Animation Magazine

Author: Ryan Ball

  • Looney Tunes Channel Hits Web

    Broadband network In2TV.com has introduced the Looney Tunes Channel, an online source for hundreds of classic animated shorts, many of which are appearing on the web for the first time. A collaboration between Warner Bros. and AOL, In2TV also offers the Animation Channel, which now features such Hanna-Barbera shows as The Jetsons, The Flintstones, Magilla Gorilla and Top Cat.

    “Clearly, the Internet is where today’s entertainment fans enjoy watching some of their favorite TV shows, and In2TV.com is making great strides in catering to this audience,” says Fred McIntyre, senior VP of AOL Video. “In a short amount of time, In2TV.com has doubled the amount of programming available to consumers, while also focusing on unique programs which are often difficult to find on TV.’

    The Looney Tunes Channel boasts 100 animated shorts produced by Warner Bros. between 1936 to 1964. Included are many rarely seen gems featuring the first screen appearances of Bugs Bunny, Porky Pig and Daffy Duck. In2TV plans to make the channel the largest collection of Looney Tunes cartoons available to fans. Shorts currently available include Porky’s Duck Hunt (1937), Porky’s Hare Hunt (1938) You Ought to Be in Pictures (1940) and What’s Up, Doc? (1950).

  • Comedy Central Debuts New Web Toons

    Comedy Central has increased the size of its Motherload on comedycentral.com with the addition of 11 new original broadband shows, including six animated entries. Among the new toons is the Drawn Together spin-off Judge Fudge, Comedy Central’s first web series developed around a character from one of its on-air shows.

    From the minds of Drawn Together creators Matt Silverstein and Dave Jeser, Judge Fudge finds the title character taking the law into his own after his partner is killed in an explosion. When he goes undercover to bust the Colombians responsible, he finds that his corrupt Police Captain orchestrated the whole thing to try and kill the Judge himself.

    Comedy Central has opened its own monster house with Monsters, an animated series involving four recognizable horror icons who all live in the same castle. Somewhat similar in theme, but certainly not tone, to Sony Animation’s upcoming animated feature, Hotel Transylvania, the series explores how the monsters deal with the real world and how the real world deals with them. The web toon is written by Paul Rodenburg.

    Written, directed and animated by Ken McIntyre, Super Special Dog follows the adventures of a very unique canine superhero, while Window Seat proves that air travel has gone to the dogs. Created by Radical Axis, the animation company behind such series as Adult Swim’s Aqua Teen Hunger Force and Comedy Central’s Freak Show, Window Seat revolves around a put-upon business traveler and the various weirdos who sit next to him on the plane.

    Tom Goes to the Mayor creators Tim Heidecker & Eric Wareheim take their talents online with Stephen & Steven, an animated show about Siamese twins who are attached at the groin and obsessed with Internet dating. The pair also have a new series titled Tim and Eric Awesome Show, Great Job! premiering on Cartoon Network’s Adult Swim on Feb. 11.

    Finally, Awesome Friends finds a superhero dog-and-cat team trying to save the world before they kill each other or get evicted for not paying the rent. Created and animated by Wade Randolph, the series was the first winner of Comedy Central’s Test Pilots, an online contest designed to discover new talent and develop shows for the web.

    Comedy Central has committed to producing six episodes of each new animated show for inclusion on its broadband channel, which launched in November of last year. The recent additions bring the total number of original series offered on comedycentral.com to 25.

  • Scooby-Doo Designer Takamoto Dies

    Iwao Takamoto, the renowned animator responsible for designing Scooby-Doo and a number of other beloved Hanna-Barbera characters, has died at the age of 81. Like long-time colleague Joe Barbera, who passed away just weeks earlier, Takamoto was still active in the animation industry right up to the end, serving as VP of special projects for Warner Bros. Animation.

    Yakamoto’s recent credits include storyboarding the 2005 Tom and Jerry short The Karateguard and aiding in the design of many characters in the current Cartoon Network and Kids’ WB! toon series Krypto the Superdog. He also served as a consultant on Warner Bros. Animation’s ongoing Scooby-Doo direct-to-video series, including the 2006 release Scooby-Doo! Pirates Ahoy!, and the upcoming Chill Out, Scooby-Doo.

    “Iwao Takamoto was not only a tremendously talented designer and artist, he was a beautiful human being,” says Warner Bros. Animation president Sander Schwartz. “Iwao was always ready with a wide smile, a firm handshake and a warm welcome. Iwao’s designs will be his legacy for generations to come. Those of us who had the privilege of working closely with him will miss his mentoring presence, his good counsel and his unparalleled talent and spirit.”

