Disney-Pixar has revealed some key cast members and the new characters they are voicing for Cars 3, zooming into theaters on June 16, 2017. Joining Owen Wilson, who once again voices track champion Lightning McQueen, will be stand-up comedian Cristela Alonzo as trainer Cruz Ramirez, and Armie Hammer as next gen racer Jackson Storm.
“Cristela is full of optimism and a positive energy that I think really comes through in Cruz’s personality.And of course, she’s a hilarious comedian, so that doesn’t hurt either,” said Brian Fee, who is directing the threequel after serving as storyboard artist on the first two Cars. “Armie brought a great combination of intensity and charm to the role of Jackson Storm. His charisma helped create a character you really love to hate.”
Cars 3 Announced Characters:
Lightning McQueen is world champion—a modern-day racing legend who’s riding high with five Piston-Cup wins under his hood. Suddenly, he finds himself faced with a new generation of racers who threaten not only his dominance in the sport—but the confidence that got him there. Determined to get back to the pole position, the #95 must decide if his love for racing is enough to fuel the comeback of his life. [CLIP]
Owen Wilson (The Royal Tenenbaums; upcoming Wonder, Lost in London) returns to the racetrack as the voice of the champion.
Cruz Ramirez is a sunny-but-fierce, unconventional trainer at the Rust-eze Racing Center. She expertly arms the team’s talented rookies with cutting-edge tools to tear up the track—but she nearly stalls when her longtime idol Lightning McQueen shows up. While she’d love to help him find his way back to the top, she knows the competition is faster than ever, and victory is all about speed—or is it? [CLIP]
Cristela Alonzo (The Angry Birds Movie) helps bring the character to life. Alonzo’s debut stand-up special for Netflix, Lower Classy, which debuts on Jan. 24, showcases the comedian’s life as a the daughter of an immigrant, touching on important issues like social class, breaking the glass ceiling and how she can’t get the hang of Zumba.
Jackson Storm is fast, sleek and ready to race. A frontrunner in the next generation of racers, Storm’s quiet confidence and cocky demeanor are off-putting—but his unmatched speed threatens to redefine the sport. Trained on high-tech simulators that are programmed to perfect technique and maximize velocity, Jackson Storm is literally built to be unbeatable—and he knows it. [CLIP]
Armie Hammer (Birth of a Nation, Nocturnal Animals) was tapped as the voice of Jackson Storm. He will be starring in upcoming features Free Fire, Final Portrait and Call Me by Your Name.
Jeremy Renner and Don Handfield will be tackling their first animated film project under their banner, the Combine, Deadline reports. Joining with Straight Up Films and Cinesite, I.F. is inspired by the song “Imaginary Friend” by two-time Grammy nominee Secret Agent 23 Skidoo, off his Perfect Quirk album. Development and pre-production will begin this year.
Dave Rosenbaum, CCO of Cinesite and head of the company’s new animation studios in Montreal, will oversee development and production on I.F. Rosenbaum is an Illumination Ent. veteran who helped bring Despicable Me, Minions and Sing to theaters. Also on board is writer Shane Morris (story, Frozen), who is penning the script and helped land financing for the project by fleshing the song out into a story.
Marisa Polvino and Kate Cohen will finance and produce the project through Straight Up Films, along with Nick Sarkisov. Kelly Woyan and Philip G. Flores will produce for the Combine.
The Walt Disney Studios have released their official 2017 feature release catalog, full of fresh titles, hotly anticipated sequels, a royal revamp … and pandas!
Details below in order of release date:
Walt Disney Studios 2017 feature films
March 17
Beauty and the Beast
The story and characters audiences know and love come to spectacular life in the live-action adaptation of Disney’s 1991 animated classic Beauty and the Beast, a stunning, cinematic event celebrating one of the most beloved tales ever told. Beauty and the Beast is the fantastic journey of Belle, a bright, beautiful and independent young woman who is taken prisoner by a Beast in his castle. Despite her fears, she befriends the castle’s enchanted staff and learns to look beyond Beast’s hideous exterior and realize the kind heart of the true Prince within.
Stars Emma Watson as Belle, Dan Stevens as Beast, Luke Evans as handsome but shallow suitor Gaston; Kevin Kline as Maurice, Belle’s father; Josh Gad as LeFou, Gaston’s sidekick; Ewan McGregor as Lumiere the candelabra; Stanley Tucci as Maestro Cadenza the harpsichord; Audra McDonald as Madame de Garderobe the wardrobe; Gugu Mbatha-Raw as Plumette the feather duster; Hattie Morahan as the enchantress; and Nathan Mack as Chip the teacup; with Ian McKellen as Cogsworth the mantel clock and Emma Thompson as Mrs. Potts the teapot.
Directed by Bill Condon. Screenplay by Stephen Chbosky and Evan Spiliotopoulos. Produced by Mandeville Films’ David Hoberman and Todd Lieberman, with Jeffrey Silver, Thomas Schumacher and Don Hahn as exec producers. Score by Alan Menken includes original songs by Menken and Howard Ashman for the animated film, and new songs by Menken and Tim Rice.
Narrated by John Krasinski, Disneynature’s new True Life Adventure film Born in China takes an epic journey into the wilds of China to follow the stories of three animal families. Meet a doting panda bear mother and her growing cub, a two-year-old golden monkey who feels displaced by his baby sister and joins a group of outcasts, and a mother snow leopard raising her two cubs in one of the harshest environments on the planet.
Directed by Lu Chuan. Produced by Disney’s Roy Conli and nature filmmakers Brian Leith and Phil Chapman.
May 5
Guardians of the Galaxy, Vol. 2
Set to the all-new sonic backdrop of Awesome Mixtape #2, Marvel’s Guardians of the Galaxy, Vol. 2 continues the team’s adventures as they traverse the outer reaches of the cosmos. The Guardians must fight to keep their newfound family together as they unravel the mystery of Peter Quill’s true parentage. Old foes become new allies and fan-favorite characters from the classic comics will come to our heroes’ aid as the Marvel Cinematic Universe continues to expand.
