U.K.’s SC Films will be selling the new CG-animated feature Gus, which showcases an English-language script by Cory Edwards (Hoodwinked) and a voice cast that includes Dakota Fanning, Seth Green, Richard Kind, Christine Baranski, Danny Glover and Elliot Gould. The movie will be directed by Dominique Monfery (Eleanor’s Secret) and Christian De Vita (storyboard artist on Frankenweenie and Fantastic Mr. Fox).
The family-targeting pic follows the adventures of a misunderstood orphan yellow bird who unites a flock of migratory birds and leads them to Africa via the Arctic Circle, based on a French-lingo script by Antoine Barraud. Slated for a Christmas 2014 release in France, Gus is produced by TeamTO, Haut et Court, Studio Canal, BackUp, Panache, La Cie Cinematographique and SC Films.
Producer Corinne Kouper (Babar: The Adventures of Badou, Angelo Rules, Plankton Invasion) told Screen Daily:
“Gus is both a fable, and a touching human comedy about self-realization.”
It looks like Shrek, Po, Alex and Hiccup are getting ready to take their show on the road—at the Cotai Strip Resorts in Macao, China. DreamWorks has made a deal with Sands, China to license its characters for a “DreamWorks Experience,” which includes shows and events, such as parades, themed areas and photo shoots with the characters in Macao.
“All of us at DreamWorks Animation are excited to bring the DreamWorks Experience to this amazing integrated resort city,” said the studio’s Chief Executive Jeffrey Katzenberg.
DreamWorks Animation has been expanding its brand in China and using its popular characters in new ventures. The studio has similar deals with Royal Caribbean Cruises and Gaylord Hotels in the U.S. and has signed agreements to license its characters for theme parks in New Jersey and Russia.
DreamWorks Animation has also partnered with Chinese media companies to build an animation studio in Shanghai. The company is also helping to design a Broadway-style entertainment district in Shanghai, the home of the new studio, Oriental DreamWorks.
Lalaoopsy Lands on Treehouse: MGA and Corus Entertainment’s new animated series Lalaloopsy is set to premiere on Canada’s preschool network Treehouse on Saturday, May 4 at 8 a.m. The 52 x 22 series is based on the best-selling toy line for girls and explores themes such as diversity, friendship and teamwork through magical themes featuring the eight Lalaloopsy characters (Ready for their names? OK, you asked for it! Crumbs Sugar Cookie, Mittens Fluff ‘n Stuff, Bea Spells-a-lot, Pillow Featherbed, Jewel Sparkles, Peanut Big Top, Spot Splatter, Splash, Dot Starlight, and more!!!).
Lalaloopsy
Imira Reveals Post-MIP Bump: Barcelona-based youth programming producer and distributor Imira Entertainment announced a raft of new global deals following the MIPTV market in April. Italian Telecom has signed up for The Happets from La Tropa de Trapo (52 x 7’) for SVOD, while DeA Kids has bought Lola & Virginia (52 x 12’) for Pay TV. SIC has picked up movies of the Gold Coast-based H2O, Just Add Water! from Jonathan M. Shiff and ZDF Enterprises (2 x 90’) for Pay TV in Portugal. Millimages’ Me & My Robot (52 x 11´) has sold to TV3 in Catalunya, Spain. The studio has signed a deal with DR, the Danish Broadcasting Corporation, to bring The Wish Fish from Baleuko (1 x 74’) and Sandra the Fairytale Detective (52 x 13’) to Danish audiences. Sandra will also cast her spell in Belgium via VMMA and to Radio Television Hong Kong (RTHK) for Free TV.
Seth Meyers and Michael Shoemaker’s new animated series The Awesomes will premiere on August 1st on Hulu. Entertainment Weekly reports that the that the 10-episode series will revolved around the greatest superhero team in history and explores what happens after the most powerful members of the team decide to leave. Those remaining are led by Professor Doctor Awesome (a.k.a. Prock), voiced by Meyers, who’s attempting to fill his father’s shoes.
