Platinum Films, based in the U.K., has appointed Cartoon Network as the licensing agent for its boys adventure series Matt Hatter Chronicles in the Middle East and Turkey. CN will implement a comprehensive cross-category licensing program across the Middle East in 2016 to support the Simba Dickie toy range, which launched last year.
Matt Hatter Chronicles has proven a success for Cartoon Network on air in the Middle East since premiering on free-to-air kid’s channel CN Arabic and English pay TV service last year. The former channel launched season three in April of this year. The show also airs on Al Jazeera’s kids’ outlet Jeem TV in the region.
In Turkey, Matt Hatter Chronicles airs on OFLAZ Media Group’s children’s channel KIDZ, and debuted on Cartoon Network Turkey in May of this year. The Simba Dickie toys had an exclusive retail launch at Toyzzshop and Penzzshop through distribution partner Sunman in October, and will be supported by new advertising and marketing campaign.
New York’s IFC Center is beginning a 22-film screening series on Friday, December 11 celebrating some of the finest Japanese animated features ever made: the complete longform works of Studio Ghibli.
‘Studio Ghibli: The Complete Retrospective’ culminates on January 1 with the debut of a new English-language version of studio co-founder Isao Takahata’s Only Yesterday (1991), which will be theatrically released in North America for the first time. The English voice cast features Daisy Ridley, Dev Patel and Ashley Eckstein.The new version is produced by Geoffrey Wexler and Studio Ghibli. A wide release is set for February 26.
Synopsis:
t’s 1982, and Taeko is 27 years old, unmarried, and has lived her whole life in Tokyo. While traveling by train to visit family in the country, memories flood back of her as a schoolgirl in 1966, and she starts to question whether she has been true to herself. Elegantly switching between her adult present and childhood flashbacks, Takahata brilliantly explores the drama, humor and enchantment of everyday life, in a poignant and achingly beautiful masterpiece from one of the world’s most revered animation studios.
Studio Ghibli: The Complete Retrospective will include:
Lionsgate is inviting you to “shake your bear thing” and get pumped for the release of Splash Entertainment’s Norm of the North, coming to theaters January 15. The glib tongued polar bear features in new posters, downloadable activities (available here) and a fun new web game, Lemmings Launch.
Norm of the North is directed by Trevor Wall from a screenplay by Jack Donaldson and Derek Elliott, and features the voices of Rob Schneider, Heather Graham, Ken Jeong, Gabriel Iglesias, Loretta Devine, Michael McElhatton, Colm Meaney and Bill Nighy. Producers are Nicolas Atlan, Ken Katsumoto, Mike Young, Liz Young and Steve Rosen.
Synopsis:
A polar bear of many words, Norm’s greatest gripe is simple: there is no room for tourists in the Arctic. But when a maniacal developer threatens to build luxury condos in his own backyard, Norm does what all normal polar bears would do…he heads to New York City to stop it. With a cast of ragtag lemmings at his side, Norm takes on the big apple, big business and a big identity crisis to save the day.
The fuzzy hustle and bustle of a modern mammal metropolis is on display in the new poster for Disney’s upcoming Zootopia, coming to theaters March 4, 2016. Disney is also spreading the hype through the Countdown to Zoo Year’s Eve, which is running down the clock toward a special surprise at the end of the year: disneyzootopiamovie.tumblr.com
The studio’s 55th animated feature is directed by Byron Howard and Rich Moore and co-directed by Jared Bush. The voice cast features Ginnifer Goodwin, Jason Bateman, Shakira, Idris Elba, J.K. Simmons, Nate Torrence, Jenny Slate, Tommy Chong, Octavia Spencer, Bonnie Hunt, Don Lake, Alan Tudyk, Tommy “Tiny” Lister, Raymond Persi, Katie Lowes, Jesse Corti and John DiMaggio.
Synopsis:
Officer Judy Hopps (voice of Ginnifer Goodwin), the very first bunny on Zootopia’s police force, jumps at the opportunity to crack her first case—even if it means partnering with fast-talking, scam-artist fox Nick Wilde (voice of Jason Bateman) to solve the mystery.
Stop-motion house LAIKA and distributor Focus Features have unveiled a piece of teaser art for the upcoming animated feature Kubo and the Two Strings, in theaters nationwide August 19, 2016. A teaser trailer will be released on Friday through Fandango/MovieClips.
Studio head and lead animator Travis Knight makes his directorial debut with this film, which is written by Marc Haimes and Chris Butler (ParaNorman). The voice cast is lead by Art Parkinson (Rickon on Game of Thrones) as Kubo.