Stars Chris Pratt, Zoe Saldana and Dave Bautista, featuring Vin Diesel as Groot, Bradley Cooper as Rocket, Michael Rooker, Karen Gillan, Pom Klementieff, Elizabeth Debicki, Chris Sullivan, Sean Gunn, Tommy Flanagan, Laura Haddock and Kurt Russell.
Directed and written by James Gunn. Produced by Kevin Feige; executive produced by Louis D’Esposito, Jonathan Schwartz, Victoria Alonso, Nik Korda and Stan Lee.
The rip-roaring adventure finds down-on-his-luck Captain Jack Sparrow feeling the winds of ill-fortune blowing strongly his way when deadly ghost sailors, led by the terrifying Captain Salazar, escape from the Devil’s Triangle bent on killing every pirate at sea — notably Jack. Jack’s only hope of survival lies in the legendary Trident of Poseidon, but to find it he must forge an uneasy alliance with Carina Smyth, a brilliant and beautiful astronomer, and Henry, a headstrong young sailor in the Royal Navy. At the helm of the Dying Gull, his pitifully small and shabby ship, Captain Jack seeks not only to reverse his recent spate of ill fortune, but to save his very life from the most formidable and malicious foe he has ever faced.
Stars Johnny as Jack Sparrow, Javier Bardem as Capt. Salazar, Kaya Scodelario as Carina, Brenton Thwaites as Henry, Kevin R. McNally as Joshamee Gibbs, Golshifteh Farahani as Shansa the sea-witch, David Wenham as Scarfield, Stephen Graham as Scrum and Geoffrey Rush as Capt. Hector Barbossa.
Directed by Joachim Ronning and Espen Sandberg. Screenplay by Jeff Nathanson. Produced by Jerry Bruckheimer; executive produced by Mike Stenson, Chad Oman, Joe Caracciolo, Jr., Terry Rossio and Brigham Taylor.
Blindsided by a new generation of blazing-fast racers, the legendary Lightning McQueen (voice of Owen Wilson) is suddenly pushed out of the sport he loves. To get back in the game, he will need the help of an eager young race technician, Cruz Ramirez (voice of Cristela Alonzo), with her own plan to win, plus inspirations from the late Fabulous Hudson Hornet and a few unexpected turns. Proving tha #95 isn’t through yet will test the heart of a champion on Piston Cup Racing’s biggest stage!
Directed by Brian Fee (storyboard artist, Cars & Cars 2). Produced by Kevin Reher (A Bug’s Life, La Luna short).
In Marvel Studios’ Thor: Ragnarok, Thor is imprisoned on the other side of the universe without his mighty hammer and finds himself in a race against time to get back to Asgard to stop Ragnarok — the destruction of his homeworld at the end of Asgardian civilization — at the hands of an all-powerful new threat, the ruthless Hela. But first he must survive a deadly gladiatorial contest that pits him against his former ally and fellow Avenger — the Incredible Hulk!
Stars Chris Hemsworth as Thor, Tom Hiddleston as Loki, Cate Blanchett, Idris Elba, Jeff Goldblum, Tessa Thompson and Karl Urban, with Mark Ruffalo and Anthony Hopkins.
Directed by Taika Waititi. Story by Craig Kyle & Christopher Yost; screenplay by Eric Pearson. Produced by Kevin Feige; executive produced by Louis D’Esposito, Brad Winderbaum, Victoria Alonso, Thomas M. Hammel and Stan Lee.
November 22
Coco
Despite his family’s baffling generations-old ban on music, Miguel (voice of newcomer Anthony Gonzalez) dreams of becoming an accomplished musician like his idol, Ernesto de la Cruz (voice of Benjamin Bratt). Desperate to prove his talent, Miguel finds himself in the stunning and colorful Land of the Dead following a mysterious chain of events. Along the way, he meets charming trickster Hector (voice of Gael Garcia Bernal) and together, they set off on an extraordinary journey to unlock the real story behind Miguel’s family history.
Directed by Lee Unkrich (Toy Story 3), co-directed by Adrian Molina (story artist, Monsters University) and produced by Darla K. Anderson (Toy Story 3).
December 15
Star Wars: The Last Jedi
Having taken her first steps in The Force Awakens, Rey continues her epic journey, with Finn, Poe and Luke Skywalker.
Stars Daisy Ridley as Rey, John Boyega as Finn, Oscar Isaac as Poe Dameron and Mark Hamill as Luke Skywalker, with the late Carrie Fisher as Leia Organa, Adam Driver as Kylo Ren, Billie Lourd at Lt. Connix, Domhnall Gleeson as General Hux, Gwendoline Christie as Capt. Phasma, Lupita Nyong’o as Maz Kanata, Andy Serkis as Supreme Leader Snoke, Peter Mayhew as Chewbacca, Anthony Daniels as C-3PO, Jimmy Vee as R2-D2 and Benicio Del Toro a a new villain.
Directed and written by Rian Johnson, based on the characters created by George Lucas. Executive produced by J.J. Abrams, Ram Bergman, Tom Karnowski, Kathleen Kennedy and Jason D. McGatlin.
Hasbro Content Lands on Playster Platform
A number of the studio’s animated and live-action kids’ titles are available now, including Transformers, Kaijudo and G.I. Joe titles. Playster is available via web browser and app (iOS/Android).
The Producers Guild of America has revealed the TV category nominees for its 2017 PGA Awards. While there is no dedicated animation award, hit toons Octonauts and SpongeBob SquarePants will be squaring off against live-action series in the Outstanding Children’s Program contest — and there are a few VFX showpieces represented as well.
