Vancouver Institute of Media Arts (VanArts) has announced a deadline extension for its expanded scholarship offering for Ukrainian refugee students. The program will cover 50% of tuition for full-time, 12-month diploma programs for animation, video games, VFX and more starting September 6, 2022. The school has already released a new video promoting the opportunity and introducing some of the first students to arrive at teh Canadian campus, which you can watch below.
Applications for scholarship placements will now be accepted until August 26, 2022.
As previously announced, the scholarship is available to Ukrainian refugees applying to admission in the 2D Character Animation, 3D Character Animation, Game Art & Design, Visual Effects for Film & Television, Acting for Film & Television, Professional Photography, or Web Development & Digital Design programs at VanArts.
These scholars will be joining the first group of students to begin in VanArts’ brand-new purpose-built campus space on the 7th floor of 333 Terminal Avenue in Vancouver. Other advantages include financial assistance from the Canadian government, granting of work permits under the CUEAT program, and a booming demand for jobs in the industries VanArts trains for.
More details on the VanArts scholarship program for Ukrainian refugees are available here.
Established in 1995, Vancouver Institute of Media Arts (VanArts) is ranked at #2 worldwide by Animation Career Review, Rookies-certified and located in Vancouver, the #1 Hub for film, digital entertainment and tech industries. The school’s mission is to unlock the creative and career potential within each student. With the help of specialized instruction, small class sizes, industry- experienced faculty and connections to the creative industries in Vancouver, VanArts graduates have gone on to work for major studios, see their names in the credits of major feature films, and start their own companies.
Ghost VFX, Streamland Media’s visual effects division, has announced it will open a new 32,000 square-feet studio in Pune, Maharashtra, India, early next year to meet the growing needs of filmmakers worldwide. Ghost India will offer clients a full range of high-end visual effects through cloud-based technology and an industry-leading talent roster that will function as a hybrid of work-from-home and in-studio.
“We are very excited to establish Ghost VFX in India, which is a critical part of expanding our worldwide services,” says Ghost VFX President Patrick Davenport. “Our leadership team has been working in India for over a decade, and we’re thrilled to be collaborating again with some of the very best artists in the business. Our experience has shown what works — and what doesn’t! We are building a creative environment and culture which will support the teams in all our studios, enabling us to work seamlessly together across the globe.”
Patrick Davenport
The new state-of-the-art studio will be led by Ghost VFX India Vice President and Head of Studio Prashant Shitole, who brings more than 20 years of top-tier VFX and animation experience to his new role. His credits include producing VFX for features, streaming, animation and games, while working as head of production at MPC, The Mill, Double Negative and most recently at Method Studios.
“I’m thrilled to have the opportunity to lead the Ghost VFX expansion into India,” says Shitole. “I’m most excited about the creative team we are bringing together here. Ghost VFX is already a well-established creative resource for filmmakers around the world. The talented team here in India is joining a global studio of artists and technical experts who support filmmakers doing amazing work.”
In addition to Pune, Ghost VFX has locations worldwide in Los Angeles, Copenhagen, London, Manchester, Toronto and Vancouver. Recent credits include Star Trek: Strange New Worlds, The Book of Boba Fett and The Walking Dead.
The Toronto International Film Festival (TIFF) has announced the selections in the Gala and Special Presentations programs for the 47th edition, taking place September 8-18.
“We’re excited to welcome some of the most celebrated figures in movies back to Toronto to present their Gala and Special Presentation films,” said Cameron Bailey, TIFF CEO. “With stories that span six continents and feature performances you just have to see, this lineup delivers the rich experiences we wait all year for. Cinema is alive. Red carpets are back. And the best audience in the world awaits them in Toronto.”
Notably, Henry Selick’s highly anticipated return Wendell & Wild will make its World Premiere in the Special Presentations section, the long animated feature in the lineup alongside films by the likes of Steven Spielberg (The Fablemans), Darren Aronofsky (The Whale), Lena Dunham (Catherina Called Birdy), Rian Johnson (Glass Onion: A Knives Out Mystery) and Park Chan-wook (Decision to Leave). Selick is Oscar-nominated director of stop-motion classics Coraline, The Nightmare Before Christmas and James and the Giant Peach.
Synopsis:Wendell & Wild, an animated tale about scheming demon brothers Wendell and Wild, who enlist the aid of 13-year-old Kat Elliot — a tough teen with a load of guilt — to summon them to the Land of the Living. But what Kat demands in return leads to a brilliantly bizarre and comedic adventure like no other, an animated fantasy that defies the law of life and death.
Due to launch on Netflix in October, the stop-motion flick features an all-star cast led by Jordan Peele and Keegan-Michael Key as Wendell and Wild, including Angela Bassett, Ving Rhames, James Hong and Lyric Ross as the human protagonist, Kat. The pic is produced with The Gotham Group and Peele’s Monkeypaw shingle, and will feature original musisc by Oscar-nominated composer Bruno Coulais.
The full list of films from the 2022 TIFF Official Selection features 18 Galas and 45 Special Presentations. Check out the programs here.
The Oscar-qualifying HollyShorts Film Festival is, once again, proving animation is the future when it comes to entertainment. The 18th edition, happening from August 11-20 at TCL Chinese 6 Theatres in Hollywood, Calif., unveiled its diverse selection of animated short films, including Emmy nominee Colman Domingo’s New Moon.
New Moon, written by and starring Domingo, follows an imaginative surrealist journey of a young boy and his mother chasing their inner city dreams. Adapted from his one-man play, A Boy and His Soul, this short also gives insight into Domingo’s upbringing, serving as a “love letter to West Philly and Black mothers and sons.”
New Moon
Other stellar standouts include Aaron Hughes’s Five Cents, starring Emmy Award-winner Brian Cox (Succession); the world premiere of Ninety-five Senses, directed by Jerusha Hess (Austenland, Napoleon Dynamite, Don Verdean) and Jared Hess (Minecraft, Napoleon Dynamite, Nacho Libre), written by Chris Bowman and Hubbel Palmer (Minecraft, Masterminds, Middle School: The Worst Years of My Life), featuring Tim Blake Nelson (Nightmare Alley, Watchmen, The Ballad of Buster Scruggs); Joseph Pierce’s Scale (Cannes Selection 2022); The Castro Sisters, Domenica and Constanza Castro’s We Are Here (Sundance Selection 2022); as well as Lukas von Berg’s Saint Android (Cannes Cinéfondation 2021), among others.
