Author: Ryan Ball

The trades are reporting today that director Jonathan Mostow (Terminator 3: Rise of the Machines, Breakdown, U571) has been hired to write and direct a film adaptation of Marvel Comics’ Sub-Mariner franchise for Universal.

The Sub-Mariner comics follow the heroic exploits of a half-man/half-amphibian citizen of Atlantis named Prince Namor. The character first graced comics pages in 1939 and later surfaced in issues of Fantastic Four during the 1960s. Leonardo DiCaprio’s name came up as a possible star when the project was first announced a couple years ago, but there is no word on who will ultimately be cast in the title role.

Back in December of 2004, Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone helmer Chris Columbus was attached to direct and produce the film from a script by David Self (Road to Perdition, The Haunting). Columbus had reportedly been discussing the project with former Marvel Ent. CEO Avi Arad for six years.

Kevin Feige will oversee Sub-Mariner for Marvel and Kevin Misher will produce with Marvel Studios. Peter Cramer is overseeing for Universal.

Since its unveiling at this year’s E3, Nintendo’s Wii next-generation video-game console has had interactive entertainment enthusiasts chomping at the bit to give it a try. Now the salivating can begin as gamers mark Nov. 19 as the day Nintendo unleashes the machine in the Americas. The Wii will carry a suggested retail price of $249.99, which includes one wireless remote controller, one ‘Nunchuk’ controller and a collection of five different sports games on one disc. Japanese gamers can look forward to getting their Wii consoles on Dec. 2.

The Wii, which replaces the Gamecube, incorporates an unique freehand controller, which works like a television remote and is designed to make gameplay more intuitive. The remote can be swung like a tennis racket or sword, or turned sideways and rotated like a steering wheel. In addition, users will have access to a vast catalog of popular games created for past Nintendo systems.

In its efforts to broaden its user base beyond core gamers, Nintendo has incorporated into the Wii a series of on-screen “channels,” which makes the console approachable and customizable for both avid players and novices. When connected to a TV, the Wii Channel Menu lets users pick games, get news or weather, view and send photos and even create playable caricatures of themselves to use in actual games. Additional functions allow users to redeem Wii Points and download classic games to Wii’s Virtual Console.

Among the 30 Wii games slated to hit retail between launch day and Dec. 31 are Wii Sports, a compilation of tennis, baseball, golf, bowling and boxing; The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess; and EXCITE TRUCK. Nintendo will price its own Wii games for $49.99, while third-party developers set their own prices. For more information about the Wii and other Nintendo products, go to www.nintendo.com.

Monumental Prods., Picture Production Company and Lupus Films have teamed to co-produce The Hive, a new CG-animated preschool series debuting at Cartoon Forum and MIPCOM. Created by the team that developed last year’s Cartoon Forum hit, The Pinky & Perky Show, The Hive is being sold as a series of 52 seven-minute episodes aimed at kids 2-5.

At the center of The Hive is the Bee Family, consisting of Mamma Bee, Pappa Bee, Rubee and Buzzbee. The bumblebees live happily together in The Hive at Honey Farm and have adventures with their many friends, neighbours and relatives, including Miss Ladybird, Willy the Wasp, Queen Bee, Grandpa Bee and the mysterious Worm.

Series creator David Willing comments, ‘It was great fun creating the look for The Pinky & Perky Show, and with The Hive, we wanted to keep the same high-quality but went for a more simple, graphic style to appeal to a younger audience.’

The Friday, Sept. 8 primetime debut of the The Replacements was Disney Channel’s most-watched animated series premiere on record with kids 6-11 (2.06 million) and tweens 9-14 (1.53 million). According Neilson data, the show was also the most-watched animated telecast of the week on broadcast and cable television among the two key kids demographics.

In The Replacements, orphans Riley and Todd come across a comic book ad for the Fleemco Co., which promises a new set of parents for $1.98. Their quirky new family consists of a British international spy mom named Agent K, a daredevil dad named Dick Daring and C.A.R.T.E.R., a cynical talking spy car who used to be Agent K’s partner. Riley and Todd soon realize that they can replace any adult in their life simply by making a call to Fleemco owner Conrad Fleem. The series is created by children’s author and illustrator Dan Santat (The Guild of Geniuses) and is exec-produced by Jack Thomas (The Fairly OddParents) and directed by Heather Martinez (SpongeBob SquarePants).

Another big performer for Disney Channel is the learning-focused preschool series, Mickey Mouse Clubhouse, which features a CG-animated Mickey and friends. For the second time since its May 6 premiere, the show stood as basic cable’s most-watched regularly scheduled series in the target demographic of kids 2-5 (799,000), marking a 47% increase in viewership over the same period last year.

