Another Ninja action game has been adapted into a hot anime series. Takashi Watanabe’s anime series Senran Kagura, which is based on a similarly titled game about female ninja fighters, will makes its debut on the FUNimation Entertainment website on Monday, January 14. Available to Elite subscribers only, the show will air on Mondays at 11:30 a.m. EST.
The action-packed show is directed by Takashi Watanabe (Slayers) and produced by anime studio Artland. The scripts are written by Takao Yoshioka (Elfen Lied) and the show is directed and designed by Takashi Torii. The character designs for the original game were done by Nan Yaegashi. The series only premiered in Japan this past week.
Four animated features received nominations for ACE Eddie Awards. The honors, which are given by the American Society of Editors, are slated for February 16th at the Beverly Hilton Hotel.
The nominated editors are:
Nicolas C. Smith (Brave)
Chris Lebenzon, Mark Solomon (Frankenweenie)
Joyce Arrastia (Rise of the Guardians)
Tim Mertens (Wreck-It Ralph)
Argo, Life of Pi, Lincoln, Skyfall and Zero Dark Thirty are the five titles nominated for Best Edited Dramatic Feature, while The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel, Les Miserables, Moonrise Kingdom, Silverlinings Playbook and Ted are nominated in the best comedy or musical race. It’s interesting to note that no film has won best picture at the Oscars without also having received at least a best editing nomination from ACE since Ordinary People in 1981.
Silicon Valley-based cinematic tools producer Reallusion has released a new media app designed to help users create animated talking characters from digital photos. CrazyTalk 7 allows animators to bring any face to life with its simple face-fitting guide, and use their own voices to puppet the actor’s performance in real-time. The release offers advanced auto animation and key editing functions that enable users to generate more natural, elaborate and life-like animations.
“In the past 10 years, we have devoted efforts to providing the most user-friendly and time-saving animation software available, with an affordable price for users ranging from beginners to pro level,” says Charles Chen, Realllusion’s CEO. “CrazyTalk7 has been carefully refined by automating animation principles that aim to boost production for media professionals and working artists, while at the same time reducing the learning curve for beginners, students and educators.”
Users can choose from various performance styles to set a unique personality to a character’s base movement. Then select a Talk mode to make the character speak audio with lip-syncs, and add emotions with the Auto Motion templates that are driven by the same audio track. They can also choose a Listen mode that turns your character into an attentive listener, or a headphone-jamming music lover that responds to the beat, complete with head, eyes and facial expressions.
CrazyTalk7 is available for Windows PC and Mac, in Standard version at $29.99 and inc and PRO version at $149.95.
Since the Oscar nominations were announced early this morning (see http://bit.ly/10iwMPV), we have been collecting some euphoric reactions from the lucky nominees in via email and phone interviews. Here is a recap:
Chris Butler, co-director and writer, ParaNorman:
“I was in bed in my hotel room in Los Angeles, since we’re in town for the Critics Choice Awards today, and it’s been such a huge honor. It’s truly a once-in-a-lifetime kind of a thing—or perhaps, hopefully not! I was always proud of the what we did, and I think both critics and audiences got what we were trying to do. There is such a huge love for stop-motion animation out there. Three out of the five animated feature nominees are stop-motion, and that says a lot about how much people appreciate the medium. They seem to really understand how much effort goes into such a film.
“I think it’s an amazing time for animation, and I’m really proud and honored to be part of this industry. To think that 21 movies were put forward this year to be considered for animation, and just how different each one of them are from each other. We’ve seen so many different types of animation and so many different looks and types of stories in the past few years—whether it’s the CG-animated films of Pixar and Disney and DreamWorks or the stop-motion animation of Fantastic Mr. Fox, The Pirates! or Frankenweenie—or 2D European films such as The Rabbi’s Cat and The Secret of Kells—they all point to the fact that is a very exciting time in animation.
Oscar night plans: “I haven’t even begun to think about that. I didn’t want to think about it before. It makes me very nervous. Now I guess I’d better get my tux out.”
John Kahrs, director, Paperman:
“It’s an incredible honor to have Paperman nominated for an Oscar. I can’t thank everyone on the team enough for their passion and hard work in making this dream project a reality.”
Rich Moore, director, Wreck-It Ralph:
“To have the Wreck-It Ralph team’s passion and years of hard work acknowledged by the Academy is an honor like no other. We are so proud, so grateful – I can’t wait to congratulate everyone in-person…I had no idea it was going to hit me so hard last night. I woke up right at 5 a.m. and turned on E! I was in my living room when I heard my name called and my jaw hit the floor.”
Peter Lord, director, The Pirates! Band of Misfits:
“This is amazing! We tried to do something a little different with The Pirates!, in terms of tone and comedy, and it’s just brilliant that the Academy has responded to it in such a wonderful way.”
Tim Burton, director, Frankenweenie:
“Frankenweenie is a very personal film for me. The idea of telling a feature length version was in the back of my mind for many years. Stop Motion was the perfect medium for this project, and one I’ve always loved for its expressiveness and dimensionality. I’ve worked with so many incredible artists: animators, cast members, set builders, and puppet makers, all who have helped bring this film to life one frame at a time. I’m so honored that the Academy has recognized this film as one of its nominees.”
Mark Andrews, director, Brave:
“We are incredibly honored by today’s Academy Award nomination. Brave has been an adventure from the beginning — starting with our research trips to Scotland, the crew embarked upon a journey that inspired us all and forever changed our fates. Thanks to the Academy from all of us here at Pixar.”