Scale
The full list and schedule of animated shorts include:
Friday, August 12 , 12 p.m. PST – Adult Animation
A Guitar in the Bucket – Boyoung Kim
Angulos de la Hora – Kyle Jason Novak
Chilly and Milly – William David Caballero
FALL OF THE IBIS KING – Mikai Geronimo, Josh O’Caoimh
Freedom Swimmer – Olivia Martin-McGuire
Holy Holocaust – Osi Wald, Noa Berman-Herzberg
Invisible Eyes – Jung Seung-hee
Love, Dad – Diana Cam Van Nguyen
More Than IRemember – Amy Bench
New Moon – Jeff Le Bars, Jérémie Balais
Night – Ahmad Saleh
Ninety-five Senses – Jerusha Hess, Jared Hess
Other Half – Lina Kalcheva
Saint Android – Lukas von Berg
Saint Android
SCALE – Joseph Pierce
She Dreams at Sunrise – Camrus Johnson
Slouch – Michael Bohnenstingl
Sprite Fright – Matthew Luhn
Tehura – Wei Li
The Awakening of the Insects – Stephanie Lansaque, Francois Leroy
The Chemical Factory Drew Leung
THE CLEARING – Daniel Hope
The Fall – Desirae Witte
The Island of Us – Yu Yu
The Law of the Jungle Gym – Yoon Hei Cho
The Originals – Cristina Maria Costantini, Alfie Kim Koetter
The Record – Jonathan Laskar
The Seine’s Tears – Yanis Belaid, Eliott Benard, Nicolas Mayeur, Etienne Moulin, Hadrien Pinot, Lisa Vicente, Philippine Singer, Alice Letailleur
What I Had to Leave Behind -Sean David Christensen
Zoon – Jonatan Schwenk
Cool For You
Sunday, August 14, 5 p.m. PST – Kids Animation/Family Films
A Cartoon of a Cat Sleeping – Randall Christopher
Cool For You – Sherene Strausberg
Depths Of Night – Step C.
Nounours – Lou Rigoudy
The most boring Granny in the whole world – Damaris Zielke
The Ocean Duck -Huda Razzak
The Social Chameleon – Alex Ross
The annual Academy Awards-qualifying HollyShorts Film Festival (HSFF) brings together top creators, industry leaders and companies and has launched many filmmakers into the next stages of their careers. HollyShorts, regular on MovieMaker Magazine’s “Top 50 Festivals Worth the Entry Fee list”, also engages its community and spotlights short films year-round through monthly screenings, panels, and networking events.
Apple TV+ today revealed the trailer for Lucy’s School, a new original special celebrating educators and based on the classic Peanuts comic strip by Charles M. Schulz, premiering Friday, August 12.
The Peanuts gang are anxious about starting at a new school in the fall, inspiring Lucy to start her own school instead, but teaching isn’t as easy as it sounds. Lucy’s School is a love letter to teachers, and an appreciation of the impact a teacher can have on a child. It explores the fear of change, and shows how Lucy, supported by her friends, faces and overcomes her own fears.
Produced for Apple TV+ by Peanuts and WildBrain, the special is directed by Raymond S. Persi (It’s the Small Things, Charlie Brown) and written by Craig Schulz, Bryan Schulz and Cornelius Uliano, who also executive produce alongside Paige Braddock, Josh Scherba, Stephanie Betts, Amir Nasrabadi and Anne Loi, and is produced by James Brown and Timothy Jason Smith.
Also coming to Apple TV+ on Friday, August 12 through its partnership with WildBrain are new episodes of the beloved Apple Original, The Snoopy Show Season 2.
The expanding and award-winning lineup of original animation for kids and families on Apple TV+ also includes the critically-acclaimed and Humanitas Prize nominated El Deafo,Lovely Little Farm, Pinecone and the Pony, Harriet the Spy (The Jim Henson Company), Wolfboy and the Everything Factory (Joseph Gordon-Levitt, HITRECORD, Bento Box Ent.), Get Rolling with Otis, Academy Award-nominated film Wolfwalkers, Peabody Award-winning series Stillwater. new series and specials from Peanuts and WildBrain ( Snoopy in Space S2, It’s the Small Things, Charlie Brown, For Auld Lang Syne) and Here We Are: Notes for Living on Planet Earth, the Daytime Emmy-winning television event based on the New York Times bestselling book and TIME Best Book of the Year by Oliver Jeffers.
Netflix today announced a three-year renewal of its content deal with Brutus Pink, the acclaimed animation production company from Nick Kroll, Andrew Goldberg, Mark Levin and Jennifer Flackett, the creative team behind the award-winning adult animated series Big Mouth and Human Resources.
The pact, which now runs through 2026, will include Brutus Pink developing and producing new animated projects for Netflix.
“Brutus Pink is thrilled to be continuing at Netflix, which has been our creative home for seven years,” says Levin. “We’re hopeful this means we get to keep the Con Air DVD that’s been sitting on Nick’s coffee table in a red envelope since 2006.”
Big Mouth is a critically-acclaimed and Emmy-nominated adult animated comedy hit about the glorious nightmare that is puberty. Inspired by Kroll and Goldberg’s childhood, it follows a group of friends and their hormone monsters as they navigate adolescence, human sexuality, and coming of age.
Big Mouth returns for Season 6 this Fall — Season 5 reached Netflix’s Top 10 in 25 countries. Human Resources, a spinoff of Big Mouth, launches its second season next year. Season 1 reached Netflix’s Top 10 in 15 countries.
“Since signing our first deal with Brutus Pink, Big Mouth has grown from a fan favorite to one of the most beloved animated franchises across the globe,” said John Derderian, Vice President of Animated Series, Netflix. “We know we’re in excellent hands with the team at Brutus Pink and can’t wait to see them create the next generation of hit animated series.”
In addition to Big Mouth, Brutus Pink will create a variety of animated projects in both film and television that are “adult, funny and emotional.”
Cloudco Entertainment in the United States, in conjunction with co-production partners, Watchnext Media in France and Kavaleer Productions in Ireland, announced the greenlight and production commencement of Season 3 of their animated hit comedy series Boy Girl Dog Cat Mouse Cheese.
Season 3’s additional 52 x 11’ episodes have been commisioned by the French television network Gulli while simultaneously ordered by the BBC in the U.K., KidsME (the children’s content division of De Agostini Group) in Italy and Ireland’s RTE. This latest order will bring the total number of 11’ animated episodes to 156.
Based on an original IP from Cloudco Entertainment, Boy Girl Dog Cat Mouse Cheese is described as “The Brady Bunch meets Modern Family” in an animated comedic take on a blended family sitcom, with Dad’s “sons” (a boy, a dog and a mouse) and Mom’s “daughters” (a girl, a cat and a piece of anthropomorphic cheese) learning to live together under one roof.
“Boy Girl Dog Cat Mouse Cheese – the show itself, but especially its title characters – have all become fun, hilarious, and indelible members of our own collective families at Watchnext Media, Kavaleer Productions and Cloudco Entertainment. Suprising, quirky, competitive, and entertaining, we’re all excited by the opportunity to bring more of their stories to life in Season 3, and in doing so, sharing more of what makes them the funniest, most loveable, animated blended family known to kids today.” said Philippe Alessandri, President of Watchnext Media; Andrew Kavanagh, President of Kavaleer Productions; and Sean Gorman, President of Cloudco Entertainment in a joint statement.
Launching late last year to consistently high ratings on both the BBC and DeAKids, Season 1 debuted in late May 2020 on Gulli as the #1 rated show in France for both children (ages 4-10) and teens (ages 11-14). Season 2 production recently wrapped and episodes have already debuted in many territories globally, including Germany (SuperRTL), the U.K. (CBBC), Gulli (France), Canada (Family Channel), SIC Impresa (Portugal) and DeAKids (Italy), with launches coming soon in Benelux and CEE (Disney), Spain (EITB), the Baltics (Duo Media Networks/Kidzone), Ireland (RTE) and the Middle East (MBC).
“We are very proud of the success of this original French series that was launched over 2 years ago now on Gulli. In 2021 it has been part of the Top 3 animated series (all channels combined) most watched by children. More than 70% of them followed the show this year! A huge success for this hilarious and resolutely modern sitcom established as a must,” noted Philippe Bony, President of Gulli. “Kids will be delighted to discover, on their favorite channel, the new adventures this family like no other and yet so endearing!”