The PGA Award nominees for documentary were announced in November, and included Keith Maitland’s rotoscope feat Tower and Roger Ross Williams’ touching Life, Animated. Feature film nominees will be announced January 10, and the winners will be revealed Jan. 28 at the 28th Annual PGA Awards ceremony at the Beverly Hilton in Los Angeles.
Below is a select rundown of nominees, visit producersguild.org for more information.
2017 PGA Award Television Nominees
Outstanding Children’s Program
Girl Meets World (Season 2, Season 3)
Octonauts (Season 4)
School of Rock (Season 1)
Sesame Street (Season 46)
SpongeBob SquarePants (Season 9)
Norman Felton Award for Outstanding Producer of Episodic Television, Drama
Better Call Saul (Season 2) Producers: Vince Gilligan, Peter Gould, Melissa Bernstein, Mark Johnson, Thomas Schnauz, Gennifer Hutchison, Nina Jack, Robin Sweet, Diane Mercer, Bob Odenkirk
Game of Thrones (Season 6) Producers: David Benioff, D.B. Weiss, Bernadette Caulfield, Frank Doelger, Carolyn Strauss, Bryan Cogman, Lisa McAtackney, Chris Newman, Greg Spence
House of Cards (Season 4) Producers: Beau Willimon, Dana Brunetti, Michael Dobbs, Josh Donen, David Fincher, Eric Roth, Kevin Spacey, Robin Wright, John Mankiewicz, Robert Zotnowski, Jay Carson, Frank Pugliese, Boris Malden
Stranger Things (Season 1) Producers: Matt Duffer, Ross Duffer, Shawn Levy, Dan Cohen, Iain Paterson
Westworld (Season 1) Producers: J.J. Abrams, Jonathan Nolan, Lisa Joy, Bryan Burk, Athena Wickham, Kathy Lingg, Richard J. Lewis, Roberto Patino, Katherine Lingenfelter, Cherylanne Martin
David L. Wolper Award for Outstanding Producer of Long-Form Television
Black Mirror (Season 3) This show is in the process of being vetted for individual producer eligibility
The Night Manager (Season 1) Producers: Simon Cornwell, Stephen Garrett, Stephen Cornwell, Hugh Laurie, Tom Hiddleston, Susanne Bier, David Farr, John le Carré, William D. Johnson, Alexei Boltho, Rob Bullock
The Night Of This show is in the process of being vetted for individual producer eligibility
The People v. O.J. Simpson: American Crime Story (Season 1) Producers: Scott Alexander, Larry Karaszewski, Ryan Murphy, Brad Falchuk, Nina Jacobson, Brad Simpson, D.V. DeVincentis, Anthony Hemingway, Alexis Martin Woodall, John Travolta, Chip Vucelich
Sherlock: The Abominable Bride This show is in the process of being vetted for individual producer eligibility
Outstanding Digital Series
30 for 30 Shorts (Season 5)
Comedians in Cars Getting Coffee (Season 7, Season 8)
Epic Rap Battles of History (Season 5)
Marvel’s Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.: ACADEMY (Season 1)
National Endowment for the Arts: United States of Arts
Viacom veteran Sarah Levy has been promoted to the newly created role of COO of its Global Entertainment Group, effective immediately. Levy’s prior post was as COO of Viacom Kids & Family Group, preceded by COO of Nickelodeon.
In her new role, Levy will oversee operations and strategy for brands under the Group’s umbrella — which include Viacom International Media Networks, Comedy Central, MTV, VH1, Spike, CMT, TV Land and Logo — and tackle production management & operations, digital, strategy & business development, research, and content & programming enterprises.
Reporting to Viacom’s recently confirmed President & CEO Bob Bakish, Levy will also help guide content distribution, finance, business & legal affairs, and human resources functions.
“Viacom is committed to making the changes necessary to enhance performance, and we are deeply focused on increasing coordination and collaboration across our individual brands,” said Bakish. “Aligning these network operations under Sarah represents an important step forward to becoming a stronger and more integrated organization. In Sarah’s nearly 20 years at Viacom, she has established a strong track record of success, and has been a key leader at Nickelodeon, helping to drive the network’s long-range strategy and the continued dominance of the brand across every screen and revenue stream.”
Levy has been with the company for 18 years, in that time overseeing various businesses and departments for Viacom from consumer products, to TV networks, to ad sales. She began her career at Nickelodeon in 1998 as Director of Business Development; here she expanded the Nickelodeon brand into new businesses, developed strategic partnerships in consumer products and recreation, and notably spearheaded the acquisition and development of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles franchise.
Organizers of the 2017 Kidscreen Summit (Feb. 13-16 in Miami) announced that Dr. Richard Weissbourd, director of the Human Development and Psychology program at Harvard University will open this year’s event with a presentation of new research exploring why and how media unconsciously undermines the development of empathy and caring in today’s kids.
Dr. Weissbourd’s keynote will address the importance of fostering tolerance and understanding in the generation growing up in the current socio-economic climate, and explore how kids’ TV producers and media platforms can help children and parents learn positive lessons and counteract 21st century trends to negativity.
The full Kidscreen Summit program is online now at summit.kidscreen.com. Additional highlights include:
Emotional Scheduling:How kids are organizing their own media lives
Kids today are accustomed to having access to what they want, whenever they want it. But as it turns out, programming schedules still make sense to them, and they organize their media lives around factors like where they are, who they’re with, and what they’ve been doing or are about to do. Dubit’s David Kleeman discusses this new concept of “emotional scheduling,” which is critical to driving discovery and retention for anyone creating media for children.
From Toys-to- Life to Life on Netflix: A Skylanders Academy case study
Activision Blizzard’s Skylanders almost single-handedly created the $4 billion toys-to-life category. And tasked with bringing the bestselling video game franchise to TVs around the globe, content arm Activision Blizzard Studios scored a worldwide deal with Netflix for Skylanders Academy, created by showrunner Eric Rogers (Futurama). In this session, the creative team behind the show will delve into its adaptation process and what we can expect to see next.
