Animation Magazine

Author: Ryan Ball

  • Dinos, Ghostbusters, Gamers on Disc

    One of the most successful home video franchises in history continues with today’s release of The Land Before Time: The Great Day of the Flyers. The feature hits retail along with Ghostbusters’The Animated Series Vol. 1, Captain N The Game Master’The Complete Series and Little Einsteins: The Legend of the Golden Pyramid.

    The Land Before Time: The Great Day of the Flyers, the twelfth installment in the evergreen animated property, finds Petrie gearing up to fly with his family in the Day of the Flyers event. In the process, he realizes how different he is from his brothers and sisters when his features cause problems in the family’s flight formations. It will take a run-in with a new creature named Guido to make Petrie embrace his uniqueness. Meanwhile, Cera copes with the arrival of a new baby sister and the amount of attention the newborn diverts from herself.

    Extras include Petrie and Guido’s Flying Game, Guido’s Sleepwalking Adventure, three sing-along songs, a “Dino-Mite Read-Along” with stills from the movie, interactive coloring pages, wallpapers and printable activities. The Universal Home Entertainment release carries a suggested retail price of $19.98.

    Brentwood Home Video today released the first volume of Ghostbusters’The Animated Series, the 1986 Filmation cartoon show based on the 1975 live-action comedy series, The Ghost Busters, rather than the hit 1984 feature. In the show, Jake Kong Jr., Eddie Spencer Jr. and Tracy the ape are supernatural investigators who use a device called a dematerializer to zap ghosts and send them to another dimension.

    The set contains the first 32 of 65 episodes on 6 discs. Bonus materials include creator interviews with producer Lou Scheimer, writer Robby London and directors Tom Tataranowicz and Tom Sito. There’s also a Ghostbusters anti-drug spot, a 10-minute presentation of the original promo pilot, a slideshow storyboard for the episode “Laser and Future Rock,” an image gallery including the original hero model sheets and sketches, series trivia, Easter eggs and the complete five-episode script for the Ghostbusters origin story on DVD-ROM. Also included is the fist episode of the live-action series, The Ghost Busters, starring Forrest Tucker, Larry Storch and Bob Burns as Tracy the ape. The set lists for $39.98.

    The Nintendo video game universe gets the cartoon treatment in Captain N The Game Master’The Complete Series. This compilation of episodes from the 1989 Saturday morning show follows the adventures of Kevin Keene, a teenager from Northridge, Calif., who is transported to another universe known as Videoland to defeat an evil villainess known as Mother Brain (the villain from Metroid). Given the title “Captain N: The Game Master,” Kevin joins the N Team, which consists of Princess Lana (the ruler of Videoland), Simon Belmont (the hero from Castlevania), Mega Man, Kid Icarus and a giant supercomputer dubbed Gameboy. Other characters include King Hippo from Punch-Out, the Eggplant Wizard from Kid Icarus and Dr. Wily from Mega Man.

    Extra features on the Captain N four-disc set include an interactive look at the Videoland concept art titled Exploring Videoland, Nintendo Power’s “Captain Nintendo” story and animated character bios. The Shout Factory release can be had for the list price of $34.98

    For the tykes, Buena Vista Home Video offers Little Einsteins: The Legend of the Golden Pyramid, featuring three episodes of the educational animated TV series for preschoolers. The title includes an interactive storybook and carries the suggested retail price of $19.99.

  • EA Names Riccitiello CEO

    John Riccitiello has been hired to replace Larry Probst at CEO of Electronic Arts. Riccitiello, who previously served as EA’s president and chief operating officer responsible for global publishing, online and other corporate functions before leaving the company in 2004, will officially take the CEO on April 2 and will also join the company’s board of directors. Probst will stay on as exec chairman of the board.

    “Leading EA has always been my dream job and I am truly honored that Larry and the board have given me this opportunity,” Riccitiello comments. “This is an extremely well-run company driven by outstanding studio and publishing teams. They’ve also made strategic investments in new platforms and markets that will help extend EA’s industry leadership in the years ahead.”

    After leaving EA in 2004, Riccitiello became a co-founder and managing partner at Elevation Partners. His responsibilities with the company included overseeing its video-game business. He also serves on the board of directors of Hyperion Solutions Corp.

    Headquartered in Redwood City, Calif., Electronic Arts develops, publishes and distributes interactive software worldwide under brand names EA, EA SPORTS, EA SPORTS BIG and POGO. In fiscal 2006, the company posted revenue of $2.95 billion and had 27 titles that sold more than one million copies.