Boy Girl Dog Cat Mouse Cheese production is supported in part by France’s Centre National du Cinéma et de l’Image Animée (CNC), Irish Film Relief (Section 481 Film Tax Credit), and Fís Éireann/Screen Ireland. Its executive producers are Alessandri and Sylvain Huchet (Watchnext Media); Kavanagh and Gary Timpson (Kavaleer Productions), and Sean Gorman, Ryan Weisbrock, Daniel Barnes and Ian Lambur (Cloudco Entertainment), as well as Season 3 story editor Tom Krajewski and directors Ophélie Mahé and Mireille Tram.
In a delirium of police lights and hallucinations, the Brit- and Grammy-winning virtual band Gorillaz ring in a new dawn: 2D, Murdoc, Noodle and Russel teamed up with Nexus Studios (nexusstudios.com) to create the psychedelic video for their new track “Cracker Island” ft. Thundercat. Directed by artist and Gorillaz co-creator Jamie Hewlett and Emmy-nominated director Fx Goby, the vid takes viewers on a late night jaunt to the City of Angels.
Gorillaz – “Cracker Island”
“Think of it as the final scene in the movie, the bit after the grand finale when the hero (me) is about to stride into the sunset, credits rolling. That’s right, we’re starting at the end. Why? COS I WORK IN MYSTERIOUS WAYS,” shared bassist Murdoc (voiced by actor-comedian Phil Cornwell).
Originally based at Kong Studios in West London, the group of musical misfits have relocated to Silverlake, California as they recruit new members to join ‘The Last Cult’, in search of the one truth to fix the world. With this new direction comes a new look, as the band now appear in super stylized 3D, courtesy of a close creative collaboration between Hewlett and Goby.
Gorillaz – “Cracker Island”
With a 20-year track record of innovation, this latest move by Gorillaz into 3D paves the way for multi-platform activations and the opportunity for fans to step further than ever before into the weird and wonderful world of Murdoc, Noodle, Russel and 2D. Hewlett and Goby’s fusion of animation and live action blends with clever lighting techniques and hallucinatory appearances by virtuosic bassist, mercurial talent and two-time Grammy winner, Thundercat.
Gorillaz – “Cracker Island”
On “Cracker Island,” Hewlett’s ever-evolving creative approach to Gorillaz offered director Goby an opportunity to bring his multidisciplinary expertise to the collaboration drawing on his extensive experience with 2D and 3D animation, live action, and everything in between. Goby’s directing credits include the Emmy-nominated immersive film Back to the Moon and multi-award-winning animated Jack London short To Build a Fire.
Gorillaz – “Cracker Island”
“Gorillaz’s iconic and groundbreaking legacy hugely inspired my early animation career. I was thrilled to partner with them to create this blend of live action and animation, and knew we would need the perfect balance between stylised and realistic,” said Goby. I couldn’t be happier with the sculpt and textures both faithful to the design but very much their own version. It was a privilege to work with 2D, Murdoc, Noodle and Russel not only in 3D but in this wild new era.”
Cracker Island” is a Nexus Studios and Gorillaz production with on-location support from Tuna Icon (Belgrade) and AzuL (Barcelona), and Grade from Black Kite Studios.
Formed in 1998 by Hewlett and musician Damon Albarn (Blur) in 1998, Gorillaz are an English virtual band blending alt rock, art pop, electronic, hip hop and many other usical influences. The group’s self-titled 2001 debut album, featuring the single “Clint Eastwood,” went triple platinum in the U.K., and the follow-up Demon Days (featuring “Feel Good Inc.”) went six-times platinum in the U.K. and double platinum in the U.S. In 2020, they launched the music video web series Song Machine, co-directed by Tim McCourt and Max Taylor (The Line) and featuring the voices of Phil Cornwell, Kevin Bishop, Haruka Abe and Remi Kabaka Jr.
Gorillaz have won a Grammy Award, two MTV Music Video Awards, three MTV Europe Music Video Awards and won the 2018 Brit Award for Best British Group, with 11 nominations for the Brits. The same year, Guinness World Records named them the “Most Successful Virtual Band” with over 26 million records sold worldwide.
Horror fans will get a unique treat this month as Gravitas Ventures releases the hybrid rotoscope animated feature Canvas on demand on August 9. The distributor has just released a new official trailer for the supernatural crime drama.
In this midnight thriller, a demon known as ‘The Painter’ comes to Earth with a gruesome mission – to create new spawn from chaos and murder. FBI agent George Rohan finds himself tasked with covering up The Painter’s multiplying murders, meanwhile a dogged investigative journalist, Reila Martin works to unveil George’s growing web of lies.
An official selection at Annecy and Strasbourg, Canvas was awarded Best Experiemental Feature by the Toronto Film and Script Awards. The film has also been selected to screen at The Art of Brooklyn, Dumbo, Hollywood Horrorfest, HorrorHound, Lighthouse and Macabre Faire festivals.
Starring Marama Corlett, Steve Key, Isabel Ellison, Sam Encarnación, Mia Hutchinson-Shaw, Juan Francisco Villa, Mandy Bishop, Mini Kim, with Diana Guiterman as Mary Lang and Ell Peck as The Painter.
Canvas
Canvas is written and directed by Ryan Guiterman, who also edited the pic and served as producer alongside Isabel Ellison and Betsy Shuller; and executive producer with Steven Stoller, Victoria Hill, David Kennedy and Simon Taufique, who composed the music.
Gravitas Ventures presents a Precariat Production in association with Guiterman Solutions.
PBS KIDS and Fred Rogers Productions announced today that Daniel Tiger’s Neighborhood, the #1 animated series for preschoolers on PBS KIDS and first series inspired by the groundbreaking Mister Rogers’ Neighborhood, will kick off its 10th anniversary year on September 3 with a marathon of “Top Ten Tiger Tales” on PBS KIDS.
The special programming event was voted on by fans and will lead into the highly anticipated sixth season, featuring a week of all-new episodes, streaming free on PBS KIDS beginning September 5.
“Since its launch a decade ago,Daniel Tiger’s Neighborhood, with its iconic strategy songs and gentle life lessons, has become an integral part of life for preschoolers, parents and caregivers,” said Sara DeWitt, Senior Vice President and General Manager, PBS KIDS. “We’re delighted to help children continue to learn and grow alongside their favorite tiger with a whole new season, digital games and more.”
“For the last 10 years, we’ve been honored to hear from families everywhere about the impact that Daniel Tiger’s Neighborhood has had on them personally,” said Paul Siefken, President and CEO, Fred Rogers Productions. “We are thrilled to continue to support preschoolers as they learn along with Daniel and to further the enduring legacy of Fred Rogers for another generation of children.”
Families are invited to “hop aboard” Trolley for a weekend of special anniversary programming featuring favorite movies like Daniel Tiger Visits a New Neighborhood and Won’t You Be Our Neighbor? “Top Ten Tiger Tales,” a five-hour marathon, will showcase 10 fan-chosen episodes from over the years – including the very first story, “Daniel’s Birthday”; classics such as “The Baby is Here” and “Daniel Visits the Doctor”; and newer favorites like “Daniel’s New Friend Max.”
