The 6th Annual British Academy Children's Film & Television Awards in association with the LEGO company presented their awards on December 2, 2001. SHREK won for Best Feature Film and Collingwood O'Hare's ANIMAL STORIES took home the award for Best Pre-School Animation. Other animated winners included Right Angle's AUNT TIGER (BOOKBOX: ANIMATED TALES OF THE WORLD) for Best Animation and The Disney Channel's TEACHER'S PET, which won the International award.
Independent animation studio Wild Brain, Inc., has completed three new animated TV spots for the new Ford Focus ZX3, ZX5 and ZTS vehicles. Part of the "Focus on Animation" campaign, all three 15-second spots are currently airing nationwide. Conceived by J. Walter Thompson Agency in Detroit, this three-spot animated campaign features direction by Wild Brain's Mike Smith, Nicholas Weigel, Denis Morella and Gordon Clark.
Hoping to get people back in theaters to see MONSTERS, INC. one more time, Disney/Pixar has announced that they will be adding a specially-created group of animated ``outtakes'' to the end credits of the film. Creating the animated bloopers is now a tradition for Disney/Pixar and has proved very popular with moviegoers. The outtakes will be shown in theaters beginning this Friday, December 7, 2001. Audiences will also be able to download a sneak preview of the outtakes beginning Friday at www.monstersinc.com and www.apple.com/trailers.
Peppermint's Malaysia-based office has sealed key sales of its catalogue across Asia. Indonesian TV7 has picked up free television rights for pepperkids upcoming animated series, The Spheriks, featuring the official mascots of the 2002 FIFA World Cup, along with preschooler Lena and Paul. Another new property, Evolution - The Animated Series, based on the Ivan Reitman film Evolution, is currently in production with all 26 x 30 episodes to be delivered February 2002.
Sitting Ducks Productions, in association with The Disney Channel, Nelvana and Film Roman, will premiere its CGI animated holiday special The Santa Claus Brothers on the Disney Channel in December 2001. The show follows the misadventures of Santa's three bumbling sons as they try to prove that they are worthy of taking over the reins of the big sleigh. Additionally, Sitting Ducks is developing the CGI animated feature film Noah's Blimp with Sony Pictures Family Entertainment with scribe Tab Murphy (Tarzan, Atlantis, The Hunchback of Notre Dame) attached to write the script.
Each week, Animation World Magazine offers new articles, special features and theme-based coverage of the art, craft and industry of animation. New this week...
Canadian independent entertainment company CinéGroupe is beginning production on two new animated TV series, THE THREE PIGS and EDWARD, bringing its current production slate to nine new and five returning animated and live-action entertainment productions set for airing on U.S., Canadian and international television networks during the 2001-2002 television season.
On November 10, 2001 at a gala ceremony hosted by voice actor BillyWest, the 29th Annual Annie Awards were presented. The big winnerwas SHREK, which took home eight Annie's including outstandingtheatrical feature and outstanding directing for an animated feature.THE EMPEROR'S NEW GROOVE nabbed three awards, for femaleperformer in an animated feature (Eartha Kitt as Yzma), best song andoutstanding individual character animation. In television, once againTHE SIMPSONS took home the award for outstanding primetime show.
Is it true that one of the all time greatest story sources of animation films and shorts can be labeled "lonely, sexually confused, vain, anxious and hypochondriacal?" Apparently yes! Will Ryan explains.
Thirteen is the lucky number for Oscar hopefuls in the Animated Feature category. The November 1, 2001 deadline has come and gone, and Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences spokesperson John Pavlik told AWN thirteen applications for the Animated Feature Film Award were received. While Pavlik admitted that a couple of the films might have some eligibility problems, the Academy has enough applications to begin the screening process for qualification.
The Academy of Motion Picture Arts & Sciences final deadline for entry forms looms large for the Animated Feature and Animated Short categories. This is the first year for the highly anticipated Animated Feature film category and as of Tuesday, October 30, 2001 the Academy had received five applications. It requires eight eligible films to activate a category, so if you have an animated feature film that is eligible, get in those applications! The deadline for completed applications for both animated feature and animated short films is November 1, 2001.
As part of a growing package for Showtime Network's recently launched ShoNext Channel, design boutique EyeballNYC created three new interstitial series of "Disc Jockey," a mixed-media exploration of emerging American DJs. Each two-minute segment combines a documentary style with a tongue-in-cheek animated superhero sequence to create a light-hearted, satirical look at the world of the disc jockey. The animated, comic book styled section, merging video and stills, is framed around an interview segment, while the animation transforms each DJ into a superhero alter ego.
Animated Exeter: Monday, February 11 - Saturday, February 23, 2002, Exeter, Devon UK. Animated Exeter is an annual animation festival consisting of a fortnight of animated films, workshops, events and exhibitions every February. Tied to the British Animation Awards Public Choice - the festival hosts events for all ages and levels of professionalism. Screenings have been programmed by Jayne Piling of BAA. Events include careers day for budding animators, 3d, 2d and computer animation workshops, retrospectives, comic-book conventions, and cutting edge digital animations for the music industry.
