Animation Magazine

Author: Ryan Ball

  • Vintage Superman, Batman on Tap

    Warner Home Video announced that it will release the animated series The New Adventures of Superman (1966) and The New Adventures of Batman (1977) as two separate two-disc collector sets on June 26. Each release will feature all episodes of the Filmation shows, plus retrospective documentaries.

    The New Adventures of Superman will offer 36 installments of the CBS cartoon series that introduced to the screen intrepid reporter Jimmy Olsen and such iconic villains as Lex Luthor and Brainiac. The 6-minute vignettes will be accompanied by a featurette titled Superman in 66, which explores how the ’60s era influenced the character of Superman and how Filmation brought that out on screen.

    The New Adventures of Batman features the voices of Adam West and Burt Ward, who starred in the 1966 live-action series. The show has Batman, Robin and Batgirl battling various villains in Gotham City with the occasional help of Batmite, a dimensional imp. All 16 episodes are included, along with a doc titled Dark Versus Light’Filmation and the Batman. Through interviews with the president and publisher of DC Comics, the president of Warner Bros. Animation and others, the extra feature looks at the legacy of Filmation, its animation style and how the studio provided a lighter, more comical version of the brooding character introduced in the pages of Detective Comics. In addition, Filmation historian Michael Swanigan and Filmation founder Lou Schiemer will provide commentary on two of the episodes. Each disc set will retail for $26.99.

  • Midway Makes Aqua Teen Game

    As fans await next month’s release of the feature film based on the [adult swim] series Aqua Teen Hunger Force, Midway Games announced plans to develop a video game that revolves around the hit staple of Cartoon Network’s late-night programming block. Aqua Teen Hunger Force Zombie Ninja Pro-Am is scheduled to be available for PlayStation2 this fall.

    Aqua Teen Hunger Force Zombie Ninja Pro-Am is described as an epic, action-adventure combat golf-cart racing game that gives fans an opportunity to interact with the character from the show about three talking fast-food items who share a rental home in New Jersey. When Frylock is admitted to the prestigious Jersey Pines Golf Club, Master Shake decides to show the uppity members that he also deserves the benefits of membership. Meatwad is, of course, persuaded to join in and the three end up using golf clubs and a variety of other weapons in ways not intended as they battle numerous villains and fan-favorite characters from the show.

    Midway is working closely with Aqua Teen creators Matt Maiellaro and Dave Willis to bring the tone of the TV show and movie to the game. ‘This golden chalice represents a new age in gaming, the likes of which has never before been seen on this planet,’ Maiellaro and Willis quip. ‘The weak will tremble at the awesomeness of our full color, hand-made graphics!’

    Aqua Teen Hunger Force debuted with the September 2001 launch of [adult swim] and consists of more than 60 15-minute episodes. The show’s following has no doubt grown since the property was thrust into the national spotlight when Boston authorities recently mistook marketing materials for explosive devices. Turner is hoping the $2 million it paid the city for damages pays off when The Aqua Teen Hunger Force Colon Movie Film for Theaters opens on more than 800 screens nationwide on April 13.

  • Host Nabs Asian Film Awards

    The South Korean creature feature The Host grabbed four out of ten awards given out Monday night at the very first Asian Film Awards in Hong Kong. In addition to taking top honors for Best Film, the pic snatched up kudos for cinematography, acting and visual effects during the star-studded ceremony at the Hong Kong Convention and Exhibition Center. The event kicked off the Entertainment Expo Hong Kong, which runs through April 15, 2007.

    The Host, which opened in limited release in the U.S. on March 9, features CG animation and other visual effects by The Orphanage to tell the tale on one family’s struggle to rescue a loved one when a mutant amphibious creature emerges from Seoul’s Han River and begins attacking people.