Little Big Kids: Preschoolers ready for life
Viacom recently undertook a huge global study of preschoolers—an adventure spanning 12 countries, 6,500 families, social media diaries and in-depth ethnographies—to find out what it means to be under six years old today. Christian Kurz, the company’s SVP of Research, Insight and Reporting, will for the first time unveil these latest findings on our youngest generation. And as an added bonus, real preschoolers—equipped with GoPro cameras—will give you a glimpse into their world.
Surviving, Scaling and Making Money in the Kids Digital Space
Is there a way to create and deliver fun, engaging and strictly regulated digital content to this generation of kids, but also build market share, profits and long-term brand loyalty at the same time? In this fireside chat, Jeff Imberman, CRO of kids ad platform SuperAwesome—and former SVP of Sales and Marketing at Nickelodeon—will answer this critical question and show how the kids digital ecosystem is something to be embraced, not feared. He’ll also divulge how the under-13 audience is already telling brands and content creators what they want—delivering success is just a matter of really listening to them.
Malaysian political cartoonist Zulkifli Anwar Ulhaque, better known as Zunar, is planning to sue police for “injustice” following his arrest last month, which resulted in a call to action from Reporters Without Borders.
At the time of his arrest, police intended to interrogate Ulhaque on Dec. 30, but officials postponed the meeting indefinitely without explanation, according to a report in Benar News.
“It was a private crowd funding event, but the police came and arrested me along with two of my friends and my assistants. They also confiscated 1,300 books, involving 12 titles, and 100 T-shirts that were meant to be sold that day. They used Section 124 of the Penal Code against me and I believe that was done in bad faith.”
Section 124 relates to activities that are “detrimental to parliamentary democracy.”
According to Reporters Without Borders, Ulhaque was arrested twice in less than a month, with the Dec. 17 arrest taking place at a fundraising event he had organized in Kuala Lumpur to recoup financial losses from the seizure of 20 of his cartoons in November, when he was arrested under Malaysia’s Sedition Act. The organization states that police also seized a significant amount of cash on Dec. 17, bringing his total losses to an estimated $20,000.
Ulhaque had previously been jailed twice under the Sedition Act, in September 2010 and in February 2015, and was charged with an additional nine violations of the Sedition Act in April 2015 — one for each of nine Twitter posts criticizing a major court decision.
If convicted, the artist may face a maximum sentence of 43 years in prison.
“This will be my second legal action against the police. The first was after my first arrest back in 2010,” Ulhaque told FMT. “It is very difficult for me to win, but it’s very important for me to file the suit because it can create awareness. If I don’t win, that’s okay. But at least the people will know that this is the situation in our country. We can’t even draw cartoons anymore.”
MGA Entertainment’s candy-colored rag doll characters are back, bowing in brand-new Netflix animated original series We’re Lalaloopsy, available for streaming on January 10. The 13-episode season announced in early 2016 is a musical upgrade to the property, following the incredible misadventures of six creative friends and their silly pets as they explore their extraordinary world.
We’re Lalaloopsy begins when an unexpected visitor, Storm E. Sky (and her pet Cool Cat), blows into town — turning Lalaloopsy Land upside down. Outrageous artist Spot Splatter Splash and her pet Zebra, dreamy perfectionist princess Jewel Sparkles and Cat, and fastidious baker Crumbs Sugar Cookie and Mouse and other fun Lalaloopsians will join up with Storm to whisk young viewers away on adventures that celebrate the Magic of Creativity — complete with original songs.
DHX Media’s WildBrain, a leading online kids’ network with expertise in connecting content owners and advertisers over AVOD, has inked a deal with Turner International to manage a number of Turner Kids YouTube channels in Europe, the Middle East, Africa and Latin America. This follows a successful collaboration between the two companies around LazyTown, which saw a number of local channels launched in the last year.
“Building a strong branded presence on YouTube for our major kids’ brands is a key part of our strategy of putting our audience at the centre of everything we do. We are excited to be working with YouTube kids’ specialist WildBrain and to benefit from their fantastic expertise in this field,” said Patricia Hidalgo, CCO for Turner Kids International.
The new agreement sees WildBrain extending the international exposure of key Turner brands. Local-language channels have already rolled out for hit properties The Powerpuff Girls and Adventure Time in the UK, Russia, Poland, Brazil and Spanish-speaking LatAm, with more to follow. The Amazing World of Gumball, Ben 10, and a selection of other Cartoon Network shows will also grow their global digital presence through WildBrain.
“As a leading network of channels for parents and kids, we are excited to deploy our experience and skills on Turner’s content,” said WildBrain MD John Robinson. “As more and more kids consume content on mobile devices, content owners are looking for ways to reach online audiences. We couldn’t be more excited to be looking after great Turner brands like Ben 10 and The Powerpuff Girls, by leveraging our large WildBrain platform and digital media expertise to broaden their global reach.”
WildBrain will create and manage the channels, and provide content production services as well as audience development and social networking expertise.
Melissa Rauch of hit sitcom The Big Bang Theory is catching a lift with Nickelodeon’s hit animated series Blaze and the Monster Machines — the No. 1 preschool show on all TV in 2016, now in its third season. Rauch will lend her comedic voice talents to Light Thief, a kooky kangaroo bandit, in the all-new episode “Light Riders” premiering Friday, Jan. 6 at 11:30 a.m. ET/PT.
In “Light Riders,” Rauch’s character Light Thief steals all the lights and leaves the entire town of Axel City in the dark. Outfitted with super bright speed lights, monster truck Blaze follows the mischievous marsupial on a wild chase down dark city streets to restore light to the city.