Meyers and Shoemaker broke down the characters in the article as follows:
The Impresario, a.k.a. Austin Sullivan (voiced by Kenan Thompson) is a fashionplate who also has the ability to conjure whatever he can imagine using this magical jewel in his head. Meyers says. “He has mother issues so unfortunately, he only conjures different versions of his mother — also voiced by Kenan, which is pretty great.”
Frantic, a.k.a. Zip Danger (Taran Killam): “Comic books always have this speedster character, who is someone who has super speed. No reason to make it any more complicated than that,” Meyers says. “That’s what Frantic is, but he’s a redneck who, because of his superpowers, was an outcast of a family full of outcasts. He’s the fame-hungry member of the team. His goal is not to be a superhero, but to get his own reality show because he’s a superhero.”
Sumo, a.k.a. Tim (Bobby Lee): “Tim is a little boy, but when he gets angry, as all little boys do, he transforms to a giant Sumo wrestler,” Shoemaker says. “So that’s the embodiment of pre-teen angst.”
Muscleman, a.k.a. Harry Strong (Ike Barinholtz): “He’s Prock’s best friend, who he’s known forever. He’s sort of like the golden retriever of superheroes,” Meyers says. “[Barinholtz] in real-life happens to be one of the most loyal friends I’ve ever had. It’s more based on his loyalty than his strength and intelligence.” Adds Shoemaker, “He’s very strong, very dumb, but really the core of the team.” He’s also, Meyers says, “the kind of guy you don’t want to work out next to at the gym. He would be like 10 percent sweatier and 50 percent hairier than anybody you’d want at the machine one over.”
Concierge (Emily Spivey): “She’s the team’s assistant,” Shoemaker says. “Her power, sort of, is super resourcefulness. She can get what you want when you want it.”
Prock, a.k.a. Professor Doctor Awesome (Meyers): “He’s an amalgamation of Shoemaker and I, which is a guy who is a classic overthinker. Father issues is more me that Shoemaker,” Meyers says, laughing. “He’s a guy whose dad was the greatest superhero ever and now he’s trying to follow in his footsteps without any of the powers.” Correction: “He has an ability to stop time and use that time to come up with a plan. But more often than not, he stops time and emotionally spins out while he goes over his options,” Meyers says. So that counts as a power, Shoemaker says. “But like in a fight, he’s very useless.” His arch-villain is Dr. Malocchio (Bill Hader), who was the nemesis of Mr. Awesome (Steve Higgins), Prock’s father. “Now that Mr. Awesome has left Earth, Malocchio realizes there’s no one who’s smart enough or strong enough to stop him,” Meyers says. Prock is also in a love triangle with Hotwire (Rashida Jones) and Perfect Man (Seth’s brother Josh Meyers). “Hotwire is dating Perfect Man, who was the perfect superhero and Prock’s dad’s favorite,” notes Shoemaker.
Gadget Gal (Paula Pell): “She was a superhero back in the ’40s, and she aged, but then she was hit with a rejuvenation ray. So now she has the hot body of a 25-year-old, but she talks like a crazy, 85-year-old lady,” Shoemaker says.
This July, Comic-Con attendees can also look forward to a special panel devoted to The Awesomes featuring the creators and members of the voice cast.
There are plenty of animated DVDs to keep toon heads busy this week as we all wait for the arrival of Fox/Blue Sky’s Epic and Disney/Pixar’s Monsters University in theaters.
First up, if you missed the third season of The Ricky Gervais Show on HBO (yes, we feel your pain! Who wants to pay those big monthly premium cable bills?), all 12 episodes are now available to view on DVD/Blu-ray. The Warner releases ($39.99) is created by Gervais and co-stars Stephen Merchant and Karl Pilkington, based on podcasts and audiobooks by the popular British comedians. The third season of the show aired April thru June of 2012, was directed by Dan Fraga and produced by Wildbrain. Among the trio’s misadventures included in the mix are Karl’s pitching an insane movie idea to Ricky and Steve, his encounters with domestic insects, an experiment with crash helmets, and the trio imagining their future in an old folks home.
