Announced at the CES show in Las Vegas, Funimation Entertainment is kicking off the New Year with the launch of a new ad-free HD anime streaming service, developed with Sony DADC New Media Solutions. Called FunimationNow, the new service leverages Sony’s Ven.ue platform and will begin rolling out in early February.
FunimationNow will provide subscribers with uninterrupted high-def episodes from the company’s library of over 400 anime titles, both subbed and dubbed. The Funimation catalog includes hit series like Dragon Ball Z, Attack on Titan, Fairy Tail, One Piece, Tokyo Ghoul, Space Dandy and many more.
The service will be arriving with redesigned iOS, Android and Kindle apps as well as brand new Apple TV, Amazon Fire TV and Windows 10 Universal versions. The apps also carry Airplay and Cast features for easy mobile to TV viewing. And in May, a fully re-imagined Funimation website and new integrated experiences on gaming console apps are set to launch.
More information can be found at funimationnow.com. Demos are being presented at CES by Funimation, Sony and Brightcove.
Frank Armitage, an Australian-born American painter who created backgrounds for several classic Disney animated films and murals for Disney parks, died January 4 at his home in Paso Robles, California, at age 91. The sad news was announced by Disney Animation Studios’ vice president of communications Howard Green.
Born in Melbourne in the 1920s, Armitage served with the Royal Australian Air Force during World War II before attending art school. He left formal studies after winning an international art competition and moved to Mexico City, where he apprenticed with muralist David Alfaro Siqueiros. Armitage moved to Los Angeles in 1952 nearly flat broke but quickly signed on with Walt Disney Studios, where he would work on some of the greatest mid-century animated features.
Armitage began working at Disney as an animator on Lady and the Tramp, but found his niche putting his muralist training to work as a background painter for Peter Pan (1953), Sleeping Beauty (1959), Mary Poppins (1964) and The Jungle Book (1967). He left the studio after The Jungle Book and went on to a production illustration gig on the two-time Oscar winning sci-fi film Fantastic Voyage, which made use of his expertise in anatomical drawing.
In 1977, Armitage returned to Disney — this time as an Imagineer. He had worked on projects around Disneyland in the 1950s, but now took on much larger tasks. These included the Wonders of Life Pavilion in Epcot, 5,500 square feet of murals for Disney World’s Safari Fare Restaurant, and several mural for Tokyo DisneySea. He retired from the company in 1989.
Post-Disney, Armitage continued to put his creativity and anatomical knack to diverse uses. He studied Eastern medicine and traveled to China to learn acupuncture, later making a large donation of his medical artwork to University of Illinois at Chicago. He also donated several oil pencil drawings of gorillas to raise funds for gorilla and great ape conservation. In Paso Robles, he and his wife (and fellow retired Imagineer) Karen Connolly Armitage ran an architectural design business, and Armitage continued to create paintings and murals for private homes.
Frank Armitage was awarded the title of Disney Legend in 2009.
The well-traveled and accomplished artist is survived by his daughters Nicole Armitage Doolittle, also a Disney Imagineer, and scenic artist Michelle Armitage; by his son Wes, his stepchildren Tracy and Cecil, wife of 33 years Karen Connolly Armitage, and his sister Margaret. Donations in his name can be made to the Ryman Arts Foundation, Liga International or the University of Illinois at Chicago BVIS program to support students in the biomedical visualization masters program.
The creator of hit Disney TV animated series Gravity Falls Alex Hirsch has reportedly inked a deal with Fox and 20th Century Fox TV to produce an original script and pilot presentation for a new toon, according to Variety. The potential project remains utterly hush-hush.
“I’m cooking up some brand-new weirdness,” Hirsch told the trade paper.
Hirsch, a graduate of CalArts, has achieved pop culture cult status with quirky 2D mystery-comedy Gravity Falls, his first original series. The show is capping a 40-episode run with an hour long special event February 15 on Disney XD. The animator’s credits include Thurop Van Orman’s The Marvelous Misadventures of Flapjack for Cartoon Network and Noah Z. Jones’ Fish Hooks for Disney.