  • Comedy Central Debuts Web Shows

    Animated series and other broadband favorites from comedycentral.com and AtomFilms will make the leap to the tube in Web Shows, a new half-hour late-night series set to premiere on Comedy Central on Monday, March 5, at 2 a.m. (ET/PT). The debut airing will introduce the first of six episodes of the show, Comedy Central’s first on-air collaboration with fellow MTV Networks division AtomFilms.

    Web Shows will feature the animated shorts series Baxter & McGuire, Golden Age, Monster Ballz, Odd Todd and Shadow Rock. A number of live-action and puppet productions will also be included in the mix.

    From The King of Queens creator Michael J. Weithorn and writer/actor/dancer Nick Bakay, Baxter & McGuire is a buddy-comedy that chronicles the adventures of two best friends who happen to be testicles. Golden Age, created by Aaron Augenblick at Augenblick Studios (Wonder Showzen) and written by Late Night with Conan O’Brien scribe Tim Harrod, tells the shocking true stories of the world’s strangest cartoons from the past. Monster Ballz from Paul Rodenburg centers on four monsters that all live in the same castle, while Todd Rosenberg’s Odd Todd follows one man’s adventures in unemployment. Humor is brought out from the deepest and darkest recesses of the human mind in Shadow Rock, a toon series from Max Cannon, the artist behind Red Meat, a popular cult comic strip featured weekly in The Onion.

    Following the March 5 premiere, Web Shows will air in encore presentations on Thursday nights at 2 a.m. The animated and live-action series featured can be viewed online in Comedy Central’s Motherload, a broadband offering at www.comedycentral.com.

  • Disney’s Spectrobes Unveiled

    Disney Interactive Studios officially introduced its new Nintendo DS video game franchise, Spectrobes, over the weekend during a world premiere event at Disneyland’s Tomorrowland. Special guest Jason Dolley from the Disney Channel series Cory in the House joined Disney Interactive Studios’ producer Kentaro Hisai in welcoming 60 local fourth graders from Gauer Elementary School to be among the first to play the innovative title.

    Spectrobes takes players on an intergalactic journey as two junior Planetary Patrol officers named Rallen and Jeena set out to save the galaxy by awakening, training and collecting prehistoric creatures known as Spectrobes. These creatures hold the key to defeating merciless enemies known as the Krawl.

    The students were able to give the game a spin at multiple kiosks in Tomorrowland as videos depicting the Spectrobes story origin played in the background. The youngsters also had the opportunity to meet Dolley and talk to him about the game. Hisai, who flew in from Japan for the event, was also on hand to answer all gameplay questions. At the end of the unveiling, all 60 students each received a first copy of Spectrobes and a brand-new Nintendo DS to play it on.

    Disney Interactive says Spectrobes takes full advantage of the unique qualities of the Nintendo DS platform, including its revolutionary touch screen and microphone. The title’s gameplay involves excavating and awakening dormant creatures with the stylus and voice commands. The game will also include local wireless gameplay, Wi-Fi downloadable content and a compatible online community. In addition, each game will include a pack of four trading cards that hold codes which can be activated by placing the card over the touch screen and tapping numeric holes to unlock special items. Developed by Kyoto, Japan-based Jupiter Corp., Spectrobes is rated ‘E’ for Everyone and will be available at retail worldwide on March 13. For more information, go http://www.spectrobes.com.

  • Final Fantasy Wins at American Anime Awards

    Square Enix’s CG-animated film Final Fantasy VII: Advent Children picked up the award for Best Anime Feature at the inaugural American Anime Awards. Held in conjunction with the New York Comic-Con on Saturday, Feb. 24, the event is designed to honor the best in Japanese-style animation as voted by anime fans nationwide. Another big winner was the FUNimation series Full Metal Alchemist, which was named Best Long Series and claimed awards for its cast, its theme song and its DVD package design.

    In the feature film category, Final Fantasy VII: Advent Children beat a field of strong competitors including Full Metal Alchemist: The Movie, Akira, Inuyasha Movie 4: Fire on Mystic Island and Pokemon Movie 8: Lucario and the Mystery of Mew.

    “Thanks to the dedication of our loyal fans, Final Fantasy VII has come to enjoy 10 years of undying popularity,” says producer Shinji Hashimoto. ‘Final Fantasy VII: Advent Children, a direct sequel in the compilation of the Final Fantasy VII series, brings the series into the next century with today’s state-of-the-art CG, and we’re sure fans enjoyed seeing old friends brought to new life on the screen. As creators, we are very proud of the finished product, and as developers, it is truly an honor to receive an award of this magnitude.’