    A young Takamoto picked up illustration skills from fellow Japanese-Americans in an internment camp after the bombing of Pearl Harbor and eventually made it back to Los Angeles, where he was able to land an interview at Disney. He was hired on the spot as an apprentice and in-betweener, learning the animation craft from the legendary ‘nine old men.’ He worked on such classics features as Cinderella, Peter Pan, Lady and the Tramp, Sleeping Beauty and 101 Dalmatians before moving to Hanna-Barbera Studios in 1961.

    Over the next four decades, Takamoto would be heavily involved with the design of nearly all Hanna-Barbera charaters, putting his stamp on Scooby-Doo, Shaggy and the rest of the Mystery Inc. gang. He recently told employees of Cartoon Network Studios in Burbank that breaking the rules often pays off, commenting, “There was a lady at [Hanna-Barbera] that bred Great Danes. She showed me some pictures and talked about the important points of a Great Dane, like a straight back, straight legs, small chin and such. I decided to go the opposite and gave him a hump back, bowed legs, big chin and such. Even his color is wrong.”

    Other Hanna-Barbera shows Takamoto served as primary designer on include The Secret Squirrel Show, The Great Grape Ape Show, Harlem Globe Trotters and Josie and the Pussy Cats. He also designed Muttley, the muttering dog in The Wacky Races and other cartoons, as well as Jetson family dog Astro. Other characters that owe their screen presence to him include The Great Gazoo from The Flintstones and Penelope Pitstop from The Wacky Races. He reportedly designed Penelope in less than two hours after a client told Joe Barbera that the show needed a female character.

    After an illustrious career in television, Takamoto returned to the world of theatrical features as animation director on the Hanna-Barbera-produced 1973 animated version of E.B. White’s classic children’s book, Charlotte’s Web.

    ASIFA-Hollywood honored Takamoto with the Windsor McCay Lifetime Achievement Award during the 1996 Annie Awards. He was also recognized for his contributions to entertainment by the Japanese American National Museum in 2001 and received the Golden Award from the Animation Guild in 2005. He is survived by his wife, Barbara; his son, Michael; his step-daughter, Leslie and his siblings Robert and Judy.

  • Spider Riders Creeps to Kids’ WB!

    Kids’ WB! has picked up Cookie Jar Ent.’s Spider Riders and plans to begin airing the anime-inspired action series on Jan. 20. In conjunction with the debut, Cookie Jar will relaunch the official website for the show, which has expanded its international presence with the recent pick up by Mediaset in Italy.

    Directed by Koichi Mashimo (.hack//SIGN, Gatchaman Fighter) Spider Riders is based on Cookie Jar’s book Spider Riders’Shards of the Oracle, written by Emmy award-winners Tedd Anasti and Patsy Cameron-Anasti, and published by Newmarket Press. The show takes place in the world of Arachna, where a young boy named Hunter Steele discovers the Inner World populated by people who ride 10-foot tall battle spiders to defend their land from the evil Invectids. Hunter soon learns that the only way out is to overcome his fear of spiders and train as a Spider Rider, with the ultimate goal of becoming the Arachna-Master.

    Located at www.spiderriders.com, the series’ official website has already attracted more than 700,000 registered game players and has received in excess of 50 million hits since its introduction last year.

    Spider Riders is produced under Cookie Jar Ent.’s action-adventure brand, Coliseum, and is co-produced by leading Japanese advertising agency Yomiko and acclaimed Japanese animation studio Bee Train.

  • Shyamalan to Bend Avatar

    Following the critical and box-office misfire that was Lady in the Water, film director M. Night Shyamalan will reportedly put his own material aside to make big-screen pics based on Nickelodeon’s hugely successful animated action series Avatar: The Last Airbender. According to The Hollywood Reporter, the genre auteur will write, direct and produce a live-action adaptation for Paramount Pictures’ MTV Films and Nick Movies, with the aim of making it into a trilogy.

    After co-writing the screenplay for Sony’s 1999 family flick Stuart Little, Shyamalan made his directorial breakthrough with the supernatural thriller The Sixth Sense, which he also wrote. Known for his Twilight Zone-like twist endings, he went on the write and direct Unbreakable, Signs, The Village and Lady in the Water. As his box office prowess began to wane and critical response to his last film signaled a creative slump, he toyed with the idea of directing a Harry Potter film before latching onto one of today’s most popular cartoon properties.

