Animation Magazine

Author: Ryan Ball

  • Warner’s Heroes, Nick’s Avatar on DVD

    Warner Bros. Animation is well represented in this week’s batch of home video releases as the complete third seasons of The Batman, Teen Titans and Scooby-Doo, Where Are You! arrive on disc today. Fans of animated action and comedy can also pick up the latest offering of episodes from the hit Nickelodeon series Avatar the Last Airbender.

    The third season of The Batman introduces a young woman named Barbara Gordon, the daughter of Gotham City Police Commissioner James Gordon, who becomes Batgirl and battles best friend Poison Ivy and other villains. To help take her down, The Joker brings in the evil Cosmo Krank, also known as Toymaker. The two-disc set contains 13 episodes and bonus features, including The Batman: Season 3 Unmasked, a feturette that highlights the new characters and explores their historical becagrounds from the pages of DC Comics.

    Teen Titans: The Complete Third Season also offers 3 episodes of the series that centers on young superheroes Robin, Starfire, Cyborg and Beast Boy. This batch of installments has the caped crusaders continuing their epic battle with arch nemesis, Slade, and his evil minions. The two-disc release also features Teen Titans: Know Your Foes, an interactive featurette that focuses on the villains of season three and how our heroes are able to thwart their plans. In addition, a feature titled One Show ‘ Two Themes offers an explanation for why the show’s musical opening sequence changes depending on the subject matter of the episode. Both this release and the Batman season three set can be had for the list price of $19.98.

    Also from Warner Home Video comes and Scooby-Doo, Where Are You!

    The Complete Third Season. This double discer offers up the final 16 episodes of the popular 1978 Hanna-Barbera series that has everyone’s favorite Great Dane solving spooky mysteries with human pals Shaggy, Fred, Velma and Daphne. In this set of installments, the Mystery Inc. gang takes on cases involving the Bermuda Triangle, a snow beast, a tar monster, a cat creature, a bottomless lake and a number of bizarre characters including Old Iron Face and the Creepy Creature of Vulture’s Claws. The set carries a suggested retail price of $34.98.

    Avatar The Last Airbender – Book 2 Earth, Vol. 2 offers another five episodes from the second season of the anime-inspired cartoon series about a fun-loving 12-year-old boy named Aang, who must forego a normal life in order to master his latent powers over the four elements and defeat the evil Fire Nation. He is joined in his perilous journey to save the world by a teenage Waterbender named Katara and her bull-headed warrior brother, Sokka. The Paramount Home Entertainment release lists for $16.99.

  • Wall Street Gets Animated in Hoofy

    Bulls and Bears have been part of animation scene for a long time, but nobody has put them behind a desk to report on the stock market until now. Minyanville Publishing & Multimedia, a self-described financial intelligence community, has announced the launch of what it calls the first-ever animated business television show. Hoofy and Boo’s News and Views debuts today, April 10, at Minyanville.com and offers a topical and timely look at the week’s big stories, market conditions and world affairs in general.

    “Bringing Wall Street’s Bull and Bear to life with Hoofy and Boo’s News and Views was a natural progression for us,” says Minyanville founder and CEO Todd Harrison. “Hoofy and Boo offer an entertaining, irreverent and informative look at the stories shaping the markets. What John Stewart is to politics, Hoofy and Boo will be to Finance.”

    The online show is being produced by Minyanville and LiveSpark animation out of Minneapolis, Min., with former ad man Justin Rohrlich and Kevin Depew spearheading production for Minyanville. In order to keep the show topical, LiveSpark devised a pipeline that allows the studio to complete an episode in less than thirty-six hours.

    Created in 2003, Minyanville is a multimedia platform that blends finance, education and entertainment to help visitors navigate the world of finance. Hoofy and Boo’s News and Views is the flagship offering on MVTV, a new video offering on the site. The first episode of the program has the animals commenting on Sarbanes-Oxley, personal income taxes and the difference between bulls and bears. Watch it at www.minyanville.com.

  • Taffy Invades Bobby’s World

    Taffy Ent. has acquired worldwide rights to Bobby’s World, the Emmy-nominated animated series created by and starring comedian/game show host Howie Mandel. The Saturday morning cartoon show aired on Fox from 1990 to 1998 but is generating interest again now that Mandel’s Deal or No Deal has become a major hit on NBC. Consisting of 81 23-minute episodes, Bobby’s World will be distributed worldwide by Taffy, beginning with next week’s MIPTV Market in Cannes. Taffy has also initiated a comprehensive licensing and consumer products campaign for the property.