Seth MacFarlane, Oscars host and director of Ted, nominated for best song:
“First an Oscar nomination, then I find a basically brand-new queen mattress on my drive home. This is an incredible day.”
Jeff White, VFX supervisor, The Avengers:
“Visual effects is such a team effort; it represents great work on the part of lot people. I’m really excited,” It’s great to see so many good films nominated. It was a strong year for VFX. I feel very lucky. The team at ILM poured their hearts into this.”
Minkyu Lee, director, Adam and Dog:
“My friends and I were having a slumber party. We were at a friend’s house. We set the alarm for 5 a.m. and we didn’t get much sleep last night. It was definitely fun to hear the news with the crew. It’s been wild doing interviews for the short.This never happens to me. My mind is in a haze because I only got a few hours of sleep!”
“I think our short appealed to people because it’s hand-drawn and it has a sensibility that is different from the other typical American films, which are fast-paced and comedy-driven. I wanted to do something that was more performance based and more of a character study. I think that’s what people were responding to. Overall, I think it was very cool that different kinds of projects were nominated for the Oscars this year. In the feature category, we seemed to have a wider variety in 2011, but still, it is going to be fantastic to see all the directors, actresses, actors, cinematographers, writers at the Oscars. I’m a huge fan and I love watching movies. I love every single one of the nominees and admire all their work, so I’ll have a lot of things to ask from them!
“Right now, I’m working on a Don Hall project at Disney and also devoting a lot of my time developing an animated TV series—something that has the opposite sensibility of Family Guy and The Simpsons, something that hasn’t been done on TV before. I’m also writing a few scripts, and dedicated lots of time to get better at writing.”
* Some of the responses were first reported in Variety and The Hollywood Reporter.
Family Guy creator and next month’s Academy Award host Seth MacFarlane and actress Emma Stone announced the nominees for this year’s Oscars at 5 a.m. this morning. (January 10) in Beverly Hills.
The nominees for Best Animated Feature are:
Brave
Brave (directed by Mark Andrews and Brenda Chapman) Disney/Pixar
Frankenweenie
Frankenweenie (Tim Burton) Disney
The Pirates! Band of Misfits
The Pirates! Band of Misfits (Peter Lord) Sony/Aardman
ParaNorman
ParaNorman (Sam Fell and Chris Butler) Focus/LAIKA
Wreck-It Ralph
Wreck-It Ralph (Rich Moore) Disney
The big surprise in this category was the inclusion of Sony/Aardman’s The Pirates! Band of Misfits! and the exclusion of other earlier award season favorites such as DreamWorks’ Rise of the Guardians and GKIDS’ hand-drawn imports The Rabbi’s Cat, Zarafa and From Up on Poppy Hill. It was Disney that scored a home run with all three of its titles making the Oscar nom list this year. Also, it’s interesting to note that three of the five titles are stop-motion animated, while the other two are CG.
None of the animated features made the Best Picture nomination list, which has nine titles this year: Amour, Argo, Beasts of the Southern Wild, Django Unchained, Les Miserables, Life of Pi, Lincoln, Silver Linings Playbook, Zero Dark Thirty.
In the Animated shorts category, the five nominees are:
Adam and Dog
Adam and Dog. Minkyu Lee, director (Lodge Films)
Fresh Guacamole
Fresh Guacamole. PES, director (PES)
Head over Heels
Head over Heels. Timothy Reckart, director; Fodhla Cronin O’Reilly, producer (National Film and Television School)
Maggie Simpson in The Longest Daycare
Maggie Simpson in “The Longest Daycare.” David Silverman, director (Gracie Films)
Paperman
Paperman. John Kahrs, director (Disney Animation Studios)
The five nominees in the Visual Effects category are:
The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey
The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey (Joe Letteri, Eric Saindon, David Clayton and R. Christopher White)
Life of Pi
Life of Pi (Bill Westenhofer, Guillaume Rocheron, Erik-Jan De Boer and Donald R. Elliott )
Marvel’s The Avengers
Marvel’s The Avengers (Janek Sirrs, Jeff White, Guy Williams and Dan Sudick)
Prometheus
Prometheus (Richard Stammers, Trevor Wood, Charley Henley and Martin Hill)
Snow White and the Huntsman
Snow White and the Huntsman (Cedric Nicolas-Troyan, Philip Brennan, Neil Corbould and Michael Dawson)
MacFarlane also picked up an Oscar nomination for “Everybody Needs a Best Friend,” the song he wrote for his movie Ted (Music by Walter Murphy).
The winners will be announced at the 85th annual Academy Awards ceremony on Sunday, February 24, 2012, at the Kodak Theatre televised live on ABC.
You can check out the complete list of nominees at www.oscars.com.
Lionsgate and American Greetings Properties announced a new home entertainment distribution agreement for the new CGI Animated TV series Care Bears: Welcome to Care-a-Lot. The agreement gives Lionsgate packaged and digital rights in both the U.S. and U.K. to all 26 episodes of the series, which debuted on The Hub in 2012. In addition, the two companies are extending their existing contract, with Lionsgate retaining its rights to the two previous Care Bears television series and five Care Bears movies.
Under the new agreement, Lionsgate will also distribute American Greetings’ The WotWots (produced by Weta), The Twisted Whiskers and Maryoku Yummy in the U.S. through packaged and digital media. Lionsgate will also acquire U.S. digital rights to three seasons of the classic Strawberry Shortcake series.