    The genre film pulled off an upset in the Best Film category by beating a field of tough competitors that included Curse of the Golden Flower, the latest period epic from director Yimou Zhang (House of Flying Daggers, Hero). Neither Zhang nor Host director Joon Ho Bong were nominated for Best Director. That honor went to Zhangke Jia for China’s Still Life, one of the other four productions nominated for Best Film. Japan’s Love and Honor, Hong Kong’s Exiled and the Indonesia/Austria co-production Opera Jawa filled out the category.

    The Host also trumped Curse of the Golden Flower in the Best Visual Effects category. The other nominees were The Restless from South Korea, The Sinking of Japan from Japan and Memories of Matsuko from Japan. The Host‘s live-action shots also got some respect as lenser Hyung-goo Kim was named Best Cinematographer.

    In another upset, Host actor Kang-ho Song took Best Actor over Letters From Iwo Jima star Ken Wantanabe, who was nominated for the Japanese film Memories of Tomorrow, and Asian box office draw Andy Lau, who was up for his role in the multi-national co-pro A Battle of Wits. Best Actress went to Miki Nakatini for her role in Memories of Matsuko.

    The Asian Film Awards recognized 33 nominated Asian films nominated in 10 categories. The only fully animated film in contention was Tales From Earthsea, the directorial debut of Goro Miyazaki, son of the highly regarded Japanese animation director Hayao Miyazaki. The movie’s Tamiya Terashima was up for Best Composer but lost to Rahayu Supanggah for Opera Jawa.

    The Asian Film Awards is a presentation of the Hong Kong International Film Festival Society, a non-profit, non-government organization which develops, promotes and encourages creativity in the art and culture of film through the annual Hong Kong International Film Festival (HKIFF) and the Hong Kong’Asia Film Financing Forum (HAF). For more information on the awards, go to www.hkiff.org.hk/afa/eng/introduction.htm.

  • Next Miyazaki Pic Announced

    After threatening to retire more than once, celebrated Japanese filmmaker Hayao Miyazaki is back in the director’s chair for a new film titled Gake no ue no Ponyo (Ponyo on a Cliff). The hand-drawn feature will reportedly have a pastel, watercolor look and will be released in Japan by Toho in the summer of 2008. Disney, which distributes Miyazaki’s films in the U.S., will likely release the pic in the states.

    Written by Miyazaki, the film’s story takes place mostly at sea and revolves around a five-year-old boy named Sosuke, who encounters an enchanted character named Ponyo, a goldfish princess who wants to become human. The Sosuke character is based on the director’s own grandson and one of the themes explored in the story is the closeness between a parent and child. According to Studio Ghibli news site www.nausicaa.net, Miyazaki has been reflecting on his relationship with his own son, filmmaker Goro Miyazaki (Tales of Earthsea), with whom he feels he didn’t spend enough time.

  • Everyone’s Hero at Bat on Disc

    The independently produced, CG-animated family feature Everyone’s Hero slides home today following a brief stay in theaters back in September. The pic, produced by Starz Media and co-directed by late actor Christopher Reeve, earned just $14.5 million domestically but should find a wider audience on disc, where animation tends to make most of its money.

    Co-directed by Colin Brady and Dan St. Pierre, Everyone’s Hero tells the story of Yankee Irving, a young boy who makes a is thousand-mile trek to return Babe Ruth’s stolen bat and help the New York Yankees win the World Series. The period piece also features talking baseball gear and boasts the voices of Rob Reiner, Whoopi Goldberg, William H. Macy, Forest Whitaker, Brian Dennehy, Richard Kind, Raven-Symone, Mandy Patinkin, Robert Wagner, Jake T. Austin, Ed Helms and Dana Reeve.

    DVD extras include a making-of featurette, theatrical trailers, a tribute to Christopher and Dana Reeve, and commentary by Brady, St. Pierre and writers Jeff Hand and Rob Kurtz. The Fox Home Entertainment release carries a suggested retail price of $29.99.

  • Warner Heroes Unite on DVD

    Exciting superhero action from Warner Bros. Animation flies to home video today with the release of Justice League Unlimited: Season 2 and Batman Beyond: Season 3. Also in the offing is a five-disc collector’s edition set of BKN’s Kong: The Animated Series and the complete 1965 The Milton the Monster Show animated series from Hal Seeger Prods.