    Released directly to home video by Sony Pictures Home Entertainment, Final Fantasy VII: Advent Children revisits the rich universe and memorable characters of Final Fantasy VII, one of the best selling video games of all time. The film is directed by famed character designer Tetsuya Nomura, whose credits include Final Fantasy VII, VIII, X and the Kingdom Hearts video game series, and features the voices of Steve Burton (The Last Castle, Taken), Rachael Leigh Cook (She’s All That, Josie and the Pussycats) and Mena Suvari (American Beauty, Rumor Has It). More info on the movie can be found at http://na.square-enix.com/dvd/ff7ac.

    FLCL (Fooly Cooly) from Gainax, Production I.G. and director Kazuya Tsurumaki took home a pair of awards for Best Comedy Anime and Best Short Series. Meanwhile, the Best Manga award went to Fruits Basket, sh?jo manga series created by Natsuki Takaya and serialized in the semi-monthly Japanese magazine Hana to Yume (Flowers and Dreams), which is published by Hakusensha. A full list of winners for the first annual American Anime Awards can be found at www.americananimeawards.com.

  • Cartoon Network Visits Land Before Time

    After a number of successful big-screen and direct-to-video releases, the popular animated franchise The Land Before Time will make its television series debut on Cartoon Network next month. Young fans look forward to all-new adventures for Littlefoot, Cera, Ducky, Petrie and Spike starting Monday, March 5, at 9:30 a.m. (ET/PT).

    Like the movies, the Land Before Time series will follow the adventures of a diverse group of young dinosaurs who prove that by working together and overcoming their differences they can triumph over the physical and social obstacles of their prehistoric world. Littlefoot the Apatosaurus, Cera the Triceratops, Ducky the Parasaurolophus, Petrie the Pterodactyl and Spike the Stegosaurus will be joined by returning character Chomper the sweet-natured T. Rex and their new friend, Ruby, a thoughtful but quirky feathered Oviraptor. Both dinosaurs have come to live in the Secret Caverns that border the Great Valley, seeking refuge from the villainous T. Rex Red Claw and his raptor minions, Screech and Thud.

    The original Land Before Time feature, directed by Don Bluth and exec produced by George Lucas, was released theatrically in November of 1988 and went on to earn more than $84 million worldwide before spawning one of the most successful direct-to-video franchises of all time. Over the past 17 years, the property has generated more than a billion dollars worldwide.

    The new TV series is being produced by Universal Animation Studios, part of the Universal Studios Family Productions banner of Universal Studios Home Entertainment. The unit also produces the Curious George series for PBS and recently added the direct-to-video feature Barbie in the 12 Dancing Princesses and Polly World to its credits.

  • Happy Feet Dances Off with Oscar

    There was no checkered flag for Disney and Pixar this year as Cars was upset by Warner Bros.’ Happy Feet, which snagged the Oscar for Best Animated Feature Sunday night at the 79th Annual Academy Awards. Many expected the night to be a victory lap for director John Lasseter’s Cars, which has had a successful awards season run that resulted in top toon awards at the Golden Globes, the Annies and the People’s Choice Awards, among others. Disney fared better on the movie magic side as its Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man’s Chest plundered Oscar gold for visual effects created by Industrial Light & Magic.

    As a testament to how important animation has become in Hollywood, the Oscar broadcast started off with an animated segment that featured a group of penguin characters from Happy Feet sending Mumbles off to Tinsel Town for the big night. In his travels to sunny California, Mumbles even came across Lightning McQueen, the Owen Wilson character from Cars. Animated characters from the films were also seen composited into the audience as the nominees for Best Animated Feature were announced.

    Directed by George Miller (Babe: Pig in the City), Happy Feet ended a winning streak for Disney and Pixar, who took Best Animated Feature for its last two releases, 2003’s Finding Nemo and 2004’s The Incredibles. Mumbles and his arctic pals also won over Sony’s Monster House from first-time feature director Gil Kenan. Accepting the award, Miller remarked, ‘I asked my kids what should I say and they said to thank all the men for wearing penguin suits.’ He added, ‘They gave me a lucky coin and a lucky penguin, but my real good luck was to work with hundreds and hundreds of great people.’

    Pixar also came up empty-handed in the category Best Animated Short, which went to Norwegian-born filmmaker Torill Kove’s The Danish Poet (National Film Board of Canada). In addition to beating Lifted from Pixar and director Gary Rydstrom, Danish Poet bested Roger Allers’ The Little MatchGirl (Disney) Geza M. Toth’s Maestro and Chris Renaud and Mike Thermeier’s No Time for Nuts (Blue Sky). Accept the award, Kove commented, ‘I want to thank the Academy for continuing to support this animated short category, it means a lot to us.’ She went on to thank the thank National Film Board of Canada and all those in Norway who supported the film.

