Cartoon Network today raised the curtain on its 2006 programming lineup at its Upfront presentation in New York. In addition to greenlighting a third season of the new hit show Ben 10, the network is preparing to launch its first-ever live-action/animated production, as well as the previously untitled Andre Benjamin toon project and three movies based on established series.
Blending live-action and animated elements, Re-Animated is an original two-hour movie in which twelve-year-old Jimmy Roberts gets an emergency brain transplant and ends up with the brain of a famous cartoonist. As a side-effect of the procedure, Jimmy sees cartoon characters wherever he goes. The project was created by Adam Pava and Tim McKeon and is scheduled to premiere this fall.
Andre Benjamin, also known as Andre 3000 of the hip-hop duo Outkast, exec produces and voices a role in Class of 3000, a new, half-hour series about a group of musically gifted kids at a school for performing arts in Atlanta, Georgia. When former student Sunny Bridges (Benjamin) returns to regain something he lost on his way to fame, he brings sunshine to the lives of the culturally diverse students. Other cast members include the ubiquitous Tom Kenny (SpongeBob SquarePants, Camp Lazlo), Crystal Scales (Static Shock, The Adventures of Jimmy Neutron), Jennifer Hale (Samurai Jack, The Powerpuff Girls), Janice Kawaye (Hi Hi Puffy AmiYumi) and Jeff Glen Bennet (Johnny Bravo, Camp Lazlo). Cartoon Network, along with the Tom Lynch Co. and Benjamin’s Moxie Turtle shingle, is producing twelve episodes of the series at Cartoon Network Studios in Burbank, Calif. The series is set to kick off with a one-hour premiere this November.
Also joining the lineup is the previously announced Squirrel Boy, a comedy series created by Everett Peck (Duckman). In the show, Andy and his best friend/pet Rodney seek adventure in the backyard and surrounding neighborhood. Tom Kenny again shows up in the cast, joined by Richard Horvitz (The Grim Adventures of Billy & Mandy), Pamela S. Adlon (King of the Hill, Chicken Little) and Kurtwood Smith (That ’70s Show). The show is slated to premiere in July.
Fans of Codename: Kids Next Door, Foster’s Home for Imaginary Friends and Teen Titans can look forward to all-new movies based on the shows. Cartoon Network has also announced plans to produce 12 more animated movies.
Coming first in August is Codename: Kids Next Door, OPERATION: Z.E.R.O., a 90-minute feature that has evil forces threatening to turn both kids and adults into tapioca-eating, hideously wrinkly Senior Citizombies unless the greatest kid operative can be re-commissioned for battle.
For the first time ever, the creators of favorite imaginary friends will be revealed in the hour-long movie Foster’s Home for Imaginary Friends: Good Wilt Hunting. At the Foster’s picnic, the residents are visited by their old pals, people who had to give them up when they got too old for imaginary friends. The special will air in late fall.
The young superheroes head to Japan in their first animated movie, Teen Titans Tokyo, airing in late fall. When a high-tech ninja attacks Titans Tower, Robin, Starfire, Cyborg, Raven and Beast Boy spring into action and track a mysterious Japanese criminal to Tokyo.
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