    Bobby’s World takes a look inside the mind of 4-year-old Bobby Generic, who lives in a typical suburban neighborhood but manages to find adventure around every corner through the power of imagination. Introduced by Mandel in a live-action sequence, each episode uses everyday family situations and typical challenges of growing up as springboards for viewers to see the world through Bobby’s unique perspective.

    ”Bobby’s World’ is very personal and important to me,’ Mandel comments. ‘I created that character when I was starting out and it has been a part of my stand up act forever. Now, with ‘Deal or No Deal’ giving me access to such a wide audience, I can see the awareness is widespread and I love it! Most of the original fans of the show are now college age or older and clearly the show had a positive impact on them. It’s great to see it coming back so strong.’

    Taffy Ent. CEO Bill Schultz adds, ‘Online communities like Facebook, My Space and YouTube are virally selling the show. This groundswell, combined with the fact that we are working with Howie to help introduce this much-beloved character to a whole new generation of kids worldwide, makes this a huge opportunity with many more chapters to be written.’

    Originally produced by Film Roman Prods. and 20th Century Fox Television, in association with Alevy Prods., Bobby’s World was recently re-launched on Kabillion, the new multi-platform kids’ program service available in the U.S. both as a free VOD channel on Comcast Cable systems nationwide and as a free online broadband offering at www.Kabillion.com. According to Taffy, the show has been viewed more than 500,000 since debuting on the new service in January. Bobby, Mandel’s pint-sized, animated alter-ego, also got in from of some 16 million viewrs when he made a sweeps guest appearance on Deal or No Deal this past February.

    As part of Taffy’s library of more than 3,000 half hours of animation, Bobby’s World joins such popular shows as Jakers! The Adventures of Piggley Winks, ToddWorld, Pet Alien, Titeuf, Growing Up Creepie, Mix Master, Fantastic Four, Code Lyoko and Casper.

  • Fox Debuts Oleg

    The Fox Broadcasting Co. is hoping animation can keep viewers tuned in during commercial breaks. Starting tonight, April 9, the FOX network will begin airing eight-second animated vignettes that chronicle the adventures of a half-Greek, half-Lithuanian taxi driver who picks up the occasional celebrity.

    With the proliferation of digital recording devices that automatically edit out commercials, FOX and other broadcasters are looking at ways to keep advertising revenue coming in as more and more people are bypassing the ads that cut into their favorite programs. Making the issue even more pressing is a new system by which Nielsen Media Research is starting to track commercial ratings.

    MSNBC recently started running a news crawl during commercials, but FOX’s animated solution is Oleg, a fast-driving cabbie who takes time to identify where wayward shopping carts have come from while hauling such notable personalities as Tom Cruise and Donald Trump. If the campaign is successful, we could see a lot more animation sneaking into primetime as nets try to give corporate sponsors more bang for their buck without having to lower their rates.

  • Perro Verde Goes Nuts

    Going Nuts, the first feature from Spanish animation company Perro Verde, will be distributed over multiple platforms in Spain on May 25 before being released on DVD by U.S.-based Breakthrough Distribution. According to Daily Variety, the movie will play theatrically in Madrid, Barcelona and the Canary Islands, and will have a worldwide, multi-language Internet bow via Spanish VOD site Filmotech.com. Consumers will also be able to order the film by mail through Perro Verde’s website as the company works to sew up a deal with a major Spanish retailer.

    Direced by Juanjo Ramirez, Going Nuts is a horror-action pic that takes place in a psychiatric ward where all the characters are made of nuts. In addition to the theatrical, Internet and home video rollouts, Perro Verde is hoping to get national and regional television broadcasters on board to give the movie midnight screenings on May 25. Spain’s 6 Sales is handling international sales.

  • Mario Makes Wii Debut

    Introduced to gamers in the arcade classic Donkey Kong, the Mario character has been the Nintend mascot for the past 25 years and today gets his own game on the company’s new Wii system. Now available at retail, Super Paper Mario allows players to switch between a 2D and 3D perspectives as they use the Wii’s unique motion-sensing remote to experience the world of Mario in a whole new way.