    There was little doubt that the hugely successful Pirates sequel would lay waste to the competition, especially after team at ILM got the nod from their peers by sweeping the recent Visual Effects Society Awards. The swashbuckling adventure, which features a healthy helping of impressive CG animation, won over the Warner Bros. releases Poseidon and Superman Returns. Accepting the award for Dead Man’s Chest were John Knoll, Hal Hickel, Charles Gibson and Allen Hall.

    “With effects-driven films becoming increasingly more sophisticated with each passing year, it makes receiving the Oscar this time around that much more special,” said Knoll. “That said, this is truly a team effort and the ILM crew is a very special group that deserves every bit of the recognition this award brings to it.”

    Director Guillermo Del Toro’s Pan’s Labyrinth, which features visual effects by CafeFX, was favored to win Best Foreign Language Film but ended up losing to the German entry The Lives of Others. Labyrinth did, however, walk away with wins a number of categories, including make-up, art direction/set design and cinematography.

    For a complete list of this year’s Academy Award winners, visit www.oscars.org.

  • Happy Feet Dances Off with Oscar

    There was no checkered flag for Disney and Pixar this year as Cars was upset by Warner Bros.’ Happy Feet, which snagged the Oscar for Best Animated Feature Sunday night at the 79th Annual Academy Awards. Many expected the night to be a victory lap for director John Lasseter’s Cars, which has had a successful awards season run that resulted in top toon awards at the Golden Globes, the Annies and the People’s Choice Awards, among others. Disney fared better on the visual effects side as Industrial Light & Magic as Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man’s Chest plundered Oscar gold for visual effects.

    As a testament to how important animation has become in Hollywood, the Oscar broadcast started off with an animated segment that featured a group of penguin characters from Happy Feet sending Mumbles off to Tinsel Town for the big night. In his travels to sunny California, Mumbles even came across Lightning McQueen, the Owen Wilson character from Cars.

    Directed by George Miller (Babe: Pig in the City), Happy Feet ended a winning streak for Disney and Pixar, who took Best Animated Feature for its last two releases, 2003’s Finding Nemo and 2004’s The Incredibles. Mumbles and his arctic pals also won over Sony’s Monster House from first-time feature director Gil Kenan. Accepting the award, Miller remarked, ‘I asked my kids what should I say and they said to thank all the men for wearing penguin suits.’ He added, ‘They gave me a lucky coin and a lucky penguin, but my real good luck was to work with hundreds and hundreds of great people.’

    Pixar also came up empty-handed in the category Best Animated Short, which went to Norweigen filmmaker Torill Kove’s The Danish Poet (National Film Board of Canada). In addition to beating Lifted from Pixar and director Gary Rydstrom, Danish Poet bested Roger Allers’ The Little MatchGirl (Disney) Geza M. Toth’s Maestro and Chris Renaud and Mike Thermeier’s No Time for Nuts (Blue Sky). Accepting the award, Kove commented, ‘I want to thank the Academy for continuing to support this animated short category, it means a lot to us.’ She went on to thank the thank National Film Board of Canada and all those in Norway who supported the film.

    There was little doubt that the hugely successful Pirates sequel would lay waste to the competition, especially after team at ILM got the nod from their peers by sweeping the recent Visual Effects Society Awards. The swashbuckling adventure, which features a healthy helping of impressive CG animation, won over the Warner Bros. releases Poseidon and Superman Returns. Accepting the award for Dead Man’s Chest were John Knoll, Hal Hickel, Charles Gibson and Allen Hall.

    Director Guillermo Del Toro’s Pan’s Labyrinth, which features visual effects by CafeFX, was favored to win Best Foreign Language Film but ended up losing to the German entry The Lives of Others. Labyrinth did, however, walk away with wins a number of categories, including make-up, art direction/set design and cinematography.

    For a complete list of this year’s Academy Award winners, visit www.oscars.org.

  • New Afro Footage at NY Comic-Con

    GDH and FUNimation Ent. will offer a sneak peek at some director’s cut footage from the Spike TV animated series Afro Samurai at New York Comic Con, which kicks off today in New York City. FUNimation is also hosting a panel discussion featuring members of the show’s creative team on Saturday, Feb. 24 at 12 p.m.