“We have enjoyed tremendous success over the years with the Care Bears franchise and are pleased to extend our relationship with the new Care Bears: Welcome to Care-A-Lot series. We look forward to helping the brand grow to new heights with the combination of new entertainment content and American Greeting’s new Care Bears toy launch in 2013,” said Michael Rathauser, senior VP of marketing for Lionsgate. “Furthermore we are excited to have the opportunity to not only expand the Care Bears digital home entertainment footprint, but to also bring some of American Greetings’ other quality children’s entertainment to digital retailers for the first time; creating both new business opportunities and more awareness for these great brands.”
“We are extremely honored to continue our partnership with Lionsgate,” said Gia DeLaney, vice president of program sales for American Greetings Properties. “The Care Bears’ highly-anticipated return to U.S. television in June was a huge success and we are thrilled to continue bringing the series to fans through innovative avenues.”
Iconic indie toon fest Spike & Mike’s Festival of Animation will be holding a 30th Anniversary Celebration this year which will feature the most popular and award-winning short animations from the festival’s influential history—including early works by Disney-Pixar director Ralph Eggleston and over 10 Academy Award-winning or nominated shorts.
The 30th Festival will take place at the San Diego Museum of Contemporary Art in La Jolla, Calif. from February 9 – March 22 and will welcome audiences of all ages. Spike & Mike’s has been the must-see event for indie, experimental and foreign toons since it launched in 1986 and has been responsible for premiering early films by the likes of Tim Burton, Mike Judge, Nick Park and South Park creators Matt Stone and Trey Parker.
“To celebrate 30 years we’ve scoured the world to build the grandest show that I’ve ever presented and quite possibly that ever could be presented. Period,” said Spike.
Attending the opening night VIP party and opening weekend ceremonies and screenings will be celebrity guest David Silverman, director of animation for The Simpsons and director of the first Simpsons short animations that premiered on The Tracey Ullman Show from 1987-89—a select few of these shorts will be shown at the festival.
Advance tickets are on sale now for $12 on www.tix.com or $15 at the door. For more content (for mature viewers only) and information visit www.spikeandmike.com.
Three animated features received BAFTA nominations today. The three titles up for the Best Animated Feature of 2012 are:
• Disney/Pixar’s Brave (directed by Mark Andrews, Brenda Chapman) • Disney’s Frankenweenie (Tim Burton) • LAIKA’s ParaNorman (Sam Fell, Chris Butler)
Among the films that didn’t get any BAFTA love were DreamWorks’ Rise of the Guardians, Disney’s Wreck-It Ralph, Sony’s The Pirates! Band of Misfits and Hotel Transylvania.
The VFX nominees are:
•The Dark Knight Rises (Paul Frankline, Chris Corbould, Peter Bebb, Andrew Lockley). •The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey (Joe Letteri, Eric Saindon, David Clayton, R. Christopher White) •Life of Pi (Bill Westenhofer, Guillaume Rocheron, Erik-Jan De Boer) •Marvel’s The Avengers (Nominees TBC) •Prometheus (Richard Stammers, Charley Henley, Trevor Wood, Paul Butterworth)
Short Animation:
Here to Fall (Kris Kelly, Evelyn McGrath)
I’m Fine Thanks (Eomonn O’Neill)
The Making of Longbird (Will Anderson, Ainslie Henderson)
The no-surprise live-action film nominees are Argo, Les Miserables, Life of Pi, Lincoln and Zero Dark Thirty.
The winners will be presented with their awards at a ceremony scheduled for Sunday, Feb. 10 at the Royal Opera House in Covent Garden in London. The show will be hosted by Stephen Fry and will be broadcast on BBC America in the U.S. and in the U.K. on BBC1.
Toronto-based City today announced start of production on Mother Up!, a 13-episode, half-hour adult animated comedy series starring Eva Longoria (Desperate Housewives), who also serves as the show’s executive producer. Developed by Rogers Media and co-produced by Canadian companies Breakthrough Entertainment and Bardel Entertainment, in association with U.S.-based Mass Animation, Mother Up! will premiere in the fall of 2013 as part of City’s prime-time lineup and be available exclusively in the U.S. on the free, ad-supported Hulu and Hulu Plus subscription service. Additional broadcast details to be announced at a later date.
Mother Up! revolves around the daily life of Rudi Wilson (Longoria), a former high-powered music exec who takes on the greatest challenge of her life: motherhood in suburbia. Rudi is striving for the life of a super-mom but she forgets one important detail – she’s not a very good parent. Bringing her street smarts and urban lifestyle to the suburbs, Rudi confronts the endless challenges of parenthood with a series of misguided improvised solutions, putting her life on the line like never before.
Executive producers for the series are Eva Longoria, Yair Landau (Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs) and Susan Purcell (Live Music) from U.S.-based Mass Animation, Fred Fuchs (Transporter: The Series), Breakthrough Entertainment’s Ira Levy (Less Than Kind) and Peter Williamson (Kenny vs. Spenny), and Bardel Entertainment’s Barry Ward and Delna Bhesania (Bob’s Burgers).
“Mother Up! combines the talents of famed Hollywood actor, director and producer Eva Longoria with the comedic genius of writers Michael Shipley, Greg Lawrence, Mark McKinney, Laurie Elliott and Jenn Engels and the development, production and animation talents of Mass Animation, Bardel Entertainment and Breakthrough Entertainment,” said Ira levy, Executive Producer and Partner at Breakthrough Entertainment. “We could not be more excited about collaborating with this extraordinary, high-profile team.”