    In Super Paper Mario, the mustachioed hero must come to the rescue when a mysterious villain kidnaps Princess Peach and Bowser, forcing the unlikely couple to get married without any paperwork. Players solve puzzles, perform new actions, learn fresh abilities and beat bosses in order to prevent a rift of dark energy threatening to tear the universe apart. Fans can even navigate through parts of the game as Peach or the fiery-breathed Bowser.

    “This is one of the most remarkable Mario adventures you’ve ever seen,” says George Harrison, Nintendo of America’s senior VP of marketing and corporate communications. “Millions of Wii owners will be happy, because this game appeals to everyone by providing a fresh perspective on gaming.”

    Super Paper Mario is Rated E for Everyone. For more information on the title, go to www.SuperPaperMario.com.

  • B.C. Cartoonist Hart Dies

    Johnny Hart, creator of the syndicated comic strip B.C. and co-creator Wizard of Id, has passed away as the age of 76. According to the Associated Press, he suffered a stroke at home in New York on Saturday and died at his drawing table as he worked on a cartoon. In addition to crafting B.C. for more than 1,300 newspapers worldwide, Hart saw his creation animated for the holiday specials B.C.: The first Thanksgiving (1973) and B.C.: A Special Christmas (1981).

    After high school, Hart met a young cartoonist named Brant Parker and the two would eventually collaborate on the long-running Wizard of Id comic strip. Hart’s first published work, however, appeared in the military publication Stars and Stripes while he served in the U.S. Air Force in Korea. After returning from service, he sold cartoons to The Saturday Evening Post and Collier’s Weekly, among others.

    Hart launched B.C. in 1958, introducing funny pages readers to a humorous prehistoric world populated by cavemen and dinosaurs. The popular strip eventually found an audience of around 100 million, according to distributor Creators Syndicate Inc.

    Hart’s later work reflected his evangelical religious awakening, which turned off a number of readers and newspapers. The Easter 2001 installment of B.C. featured an image of a Jewish menorah turning into a Christian cross and included biblical quotes of Jesus’ last words. A number Jewish groups found the strip offensive and convinced some publications to drop the strip, but Hart insisted that it was intended to increase awareness of both religions.

    Hart was a native of Endicott, a city roughly 135 miles northwest of New York

    City. He is survived by his wife, Bobby, and his daughters, Patti and Perri. Funeral plans have not been announced.

  • Discovery Kids Bananas for Bruno

    Discovery Kids Latin America has acquired broadcast rights to Cuppa Coffee Studios’ animated children’s series, Bruno and the Banana Bunch, which will join the channel’s lineup later this year. The deal falls on the heels of a recent sale to CBC in Canada, where the show debuted this week.

    “We are very excited by this news,’ comments Cuppa Coffee creative head Adam Shaheen. ‘Discovery Kids has a great presence in Latin America and have like others, recognized that this show has it all’great writing, great design and a purposeful curriculum to it.”

    Currently consisting of 26 11-minute episodes, Bruno and the Banana Bunch is based on the 50 one-minute interstitials that Shaheen developed 2 years ago and sold worldwide to Nickelodeon. The series is animated in Flash and follows Bruno and his friends around Banana Land on adventures with a numerical component, hence the tag line “Friends you can count on.”

    The show has also been sold to Portugal and the Middle East. Paris-based distributor AWOL Animation will handle sales at MIPTV this month in Cannes, France. Charlie Day at the Sharpe Co. represents the property for M and L internationally. More information on the series can be found at www.bruno.tv.

  • Walden, Fox, Henson Get Gorey

    Walden Media, Fox 2000 and the Jim Henson Co. are working to bring late children’s author Edward Gorey’s The Doubtful Guest to the big screen, according to The Hollywood Reporter. The Jim Henson Creature Shop is handling creature effects for the live-action adaptation, augmenting animatronics with CG animation.

    The Doubtful Guest was first published in 1957, introducing young readers to a mysterious creature who causes a lot of trouble for one family when he shows up uninvited. The movie version will be directed by Brad Peyton, who recently caught the attention of Hollywood with the horror/comdey short Evelyn: The Cutest Evil Dead Girl. He’ll be working from a script by Matthew Huffman, who is also writing Warner Bros.’ big-screen adaptation of the Philip Ardagh novel Eddie Dickens and the Awful End.

    Known for his gothic flair, Gorey has inspired the work of Tim Burton and other top Hollywood talent, but his own works have never been given the cinematic treatment until now. The closest he came to seeing his work on screen was the animated opening credits of the PBS series Mystery!, which featured animation based on his artwork. The author, who won a Tony for his Broadway stage production Edward Gorey’s Dracula, died in 2000 at the age of 75.