Jim Carrey and Bruce Almighty co-star Steve Carell have been signed to the voice cast of 20th Century Fox’s animated adaptation of the 1954 Dr. Seuss favorite, Horton Hears a Who. According to The Hollywood Reporter, Carrey will star as loveable elephant Horton while Carell takes on the role of the Mayor of Who-Ville in the CG-animated pic, which is now in preproduction and slated for release in March of 2008.

Horton Hears a Who is being directed by Jimmy Hayward and Steve Martino from a script by Cinco Paul and Ken Daurio (The Santa Clause 2). Hayward’s credits include Toy Story, Finding Nemo, Monsters, Inc. and A Bug’s Life. He met Martino (Oscar-winning vfx director for Total Recall) when they worked together on Robots. The film’s animation will be handled by New York studio Blue Sky, under the supervision of Fox Animation president Chris Melendradi and Blue Sky’s Chris Wedge (Ice Age, Robots). Theodor Geisel’s (Dr. Seuss) widow Audrey Geisel will be exec producing the film, as well as its proposed sequel, Horton Hatches an Egg.

This is the second Dr. Seuss adaptation for Carrey, who wore prosthetic make-up to take on the title role in Universal’s 2000 live-action take on How The Grinch Stole Christmas. Though he played an animator in the obscure 1984 television series The Duck Factory, Carrey has done little animation voice work to date. He was originally scheduled to lend his voice to the character of R.J. the raccoon in DreamWorks’ Over the Hedge, a role that eventually went to Bruce Willis. Carell, meanwhile, turned in a show-stealing performance as the voice of Hammy the squirrel in that film. In addition to starring in the hit film Little Miss Sunshine and keeping up his Emmy-winning job on NBC’s The Office, Carell is scheduled to reprise his Bruce Almighty role for a sequel titled Evan Almighty.

The collectors out there should know that the October 2006 issue of Animation Magazine has two covers available. One cover features Boog, the bear character voiced by Martin Lawrence in Sony Animation’s Open Season, while the other sports an image of Elliot, a mule deer voiced by Ashton Kutcher in the same movie. Subscribers can now hit the newsstands to pick up the other cover, while the subscriber version can be ordered by contacting our Circulation Department through the Contact Us page.

Based on the humor of In the Bleachers cartoonist Steve Moore, Open Season follows a couple of unlikely forest friends as they rally all the other animals to turn the tables on unsuspecting hunters. Debra Messing and Gary Sinise also lend their voices to the pic, which is helmed by The Lion King director Roger Allers, along with Jill Culton, whose credits include Toy Story 2 and Monsters Inc., and Anthony Stacchi, who counts ANTZ among his various credits. Sony Animation’s flagship feature, Open Season is slated to get a day-and-date IMAX 3D release as it rolls into conventional theaters on Sept. 29.

Universal Pictures today announced the star-studded voice cast for its upcoming animated feature, The Tale of Despereaux. Based on Kate DiCamillo’s Newberry Medal-winning children’s book, The Tale of Despereaux: Being the Story of a Mouse, a Princess, Some Soup, and a Spool of Thread, the film will feature the voices of Dustin Hoffman, Justin Long, William H. Macy, Robbie Coltrane, Kevin Kline, Christopher Lloyd, Stanley Tucci, Tracey Ullman, Sigourney Weaver and Ciaran Hinds. Animation will be handled by Framestore CFC.

Justin Long, who recently starred in the college comedy Accepted and appeared in Mike Judge’s Idiocracy, will be the voice of Despereaux, a brave and virtuous mouse who will prove an unlikely hero in his quest to vanquish the evil rats and shed light on the kingdom. Despereaux is befriended by Roscuro (Hoffman), a good-hearted rat who yearns to escape from the dark world ruled by Botticelli, the sewer rat leader voiced by Hinds (Miami Vice).

William H. Macy (Doogal) returns to the animated world as Despereaux’s timid father, Lester, who wants his youngest child is to be a proper, cowardly mouse. Despereaux is better understood by Hovis, a blind mouse voiced by Lloyd. Meanwhile, Coltrane, best known by kids as Hagrid from the Harry Potter movies, will voice the he palace jailer, Gregory, and Kline (The Pink Panther) will be the king’s royal cook, Andre, who is aided by a seven-foot genie named Boldo (Tucci). Fresh from her work on Tim Burton’s Corpse Bride, Ullman will give voice to Mig, a slow-witted serving girl who dreams of being a princess. Weaver will serve as the film’s narrator.