Developed by Michael Shipley (American Dad, My Name Is Earl, Family Guy) – who will also serve as an executive producer – Mother Up! is based on the original material of Marnie Nir and Katie Torpey. Recruited to serve as showrunner and executive producer is Canadian Greg Lawrence (Crash Canyon, Kevin Spencer), who joins the all-Canadian creative team of celebrated writing talent including Mark McKinney (Less Than Kind), Jenn Engels (Seed), Laurie Elliott, and Laura Kosterski.
Breakthrough Entertainment will distribute the series worldwide outside of North America.
Fox TV’s Animation Domination High-Def, the broadcaster’s new alternative animation programming block is set to premiere on Saturday, July 27 (from 11 p.m. to 12:30 a.m.). The new late-night block will serve as the on-air component of FOX’s digital, multi-platform animation network.
In its debut season, the block will feature a number of new quarter-hour animated series, including Axe Cop, based on the hit graphic novel; High School USA!created by Dino Stamatopoulos (Community, Moral Orel); and the Untitled Lucas Brothers’ Project, from identical twin comedians Kenny and Keith Lucas.The network initially has ordered six quarter hours each animated show.
Here are the official descriptions of the new series:
Axe Cop: From the unfettered imagination of a five-year-old boy comes the an action-comedy about the most badass superhero who ever existed! Operating on only two minutes of sleep a night and fueled by a diet consisting solely of birthday cake, Axe Cop and his loyal partner, Flute Cop unleash their unique brand of vigilante justice on bad guys everywhere – including stopping Hitler from creating an army of evil zombie robots and helping Bat Warthog Man find the villain who stole all his best friends! Axe Cop is the unique comic phenomenon created and written by Malachai Nicolle (age five) and his brother, Ethan Nicolle (age 30). What started as a small passion project between two brothers quickly evolved into an online sensation and was later published as a graphic novel by Dark Horse Books. The show was developed for television by Nick Weidenfeld and Judah Miller (American Dad). Matt Silverstein and Dave Jeser (Drawn Together) serve as executive producers/showrunners. The series ensemble cast includes Megan Mullally, Patton Oswalt, Ken Marino, Peter Serafinowicz and weekly guest stars such as Giancarlo Esposito; rapper Tyler, The Creator; Jonathan Banks, Rob Huebel and Dan Harmon.
High School USA: Join the super-positive, millennial students of High School USA!, as they confront all the unique challenges of growing up in a modern world. Led by the painfully naïve and always upbeat Marsh Merriwether, there is nothing these kids can’t put a positive spin on, from cyber-bullying to Adderall-addiction to embarrassing sexting incidents. The series is created and written by Dino Stamatopoulos (Community, Moral Orel), and features an all-star cast including Vincent Kartheiser (Mad Men) and Mandy Moore (Tangled).
Untitled Lucas Brothers Project: The stand-up comedy of New York-based identical twins Kenny and Keith Lucas (The Lucas Brothers) gets animated. After their uncle dies and leaves them his old van, the twins start a moving company called Va¢ation Boy$. Their customers are often apprehensive to hire such a scrawny duo, but the brothers like to remind them that that’s why God made two of them. A day that begins simply by moving a bed down the street may lead to the threat of citywide catastrophe, resolved only with the help of a once-famous ’90s wrestler. No matter what happens around them, Kenny and Keith always remain totally, bizarrely unfazed.
Fox created the Animation Domination High-Def unit to oversee the development and production of alternative animated series, shorts and user-adapted material for its brand-new late-prime animated programming block and new digital multi-platform network. The digital channel will extend across platforms such as Web, mobile apps, game consoles and Video on Demand. It will feature 50 original short-form pieces per year, online windows of FOX animated shows, and user-adapted content. It will create a unique opportunity for fans and up-and-coming talent to engage with professional FOX-curated content, which the network could possibly platform into full-fledged series.
Led by former Adult Swim executive Nick Weidenfeld, the unit develops and produces original animated shorts and series, building a clear bridge for talent to develop and grow ideas in the digital arena and organically move them into the mainstream. The network has also tapped producer Hend Baghdady (Community, The Andy Milonakis Show, Crank Yankers) as the executive in charge of production for the new division.
You’ll be able to check out Mike Judge’s short-lived primetime animated series The Goode Family on DVD this week. Shout! Factory’s cool new release features all 13 episodes of the show, which ran from May to August of 2009 on ABC. Created by Judge, along with former King of the Hill writers John Altschuler and David Kinsky, the toon took a satirical look at an environmentally responsible, obsessive liberal family.
Judge, Nancy Carell, David Herman, Linda Cardellini, Brian Doyle-Murray and Dee Bradley Baker provided the voices. Julia Sweeney, Kevin Nealon, Bob Odenkirk, Andy Richter, Johnny Knoxville, Dax Shepard, Amy Hill, Phil LaMarr and Laraine Newman are some of the guest voices.
The two-disc release runs about 10 hours and is available for about $21 on amazon.com. The package includes over 50 minutes of bonus materials, deleted scenes and unreleased scripts.
Warner Bros. Studios is making a big push to produce more animated features at the studio in order to compete with Disney, Sony, Fox and Universal. Deadline.com reports that the studio has formed a “feature creative consortium” to produce at least one animated feature per year.
John Requa and Glenn Ficarra, Nicholas Stoller, Phil Lord and Chris Miller and Jared Stern are among the directors in the program. They aren’t exclusive to the studio, and will develop animated projects along with the live action films they direct. Stoller has written Storks, which will be directed by Doug Sweetland for 2015 release; Requa and Ficarra will produce Smallfoot, from an original idea by Despicable Me‘s Sergio Pablos, who’ll direct for 2016 release.