    Jim Henson Co. co-CEOs Lisa Henson and Brian Henson are producing Doubtful Guest with the company’s senior VP of feature films, Jason Lust. Distribution will be handled by 20th Century Fox’s and Walden Media’s Fox Walden. Overseeing for Walden is exec VP of production Alex Schwartz and senior VP of production Jackie Levine. Fox 2000 exec VP of production Carla Hacken will shepherd the production for the studio.

  • Indian Tribe Animates Legend

    We’ve been hearing a lot about Indian animation lately, but American Indian animation is a much rarer bird. The Oneida Indian Nation’s Four Directions Prods. announced that it will hold a press conference on Thursday, April 12, at 1:30 p.m. to discuss the completion of its first 3D animated short. The eight-minute film will be based on one of its ancient legends, The Raccoon and the Crawfish. The short will have its world premiere on April 18 at the Syracuse International Film Festival.

    The media event will be presided over by Dale Rood, Turtle Clan representative on the Oneida Nation Men’s Council and studio manager for Four Directions Prods., along with Shaun Foster, manager of animation for Four Directions. They will screen the trailer and clips from the production at their studio in Vernon, NY. Those who are not able to attend can register to view the presentation on the Internet by going to http://oneidanation.net/pressroom/conference.

  • Warner Bros. Creates Hanna-Barbera Scholarship

    Warner Bros. Studios has announced the establishment of a new scholarship to be awarded in honor of the late Bill Hanna and Joseph Barbera, and the animation legacy of both Hanna-Barbera Studios and Warner Bros. Animation. Each year, a graduating high school senior enrolling in a college, university or trade school to study animation will receive $10,000, disbursed annually in equal amounts over the course of enrollment.

    In addition to the annual disbursement, the scholarship winner will be offered four consecutive, paid summer internships at Warner Bros. Animation in Burbank while in college.

    “We’re proud to honor these pioneers of animation and hope this new program will extend the Warner Bros. and Hanna-Barbera legacy through the nurturing and education of future generations of animators,” says Warner Bros. Animation President Sander Schwartz.

    Applicants for the The Warner Bros. Hanna-Barbera Animation Scholarship will will be evaluated on a number of criteria, including their passion and talent for a career in animation and demonstrated financial need. A minimum GPA of 3.0 upon graduation is required. Eligible students must complete the application and return it, along with support materials, no later than 5 p.m. on April 11. Short-listed applicants may be asked to complete a short interview, and the winner will be notified in early May. Applications and more information can be obtained by calling 818-977-7469 or emailing Gary.Miereanu@WarnerBros.com.

    Working for MGM, Barbera and Hanna created the beloved cat-and-mouse team of Tom and Jerry in 1940. While the theatrical shorts won seven Academy Awards (and 14 nominations), it was their work in television that established them as true innovators of animation. Working on budgets a fraction of the size they were used to dealing with at MGM, the duo designed a system for limited animation and introduced generations to such indelible characters as Huckleberry Hound, Yogi Bear, Quickdraw McGraw, The Flintstones and the Jetsons, to name a few. Hanna passed away in 2001 and Barbera moved on to the light box in the sky in December of 2006.

    Turner Broadcasting acquired the Hanna-Barbera library in 1991, changing the name of the studio first to H-B Productions Co., then Hanna-Barbera Cartoons Inc. The library eventually found a home on Cartoon Network, where new Hanna-Barbera productions are developed under the Cartoon Network Studios banner.

    Warner Bros. Animation has been producing enduring original animation since 1930, when it released its first cartoon, Sinkin’ in the Bathtub. The studio also oversees the creative use of and production of animated programming based on classic animated characters from the Hanna-Barbera and DC Comics libraries.

  • Optimus Prime, Megatron Voicers Back for Game

    Activision announced that accomplished voice actors Peter Cullen and Frank Welker, who were the original voices of Optimus Prime and Megatron in the Transformers animated series, are reprising the roles for Transformers: The Game. The interactive title is developed under license from HPG, the licensing division of Hasbro Inc., and is set for release in conjunction with the July 4 theatrical debut of DreamWorks Pictures’ and Paramount Pictures’ highly anticipated Transformers movie.