The 10th anniversary celebration continues with the launch of Season 6 on PBS KIDS with four exciting new episodes that will showcase more preschool “firsts” such as having a new babysitter, going to a sleepover and trying a new activity. The episodes will feature fresh strategy songs to help families navigate these relatable situations and more. The full season will include 18 new 30-minute episodes. Full programming details are included below.
Series-inspired activities and resources that extend the fun and learning for “little tigers” and their families nationwide will also roll out on pbskids.org/daniel and the free PBS KIDS Games app, including Daniel Tiger’s Nature Walk, an all-new digital game that will debut in September. Kids and families can continue to play and learn with Daniel as they discover all the interesting things there are to see outside.
In addition, several new and exciting Daniel Tiger’s Neighborhood products will be released to celebrate the anniversary at the end of August. Jakks Pacific will be launching the “Cuddle Up Daniel Tiger” plush, while Simon & Schuster will release the new board book, I Will Always Be Your Friend!, written by series creator Angela C. Santomero. Pact Organic will also be launching Daniel’s Red Sweater to mark the anniversary—the first time Daniel’s iconic red sweater will be offered at retail.
When it debuted on PBS KIDS in 2012, Daniel Tiger’s Neighborhood, the first original show from Fred Rogers Productions since Mister Rogers’ Neighborhood, brought the children’s television pioneer’s legacy to life for a whole new generation of young viewers. Every episode of the well-loved series showcases two distinct stories starring four-year-old Daniel Tiger and his friends, who invite viewers to join them as they explore the colorful Neighborhood of Make-Believe. Irresistible musical strategies reinforce the unique theme of each show; preschoolers and parents can sing along and incorporate them into their daily lives.
Executive producers are Angela C. Santomero, Chief Creative Officer at 9 Story Media Group; Ellen Doherty, Chief Creative Officer of Fred Rogers Productions; and Vince Commisso, President & CEO, 9 Story Media Group.
The series has garnered a host of prestigious awards, including a 2019 Daytime Emmy Award for Outstanding Preschool Children’s Animated Series, 2020 Parents’ Choice Gold Award for Television, 2018 Common Sense Media Seal of Approval and the Outstanding Achievement in Youth Programming by the Television Critics Association in 2016.
Daniel Tiger’s Neighborhood 10th Anniversary:
September 2 PBS KIDS Family Night (7:00-9:00 p.m. ET)
Daniel Tiger Visits a New Neighborhood
Won’t You Be Our Neighbor?
September 3 Top 10 Tiger Tales Marathon (2:00-7:00 p.m. ET)
The Baby Is Here
Daniel’s New Friend Max
Daniel Goes to the Hospital
Nighttime in the Neighborhood
The Neighborhood Snowstorm
Daniel Visits the Doctor
It’s Not Okay to Hurt Someone
Neighborhood Thank You Day
There’s Time for Daniel and Baby Too
Daniel’s Birthday
PBS KIDS Family Night (7:00-9:00 p.m. ET)
Daniel Tiger Visits a New Neighborhood
Won’t You Be Our Neighbor?
September 4 Top 10 Tiger Tales Marathon (8:00 a.m.-12:00 p.m. ET)
PBS KIDS Family Night (7:00-9:00 p.m. ET)
Daniel Tiger Visits a New Neighborhood
Won’t You Be Our Neighbor?
September 5-8 Season 6 premiere
Daniel’s New Babysitter/Daniel Sleeps at the Treehouse
Daniel Feels Worried About Mom/Jodi Loses Benji
Jodi Tries Ballet/Daniel Tries Something New with Grandpere
Daniel Goes to Day Camp/Daniel’s Rainy Day at Camp
Enjoy the lazy days of summer with friends, family and fun new toons this month by tuning into The Summer Break Collection, just launched by Netflix Kids & Family. With 50 summer-themed shows and movies and new content debuting weekly, the hub will feature August premieres including Super Giant Robot Brothers, Team Zenko Go Season 2 and The Cuphead Show!Part 2.
The Summer Break Collection – August Animation Premieres
Big Tree City (Preschool Series) — A team of animal heroes with special skills and speedy vehicles work together to keep Big Tree City safe and solve the town’s trickiest problems. (Watch.)
Super Giant Robot Brothers (Kids Series) — Once the squabbling stops, the battling begins! Robot siblings Shiny and Thunder and their whiz inventor must defend Earth when space monsters attack. (Watch.)
Rise of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: The Movie(Film) — The teen turtles and their mystic ninja powers are put to the ultimate test when ruthless creatures from another universe look to unleash extreme chaos. (Watch.)
Team Zenko Go: Season 2 (Preschool) — Runaway robo-dogs, sleepwalking uncles and troublesome tots! These kid heroes in hiding are finding more ways to help around the town of Harmony Harbor. (Watch.)
Deepa & Anoop (Preschool) — Joined by her color-changing pet elephant, a joyful little girl creates music, merriment and mischief at her Indian family’s Mango Manor hotel. (Watch.)
He-Man and the Masters of the Universe: Season 3 (Kids Series) — With Skeletor intent on controlling the universe, He-Man and his heroic squad must fulfill their destinies. The epic battle for ultimate power is on! (Watch.)
The Cuphead Show!: Part 2 (Kids Series) — Follow the misadventures of the impulsive Cuphead and his easily swayed brother Mugman in this animated series based on the hit video game. (Watch.)
Lost Ollie (Limited Series) — A toy searches the countryside for the young boy who lost him in this family series inspired by the book Ollie’s Odyssey. (Watch.)
Angry Birds: Summer Madness: Season 3 (Kids Series) — Teen birds Red, Chuck, Bomb and Stella are crashing through Camp Splinterwood with their fellow feathered campers for a summer of high-flying hijinks! (Watch.)
Mighty Express: Season 7 (Preschool) — Nate, Flicker and the rest of the trains raise the rails for more thrilling deliveries, special missions and lighthearted lessons on the track. (Watch.)
See more of The Summer Break Collection on Netflix here.
***This article originally appeared in the 35th Anniversary Issue of Animation Magazine (June/July ’22, No. 321)***
It’s been 38 years since director Joe Dante introduced us to the wonderful, wicked and unforgettable creatures known as Gremlins. We all knew that these colorful monsters, which go wild if they’re fed after midnight, would make great animated characters. In 2023, we can finally enjoy a new animated show about them, one that centers on a naïve 10-year-old Sam Wing (voiced by Izaac Wang) who meets the young Mogwai known as Gizmo.
Just announced at Comic-Con, the show’s stellar voice cast (which includes Ming-Na Wen, B.D. Wong, James Hong, Matthew Rhys, A.J. LoCascio as Gizmo and Izaac Wang as Sam) will be joined in the 10-episode first season by exciting guest stars: Sandra Oh, Randall Park, George Takei, Bowen Yang and Zach Galligan, who starred as Billy in the original Gremlins movies and will be voicing “a cool character” yet to be revealed.
Dan Krall
Gremlins: Secrets of the Mogwai, which is slated to premiere on HBO Max and Cartoon Network’s Sunday ACME Night block in 2023, is written and executive produced by Tze Chun (Gotham, Once Upon a Time). Darryl Frank, Justin Falvey, Sam Register and Brendan Hay also serve as exec producers. We had a chance to chat with the Amblin Television / Warner Bros. Animation show’s talented supervising producer Dan Krall and art director Tara Rueping ahead of the show’s special premiere at Annecy in June.