Warner’s first big studio picture is LEGO: The Piece of Resistance which will be released on February 7, 2014. Warner Bros execs Jeff Robinov, Greg Silverman, Courtenay Valenti and Chris deFaria will exec produce the movie. The voice cast includes Will Ferrell, Liam Neeson, Nick Offerman, Morgan Freeman, Chris Prat, Will Arnett, Elizabeth Banks and Alison Brie. The film is directed by Phil Lord, Chris Miller and Chris McKay.
Disney has released a brief trailer for Pixar’s new short The Blue Umbrella, which will play in theaters with Monsters University beginning June 21, 2013. Directed by Saschka Unseld (layout artist on Toy Story 3, Cars 2 and Brave) and produced by Marc Greenberg. The official synopsis is as follows:
“It is just another evening commute until the rain starts to fall, and the city comes alive to the sound of dripping rain pipes, whistling awnings and gurgling gutters. And in the midst, two umbrellas—one blue, one not—fall eternally in love.”
According to The Wall Street Journal, the six-minute film features a score by composer Jon Brion and the voice of singer Sarah Jaffe.
“Pitching to John [Lasseter] is amazing,” Unseld told WSJ. “When I told them the story, I could just see how they followed every word and how they imagined everything in their head how it would play out like a film.” The production took about a year and a half to produce and Lasseter gave him feedback every two to four weeks. “He’s fantastic as a test audience,” Unseld said. “He’s able to see the short as what it is at that point while forgetting all the iterations we went through.”
Unseld said he wanted the short to feel more like traditional animation from the early Disney 2D days.
“If the faces were in the umbrella in the cloth or raindrops, it would have felt weird. A stylized idea of faces with emotions made more sense.”
He said to get that look right without being distracting to viewers took awhile. The young director played with the exposure time of certain scenes, and filmed at 12 frames per second, to vary the rhythm and tone of rain strokes.
Here’s the trailer:
So, what do you think? Is it this year’s La Luna or is it even better?
White Collar star Matt Bomer will be voicing the Man of Steel in Warner Bros. Animation’s upcoming animated DVD/Blu-ray/On Demand movie Superman: Unbound. TV Guide reports that the new pic will also feature the voices of Fringe‘s John Noble as the world-destroying alien Brainiac and Castle costars Stana Katic and Molly Quinn as Superman’s girlfriend, Lois Lane, and cousin, Kara (aka Supergirl), respectively.
The new project is based on the 2008 Action Comics storyline by Geoff Johns and finds Superman battling Brainiac, an alien who attacks planets, shrinks one city small enough to fit in a bottle, then destroys the rest of the planet.
Director/supervising producer James Tucker (Batman: The Brave and The Bold) told TV Guide…
“He’s the ultimate collector… He says what he’s doing is the name of science and ultimate knowledge, but really he just wants stuff and he doesn’t want anyone else to have access to it.”
The director adds, “Bomer had a jovial energy that was a little counter to what we usually do with Superman. But he also had that decency in his voice that Superman really needs no matter which way you go with him.”
No set date has been announced for the film’s release, but we’re thinking it will be out later in 2013.
Children’s programming portal Toon Goggles and Emmy-winning software producer Toon Boom Animation have launched Boom Goggles, a new creative app that allows children to create and share animated clips. In addition to the free version of the app, the Google Play Store offers a premium version—for $2.99—which has more templates and includes unlimited usage of creative tools and the camera capture feature.
“Pairing with Toon Goggles, we are pleased to release this fun app for Android that enables anyone to build a strong creative bond while having fun,” said Joan Vogelesang, the president and CEO of Toon Boom.
Manager director of Toon Goggles Stephen Hodge added, “We are very excited about the Boom Goggles application and look forward to its adoption by children and its use as an educational tool internationally. Like Toon Goggles, Toon Boom Animation holds high standards for its products and services and we are honored to have been chosen as partners for this project.
Ireland’s animation studio Kavaleer has started preproduction on a new animated preschool series titled Wildernuts. The 26 x7 series follows the adventures of a lively crew who navigate the skies on their flying ship, called The Cloud Hopper. Each episode sees them searching for a treasure that provides the key to what makes the place they are visiting so special: the rarer the species, the more unique the habitat, the more valuable the treasure.
The charming series which aims to introduce young viewers to the wonders of Earth’s native habitats, was created by Kavaleer founder and CEO Andrew Kavanagh and produced by managing director Gary Timpson. The 26-episode, Flash series will be delivered by December of 2013.
“Our five heroes explore a colorful island world on their flying ship, encountering a variety of ecosystems, from mountaintop to shore and everything in between, and each episode they bring back some souvenir to remind them of their voyage,” notes Timpson. “They are like curious pre-schoolers on a quest to discover the treasures of nature, and each episode they investigate a new location where they meet a ‘guide’ animal who introduces them to the other creatures and plants inhabiting the place.”
The Visual Effects Society (VES) has announced the nominees for its 11th Annual VES Awards, which recognize outstanding visual effects artistry in 24 categories of film, animation, television, commercials and video games. Nominees were selected Saturday, January 5 by VES members at SPY/ a FotoKem Company in the Bay Area and at FotoKem in Burbank in California; and at Blue Sky Studios in New York, Weta Digital in New Zealand, Fuel VFX in Sydney, Molinare in the UK and Image Engine in Vancouver.
