'Father of the Pride': Trans-Pacific CGI
Karl Cohen reviews Doing Their Bit, a well researched reference book about WWII cartoons.
Tagged With: Dreamworks
DreamWorks COO Stepping Down
DreamWorks coo Helene Hahn is resigning her post after 10 years with the company, reports VARIETY. She long been considered one of the top female execs and has been a partner with DreamWorks principal Jeffrey Katzenberg for more than 30 years. She will remain coo until a replacement can be found and will act as a consultant for a year following her departure.
Ghost in the Shell 2 Clips To Screen at Otakon 2004
DreamWorks will be screening new clips from Mamoru Oshii's anime film, INNOCENCE: GHOST IN THE SHELL 2, at Otakon 2004, being held from July 30 to Aug. 1, 2004 in Baltimore, Maryland. The screening will be July 30, between 11:30 am and 12:30 pm. Representatives from DreamWorks and Production I.G. will be hosting this special preview in Panel 1. Footage of the sequel will also be shown throughout the three-day convention at the DreamWorks booth (#1223), where free postcards and posters will be available.
DreamWorks & Paramount Team on Transformers
DreamWorks and Paramount Pictures have teamed up to bring THE TRANSFORMERS to the big screen. Angry Films heads Don Murphy and Tom DeSanto, who exec produced the X-MEN films, will produce the live-action feature, along with Lorenzo di Bonaventura. The film will be based on a story by DeSanto. Steven Spielberg will exec produce. As part of the agreement, DreamWorks will handle domestic distribution with Paramount handling the film internationally.
DreamWorks Animation IPO Official
DreamWorks Llc and its animation division, DreamWorks Animation Inc., announced that DreamWorks Animation, Inc. has filed a registration statement with the Securities and Exchange Commission for a proposed initial public offering of its Class A common stock. Goldman, Sachs & Co. and J.P. Morgan Securities Inc. are serving as joint book-running managers of the offering.
Sony Picks Up Monster from DreamWorks
Sony has picked up the rights to animated feature MONSTER HOUSE from DreamWorks, reports VARIETY. Sony plans to make this its second "performance-capture" feature after the release of POLAR EXPRESS this fall. Robert Zemeckis' ImageMovers will produce. MONSTER will begin production at Sony Pictures Imageworks on Aug. 23. DreamWorks partner Steven Spielberg will remain an exec producer of the film.
Based on a pitch by Gil Kenan, who is set to direct the film, the story follows three children who discover that a neighbor's house is a living monster.
DreamWorks To Preview Madagascar & Wallace & Gromit At Comic Con
DreamWorks plans to preview artwork from its upcoming feature films, including SHARK TALE, MADAGASCAR and THE WALLACE & GROMIT MOVIE, at Comic Con International, being held from July 22-25, 2004 in San Diego, California. As well, the studio will screen a sneak peek at anime feature INNOCENCE: GHOST IN THE SHELL 2 and NBC's primetime 3D series FATHER OF THE PRIDE.
Spider-Man 2 Spins Top Box Office Again
Sony's SPIDER-MAN 2 spun its way to the top of the box office weekend, ended July 12, 2004, catching another $46M in its web with a cume of $257M. The sequel (with vfx from Sony Pictures Imageworks and Radium Inc.) streaked past the $200M milestone in a record eight days, the $250M mark in a record 12 days and is fast approaching the $300M benchmark.
Shrek 3 Script Details Announced
With DreamWorks founder Jeffery Katzenberg previously talking up more SHREK sequels at Cannes, DreamWorks has announced that HOW THE GRINCH STOLE CHRISTMAS scribes Peter Seaman and Jeffrey Price will write the screenplay for SHREK 3. In addition, Jon Zack (PERFECT SCORE) has been hired as a script consultant.
DreamWorks Animation IPO Gaining Momentum
According to BUSINESS WEEK, DreamWorks has retained investment bankers Goldman Sachs and JP Morgan to access the timing and procedure of a potential IPO for its animation unit to help pay off its enormous debt. With SHREK 2 coming out May 19, SHARK TALE slated for Oct. 1, 2004, and the FATHER OF THE PRIDE series debuting this fall, the timing of the IPO couldn't be better.
DreamWorks Gets $100M Japanese Investment
Tokyo-based Kadokawa Holdings will invest $100 million in DreamWorks, reports VARIETY. This deal will make the Japanese media corporation 2.83% shareholder in the privately held studio, which was created by Jeffrey Katzenberg, Steven Spielberg and David Geffen in 1994. As part of the investment, Kadokawa will have exclusive distribution rights to DreamWorks films, videos, DVDs and other products in Japan. The deal is similar to ones DreamWorks has with Universal and Korean distribution company Cheil.
HP Expands Deal With DreamWorks, Cleans Up Classic at WB
HP has announced an expanded relationship with DreamWorks and a new deal with Warner Bros. to clean up the image quality of Technicolor films in Warner Bros. library.