The Ricky Gervais Show: The Complete Third Season
Among the other cool new animated choices this week is Tom and Jerry Kids Show: The Complete First Season (Warner Bros., $19.97). The two-disc release features 13 episodes (four hours-worth) of the Hanna-Barbera series which first aired in 1990 and ran for five seasons until 1998. The toon chronicles the childhood adventures of Tom Cat and Jerry Mouse and their friends Droopy and Dripple and Spike and Tyke.
Tom & Jerry Kids Show: The Complete Season One
Among the other toons arriving on disc this week are:
Eden of the East: The Complete Series
Eden of the East: The Complete Series (Funimation, Blu-ray/DVD Combo, $49.98)
Kaijudo: Rise Of The Duel Masters: Dragonstrike
Kaijudo: Rise Of The Duel Masters: Dragonstrike (Shout! Factory, DVD, $14.97)
My Little Pony, Friendship is Magic: Princess Twilight Sparkle
My Little Pony, Friendship is Magic: Princess Twilight Sparkle (Shout! Factory, DVD, $14.97)
A special session focusing on the art and technology of DreamWorks’ The Croods and upcoming feature Turbo will be held on May 3 as part of the inaugural Production Pipeline Expo at Raleigh Studios in Hollywood. Also on tap is a vfx session on Universal’s sci-fi pic Oblivion, presented by the team at Pixomondo. The announcement was made today by the expo’s founder/originator Anthony Horn.
On Friday, May 3rd, at 10 a.m. on the Main Stage at Raleigh Studios, DreamWorks Animation presents The Art of the Croods and Turbo. DreamWorks personnel Jane Hartwell, Markus Manninen, Susan Rogers and Shaun Phillips will be part of the panel.
On Saturday, May 4th, at 10 a.m., on the Main Stage at Raleigh Studios, Pixomondo presents The Making of Oblivion, a look at the cutting-edge vfx featured in Universal Pictures’ hit film Oblivion. Pixomondo personnel Gavyn Thompson and Fiona Campbell will host the session.
Also, on the 3D Stage on Saturday, May 4th, at 11AM, Casey Hupke will present a session titled “Create Jaw-Dropping VFX with CINEMA 4D Thinking Particles.”
Filmmaker Bryn Pryor, Zbrush artist Ryan Kingslien, Pendulum Studios’ Robert Taylor, Stereo Fusion’s Alex Sant, Render Rocket’s Ruben Perez, Photoshop expert Stephen Burns, stereoscopic supervisor Sean Santiago and TNG VFX’s Nick Tesi are among the latest Production Pipeline participants.
The expo will address the creation, development, management, and delivery of content across film, television, and games along all the disciplines involved within an actual production pipeline, with special attention paid to all major portions of the creation process. For comprehensive information about this event, visit www.productionpipelineexpo.com.
Comedy Central continues its search for more animated series. The Viacom-owned cabler has ordered a new pilot about a handsome, yet stupid private eye who does everything he can to avoid solving crimes, says The Hollywood Reporter. Titled Moonbeam City, the show will be written and exec produced by Scott Gairdner (Conan, Funny or Die Presents), Will Gluck and Richard Schwartz. The series is described as “an absurdist take on neon-soaked 1980s crime dramas, centering on Dazzle Novak, a handsome yet moronic undercover detective who does everything in his power to avoid solving crimes.”
Comedy Central, which has been the home Matt Stone and Trey Parker’s South Park since August of 1997, has had a hit-and-miss history with animated properties such as The Goode Family, Drawn Together and Ugly Americans. The studio announced recently that it’s ending Futurama in September and renewed the Daniel Tosh-produced Brickleberry for a second season.
U.K.’s award-winning animation house Studio AKA has produced a 3×30 second spots highlighting BBC Radio 4’s new Cultural Exchange feature, which is billed as “a major new cultural sharing scheme providing listeners with 75 expertly curated cultural moments – a great poem or photograph, a painting or a piece of writing, a musical highlight or an inspiring building.”