    Avatar: The Last Airbender centers on Aang, a fun-loving 12-year-old who must forego a normal life in order to master his latent powers over the four elements. Aided by a protective teenage Waterbender named Katara and her bull-headed warrior brother, Sokka, Aang proceeds on a perilous journey to save the world while sometimes shaking off his heavy responsibilities so that he can enjoy being a kid. Created by Michael DiMartino and Bryan Konietzko, the series is produced at the Nicktoons Studios in Burbank, Calif. and first aired on Feb. 21, 2005.

    Nickelodeon has ordered a third season of the Annie Award-winning, anime-inspired series, which has become a hit with both kids and adults. To better serve the show’s loyal fan base, the Network recently began airing episodes every weeknight and continues to produce special, hour-long installments. Paramount Home Ent. will release Avatar: The Last Airbender’Book 2 Earth, Vol. 1 on Jan. 23. The entire first season of the show is already available on disc.

  • Leno, Coolidge Hump It to Igor

    Late-night talk show host Jay Leno and popular comedic actor Jennifer Coolidge (For Your Consideration, Legally Blonde: Red, White and Blonde) have signed on to lend their voices to Exodus Film Group’s upcoming CG-animated family comedy Igor. Joining a cast that includes Jeremy Piven, Molly Shannon, Steve Buscemi, John Cleese and Christian Slater, Leno will voice the role of King Malbert, Malaria’s Machiavellian ruler, while Coolidge plays Sybil, the village vixen.

    Directed by Tony Leondis (Lilo & Stitch 2: Stitch Has a Glitch) and written by Chris McKenna (American Dad!), Igor is described as a playfully irreverent comedy about a mad scientist’s hunchbacked lab assistant who has big dreams of becoming a scientist in his own right and winning the annual Evil Science Fair. Slater will voice the title role while Buscemi plays Scamper, a super-intelligent and ill-tempered lab rabbit, and Cleese voices the character of Dr. Glickenstein, Igor’s evil master. Piven joins the mix as Igor’s nemesis, Dr. Schadenfreude, and Shannon takes on the role of Eva, a giant, indestructible monster that Igor creates.

    No stranger to animation, Leno has lent his distinctive voice to episodes of Nickelodeon’s Fairly Oddparents and a number of CG-animated features, including Disney/Pixar’s Cars and 20th Century Fox Animation’s Ice Age: The Meltdown and Robots. Coolidge, perhaps best known for playing Stifler’s Mom in American Pie, also worked on Robots, voicing the role of Aunt Fanny.

    Exodus president John D. Eraklis is producing Igor along with seasoned animation executive Max Howard, who has collaborated on such animated blockbusters as Disney’s The Lion King and Aladdin, and Warner Bros.’ Space Jam and The Iron Giant. Eric Robinson is overseeing on behalf of The Weinstein Company, which will distribute the pic in North America and most international territories. Exodus is also developing an animated feature titled The Hero of Color City, which will be distributed by Magnolia Pictures.

  • Peter Jackson Banned from New Line

    After helping New Line Cinema make billions of dollars with his big-screen adaptations of J.R.R. Tolkien’s Lord of the Rings tales, director/producer Peter Jackson has been blacklisted by the studio. Amid controversy surrounding the proposed feature based on Tolkien’s The Hobbit, New Line head Robert Shaye told SCI FI Channel’s SCI FI Wire that the company will not work with Jackson on that film or any other production as long as he is in charge. New Line is currently being sued by Jackson, who feels he is still owed money for his part in the success of the Rings trilogy.

    “I do not want to make a movie with somebody who is suing me,” Shaye told SCI FI during an interview promoting New Line’s upcoming family fantasy flick, The Last Mimzy, which he directed. “It will never happen during my watch.”

    In the interview, Shaye goes on to comment on Jackson’s ‘arrogance,’ in assuming that the head of studio such as New Line would care enough to deliberately cheat him. He also alleges that Jackson, despite receiving a quarter of a billion dollars from the Lord of the Rings series, turned around and filed a law suit against the company without having a discussion. On top of this, a number of actors from the Rings trilogy are refusing to participate in New Line’s 40th Anniversary celebration because of their loyalty to Jackson, according to Shaye.