    ‘As Transformers fans, we knew the importance of having the well-known voices of Optimus Prime and Megatron in the game,’ says Laird Malamed, head of production at Activision. ‘Peter and Frank’s signature voices bring the characters to life and will immerse a whole new generation of enthusiasts in the epic battle between the Autobots and Decepticons.’

    Based on the popular ’80s cartoon show and upcoming live-action/CG feature about towering robots that disguise themselves as vehicles, Transformers: The Game lets players choose to protect the Earth as Autobots or destroy it as the evil Decepticons. In addition to Optimus Prime and Megatron, playable characters include Bumblebee and Barricade, among others.

    Rated ‘T’ for Teen, the game is currently in development at Traveller’s Tales for Xbox 360 PlayStation 3, PlayStation 2, Wii and PC. A PSP version is being developed by Savage Ent., and two unique games for Nintendo DS, Transformers: Autobots and Transformers: Decepticons, are being developed by Vicarious Visions. For more information, go to http://www.transformersgame.com/.

  • Gameloft Runs to Sprint

    Mobile games developer and publisher Gameloft has teamed with Sprint to launch three award-winning 3D games to Sprint customers. The first offerings to come from the partnership will be Real Soccer 3D, Midnight Bowling 3D and Midnight Pool 3D. The titles involve larger file sizes than standard 2D cell phone games and aim to provide a more immersive experience for gamers on the go.

    Real Soccer 3D allows Sprint customers to play with 32 national teams or one of 16 prestigious clubs and participate in six different competitions available in five varied game modes. Soccer stars Djibril Cisse, Andrei Shevchenko and Oliver Kahn all participated in the making of the game.

    Midnight Bowling 3D offers six game modes and several customizable features as players face off against energetic opponents with very distinct personalities. Part of the game is being able to keep your composure and focus with a rowdy crowd of spectators shouting both encouraging words and taunts.

    For mobile hustlers, Midnight Pool 3D offers some virtual pool hall fun as players take on amateur or professional shooters and bet money on the outcome of the game. Users can link up trick shots during the various challenges and games of 8 ball (U.S.- or 8 U.K.-style) or 9 ball.

    Gameloft has offices worldwide and partnership agreements with such leading licensors and personalities such as Ubisoft Ent., Universal Pictures, Touchstone Television, Viacom, Sony Pictures, FifPro, Paris Hilton Ent., Lamborghini, Derek Jeter, Reggie Bush, Vijay Singh, Andrei Schevchenko, and Djibril Cisse. The company’s first 3D games offered through Sprint will be available to customers in second quarter of 2007. In addition to per-game download fees, standard Vision charges apply.

  • Discovery Unearths Wilbur

    Puppets and animation will be used to make kids enthusiastic about reading in Wilbur, a new Discovery Kids preschool series set to debut on April 16 at 11 a.m. during the channel’s Ready Set Learn! block. The show will then air at 7:30 a.m. on TLC beginning April 23.

    Wilbur was created by Jill Luedtke, Kim Anton and Tracey Hornbuckle, three mothers who saw a need to promote early literacy skills among very young children. Each episode of Wilbur will feature two original storybooks and music designed to convey the message that books are fun. The series employs the patented ‘Shadowmation’ technique that allows full-bodied puppets move in an three-dimensional virtual world, as seen in shows such as It’s a Big Big World and Bear in the Big Blue House.

    The title character in Wilbur is a calf who is joined in his storybook adventures by barnyard buddies Dasha, an inquisitive duck; Ray, a flashy and opinionated rooster; and Libby, a sweet two-year-old lamb. Wilbur knows that books are full of ideas and that they can help him and his friends solve the problem.

    Wilbur is a production of Mercury Filmworks, in association with Chilco Prods., EKA Distribution, Canadian Broadcasting Corp. and Discovery Kids. Amy Sprecher, who brought the property to Discovery Kids, and Erin Wanner serve as exec producers for the network. Marjorie Kaplan is the exec. in charge of production.

  • Hulk Goes to Rhythm & Hues

    Marvel Studios has tapped vfx house Rhythm & Hues Studios to create the CG-animated star of its upcoming feature film The Incredible Hulk, according to The Hollywood Reporter. It’s still unclear whether the film will be a sequel to Universal’s tepidly received 2003 Ang Lee film or a complete do-over, though recasting on both the acting and vfx sides suggests the latter. Rhythm & Hues has reportedly done a complete re-design of the Hulk character, which Industrial Light & Magic brought to life for the first film.