Gravity Falls airs weekdays at 8 a.m. and 4 p.m. on Disney XD.
Disney Junior and Disneynature are launching short-form animated series It’s UnBungalievable — an extension of upcoming show The Lion Guard — on Saturday, January 9 at 9:52 a.m. ET. Hosted by Bunga the honey badger and Ono the egret, It’s UnBungalievable is a nature program offering fun facts about animals and their habitats.
Each episode will feature live-action footage from Disneynature and will highlight two animals chosen by Bunga and Ono to compete in various categories, such as “Who’s Quicker?.” “Who Has Better Hair?” and “Who’s Hungrier?” The Disney Television Animation and 7ate9 Entertainment coproduction is executive produced by Fort Riley (Special Agent Oso) and features the voices of Joshua Rush as Bunga and Atticus Shaffer as Ono.
Continuing the story of The Lion King, animated series The Lion Guard follows Simba and Nala’s second-born cub Kion and his diverse squad of animal pals who are tasked with defending the Pride Lands. Introduced to viewers in the top-rated television movie The Lion Guard: Return of the Roar, the characters will embark on regular adventures on Disney Channel beginning Friday, January 15 at 9:30 a.m.
Studio Ghibli co-founder Isao Takahata’s 1980s family classic Only Yesterday has made its North American theatrical debut at New York’s IFC Center to enthusiastic critics and film fans. The new English language dub version features the voices of Star Wars: Force Awakens lead Daisy Ridley and Dev Patel, and is produced by Studio Ghibli in honor of the film’s 25th anniversary. A limited nationwide release will roll out February 26; participating theaters can be found at onlyyesterdayfilm.com.
It’s 1982, and Taeko (Daisy Ridley) is 27 years old, unmarried, and has lived her whole life in Tokyo. She decides to visit her relatives in the countryside, and as the train travels through the night, memories flood back of her younger years: the first immature stirrings of romance, the onset of puberty, and the frustrations of math and boys. At the station she is met by young farmer Toshio (Dev Patel), and the encounters with him begin to reconnect her to forgotten longings. In lyrical switches between the present and the past, Taeko contemplates the arc of her life, and wonders if she has been true to the dreams of her childhood self.
The BBC will release a lost episode of classic ‘60s comedy series Dad’s Army as an animated special after uncovering a high-quality audio recording. The 30-minute episode, “A Stripe for Frazer,” aired once in 1969 and then went missing, along with two other episodes, as tapes from the era were frequently reused or junked.
The animated episode will be available through the digital BBC Store starting February 4, ahead of a Dad’s Army feature film coming out the same month. Set against the climactic final years of World War II, “A Stripe for Frazer” sees Captain Mainwaring promoting Frazer to Lance Corporal and quickly regretting it as the new LC and his rival Lance Corporal Jones compete obnoxiously for Mainwaring’s favor.
DreamWorks Animation and the celebrity voices of the upcoming Trolls feature (out November 4 through Fox) have taken to Twitter to give first looks at the film’s colorfully coiffed characters.
Justin Timberlake (voice of Branch), Anna Kendrick (Poppy), Gwen Stefani (DJ Suki), James Corden (Biggie), Russell Brand (Creek), Swedish musical duo Icona Pop (The Fashionistas), rapidly rising comedian Ron Funches (Cooper) and The Big Bang Theory’s Kunal Nayyar (Guy Diamond) all posed with their CG counterparts, which you can check out below.
Kendrick and Timberlake star in the irreverent, music-filled comedy adventure as Poppy — the optimistic leader of the Trolls — and her polar opposite, hardcore survivalist Branch. The unlikely duo are tasked with a quest that takes them far beyond the only world they’ve ever known. Timberlake will also write and perform original songs for Trolls, though it has not yet been confirmed whether Kendrick, Stefani or Icona Pop (Aino Jawo & Caroline Hjelt) will likewise contribute.
Trolls is directed by Mike Mitchell and Walt Dohrn and produced by Gina Shay.
