Animation Magazine

Author: Ryan Ball

  • MGA Follows Bratz with MIUCHIZ

    MGA Ent., home of the Bratz line of toys and animated productions, hopes it has launched the next kid craze through its MGA Games division with Miuchiz (pronounced Me-You-Cheese). A variation of the Japanese word for “friends,” Miuchiz are digital characters that players can interact with via a special electronic handheld unit that also allows for online play.

    The Miuchiz handheld unit features a LCD color display, a push-button screen and infrared and motion sensor capabilities. The attached USB connector allows users to plug the device into their web-enabled computers and connect to a real-time 3D virtual online world populated by other Miuchiz owners. Users can engage in multiplayer 3D games for points and virtual currency, chat with other players and buy and sell items.

    “While we are excited about all of our new product introductions, Miuchiz is easily our biggest and most exciting new launch for this fall,” says MGA Ent. CEO Isaac Larian. “We firmly believe that this is the ‘magic bullet’ that this industry has been waiting for ‘a highly innovative, fun and affordable product to bring kids back into the toy department.”

    There are three Miuchiz styles or “Tribez” available. Girls will gravitate to the Miuchiz Bratz products, while boys can train and spar with Miuchiz Monsterz, a battle-themed series that allows players to challenge each other online in the 3D environment or with two handhelds linked via IR. Miuchiz Pawz targets all kids with cats and dogs that go on treasure hunting adventures with their owners. Each version of Miuchiz is sold separately, retailing for $29.99 each. Entry into Planet Mion, the Muichiz virtual online world, is included for one year. More information is available at www.miuchiz.com.

  • Novel Ent. Plays Ping & Pong at Cartoon Forum

    Novel Ent., the independent U.K. producer behind the hit pre-school series Fimbles on CBBC, is set to debut its new animated show, Ping and Pong, at this year’s Cartoon Forum. The project is one of only ten British toons to be showcased at the event, which will be held Sept. 20-23 in Pau-Pyrennees.

    Ping & Pong (26×11) is described as a modern day fairytale for pre-school children that chronicles the adventures of a little girl named Ping and her friendly little dragon, Pong. The two play, laugh and learn as they are transported to the magical Island of The Four Winds, a world of imagination and dreams. Their guide for adventure and discovery is Bounce, Ping’s favourite red ball and constant companion.

    The 2D series started life as the graduation project for Central St. Martin’s College of Art and Design animation student Chris Joscelyne, who showed it execs at Novel and quickly inked a deal. Working with Joscelyne and his colleagues at The Design Laboratory, along with Andras Erkel’s team at Studio Baestarts in Hungary, Novel is animating the show with a flexible, vector-based system software package dubbed MoHo. Directing the series is British animator Gary Andrews, whose credits include Albie, The Tale of Jack Frost, The Tigger Movie and The Tales of Beatrix Potter. Novel’s next series is the upcoming Horrid Henry, which has been commissioned by CITV in the U.K.

  • Top Toon Shorts on iTunes

    Ten animated festival favorites have been made available for purchase in Apple’s iTunes Music Store (www.itunes.com). Released by Shorts International, the programming and distribution arm of short films specialist Brit Shorts, the selection includes John Canemaker’s Academy Award-winning The Moon and the Son: An Imagined Conversation, as well as fellow Oscar nominees The Mysterious Geographic Explorations of Jasper Morello from Anthony Lucas and Badgered from Sharon Colman, as well as Bill Plympton’s 2005 Annie Award winner, The Fan and the Flower.

    In The Moon And The Son: An Imagined Conversation, John Turturro voices the role of a son struggling to iron out his turbulent relationship with his Italian immigrant Father, voiced by Eli Wallach. The 30-minute autobiographical piece was nominated for an Annie Award but ended up losing to Plympton’s The Fan and The Flower, an unconventional love story that features the voice of Paul Giamatti. The short was produced by veteran TV producer Dan O’Shannon (Cheers, Mash, Frasier).