    Some new caped crusaders join the team in the second season of the popular Justice League Unlimited, which also sees the formation of the Legion of Doom, a conglomerate of super villains led by Superman’s arch nemesis, Lex Luthor. The two-disc collection contains all 13 episodes plus bonus features, including Cadmus Exposed, which has producer Bruce Timm and other creative minds behind the series discussing of the entire Cadmus storyline with moderator Mark Hamill, who voices the roles of The Joker and The Trickster. Timm will also join some of his collaborators in discussing on a trio of fan-favorite episode acts from the season, and will introduce a music-only track of the episode ‘Destroyer.’

    Batman: Beyond: Season 3 offers the final 13 episodes of the Emmy-winning series, in which an aging Bruce Wayne has passed the cape and cowl on to young Terry McGinnis. The disc set includes a discussion panel with producers Bruce Timm, Alan Burnett, Paul Dini and Glen Murakami. The creative minds behind the series also offer their thoughts on favorite moments from key episodes ‘Out of the Past,’ ‘The Call, Part 1,’ ‘The Call, Part 2’ and ‘The Curse of Kobra, Part 1.’ Both Warner Home video release list for $26.99.

    The animated Kong gift set includes the first two volumes of Kong: The Animated Series and the CG-animated feature Kong: Return To The Jungle. In the movie, Kong and other remarkable inhabitants of Kong Island are captured and transported to a state-of-the-art zoo on the Island of Manhattan. However, this great ape won’t suffer the same fate as his famous ancestor. The release retails for $29.95 and comes packaged with a Kong toy that grows when it gets wet.

    All 26 episodes of the Saturday morning oddity Milton the Monster Show makes its way to DVD to delight fans and introduce new audiences to the loveable man-made creature created in a laboratory by Hill, Professor Weirdo and Count Kook. The show originally aired for one season on ABC (1965-1967) and also featured cartoons starring such characters as Stuffy Durma, Flukey Luke, Penny the Penguin and Fearless Fly. DVD bonus features include Hal Seeger Home Movies: Milton & Fearless Fly At The N.Y.C. Toy Fair, Sheriff For a Day‘a live-action short starring Flukey Luke, test footage for the live-action short, and the bonus cartoon Wilbur the Wanted. The Shout! Factory release lists for $34.98.

  • Bandai Goes HD with Freedom

    Bandai Visual will release Freedom Vol. 1, its first HD DVD title, simultaneously in the U.S. and Japan on June 26. The collection of episodes from the bestselling series will be available as a two-disc set containing both HD and standard DVD Editions, and will also be available online in Japan at www.dot-anime.com, an anime portal operated by Anime Channel Co. Ltd. Geneon Ent., Bandai Visual’s North American distributor, will handle the title in the U.S.

    Freedom is a science-fiction series set on the moon’s surface and focuses on a youth whose actions threaten to shake the freedom and peace of the city of Eden, the last human settlement. Two volumes of the six-part series have been released so far in Japan and have seen more than 100,000 units shipped to date. The title has not yet been released in North America.

    The Freedom HD release is the product to come out of a collaborative project of Bandai Visual, Memory-Tech Corp. and Microsoft to fine-tune the VC1 video codec specification to improve the visual quality of anime. After the title debuts, Bandai Visual will start releasing other HD DVD and Blu-ray titles in Japan, with plans to distribute overseas under its international label, Honneamise.

    The twin disc release will also support interactive functions through an HDi network and will retail for $39.99. Further information will be available at www.bandaivisual.us/freedom and t www.myspace.com/honneamise.

  • GONZO Shows Stuck on goo

    Five popular TV series produced by GDH K.K.’s main production subsidiary, GONZO K.K., are launching today on goo, an Internet portal operated by NTT Resonant Inc. The shows are part of the GONZO Selection service on the goo Anime channel.