The Chuck Jones Gallery in San Diego has announced an exhibition of new works by American painter Tom Everhart — the only fine artist officially permitted to create works using the characters of Charles Schulz’s Peanuts. The show will run from February 11 to March 11, with a reception for the artist scheduled for Saturday, February 13 from 5 p.m.
Trained at the Yale School of Art and Architecture, under Earl Hoffman at St. Mary’s College and at the Musee de l’Orangerie in Paris, Everhart was introduced to Schulz in 1980 after he became involved in a project to render Peanuts imagery for Schulz’s studios. The legendary cartoonist was so impressed with Everhart’s translation of his iconic linework into paint that Everhart was soon creating special Peanuts projects for Schulz and United Media.
Since the late ‘80s, Everhart has shown his Schulz-inspired works across the world. He had his first solo show in 2000, which opened at the Suntory Museum of Art in Tokyo. Everhart has also continued to travel the world presenting lectures on Schulz’s artwork. The artist now lives in Venice, Calif. More about his work can be found at everhartstudio.com.
Shout! Factory Films will present the North American premiere of music-driven animated feature Snowtime! during the 2016 Sundance Film Festival. Directed by Jean-Francois Pouliot (La Grande Seduction) and Francois Brisson, Snowtime! will have a limited release in U.S. theaters starting February 19.
Based on live-action classic La Guerre des Tuques (The Dog Who Stopped the War), Snowtime! kicks off the children of a small village decide to liven up their winter school break with a massive snowball fight. Sophie and Luke, both 11 years old, become the leaders of opposite factions as Sophie and her cohorts defend their elegant snow fort against Luke’s horde — whoever occupies the fort at the end of the break, wings. But as impish fun deteriorates into a more serious conflict, the children must learn valuable life lessons and realize that in war, neither side really wins.
The cast is lead by Golden Globe winner Sandra Oh (Grey’s Anatomy), Ross Lynch of pop band R5, Angela Gallupo (Being Human), Lucinda Davis (Winx Club), Sonja Ball (The Legend of Sarila) and Don Shepherd (Blue Mountain State). The soundtrack for Snowtime! features music by Celine Dion and Simple Plan.
Vancouver studio Slap Happy Cartoons announces that the second season of its animated comedy series Nerds and Monsters will premiere on Corus Entertainment’s YTV on Saturday, January 9 at 10 a.m. ET/PT during The Zone Weekend. Starting January 16, the show will move to its regular timeslot of Saturdays at 8 a.m.
Nerds and Monsters is a 40 x 11 series aimed at kids 6-11 which follows a group of nerdy tween castaways on a fantastic uncharted island. Unfortunately, the island’s native inhabitants are an aggressive tribe of hideous monsters. Fortunately, the hilarious beasts are easily outwitted by the unwelcome human invaders.
Nerds and Monsters is distributed by 9 Story Media Group, and produced with the financial participation of the Shaw Rocket Fund.
The most boy-ful boycott of comic-book history has lead the illustrious Angouleme festival to cave in to demands for greater gender parity initiated by BD Egalite — an organization against sexism in the comics (or bande dessinee) industry. Renowned artists Daniel Clowes, Joann Sfar and Riad Sattouf helped kick off the boycott by pulling their names from the all-male list of 30 nominees for the annual Angouleme Prize for lifetime achievement in the world of comics, and were quickly followed by seven others.
Sfar, Sattouf and Clowes all issued public statements about their withdrawals from the list, which Clowes called “now a totally meaningless ‘honor’” and “a ridiculous, embarrassing debacle.” Sfar, who created the graphic novel and animated film The Rabbi’s Cat, wrote: “I simply don’t want to be part of a ceremony that is so disconnected from the current reality of comics art.” Sattouf, a French-Syrian artist best known for his award winning memoir trilogy The Arab of the Future, posted to Facebook saying, “It turns out the list is make up only of men. That annoys me because there are lots of great women artists who deserve to be on it.”