Nick’s 2016 overall top-ranked preschool app for Blaze and the Monster Machines will add a new Light Riders location, available via in-app purchase in early February, which will let users join Blaze, Crusher and Pickle as they race through the night on 15 new obstacle-laden tracks. The location introduces the new STEM concept of reflection by using glowing tracks and racer headlights that illuminate elements in the dark.
Preschoolers can also bring their light-up adventures into the real world with the Blaze and the Monster Machines Light and Launch Hyper Loop Playset and the Light Riders diecast assortment from Fisher-Price, featuring translucent vehicles that light up when rolled (available now).
The Doc is in for a delightful adventure one blustery day when an all-new episode of Disney Junior’s Peabody Award-winning series Doc McStuffins debuts on Wednesday, January 18 — National Winnie the Pooh Day! — at 7:30 p.m. ET. In “Into the Hundred Acre Wood!” the Doc and her toys welcome A.A. Milne’s beloved cast of characters to McStuffinsville.
“Winnie the Pooh books and animation have always been hugely important to me, so it’s a personal dream come true to be able to bring together the worlds of the Hundred Acre Wood and McStuffinsville, especially since Christopher Robin is the original human famous for talking to his stuffed animals and toys,” said creator and executive producer Chris Nee. “This episode is an homage to the original Disney animation and storytelling styles, from the original songs, including a hat tip to the Sherman Brothers, to the visuals which evoke old school Winnie the Pooh.”
The episode begins when Doc and the toys spot Winnie the Pooh floating through the air, unable to alight. On their way to the rescue, they are magically swept away by the wind to the Hundred Acre Wood, where they team up with Tigger, Piglet and Eeyore to find Pooh in time for his favorite event of the year: The Honey Festival. When they finally find him, a tree branch rips Pooh’s tummy on his way down, and Doc must rush him to McStuffins Toy Hospital for emergency surgery. A worried Christopher Robin arrives and bonds with Doc over their ability to talk to toys. Meanwhile, Piglet and Lambie get to work organizing a Honey Festival in McStuffinsville just for Pooh.
“Into the Hundred Acre Wood!” features two original songs, “Follow That Bear!” and “Think Heavy Thoughts,” both written and produced by Michelle Lewis, Kay Hanley and Dan Petty. Winnie the Pooh also sings the series’ iconic song “I Feel Better.”
Guest starring are Jim Cummings as Winnie the Pooh and Tigger, Travis Oates as Piglet, Peter Cullen as Eeyore and Oliver Bell as Christopher Robin. Doc McStuffins stars Laya DeLeon Hayes as Doc, Loretta Devine as Hallie, Lara Jill Miller as Lambie, Robbie Rist as Stuffy, Jess Harnell as Chilly, Andre Robinson as Donny McStuffins, Kimberly Brooks as Mom McStuffins, and Gary Anthony Williams as Dad McStuffins.
“Into the Hundred Acre Wood!” was written by Chris Nee and directed by Brónagh O’Hanlon.
VIDEO: ‘Star Wars Rebels’ Mid-Season 3 Trailer
The crew returns to Geonosis in search of a missing rebel team sent to investigate suspicious activity there, and they are surprised by what they find in “Ghosts of Geonosis, Parts One and Two” coming back-to-back to Disney XD on Jan. 7 at 8:30 p.m. ET.
Is Nickelodeon Working on a Nintendo Animated Feature?
Listeners to Nickelodeon Animation Podcast’s latest episode caught Frederator founder Fred Seibert mentioning a project based on “one of the most world-famous video games.” Nintendo President Tatsumi Kimishima mentioned the company wanted to get back into movies last May.
Nickelodeon Theme Park to Launch in China
Sanshui New Town Mgmt. Committee, Hong Kong Elite Global Group and VIMN are breaking ground on a $1.7 billion cultural and ecological park in Foshan, which will include a Nick resort.
Mumbai: A Center for Animation, Gaming Soon
India’s financial and entertainment capital has allotted 20 acres of land in Goregaon Film City for the “National Centre for Excellence for Animation, Visual Effects, Gaming and Comics,” an education, training and research facility.
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The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences has selected 18 scientific and technical award recipients (34 individuals), as well as five organizations, which will be honored at the annual Scientific and Technical Awards Presentation on Saturday, February 11 at the Beverly Wilshire.
“This year we are particularly pleased to be able to honor not only a wide range of new technologies, but also the pioneering digital cinema cameras that helped facilitate the widespread conversion to electronic image capture for motion picture production,” said Ray Feeney, Academy Award recipient and chair of the Scientific and Technical Awards Committee. “With their outstanding, innovative work, these technologists, engineers and inventors have significantly expanded filmmakers’ creative choices for moving image storytelling.”
Unlike the Oscars, the Sci-Tech Awards may be given to achievements created outside the limited timeframe of the previous year, and are judged on their record of contributing significant value to the movie-making process.
Thomson Grass Valley for the design and engineering of the pioneering Viper FilmStream digital camera system.
The Viper camera enabled frame-based logarithmic encoding, which provided uncompressed camera output suitable for importing into existing digital intermediate workflows.
Larry Gritz for the design, implementation and dissemination of Open Shading Language (OSL).
OSL is a highly optimized runtime architecture and language for programmable shading and texturing that has become a de facto industry standard. It enables artists at all levels of technical proficiency to create physically plausible materials for efficient production rendering.
Carl Ludwig, Eugene Troubetzkoy and Maurice van Swaaij for the pioneering development of the CGI Studio renderer at Blue Sky Studios.
CGI Studio’s groundbreaking ray-tracing and adaptive sampling techniques, coupled with streamlined artist controls, demonstrated the feasibility of ray-traced rendering for feature film production.
Brian Whited for the design and development of the Meander drawing system at Walt Disney Animation Studios.
Meander’s innovative curve-rendering method faithfully captures the artist’s intent, resulting in a significant improvement in creative communication throughout the production pipeline.
