Animation Magazine

Author: Ryan Ball

  • Sleep Lively in Limited Release

    In his latest live-action feature, Idiocracy, Beavis & Butt-Head creator Mike Judge imagines a futuristic society that has been dumbed down to the point that the No. 1 movie in America is a film called Ass, two hours of someone’s rear end farting on screen. Judge predicts it will take 500 years to get to that point, but one look at this weekend’s box office results tells us it won’t be nearly that long. The top-grossing film in North America is titled Jackass: Number Two, a collection of juvenile, gross-out stunts that raked in an estimated $28 million while smart and original films such as Michel Gondry’s The Science of Sleep were left to do their best in a handful of theaters.

    With its absurd imagery, bittersweet story and mix of French, English and Spanish languages, The Science of Sleep isn’t exactly a movie for the masses. Still, it managed to make the most of a 14-theater North American roll-out, averaging a whopping $24,785 per venue for a weekend total of around $347,000. The story of a young man’s struggle to separate his dreams from his waking life, the film features a good deal of stop-motion animation to bring its hero’s vivid imagination to the screen. For more details on the making of the film, pick up the latest issue of Animation Magazine.

    Miramax’s CG-animated Renaissance, another French import, debuted in just two theaters stateside and earned an estimated $10,400, the co-production of Onyx Films, Millimages, Luxanimation, Timefirm Ltd. and France 2 Cinema was animated by Attitude Studio in high-contrast black and white to mimic the style of Frank Miller’s graphic novels. Though the film suffers from story issues, it’s apparent that a lot of hard work went into creating the captivating visuals.

    The same can be said for MGM’s Flyboys, which employs high-flying visual effects by Framestore CFC, Double Negative, Electric Effects and Machine. A fictionalized account of a squadron of young Americans flying missions for the French in World War I, the movie has all the makings of a crowd pleaser but didn’t exactly draw a crowd. The pic debuted at No. 4 with an estimated $6 million, falling in line behind Paramount’s Jackass, Rogue Features’ Jet Li’s Fearless and Sony’s Gridiron Gang.

    Released last week by 20th Century Fox, Starz Animation’s Everyone’s Hero held onto a top-five slot, coming in at No. 5 with around $4.7 million for the weekend and a cume of approximately $11.6 million. Though it hasn’t done as well also some the year’s other toon releases, it did beat Sony’s big-budget political drama, All the King’s Men, which debuted at No. 7 with and estimated $3.8 million despite a stellar cast that includes Sean Penn, Jude Law, Anthony Hopkins, Kate Winslet, Patricia Clarkson and James Gandolfini.

    Perhaps this weekend will be kinder to animation as Sony Animation unveils its flagship CG feature, Open Season, on Sept 29. The movie opens in both conventional theaters and in 3D at IMAX venues.

  • Blanchett to Tell Cartoonist’s Story

    Oscar-winning actor Cate Blanchett (The Aviator) will play cartoonist Marisa Acocella Marchetto in a feature film based on her memoir, Cancer Vixen: A True Story. According to The Hollywood Reporter, Blanchette may also produce the film with husband Andrew Upton through their Dirty Films shingle.

    In her book, Marchetto, whose cartoons have been featured in Glamour and The New Yorker, documented her struggle to maintain her fashionista lifestyle and carry out wedding plans after being diagnosed with breast cancer. The film rights were recently bought by Working Title. Tim Bevan and Eric Fellner are producing with Debra Hayward overseeingfor Working Title.

    Blanchett will next be seen alongside Brad Pitt in Babel, which opens next month. The two will also pair for David Lynch’s Benjamin Button, which begins production in January.

  • Reppen To Manage MTVN’s NeoPets

    Kyra E. Reppen, former head of NickJr.com and creator of the recently launched ParentsConnect brand, has been named senior VP and general manager of NeoPets, a major web destination for kids and tweens. Reporting to Steve Youngwood, exec VP of digital for Nickelodeon and MTVN Kids and Family Group, Reppen will oversee day-to-day operations, creative direction and business strategy for the Glendale, Calif.-based venture.

    NeoPets Inc. was founded by Doug C. Dohring in 2000 and acquired by MTV Networks in June of 2005. With more than 30 million members worldwide, NeoPets.com has quickly become one of the largest and fastest growing web sites, generating more than two billion pageviews per month. Dohring will continue to be involved with the company as a consultant.