    Despite Shaye’s contempt for Jackson, the New Zealand-based filmmaker may get his chance to make The Hobbit after all. Distribution rights to the film are owned by MGM, which may push for Jackson’s involvement given the strong connection he has made with fans of Tolkien’s literature. Also, New Line has a limited-time option on the Hobbit the film rights, which will revert back to producer Saul Zaentz, who made the 1978 animated adaptation of The Lord of the Rings for United Artists. Zaentz has publicly announced that he wants Jackson to make the pic with him.

  • Weinsteins Stitch Up Home Vid Deal with ER

    Genius Products LLC and The Weinstein Company LLC (TWC) have joined forces with Entertainment Rights Plc (ER) and its soon-to-be-acquired Classic Media Holdings Inc. to co-finance, co-produce and distribute a slate of animated home video titles and video games. Under the long-term agreements, Genius Products LLC, which is co-owned by TWC, will exclusively handle North American distribution of home video and certain digital media releases of Classic’s and ER’s catalogs, which include children’s and faith-based animated films.

    Collectively, ER’s and Classic’s libraries consist of more than 4,000 programs, including the animated series Fat Albert, Postman Pat and Rupert Bear, as well as the best-selling holiday specials Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer, Frosty the Snowman and Santa Claus is Comin’ to Town. Classic also owns the CG-animated VeggieTales property, which has sold more than 50 million copies on home video.

    Genius will also have North American home video and digital distribution rights to new animated productions and will also distribute 12 new video games to be produced and financed by Genius, based on titles in the ER and Filmation catalogs. The deals are expected to yield approximately $75 million in annual gross for Genius.

    “These agreements offer an unprecedented opportunity to distribute the characters and brands of ER and Classic throughout North America, creating one of the leading portfolios of contemporary classic and new children’s DVD’s and digital rights in the world,” says Mike Heap, CEO of Entertainment Rights Plc. “We will be introducing North America to some of our leading characters for the first time and will, once Classic becomes part of the ER Group, be exploiting Classic’s content to ensure the best placement possible in the world’s largest media market’the U.S.’and will expand our brand recognition as we sell merchandise through American retailers.”

    “Bob and I have a tremendous amount of respect for the business that ER and Classic created and believe that their content is unmatched internationally in the children and family category,” adds Harvey Weinstein. “We are excited to begin working on co-production opportunities and look forward to many projects going forward.”

    ER, Classic and TWC will be co-producing and co-financing new animated children’s productions based on the Gumby, Kung Fu Magoo, Lone Ranger, Rupert Bear, Postman Pat and She-Ra properties. Distributed internationally by ER, the productions will be managed by Eric Robinson, VP of production and development for TWC.

  • South Park Gets Mobile Home

    Comedy Central’s Emmy Award-winning animated series South Park will soon be available to fans on the go with the launch of South Park Mobile, a central hub for all things Cartman, Stan, Kyle and Kenny. The service is an offering of Comedy Central Mobile, a division of Viacom’s MTV Networks, and will be available acoss multiple carriers later this year.

    Consumers using South Park Mobile will be able to directly access message boards, streaming video, behind-the-scenes news and blogs, ringtones, graphics and more. Developed in collaboration with South Park Studios, the service is designed to incorporate standard online conventions from southparkstudios.com and comedycentral.com, allowing new users to seamlessly navigate through the show’s mobile content via made-for-mobile interfaces.

    Features of South Park Mobile include fresh video content updated weekly, production blogs from South Park Studios, exclusive news, Q&As with show creators Trey Parker and Matt Stone and other key players, flipbooks, storyboard art, behind-the-scenes photos and a character creator, which allows fans to build their own avatar to be displayed on the message boards and within their personal profiles. In addition, the hub will contain the ‘Ultimate Episode Guide,’ complete with video, plot synopses and premium content from every episode of all 10 seasons. Users will also be able to preview and purchase games, ringtones and wallpapersin the South Park Mobile store.

  • VES Nominations in Effect

    The Visual Effects Society (VES) has announced the nominees for the 5th Annual VES Awards, a gala event recognizing outstanding visual effects in 21 categories encompassing film, television, commercials, music videos and games. And while it’s no surprise that Disney’s Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man’s Chest is up for the award for Outstanding Visual Effects in a Visual Effects Driven Motion Picture, it is interesting that it’s going up against two deserving films that were left off of the Academy’s short list this year’Paramount’s Charlotte’s Web and Warner Bros.’ The Fountain. Winners will be announced during the ceremony on Feb. 11 at the Kodak Grand Ballroom in Hollywood.

