Nicktoons, Nickelodeon's digital channel for animation, has teamed with Frederator Studios and ANIMATION MAGAZINE to present The Nicktoons Film Festival. The first on-air festival of its kind, The Nicktoons Film Festival, will showcase independent cartoon filmmaking by animators from around the globe.
Adela JPs (Adela Josue Polin) book, THE CORPORATE CIRCUS, will be pitched as an animated series at the NATPE TV Producers Boot Camp, July 29-30, 2004, as both an adult animation show and as an animated interstitial in an office live-action sitcom. In addition to the book, the properties product line includes 15 office humor plush toys and an illustrated comical corporate Org Chart poster, which premiered at the New York Licensing International Show, London Brand Show and PPAI/ASI Shows in Las Vegas.
Nickelodeon Europe has commissioned Prism Entertainment to produce local versions of its unique NICKELODEON FAMILY animation.
Jules Borkent, senior director, programming, acquisitions & development, Nickelodeon Europe, asked Prism to produce three localized versions of the NICKELODEON FAMILY for broadcast on its channels in Spain, Benelux and Scandinavia to air at the end of the year.
Italian animation studio Lanterna Magica, along with studios Enarmonia and Melazeta, have been given the go-ahead to produce GINO THE CHICKEN, a 52-episode TV series. The show is a co-production with Italian state television, RAI and is scheduled to be delivered in January 2006. Lanterna Magica plans to use Toon Boom Animation's Concerto to produce the series.
4Kids Entertainment Inc. is offering two exciting new Japanese anime series to the global marketplace: TOKYO MEW MEW, a drama action series targeted to girls, and boys action/adventure series, F-ZERO.
MEW MEW (52x30) follows the adventures of five teenage girls who possess the powers of endangered animals and battle aliens who threaten mankind. These very contemporary teen girls are multi-taskers who accomplish all of this while juggling their time with homework and boys.
National Geographic Television & Films (NGT&F) Kids Programming and Production unit has optioned the acclaimed childrens book series, ADVENTURES IN COLOR, to develop and produce an animated television series.
NGT&F is working with Emmy Award-winning animation director/producer Ron Myrick and the original author/designer Tony Porto plus his team creative firm Three Communication Design (3CD) to develop this unique multimedia series.
Cartoon Network has acquired JUNGLE TALES, an animated series produced by Delhi-based Moving Picture Company India Ltd. The 3D show is a contemporary adaptation of stories from the PANCHATANTRA, a well-known collection of animal fables.
Chorion plans to produce two new animated television series based on the work of international best-selling childrens authors Roger Hargreaves and Enid Blyton. The London-based rights holder is looking for experienced animation companies to animate the properties.
These include a new animated series based on Roger Hargreaves MR. MEN and LITTLE MISS books and an animated series based on childrens characters created by Blyton
FOX Network and its FX cable channel have paid Sony Pictures TV $50 million for the broadcast/cable rights for SPIDER-MAN 2, reports VARIETY. As part of a 10-year agreement, FOX receives three runs of the movie during the first three years, starting December 2006. In 2010, Sony will have the rights to sell the film to other broadcast networks to share rights with FX for the last seven years of the contract. The original SPIDER-MAN flicks took in $60+ million from FOX and Turner's TBS/TNT.
Toon Disney celebrates the addition of the legendary 1995 animated series SPIDER-MAN into its popular JETIX action-adventure programming block with a JETIX Web-Slingin Marathon July 2 through July 4, 2004 from 7-11:00 pm. Timed around the highly anticipated- theatrical release of SPIDER-MAN 2, the broadcast includes fan favorite episodes of SPIDER-MAN such as "The Sting of the Scorpion," "Enter The Green Goblin" and "Kraven the Hunter."
Entertainment Rights (ER) has secured U.K. merchandising, licensing and home entertainment rights to CLIFFORDS PUPPY DAYS, a new fully animated series produced by Scholastic Ent., which will launch on the BBCs CBeebies channel.
On the eve of the premiere of the SPIDER-MAN 2 movie, National Geographic Channel will air SPIDER POWER at 8:00 pm on June 25, 2004, an extraordinary look at the evolution of one of the most successful hunters on the planet. This one-hour special uses spectacular macrophotography and stylized CGI bring to bring viewers within attack range of some of the worlds most ingenious predators and their super powers.