Synopsis:
Clever, kindhearted Kubo (voiced by Art Parkinson) ekes out a humble living, telling fantastical stories to the people of his seaside town. But his relatively quiet existence is shattered when he accidentally summons a mythical spirit from his past which storms down from the heavens to enforce an age-old vendetta. Now on the run, Kubo joins forces with Monkey (Charlize Theron) and Beetle (Matthew McConaughey), and sets out on a thrilling quest to save his family and solve the mystery of his fallen father, the greatest samurai warrior the world has ever known. With the help of his shamisen – a magical musical instrument – Kubo must battle gods and monsters, including the vengeful Moon King ( Ralph Fiennes) and the evil twin Sisters (Rooney Mara), to unlock the secret of his legacy, reunite his family and his heroic destiny. The all-star cast also includes George Takei, Cary-Hiroyuki Tagawa, and Brenda Vaccaro.
India’s Toonz Animation has secured a major deal with Gummybear International which will see the production house and the rights owners of globally recognized character Gummy Bear (or Gummibär) extending the brand’s reach in entertainment and merchandising.
The first project is an animated 39 x 7 series commissioned by YouTube. Further plans for online content, consumer products, television and feature projects are in the works.
The singing, dancing Gummy Bear has grown from a viral hit in his native Hungary to a multi-channel YouTube network with over 5.2 billion views and over 1.5 million subscribers. The original song “I Am a Gummy Bear” was a top 10 hit in several countries, and Gummy Bear music has been released in over 40 countries in 27 different languages since.
CJ E&M Corporation has appointed Nottingham Forest to manage commercial rights for aviation themed kids’ series Super Wings in Spain and Portugal. The company will work on developing a licensing, merchandising and promotion program in key categories as the series gets ready to launch on CLAN in Spain next year.
Worldwide Master Toy partner Alpha Toys has created an initial line of figurines and playsets which will be sold through ColorBaby in Iberia.
Produced by Gil Hoon Jung of FunnyFlux Entertainment, Super Wings (52 x 11) is an action-packed preschool series about a jet plane named Jett who travels the world delivering packages to children. On every delivery, Jett and his friends the Super Wings must work together to solve a new problem.
Singapore’s Sparky Animation announces that Southeast Asia’s leading internet TV service iflix is adding animated series Dinosaur Train and Jack to its kids’ content offerings. The series will debut on the SVOD network at the end of this year, premiering in current territories Malaysia, Philippines and Thailand and additional markets as the company expands its service area.
“We are very excited about this new deal,” commented Sparky’s Licensing Manager Tommaso Gioacchini. “iflix is one of the hottest OTT start-ups in Southeast Asia and it’s our aim to maximise the audience of all our brands across the region. Thanks to its mobile first vision and exceptionally high-quality service via multiple devices, iflix is one of the best partners.”
Dinosaur Train (158 x 11) is jointly produced by The Jim Henson Company, aimed at preschool audiences. Currently sold to over 200 territories worldwide, a fourth 20-episode season is set to debut in early 2016. Jack (78 x 11) is a science-infused series aimed at fostering curiosity in 6- to 12-year olds, and winner of the Award of Excellence for Best Television Program from Canada’s Youth Media Alliance.
Silicon Valley software company Reallusion — specializing in 2D and 3D real-time animation solutions — has stepped into the videogame world with the release of iClone Game Character Design Platform, which was awarded the “Best of Show” at SIGGRAPH.
iClone is the first lip-sync ready 3D character solution, extensively cutting down the time and effort involved in 3D character creation. Compatible with Unity3D, Unreal Engine and Stingray, the iClone platform gives developers access to 3D characters with highly morphable topology, a clothing system that conforms to all body shapes, and facial and body rigs that are animation-ready.
Reallusion worked closely with the game community in developing the platform, and the results of their efforts can be seen in Mute from RGBird Games. Users first craft characters using 3D morphs, texture designs and clothing options, which can then be animated in real-time with Kinect motion capture. iClone can be used with HumanIK to refine motion, add lip-sync and facial animation. Characters and animations can then be exported to game engine and 3D tools using 3DXchange.
9 Story Media Group has secured a number of deals in Asia Pacific for its kids and family content, licensing over 500 episodes to broadcasters across the region.
TVB in Hong Kong has picked up Emmy-winning preschool series Peg + Cat (80 x 11), as well as season two of Wild Kratts (26 x 22). Across the strait, GoodTV in Taiwan has acquired the first two seasons of Daniel Tiger’s Neighborhood (130 x 11).
In New Zealand, TVNZ has licensed multiple programs, including the first two seasons of animated preschool series Harry and His Bucket Full of Dinosaurs (104 x 11) for its 24-hour Kidzone channel, and the first seasons of comedy toons Camp Lakebottom (52 x 11) and Numb Chucks (52 x 11) for free-to-air TV2.
9 Story also licensed live-action series Artzooka and Look Kool to Da Vinci Media for multiple territories across the region, to air on Da Vinci Learning.