“I was a child of the ‘80s, and Gremlins and other similar Amblin movies left a big impact on me,” says Krall, an Emmy-winning animation veteran who has worked on a wide range of projects include Samurai Jack, SpongeBob SquarePants, The Powerpuff Girls and Coraline. “I was also a big Chinese mythology and historical drama fan. So, I loved the fact that we could revisit China in a historic period and encounter other mythological creatures. It was a triple grand slam for me!”
Sam (voiced by Izaac Wang) and Gizmo (A.J. LoCascio) in ‘Gremlins: Secrets of the Mogwai
Mischief and Mayhem
Rueping, a well-respected veteran of animated games such as The Walking Dead: A New Frontier and Tales from the Borderlands, who was also a design artist on Star Wars: The Clone Wars, joined the project about two and a half years ago. “When a co-worker mentioned the show to me, I got super excited about it because I love all those old ’80s fantasies. So, I actually applied for the art director role through a test,” she tells us. “I think my test showed my enthusiasm, because I got the job.”
According to Krall, the series takes place in the early 1920s. “We did a little bit of math, since our character was 70 in 1984,” he points out. “Moving backwards, we figured out where he would have been. We landed in a time when electricity was just introduced after the industrial revolution. Gremlins love electricity, and we wanted to have neon lights around. We kind of picked this sweet spot and left it a little vague for those reasons.”
Gremlins: Secrets of the Mogwai
Krall and Rueping both also share a love for visual development artwork. “When we see these ‘art of’ books, you have all these beautiful painterly, graphic and stylized images, but when the movie comes out, the CG animation makes everything look very photorealistic,” says Krall. “One of our goals here was to retain those painterly qualities in the show. Both of us are big fans of Nintendo’s The Legend of Zelda: The Wind Waker game. We both mentioned it at the same time! It became kind of a touchstone for us.
“We also realized that the stories that we were going to tell were going to require a lot of subtle lighting,” he adds. “So, we wanted to incorporate a lot of live-action lighting, splits-like camera moves and drifts on dialog.”
The bulk of the animation was handled by Blue Spirit studio (What If…?, Ernest & Celestine) in France and a couple of episodes were produced by 88 Pictures in India.
Tara Rueping
According to Rueping, the production utilized many of the popular CG animation packages used in the business. “We use Maya, ZBrush and Photoshop, of course,” she notes.
“The overseas studios also have their own proprietary tools that they work with. Since we are a hybrid show, we really wanted to flatten the CG as much as possible and marry it with 2D elements and play with things like depth of field to create the unique look that we were looking for.”
Krall remembers the first time they saw the turntable CG model work together with the lighting and texturing against the painted background they had envisioned. “We had a lot of matte paintings as background as well as CG sets, so the idea to have these CG-animated characters walking around what was sometimes a painting and sometimes a CG set was quite a challenge,” he explains. “We were really excited when they all worked very well together.”
Rueping adds, “We needed to pay close attention to the characters’ forms since we were going with simple shapes. We had to make sure we got those big details right. I remember working with Dan on Gizmo and he was very meticulous about getting his mouth shape right. We had to make sure we got his underbite just right. We weren’t going to redesign the characters like some other shows do. We wanted to take the Gremlin characters that everyone loves and depict them in a simpler style.”
The series creators worked hard to faithfully translate the iconic Gizmo character from the movies into a painterly CG update.
Mixing Laughs with Drama
The creative team was also eager to duplicate the original tones and light touch of the movies. “We have more minutes of content — there are 10 episodes in the first season, so we can tell a bigger, serialized story about things that existed in the Gremlins universe,” says Krall. “We looked for opportunities to tell this intense, emotional, dramatic story where the characters are moving across the country and heavy stuff is happening, but at the same time, we found time for silly, ridiculous things to happen and have Gremlins jokes to break up the harder moments.”
Krall and Rueping both praise the contributions of Tze Chun and Brendan Hay to the project. “They each brought a lot of different skills and experiences to the show,” says Krall. “Tze shared a lot of his own knowledge of Chinese mythology as well as his personal experiences of traveling to places like the Chinese amusement park Tiger Balm Garden (which was created to promote Tiger Balm products). Brendan is also a big fan of the Gremlins movies and was always on point in keeping it silly and true to the original tone of Joe Dante’s film.”
The duo also hopes their show offers the same enjoyment and feeling that the movies provided audiences a few decades ago. “I hope they feel like we expanded on something that they already love,” says Krall. Adds Rueping., “Everyone on the team put so much love, energy and excitement into the project. Many people told me that the show has become a passion project for them. I hope viewers will not only enjoy our take on the Gremlins universe, but also feel the love that we’ve all put on this project.”
Gremlins: Secrets of the Mogwai will premiere on HBO Max and Cartoon Network in 2023.
Set in China in the 1920s, ‘Gremlins: Secrets of the Mogwai’ opened up a new world of story and design potential for the creative team.
Following on from the successful Let Your Voices Roar Animation Training in East Africa, The Ladima Foundation, in partnership with Culture and Development East Africa (CDEA) and The African Animation Network (AAN), is proud to announce the next phase of the project: talent incubation in professional animation studios.
The five women selected to take part in the six-month incubator are:
Nsile James Uiso (Dar es Salaam, Tanzania)
Ruth Nazzinda (Kampala, Uganda)
Adelaide Barnabas Jachi (Dar es Salaam, Tanzania)
Zuwena Hamad Othman (Zanzibar, Tanzania)
Gwantwa Lucas Mwakalinga (Dar es Salaam, Tanzania).
These five women excelled at the animation training that took place at the CDEA offices in Dar es Salaam. The training was run by award-winning, British-born Ghanaian animator, illustrator and visual artist Comfort Arthur(BlackBarbie), of The African Animation Network, along with Kenyan animator, game developer and the founder of Naota Studios — a digital arts company focused on developing fun and interactive content featuring the rich history of Africa — Lydiah Mugure Mwangi.
The selected women will be placed in professional work environments with well-respected East African animation studios that have partnered with AAN on this initiative, where they will gain invaluable experience, connect with fellow professionals and commence their careers in the ever-expanding animation space.
This next phase of the Let Your Voices Roar program is made possible with a grant from Ignite Culture: ACP-EU Culture Programme (Eastern Africa). This fund is being implemented by HEVA Fund, in partnership with the British Council Kenya, with the financial contribution of the European Union and with further support from the Organisation of ACP (African, Caribbean and Pacific) States — part of the global ACP-EU Culture Programme.
This animation incubator is just one of the initiatives of the Ladima Film Academy, the training and professional development pillar of the Ladima Foundation and CDEA’s Film Incubator Initiative. The Ladima Film Academy works through partnerships to provide women across Africa with access to free online and limited in-person training across seven disciplines: editing, producing, scriptwriting, documentary filmmaking, animation, directing and cinematography.
This animation incubator is just one of the initiatives of the Ladima Film Academy, the training and professional development pillar of the Ladima Foundation and CDEA’s Film Incubator Initiative. The Ladima Film Academy works through partnerships to provide women across Africa with access to free online and limited in-person training across seven disciplines: editing, producing, scriptwriting, documentary filmmaking, animation, directing and cinematography.
“I congratulate the five women who have been selected to be part of the animation incubator. In addition, I am glad that CDEA’s Film Incubator is partnering with the Ladima Foundation on this second phase of the project and look forward to documenting our learning journey,” said Ayeta Anne Wangusa, CDEA’s Executive Director.