    As VP and general manager of Nickjr.com, Reppen oversaw strategy, creative and editorial for the site, transforming it from a television promotional site to a leading parenting website for parents of young children. She is also credited with spearheading the acquisition of local online parenting resource GoCityKids, and launching Nick Jr. ParentsTV, a broadband video channel. In addition, she produced the first-ever 3D online games for preschoolers and led the networks’ preschool introduction to wireless, interactive TV and innovative online gaming experiences.

    Last March, Warner Bros. announced plans to produce animated theatrical features based NepPets, a global online network which allows members to create and care for virtual pets. For more information on the property, go to www.neopets.com.

  • Boll Bludgeons Bloggers

    After being blasted by critics for his feature adaptations of such video games as House of the Dead, Alone in the Dark and BloodRayne, German director Ewe Boll is doing what many filmmakers would love to do to unkind reviewers. Back in August, we reported that Boll had issued a challenge to his detractors, inviting them to go three rounds with him in a boxing ring. The first set of matches were held this past weekend, leaving four critics wishing they had kept their jabs in print.

    Sponsored by Internet casino GoldenPalace.com, the “Raging Boll” event saw the director pummel Richard “Lowtax” Kyanka of SomethingAwful.com, Jeffrey Sneider of Aintitcoolnews.com, Chris Alexander of horror magazine Rue Morgue and 17-yr-old web critic Nelson Chance Minter. None of the competitors lasted more than 2 rounds and all the fights ended by KO or TKO.

    Boll, who has more than 30 years experience in the ring, had the matches filmed and will incorporate them in his upcoming adaptation of the video game Postal from developer Running With Scissors. He is also directing a film based on Ubisoft’s Far Cry, and is currently in post-production on a feature based on Microsoft’s role-playing franchise, Dungeon Siege. The $60 million fantasy epic starring Ray Liotta (Goodfellas, Narc) is slated for a late-summer release in 2007.

  • SOFTIMAGE|CAT v.2.5 Released

    SOFTIMAGE|CAT v.2.5 Released

    Avid’s Softimage Co. today announced the worldwide availability of SOFTIMAGE|CAT version 2.5, the latest update to its popular plug-in for Autodesk’s 3ds Max animation and modeling software. Made part of the SOFTIMAGE product line with Avid’s recent asset acquisition of Character Animation Technologies Ltd., CAT is a complete character animation system designed to enable artists to animate quickly in a flexible environment.

    Included among the new features in SOFTIMAGE|CAT v.2.5 is a new system for manipulating CATRigs. CAT now includes gizmos to manipulate CATRigs faster and easier. With one click, a gizmo can be added to a CAT bone to give a rig a clear, streamlined set of controls. Users can also copy and paste poses and other layers for key frame animation, and utilize a unique procedural walk-cycle system that includes ‘walk on spot,’ ‘walk on line,’ and ‘path node’ modes. CATMotion also includes controls for gradient and direction, allowing artists to design a broader range of cycles, and additional tools for previewing a larger range of motion. In addition, the release offers a pose mixer for bone-based facial animation. The new tool is designed to provide a fast, intuitive workflow that allows artists to animate their characters’ faces in the same way they would using morph targets. Poses can be loaded, mirrored and blended onto the facial bone hierarchy.

    SOFTIMAGE|CAT V.2.5 also includes updates to CAT’s capture animation tool to provide a faster, more responsive workflow. New pipeline tools include a batch importer to import data into CAT, and a new, customizable script-based batch exporter. A new Wiki for CAT documentation is now available at http://cat.wiki.avid.com.

    SOFTIMAGE|CAT v.2.5 is a free upgrade for customers who have purchased CAT v.2.0 and above. The upgrade can be immediately downloaded at http://www.catoolkit.com/. Customers with a license of CAT v.1.0 can purchase an upgrade for the suggested retail price of $295 from the CAT website at http://www.catoolkit.com/purchase or from authorized resellers. New customers can purchase SOFTIMAGE|CAT v.2.5 for $995.

  • Editor’s Note: Vive la Renaissance!

    The title of director Christian Volckman’s Renaissance ironically refers to a futuristic society obsessed with beauty to the point that a major cosmetics company has become the most powerful force in Paris. More importantly, however, the film represents a much-welcomed blossoming of adult animation inspired by the gritty graphic novels of Frank Miller and the sci-fi tales of Philip K. Dick. Winner of Best Picture at the Annecy Int’l Film Festival, The Miramax release arrives in select North American theaters today and is a must-see for fans of such neo-noir favorites as Sin City and Blade Runner.