Mark Rappaport for the concept, design and development; Scott Oshita for the motion analysis and CAD design; Jeff Cruts for the development of the faux-hair finish techniques; and Todd Minobe for the character articulation and drive-train mechanisms, of the Creature Effects Animatronic Horse Puppet.
The Animatronic Horse Puppet provides increased actor safety, close integration with live action, and improved realism for filmmakers.
Glenn Sanders and Howard Stark for the design and engineering of the Zaxcom Digital Wireless Microphone System.
The Zaxcom system has advanced the state of wireless microphone technology by creating a fully digital modulation system with a rich feature set, which includes local recording capability within the belt pack and a wireless control scheme providing real-time transmitter control and time-code distribution.
David Thomas, Lawrence E. Fisher and David Bundy for the design, development and engineering of the Lectrosonics Digital Hybrid Wireless Microphone System.
The Lectrosonics system has advanced the state of wireless microphone technology by developing a method to digitally transmit full-range audio over a conventional analog FM radio link, reducing transmitter size, and increasing power efficiency.
Parag Havaldar for the development of expression-based facial performance-capture technology at Sony Pictures Imageworks.
This pioneering system enabled large-scale use of animation rig-based facial performance-capture for motion pictures, combining solutions for tracking, stabilization, solving and animator-controllable curve editing.
Nicholas Apostoloff and Geoff Wedig for the design and development of animation rig-based facial performance-capture systems at ImageMovers Digital and Digital Domain.
These systems evolved through independent, then combined, efforts at two different studios, resulting in an artist-controllable, editable, scalable solution for the high-fidelity transfer of facial performances to convincing digital characters.
Kiran Bhat, Michael Koperwas, Brian Cantwell and Paige Warner for the design and development of the ILM facial performance-capture solving system.
This system enables high-fidelity facial performance transfer from actors to digital characters in large-scale productions while retaining full artistic control, and integrates stable rig-based solving and the resolution of secondary detail in a controllable pipeline.
SCIENTIFIC AND ENGINEERING AWARDS (ACADEMY PLAQUES)
ARRI for the pioneering design and engineering of the Super 35 format Alexa digital camera system.
With an intuitive design and appealing image reproduction, achieved through close collaboration with filmmakers, ARRI’s Alexa cameras were among the first digital cameras widely adopted by cinematographers.
RED Digital Cinema for the pioneering design and evolution of the RED Epic digital cinema cameras with upgradeable full-frame image sensors.
RED’s revolutionary design and innovative manufacturing process have helped facilitate the wide adoption of digital image capture in the motion picture industry.
Sony for the development of the F65 CineAlta camera with its pioneering high-resolution imaging sensor, excellent dynamic range, and full 4K output.
Sony’s unique photosite orientation and true RAW recording deliver exceptional image quality.
Panavision and Sony for the conception and development of the groundbreaking Genesis digital motion picture camera.
Using a familiar form factor and accessories, the design features of the Genesis allowed it to become one of the first digital cameras to be adopted by cinematographers.
Marcos Fajardo for the creative vision and original implementation of the Arnold Renderer, and to Chris Kulla, Alan King, Thiago Ize and Clifford Stein for their highly optimized geometry engine and novel ray-tracing algorithms which unify the rendering of curves, surfaces, volumetrics and subsurface scattering as developed at Sony Pictures Imageworks and Solid Angle SL.
Arnold’s scalable and memory-efficient single-pass architecture for path tracing, its authors’ publication of the underlying techniques, and its broad industry acceptance were instrumental in leading a widespread adoption of fully ray-traced rendering for motion pictures.
Vladimir Koylazov for the original concept, design and implementation of V-Ray from Chaos Group.
V-Ray’s efficient production-ready approach to ray-tracing and global illumination, its support for a wide variety of workflows, and its broad industry acceptance were instrumental in the widespread adoption of fully ray-traced rendering for motion pictures.
Luca Fascione, J.P. Lewis and Iain Matthews for the design, engineering, and development of the FACETS facial performance capture and solving system at Weta Digital.
FACETS was one of the first reliable systems to demonstrate accurate facial tracking from an actor-mounted camera, combined with rig-based solving, in large-scale productions. This system enables animators to bring the nuance of the original live performances to a new level of fidelity for animated characters.
Steven Rosenbluth, Joshua Barratt, Robert Nolty and Archie Te for the engineering and development of the Concept Overdrive motion control system.
This user-friendly hardware and software system creates and controls complex interactions of real and virtual motion in hard real-time, while safely adapting to the needs of on-set filmmakers.
Portions of the Scientific and Technical Awards Presentation will be included in the Oscar telecast on February 26.
Nick LeDonne, now a senior year student at the University of the Arts in Philadelphia, has undergone a remarkable transformation in the last several years. In November of 2014, the young man was preparing to hang himself with a homemade noose in his art school dorm room. Now at the dawn of 2017, he is an internationally recognized filmmaker who has won multiple awards for the animated short film based on his story: Hanging.
LeDonne’s darkest moment came after years of living with depression. Loneliness, isolation and sexual trauma he experienced while coming out as gay overwhelmed his freshman year at college — the only thing that stopped his attempt to end his life was a memory of his mother tucking him into bed as a child. He dropped out of school and returned home, feeling broken.
In the fall of 2015, LeDonne got a fresh start at University of the Arts. But still haunted by his past, he became determined to create positivity out of all the negative experiences by creating a film that could show what someone struggling with suicidal thoughts goes through, and offer a supportive note of understanding to others in his situation.
Tragically, right after resolving to make his film, LeDonne found out that his father had passed away suddenly. For five months, he shouldered this grief and his memories and carried them through production, creating over 6,000 hand-drawn images in pencil and charcoal which became Hanging.