    Produced by GDH K.K. group company Studio GONZO in collaboration with FUNimation Ent. and Spike TV, Afro Samurai is a five-part anime series that premiered in the U.S. in January. Adapted from Takashi Okazaki’s upcoming manga release of the same name, the series chronicles Afro Samurai’s relentless quest to avenge his father’s brutal murder. Samuel L. Jackson lends his voice to two main characters and also serves as exec producer, while renowned hip-hop artist The RZA provides music.

    Panelists lined up for Saturday include creator Okazaki, director Fuminori Kizaki and producers Taito Okiura and Eric Calderon. The special animated footage to be shown during the event will be made available in the director’s cut edition of the Afro Samurai DVD, which FUNimation will release on May 22. Until then, fans can look forward to a primetime marathon of all five episodes back-to-back on Wednesday, March 28 at 10 p.m. (ET/PT).

    GDH announced a partnership with Amp’d Mobile to deliver exclusive Afro Samurai mobile content for all platforms. Exclusive content will include free ringtones featuring music by RZA and the voices of stars Samuel L. Jackson, Ron Perlman and Kelly Hu, as well as avatars, wallpapers and screensavers. Mobile video clips were made available to Amp’d Mobile subscribers today. In addition, DC Direct, the collectibles brand of DC Comics, will release a line of action figures and collectibles based on Afro Samurai. Distributed in the U.S. and Canada by new brand DC Unlimited, the first wave of figures is slated to hit comic book and pop culture specialty retailers this fall.

  • Stewie and Brian are Up Late

    This Sunday, Oscar night, fans of Fox’s Family Guy may want to boot up the computer to check out an all-new short featuring maniacal child genius Stewie and martini-sipping, talking family dog Brian. The cartoon characters will host a 10-minute program titled Up Late with Stewie & Brian. The talk-show format will serve to cross-promote Family Guy and The Winner, a new Fox sitcom from Family Guy creator Seth McFarlane and former Family Guy writer Ricky Blitt.

    Designed by Zeek Interactive and Flinch Studio, Up Late with Stewie & Brian will poke fun at most talk shows as Stewie delivers a clich’-ridden monologue and engages in trite, scripted banter with Brian. An interview segment will feature Rob Courdry, the Daily Show with Jon Stewart stand-out who stars in The Winner.

    The Stewie & Brian Short will remain online at www.fox.com following the Sunday night premiere. Visitors to the site can also watch full episodes of The Winner prior to its March 4 television debut on Fox.

  • Endemol Puts Joe Cartoon in Blender

    JoeCartoon.com, the Flash animation comedy site that launched Frog in a Blender, Gerbil in a Microwave and Lump: The No-Legged Dog, has been bought by Endemol, producer of the hit NBC game show Deal or No Deal. Endemol will expand the site’s content offerings to serve mobile operators worldwide and will also develop TV series based on the Joe Cartoon characters SuperFly, the Greenfields and Joe Mamma.

    Mike Tuinstra, who launched Joe Cartoon with Joe Shields in 1998, tells us, ‘This gives us the opportunity to plug in to Endemol’s global network and provides us with resources to create more content and rebuild our site. Over the last couple of years, Joe and I have been releasing four pieces a year. Now we hope to do two pieces a month, including two-minute Super Fly episodes. We would like to increase our global presence since the lion’s share of our audience has been U.S.-based, while Endemol has a huge international reach.’

    Tuinstra also says he and Shields would like to relaunch Joe Cartoon content as a Sunday night sketch comedy show for TV. ‘Now we’re focusing on a whole new generation of kids that don’t know about Joe Cartoon,’ he remarks. ‘Our goal is to get Joe in front of them. Our content is not going to change. Of course, we have to watch some our language for television, but we’re going to continue our outlaw, pirate feel through our online interactive content.’

    The acquisition serves to illustrate Endemol’s commitment to the new media drive. The company has had success in this area with a text-messaging game based on Deal or No Deal and also has its own channel, Lazy TV, on AOL.com. In addition, Endemol has inked a deal to provide content for Comcast’s largely user-generated video site, Ziddio.

    JoeCartoon.com is due for makeover and relaunch this June. The entity was one of the first profitable and enduring pioneers of the Internet animation boom of the late 90s. In 1999 alone, Frog in a Blender was downloaded 90 million times. Toon offerings from the company have since appeared on cable network G4 as part of its Wednesday night Happy Tree Friends & Friends block. Home video distributor BCI released the first DVD collection (JoeCartoon Greatest Hits Volume One) in April of 2006. and followed up with a second volume and a three-disc boxed set.