    The GONZO Selection will initially feature the series Pumpkin Scissors, Witchblade, Glass Fleet, Basilisk and Red Garden. The titles will be available for a fee on goo, as well as content website BROBA, Internet service provider OCN (Open Computer Network) and FLET’S Square, a website for subscribers of Nippon Telegraph and Telephone East Corp.’s FLET’S services. FunBee, an exclusive, fee online service for FLET’S users, will also carry the episodes for one year.

    Installments of GONZO’s new TV sereis Romeo X Juliet, which is slated to premiere on TBS and CBC this April, will be distributed free of charge through “goo Anime” for two weeks following the final broadcast date of each episode. The episodes will then be provided for a charge through goo Anime and on OCN. The five aforementioned titles will also be distributed through exclusive mobile phone site Anime Full Channel Powered by goo.

  • Stop Mo Expo Coming to Burbank

    Fans of stop-motion animation will want to take part in ASIFA-Hollywood’s inaugural Stop Mo Expo, a celebration of the art form taking place on April 21 at Woodbury University in Burbank, Calif. The day’long event will feature panels, seminars and rare film screenings, as well as appearances by Will Vinton, Corky Quakenbush, the Chiodo Bros., Jim Aupperle, Randy Cook and a number of other talented artists and technicians who are keeping the art of stop-motion alive and relevant.

    The panels and seminars will run from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Topic will nclude Stop Motion in the Computer Age (moderated by Edward Chiodo), Ask the Experts (Tennessee Reed Norton), Stop Motion Education (Larry Loc), Sets, Lighting, Camera (Jim Aupperle) and Evolution of Stop Motion Animation (Stephen Chiodo).

    The screenings will begin at 6 p.m. and continue until to 10 p.m. Selections will include The Great Cognito by Will Vinton, Africa Partings by Robyn Yannoukos, Blood and Sunflowers by Christiane Cegavske, Butter Dove by Jean Ngo, Raging Rudolph by Corky Quakenbush, Keep It Down by Max Maddox and Brady Serwitz, and Viscous Cycles and Sergeant Swell of the Mounties by Len Janson and Chuck Menville.

    The 8 p.m.-10 p.m. block will be reserved for screenings of rare 16mm stop-motion prints from the extensive collection of Mark Kausler. These will include The Mascot from Ladyslaw Starewicz, 1930s Philips Radio Commercials and Rare Puppetoons from George Pal and Eastern European stop-mo from the ’30s.

    There will also be a stop-motion animation jam where professionals, students and members of the Movies By Kids after-school program will collaborate on a short film as attendees watch. In addition, a number of stop-motion artifacts will be on display. These include part of the Oogie Boogie set from Tim Burton’s The Nightmare Before Christmas from the ASIFA-Hollywood Archives, an animation model from Africa Partings and a number of items from Chiodo Bros. Prods.

    All tickets will be available for purchase at the door. Admission for the two events can be purchased separately or in a packaged deal. Prices for ASIFA members are $25 for the day event and $20 for the film festival, or $35 for both. Non-members can get in for $35 for the day, $30 for the festival or $50 for the package deal. Woodbury University is located at 7500 Glenoaks Blvd. in Burbank, Calif.

  • 300 Wins Second Battle

    Director Zack Snyder’s adaptation of the Frank Miller graphic Novel 300 held onto the top spot at the North American box office for a second week, crossing the $100 million mark in the process. Made for a relatively modest $65 million, the CG-heavy movie has already earned approximately $127 million domestically and is topping charts overseas as it begins to roll out internationally. Stateside, mixed word-of-mouth contributed to a 56% drop in attendance from its opening frame, but that’s affordable when you have a $70 million March debut.

    The week’s newcomers proved unworthy adversaries for the Spartan soldiers and the weekend road warriors in Disney’s Wild Hogs. The ensemble motorcycle comedy took in an estimated $18.8 million to stay at No. 2, while Sony’s Sandra Bullock thriller, Premonition, finished in third with a respectable $18 million (est.).