Jeffrey A. Okun, Chair of the Visual Effects Society, comments, “Visual effects have helped define the experience of going to the cinema. Every year, visual effects artists put their technical skill, ingenuity and passion to work in the creation of images that astound and move us. We congratulate all of our nominees on their amazing accomplishments in – and contributions to – the worlds of film, animation, television, special venue and games.”
Director Ang Lee will be honored with the VES Visionary Award and Richard Edlund will be presented the Lifetime Achievement Award.
The 11th Annual VES Awards will take place on Tuesday, February 5, 2013 at the Beverly Hilton Hotel. The nominees for the 11th Annual VES Awards are as follows:
Outstanding Visual Effects in a Visual Effects-Driven Feature Motion Picture
The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey
Joe Letteri
Eileen Moran
Eric Saindon
Kevin L. Sherwood
Prometheus
Paul Butterworth
Charley Henley
Allen Maris
Richard Stammers
Life of Pi
Thomas Fisher
Susan Macleod
Guillaume Rocheron
Bill Westenhofer
The Avengers
Susan Pickett
Janek Sirrs
Jeff White
Guy Williams
Battleship
Grady Cofer
Pablo Helman
Jeanie King
Glen Mcintosh
Outstanding Supporting Visual Effects in a Feature Motion Picture
Rust and Bones
Béatrice Bauwens
Cédric Fayolle
Nicolas Rey
Stéphane Thibert
The Impossible
Felix Bergés
Sandra Hermida
Pau Costa Moeller
Argo
Matt Dessero
Leslie Hough
Gregory Mcmurry
Tom Smith
Flight
Kevin Baillie
Michael Lantieri
Chris Stoski
Ryan Tudhope
Zero Dark Thirty
Geoff Anderson
Chris Harvey
Jeremy Hattingh
Outstanding Visual Effects in a Broadcast Program
Game of Thrones:
Volar Morghulis
Rainer Gombos
Steve Kullback
Sven Martin
Juri Stanossek
Once Upon A Time: The Stranger
Dale Fay
Laura Jones
Nathan Matsuda
Andrew Orloff
Falling Skies: Worlds Apart
James Hattin
Suzanne Maclennan
Curt Miller
Andrew Orloff
Curiosity
Nathan Larouche
Lon Molnar
Geoff Scott
Bojan Zoric
Munsters: Mockingbird Lane
Leslie Ekker
Jonah Hall
Livia Hanich
Jason Zimmerman
Outstanding Real-Time Visuals in a Video Game
Call of Duty: Black Ops II
Jason Blundell
Barry Whitney
Colin Whitney
Halo 4
Mike Cronin
Brien Goodrich
Kiki Wolfkill
Jon Wood
Dirt Showdown
Peter Asberg
Peter Clark
Nathan Fisher
Julie Mcgurren
Forza Horizon
Michel Bastien
Terrance Newell
Gareth Richards
Andrew Sage
Dishonored
Viktor Antonov
Sebastien Mitton
Jean-Luc Monnet
Julien Roby
Outstanding Animation in an Animated Feature Motion Picture
Brave
Mark Andrews
Steve May
Katherine Sarafian
Bill Wise
ParaNorman
Chris Butler
Sam Fell
Travis Knight
Brad Schiff
Rise of the Guardians
Nancy Bernstein
David Prescott
Peter Ramsey
Christina Steinberg
Wreck-It Ralph
Sean Jenkins
Scott Kersavage
Rich Moore
Clark Spencer
Hotel Transylvania
Lydia Bottegoni
James Crossley
Mike Ford
Daniel Kramer
Outstanding Supporting Visual Effects in a Broadcast Program
Hemingway & Gellhorn
Nathan Abbot
Kip Larsen
Chris Morley
Christopher Paizis
Boardwalk Empire: Episode 308
John Bair
Parker Chehak
Paul Graff
Lesley Robson-Foster
Men Who Built America: Episode 2
Glenn Allen
Matthew Conner
Eran Dinur
David Reynolds
Hell On Wheels: Blood Moon
Matt Von Brock
Jason Fotter
Tim Jacobsen
Bill Kent
Hawaii Five-O: La O Na Makuahine
Gevork Babityan
Jon Howard
Armen Kevorkian
Ricardo Ramirez
Outstanding Visual Effects in a Commercial
Pepsi: Crowd Surfing
Martin Aufinger
Russell Dodgson
Abby Orchard
Chris Redding
Nike: Biomorph
Rafael Colon
Aladino Debert
David Liu
Nicola Wiseman
Lady Gaga: Fame
Kait Boehm
Juan Gomez
Kurt Lawson
Greg Teegarden
Norfolk Southern: City of Possibilities
Chris Bernier
Kyle Cody
Jeff Lopez
Boo Wong
Call of Duty: Surprise
Steve Beck
Chris Knight
Robert Sethi
Christina Thompson
Outstanding Animated Character in a Live Action Feature Motion Picture
The Hobbit: Goblin King
Jung Min Chan
James Jacobs
David Clayton
Guillaume Francois
The Hobbit: Gollum
Gino Acevedo
Alessandro Bonora
Jeff Capogreco
Kevin Estey
The Avengers: The Hulk
Marc Chu
John Doublestein
Cyrus Jam
Jason Smith
Life of Pi: Richard Parker
Erik De Boer
Sean Comer
Betsy Asher Hall
Kai-Hua Lan
Outstanding Animated Character in an Animated Feature Motion Picture
Brave: Argument
Travis Hathaway
Olivier Soares
Peter Sumanaseni
Brian Tindall
Hotel Transylvania: Dracula
Bill Haller
Tim Pixton
Jorge Vigara
Wreck-It Ralph: Vanellope
John Kahwaty
Suzan Kim
Michelle Robinson
Tony Smeed
The Pirates: Band of Misfits
Will Becher
Jay Grace
Loyd Price
Outstanding Animated Character in a Commercial or Broadcast Program
Ted: Jimmy Kimmel Live!