AAN Founder and Head of Projects & Content, Nick Wilson, commented, “Congratulations to the five women selected to participate in the incubation phase of the programme. At AAN we are passionate about transforming the media landscape in Africa through the medium of animation. This is a large remit and partnering with Ladima Foundation allows us to support equal opportunity whilst growing the animation industry across the continent. As such, we are proud to partner with the Ladima Foundation and CDEA on this important project.”
Meet the participants:
Adelaide Jachi
Adelaide Jachi is a passionate and collaborative 2D animator striving to deliver edu-entertaining content. Her objective is to put out as much African-made animation content as possible, that reflects our culture. Her areas of interest include digital illustrating, voice over recording, 2D animating, rigging, and visual effects.
Gwantwa Lucas
Gwantwa Lucas is a 3D and 2D animator, writer and filmmaker with a passion to tell African stories for the younger generations though animation. She strives toward creating female heroes so that an African girl child can see herself in. Her dream is to take African stories to the world stage.
Nsile Uiso
Nsile Uiso is an animator and illustrator with a passion for creating content that tells stories about societal issues that affect girls and women like menstrual health and gender based violence.
She has completed her bachelor’s degree in Multimedia and Animation at the University of Dodoma and is currently an Animator at TAI Tanzania – an NGO dealing with telling stories for social change. She aspires to create content that motivates change in the community.
Ruth Nazzinda
Ruth Nazzinda is a Ugandan woman, passionate about documentary filmmaking that impacts communities. She is an award-winning documentary filmmaker, who studied Film Production at the University of Cape Town in South Africa, and the Ladima Film Academy. She also studied Journalism and Mass Communication at Buganda Royal Institute.
Nazzinda is currently working at Garage Women Foundation as an executive director and OLa Visualz as a documentary filmmaker. She has worked on various film projects including Mmamba — a short animated documentary film — as an animator, director, writer, and editor. The animated short is about cultural identity and climate conservation.
Zuwena Hamad Othman is a 27-year-old photographer, videographer and filmmaker from Zanzibar, Tanzania. She is committed to educating her fellow youth on matters concerning the environment, education, reproductive health and culture. She is also passionate about helping girls achieve their dreams.
Future online and in-person training opportunities will be announced on all Ladima platforms as they arise. Visit www.ladima.africa and www.cdea.or.tz and for more information.
Fans of Poppy, Branch and the rest of the glitter-tossing Trolls gang today were treated to the official trailer for TrollsTopiaSeason 7, which will close out the popular DreamWorks Animaiton series with seven all-new episodes on Hulu and Peacock on August 11.
TrollsTopia
Synopsis: In TrollsTopia, anything is possible with a little teamwork, glitter and a lot of FUN! When Val’s vacation doesn’t go to plan and R&B’s pancake breakfast falls flat, Poppy and the Trolls get creative. And when Cloud Guy is accepted to Cloud College he embarks on a hunt to find a replacement to annoy Branch in his absence. But does one even exist?!
Inspired by the beloved DreamWorks Animation films, TrollsTopia is the next chapter in the hair-raising adventures of the trolls. Now that Poppy knows there are other musical trolls scattered throughout the forest, she bottles up her endless positivity and invites delegates from every troll tribe in the forest to live together in harmony in a grand experiment she calls TrollsTopia!
TrollsTopia
Executive produced by Matthew Beans (Trolls: The Beat Goes On), TrollsTopia features the voices of Skylar Astin as Branch, Amanda Leighton as Poppy, David Fynn as Biggie, Ron Funches as Cooper, Kenan Thompson as Tiny Diamond, Megan Hilty as Holly Darlin’, Jeanine Mason as Minuet, Kevin Michael Richardson as Smidge, Sam Haft as Chaz and Glozell Green as Grandma Rosiepuff.
Today at the Television Critics Association Press Tour, PBS KIDS announced the premiere date for Work It Out Wombats!, a new animated series for kids ages 3-6 produced by GBH Kids and Pipeline Studios, starring a playful trio of marsupial siblings — Malik, Zadie and Zeke — who live with their grandmother, Super, in their treehouse apartment complex. The series will introduce computational thinking concepts that will help young viewers solve meaningful problems, learn flexible thinking and how to express themselves — all while using the practices and processes at the core of computer science. The new series will debut on PBS KIDS February 6, 2023.
“The Wombats are all about exploring the world around them and, much like preschoolers, their curiosity and love of adventure know no bounds,” said Sara DeWitt, Senior Vice President and General Manager, PBS KIDS. “Computational thinking is a way of approaching problems in strategic ways, helping young children respond and adapt to the world around them. We’re excited for viewers to explore these foundational skills and mindsets while having fun with their new marsupial friends.”
Work It Out Wombats! takes place in the Treeborhood — a massive treehouse complete with secret passageways, gondolas and rope swings. The residents of the Treeborhood — wombats, snakes, moose, kangaroos, iguanas, fish, tarsiers and eagles — bring varied skills and abilities, assorted ways of thinking, and different family structures and traditions to this diverse and vibrant community of neighbors, a place where even the adults join in the play.
“Malik, Zadie and Zeke are passionate about their goals, but they don’t always know the best way to go about meeting them,” said Marcy Gunther and Marisa Wolsky, Executive Producers, GBH Kids. “But in every story, we see the Wombats using computational thinking, a powerful toolkit, to work it out.”
“Work It Out Wombats! strikes a perfect balance of telling stories for preschoolers that are educational, fun and engaging. Bringing an exciting world filled with diverse characters to life has been incredibly empowering for our artists and technical talent,” said Luis Lopez, Executive Producer, Pipeline Studios.
Full of endless energy, Malik, Zadie and Zeke run, bounce, roll and romp, always on the lookout for interesting Treeborhood problems to solve. Malik is thoughtful, considerate and sometimes set in his ways (which can be a good thing when you’re problem-solving). His speedy, adventurous younger sister, Zadie, is a brainstormer extraordinaire, with ideas that range from silly to very smart. Zeke is the youngest sibling — a funny, curious cuddle-bug who loves to play and explore. Super, their grandmother, is the Superintendent and unofficial “Mayor” of the Treeborhood.
Each episode includes two 11-minute stories, accompanied by a 90-second music video, featuring the Wombats as they demonstrate their computational thinking skills, learning as they go. Their aspirations sometimes exceed their abilities, but with every problem they encounter, the trio stops, takes a breath, puts their heads together and comes up with a workable solution, using the design process, sequencing, debugging and other key computational thinking skills. Whether they are tackling a big mess by breaking down the job into smaller tasks, creating a process for finding a lost beloved stuffy or solving the mystery of a scary sound in the neighborhood, the Wombats are always able to work it out.
In producing Work It Out Wombats!, award-winning public media producer GBH Kids and leading global entertainment company Pipeline Studios have been deliberate in taking an inclusive and authentic approach to telling stories. Gunther and Wolsky are executive producers for GBH Kids. Luis Lopez and Juan Lopez are executive producers for Pipeline Studios. Marina Bers, Ph.D., a leader in the field of computational thinking and professor at Tufts University, is the content director. Creative producers Darlene Mortel Edouard, Ph.D. and Kareem Edouard, Ph.D, who have expertise in cultural and visual studies, intersectionality, and STEM engagement from communities underrepresented in STEM fields, help ensure that all aspects of the series are looked at through the lens of culture and inclusion.