    Dead Silence, the latest horror effort from the producers of Saw, was fairly quiet in its first week out of the gate. The heavily promoted chiller taps into the nearly universal fear of ventriloquist dummies but only managed a $7.7 million, fourth-place debut. Rounding out the top-five is writer/director/star Chris Rock’s I Think I Love My Wife. The dramedy from Fox Searchlight didn’t get much affection from audiences as it racked up around $5.7 million in 1,776 theaters domestically.

    Next week sees the debut of TMNT, the CG-animated feature that will relaunch the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles franchise. The action-adventure pic was animated by Imagi in Hong Kong and is being released by Warner Bros. and The Weinstein Co. Read about the making of the movie in the latest issue of Animation Magazine.

  • Disney Says Pixar Backdating Was Legal

    In August of last year, the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) began looking into the possible illegal backdating of stock options issued to Pixar employees, including principles John Lasseter and Ed Catmull. The Walt Disney Co. also launched an internal investigation and today chairman of the board John E. Pepper, Jr. issued a statement saying Pixar’s stock option practices were on the level prior to the Disney purchase.

    ‘The Committee and Board have concluded that while options were backdated at Pixar prior to the acquisition, no one currently associated with the company engaged in any intentional or deliberate acts of misconduct.’ Pepper states. ‘The board further determined that Disney should address the additional income tax liability issues facing Pixar employees who hold such options, including participating in programs established by the IRS and the State of California to facilitate the payment of such taxes on behalf of employees. The company expects that the impact associated with remedying these tax issues will not be material to the Disney financial statements.”

    Pixar filings showed Catmull and Lasseter received one million and two million options respectively on Dec. 6, 2006, when the stock price was at a low for the period. The stock then went up more than 20% a couple weeks later, and was up approximately 50% by the end of January, possibly yielding a windfall of as much as $12 million for Lasseter and $6 million for Catmull. Also under suspicion were stock options issued to Lasseter in 1997, just before Pixar inked its first deal with Disney.

  • Giant Behemoth Rampages to DVD

    Pioneering stop-motion animator Willis O’Brien is best known for bringing a towering ape to the screen in the original 1933 King Kong, but many also admire the work he did with the very talented Pete Peterson in the 1958 creature feature The Giant Behemoth. A new DVD edition of the film will be released on June 26 as part of Warner Home Video’s Cult Camp Classics Collection.

    A few years after helming the Ray Harryhausen classic The Beast from 20,000 Fathoms, director Eugene Lourie teamed with O’Brien, Harryhausen’s mentor, to unleash another prehistoric monster on an unsuspecting metropolis. In The Giant Behemoth, atomic radiation causes a paleosaurus to rise from the ocean depths and terrorize London, toppling buildings and crushing everything in its path. O’Brien oversaw the film’s effects work and the lion’s share of the animation was handled by Peterson, who worked with O’Brien on 1949’s Mighty Joe Young and 1957’s The Black Scorpion.

    In addition to having a new DVD of the movie, fans can look forward to hearing commentary by veteran special effects supervisors Dennis Muren and Phil Tippett, who were inspired by this and other classic monster flicks to go on and win Academy Awards for visual effects in Jurassic Park and a number of other modern favorites. The film will be packaged with two other sci-fi thrillers from the same year, Attack of the 50 Foot Woman and Queen of Outer Space.

    Three other volumes in Warner’s Cult Camp Classics Collection will also be releaed on Jun 26, featuring such time-honored guilty pleasures as Trog (1969), Hot Rods to Hell (1966) and Zero Hour! (1957). Each volume will carry a suggested retail price of 29.98. Each film will also be sold separately for $14.97.

  • Aardman Finds Mobile Home in Player X

    British clay animation house Aardman Animations has signed Player X to distribute its premium mobile video content in North America. Player X will launch Aardman classic content such as the Wallace & Gromit, Angry Kid and Creature Comforts shorts on two major U.S. carrier networks with other deals expected to follow. The deal was brokered by Aardman’s global mobile agent, Crucible Media.