James W. Brown
Brad Fox
Ross Nakamura
Jeff Woo
Sinbad: Episode 1
Andy Guest
James Moxon
James Reid
Greg Spencer
Hallmark: Motherbird
Vince Baertsoen
Kevin Ives
Laurent Makowski
Joshua Merck
Game of Thrones: Training the Dragons
Irfan Celik
Florian Friedmann
Ingo Schachner
Chris Stenner
Outstanding Created Environment in a Live Action Feature Motion Picture
The Hobbit: Goblin Caverns
Ryan Arcus
Simon Jung
Alastair Maher
Anthony M. Patti
Prometheus: LV-233
Julien Bolbach
Marco Genovesi
Martin Riedel
Marco Rolandi
The Avengers: Midtown Manhattan
Richard Bluff
Giles Hancock
David Meny
Andy Proctor
Life of Pi: Open Ocean
Jason Bayever
Sho Hasegawa
Jimmy Jewell
Walt Jones
Outstanding Created Environment in an Animated Feature Motion Picture
Brave: The Forest
Tim Best
Steve Pilcher
Inigo Quilez
Andy Whittock
ParaNorman: Graveyard
Phil Brotherton
Robert Desue
Oliver Jones
Nick Mariana
ParaNorman: Main Street
Alice Bird
Matt Delue
Caitlin Pashalek
Rise of the Guardians: The North Pole
Eric Bouffard
Sonja Burchard
Andy Harbeck
Peter Maynez
Outstanding Virtual Cinematography in a Live Action Feature Motion Picture
The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey
Matt Aitken
Victor Huang
Christian Rivers
R. Christopher White
The Avengers: Downtown Manhattan
Colin Benoit
Jeremy Goldman
Tory Mercer
Anthony Rispoli
Total Recall: Hover Car Chase
Daniel Baldwin
Mattias Forsstrom
Sam Schwier
Joshua Wassung
The Amazing Spider-Man
Rob Engle
David Schaub
Cosku Turhan
Max Tyrie
Outstanding Models in a Feature Motion Picture
The Avengers: Helicarrier
Rene Garcia
Bruce Holcomb
Polly Ing
Aaron Wilson
The Impossible: Orchid Hotel
Markus Donhauser
Patrick Lehn
Angel Martinez
Juergen Pirman
Men in Black 3: Cape Canaveral/Apollo Launch
Craig Feifarek
Hee-Chel Nam
Erik Neill
Taehyun Park
The Dark Knight Rises: Airplane Heist
Scott Beverly
Alan Faucher
Ian Hunter
Steve Newburn
Outstanding FX and Simulation Animation in an Animated Feature Motion Picture
Brave
Chris Chapman
Dave Hale
Michael K. O’Brien
Bill Watral
ParaNorman: Practical Volumetrics
Aidan Fraser
Joe Gorski
Eric Kuehne
Andrew Nawrot
ParaNorman: Angry Aggie Ink-Blot Electricity
Michael Cordova
Grant Laker
Susanna Luck
Peter Vickery
Rise of the Guardians: Last Stand
Andy Hayes
Carl Hooper
Andrew Wheeler
Stephen Wood
Outstanding Created Environment in a Commercial or Broadcast Program
Sinbad
James Moxon
Lyndall Spagnoletti
Greg Spencer
Simon Wicker
Pyke
Rene Borst
Thilo Ewers
Adam Figielski
Jonas Stuckenbrock
Call of Duty: Eclipse – Surprise
Chris Bayol
Steve Beck
Chris Knight
Robert Sethi
5 Gum RPM: Choose Your Energy
Kaan Atilla
Kevin Gillen
Isaac Irvin
Brandon Lester
Outstanding Virtual Cinematography in a Commercial or Broadcast Program
Toyota: Real Deal
Adam Berg
Niles Heckman
Ronald Herbst
Vernon Wilbert
Halo 4: Forward Unto Dawn
Steven Chen
Phil Dakin
Paul Stodolny
Call of Duty: Eclipse – Surprise
Chris Bayol
Steve Beck
Chris Knight
Robert Sethi
ZombiU
Dominique Boidin
Léon Bérelle
Rémi Kozyra
Maxime Luère
Outstanding FX and Simulation Animation in a Live Action Feature Motion Picture
The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey
Areito Echevarria
Chet Leavai
Garry Runke
Francois Sugny
Life of Pi: Storm of God
Harry Mukhopadhyay
David Stopford
Mark Williams
Derek Wolfe
Battleship
Florent Andorra
Willi Geiger
Rick Hankins
Florian Witzel
Life of Pi: Ocean
Jason Bayever
David Horsley
Scott Townsend
Miles Vignol
Outstanding FX and Simulation Animation in a Commercial or Broadcast Program
Nike: Biomorph
Aladino Debert
Eric Ebling
Ken Mitchel Jones
Jason Mortimer
Last Resort: Captain
Matt Von Brock
Bruce Coy
Junaid Farooq
Aldo Ruggiero
Guinness: Cloud
Tom Bussell
Neil Davies
Nissan Altima: Wouldn’t it be Cool
Tim Borgmann
David Forcada
Aron Hjartarson
Shayne Ryan
Outstanding Compositing in a Feature Motion Picture
The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey
Jean-Luc Azzis
Steven Mcgillen
Christoph Salzmann
Charles Tait
Life of Pi: Storm of God
Ryan Clarke
Jose Fernandez
Sean Oharas
Hamish Schumacher
The Avengers: Hulk Punch
Chris Balog
Peter Demarest
Nelson Sepulveda
Alan Travis
Prometheus: Engineers & the Orrery
Xavier Bourque
Sam Cole
Simone Riginelli
Denis Scolan
Outstanding Compositing in a Broadcast Program
Hemingway & Gellhorn
Nathan Abbot
Shelley Campbell
Chris Morley
Christopher Paizis
Last Resort: Captain
Matt Von Brock
Jason Fotter
Aldo Ruggiero
Brian Williams
White Walker Army
Falk Boje
Esther Engel
Alexey Kuchinsky
Klaus Wuchta
Hell On Wheels: Blood Moon