Work It Out Wombats! games will launch in tandem with the series on pbskids.org and the free PBS KIDS Games App. To extend the learning at home, parent and caregiver resources, including tips and hands-on activities, will be available on PBS KIDS for Parents. For educators, PBS LearningMedia will offer classroom-ready materials, including videos, games, teaching tips and printable activities.
The seriesis part of theCorporation for Public Broadcasting (CPB) and PBS Ready to Learn Initiative with funding from the U.S. Department of Education. The Ready to Learn Initiative is a federal program that supports the development of innovative educational television and digital media targeted to preschool and early elementary school children and their families.
“Work It Out Wombats! introduces problem-solving, critical thinking and collaboration to young learners in a fun and age-appropriate way, helping children get excited about learning and laying important groundwork for success in school and life,” said Debra Tica Sanchez, Senior Vice President, Educational Media and Learning Experiences, Corporation for Public Broadcasting.
Major funding for Work It Out Wombats! is provided by: a Ready to Learn Grant from the U.S. Department of Education; the Corporation for Public Broadcasting; and public television viewers. Additional funding is provided by the National Science Foundation and the GBH Kids Catalyst Fund.
From my many wanderings on this earth, I have so much to say… about imperfect fathers and imperfect sons, and about loss and love…
With these words uttered in the dulcet, cricket-y tones of voice star Ewan McGregor, we are swept away into the stunning new teaser treailer for Netflix’s highly anticipated stop-motion feature Guillermo del Toro’s Pinocchio. The preview hints at a wide world ripe for exploring as it gives a first glimpse at characters like the colorful carnival folk and a reimagining of the Blue Fairy very in line with del Toro’s unnerving yet fantastical aesthetic.
Synopsis: Academy Award-winning filmmaker Guillermo del Toro (Pan’s Labyrinth, The Shape of Water) reinvents Carlo Collodi’s classic tale of the wooden marionette who is magically brought to life in order to mend the heart of a grieving woodcarver named Geppetto. This whimsical, stop-motion film directed by del Toro and Mark Gustafson follows the mischievous and disobedient adventures of Pinocchio in his pursuit of a place in the world.
The film features an all-star voice cast with Ewan McGregor as Cricket, David Bradley as Geppetto, and introducing Gregory Mann as Pinocchio. Other cast includes Finn Wolfhard, Academy Award winner Cate Blanchett, John Turturro, Ron Perlman, Tim Blake Nelson and Burn Gorman, with Academy Award winner Christoph Waltz and Academy Award winner Tilda Swinton.
Del Toro also wrote the picture with Patrick McHale (Over the Garden Wall), and is a producer alongside Gary Ungar, Alex Bulkley, Corey Campodonico for animation studio Shadow Machine, and Lisa Henson for The Jim Henson Company. Guillermo del Toro’s Pinocchio features music by two-time Academy Award-winning French composer Alexandre Desplat (The Grand Budapest Hotel, the Shape of Water, Fantastic Mr. Fox, The Secret Life of Pets, Trollhunters, Isle of Dogs).
The film’s creative team also includes production designer Guy Davis, co-production designer Curt Enderle (Isle of Dogs, TheBoxtrolls), art director Rob DeSue (MissingLink), animation supervisor Brian Hansen (Missing Link), director of photography Frank Passingham (Kubo and the TwoStrings), puppet supervisor Georgina Hayns (TheBoxtrolls) and editor Ralph Foster (Isle of Dogs).
Guillermo del Toro’s Pinocchio will premiere on Netflix in December. netflix.com/pinocchio
Adult Swim, the #1 destination for young adults, excited fans at San Diego Comic-Con this year with a series of in-depth panels on hit series SMILING FRIENDS, Genndy Tartakovsky’s Primal, Tuca & Bertie, and a premiere screening of the new Rick and Morty digital spin-off Vindicators 2.
Adult Swim also delighted fans with an eye-catching Tuca & Bertie float and a surprise peep-hole activation that gave attendees a preview of the upcoming Adult Swim Festival Block Party.
‘Vindicators 2’ executive producer Sarah Carbiener
Rick and Morty fans got a special treat with an exclusive debut of the new digital spin-off seriesVindicators 2, featuring insights from executive producer Sarah Carbiener and Rick and Morty producer/writer Nick Rutherford. Following the digital series’ exclusive debut at San Diego Comic-Con on Friday, July 22, all 10 episodes are now available to view on Adult Swim’s YouTube channel.
A prequel to Vindicators 3: The Return of Worldender, Vindicators 2 follows the adventures of your old pals Supernova, Vance Maximus, Alan Rails, Million Ants, Crocubot and Noob Noob alongside their comrades Lady Katana, Diablo Verde and Calypso (RIP). Together the group will learn the truth behind the team’s epic battle with Doomnomitron.
Following Aquadonk Side Pieces and Alabama Jackson, Vindicators 2 is the third of four digital short series available on Adult Swim’s YouTube channel. The series is executive produced by Erica Rosbe, Sarah Carbiener, Dan Harmon and Justin Roiland.
The day after its Season 2 double-episode premiere on Adult Swim, animation legend Genndy Tartakovsky also wowed fans on Friday with an in-depth panel on the Emmy Award-winning series Genndy Tartakovsky’s Primal.
Joined by art director Scott Wills, the panel also included a surprise appearance by voice actor Aaron LaPlante for a special live performance as Spear. Using no words, the audience was able to see first-hand the amount of emotion and complexity of LaPlante’s performance in a special “table read” led by Tartakovsky.
‘SMILING FRIENDS’ creators Zach Hadel and Michael Cusak
SMILING FRIENDS creators Michael Cusak and Zach Hadel enraptured fans with a live draw of fan-favorite characters Pim, Charlie and more during their panel on Friday.
Moderated by series co-star Joshua Tomar, the duo continued to showcase their creative process by illustrating new characters and scenarios on the spot, while fielding questions from the audience.
‘Tuca & Bertie’ star Tiffany Haddish
Adult Swim wrapped up its panel programming on Saturday to celebrate the return of Tuca & Bertiewith a star-studded panel including Tiffany Haddish (Tuca), alongside Nicole Beyer (Gamby) and Sasheer Zamata (Kara), and creator and executive producer Lisa Hanawalt. Moderated by Entertainment Weekly executive TV editor Gerrad Hall, the hilarious panel also included a surprise video message from Ali Wong (Bertie).
After the panel, the stars delighted fans by posing in front of the massive Tuca & Bertie float which appeared on the bay just outside the Convention Center.
AMC Networks’ first traditionally animated series, Pantheon, premieres Thursday, September 1, with weekly episodes on AMC+.
A sci-fi drama based on a collection of short stories by award-winning author Ken Liu, this thrilling speculative is centered on a bullied teen (Katie Chang, The Bling Ring) who receives mysterious help from someone online: a stranger soon revealed to be her recently deceased father, David (Daniel Dae Kim, Lost), whose consciousness has been uploaded to the Cloud following an experimental destructive brain scan. David is the first of a new kind of being — an “Uploaded Intelligence” or “UI” — but he will not be the last, as a global conspiracy unfolds that threatens to trigger a new kind of world war.
https://youtu.be/q1JbxkYwJ54
The series writer, creator, showrunner and executive producer is Craig Silverstein (TURN: Washington’s Spies, Nikita, Terra Nova), and animation is by Titmouse (Motorcity, Big Mouth, Mike Judge’s Beavis and Butt-Head).