Commissioned by the BBC, through Karmarama & Red Bee Media, AKA Director Marc Craste (Jojo in the Stars, Varmints) was tasked to create a series of animated segments based on interviews with popular figures. The accounts feature interviews with Adrian Lester, Meera Syal & David Walliams, all talking about aspects of culture that they love or have been affected by, from music, to books and theater. As they elaborate on their chosen cultural touchstone, their words are given life through animated visuals that employ a blend of techniques, including both 2D Flash and 3D XSI animation and After Effects to composite all the elements together. Although each film shares a place in the same campaign family, the individual spots are designed to have their own unique style.
The 20th Edition of the popular Stuttgart Festival of Animated Film came to a close this weekend, and several well-received features and shorts from around the world took home the event’s coveted top prizes. Here is a breakdown of the winners in each category:
Oh Willy…
Directed by Emma de Swaef, Marc James Roels
International Competition Grand Prize (15,000 euros)
Kara No Tamago (A Wind Egg)
Directed by Ryo Okawara (Japan)
Lotte Reiniger Promotion Award for Animated Film (10,000 euros)
Junkyard
Directed by Hisko Hulsing (The Netherlands)
SWR Audience Award (6,000 euros)
Eine Murul (Breakfast on the Grass)
Directed by Erik Alunurm, Mari Pakkas, Mari Liis Rebane, Mihkel Reha (Estonia)
Young Animation Award/Best Student Film (2,500 euros)
Ernest & Celestine
Directed by Benjamin Renner, Stephane Aubier, Vincent Patar (France, Belgium, Luxembourg)
AniMovie Award for Best Animated Feature
Schrecken ohne Ende (Nearest and Dearest)
Directed by Michael Sieber and Max Stöhhr
Tricks for Kids Award for Best Children’s Feature
Der Notfall (Déjà-moo)
Directed by Stefan Muller
Cartoons for Teens award for Best Animated Series
Molly Monster: The Movie
Written by John Chambers
German Screenplay Award
Freitag X-Mas Movies
Claudia Rothlin and Yves Gutjar (Switzerland)
Animated Fashion Award
Rick Kavanian Knight Rusty, Yesterday’s Hero Recycled (Universum, Germany)
German Voice Award
Animated Com Award: Awards for the best applied animation in the fields of advertising, technology and spatial:
Main prize USA 2012 Director: Lucas Zanotto Advertising: “MTV EMA 2012 Opener” Germany 2012 Director: Mate Steinforth, Commissioner: VIMN MTV World Design Studios Technology: “Mass Effects 3 – Take Earth Back” Hungary 2012 Director: Istvan Zorkoczy, Commissioner: Electronic Arts/Bioware Spatial Communication“Swiss Pavilion Expo Yeousu: The Source—It’s in Your Hands” Switzerland 2012 Director: Marc Tamschick, Commissioner: Präsenz Schweiz
48h Animation Jam – Crazy Horse Session: Trixi’s Curiosity Antonio Jesús Busto Algarin, Martin Martínez Garcia (Spain) In co-operation with M.A.R.K. 13, Landesanstalt für Kommunikation (LFK) and MFG Film Funding Baden-Wuerttemberg
Project Competition Animation Co-Production:
Forum Arab World (the countries of the Arab League) and the Caucasus region 2013 in cooperation with the Robert Bosch Stiftung nominated for the Film Prize of the Robert Bosch Stiftung for International Cooperation
Wanderland Lebanon/Germany Sarah Kaskas and Michael Schwertel LI.LE Georgia Natia Nikolashvili
Here is a wonderful new comic-book venture we can all get behind. Over the weekend, we got word that San Diego-based IDW Publishing will be launching a new series featuring Jay Ward’s beloved characters Rocky and Bullwinkle, in conjunction with DreamWorks Classics and Bullwinkle Studios. The new venture will feature all the favorite characters from the popular TV series, including Pottsylvania spies Boris Badenov and Natasha Fatal, Dudley Do-Right and his time-traveling dog Mr. Peabody, who are also getting their own CG-animated feature, courtesy of DreamWorks and director Rob Minkoff (The Lion King, Stuart Little).
IDW President Greg Goldstein states, “Jay Ward’s characters and concepts are landmarks in animation storytelling, and they remain as funny and relevant as ever. The phrase ‘fan-favorite’ is often overused, but in this case, it’s well earned and justified. We’re thrilled to add these brands to our ever growing list of all-ages titles.”