    Charlotte’s Web also has two digital critters in the running for Outstanding Animated Character in a Live-Action Motion Picture. Wilbur the pig and Templeton the rat will take on Davy Jones from Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man’s Chest for the award. As for animated characters in animated movies, the nominees are Mater from Disney/Pixar’s Cars, the House from Sony’s Monster House and Mumble from Warner Bros.’ Happy Feet.

    Pirates garnered a total of six nominations, more than any other film in contention. The pic is also up for Outstanding Created Environment in a Live Action Motion Picture, Outstanding Models and Miniatures in a Motion Picture, Outstanding Compositing in a Motion Picture, and Best Single Visual Effect of the Year. Other nominees in this last category are Universal’s Children of Men, Warner Bros.’ Poseidon and 20 Century Fox’s X-Men: The Last Stand.

    The leader of the pack in the television categories is SCI FI Channel’s Battlestar Galactica. The critically acclaimed series is up for four awards, including Outstanding Visual Effects in a Broadcast Series. Also nominated in this category are Animal Planet’s Prehistoric Park and The CW’s Smallville.

    Ubsoft’s Assassin’s Creed for PlayStation 3 leads in the video game categories, grabbing nominations for Outstanding Real-time Visuals and Outstanding Pre-Rendered Visuals. The title will face some tough competition in EA SPORTS’ Fight Night Round 3 for PlayStation 3, Flagship Studio’s Hellgate: London 2006 for PC and Namco Hometek’s Warhammer Fantasy.

    Nominees were chosen on Saturday, Jan. 6, by a panel of more than 80 visual effects professionals, all VES members. VES executive director Eric Roth says they received 30% more submissions than they saw last year, with entries coming in from seven different countries. All nominees will be able demonstrate their effects prowess during the VES Show And Tell Event, taking place again at the Skirball Cultural Center in Los Angeles on Jan 13. The event is ree to all VES members and is open to the public at $20 per ticket.

    ‘The sophistication of the work increases constantly.’ says Jeff Okun, VES Awards Committee Chair. ‘We’re now at the point where even the industry professionals can’t tell what’s real and what’s a visual effect. Our Show and Tell gives the artists a chance to show their colleagues and the public what the current state of the art is. I know I always learn something new at this event and that’s what makes it vital to the concept of competing for awards. Our voters are educated.’

    The complete list of 2007 VES Awards nominees can be found at www.vesawards.com.

  • Arthur Loses Oscar Eligibility

    Arthur and the Invisibles, the first animated feature from celebrated French filmmaker Luc Besson (The Fifth Element, La Femme Nikita) is apparently not animated enough for the Academy of Motion Picture Arts & Science. According to The Hollywood Reporter, the MGM/Weinstein Co. release has been dropped from the list of 16 eligible films because it contains too many live-action sequences.

    The pic begins in a live-action world as 10-year-old Arthur (Freddie Highmore) hatches a plan to save his grandmother’s house by seeking a treasure hidden in the world of the Minimoys, a race of tiny people he learns of from the writings of his missing adventurer grandfather. When Arthur enters the Minimoy kingdom, everything is computer-animated, but Besson often takes the story back to reality as Arthur’s grandmother, played by Mia Farrow, searches for her grandson while fending off a greedy land developer.

    The Academy reportedly ruled that the animated sequences didn’t comprise at least 75 percent of the film’s running time, a requirement for all films in contention for Best Animated Feature. And while the film was not one of the top contenders, its omission will have a ripple effect since only three movies can be nominated now that the number of eligible films has dropped below 16.

    Nominations for the 79th Annual Academy Awards will be announced January 23. The award ceremony will be held on Sunday, Feb. 25.

  • No Fairytale Bow for Happily

    The animated fairy tale spoof Happily N’ever After arrived at the ball over the weekend but didn’t quite make the appearance distributor Loinsgate had hoped for. The family comedy took in $6.8 million to debut at No. 6. Though it did perform better than the Cedric the Entertainer comedy Codename: The Cleaner, it couldn’t touch reigning box office champ Night at the Museum, which held onto the top spot for a third week.

    Directed by Paul J. Bolger, Happily N’ever After was produced by Oscar-winning Shrek producer John H. Williams of Vanguard Films, working with BAF Berlin Animation Film and BFC Berliner Film Companie. Critics have not been kind to the movie, which boasts a voice cast is led by Sarah Michelle Gellar, Sigourney Weaver, Freddie Prinze Jr., George Carlin, Wallace Shawn and Andy Dick.