    In the year 2054, Paris is a labyrinth where all movement is monitored and recorded in the shadow of the Avalon Company. When 22-year-old Ilona Tasuiev, Avalon’s top researcher, is kidnapped, Police Captain Barth’l’my Karas (voiced by Daniel Craig) must unravel a mystery and avoid being killed in the process. Karas is joined in his quest by Ilona’s sister, Bislane (Catherine MacCormack), who is prepared to take on Avalon to find her sibling. The English-language voice cast also includes Ian Holm, Jonathan Pryce, Romola Garai and Kervork Malikyan.

    Renaissance is a visually stunning achievement. A co-production of Onyx Films, Millimages, Luxanimation, Timefirm Ltd. and France 2 Cinema, the film is animated in CG by Attitude Studio and rendered in toon-shaded, high-contrast black and white to mimic the style of Miller’s graphic novels. The visual direction also enables the filmmakers to side-step the ‘uncanny valley’ issue that faces productions involving motion-captured virtual human characters.

    In addition to looking great, Renaissance sounds fantastic. Composed, orchestrated and conducted by Nicholas Dodd, the gripping score perfectly complements the computer-generated images and Volckman’s masterful direction, and gives the production a sense of grandeur and scope, even as the action becomes more confined within the sterile corridors of Avalon and the dark tunnels beneath the city streets.

    There are some thrilling and inventive action sequences in Renaissance, and I would have liked to have seen more of that. My only minor gripe is that the film gets a bit too mired in a plot that is far less complicated than Volckman and scribes Matthieu Delaporte and Alexandre de la Patelli’re would have us believe. It’s not much of leap to link Ilona’s study of the premature aging disease Progeria with Avalon’s promise to keep citizens looking young and beautiful forever. But even when the story drags, the images are mesmerizing and there are a few good twists and turns to keep viewers interested between car chases and shootouts.

    Following closely on the heels of Richard Linklater’s animated adaptation of Philip K. Dick’s A Scanner Darkly, Renaissance is another breath of fresh air in a year crowded with family-friendly talking animal comedies, entertaining though they may be. Fans of adult-oriented animation can next look forward to Princess, an anime-style feature from Danish writer/director Anders Morgenthaler (The Nelly Nut Show, Araki), which premiered at Cannes and recently enjoyed a Midnight Madness screening at the Toronto Int’l film Festival. A missionary priest abandons his profession to avenge the death of his porn-star sister in the pic, which has drawn comparisons to Martin Scorsese’s Taxi Driver and Luc Besson’s Leon: The Professional.

    Renaissance is opening in only a couple theaters this weekend but should roll out a bit wider in the coming weeks. Hopefully, animation and comic-book fans will seek it out as this is one to be seen on the big screen. Los Angeles reisdents can find it at the Nuart Theatre in Santa Monica.

  • Sleep, Flyboys Debut

    If you’re not lucky enough to get to a screening of Miramax’s Renaissance this weekend, there’s more accessible animation to be found in the form of visual effects in the new releases The Science of Sleep from Warner Independent and Flyboys from MGM. The latest feature from director Michel Gondry (Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind), Science is getting a limited North American rollout in 14 theaters while producer Dean Devlin’s WWI action-thriller, Flyboys, gets a wide release in more than 2,000 venues.

    A bittersweet fable, The Science of Sleep (La Science des Reves) stars Gael Garc’a Bernal (Motorcycle Diaries) as Stephane, a young man whose love life is complicated by his inability to separate his dreams from his waking life. In his sleep, Stephane hosts his own TV show, flies above an animated cardboard city and communes with charming creatures that resemble arts & crafts projects come to life through stop-motion animation. In all, there are between 70 and 80 animation shots created by a small group of artists who set up a makeshift studio in a barn in the south of France. Highly imaginative, the film is a bit of a return to form for Gondry, who has created amazing animated music videos for the likes of Bjork and The White Stripes. For more details on the making of the film, pick up the latest issue of Animation Magazine.

    Flyboys employs visual effects by Framestore CFC, Double Negative, Electric Effects and Machine to recreate harrowing aerial dogfights in this fictionalized tale of the Lafayette Escadrille, a squadron of young Americans who became the country’s first fighter pilots by joining the French military before the U.S. entered World War I. The film stars James Franco of a break fro filming Sony’s Spider-Man movies. His last starring role was in the military-based flick Annapolis, which came and went with little fanfare.