IDW also published comic-books based on Hasbro’s The Transformers and G.I. Joe, Paramount’s Star Trek, HBO’s True Blood, BBC’s Doctor Who and Toho’s Godzilla. Warner Bros. and Barry Sonnenfeld are attached to adapt IDW’s Lore into a feature film starring Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson, while Jerry Bruckheimer Films and Disney are creating a feature film based on World War Robot, with Michael Bay’s Platinum Dunes. Sony is also adapting a feature based on IDW’s Zombies vs. Robots. For more info, visit www.idwpublishing.com.
You’ve got to give it Tony Stark and his alter ego Iron Man: They definitely know how to put on a show. This past week, Disney/Marvel’s Iron Man 3 posted phenomenal numbers in Europe during its first week at the box office, prior to its May 3 U.S. opening. The big summer tentpole brought in over $195.2 million from 42 markets, beating 2012’s The Avengers, which had a $185.1 million opening week. In comparison, Iron Man 2 had a $100 million international opening in 2010.
Industry observers are wondering whether the movie can also outperform The Avengers’ domestic box office number, which debuted last year to a record-breaking $207.4 million.
The Robert Downey Jr.-starring film also had biggest opening weekend ever Asia Pacific and Latin America, as well as Argentina, Hong Kong, Indonesia, Vietnam, Taiwan, Philippines, Malaysia and Singapore. The threequel has garnered strong reviews and is currently playing in about 80 percent of foreign territories, with the exception of Russia and China. Iron Man 3 also broke IMAX theater records, taking in $7.2 million for a per screen average of $64,000.
Written and directed by Shane Black (Lethal Weapon, Kiss Kiss, Bang Bang), Iron Man 3 showcases lots of fantastic vfx work by companies such as Digital Domain, Cinesite, Framestore, Fuel VFX, Gentle Giant Studios, Luma Pictures, Method Studios, The Third Floor, Trixter Film and Weta Digital. The film will open in the U.S. on Friday, May 3.
The debut episode of Warner Bros. Animation’s much anticipated new series Teen Titans Go!, which had been a source of controversy among die-hard comic-book fans performed quite well on Cartoon Network on Tuesday (April 23) at 7:30 p.m. The toon ranked as the number-one kids program of the day on basic cable among boys 2-11, 6-11, 9-14 and male teens.
The new show also ranked number one in its time period among kids 2-11 & 6-11 as well as boys 2-11, 6-11, 9-14 and male teens, outpacing its timeslot competition on Nickelodeon and Disney HD by double- and triple-digits among the show’s key demos of kids 6-11 and boys 6-11.
Based on the DC Comics fictional superhero team, the Teen Titans, the series airs with Beware the Batman on Cartoon Network as part of the DC Nation block. Teen Titans Go! is a more comedic take on the DC Comics franchise, dealing with situations that happen outside of saving the world such as teenage pranks reaching a whole new level, or having to take Driver’s Ed after wrecking the Batmobile.
The show is a follow-up to the 2003 Teen Titans TV series, with the main cast reprising their respective roles. Led by Scott Menville’s Robin, the group comprises Beast Boy (Greg Cipes), Cyborg (Khary Payton), Raven (Tara Strong), and Starfire (Hynden Walch). The series is produced by Aaron Horvath and Michael Jelenic and exec produced by Sam Register.
This week’s upcoming episode (Tuesday, April 30 at 7:30 p.m.) finds Robin taking a driver’s ed class, not aware of the fact that instructor is a crook using Robin as a getaway driver. Another episode centers on a visit from Raven’s demon dad, which leads to the Titans recalling all their “daddy issues.”
Is the world ready for some crazy World War II battles between Allied soldiers and Nazi-trained dinosaurs? That’s what Brown Bag’s L.A.-based animation label Icehouse and game developer 800 North are hoping. The two companies have teamed up with Metalocalypse creator Tommy Blacha to adapt the indie video game Dino D-Day into an animated series. The announcement was made by Icehouse creative director Darragh O’Connell. Blacha will exec produce the series with Icehouse’s Gregory R. Little and 800 North’s Abe Scheuermann.
