Showcase.
Digital Dimension described the crash sequence from ABCs LOST (Part 2 of the pilot), which recently earned the 2004-2005 Creative Arts Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Special Visual Effects For A Series. Digital Dimensions work on LOST previously garnered a VES Award for Outstanding Supporting Visual Effects in a Broadcast Program last February.
Framestore CFC was honored when Brazilian director Fernando Meirelles (CITY OF GOD) and cinematographer César Charlone brought political thriller THE CONSTANT GARDENER to their London premises. In addition to providing some 35 VFX shots, including the creation of the fire elements for a burning village, Framestore CFC created the film's Digital Intermediate.
The Moving Picture Co. (MPC) has completed more than 750 visual effects shots for WALLACE GROMIT: THE CURSE OF THE WERE-RABBIT, the stop-motion animated feature directed by Nick Park and Steve Box. This first feature-length WALLACE & GROMIT outing was created by Aardman Animations with distribution through DreamWorks. The picture was color graded by Max Horton in the MPC DI lab
While DreamWorks romantic fantasy JUST LIKE HEAVEN (with vfx by Big Red Pixel) ruled the box office for the weekend ended Sept. 18, 2005, seducing $16.4M in its debut, TIM BURTONS CORPSE BRIDE (with vfx by MPC) attracted a lively $385,078 in its five-theater bow, good enough for a whopping per-screen average of $77,015.
Palisades Ent. Llc. has announced that, effective immediately, it has entered into a partnership with Diamond Comic Distributors, officially naming Diamond as its distributor for the hobby retail market in North America. After more than a decade of working together, both parties agree that this new, closer relationship will significantly benefit specialty retailers and their customers.
Lucasfilm is seeking screenwriters for its STAR WARS TV series, reports IGN FILMFORCE. The live-action show will take place during the rise of the Empire between the REVENGE OF THE SITH and A NEW HOPE films.
Keeping tight security on the story, writers will work out of the Skywalker Ranch. Lucas and STAR WARS feature producer Rick McCallum will produce the series. Filming is set to begin in Australia in 2007.