All new adventures featuring DreamWorks Animation’s popular prehistoric family will bow on Netflix on December 24 as the streaming platform introduces audiences to Dawn of the Croods.
Based on the fictional Croodaceous Period world created for Kirk DeMicco and Chris Sanders’ 2013 CG feature, the 2D series “deals with modern-day problems for the first time ever in life’s history, like discovering: school, a sugar rush, an eye roll and more!”
Nickelodeon has selected nine fresh faces to join its illustrious talent development programs this year. Four new, emerging talents will join the 16th annual Writing Program, while five have been picked for the 5th annual Artist Program.
Nick’s Writing Program gives aspiring TV writers the chance to hone their skills working on live-action and animated series for the network. 2015 participants are Charlie Neuner of Woodland Hills, Calif.; Jeffrey Trammell of Detroit. Korean-American comedian Robert Woo; and Milla Tuokkola from Helsinki, Finland.
The Nickelodeon Artist Program is aimed at nurturing emerging talent for positions within its animation studio. Joining this year are California State University Fullerton graduate Mallory Carlson, being mentored on Pig Boat Banana Cricket; Savannah College of Art and Design graduate Jerry Suh, on The Loud House; California Institute of the Arts graduate Marcos Cohen, on Pinky Minky; Otis College of Art and Design graduate April Amezquita, on Shimmer and Shine; and Savannah graduate Caitlin Elise Willis, on SpongeBob SquarePants.
The Academy has announced 20 films that will advance to the short-listing round in the Best Visual Effects Oscar race for the 88th Academy Awards.
The films are listed below in alphabetical order:
•Ant-Man •Avengers: Age of Ultron •Bridge of Spies •Chappie •Everest •Ex Machina •Furious Seven •The Hunger Games: Mockingjay – Part 2 •In the Heart of the Sea •Jupiter Ascending •Jurassic World •Mad Max: Fury Road •The Martian •Mission: Impossible – Rogue Nation •The Revenant •Spectre •Star Wars: The Force Awakens •Terminator Genisys •Tomorrowland •The Walk
The 10-film short list will be announced later this month, with nominations to be announced January 14. The Awards ceremony will be broadcast live on February 28.
French animation studio Xilam (Oggy and the Cockroaches) has announced plans to expand its operations with a new production facility in Lyon, opening next year. The company has been facing rapid growth, with five series currently in production and a significant lineup of new titles set for the coming years.
The new studio is located just outside the city of Lyon in the Pole Pixel business park at Villeurbanne, which houses over 100 companies in the creative and imaging industries.
The Lyon studio will begin operations with two series productions: Paprika for France Televisions aimed at preschoolers, and Magic season 2 for Gulli. This makes the third facility for Xilam, which is headquartered in Paris devoted to development, writing and story as well as the company’s commercial and administrative departments. Xilam opened a Ho-Chi-Minh City facility in 2007 which continues to animated one series per year.
Heritage Auctions will be offering up a collection of beautiful cels from old and new classics in Dallas during an Animation Art Signature Auction on December 13 & 14. One outstanding piece is a hand-inked, hand-painted master pan production cel with master pan background set up from Disney’s 1955 Lady and the Tramp, which is expected to rate at least $35,000.
“It’s simply the most iconic image from the entire movie and one of the most beloved of all Disney images,” said Jim Lentz, Director of Animation Art at Heritage Auctions, “in the scene where Tramp takes Lady on a romantic date in the alley behind Tony’s Ristorante for dinner. The spaghetti kiss is one of the sweetest scenes ever filmed in a cartoon.”
Another lot of early Disney works includes an extremely rare hand-inked and painted black-and-white Mickey Mouse production cel with background setup, also estimated at $35,000. The 12 field nitrate cel features an action shot of a full-body Mickey from director David Hand’s 1935 short “Mickey’s Man Friday.” The background is from the 1930 Silly Symphony “Monkey Melodies.”
Bidders will also vie for a production cel setup from one of the most notable Simpsons Couch Gags — a hand-painted cel of the entire Simpson family created for the 1993 Citizen Kane parody “Rosebud.” Other offerings from across many eras of animation include “Superman – Mad Scientist” (1941; hand-painted production cel on background – est. $10,000), rare Popeye and Wimpy cel with background (Max Fleischer, 1937 “Organ Grinders Swing”), and cels from Super Friends (Hanna-Barbera, 1978) and two cels from Warner Bros.’ “What’s Opera, Doc?” featuring Bugs Bunny as Brunhilde and Elmer Fudd as Siegfried.
Additional Disney highlights include pieces from Fantasia “The Sorcerer’s Apprentice,” Peter Pan concept art by Mary Blair, Sleeping Beauty dragon concept by Eyvind Earle, Snow White publicity drawing by Fred Moore, animatronic Disneyland figures from Pinocchio, a “Steamboat Willie” drawing by Ub Iwerks, and more.