The series will use Valve’s SFM software to simultaneously create the series and a new version of the game, which will share assets and be released side-by-side. Little brought the property to Icehouse based on his experience as producer of Deep, the previously announced animated feature film that also uses Valve’s SFM software.
“Abe and Brian created an awesome world that we’re going to have a great time expanding with Tommy’s help,” says Little. “We’re excited to use SFM to give fans multiple points of entry, not only via the game and series but also through fan-created content.”
Scheuermann & Ulrich created and produced the game independently using Valve’s Source game engine and released it successfully in 2011 on Steam, Valve’s game distribution platform. The game will be featured on Steam in a Free Weekend promotion starting Thursday, April 25, 2013 and continuing through the weekend with new maps and content released to players.
The game and series follow a team of Allied soldiers as they battle bloodthirsty Nazi-trained dinosaurs and each other’s obnoxious egos.
Scheuermann said, “We’re looking forward to bringing the comedy and action from the game into a narrative format, and we love Tommy’s ideas for that. We have always seen the Dino D-Day world as a funny alternate universe with the perfect match up: the Greatest Generation vs giant, prehistoric predators.”
Blacha has a history of success in animated comedy and has also written for live-action series including Late Night with Conan O’Brien and Da Ali G Show.
He said, “The first time I saw the Dino D-Day game I was hooked. It’s great working on things that are unique and off the wall like that. I love it!”
Production on the next version of the game is already underway, with series production expected to start before the end of the year.
Timmy and his troublesome godparents are back! Nickelodeon premieres the ninth season of the Emmy Award-winning animated series, The Fairly OddParents, on Saturday (May 4) at 9:30 a.m. The Fairly OddParents follows the magical adventures of 10-year-old Timmy Turner and his well-meaning fairy godparents who grant him wishes. After 12 years on the air, The Fairly OddParents continues to rank among the network’s top programs and reached more than 20 million K2-11 in 1Q13. The Fairly OddParents will air regularly on Saturdays at 9:30 a.m. on Nickelodeon.
“The Fairly OddParents exemplifies what has made Nickelodeon a leader in animation – innovative, amazingly funny, creator-driven content,” said Russell Hicks, President of Content Development and Production. “Kids have fallen in love with the magical world Butch Hartman has created and we are delighted to serve up a new season filled with fun and entertaining adventures for our audience.”
In the season nine premiere, “Turner & Pooch,” Mr. Crocker realizes that Timmy’s dog, Sparky, has magical powers. Eager to use the fairy dog’s powers to fulfill his own wishes, Mr. Crocker hypnotizes Sparky in an attempt to turn him against Timmy.
Now available for free on iTunes is the exclusive never-before-seen The Fairly OddParents documentary, The Making of Sparky: A DOG-umentary. Narrated by creator Butch Hartman, the “dog-umentary” provides fans with an inside look at how the newest addition to this magical family, Sparky, went from just an idea to the loveable talking fairy dog on TV. The “dog-umentary” and full episodes of The Fairly OddParents are available at bit.ly/11ihQx2.
The Fairly OddParents is created and executive produced by Nickelodeon hit-maker Butch Hartman. The animated series cast includes Tara Strong (Ultimate Spider-Man) as Timmy Turner, Susanne Blakeslee (Shrek the Third) as Wanda, Daran Norris (T.U.F.F. Puppy) as Cosmo, Grey DeLisle (T.U.F.F. Puppy) as Vicky, Carlos Alazraqui (Happy Feet) as Mr. Crocker and Matt Taylor (South Park, Open Season) as Sparky. The series is produced at the Nickelodeon Animation Studios in Burbank, Calif.
Butch Hartman began his animation career as an assistant animator on An American Tail. He created his own shorts for What a Cartoon!, and also wrote and directed episodes of Dexter’s Laboratory, Cow & Chicken and Johnny Bravo. Hartman joined Nickelodeon in 1998 where he created and produced several cartoon shorts for the Oh Yeah! Cartoons series, including The Fairly OddParents. Commemorating the 10th anniversary of the animated series, Hartman brought the series to life in the 2010 live-action/CG animated hit TV movie, A Fairly OddMovie: Grow Up, Timmy Turner! The series came to life once again with the 2012 holiday-themed sequel, A Fairly Odd Christmas, drawing 4.5 million total viewers. Hartman is also the creator of Nickelodeon’s animated series Danny Phantom and T.U.F.F. Puppy.