Buena Vista International Television has licensed its "Classic Treasures" collection of animated box office hits to the BBC. For the first time ever on UK terrestrial television, viewers will now be able to enjoy some of the most popular animated movies of all time - TOY STORY, TOY STORY 2, MULAN, A BUG'S LIFE and THE HUNCHBACK OF NOTRE DAME. These titles combined have grossed over $2 billion in worldwide box office and have been watched by over 121 million people at cinemas in Europe alone.
DIC Entertainment and Celedor International have joined together to produce, distribute and merchandise an animated series inspired by the popular game show WHO WANTS TO BE A MILLIONAIRE? Capitalizing on the enormous success of the game show, which is broadcast in over 100 countries, WHO WANTS TO BE A MILLIONAIRE: THE ANIMATED SERIES features an animated host that will launch game show winners on fantastic journeys as they fulfill their millionaire dreams. The program will be introduced at MIPCOM 2001.
BKN Internationals holiday film RUDOLPH THE RED NOSED REINDEER AND THE ISLAND OF MISFIT TOYS is coming to MIPCOM. Featuring the voice talent of Rick Moranis and Jamie Lee Curtis and seven new holiday songs, the 3D animated sequel capitalizes on one of the favorite scenes from the classic RUDOLPH animated special. The 90-minute film is already scheduled to air during the 2001 holiday season on CBS in the U.S. and has video and DVD distribution in the U.K., Scandinavia and Spain.
Ged Bauer reviews "the ultimate library of animated web graphics."
Warner Home Video has announced the release of the animated LORD OF THE RINGS, THE RETURN OF THE KING and THE HOBBIT on VHS and DVD. Hitting stores of September 11, this is the first time that THE LORD OF THE RINGS has been on video and DVD. The animated version of JRR Tolkien's classic fantasy was produced by Oscar-winner Saul Zaentz. THE RETURN OF THE KING and THE HOBBIT were produced by Rankin and Bass. "WHV is extremely excited to offer families these JRR Tolkien classics, available on both VHS and DVD," said Ewa Martinoff, Warner Home Video VP, Family Entertainment Marketing.
AurenyA, is about to start production on the next three half-hour specials of STORIES FROM THE SEVENTH FIRE for Storytellers Productions Inc. The computer animation and visual effects studio will be responsible for the 3D animated portion of the half-hour animated and live-action productions, currently to be shown on various Canadian broadcasters, including CBC National, Aboriginal Peoples Television Network (APTN), Vision, Access and SCN.
Veteran animator and instructor Lee Mishkin, who won an Academy Award for Best Animated Short for his 1970 film IS IT ALWAYS RIGHT TO BE RIGHT?, passed away on June 19, 2001. He was 74. Mishkin suffered heart failure and died in his sleep with his family at his side. He had formally retired just six weeks ago, moving to a care facility in Seattle after having spent the last seven years in Vancouver, where he developed the classical animation curriculum and taught at VanArts. The school has started the Lee Mishkin Scholarship Fund to honor the late animator.
Will Ryan sits down with Janet Waldo, the voice behind many classic cartoon ladies.
Test your skills and challenge your brain with AWN's Animation TriviaQuiz...
In the wake of the tremendous opening of their latest computer-animated comedy SHREK, DreamWorks has announced on May 31, 2001 their plans for a theatrical sequel. According to DreamWorks co-founder Jeffrey Katzenberg, Ted Elliott and Terry Rossio, the writing team behind the first SHREK screenplay, have been set to pen the sequel. The team has also collaborated to write the Oscar-winning animated musical ALADDIN, which became the top-grossing film release of 1992.
On May 8, 2001 Argus International Film Studio signed an agreement with Germanys MC-One to produce THE NUTCRACKER AND THE MOUSE KING, a 70-minute animated film based on the well-known fairy tale by Hoffmann and ballet by Tchaikovsky. Directed by Tatiana Ilyina, the Russian version of the animated feature will be available at the end of 2002. The 3-minute pilot copy for THE NUTCRACKER AND THE MOUSE KING was awarded the World Gold Medal for best animation at the 1999 New York festivals and was in official selection at Annecy 2000.
Santa Monica, Californias R!OT provided design and visual effects services for the new Eve video, WHO'S THAT GIRL? The video, which is the first from Eve's just released CD SCORPION, places the hip-hop diva, along with an enormous Bengal tiger, into an eerie ice kingdom and several other virtual environments. "In order to achieve perfect integration, most of the compositing needed to be done by hand, with each frame treated as an individual work of art," said compositor Klaus Hansen. Hansen produced a digital matte painting to extend the apartment set.