  • Darkly Scanned to HD, Blu-ray

    Warner Home Video announced plans to release A Scanner Darkly on both HD DVD and Blue-ray Disc on April 10. These high-definition versions will include all bonus materials found on the standard definition release and will carry a suggested retail price of $28.99.

    Based on the novel by famed science-fiction author Phillip K. Dick, A Scanner Darkly takes place seven years in the future as a new designer drug sweeps the nation and causes an epidemic of addiction. Keanu Reeves stars as Fred, a drug enforcement agent whose own use of Substance D has caused a split personality disorder. Half of the time, Fred thinks he’s Bob Arctor, one of the junkies occupying a suburban California home he’s been assigned to infiltrate. Robert Downey Jr. is Jim Barris, a fast-talking, paranoid member of Arctor’s motley crew of burnouts, filled out by Donna Hawthorne (Winona Ryder), Ernie Luckman (Woody Harrelson) and Charles Freck (Rory Cochrane).

    The film is directed by Academy Award-nominated filmmaker Richard Linklater (Waking Life, Before Sunset), who used the same interpolated rotoscoping software Bob Sabiston developed to turn live-action video into animation for the 2001 cult favorite Waking Life. More information on A Scanner Darkly can be found at www.animationmagazine.net/article/5627.

  • Saturn Awards Rings Nominees

    The Academy of Science-Fiction, Fantasy and Horror Films has released its list of contenders for the 33 Annual Saturn Awards, which will honor he best genre works from film, television and home entertainment. Warner Bros.’ Superman Returns leads the pack by snatching 10 nominations in total, including nods for Best Fantasy Film, Best Special Effects and Best Director (Bryan Singer). Twentieth Century Fox’s X-Men: The Last Stand and Picturehouse Ent.’s Pan’s Labyrinth also did well with six nominations each.

    This year’s nominees for Best Animated Film are Disney/Pixar’s Cars DreamWorks/Aardman’s Flushed Away, Warner Bros.’ Happy Feet, Sony’s Monster House, DreamWorks’ Over the Hedge and Warner Independent Picture’s A Scanner Darkly. Most of the films on this list have been popping up in other lists this awards season, but Scanner has been largely overlooked until now. While its rotoscoped visuals may have been a liability in those other contests, the source material by famed sci-fi author Philip K. Dick surely tipped the scales with this organization.

    In the Special Effects category, Superman Returns is up against fellow comic-book adaptation X-Men: The Last Stand from 20th Century Fox. Also in the running are vfx teams from Warner Bros.’ The Fountain, Paramount’s Mission Impossible III and Disney’s Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man’s Chest.

    Disney’s Bambi II got some love with a nom for Best DVD Release. The long-awaited sequel to the Mouse House classic squares off in the category with Anchor Bay’s Beowulf & Grendel, New Line Cinema’s The Butterfly Effect 2, sony’s Hollow Man 2, Universal’s The Sci Fi Boys and Lionsgate’s 2001 Maniacs.

    In addition, a Special Recognition Award will be presented to the imaginative children’s book Chiodo Bros.’ Alien Xmas, written by Stephen Chiodo and Jim Strain, and published by Baby Tattoo Books. The book is on track to become a stop-motion feature film with major interest from Hollywood.

    This year marks the Academy of Science Fiction, Fantasy & Horror Films’ 35th Anniversary. The non-profit organization was founded in 1972 by film historian Dr. Donald A. Reed. The Academy is currently headed by Robert Holguin, who serves as President of the Academy.

    The winners will be announced during a ceremony taking place on Thursday, May 10 in Universal City, Calif. Hosting the event will be actor Greg Grunberg from NBC’s Heroes and comedian Jeffrey Ross, co-creator of the animated series Where My Dog’s At? A full list of nominees can be found at www.saturnawards.org/nominations.html. Special Award recipients will be announced shortly.

  • HIT Adds Exec Heat to HOT

    Independent children’s entertainment producer and rights-owner HIT Ent. has named Andi Copley managing director/exec producer of its award-winning animation studio, HOT Animation. Currently based in Los Angeles, Copley will relocate to Manchester, England, this month and will assume responsibility for the operational management of HOT’s slate of productions including Pingu and Bob the Builder. Reporting to Lenora Hume, exec VP of production and programming, she will also be instrumental in expanding the studio’s third-party work.

    Copley arrives at Hot with more than 25 years of experience in the television industry that includes work in live action, stop-motion animation, TV specials, live shows and televised events. Her career highlights include senior management roles with such major U.S. film studios and networks as Warner Brothers, The Disney Channel, SPROUT, Film Roman, Klasky Csupo, ABC, CBS and NBC.