A new animated series based on Graham Roumieu’s books about the life and adventures of Bigfoot is being developed by FX Network and actor Seth Rogen, according to Deadline.com. Roumeiu’s pseudo autobiographies centers on a bipolar hopeless romantic Bigfoot that lacks the ability to properly express himself, living in both the human and animal world of Pine Falls but not quite fitting in to either one.
The show will be written and exec produced by Matt McKenna (American Dad), Rogen, Evan Goldeberg, Roumieu, the Jimmy Miller Co. and Floyd County Prods. Animation.
FX is seeking a good animated show to air with its hit adult series Archer. It also ordered animated comedy pilot Chosen, exec produced by Danny McBride, at the end of December.
Following in the footsteps of Wallace and Gromit, another popular Aardman character is getting ready for its big movie adventure. The Bristol-based animation studio announced today that its teaming up with StudioCanal to launch a new Shaun the Sheep feature for spring of 2015. The stop-motion animated feature (yay…it’s not CG!) will be written and directed by Mark Burton (Wallace & Gromit: The Curse of the Were-Rabbit) and Richard Starzak. StudioCanal is financing and will distribute the film in the UK, France, Germany, Australia and New Zealand.
In the movie, Shaun’s mischief inadvertently forces the Farmer to leave the farm, so Shaun, Bitzer and the rest of the flock will have to plan a trip to the big city to rescue him.
“Shaun and his friends have a massive global following,” exec chair and co-founder of Aardman David Sproxton told the BBC. “We are very excited about being able to put them into a bigger adventure for the big screen.”
The wooly star first made his debut in Nick Park’s Oscar-winning short A Close Shave. Shaun was then given his own preschool animated series on the CBBC in 2007, and the show has been a huge hit in 170 countries since then. A spin-off of the show, Timmy Time, has also been hugely popular since its debut in 2009.
Aardman’s previous theatrical expeditions were: Chicken Run (2000), Wallace & Gromit: The Curse of the Were-Rabbit (2005), Flushed Away (2006), Arthur Christmas (2011) and last year’s The Pirates! Band of Misfits.
South Africa’s Triggerfish Animation Studios announced this week that Steve Buscemi (Boardwalk Empire) and Anika Noni Rose (The Princess and the Frog) have joined the voice cast of its upcoming feature Khumba. The 3-D, CG-animated feature, which will make its debut at the Annecy Festival in June, also showcases the voice talents of Liam Neeson, Laurence Fishburne, Anna-Sophia Robb, Jake T. Austin, Loretta Devine and Richard E. Grant.
Buscemi, who has voiced numerous animated characters in features such as Monsters, Inc., Charlotte’s Web, Monster House and Hotel Transylvania, plays the colorful vagabond character Skalk in Khumba. He will next be heard reprising his role as the voice of Randall Boggs in Pixar’s Monsters University. Noni Rose joins the cast as Lungisa, Khumba’s mother and wife of Fishburne’s character, Seko.
Khumba tells the story of a half-striped Zebra (Austin) who is blamed for a severe drought by his superstitious herd. He leaves his home in search of the magic waterhole where legend has it the first Zebras got their stripes. Teaming up with an overprotective, sassy wildebeest (Devine) and a self-obsessed ostrich (Grant), this plucky young zebra meets an array of wacky characters in an unforgettable adventure through the Great Karoo to earn his stripes.
The original story was penned by Triggerfish writers Raffaella Delle Donne and Anthony Silverston in consultation with Jonathan Roberts, co-writer of The Lion King. Silverston is also the director. Stuart Forrest of Triggerfish Animation Studios (Zambezia) produced the feature. The film is represented internationally by Edward Noeltner’s Cinema Management Group. Millennium Entertainment will be releasing the film in the US later this year.