    Having brought Scooby-Doo and the The Chronicles of Narnia‘s Aslan to the big screen, Rhythm & Hues is adept at creating both cartoonish and photo-realistic character animtion. Given the comic-book origins of the big green guy, the Hulk gig could call for a mix of the two, especially if the anger-fueled superhero is going to be leaping miles into the air like he did in his last cinematic outing. The studio will continue to straddle that line with other upcoming projects, New Line Cinema’s His Dark Materials: The Golden Compass and the Fox 2000 Pictures/ Fox Animation’s live-action/CG movie based on the Alvin and the Chipmunks cartoon series.

    Like the upcoming Iron Man movie, The Incredible Hulk is being independently produced by Marvel Studios through its $525 million, non-recourse film finance facility and will be distributed domestically and in several international territories by Universal Pictures. The pic is being directed by action specialist Louis Leterrier (Transporter 2, Unleashed) from a script by Zak Penn (X2: X-Men United, X-Men: The Last Stand).

    Based on the Marvel comic-book series created by Stan Lee and Jack Kirby, the movie is scheduled to start production in Toronto in June for a June 27, 2008 release. No casting decisions have been announced but internet rumors have had Oscar winner Adrian Brody topping the list of actors likely to take over the role of Bruce Banner, first played by the late Bill Bixby on television and by Eric Bana on the big screen. The Incredible Hulk will hit theaters just weeks after the May 2 bow of director Jon Favreau’s Iron Man, which stars Robert Downey Jr., Gwyneth Paltrow, Terrence Howard and Jeff Bridges.

  • Dream Balloon, Atchity Shake Up Snowyville

    Michael Attardi’s award-winning animated short Once Upon a Christmas Village is set to become a feature through a co-production agreement signed by Dream Balloon COO Joseph Anselmo and Atchity Entertainment International chairman Kenneth Atchity. Titled Snowyville, the holiday movie is slated to go into production no later than September for a November/December 2008 release.

    Directed by Attardi, the 15 minute Once Upon a Christmas Village was created by animators from Digital Animation and Visual Effects Studio (D.A.V.E.) at Universal Studios-Orlando, FL. The film will have its European debut at the Cannes film Festival in May after picking up awards for Best Animation at the Washington D.C. and Delray Film Festivals, as well as the Garden State Festival where it also took Best Picture. At the 28th Annual Telly Awards, Village won in 10 categories: Best Animation, Best Musical Production, Best Cinematography, Best CGI Animation Film, Best Art Direction, Best Director of Camera, Best Sound Design, Best Music Lyrics, Best Special Effects in Animation and Best Animated Comedy.

    Michael Attardi and Joseph Anselmo created Dream Balloon Ent. to produce animated and live-action movies. They are working with Atchity and his producing partner, Chi-Li Wong, to complete production funding and are developing a feature-length script based on the short. The movie will be approximately 35% live action and 65% animation, with original music and lyrics by Attardi and co-music producer Dani Donadi.

    Other films in development at Atchity Ent. include Paramount’s Ripley’s Believe-It-Or-Not!, directed by Tim Burton’s and starring Jim Carrey, New Line’s prehistoric shark thriller Meg, directed by Jan de Bont, Fox 2000’s Demon Keeper and Universal’s 3 Men Seeking Monsters, starring Jon Heder.

  • Primeval Chomps on DVD in June

    If you’re a fan of creature features but decided to bypass Touchstone’s Primeval at the multiplex, you’re not alone. Loosely based in reality, the pic about a 25-foot crocodile was in and out of theaters faster than you could say ‘Crikey!,’ but it should bite off a bigger hunk of dough on home video. Buena Vista Home Entertainment will release the title on DVD on June 12 and is including a featurette on how the filmmakers created its computer-animated star.

    Directed by TV veteran Michale Katleman, Primeval stars Prison Break’s Dominic Purcell as a disgraced television reporter who takes a camera crew to South Africa in hopes of capturing the legendary Gustave, a 20-foot crocodile that has been credited with killing at least 300 humans. In addition to attacks by the one-ton reptile, the team also has to deal with the threat of a local dictator. The cast also includes Orlando Jones (Evolution), Brooke Langton (Benchwarmers) and Jurgen Prochnow (The Da Vinci Code).