    Also opening wide today are Paramount’s Jackass: Number 2, Jet Lee’s Fearless from Rogue Pictures, All the King’s Men from Sony/Columbia and School for Scoundrels from MGM and the Weinstein Co. Weinstein’s Dimension offshoot has also released Feast, the last feature produced via the Project Greenlight reality series spearheaded by Matt Damon and Ben Affleck. The tongue-in-cheek horror flick employs mostly practical effects to depict a monster attack on the patrons of a country bar. It arrives in 146 theaters just three weeks before its DVD release.

  • Exodus finds Igor Director

    Exodus Film Group has hired Tony Leondis (Lilo & Stitch 2: Stitch Has a Glitch) to direct its CG-animated feature, Igor. Featuring the voices of Christian Slater, Steve Buscemi, John Cleese and Jay Leno, the film will be an extension of the short Igor: Holy Frijoles, which is currently in production at Exodus. The feature will be distributed by The Weinstein Co., which secured deals for most foreign territories at this year’s Cannes Film Festival.

    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 first place at the annual Evil Science Fair. Slater will voice the title role while Buscemi comes fresh off his creepy turn in Monster House to play Scamper, a super-intelligent and ill-tempered lab rabbit. Cleese, who’s also working on Shrek 3, is voicing the character of Dr. Glickenstein, Igor’s evil master.

    The film is being produced by Exodus president John D. Eraklis and veteran animation executive Max Howard, who has collaborated on such animated blockbusters such as Disney’s The Lion King and Aladdin, and Warner Bros.’ Space Jam and The Iron Giant. The screenplay was written by Chris McKenna, who is currently writing for his third season on the Fox animated TV show American Dad, and is co-writing New Line Cinema’s heist comedy Black and White. Eric Robinson, VP of production and development, is overseeing Igor on behalf of The Weinstein Co.

    In addition to helming the direct-to-video Lilo & Stitch sequel, which earned him a 2005 Annie Award for Best Home Entertainment Production, Leondis has lent his writing talents to Disney’s Home on the Range and Kronk’s New Groove, and DreamWorks’ The Prince of Egypt and The Road to El Dorado.

    Exodus Film Group’s CG-animation slate also includes The Hero of Color City, which will be distributed by Magnolia Pictures, and Amarillo Armadillo. The studio is also in pre-production on the live-action film Bunyan & Babe, which features comedic actor Eddie Griffin as the voice of the CG-animated Babe the Blue Ox.

  • WAC-O: New Winner, New Films!

    Through an online voting process, readers of Animation Magazine have chosen the second quarterly winner of the World Animation Celebration Online (WAC-O), a web-based festival of animated short films from around the world. Animation Magazine congratulates Vancouver Film School alum Roy Margalit of Vancouver, Canada for getting the most votes for Spiritualized, a 2D comedic tale of one man’s quest for spiritual divinity through trial and error.

    Spiritualized is written, directed and animated by Margalit, and produced by Vancouver Film School. The short clocks in at 3:57 and is available for viewing at www.animationmagazine.net/wac/spiritualized.html.

    For being the second quarterly winner, Margalit will receive a Mirage Studio PRO 2D animation software package from Bauhaus Software, Autodesk’s Cleaner 6.5 desktop video solution and one of NVIDIA’s Quadro FX 1100 graphics processing cards. In addition, Spiritualized is eligible to win the year-end Grand Prize (prize yet to be determined).

    With today’s addition of nine new films, WAC-O currently features a total of 54 animated shorts. Entries represent a wide range of animation techniques including CG, hand-drawn, Flash and stop-motion, and vary in genre from comedy, drama, science-fiction, horror and fantasy. Festival visitors can view all films and vote for their favorites at www.animationmagazine.net/wac. Film submissions are received on a rolling basis. Submission forms and additional information can also be found at www.animationmagazine.net/wac.

  • Lekes Leaves Jetix Europe

    After four years with Jetix Europe, Michael Lekes has resigned the post of senior VP of programming. Citing personal reasons, Lekes will leave the company at the end of September. He has been responsible for all aspects of Jetix Europe’s programming content, encompassing production, development, acquisitions and administration.