Pantheon explores the outer limits of what we and our technology are capable of creating and destroying, focusing on the “uploading” of human consciousness into the cloud. It explores the theme of technology through the lens of family, focusing on both the people whose brains have been digitally uploaded, and the loved ones they’ve left behind. Ultimately, Pantheon challenges our understanding of what it means to be human.
Katie Chang as Maddie and Daniel Dae Kim as David in ‘Pantheon’ [Titmouse Inc/AMC]
The all-star voice cast also features Paul Dano (Escape at Dannemora) as Caspian, Rosemarie DeWitt (Little Fires Everywhere) as Ellen, Aaron Eckhart (The Dark Knight) as Cary, Taylor Schilling (Orange Is the New Black) as Renee, Ron Livingston (A Million Little Things) as Waxman, Chris Diamantopoulos (Silicon Valley) as Julius Pope, Raza Jaffrey (Homeland) as Chanda and William Hurt (Black Widow, Goliath) as Stephen Holstrom.
Paul Dano as Caspian in ‘Pantheon’ [Titmouse Inc/AMC’
Other voice actors for the series include Scoot McNairy, Anika Noni Rose, Maude Apatow, Corey Stoll, Michael Kelly, Grey Griffin, SungWon Cho, Kevin Durand, Samuel Roukin, Krystina Alabado, Lara Pulver, Madhur Jeffrey, Heather Lind, Nyima Funk, Tunde Adebimpe, Quinn Hawking, Clyde Kusatsu, Ken Leung, Jacob Sartorius, Vincent Ventresca, Julian Lerner, Magnus McLain, Ajay Mehta, Annabella Sciorra and Suraj Sharma.
Chris Diamantopoulos as Julius Pope in ‘Pantheon’ [Titmouse Inc/AMC]
Silverstein is writer, creator, showrunner and executive producer. Executive producers for animation studio Titmouse are Chris Prynoski, Shannon Prynoski, Antonio Canobbio, Ben Kalina and Juno Lee.
Following 25 years of trailblazing work and exponential growth over the past few years, Nice Shoes is reintroducing itself to the advertising and creative industries. Having greatly expanded its offering over the past decade, Executive Creative Director Harvey Glazer recognized it was time for the studio to ‘kick off its shoes’ and truly align its look and feel with its full range of services.
To craft the bold and punchy new aesthetic and ‘NICE’ messaging, the team dug deep into the nostalgic joy of individualization for a brand refresh like no other. Taking inspiration from classic sticker books, patches and rock pins, Creative Director Stefan Woronko — along with Glazer and renowned graffiti artist Spazz — created bespoke new icons for each department: Production, Editorial, Color, Animation, VFX, Immersive, Virtual Production and Experiential. This impressive and diverse range of ‘NICE’ offerings are reimagined through sneaker freak-inspired graphic visuals for each department, featuring some of the best designs in the history of shoes.
“With this new look, we really wanted to evoke the efforts we went through in our youth to individualise ourselves with our appearance and accessories. So, we tapered our jeans with safety pins, threw on our favorite kicks, sewed a patch on our World Famous bag — and this is what we came up with,” said Glazer. “This new look is all about being tactile; you can touch it, scratch and sniff it, feel it, and most importantly it takes you back to being a kid again — and that’s where the best creativity comes from.”
Nice Shoes department stickers
He added, “After 25 years, we have a NICE new studio, NICE new creatives and NICE new services to offer. Our capabilities have changed so much in the last couple of years, and our latest hires are not only elevating what we can offer clients, but helping to pave the way for the next 25 years of NICE work. Each division and the talent within them now stands on its own, and we’re using shoes as a graphical representation of individualization instead of writing it with text— just like each one of us does every day when we choose the perfect shoes to complement our outfit.
“Now the world can really see that we pretty much do everything but make shoes — although we do all wear them. Well some of us do, some of the time, damn hippies.”
Justin Pandolfino, Managing Director of Nice Shoes, noted, “The idea of ‘NICE’ is a core value for us — and one we try to live every day. We bring ‘NICE’ into every client interaction and all of our talent curation efforts, giving us the understanding and relationships to craft solutions for each unique creative problem. Our new position truly embodies this, and showcases how we’re able to provide a range of premium content from concept to completion with an integrated pipeline.”
To demonstrate the new look and feel, Nice Shoes has created a 30-second spot featuring a track recorded by Beats ‘n’ Broccoli featuring Stu Stone. Clients and creatives across the industry are invited to come and experience what a breath of fresh air feels like, as the nostalgia featured in the film will be transformed into real collectors items. From pins and patches to scratch and sniff stickers, you can sign up on Nice Shoes’ website to make sure you’re on the drop list.
Falcon’s Beyond, a leading fully integrated global entertainment development company specializing in intellectual property creation and expansion, today announced a strategic partnership with BRON Studios, a leading global media, technology and award-winning production company, to co-develop and co-produce multiple worldwide entertainment properties into feature films, episodic series, video games, Web3 activations, consumer products and location-based entertainment experiences.
Through the collaboration, BRON will leverage its extensive production pipeline utilizing Epic Games’ Unreal Engine, as well as its network of award-winning talent, to help Falcon’s Beyond create episodic series and feature films based on Falcon’s IPs, including the popular Katmandufranchise. Katmandu Park, a cutting-edge new theme park, is planned to officially open in Punta Cana, Dominican Republic by late 2022 or early 2023.
Simultaneously, Falcon’s Beyond will leverage its 360-degree IP Expander™ flywheel to activate BRON’s IPs across its owned and operated location-based entertainment destinations, entertainment content platforms, and consumer products marketplaces.
Katmandu
“This amazing collaboration with BRON leverages our complementary areas of expertise to create new opportunities for ongoing fan loyalty and engagement for our respective brands and IPs,” says Cecil D. Magpuri, CEO of Falcon’s Beyond. “BRON’s incredible reputation and resources will help make the Katmandu franchise a premium offering for audiences worldwide, while Falcon’s will engage our IP expander to activate their powerful IPs across a wide variety of physical and digital entertainment.”
Aaron Gilbert, CEO of BRON Studios, adds, “The opportunity to collaborate with Falcon’s Beyond to co-develop and co-produce IP makes this an invaluable partnership for BRON. From Falcon’s vast knowledge of all-things immersive entertainment to the company’s impressive Katmandu brand, it’s a thrilling time and opportunity to work with such an impressive key industry player.”
BRON has been instrumental in more than 120 productions, including House of Gucci, Joker, Ghostbusters: Afterlife, Greyhound and The Survivor, and has built a robust slate of upcoming IP across all platforms in collaboration with notable creative and distribution partnerships. The company has been part of an outstanding 32 Academy Award nominations and six wins.
Gossamer (BRON Studios)
In May, Falcon’s Beyond announced a partnership with Moonbug Entertainment, which centers around the expansion of Moonbug’s popular CoComelon and Blippi brands into the world of location-based entertainment.
Recently, on July 12, the company announced its entry into a definitive merger agreement with FAST II, a special purpose acquisition company, that is expected to result in Falcon’s Beyond becoming a publicly listed company on Nasdaq. Upon the closing of the transaction, the new combined company will be named “Falcon’s Beyond Global” and is expected to be listed on Nasdaq under the ticker symbol “FBYD.” The transaction is expected to close in either the second half of 2022 or the first quarter of 2023. (More info here.)
