Tagged With: Studios

Bangalore, India-based Ittina Studios boasts that its employees are producing 12 seconds of animation a day, reports THE BUSINESS STANDARD. U.S.-based studios like Pixar and DreamWorks expect their animation artists to produce no more than 3-5 seconds per day.

Relativity Media, IDG Films, Platinum Studios and Arclight Films have announced that they have arranged financing to bring the Top Cow Prods.' WITCHBLADE comicbook to the big screen. Production will begin in 2006 on two feature films, to be shot back-to-back, based on the best-selling action/fantasy comicbook, which also earned a loyal following as a TNT television series.

Platinum Studios and Blue Star Pictures have signed a deal with directors Danny and Oxide Pang to direct the upcoming feature film, THE DARKNESS, based on the popular comicbook published by Top Cow Prods. Inc. Platinum Studios will finance 50% of the production. Platinum, Blue Star and the Pang Brothers are jointly looking for a writer.

Michael Helfant joins Marvel Ent. Inc. as president/coo of the company's Marvel Studios division based in Beverly Hills.

SAMURAI JACK and DEXTERS LABORATORY creator Genndy Tartakovsky has joined the newly formed Orphanage Animation Studios. He will help the new studios develop a slate of five feature projects each in the $50 million-$75 million budget range. The company launches with a multi-million dollar development fund raised through private equity and is actively developing a slate of soon-to-be-announced CG feature projects. Orphanage, best known for its visual effects work, hopes to have its first animated feature ready by late 2007 or early 2008.

With DreamWorks Animation recently announcing its slate of upcoming films, Walt Disney Studios chairman Richard Cook announced Disneys forthcoming films at the Walt Disney Studios Showcase, which offered previews of the studio's slate through 2008 and featured cameo appearances by Johnny Depp, Mel Gibson, Jodie Foster and Elton John, reports THE HOLLYWOOD REPORTER. The daylong event was held at the Kodak Theatre at Hollywood & Highland for exhibitors, retailers, merchandisers and other business partners.

Design Studios, a training, production, and research-based animation studio, is in negotiations with the state government in Hyderabad to open a National School of Animation (NSA), according to CYBER INDIA ONLINE. If approved, the academy would be one of the largest animation houses in Asia. Besides the government, Design Studios is in talks with big companies to help fund the academy.