Cartoon Network's Boomerang, a commercial-free network devoted exclusively to classic cartoons, will present Looney Tunes in Hollywood, a 24-hour tribute showcasing every Warner Bros. short that featured a celebrity caricature, starting at 8:00 am on June 25, 2004.
Warner Bros.' immortal Looney Tunes, produced by legendary animators Tex Avery, Chuck Jones and others at the fabled "termite terrace" on the studio lot, earned a riotous reputation for parodying popular movies of the day by creating hilarious caricatures of well-known actors and actresses.
Toon Disney expands its action/adventure evening block, JETIX, to four hours on Saturdays and Sundays, 7:00-11:00 pm, starting June 26, 2004, coinciding with the Toon Disney premiere of the 1990s animated series SPIDER-MAN.
DECODE Entertainment digs in down under, securing second season commitments across it catalogue of hit shows from ABC TV in Australia. The broadcaster has committed to five series across all ages.
BKN International A.G. has completed development and will soon begin production of the ALI BABA AND THE FORTY THIEVES: THE LOST SCIMITAR OF ARABIA series. BKN is currently in negotiations with a media company in the Middle East to co-produce and distribute this program.
Three decades ago he delighted families with FAT ALBERT AND THE COSBY KIDS. More recently he won a Daytime for Outstanding Childrens Animated Program for LITTLE BILL on Nick. Now a beloved American humorist icon Bill Cosby takes his special brand of family comedy to primetime in FATHERHOOD, debuting June 20, 2004 at 9:00 pm on Nick at Nite. The series, based on his bestselling book of the same name is Nick at Nite first original animated series. The series movies to its regular timeslot June 29 at 9:00 pm and repeats on Saturdays at 10:00 pm.
Monster Distributes Ltd. recently completed deals with ITV in the U.K. and Kika in Germany to broadcast KIDS TEN COMMANDMENTS. The series, which Monster picked up at NATPE, ahs a few minor deals and is ready for a big launch at MIPCOM, reports Andrew Fitzpatrick, chairman of Monster Distributes.
The animated BUFFY THE VAMPIRE SLAYER series is getting a pilot, reports TV GUIDE. The live-action series' stars Alyson Hannigan, Nicholas Brendon and Anthony Stewart Head will voice their respective characters, but title character Buffy, played by Sarah Michelle Gellar, will be replaced with Giselle Loren, the videogame voice of Buffy. Fox and creator Joss Whedon's Mutant Enemy will be showcasing the pilot for potential distributors next month.
TBS has added an hour block of FAMILY GUY to its summer primetime lineup. Starting July 7, 2004, the cable net will broadcast back-to-back episodes on Wednesdays from 8:00-9:00 pm. TBS previously aired the toon afternoons last summer. The toon will also continue to air on TBS' sister channel Cartoon Network, where its the highest rated programming the network's Adult Swim block. After being cancelled, the series surprise success on DVD has spurred Fox to renew the series for 22 new episodes, which will begin airing in 2005.
Cartoon Network has given the greenlight to 26 additional half-hour episodes of ED, EDD N EDDY, produced by creator Danny Antonuccis aka Cartoons in Vancouver, will start airing in 2005.
From June 28 August 20, 2004, TELETOON will be hosting Camp TELETOON, the network's summer morning block of popular cartoons from 7:00 am -11:00 am, Monday through Friday. The lineup includes:
7:00 am: Totally Spies 7:30 am: Tom & Jerry 8:00 am: The Bugs Bunny & Tweety Show 8:30 am: Scooby Doo9:00 am: Codename: Kids Next Door 9:30 am: What's with Andy 10:00 am: My Dad the Rock Star 10:30 am: Cardcaptors
Alphanim has launched its new animated series ZOMBIE HOTEL, a 26 half-hour spooky sitcom, co-produced with Irish partners Magma Films and Telegael.
Due to the success of the first 20-chapter series, Lucasfilm Ltd. and Cartoon Network will present five 12-minute episodes of a new CLONE WARS mini-series beginning March 21, 2005. The new series serves as a close warmer for the theatrical release of STAR WARS: EPISODE III on May 19, 2005. Genndy Tartakovsky (SAMURAI JACK, DEXTER'S LABORATORY), who produced the first "micro-series," will serve as director, co-screenwriter and exec producer of the new mini-series.