The Tale of Despereaux is being directed by Oscar nominee director Mike Johnson, who co-directed Corpse Bride with Tim Burton. The film is being produced by four-time Academy Award nominee Gary Ross (Big, Dave, Seabiscuit) and Allison Thomas (Seabiscuit) under their Larger Than Life Prods. banner.

“We are thrilled to be making our first animated feature for Universal, which has energetically renewed its commitment to animation,” says Thomas. “We have assembled a spectacular voice cast that will bring to life the unforgettable characters and help convey the excitement, adventure and fun of this perfect gem of a book.”

DiCamillo, who previously met success with her kids’ book, Because of Winn Dixie, released Despereaux book 2003. The title spent 96 weeks on the New York Times bestseller list, selling more than 1.6 million copies to date. The movie is scheduled to arrive in theaters during the 2008 holiday season.

The once-canceled primetime cartoon series Family Guy is now fetching around $2 million per episode in the latest round of syndication deals. According to Daily Variety, 20th Century Fox Television has pre-sold reruns of the show to TV stations reaching approximately 70% of U.S. viewers. The 93 episodes of Seth MacFarlane’s Emmy Award-winning show won’t be available to air until the fall of 2007.

This past July, Tribune Broadcasting inked a deal with 20th Century Fox Television to syndicate Family Guy on the Tribune Broadcasting station group in the fall of 2007. The off-netwok syndication deal will see the series premiere in 20 major markets covering just over 37% of the U.S.

Under terms of the most recent deals, the individual stations will pay cash license fees and reserve airtime for three 30-second spots from Fox’s national advertisers. The series will also continue to air on basic cable outlets TBS and the Cartoon Network, which have contracts that extend through 2008.

Now in its fifth season on FOX, Family Guy picked up Emmy awards for Outstanding Voice-Over Performance in 2000 and Outstanding Music and Lyrics in 2002. The irreverent comedy recently earned its third nomination for Outstanding Animated Program, which it lost to FOX’s The Simpsons.

The trades are reporting today that Rolling Stones front man Mick Jagger will produce an animated feature titled Ruby Tuesday under his Jagged Films banner. Based on the classic Stones song of the same name, the film will be written and directed by brothers Paul and Gaetan Brizzi, who helmed the French toon feature Asterix vs. Caesar and the “Firebird Suite” segment of Fantasia 2000.

Described as “a Faustian tale of a single mother searching for happiness in New York,” the film will obviously be geared to a more adult audience. The Brizzi’s reportedly took the concept to Jagger’s people, who got Luc Besson’s EuropaCorp to co-produce and finance the film. A director and producer whose credits include the action favorites La Femme Nikita, The Professional and The Transporter, Besson is currently completing an animated feature of his own. Based on Besson’s own series of children’s books, the CG-animated Arthur and the Minimoys will be released in the U.S. by The Weinstein Co. around Christmas.

Production on Ruby Tuesday is slated to commence later this year and will utilize a number of Rolling Stones tunes. It’s not yet known which classic cuts will make it into the soundtrack.

The Brizzi brothers were originally attached to direct Sony Animation’s adaptation of Judi and Ron Barrett’s children’s book, Cloudy With a Chance of Meatballs. That film will instead be helmed by Phil Lord and Chris Miller, creators of MTV’s Clone High series. The CG pic will fall in line after the soon-to-be-released Open Season, the 2007 summer offering Surf’s Up! and the recently announced Hotel Transylvania.

Warner Bros. tells us we may still see a stereoscopic 3D version of its upcoming CG-animated feature, Happy Feet. It was reported last week that the studio had scrapped plans release an IMAX 3D version, which was originally slated to debut on Nov. 17, the same day the movie arrives in conventional theaters. Now we’re told that there was just a problem in striking the 3D prints in time for the day-and-date rollout. IMAX venues will instead be exhibiting the film in 2D.

According to Warner Bros., there’s no truth to speculation that the poor box office performance of The Ant Bully forced execs to reconsider the costly 3D conversion of Happy Feet. The studio may go forward with plans for a 3D re-release, especially if Happy Feet does well this holiday season.

Directed by George Miller, whose credits include the Babe and Mad Max films, Happy Feet is an animated musical comedy starring Elijah Wood as the voice of Mumble, a penguin who uses fancy dance moves to make up for the fact that he is the worst singer in a culture that relies on good pipes. Hugh Jackman (Flushed Away) will voice Mumble’s father, Memphis, and Nicole Kidman will play his mother, Norma Jean. The voice cast also includes Robin Williams (Robots) and Brittany Murphy (King of the Hill) and Hugo Weaving (The Matrix trilogy).