    Lekes was originally appointed as Jetix Europe’s director of creative and development in 2002, with responsibility for the assessment of all creative aspects of potential pan-European acquisitions; approval of all editorial content of co-productions or commissioned series; and for the development of all new programming projects. He joined Jetix from Chorion Intellectual Properties, where he was head of creative and brand development since 2000. There, he was responsible for producing the company’s animation projects, which included Noddy, The Famous Five, Blyton and Baron Bolligrew. Before that, Lekes was exec producer of children’s and entertainment at Granada/United.

    As the company seeks a replacement for Lekes, Jetix Europe CEO Paul Taylor will work closely with the pan-European programming team, the local Jetix Channel programming heads and the company’s commercial partners, including Disney, to ensure the continued delivery of content for Jetix.

    ‘It is with regret that I announce that Michael has resigned and will be leaving Jetix at the end of this month,’ Taylor comments. ‘I would like to thank him for his support, hard work and contribution to the company and wish him well in the future. I am actively seeking a replacement for Michael, in order to develop and deliver brand-defining Jetix content for our channels and businesses in the multiplatform marketplace.’

    Lekes has been a friend and supporter of Animation Magazine, participating as one of the distinguished judges of our annual Pitch Party, a contest which seeks to identify new animated properties and expose them to execs with the power to greenlight a show. We wish him well.

  • 9 Story Adds Distrib. Division

    Natalie Osborne, former VP of acquisitions for Universal Pictures Visual Programming, has been tapped as exec VP of business development for a new distribution unit formed by animation studio 9 Story Ent. Osborne will head to MIPCOM Jr. in Cannes, France next month to lead distribution efforts for the animated properties Futz!, Best Ed and If The World Were A Village.

    9 Story plans to wrap production on all 26 3-minue episodes of Futz! By September of 2007. The multiplatform, action-comedy series is aimed at kids 9-14, and follows the adventures of a comic anti-hero who is ready for anything and prepared for nothing.

    Best Ed is a 52×11 comedy series for kids 8-12 that focuses on the unlikely friendship between a dog named Ed and a squirrel named Buddy. The show will be ready for broadcast in January of 2008.

    Based on the 2002 book by the same name by author David J. Smith, If the World Were a Village is a completed half-hour special that delivers a message of tolerance and understanding by offering children a view of the world as if it were a village of just 100 people, where one person equals 64 million. In this village, 20 people earn almost nothing, 17 will never learn to read or write and 60 are always hungry.

    Founded in 2001, 9 Story Ent. has delivered more than 60 half hours of animated television content. Producer of such popular shows as Peep and the Big Wide World and Skyland, the company is led by exec producers Vince Commisso and Steven Jarosz, who oversee a staff of more than 70 employees.

  • Theatrical Date Set for Christmas Carol

    A classic Charles Dickens tale is re-imagined with animals in A Christmas Carol, a new CG-animated feature film from global animation company BKN International AG. Before it arrives on home video, the pic will make its U.S theatrical debut in more than 100 venues on Saturday, November 4. The film will screen as part of distributor Kidtoon Films’ series of weekend matinees through Sunday, Nov. 26.

    A Christmas Carol employs toon-shaded CG animation and an all-animal cast of characters to retell the time-honored tale of how the miserly Ebenezer Scrooge learns to embrace the spirit of Christmas. A free CD of the film’s music will be given out to kids who attend the theatrical screenings.

    Genius Products, LLC, BKN’s exclusive U.S. home entertainment distributor, will release A Christmas Carol on DVD on Nov. 21. The disc will include two bonus Christmas sing-along videos and will feature unique packaging that ‘snows’ when shaken.

    Future Kidtoon Films features include the CG-animated Arthur’s Missing Pal, the Strawberry Shortcake Sweet Dreams movie and My Little Pony: The Runaway Rainbow. Parents can sign up for a monthly newsletter providing information about upcoming films or access the information on Kidtoonfilms.com. Tickets for all performances can be purchased in advance at the theatre, by phone or online at www.national-amusements.com.

  • Overlooked Toons Find Spotlight in L.A.

    The American Cinematheque in Los Angeles will present a series of rare animated works starting Friday, Sept. 22 and continuing through Sunday, Sept. 24. Titled ‘Unshown Cinema: The Animated Films the Got Away,’ the special engagement will be presented in association with the Los Angles Film Cirtics Association (LAFCA) at the Egyptian Theatre in Hollywood and the Aero Theatre in Santa Monica.