Antonio Chang
Jason Fotter
Eric Hayden
Josh Miyaji
Outstanding Compositing in a Commercial
Chevy 2012 Silverado
Dominik Bauch
Nicholas Kim
Benjamin Walsh
Norfolk Southern: City of Possibilities
Tom Bardwell
Chris Bernier
Kyle Cody
Jeff Lopez
Call of Duty: Eclipse – Surprise
Chris Bayol
Steve Beck
Chris Knight
Robert Sethi
Nike: Game On, World
Daniel Marsh
Paul O’Shea
Outstanding Visual Effects in a Special Venue Project
No animated movies made the U.S. top 10 this weekend, but several of 2012’s popular toons are still continuing to deliver strong numbers both stateside and overseas. Peter Jackson’s The Hobbit landed at the No. 3 spot and managed to deliver $17.5 million in the U.S, bringing its global cume to a whopping $824.8 million ($263/8 million from the U.S. and $561 million internationally) since its release on Dec. 14.
Disney’s 3-D release of Pixar’s Monsters, Inc. landed at the No. 11 spot, with $3.9 million in U.S. ticket sales. (Total U.S. gross is $27.9 million and lifetime gross for the pic is now $283.8 million). DreamWorks Animation’s Rise of the Guardians is losing steam at No. 17, with $2.6 million in the U.S. The Peter Ramsey-directed pic has grossed $97.152 million in the U.S. and $181.35 million in foreign territories, with a global cume of $278.5 million worldwide.
Wreck-It Ralph was the No. 20 movie at the U.S. box office, adding $1.14 million to its box office take, with a smashing $311.165 million worldwide total. The bonafide Disney hit also won the Best Animated Feature of the Year award from the Houston Film Critics over the weekend. The national theatrical scene will be pretty quiet in the next few weeks until The Weinstein Co.’s Escape from Planet Earth debuts on February 15.
Breakthrough Entertainment’s cheeky Rocket Monkeys will make its Teletoon debut this week on Thursday January 10 at 6:30 p.m. The show, which is created by Dan Abdo and Jason Patterson and developed by Alex Galatis and Mark Evestaff, follows the adventures of two inept monkeys who spend their days wreaking havoc on an intergalactic scale. The animation is produced by Vancouver-based Atomic Cartoons (Captain Flamingo, Atomic Betty).
Featuring voice work by Mark McKinney (voice of Lord Peel), Seán Cullen (voice of Gus) and introducing Mark Edwards (voice of Wally), Rocket Monkeys explores the bizarre and hilarious cosmic exploits of primate siblings Gus and Wally. Inexplicably charged with carrying out all kinds of important missions, the brothers tend to cause more intergalactic calamity than they could ever prevent. Luckily they have plenty of help from YAY-OK, their dashing and devoted (if slightly outdated) robot.
“Rocket Monkeys is completely off-the-wall, with a comic sensibility that just screams Teletoon,” says Alan Gregg, director of original content at Teletoon. “We’re very proud of this show and we’re confident that kids are going to love it as much as we do.”
Ira Levy, Joan Lambur and Peter Williamson are the show’s exec producers. Season one consists of 13 half-hour episodes. New episodes of Rocket Monkeys will continue to air every Thursday at 6:30 p.m. as part of Teletoon’s Can’t Miss Thursdays programming block.
The Visual Effects Society announced today that it will honor Oscar-winning filmmaker Ang Lee with the VES Visionary Award at the 11th Annual VES Awards on Tuesday, February 5, 2013 at the Beverly Hilton Hotel in Beverly Hills, California. The award honors an individual who has uniquely and consistently employed the art and science of visual effects to foster imagination and ignite future discoveries by way of artistry, invention and groundbreaking work.
“Ang Lee has used the art of visual effects to masterful effect in telling stories like Life of Pi that could not have otherwise been so powerfully brought to life,” said Jeffrey A. Okun, chair of the Visual Effects Awards Committee. “With a body of work that encompasses films as distinguished and artful as Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon, Sense and Sensibility, and Brokeback Mountain, Lee’s imagery has brought stunning and compelling images to the world of cinema – making us proud to award him our annual Visionary Award.”
Lee’s film currently in theatres, Life of Pi, has been a worldwide success. Recently, the movie was named one of AFI’s Top Ten Movies of 2012 and was nominated for three Golden Globes, including Best Motion Picture, Drama and Best Director, and nine Broadcast Film Critic’s Awards, including Best Picture and Best Director.