    While Happily did respectable business for an independently produced toon, Lionsgate will aim for greater success with its slate of upcoming animated features, which includes Threshold Animation Studio’s Foodfight and RichCrest Animation’a Sylvester (based on the children’s book Sylvester and the Magic Pebble from late Shrek author William Steig). RichCrest Animation has a three-picture deal in place with Lionsgate.

    Sony’s Will Smith vehicle, The Pursuit of Happyness, didn’t budge from the No. 2 spot, taking in an estimated $13 million over the weekend to bring its domestic cume to an estimated $124 million (est.) Meanwhile, Universal’s futuristic thriller Children of Men made the best of a wider release, rising to third place with around $10.2 million. Paramount’s Freedom Writers, starring Hillary Swank, debuted at No. 4 with approximately $9.7 million and DreamWorks’ Dreamgirls completes the top five with an estimated $8.8 million fourth-week draw.

    Featuring visual effects by Rhythm & Hues, Weta Digital, Rainmaker, Maestro FX, New Deal Studios and The Orphanage, 20th Century Fox’s Night at the Museum hasn’t been receiving critical love either, but audiences have been eating it up since its Christmas bow. The comedic fantasy starring Ben Stiller has grossed around $164 million domestically and approximately $239 million worldwide.

  • Academy Names Sci-Tech Winners

    The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences has announced the 15 winners of Scientific and Technical Academy Awards. Recognizing technological advances to the process of making motion pictures, the offshoot of the Oscars will be presented at the Beverly Wilshire hotel on Saturday, Feb. 10. Among this year’s winning achievements are four products designed for use in visual effects.

    Unlike other Academy Awards recipients, scientific and technical achievements do not have to have been developed and introduced during 2006. Awards are divided into two categories. Technical Achievement winners will receive Academy certificates while Scientific and Engineering winners will be given Academy plaques.

    Florian Kainz will be granted a Technical Achievement Award for the design and engineering of OpenEXR, a software package implementing 16-bit, floating-point, high dynamic range image files. OpenEXR has been widely adopted by the visual effects industry for its ability to provide for lossless and lossy compression of tiered and tiled images.

    Academy plaques will handed out to Peter Litwinowicz and Pierre Jasmin for the design and development of the RE: Vision Effects family of software tools for optical flow-based image manipulation. Many visual effects studios have worked REL Vision Effects products for their unique user interface and relatively low cost.

    Steve Sullivan, Colin Davidson, Max Chen and Francesco Callari will also receive a scientific and Engineering Award for the design and development of the ILM Image-based Modeling System. Academy notes state, ‘This highly integrated system facilitates interactive construction and editing of 3D models from digital photographs and addresses the three-dimensional scanning needs of motion pictures in unique and innovative ways.’

    Also being recognized for scientific and engineering achievement are Dr. Bill Collis, Simon Robinson, Ben Kent and Anil Kokaram for the design and development of the Furnace integrated suite of software tools that utilizes temporal coherence for enhancing visual effects in motion picture sequences. According to the Academy jury, the toolset’s modularity, flexibility and robustness have set a high standard of quality for optical flow-based image manipulation.

    As previously reported, Oscar-winning visual effects producer and supervisor Richard Edlund (The Empire Strikes Back, Return of the Jedi, Raiders of the Lost Ark) will be honored with the John A. Bonner Medal of Commendation at this year’s awards black-tie dinner, taking place at the Regent Beverly Wilshire in Los Angeles. Segments of the ceremony will be featured during ABC’s telecast of the 79th Academy Awards on Sunday, Feb. 25. To see a full list of Scientific & Technical Awards winners, go to www.oscars.org/79academyawards/scitech/winners.html.

  • Bateman365 Gets PlumTV Deal

    Scott Bateman, who last year created an animated short film everyday for a web project titled Bateman365, is turning the concept into a series for PlumTV, a new television network based in New York City. The first episode of Scott Bateman Presents Scott Bateman Presents will air this month, with new installments debuting every Monday at midnight.

    Bateman does all of the animation for the series in Adobe Flash and also provides all of the original music and most of the voices. Guest voices for the first two episodes include Pete Holmes from VH-1’s Best Week Ever, stand-up comedians Emo Philips and Kristen Schaal, and British band Clinic.

    Bateman tells us that PlumTV is not a cable channel but rather a network of actual broadcast television stations currently operaing in six markets, including the Hamptons, Martha’s Vineyard and Vail.