HP and DreamWorks will team on new technologies for off-site animation rendering and remote collaboration. Built on a technology partnership that began in 2001, the collaboration provides DreamWorks Animation with state-of-the-art technology solutions from HP, which will be used on SHREK 2, SHARK TALE, MADAGASCAR and the NBC computer-animated TV series, FATHER OF THE PRIDE.
DreamWorks Animation Getting IPO
DreamWorks' entertainment attorney Skip Brittenham is working with investment banks J.P. Morgan and Goldman Sachs to initiate an IPO proposal of the entertainment company's animation division, reported VARIETY. The trade publication quotes a source as saying "the likelihood of an IPO at about 60%. But studio execs are 100% committed to trying to make the plan work." It's estimated that the offering would be timed around the premiere of DreamWorks' next animated feature SHARK TALE, which bows in theaters Oct. 1, 2004. Details of whether it would proceed or follow the release are not known.
Is DreamWorks Primed for a Pixar-like Move?
There's a report in Tuesday's NEW YORK POST that DreamWorks is "ramping up efforts to spin off its animation unit" as part of a potential sale to Hollywood studios. DreamWorks is reportedly in considerable debt (last year its ranking with rival studios dropped) and loans are coming up payable in a little more than a year. According to analysts, an animation spin-off would allow it to raise the necessary cash to float the losses, "while maintaining an lucrative production agreement," since animation is the only profitable center.
Activision Game For Shrek 2; Terminates TDK Deal
Activision has signed agreement with DreamWorks for videogame rights to the upcoming feature film SHREK 2. Activision has terminated its previously announced co-publishing and co-development agreement with TDK Mediactive following Take-Two Interactive Software's acquisition of TDK.
Seinfeld Gives DreamWorks a CG Bee
Comedian Jerry Seinfeld has resurfaced with a computer-animated feature project set in the anthropomorphized world of bees, BEE MOVIE, to be made at DreamWorks. Imagine a Manhattan-like setting buzzing with bees. That's what hooked DreamWorks principal Steven Spielberg when the two recently huddled at the Hamptons and started discussing animated movie ideas.
WGA and IATSE Settle Father’s Pride Writers’ Dispute
The Writers Guild of America West (WGAw) and IATSE (The Animation Guild Local 839) have reached a tentative agreement regarding representation on DreamWorks upcoming animated series FATHER OF THE PRIDE, according to DAILY VARIETY.
Sinbad to Set Sail on DVD
SINBAD: LEGEND OF THE SEVEN SEAS (DreamWorks Home Entertainment, $19.95), DreamWorks' last traditionally animated feature for the foreseeable future, bows on DVD Nov. 18, 2003.
“Moving Storyboards” Take On New Dimensions: Previs for Animated Features
Ellen Wolff takes a look at the evolution of previsualization in animated features from 2D sketches to 3D moving storyboards at DreamWorks Feature Animation and Pacific Data Images.
Sharkslayer Rescheduled Now, Renamed Later
To avoid a direct conflict with Disney/Pixars THE INCREDIBLES on November 5, 2004, DreamWorks has moved up the release of its underwater mob comedy, SHARKSLAYER, to Oct. 1. DreamWorks had originally staked out the Nov. 5 date, until Disney/Pixar laid claim to it as well in a teaser trailer for the Brad Bird film that accompanied FINDING NEMO.
Millennium Actress First to Go Fish for DreamWorks
As part of the recent studio trend, DreamWorks SKG has formed a new specialty division, Go Fish Pictures, with MILLENNIUM ACTRESS, the critically acclaimed anime title by Satoshi Kon, as its first release. MILLENNIUM ACTRESS opens September 12, 2003 in Los Angeles, New York, Chicago, Boston, San Francisco and Toronto. INNOCENCE: GHOST IN A SHELL II will follow in the spring of 2004, but there may be more titles in between, including live action.
Sinbad Last Traditionally-Drawn Feature at DreamWorks
After the dismal box office performance of SINBAD: LEGEND OF THE SEVEN SEAS ($23.4 M since July 2, 2003), DreamWorks animation head Ann Daly proclaimed in the NEW YORK TIMES that the studio will no longer be making traditionally-drawn features. Co-founder and animation guru Jeffrey Katzenberg added that the 2D art form sadly may be obsolete as a result of changing technology.
'Sinbad' Sets Sail on a New Journey into Water Surfaces
VFXWorlds Bill Desowitz journeys into Sinbad, which represents a culmination of DreamWorks' fascination with water, building on techniques used in most of its previous animated features.
'Sinbad' Sets Sail on a New Journey into Water Surfaces
VFXWorlds Bill Desowitz journeys into Sinbad, which represents a culmination of DreamWorks' fascination with water, building on techniques used in most of its previous animated features.
HP Workstations Helped Sinbad Set Sail
HP's Linux-based technology played a critical role in the creation of DreamWorks' SINBAD: LEGEND OF THE SEVEN SEAS, which opens theatrically July 2, 2003. The first film ever created entirely on Linux, SINBAD was developed on HP workstations and servers.