“With his trademark voice, Steve Buscemi took the character of Skalk in a new and exciting direction,” says Edward Noeltner, president of Cinema Management Group, who will be bringing the film to the Cannes market in May. “Anika Noni Rose as Khumba’s mother brought a wonderful sense of warmth and tenderness to her character of Lungisa. We couldn’t be more thrilled to have them both onboard to complete the voice cast for Khumba.”
Stuart Forrest, CEO of Triggerfish Animation, adds “We are continuously impressed with the amount of gifted actors that our film has attracted. Buscemi brings a unique skill set to Khumba and the voice work he’s recorded gives us a great deal of humor in the film. Anika Noni Rose likewise brings alive her character in a way that not many could.”
Ever since its debut in 1999, French studio Xilam’s high-energy animated series Oggy and the Cockroaches has been an audience favorite in many regions of the world. This year, the Tex Avery-inspired characters will take their adventures to the big screen in a feature that will premiere at the Annecy Festival in June, and then will be released in French theaters on August 7.
Written and directed by series veteran Oliver Jean-Marie, Oggy and the Cockroaches: The Movie (Oggy et Les Cafards: Le Film) will chronicle the adventures of a blue cat named Oggy, who is constantly tormented by a trio of cockroaches named Joey, Dee Dee and Marky. The 2D animated pic is exec produced by Xilam founder and exec producer Marc Du Pontavice (Shuriken School, Les Daltons, Lucky Luke)
Outside of France, the series has also generated a big audience in Asia Pacific. The new season of Oggy and the Cockroaches, which is co-produced by Cartoon Network Asia finds Oggy head over heels in love with newcomer Olivia, his pretty next door neighbor, while pesky roaches, Joey, Marky and Dee Dee do their best to wreak havoc on his home.
VFX company Double Negative has launched Double Negative TV, a new division of Dneg dedicated to visual effects creation for television.
Dneg TV will be headed up by 20-year VFX veteran Jonathan Privett, previously head of Film & TV/VFX supervisor at Rushes, VFX producer Louise Hussey and VFX supervisor Hayden Jones. Between them they have over 50 years of success in VFX for television, delivering high-end visuals for major broadcasters in the UK and USA, including the BBC, ITV, Kudos, Discovery, Red Planet, HBO and ABC.
“Television drama continues to break new ground and offer fantastic creative challenges and the government’s recent instigation of 25 percent tax breaks to encourage additional US and UK inward investment into high end TV Drama, means that it is the perfect time to launch Dneg TV,” says Dneg managing director Alex Hope.
“Our focus will be solely on TV, and we will be applying and leveraging the technologies and talent from Dneg in a way that makes it appropriate for TV VFX time frames and budgets,” Privett commented. “It’s an exciting time for TV VFX and we’re very much looking forward to setting up in our new home at Dneg.”
The first project Dneg TV will work on will be Ridley Scott’s The Vatican for Showtime. Among the recent features Double Negative has contributed to are The Hunger Games: Catching Fire, Rush, Man of Steel, Fast and Furious 6, Les Miserables and Skyfall.
The Academy of Motion Pictures Arts and Sciences is planning a special evening dedicated to the visual effects magic of Ang Lee’s Oscar-winning feature Life of Pi. Hosted by Academy governor Bill Kroyer, the “Deconstructing Pi” event will be held on Monday, May 6 at 7:30 p.m. at the Academy’s Samuel Goldwyn Theater in Beverly Hills.
Oscar-winning visual effects artists Bill Westenhofer, Erik-Jan De Boer and Donald R. Elliott, Oscar-winning cinematographer Claudio Miranda, previsualization supervisor Brad Alexander and Oscar-nominated editor Tim Squyres will be on-hand to present behind-the-scenes footage and clips and to discuss some of the special techniques used to create the film’s stereoscopic 3-D magic. Topics will include shot concepts, previsualization, location design, depth scripting and the complexities of combining live-action plates with extensive visual effects.
Doors open at 6:30 p.m. and all seating in unreserved. Ticket prices are $5 general admission/$3 for Academy members and students with a valid ID. To buy tickets online, visit www.oscars.org.