KIDOZ, the COPPA compliant children’s entertainment solution, is launching KIDOZ NETWORK and opening its platform to kids’ brands and app developers. The new offering is based on proprietary technology which was previously only available on the KIDOZ Mode content discovery platform (used by leading device manufacturers and carriers including Acer, Hisense, Polaroid, US Cellular, Deutsche Telekom, KURIO and more).
Through KIDOZ Network, app developers can embed KIDOZ technology as a content recommendation tool inside their apps to increase engagement and generate revenue in a kid-safe way without ads or in-app purchases. Kids brands are also able to promote their content directly to millions of young users on the KIDOZ Network.
In support of this expansion, KIDOZ also announced that it has raised $3.5 million in new funding from Millhouse Capital owned by Roman Abramovich and CIG Capital. KIDOZ is set to open offices in New York and China in 2016.
Entertainment One has awarded the broadcast rights to its BAFTA and Emmy-winning preschool animation series Ben and Holly’s Little Kingdom to Russia’s Carousel. Additionally, eOne has appointed Russian licensing agent Megalicense to manage the brand’s consumer products program throughout Russia and Ukraine.
Carousel, Russia’s leading free-to-air family channel, has picked up seasons one and two (104 x 11) of Ben and Holly’s Little Kingdom, which launches Dec. 7. Carousel also currently airs eOne’s Peppa Pig.
Likewise, Megalicense already represents Peppa Pig across the region and has secured a number of deals across key categories including apparel, publishing and the brand’s first live show in the region. The agent will now seek partners from Ben and Holly’s Little Kingdom across multiple categories with plans for a retail launch in the fall/winter of 2016.
Over the weekend, the Disney Studios masterminds behind the epic pre-release build up to J.J. Abrams’ Star Wars: The Force Awakens (out December 18, in case you forgot) premiered a new featurette for the film at Comic-Con Brazil. “Legacy” debuted during a presentation hosted by producer Bryan Burk and is now available online.
From the studio:
Lucasfilm and visionary director J.J. Abrams join forces to take you back again to a galaxy far, far away as Star Wars returns to the big screen with Star Wars: The Force Awakens. The film stars Harrison Ford, Mark Hamill, Carrie Fisher, Adam Driver, Daisy Ridley, John Boyega, Oscar Isaac, Lupita Nyong’o, Andy Serkis, Domhnall Gleeson, Anthony Daniels, Peter Mayhew and Max Von Sydow. Kathleen Kennedy, J.J. Abrams and Bryan Burk are producing with Tommy Harper and Jason McGatlin serving as executive producers. The screenplay is by Lawrence Kasdan & J.J. Abrams and Michael Arndt.
The International Animation Film Market, or MIFA, is now inviting project submissions for the 2016 edition, to be held once again in conjunction with the Annecy animation festival. The next MIFA will be held June 15-17, with the fest running June 13-18.
MIFA organizers are calling for short film, feature, TV series and TV specials projects to be submitted for consideration by the deadline of February 12, 2016. Selected projects are invited to take part in the market’s high profile 10-minute pitch sessions for international animation executives, buyers and potential production and finance partners. These projects also receive free MIFA accreditation, support and professional advice.
The 2015 edition of MIFA marked the event’s 30th anniversary and saw a ten percent increase in accreditations, bolstered by increased participation from North America and Latin American countries. The most recent market received 297 submissions, out of which were selected 31 projects.
Malaysia’s Animasia Studio has secured three key deals at the Asia TV Forum and Market (ATF) in Singapore, at the Malaysian Creative Networking Reception co-organized by FINAS, Go ASEAN and Pinewood Iskander Malaysia Studios. These include a co-production agreement with Prodigee Media, a new broadcasting acquisition for Chuck Chicken and developments for the Magiki project.
Animasia has inked a deal to co-produce short form children’s programming aimed at Asian audiences with producer Prodigee Media. The content will be exclusively distributed by digital multiplatform network WebTVAsia as a new kids’ channel brand to be named and launched in Q1 of 2016. The first co-pro will be a series of animated nursery rhymes featuring original songs in various languages.
Nickelodeon India has picked up Animasia’s animated comedy series Chuck Chicken (52 x 11; for kids 7-11) and will begin airing the series in January on its sister channel Sonic. Chuck Chicken has already been sold to Disney Asia and Disney China.
Finally, Animasia has progressed in its partnership with Zodiak Kids Studios announced early this year, securing a co-funding agreement from the Malaysia Content Pitching Centre for preschool animated series Magiki (52 x 11). Animasia projects that the production will employ around 100 Malaysian artists and is set to commence in Q1 of 2016. Zodiak will distribute the show worldwide, while Animasia handles the South East Asian markets.