    This latest entry in LAFCA’s Films That Got Away series will feature the first-ever English subtitled version of Ladislas Starewitch’s Reynard the Fox (Le Roman de Renard) a rarely seen animated feature that premiered a full year before Disney’s Snow White. Other features on tap include Whisper of the Heart from director Yoshifumi Kondo and producer Hayao Miyazaki, and director Jacques-Remy Girerd’s Raining Cats and Frogs (La Prophetie des Grenouilles). The latter will screen during a special program titled ‘French Animation Masterworks’Then and Now,’ taking place Saturday at 7:30 p.m. at the Egyptian.

    On Friday at 7:30 p.m. the Egyptian, fans of adult animation can check out ‘Dangerous Visions: Animated Shorts for Connoisseurs & Grown-ups.’ The program will include Steffen Schaffler’s Oscar-nominated The Periwig Maker (1999), J.J. Villard’s Charles Bukowski adaptation Son of Satan (2003), Igor Kovalyov’s Milch (2005), Lisa Barcy’s The Guilt Trip, Or The Vaticans Take a Holiday (2004), George Griffin’s A Little Routine (1994) and Frederic Back’s Oscar-nominated All or Nothing (1980). Also featured in the world theatrical premiere of excerpts from Nina Paley’s animated feature in progress, Sita Sings the Blues, a re-imagining of the Ramayana of Hindu lore as an epic Betty Boop cartoon.

    More information on this series and other screenings presented by the American Cinematheque can be found at www.americancinematheque.com.

  • The Wild Is Top DVD

    Though it pulled disappointing box office numbers this past spring, Disney’s CG-animated feature The Wild is going ape on DVD. The adventure-comedy about zoo animals on a mission is the top-selling home video release in North America, out-performing the second season of ABC’s Grey’s Anatomy and even the latest releases of Star Wars, The Empire Strikes Back and Return of the Jedi.

    Directed by Steve ‘Spaz’ Williams and animated at C.O.R.E. Feature Animation in Toronto, The Wild stars Kiefer Sutherland as the voice of a lion named Samson, who assembles a team of animal pals to set out in search of his teenage son who has been accidentally crated off the Africa. Other key voices are provided by James Belushi, Janeane Garofalo, Eddie Izzard and William Shatner.

    The Wild took in just north of $37 million domestically but did better overseas. Foreign receipts totaling $50.4 million drove its worldwide take to a respectable $87.8 million. On the DVD rental chart, the movie debuted at No. 10 with an estimated $3.33 million. The Weinstein Co.’s Lucky Number Sleven was the week’s top rental with $8.8 million and ranked at No. 3 on the sales chart. The fifth season The CW’s Smallville was No. 4.

    For the week ending Sept. 17, Star Wars, The Empire Strikes Back and Return of the Jedi debuted at No. 5, No. 6 and No. 7, respectively, in sales. The two-disc sets each include both the original theatrical release versions for the late ’70s and early ’80s as well as the 2004 re-issues featuring updated visual effects and other tweaks. Available only through December, the discs should see strong sales through the holiday season.

  • Pirates 2 Has DVD Date

    Disney’s blockbuster hit Pirates Of The Caribbean: Dead Man’s Chest emerged as the top-grossing film of the year, earning more than $1 billion worldwide. That’s a treasure chest that will be stuffed even more when the pic arrives on home video on Dec. 5.

    In the film, Jack Sparrow (Johnny Depp) owes his soul to the legendary Davy Jones (Bill Nighy) and must find a way to save himself from suffering for eternity as a member of the fiend’s army of sea phantoms. Orlando Bloom and Kiera Knightley return as Will Turner and Elizabeth Swann, Sparrow’s reluctant partners in swashbuckling, and visual effects are provided by Industrial Light & Magic, Asylum, The Orphanage, Method Studios, Tippett Studio, Caf’ FX and Proof Inc.

    Pirates Of The Caribbean: Dead Man’s Chest will be released as both a single disc issue and a deluxe, two-disc special addition DVD set. Featuring limited availability holographic packaging, the special edition will offer a behind-the-scenes documentary, a Captain Jack featurette, a sword-fighting featurette, a look at the creation of film’s CG Kraken, an on-location view of filming, a featurette on the legend of Davy Jones, red-carpet premiere footage, producer Jerry Bruckheimer’s personal on-set photo diary and a bonus program on the newly ‘re-Imagineered’ Pirates of the Caribbean theme-park attraction.