In the 43-year history of the event, only one woman has been awarded the prize: French artist and comics publisher Florence Cestac. Previous years have seen a very small number of female prize nominees, notably French-Iranian graphic novelist Marjane Satrapi (Persepolis) and British artist Rosemary “Posy” Simmonds Gemma Bovery, Tamara Drewe).
In a somewhat huffy statement, festival organizers said they would give in to demands and add some women to the list, although they insist that women have not been a significant part of the comics biz, with Franck Bondoux telling Le Monde “The concept of the grand prix is to reward an author for their whole oeuvre. When you look at the prize list, you can see the artists on it have a certain maturity and a certain age. Unfortunately, there are few women in the history of comics art. It’s a reality. If you go to the Louvre, you’ll equally find very few women artists.”
Presumably the Louvre collection is also their reasonable argument for why the prize nominees remain predominantly western-European year after year.
Netflix and DreamWorks Animation are expanding their multi-year deal, announcing a number of new original family series from the studio which will debut on the streaming service in the near future. Among the upcoming titles is a new take on Voltron and a fantasy-adventure concept from Guillermo del Toro called Trollhunters.
The deal also covers streaming rights to the DWA feature film library, and extends the rights of current original kids’ series available on Netflix in operating markets, as well as expanding to include second window rights for the shows globally (outside China). These include The Adventures of Puss in Boots, Dinotrux and Dragons: Race to the Edge.
FXX has preemptively nixed the female lead action-buddy comedy Cassius and Clay before its TV debut, Hollywood Reporter has confirmed. The 10-episode series was picked up for back in August but never received a premiere date. A pilot was produced by creators Adam Reed (Archer) and Megan Ganz (Modern Family).
Cassius and Clay was the latest project to come out of the animation production deal between FX Productions and Floyd County, who delivered FX comedies Chozen and Unsupervised — both canceled after one season. The decision to drop Cassius and Clay comes shortly after FX/FXX have opted for an animated pilot from Louis C.K. and Albert Brooks. Also in the works is Seth Rogen and Evan Goldberg’s Bigfoot, based on the fake autobiographies written by Graham Roumieu.
Cassius and Clay was to have centered on two women bandits making their way in a post-apocalyptic America: hard-drinking, quick-thinking, fast-talking BS artist Cassius Cordwood (voiced by It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia‘s Kaitlin Olson), and sharp shooting Southern trouble magnet Shopcarter Clay (Childrens Hospital‘s Lake Bell). Susan Sarandon was also to have a regular role as ruthless saloon owner and brothel madame Connie Mack.
India’s FICCI Frames event is now accepting submissions for its 2016 Best Animated Frames (BAF) Awards. Categories span work in animation, visual effects and videogames.
Entertainment One has tapped Just Play LLC as the global master toy partner for its new animated preschool series PJ Masks, which launched on Disney Channel and Disney Junior in the U.S. in September. The CG show ranks as the No. 2 series by total viewers for the channel, and will be rolling out on Disney Junior around the world through 2016.
Just Play will debut a line of PJ Masks goodies featuring toys across multiple categories — including action figures, playsets, vehicles and plush — as well as dress-up and roleplay items. The line will launch at retail in the U.S. in fall 2016, followed by international territories in 2017.
Produced by eOne and Frog Box in collaboration with French studio TeamTO, Disney Junior and France 5, PJ Masks is based on Romuald Racioppo’s popular Les Pyjamasques picture books. The show centers on 6-year-old friends Connor, Amaya and Greg who are normal kids by day, but transform into crime-fighting heroes at night when they slip on their pajamas and activate their powerful animal amulets to become Catboy, Gekko and Owlette.
The U.S. premiere of Mark Osbourne’s animated feature adaptation of The Little Prince will open the 31st annual Santa Barbara International Film Festival, screening at the Arlington Theatre on Wednesday, February 3. Distributed in the stats by Paramount, the critically acclaimed film from On Animation Studios features the voices of Jeff Bridges, Rachel McAdams, Paul Rudd, Ricky Gervais, James Franco, Mackenzie Foy and Benicio Del Toro.