    Player X already distributes Aardman mobile video across Scandinavia and on O2 UK. Later this month the company will launch a dedicated Aardman channel on O2 UK, and will distribute upcoming original made-for mobile content based on such Aardman properties as Purple and Brown and Shaun The Sheep. The mobile distributor is also sponsoring an Aardman short film competition and will acquire exclusive global rights of the winning entry after judging concludes later this quarter.

    In December of last year, Player X launched its mobile TV channel, geekTV, with U.K. operator 3 UK, and has recently sold the channel in a number of territories including India, Chile and Scandinavia. The company boasts direct deals with more than 100 global operators and a potential audience of more than two billion people.

    After making the animated features Chicken Run, Wallace and Gromit: Curse of the Were-Rabbit and Flushed Away with DreamWorks Animation, Aardman is currently working to set a deal with another North American studio for its movie business. On the broadcast side, the company is bringing Chop Socky Chooks to Cartoon Network and TELETOON, Shaun The Sheep to BBC and WDR, and an American version of Creature Comforts to CBS in the U.S.

  • Platinum’s Comic Book Challenge Returns

    Platinum Studios has announced its second Comic Book Challenge, a contest for aspiring comic book writers and artists worldwide. New and unpublished comic creators are encouraged to submit their ideas for a chance to have their property developed for print, online, film and television. Last year’s winner, Hero By Night by DJ Coffman, will see its first issue hit retail on March 21.

    The top 50 semi-finalists in the Comic Book Challenge will be invited to pitch their concepts live to a panel of industry insiders at the San Diego Comic-Con in July. Judges will include Scott Mitchell Rosenberg, chairman of Platinum Studios and founder of Malibu Comics, where he discovered and developed Men In Black, and Marc Silvestri, founder and CEO of Top Cow Comics.

    “We were amazed by the industry-wide support for the Comic Book Challenge last year and the quality of submissions we received,’ says Rosenberg. ‘We are excited to bring it back for a second year. DJ Coffman, our 2006 winner, is a fantastic talent and we are thrilled to debut his Hero By Night at Wizard World Los Angeles and online at DrunkDuck.com.”

    Coffman will accompany Platinum Studios to unveil Hero By Night #1 at the Wizard World Los Angeles convention, being held March 16-18. Hero By Night Diaries, the prequel to the book release, is available online at www.drunkduck.com/Hero_By_Night_Diaries.

    Comic book fans will be able to vote for one of the top three finalists in this year’s competition by logging on to www.comicbookchallenge.com or www.drunkduck.com/comicbookchallenge. All contest dates will be announced shortly.

  • W!LDBRAIN Goes Long for Esurance

    Those who enjoy the Esurance TV ads animated by W!LDBRAIN will be able to catch the debut of the campaign’s first long-form commercial during the FX Network’s premiere of I,Robot on Monday, March 19, at 7:30 p.m. (ET/ PT). Titled ‘Carbon Copy,’ the ad features a cliff-hanger ending intended to drive viewers to watch the full three-minute short at www.esurance.com.

    ‘Carbon Copy’ stars animated, pink-haired heroine Erin Esurance as she battles clones, killer robotic plants and a mad scientist who plots to destroy the Earth. After its debut, the auto insurance spot will air during five other broadcasts of I,Robot, the CG-laden Will Smith vehicle based on the classic sci-fi book by Isaac Asimov. The full short will also be shown at film festivals and other events sponsored by Esurance throughout 2007.

    This latest installment in the campaign is the seventeenth Flash-animated commercial W!LDBRAIN has produced for Esurance since the campaign first aired in July of 2004. Directed by W!LDBRAIN’s Phil Robinson, the spots have developed a bit of a following with their hip animation style, action-packed story lines and sexy toon star.

  • Hellboy Returns

    Everyone’s favorite do-good demon is back in the all-new animated feature Hellboy: Blood and Iron, premiering on Cartoon Network on Saturday, March 17 at 7 p.m. A follow-up to the well-received Hellboy: Sword of Storms, this second installment in the series throws vampires, werewolves, ghosts, harpies and one pissed-off dark goddess at our big, red hero and his fellow agents of the Bureau for Paranormal Research and Defense.