Released in June of last year, Hanging has screened at 48 festivals in 20 countries across six continents, in New York City, Philadelphia, Miami, Austin, Chicago, Los Angeles, Montreal, Rio de Janeiro, London, Milan, Ibiza, Valencia, Geneva, Moscow, Cape Town, Sydney, Pokhara, Bucheon, and Beijing.
Hanging qualified in the 43rd Student Academy Awards as a semi-finalist, placed as a finalist of the 59th CINE Golden Eagle Awards, honored with the “Award of Excellence” in the Accolade Global Film Competition, and awarded “Best Animated Short” at the Catalina Film Festival. In two years time LeDonne went from being a lonely college student ready to hang himself to walking the red carpet at the historic Avalon Casino Theater on the California coastal island.
LeDonne is graduating from the University this June, and is currently animating his senior thesis film, Silent Night. Hanging continues to tour the festival circuit, spreading LeDonne’s message of perseverance and hope.
A new startup seeking to change the way the fan community experiences anime, Kitsu, announces it has raised $600,000 in a seed round, receiving funds from San Francisco-based VIZ Media and Manila-based entrepreneur Bernard Chong. Kitsu is putting the cash toward building out its content discovery platform, kitsu.io, under the leadership of Kitsu Founder and CEO Josh Fabian, a former Lead Designer for Groupon Stores and oBaz who began the project under the name “Hummingbird.”
Kitsu is designed to help anime and manga fans track, share and discover content, using a world-class recommendation engine layered with social, machine learning and more. Users have found the ability to track what they’ve already seen and what they are planning to see to be a key selling point, and “Version 3” — a ground-up rewrite and redesign coinciding with the seed round investment — heavily focuses on the social aspect, leveraging a machine learning engine to bring up content users are more likely to enjoy using complex interest clusters rather than show-to-show recommendations.
“What makes me most excited about where Kitsu is going is how easy it’s going to be to connect with other anime and manga fans,” said Fabian. “We’ve been very proactive and thoughtful about how exactly to approach the social component of anime, and we think what we have will continue to drive that conversation moving forward.”
As part of the investment, Bernard Chong as well as Brad Woods, VIZ Media’s Chief Marketing Officer, will join the Kitsu board. VIZ Media’s Rob Pereyda, VP of Business Development, led the deal at the company and will serve as Senior Advisor.
“We’re thrilled to be working with Josh and the Kitsu team to bring this content to a wider audience,” said Woods. “The features that are being rolled out with the new platform are really exciting, and we believe they will drive engagement for the anime industry as a whole.”
“Discovery is one of the great challenges in the entertainment world today,” added Chong. “With Josh, I see an incredible entrepreneur with the product chops to help drive consumption, monetization and just plain joy in the business, and to me that is exciting.”
Built atop the modern web frameworks Ruby on Rails and Ember, the Kitsu platform will remain open-source and be available to other entrepreneurs.
Multi-screen video platform company You.i TV has adapted Turner’s Emmy Award-winning Cartoon Network App for Apple TV and Amazon Fire TV, making it the latest cross-platform app to be released on You.i Engine. The app’s expansion features new levels of personalization and navigation functionality.
Also available on iOS, Android and Kindle Fire, the Cartoon Network App launched in 2015 to give kids fast, customizable access to their favorite CN shows with best-in-class video experiences on mobile and tablet devices.
Lauded for its innovative design, the App is centered on “The Mix” — an intuitive way for kids to create personalized playlists of their favorite shows (offerings include hit series Adventure Time, Steven Universe, The Powerpuff Girls, We Bare Bears and The Amazing World of Gumball), which then generates a stream of episodes, clips and original content base on user likes. Cartoon Network App also features the “See It First” function, granting access to full episodes prior to their linear premieres.
“Giving kids the best experience possible and a fun dynamic way to watch their favorite shows on all screens is core to our strategy,” said Chris Waldron, VP Cartoon Network Digital. “Working with You.i TV on bringing the Cartoon Network App to TV is enabling us to continue to be the ultimate destination for kids when it comes to digital and mobile entertainment.”
The Cartoon Network App is the latest collaboration between You.i TV and Turner, and is built on the same software platform as FIlmStruck, TNT, TBS and other Turner brand extensions. The immersive interface can be modified in minutes to keep up with program lineup changes, deliver promotional or public service messages, or create in-app advertising opportunities.
You.i TV will showcase the Cartoon Network interface with demo meetings during CES 2017 (Jan. 4-7) in their suite at the Wynn Encore Tower Suites.
Experienced television executive Vanessa Shapiro has been appointed as President of Worldwide Distribution at Gaumont Television; Vice CEO Christophe Riandee made the announcement Wednesday. Based in Los Angeles, Shapiro will report directly to Riandee and split her time between the company’s LA and Paris offices.
Shapiro will be responsible for the worldwide sales and distribution of Gaumont Television’s entire catalogue, including drama series, animation titles (new projects: Do, Re & Mi and Herself the Elf), and French series. She will oversee new and existing business development; spearhead all sales, pre-sales and co-productions liaising closely with the development department; and manage marketing needs, including the promotion and exploitation of Gaumont’s content for all programming initiatives.
Shapiro will work closely with Gene Stein, President of Gaumont Television US; Nicolas Atlan, President of Gaumont Animation; and Isabelle DeGeorges, SVP, France. Reporting to Shapiro will be Elizabeth Dreyer, SVP European Co-Productions; Hana Zidek, VP of International Distribution; and Nicola Andrews, VP of International Distribution.
“Given all of our recent activity on both the drama and animated fronts, coupled with the fact that Gene and Nicolas are both in Los Angeles, we decided to move our sales and distribution from London to Los Angeles,” said Riandee. “Vanessa is the perfect hire for this position given her outstanding track record and 20-plus years of experience, her solid and longstanding relationships around the world, and her strong financial background.”