    With Bateman365, bateman produced approximately five hours of animation in one year and was named a Rising Star of Animation by Animation Magazine. He’s also now working on an animated remake/spoof of the 1960 horror film Atomic Age Vampire. The project will feature the actual audio from the original movie with Bateman’s added visuals and running subitle commentary a la Mystery Science Theater 3000. Protions of the project can be viewed at www.batemania.com/bateman365.

  • Giggedy Goo’Family Guy Back in Production

    After being locked out for a couple months, the writers of Fox’s hit animated series Family Guy are back at work, according to Daily Variety. The trade reports that scribes started penning season six episodes on Wednesday as 20th Century Fox and series creator Seth McFarlane begin to make headway in their drawn-out contract negotiations.

    MacFarlane, whose current contract expires soon, is expected to make out nicely in his new overall deal with Fox. The network has been extemely pleased with the TV ratings and DVD success of Family Guy and McFarlane’s other irreverent toon series, American Dad. He and Ricky Blitt also have a live-action comedy titled The Winner set up with the company.

    The production stall may delay the premiere of the 2007-08 season of Family Guy, but there is speculation that Fox may pump more money into the show to maker sure episodes are ready for fans next fall.

  • Book Opens on Happily N’Ever After

    Loinsgate’s CG-animated fairly tale spoof Happily N’ever After opens in wide release across North America today, offering another twisted take on classic children stories, this time poking fun at Cinderella, Snow White, Rumplestilskin and Red Riding Hood, to name a few. Meanwhile, 20th Century Fox’s Night at the Museum vies for a third week at the top of chart as a few light-weight contenders enter the ring.

    Happily N’ever After takes place in Fairy Tale Land, where the age-old balance between good and evil has been thrown out of whack. When Cinderella’s power-mad stepmother rallies an unholy alliance of bad guys, it’s up to our blonde heroine to shed her damsel-in-distress trappings to lead the resistance. The voice cast is led by Sarah Michelle Gellar, Sigourney Weaver, Freddie Prinze Jr., George Carlin, Wallace Shawn and Andy Dick.

    The film is directed by Paul J. Bolger and written by Robert Moreland. Vanguard Films’ Oscar-winning producer John H. Williams (Shrek, Valiant) produced the film with BAF Berlin Animation Film and BFC Berliner Film Companie. Co-exec producers are Ralph Kamp and Louise Goodsill of Odyssey Ent., and Rainer Soehnlein, CEO of BFC Berliner Film Companie.

    With the 2004 launch of its Family Entertainment Enterprises, Lionsgate has been building a slate of animated features that includes Threshold Animation Studio’s Foodfight and Sylvester. Based on the children’s book Sylvester and the Magic Pebble from late Shrek author William Steig, Sylvester is being produced by RichCrest Animation, which has a three-picture deal in place with Lionsgate, which is also developing two animated series for different TV networks. Animated home video releases coming from the company include Barbie and the Magic of Pegasus 3-D, Care Bears Big Wish Movie, Miss Spider’s Sunny Patch Friends, Inspector Gadget’s Biggest Caper Ever and Pinocchio 3000.

    Also opening in wide release today are New Line Cinema’s Cedric The Entertainer comedy Codename: The Cleaner, Paramount’s Hillary Swank inspirational teaching drama Freedom Writers and The Bigger Picture’s killer thriller Thr3e, which is rolling out in just 460 theaters. Night At the Museum still holds the highest theater count with 3,730 venues.

  • Feast Writers Revisit Tingler

    Patrick Melton and Marcus Dunstan, whose script Feast was produced for the third season of Matt Damon’s and Ben Affleck’s reality series Project Greenlight, have been hired to write a remake of the 1959 Vincent Price horror pic The Tingler. According to The Hollywood Reporter, the duo will completely rewrite a script that Greg Pace penned for Columbia Pictures during its earlier attempts to bring the project to the screen.

    In the original William Castle film, Price plays a scientist who discovers a creature that lives on people’s spinal chords and thrives on fear. Like most Castle pics, the film contained a number of gimmicks. Moviegoers were encouraged to scream since that was the only thing that could control the title monster. Castle also had theater seats equipped with large joy buzzers to give audience members a jolt at key moments.

    All the scares in the remake will likely remain on the screen in the form of CG effects, but premiere audiences might expect a little Castle-like showmanship. The redo is being produced by Neal Moritz through his Sony-based company Original Film. Elizabeth Cantillon and Doug Belgrad are overseeing production for Sony Pictures.