    Blood and Iron is quite different in tone from Sword of Storms, which had Hellboy thrust into a fantasy world of Japanese folklore. Supervising producer and director Tad Stones tells us the intent with this latest adventure was to evoke the spirit of Hammer Films, the legendary movie studio that cranked out a plethora of modestly budgeted gothic horror flicks in the 1960s and ’70s. The story focuses more on the Professor Broom character, who must again do battle with a beautiful vampire he thought he killed many years ago.

    Stones collaborated on the story with Mike Mignola, creator of the Hellboy comics that started the franchise. Mignola also serves as a creative producer on the animated pics, along with Oscar-nominated filmmaker Guillermo del Toro, who directed the 2004 live-action Hellboy feature. Reprising their roles from that film are Ron Perlman as the voice of Hellboy, Selma Blair as Liz Sherman, John Hurt at Professor Broom and Doug Jones as Abe Sapien. Peri Gilpin from TV’s Frasier also returns as professor Kate Corrigan, a role she voiced in Sword of Storms.

    Blood and Iron moves back and forth between present time and 1939, when Professor Broom first encountered Erzsebet Ondrushko, a female vampire who bathed in the blood of young women to stay young. When he suspects that someone in a mansion in upstate New York is trying to bring her back to life, the elderly Broom decides to investigate and finds Hellboy, Liz, Abe and Kate tagging along to make sure he doesn’t get hurt. The film culminates in a epic battle with Hecate, the powerful Queen of Witches, who wants Hellboy to embrace his destiny as a destroyer of mankind.

    The series of Hellboy animated features is produced by Starz Media and animated by the company’s Film Roman and Japanese studio Madhouse. A third film, Hellboy: The Phantom Claw, is currently in the works and wil feature Lobster Johnson, a popular character from the comic-book series.

    Following Saturday night’s premiere on Cartoon Network, Hellboy:Blood and Iron will be released on DVD by Anchor Bay on June 12. More information on this release and the animated Hellboy universe in general can be found at http://hellboyanimated.typepad.com.

  • Aja Reeled in for Piranha

    Look out, Nemo, there may be some killer CG fish making their way to the big screen as Hollywood continues its love affair with horror remakes. The Hollywood Reporter brings word that French filmmaker Alexandre Aja (Haute Tension) has signed on to direct Dimension Films’ redo of Joe Dante’s 1978 low-budget creature feature Piranha. Aja’s, whose last directorial effort was the financially successful remake of Wes Craven’s 1977 cult classic The Hills Have Eyes, is also rewriting the script for Piranha and will serve as a producer.

    Produced by schlock master Roger Corman to capitalize on the popularity of Jaws, the original Piranha boasts a screenplay by respected filmmaker John Sayles and some brief stop-motion animation work by vfx guru Phil Tippett. The story had killer fish from the Amazon accidentally released from a research facility and unleashed on unsuspecting resort patrons and summer camp kids. The piranhas returned, this time with wings, in a 1981 sequel directed by James Cameron of Titanic fame.

    In the remake, the toothy swimmers will infest Arizona’s Lake Havasu and munch on drunken spring breakers after an earthquake opens a rift in the lake floor. Aja told the trade that his goal is not to remake the original film, but to create something completely new while paying homage to the work of Dante and Cameron, and all the creature features that have inspired his career.

  • Classic Gumby Goes Online

    As he celebrates his 50th anniversary, green, clay-animated pop culture icon Gumby is all over the web today. Classic episodes of The Gumby Show, including the pilot “Gumby on the Moon,” are now available on Google and AOL/In2TV. In addition, the flexible one has his own dedicated Gumby area on YouTube at the DMGI channel (www.youtube.com/dmgivideo).