    Luma Pictures handled the lion’s share of the digital creature effects work for the production, which is actually filmed in the area the attacks allegedly took place in real life. Luma’s previous credits include animating fierce werewolves for the Underworld films and blood-thirsty subterranean dwellers for The Cave.

    DVD viewers will be able to see how Luma went primeval in a featurette titled Croc-umentary: Bringing Gustave to Life. Other bonus features will include lost footage, deleted scenes with an optional director commentary and optional feature-length commentary with Katleman and actor Orlando Jones.

  • Boondocks Wins Peabody Award

    Cartoon Network’s The Boondocks was the only animated production to be recognized at that 66th Annual Peabody Awards. The selection board at the University of Georgia`s Grady College of Journalism and Mass Communication made its picks for best in electronic media for 2006 during a ceremony held Wednesday in the college’s Peabody Gallery. Broadcaster Bob Costas will host the official awards presentation on June 4 at the Waldorf-Astoria Hotel in New York City.

    The Boondocks installment ‘Return of the King’ was honored for being ‘an especially daring episode.’ The show imagines Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. reviving from a 32-year coma and outraging Americans of all colors and creeds by confronting them with truths that he, at least, still holds to be self-evident. The Martin Luther King Day special premiered on Jan. 8, 2006 and ranked No. 1 in its time period on basic cable with adults 18-34.

    Produced by Rebel Base for Sony Pictures Television, the controversial animated series is based on Aaron McGruder`s syndicated comic strip that has two young, streetwise African-American brothers learning to cope with life in an upscale suburban neighborhood when they’re sent to live with their cantankerous grandfather. The show debuted during Cartoon Network’s [adult swim] block in November of 2005 and currently has a second season in production.

    Other fictional TV productions among this year’s 35 award recipients were Showtime’s Brotherhood, ABC’s Ugly Betty, and the NBC series Scrubs, The Office and Friday Night Lights. To view the complete list of 2006 Peabody Award winners, go to www.peabody.uga.edu/news/pressrelease.asp?ID=14.

  • Bonnell Leaves Atari

    Infogrames co-founder Bruno Bonnell has left his varied positions at the company and Atari Inc., which Infogrames acquired in 2000. Since then, Bonnell has served as chairman of the board, chief creative officer, acting chief financial officer and a director for Atari. Effective immediately, he also ankles his chief executive officer and director posts at Infogrames, and all other positions with the company’s subsidiaries.

    “Since 2000 I have had the privilege of carrying the Atari flag in our industry,’ Bonnell comments. ‘I wish the very best to all the teams moving on with the company, and I have no doubt in their talent and experiences to bring Atari Inc. to the top.”

    Atari president and CEO David Pierce says, “Bruno Bonnell is a legend in the video games business. He was one of the early participants in the industry as we know it, and was responsible for major successes both on the creative and on the corporate side. We wish Bruno success with any future undertakings, and as a result of his dedication and efforts with Atari, Inc., we are well-positioned for our future endeavors.”

    Based in New York, Atari develops interactive games for all platforms and is a third-party publisher of interactive entertainment software in the U.S. Financial struggles led the company to overhaul its senior management team and close two key U.S. publishing studios in Santa Monica, Calif., and Beverly, Mass. The company also re-examined it product portfolio and decided to focus on core franchises and drop other titles. James Caparro stepped down from the CEO post in June of that year and layoffs reduced the company’s workforce by 20% in Feb. of 2006.

  • Animal Planet Makes Stuart First Movie

    Having focused on documentaries and reality programming involving pets and wildlife over the past 10 years, basic cable out Animal Planet plans to begin airing Hollywood product. According to Daily Variety, the channel’s first Saturday night movie will be Columbia Pictures’ 1999 family film Stuart Little, which combines live-action and CG animation. The flick will air on May 19 and will be followed in subsequent weeks by other animal-themed movies including fellow Columbia releases Fly Away Home and Winged Migration.

    Dubbed ‘Animal Planet at the Movies,’ the regular feature will also bring viewers such Disney favorites as the Air Bud series and both Homeward Bound movies. Dan Russell, Animal Planet’s VP of programming, is in talks with other major studios and plans to pick up at least 26 other films to air in primetime on Saturdays with repeats on Thursday nights.

    Animal Planet has already gone Hollywood by airing programming that ties into such animal-based movies as 20th Century Fox’s Eragon and Paramount’s Charlotte’s Web. The network may end up becoming another outlet for entirely animated features since the majority of them revolve around animal characters.