    Miramax offshoot Dimension Films gave Feast a limited theatrical run this past Halloween before releasing it on home video just three weeks later. Since winning Project Greenlight, Melton and Dunstan have been hired to write the fifth installment in the Highlander series for Dimension, and successfully pitched the studio a horror film titled Midnight Man, which Dunstan will direct. The writing team also has a teen horror pilot titled The Vineyard set up with Fox Broadcasting Co.

  • Boris FX Sees Red for Intel-based Macs

    Boris FX, a developer of integrated effects technology for video and film production, has announced the availability of Boris Red version 4.1 for Intel-based Macintosh systems. The release includes a Universal Binary plug-in for Apple Final Cut Pro, as well as a Universal Binary standalone Render Engine.

    Boris Red 4.1 is offered as a free update to existing Boris Red 4.0 customers moving to the Intel-based Macintosh platform. According to the companythe latest version is designed to take full advantage of the improved OpenGL graphics hardware found in the new Apple Mac Pro and MacBook Pro models.

    Boris Red 4.0 began shipping in September of 2006, offering customers improved image processing technology, a slate of image treatment tools and a newly designed user interface optimized for effects creation workflows. With the new update, Boris FX plans to maintain backward compatibility with qualified PowerPC-based Macintosh systems.

    The Boris Red 4.1 update can be downloaded from the Boris FX web site at www.borisfx.com. The site also includes additional information about the update and other Boris FX releases.

  • Showtime Gets into Games

    Having branched out from showing movies to building a slate of successful TV series, premium cable network Showtime is now looking to grab a piece of the lucrative video game business. The Associated Press reports that the CBS Corp.-owned channel has entered into a joint venture with game publisher Broadband Libraries LLC to offer games over the internet.

    Dubbed On Broadband, the service is slated for a Q2 launch and will provide cable TV companies and DSL broadband servers with a turnkey source of downloadable and online games that they can slap their own brand on. Showtime and Broadband Libraries will receive fees from these companies, as well as revenues from subscription customers. Some games will be offered for free and others will be pay-to-play.

    On Broadband will be competing with Turner Broadcasting System’s GameTap, which also offer a vast array of games to internet users. And like GameTap, the service will also offer game-related programming including reviews and cheats.

  • Editor’s Note: Samurai is a Cut Above

    Television gets a heck of a lot cooler with tonight’s premiere of Afro Samurai on cable outlet Spike TV. Based on a forthcoming Manga created by Takashi Okazaki, the bloody, five-part anime series starring the voice of Samuel L. Jackson kicks off at 11 p.m. and is a must see for fans of Japanese animation and the films of Akira Kurosawa, Sergio Leone and Quentin Tarantino.

    Masterfully blending Eastern and Western sensibilities, Afro Samurai follows the adventures of a lone swordsman who roams a futuristic but feudal world in search of a gunslinger named Justice (Ron Perlman), who killed his father in a duel years ago. While the mostly silent antihero doesn’t give Jackson many lines, the actor makes up for it by also providing the voice of Ninja Ninja, a loud-mouthed sidekick of sorts who tags along on Afro’s adventures.

    Okazaki tells that while he didn’t have Jackson in mind from the beginning, he’s thrilled that he got involved in the project. ‘Since I love the role he played in the film Jackie Brown, I sort of vaguely dreamt about how cool it would be to have Ninja Ninja talk the way Samuel L. Jackson does in that film. So when they actually broke the news that he would be doing the voice, I simply could not believe it.’

    In addition to being a hunter, Afro finds himself hunted for his headband, one of several special pieces of cloth imbued with special powers. The headband makes Afro nearly invincible, so enemies come at him with armies of soldiers, rocket launchers and anything else that can give them an edge over this fierce warrior. The beautifully staged action sequences are dished out in generous helpings and are nicely punctuated by eclectic hip-hop music by recording artist RZA, who composed iconic music for Tarantino’s Kill Bill films.

    Afro Samurai is produced by Japanese animation studio Gonzo, in association/partnership with GHK K.K. and FUNimation Ent. which is servicing the merchandising, licensing and home video distribution for the series. Working with a sizeable budget of about $1 million per half-hour episode, Gonzo is able to go all-out with the animation and avoid a lot of the corner cutting found in more minimalist anime.

    The series looks great and offers plenty of action, but the real test will be whether or not it can deliver a compelling story and build characters that viewers care about over the five-episode arc. I, for one, will be tuning in regularly to see how it pans out. Read more about the making of Afro Samurai in the February issue of Animation Magazine.