    The original TV episodes from the ’50s and ’60s have been digitally remastered by Joe Clokey, son of Gumby creator Art Clokey. The ’50s episodes have also been restored to their original eleven-minute format, having been previously re-edited to create two six-minute shorts. All 223 installments, complete with restored soundtracks, will roll out over the digital channels during the next few months.

    ‘For 50 years, Gumby, with his innate goodness and eternal optimism, has inspired us to look at the bright side of life,’ says Joe Clokey, president of Clokey Prods. ‘His imaginative and creative adventures have always struck a chord with people. Gumby’s digital launch is the perfect way to give the gift of these stories to today’s audience and help inspire generations to come.”

    Clokey hopes the Internet offerings will help introduce Gumby to a new generation of animation fans. Other efforts to relaunch the property include the upcoming fall release of The Essential Gumby DVD collection and this April’s debut of the re-mastered director’s cut of the 1995 Gumby Movie at the Tribeca Film Festival in New York City.

    The Gumby Show episodes are being distributed by DMGI, a digital distributor of independently owned music, TV, film and video catalogs. The company licensed the episodes from Classic Media and Premavision.

  • New Ratatouille Footage Online

    A Chinese trailer for the upcoming Disney/Pixar movie Ratatouille has surfaced on YouTube, offering some previously unreleased footage and more insight into the story. The dialog is in English with Chinese subtitles.

    Ratatouille stars comedian Patton Oswalt as the voice of a rodent who lives in a Paris eatery and fancies himself a gourmand. As the new trailer reveals, he joins forces with a kitchen boy who can’t cook and together they set out to become the greatest chef in Paris.

    The film’s director, Brad Bird (The Incredibles, The Iron Giant), showed 12 minutes of the film at last week’s ShoWest, an exhibitor’s convention held annually in Las Vegas. Between that presentaton and the various versions of trailers, the toon studio has been quite generous in offering fans sneak peeks at the pic, which opens nationwide on June 29.

    Catch the Chinese trailer at www.youtube.com/watch?v=d8hjmPw2drg&eurl=http%3A%2F%2Fupcomingpixar%2Eblogspot%2Ecom%2F. The very different U.S. trailer is located on the web at http://disney.go.com/disneypictures/ratatouille/trailer/flvplayer.html.

  • S4 Brands Chiller Channel

    Launching a new cable network can be a scary proposition, but that’s the whole point of NBC-Universal Cable Entertainment’s Chiller, new all-HD channel featuring 24-hour horror and thriller programming. To create on-air branding for the endeavor, the conglomerate turned to Hollywood’s S4 Studios, which used CG animation and effects to create five original teasers, five multipurpose graphics packages for station Ids and bumpers, and a 90-second pre-launch promo that introduces all of Chiller’s graphic elements.

    Created by S4 director/designer Geoffrey Kater, writer/producer Larry Le Francis and creative director Thomas Helmintoller, the branding pieces present a large, rundown, dark metropolis that is intended to evoke a sense of dread and mystery.

    ‘Each graphics package dealt with a specific location in the city,’ Kater explains. ‘They included a freaky warehouse, a bus stop at night, a sewer, the inside of an industrial fan, and a wall with bricks that seem to breathe with a life of their own.’

    Other graphic elements feature an otherworldly airport security man watching a suitcase full of bones go through X-Ray, a melting painting and a haunted house guarded by a chain link fence made up of tiny skulls.

    ‘What was most important to us was capturing the more psychological and subtle themes and visuals associated with horror,’ Kater adds. ‘We wanted to create scenes that would be horrific without showing one drop of blood or violence.’

    Kater and the S4 team of animators created the CG elements using Lightwave 9.running on Windows XP Pro. Once the computer-generated images were composited with live-action bluescreen shots, After Effects 7 and Photoshop CS were utilized to add numerous effects until the 100-plus HD elements were fully integrated.

    Chiller launched March 1 on DirecTV and will be available as an HD simulcast channel (with standard definition), with video-on-demand and broadband-on-demand also available. To view S4’s Chiller campaign, go to www.s4studios.com.