    Copley’s producer credits include the recently released Bix Pix stop-motion special Holidaze: The Christmas That Almost Didn’t Happen, the Clay interstitial series for Playhouse Disney, Shelley Duvall’s Faerie Tale Theatre, Pee Wee’s Playhouse and The Mr. Potato Head Show for Fox.

    HOT Animation was established in 1997 and celebrates its 10th Anniversary this year. The company specializes in stop-motion animation and boasts six fully equipped animation studios. In addition to Bob the Builder and Pingu, the studio’s production credits include Brambley Hedge (adapted from the classic books by Jill Barklem) and Rubbadubbers for the BBC.

  • Three Pick Up Cookie Jar’s Magi-Nation

    Cookie Jar Ent.’s newest original animated series, Magi-Nation, has found North American broadcast homes in Kids’ WB! on The CW in the U .S., Canadian Broadcasting Corporation (CBC) and Radio-Canada. The networks have all signed on to air the first 26 episodes of the show, which is the latest entry in Cookie Jar’s expanding action-adventure brand, Coliseum.

    A co-production of Cookie Jar and South Korea’s Daiwon, Magi-Nation follows the adventures of 15-year-old Tony Jones, whose world is forever changed when he is mystically transported into Magi Nation, a beautiful world created millennia ago by a powerful race known as the Magi. Here Tony meets Edyn and Strag, two young Magi heroes in training, who help him protect the Moonlands of Magi Nation from the evil Shadow Magi using their vast collection of Dream Creatures.

    ‘With the multi-platform capabilities of Magi-Nation, the series will organically extend its animated adventures’and Kids’ WB! branded entertainment’far beyond the television screen,’ says Betsy McGowen, senior VP and general manager of Kids’ WB!

    The series is based on the Magi-Nation game originally developed and published by Interactive Imagination Corp. Kids will also be able to keep up with the characters via mobile and internet content.

  • Nelvana Harbors Horrid Henry

    Canada’s Nelvana Ent. has signed on to distribute Horrid Henry, a new animated series from Novel Ent., the independent producer behind the hit CBBC pre-school shows Fimbles and The Roly Mo Show. The international sales and distribution deal will see Nelvana repping the property around the world, with the exception of the U.K. and German-speaking territories.

    Horrid Henry centers on a headstrong boy who is constantly raging against the tyranny of adults and infuriating girls like Moody Margaret next door. The show is based on the popular books by author Francesca Simon and illustrator Tony Ross, which have sold more than 8 million copies in the U.K. alone. Published by Orion Children’s Books, the tomes have been translated into 21 languages and are available in more than 25 countries worldwide.

    The 52×11 2D-animated television series debuted in the U.K. on Oct. 31 and currently airs on ITV 1 and CiTV in the U.K. and RTE in Eire. It is set to debut on ZDF in Germany later this year and will feature heavily in Nelvana’s international marketing portfolio at MIPTV in April. At Nelvana, the property joins a library of more than 3,000 half-hours of content, including such favorites as Babar and Franklin.

  • Jasman Toys with Halo

    Jasman Toys has pacted with Microsoft Corp. and Bungie Studios to produce a line of laser tag-style products based on the upcoming third installment in the hugely successful Halo video-game franchise. Tailor-made for core Master Chief fans, the Halo 3 Laser Command line will include an infrared-light laser gun and sensors when it rolls out later this year.

    Halo weapons to be reproduced in Jasman’s Laser Command offerings include the Covenant’s Plasma Rifle, Plasma Pistol and Energy Sword. These alien laser weapons emit a harmless infrared beam that activates sensors worn by players to register hits.

    Developed exclusively for Xbox, the original Halo has sold more than 5 million copies worldwide and spawned a legion of devotees who waited in line for hours to make Halo 2 the fastest-selling video game in history. Dispite this success and the involvement of Lord of the Rings filmmaker Peter Jackson, the film took a major tumble on its way to the big screen when financiers Universal and 20th Century Fox bailed out in October of last year. Microsoft, which has been very protective of the property, still plans on making the film with Jackson’s Wingnut Films but has temporarily shelved the project while new financing avenues are being explored.

    With toy categories that range from remote controlled helicopters and electronic dinosaurs to shooting toys, Jasman is fully entrenched in the boy’s toys market. In addition to Laser Command, the company’s product lines include Command Force, Flight Factory, Mighty Megasaur, and Wild West Gunslinger. More information can be found at http://www.jasmantoys.com.