Shapiro joins the company from MarVista Ent., where she had served as EVP of Distribution since 2007. There, she led sales, marketing and contract administration departments while overseeing all revenue streams reporting to the CEO. Prior to this, Shapiro held numerous positions at Sony Pictures Ent. from 1997 to 2007, ultimately serving as Director, Worldwide Pay Television (2001-2007).
Fluent in English and French, Shapiro holds a Master’s Degree in Political Science and International Finance from Institut d’Etudes Politiques d’Aix-en-Provence (Sciences Po Aix) in France.
New year, new Academy Awards race! Voting for Oscar nominations opens Thursday, January 5 for Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences members, to be completed by Friday, January 13. The nominees for the 89th annual awards will be announced Tuesday, January 24.
As ever, Animation Magazine has been following the developments with special Awards Season coverage kicking off in our December 2016 issue with a run down of possible feature and shorts entries, plus filmmaker interviews (you can find these in our online Archives), continuing in the January 2017 issue with a VFX contenders highlight, and running up to the latest word with the February and March issues.
This year features an especially exciting Best Animated Feature race, with a record 27 films contending — well over the required number to reach five nominees and a significant increase over last year’s 16 entries. Click through to our story on the announcement for links to archived feature articles on select films.
On the shorts side, the Academy announced in November that it had winnowed down 69 qualifying films (see December issue) to a 10 title short list. These include projects from regular contenders the National Film Board of Canada (Theodore Ushev’s Blind Vaysha), Pixar (Alan Barillaro’s Piper), Disney (Leo Matsuda’s Inner Workings), indie projects, student shorts and an immersive entry from Google Spotlight Stories (Patrick Osborne’s Pearl). Many of these films have been covered in Animag’s regular Shorts We Love feature.
Last month, we found out which 10 features made the cut for the Best Visual Effects Bake-Off — most of which readers have gone behind the scenes of in issues of Animag over the last year. The top 10 this year notably includes Kubo and the Two Strings, which if it is nominated will be the first fully-animated feature considered for the prize.
December also saw the reveal of the Best Original Song and Score contenders. Animated films account for 14 of the 91 competing songs, with tunes from The Angry Birds Movie, Ice Age: Collision Course, The Little Prince, Moana, Sausage Party, Sing, Snowtime!, Storks, Trolls and Zootopia. The documentary Floyd Norman: An Animated Life (see November ‘16 issue) is also in the mix with “One Frame at a Time.” All these films also made it onto the 145 title Score list, along with Bilal, Finding Dory, Kubo and the Two Strings, The Red Turtle, The Secret Life of Pets and another documentary, Life, Animated.
In addition to these categories that Animag and our readers keep an eye on every year, we’ll be watching closely to see if animated films break into some more unusual places. Director Keith Maitland’s Tower (featured in the November ‘16 issue), which relates the harrowing story of the 1966 UT Austin mass shooting, is shortlisted for the Best Documentary Feature Award. And Claude Barras’ My Life as a Zucchini has been entered in the Best Foreign Language Feature race, representing Switzerland.
The 89th Academy Awards will be held Sunday, February 26, 2017 at the Dolby Theatre at Hollywood & Highland Center in Hollywood, and will be televised live by the ABC Television Network. The Oscar presentation also will be televised live in more than 225 countries and territories worldwide.
Cyber Group Studios is extending and globalizing its France-based operations with the opening of its North American subsidiary, located in Los Angeles. Veteran kids’ entertainment executive and media specialist Richard Goldsmith is running the operation as President and CEO of Cyber Group Studios USA.
“I have admired Cyber Group Studios’ rapid rise as a leader in animated entertainment and am now delighted to join the management team as the company becomes truly global with its production, distribution and consumer products businesses,” says Goldsmith.
As the top exec at Cyber Group Studios USA, Goldsmith will oversee the affiliate and join the top management board of CGS in Paris. He is responsible for distribution and management of CGS content in territories including North America, China, Australia and New Zealand; and seeking acquisition opportunities for new businesses and IPs that will benefit the company globally.
Goldsmith most recently served as EVP of Global Distribution at The Jim Henson Company, overseeing sales to all platforms for top preschool brands like Dinosaur Train, Splash & Bubbles and Fraggle Rock. He was also tasked with raising production financing and securing co-production partners around the world. Additionally, Goldsmith acquired and distributed third party content under the company’s HIP banner and led all aspect of multi-platform channel Jim Henson Family TV.
Prior to Henson, Goldsmith was Executive Advisor for Strategic Distribution Initiatives for both the Digital Distribution and Consumer Products divisions at Warner Bros. Ent., developing and acquiring programming for Warner Bros. Digital, and overseeing TV and consumer products distribution of Warner Bros. Animation titles worldwide. Previously, Goldsmith served as SVP of New Initiatives for ACME Lab, rebooting classic animation brands from Looney Tunes, Hanna-Barbera and MGM. He has also held top roles with Chartwell Partners (Univision), Hollywood Ventures, LBS Communications, Kideo Video and Walt Disney Television.
“We are very excited that such a talented individual as Richard has decided to join us, as his experience will be instrumental in furthering our growth in untapped areas and make our company even more global,” says Pierre Sissmann, Chairman and CEO of Cyber Group Studios. “I have known Richard for many years already, not only as a talented executive but as a personal friend, and I am looking forward to working with him now directly to launch a new era of growth for our business.”
The launch of Cyber Group Studios USA is the latest high point in the company’s 11-year period of continuous growth. The newly opened subsidiary is located at The Culver Studios in historic Culver City, and will serve to extend CGS’s production and distribution activity as well as digital and merchandise licensing. The company currently has over 1,200 half-hours of animated content, seven series in production for broadcast and digital — plus 10 more in development.
CGS recently saw the international release of its new 2D animated series, Mirette Investigates, the debut of preschool series Zou season 3 in over 150 territories, and worldwide sales for its major CG undertaking Zorro the Chronicles, which was nominated as one of 2016’s top animated series by TV France International.