    The third installment in the franchise, Pirates of the Caribbean: At Worlds End, is currently in production and is expected to debut on May 25, 2007 (Memorial Day weekend). Disney announced recently that is also planning to make a feature film based on its Jungle Cruise attraction, one of the first rides installed at Disneyland in 1955. According to The Hollywood Reporter, Smallville showrunners Al Gough and Miles Millar are in negotiations to write the script. The pair’s credits include Disney’s Herbie: Fully Loaded and Shanghai Noon, as well as Sony’s Spider-Man 2.

  • Animation Mentor Opens Alumni Campus

    As it prepares to send off its first graduating class next week, online animation school Animation Mentor is creating a dedicated alumni web campus. Launching on Sept. 25 at http://alumni.animationmentor.com, the new site will host

    career services, events and specially tailored learning experiences while allowing graduates to continue their participation in the Animation Mentor community.

    ‘Graduation typically brings the entire school experience to an end, but at Animation Mentor, we wanted to help our students thrive as working animators and stay connected,’ says Animation Mentor president and co-founder Bobby S. Beck, ‘Our graduates have built an incredible community and, with the

    alumni site, they will be able to remain a part of it all, and more.’

    Animation Mentor graduates will be able to use the free-of-charge basic services, which include the job bank and career services, online portfolio/reel hosting, forums, online gatherings and a monthly newsletter. Thos who choose to upgrade to the enhanced membership will be afforded additionl benefits, including reel critiques, the ability to view all Animation Mentor lectures/demos, special lectures/demos designed for working animators and product and service discounts.

    The September 2006 class will receive free lifetime membership to the enhanced site, and the December 2006 class will be given a free one-year membership. All subsequent classes will pay a nominal fee to cover operation costs. All Animation Mentor graduates will be able to purchase eCritiques, which are audio-visual sessions offering feedback on tests and other creative work.

  • G4 Gets Spaceballs Toon

    Cable network G4 will be the exclusive U.S. broadcast home for the first run of Spaceballs: The Animated Series. Based on Mel Brooks’ 1987 spoof of Star Wars, the show is being produced by Berliner Film Companie GmbH in association with Brooksfilms and will debut on G4 in the fall of 2007. MGM Worldwide Television Distribution Group will officially launch the property at the next month’s MIPCOM international television market in Cannes, France.

    Brooks wrote the pilot for Spaceballs: The Animated Series with scribe Thomas Meehan, who previously collaborated with Brooks on the original Spaceballs film, as well as the feature To Be or Not to Be and the musical version of The Producers. Meehan will oversee all writing for the first 13 episodes, and Brooks will lend his voice to the characters President Skroob and Yogurt.

    The Spaceballs pilot will adhere closely to the plot of the film as the evil Dark Helmet kidnaps Princess Vespa of the Planet Druidia in order to blackmail her father into giving up his planet’s air to replenish the polluted atmosphere of Planet Spaceball. King Roland then hires Lone Starr and his half-human/half-dog sidekick, Barf, to rescue the princess and save Planet Druidia.

    G4 president Neal Tiles comments, “As the go-to network for men 18-34, irreverent humor is one of the benchmarks of our programming philosophy, as is animation. Mel Brooks’ classic movies Young Frankenstein and Blazing Saddles are just as relevant to our young male audience today as they were when they were first released. His brand of humor will resonate well with our viewers.” G4 will debut Mondo Media’s animated Happy Tree Friends series on Oct. 2.

    Berliner has produced a number animated television series, including Da Boom Crew, which aired on Kids’ WB! The company is currently wrapping production on the CG feature film Happily N’Ever After, a fairytale comedy being produced by Oscar-winning Shrek producer John H. Williams and exec produced by Berliner principal Rainer Soehnlein.

  • Animania HD Serves Up More Erky Perky

    VOOM HD Networks’ Animania HD will debut new episodes of the CG-animated series Erky Perky on Saturday, Sept. 23, at 12 p.m. (EST). The new season consists of 26 12-minute episodes that will air in half-hour blocks on Saturdays and Sundays this October at 12:30 p.m. during Animania HD’s Big Wide Action Show programming block. Repeats will air at 5 p.m.