  • Sesame Workshop Has Job for Genius

    Genius Products, The Weinstein Co. and Sesame Workshop have entered into a long-term distribution and co-production agreement that makes Genius the exclusive North American home entertainment distributor of Sesame Workshop product. The non-profit educational organization behind Sesame Street also counts Sesame Beginnings, Elmo’s World and the recently launched Pinky Dinky Doo among its library of more than 100 titles.

    “This agreement with Genius Products provides the opportunity to strengthen our ability to reach millions of kids in America with one of the fastest growing entertainment content distributors,” says Sesame Workshop CEO Gary E. Knell. “Genius Products’ experienced management team, robust infrastructure and marketing expertise will ensure that we help children reach their highest potential and we believe by working with the multi-talented team at The Weinstein Co. on current properties and future productions, we will continue to deliver the leading children’s educational and entertaining content in the industry.”

    Genius Products will maintain home video and certain digital distribution rights for the term of the agreement. The company also handles titles from Discovery Kids, BKN International A.G., RHI Ent. and Germany’s BFC Berliner Film Companie Distribution GmbH. Animated titles handled by Genius in the U.S. include PorchLight Ent.’s The Secret World of Benjamin Bear and Jay Jay The Jet Plane, as well as the classic properties Curious George, Paddington Bear and My Little Pony.

  • Hair High to Screen in L.A.

    Hair High, the latest feature film from independent animation guru Bill Plympton, will have a limited engagement at the Laemmle’s Sunset 5 in West Hollywood from April 13 through April 19. Plympton will appear in person on opening night and will create a free, original sketch for every guest.

    Blending ’50s nostalgia and campy zombie action, Hair High tells the story of a small town terrorized by the corpses of a teenage couple who were murdered on prom night one year prior. The movie’s star-studded voice cast includes Dermot Mulroney (The Family Stone), Sarah Silverman (Jesus is Magic), David Carradine (Kill Bill Vol. 2), Keith Carradine (Deadwood), Justin Long (Accepted), Beverly D’Angelo (Entourage), Ed Begley Jr.(Arrested Development), Michael Showalter (Wet Hot American Summer), Craig Bierko (Scary Movie 4) Eric Gilliland, Zak Orth (Prime), Tom Noonan (Manhunter), Simpsons creator Matt Groening and animator Don Hertzfeldt (Rejected).

    Plympton wrote, directed, produced and self-financed Hair High, which had its world premiere at the Slamdance Film Festival and enjoyed a successful run on the festival circuit in 2005. The filmmaker has been touring the country with the movie, and the Los Angeles run will serve to qualify the pic for Oscar consideration.

    Never one to rest on his laurels, Plympton is currently working on a new feature titled Idiots and Angels, which he describes as the least commercial movie he’s ever made and likens it to a David Lynch film. It will tell the story of a man who wakes up one morning to discover he has wings growing out of his back, a development that kicks off a struggle with his good side.

    More information about Hair High is available at www.hairhigh.com or www.plymptoons.com. And, if you haven’t read it already, be sure to see our interview with Plympton regarding the film and upcoming projects at www.animationmagazine.net/article/5907.

  • CG Contest Launches at SIGGRAPH ’07

    SIGGRAPH 2007 will see the debut of the international FJORG! Competition, an iron animator event that will have teams competing to create the best character-driven animation within a 32-hour period as various staged distractions test their skill, talent, creativity and physical endurance. Sixteen three-member teams will be selected from a pool of demo reels received from around the world and will have their meddle tested during the computer graphics conference, which takes place Aug. 5-9 in San Diego.

    The FJORG! Competition will be held “Gladiator style” at the San Diego Convention Center before a crowd of attendees and a panel of judges that may include recruiters and talent from top graphics, feature film, animation and game companies. The qualifying teams will be asked to create an animated sequence of at least 15 seconds in length, based on a provided theme. They will then ahave a limited time to finish using only those assets supplied at the event.

    The FJORG! organizers, dubbed the ‘Viking Lords,’ will supply teams with sound and voiceover selections, a rigged model, hardware, software, meals, entertainment and a nap area. The animators will need to focus and hone their time management skills in order to do the best work they can manage while coping with various unexpected challenges conjured by the Viking Lords.

    Entrants will compete for the title of FJORG! Viking Animator and the winning team will receive a trophy and other prizes. All contestants whose teams successfully create a 15-second animated sequence in the time allotted will be awarded a full conference pass for the remainder of SIGGRAPH 2007 and a ticket to the Electronic Theater, a showcase of some of the best CG-animated short works from around the world. The official rules, including submission information and guidelines, are expected to be posted on March 1 at www.siggraph.org/s2007.