“[Antoine de] Saint-Exupéry’s novel is one of the most beloved works of the 20th century,” stated Roger Durling, Executive Director of SBIFF. “What Mark has done with this story is extraordinary and moving, and we think it provides a perfect tie-in to AppleBox, our free family screening program, and to the festival’s other philanthropic efforts. We are thrilled to have this film kick off our festival.”
The Little Prince will open in theaters March 18, 2016. For more information about the Santa Barbara International Film Festival and to purchase tickets, visit sbiff.org.
Paris-based production house Watch Next Media — founded last March by industry vet Philippe Alessandri — has entered a development deal with Canal+ on a new 52 x 11 animated series I, Elvis Riboldi, aimed at kids 8-12. The show will be co-developed with recently funded production company Peekaboo Animation in Barcelona and Catalan studios Insomne Estudi and Wuji House.
Additionally, the project has recently been awarded development funds by the Institute of Cultural Enterprises of Catalonia (ICEC). Production will commence early next year.
I, Elvis Riboldi will recount the daily adventures of an energetic, scatterbrained, impulsive, reckless and slightly destructive boy named Elvis. With his friends Boris and Emma, Elvis takes on whatever happens in his smallish home city of Icaria. The show is being adapted from a book series from the Bono Bidari artistic collective, published by La Galera (Spain) and Hachette (France).
Sentai Filmworks has announced the acquisition of rights to produce anime adaptations of graphic novel Norn9 and popular MMORPG Phantasy Star Online 2. Both series will be launching next month in Japan and will be available through select digital outlets with home video releases to follow, according to Crunchyroll.
Norn9 will follow a 12-year-old boy named Sorata Suzuhara who finds himself transported to an alternate time and, possibly, a different world. Aboard the Norn — a giant spherical ship which functions as a miniature city — Sorata joins three girls and nine other young men on a journey to an unknown destination. Kinema Citrus is handling production.
Phantasy Star Online 2: The Animation follows game player Itsuki Tachibana and the challenges he faces both inside and outside of the game. Animation is being produced by Telecom Animation Film.
The ninth edition of the Istanbul Animation Festival took place in the historic Turkish metropolis this week, and the top prize winner this year has been announced as French director Eric Montchaud’s Anatole’s Little Saucepan — a kid-friendly stop-motion short based on the children’s book by Isabelle Carrier.
The 2014 film was previously award Best French-Language Film at the Meknes International Animation Film Festival and made the official selection lists at Annecy, Clermont-Ferrand, Animafest Zagreb and Cartoons on the Bay, among others.
The event also awarded Best Turkish Film to Ethem Onur Bilgic’s Salkim Sogut (Weeping Willow), a retelling of local poet Nazim Hikmet’s epic poem. Best Student Film went to Alexandra Hetmerova’s Mythopolis (Czech Rep.). Best First Film was awarded to Spela Cadez from Slovenia for Boles. The Jury’s Special Prize went to Rino Stefano Tagliafierro’s Beauty. And Best Music Video was awarded to Yasemin Mori – “Isiga Geldi Cocuklar” (Children Came Towards the Light).
Pixar has revealed two of the aquatic amigos set to help everyone’s favorite amnesiac blue tang on her quest in the upcoming Finding Dory, out in theaters June 17, 2016. EW.com got first dibs on the image, which shows Dory (voiced by Ellen DeGeneres) and her new pals Bailey the snub-nosed beluga whale and Destiny the whale shark.
Bailey is voiced by Modern Family star Ty Burrell, and Destiny is played byKaitlin Olson of It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia fame. “We totally get on each other’s nerves,” Olson told EW. “I like to think I’m a shark, but Bailey calls me a whale, and I make fun of his head, because it’s gigantic.”
Finding Dory follows the tang on a quest to find her long-lost parents. She meets Bailey and Destiny when she passes through a marine life facility, who help her on her journey. The film also stars Albert Brooks, Diane Keaton, Dominic West, Ed O’Neill, Eugene Levy and Idris Elba.