    Developed by CCI and Ambience Ent., Erky Perky follows the zany antics of two bickering, lazy and dim-witted bugs who are obsessed with finding food while trying to survive in the sterile suburban kitchen they accidentally end up in. After eating, their main goal in life is to find their way back to the hot dog stand they call home. The show also airs on Canada’s YTV.

    Featuring new series and specials, along with classic toons remastered to HD quality, Animania HD most recently picked up Gerry Anderson’s New Captain Scarlet , FUNimation Ent.’s anime series Akira Kurosawa’s Samurai 7 and Monster Distributes’ CG cartoons PicMe from Jammedia and Jungle Beat from Sunrise Media. Other offerings include 2020 , Horrible Histories , The Gravediggers Squad , Ratz , Dan Dare’Pilot of the Future and Voltron: The Third Dimension , as well as vintage cartoons The Pink Panther , Dick Tracy , Mr. Magoo and Felix the Cat .

    Animania HD is one of more than 10 high-definition core channels available through VOOM HD Networks, a subsidiary of Rainbow Media. Other VOOM channels available on Dish Network offer programming revolving around sports, movies, fashion, music and art. In March of this year, the network added GamePlay HD, a high-definition channel dedicated solely to video game-related content.

  • Happy Tree Friends Travels with MTV

    Mondo Media’s accident-prone forest pals are headed to MTV in Latin America, Germany and Brazil through broadcast license deals secured by Cinema Management Group (CMG). Consisting of 13 half-hour episodes, the Happy Tree Friends seies will debut in North America on Oct. 2 on G4 Network, the first TV broadcaster to pick up the series. CMG has since pre-sold the show in more than 40 territories.

    Created by Kenn Navarro and Rhode Montijo of Mondo Media, Happy Tree Friends began life as a series of animated shorts that built a following on the Internet and on the film festival circuit. The property features such cute animal characters as Cuddles, Giggles, Lumpy and Toothy, who always manage to get mangled in creative calamities. G4 began airing the shorts last year as part of its Late Night Peep Show block, and the Happy Tree Friends podcast logs approximately 1.5 million downloads per month, making it one of the highest-ranking podcasts on iTunes.

    CMG previously closed deals for the Happy Tree Friends series with such broadcasters as the recently launched Mad-TV network in Greece, Yes-TV in Israel and Music Plus and Chum TV in Canada. In addition, NSTV in Russia has acquired the Pay TV broadcast rights and up-start 20 TV in Moscow has purchased the Free TV rights. TV rights in New Zealand were picked up by Can West.

    ‘The international reaction to this show proves the innovation and market knowledge of John Evershed and his team at Mondo Media,’ says CMG president Edward Noeltner. ‘They were geniuses at creating a show that has worldwide appeal with teenagers and young adults that needs no dubbing or subtitling in order for the series to translate overseas.’

    CMG has also pre-sold the North American DVD distribution rights to the series to BCI Eclipse. Internationally, DVD rights have been snapped up by Bac Films in France and French speaking Switzerland, Polyband in Germany and Austria, RCV Entertainment in the Benelux, Movie One in Italy, Baditri in Spain, Nobel Entertainment in Scandinavia, LNK in Portugal, Akella in the CIS territories, Budapest Films in Hungry, Hollywood Ent. in the Czech and Slovak Republics, Monolith Films in Poland, Village Roadshow in Australia and New Zealand and Focus Films in Brazil. Quality Films in Mexico recently came onboard for DVD distribution during the Toronto Film Festival.

  • Lucas to Marshal Rose Parade

    George Lucas, creator of the Star Wars franchise and founder of Lucas Animation, has been named grand marshal of the 2007 Tournament of Roses in Pasadena. The announcement was made Tuesday at the Tournament of Roses headquarters, where the fanfare included appearances by Chewbacca and an Ewok. Following in the footsteps of last year’s marshal, Former U.S. Supreme Court Justice Sandra Day O’Connor, Lucas will hold court at the 118th annual event on New Year’s Day.

    Lucas is also making headlines with his $175 million donation to the University of Southern California, which served as a springboard to his own film career. The largest donation in USC’s history, the funds will be applied to its endowment and rebuilding its School of Cinematic Arts, the oldest film school in the U.S. Lucas began honing his filmmaking kills there as student in the 1960s.

    Having completed his six-part Star Wars film saga, Lucas is continuing the battle between the Jedi and the Sith on television with a live-action series and a CG-animated show focusing on the Clone Wars. Most of the animation and effects work will be produced at Lucas Animation’s facility in Singapore.