    Inspired by the works of Edgar Alan Poe and Jules Verne, The Mysterious Geographic Explorations Of Jasper Morello is a gothic horror mystery yarn set in a world of iron dirigibles and steam powered computers. The film tells the story of a disgraced aerial navigator who flees his plague-ridden home on a desperate voyage to redeem himself. Lucas employs a unique style of computer-generated silhouette animation reminiscent of one of the first animated features, Lotte Reiniger’s The Adventures of Prince Achmed (1926). The short’s kudos include the Annecy Grand Prix, the BAFTA for Best Short Animation and AFI Awards for Best Short Animation and Outstanding Achievement in Craft in a Non-Feature.

    A grumpy badger just wants the world to let him sleep in Badgered, a hand-drawn cartoon that premiered at the 2005 Cannes Film Festival. In addition to scoring an Oscer nomination, the short took the Honorary Best Foreign Film Award at the Edinburgh Int’l Film Festival and garnered a Student Academy Award nomination.

    Another short that has done well on the festival circuit is Josh Staub’s The Mantis Parable, a CG fable of longing, rebirth and redemption set in the insect world. The film racked up a number of awards last year, including Best Animation at the Palm Springs Int’l Festival of Short Films, the Winnipeg Int’l Film Festival and the ION Int’l Animation, Games & Short Film Festival.

    Lesser-known shorts in the compilation are Chris Mais’ Smile, in which a happy face toy undertakes a daring rescue mission to save his happy face balloon friend; Corin Hardy’s Butterfly, a longer version of the popular animation used as an early Keane music video; Aristomenis Tsirbas’ The Freak, which has a little dancing misfit turning a futuristic utopia on its ear; Sam Leifer’s and J. Van Tulleken’s The Unsteady Cough, which features the voice of Monty Python alum Terry Jones; and Carolle-Shelley Abrams’ Oola Oop L’eau De Ohh, which has a young French girl hatching a plan to woo a hot male lifeguard.

  • Nylonmotion Animates Origami for Video

    Los Angeles-based animation studio Nylonmotion has completed a new animated music video for rock band The Format, taking the Japanese art of paper folding to another level with stop-motion. Directed by Brian Lee, the video for ‘The Compromise’ features animated versions of the band members performing alongside various origami animals and a giant paper robot. The entire video can be viewed at http://nylonmotion.com/theformat.

    Utilizing both tradition and 3D methods, Nylonmotion specializes in music videos and commercial work, and has created on-air graphics elements for Nickelodeon. If you’ve been checking out Animation Magazine‘s online animated shorts festival, World Animation Celebration Online (WAC-O), you may recall watching the company’s 2D video for High Speed Scene’s ‘The Iroc-Z Song.’ You can watch that one at www.animationmagazine.net/wac/irocz.html.

  • Brother Bear 2 Debuts

    Buena Vista Home Entertainment today released Brother Bear 2, the direct-to-video sequel to the 2003 animated box office hit. Directed by Ben Gluck, this follow-up features all new original music by Melissa Etheridge, as well as voice help from Patrick Dempsey (Grey’s Anatomy), Wanda Sykes (Over the Hedge), Mandy Moore (Entourage), Michael Clark Duncan (The Green Mile), Catherine O’Hara (Chicken Little) and Kathy Najimi (King of the Hill), among others.

    In Brother Bear 2, Dempsy takes over for Joaquin Phoenix in the role of Kenai, who emerges from his first hibernation and takes his little brother, Koda (Jeremy Suarez), to Crowberry Ridge to feast on spring berries while Moose pals Rutt (Rick Moranis) and Tuke (Dave Thomas) court a pair of females. The plot thickens as Kenai’s childhood friend, Nita (Moore), shows up with a carved amulet Kenai gave her long ago. It seems Nita can’t get married until she and Kenai both burn the amulet together at Hokani Falls, a task that involves an arduous journey over icy mountains, raging rivers and unforeseen obstacles.

    Brother Bear 2 was one of the last features to be animated at DisneyToon Australia, the traditional animation facility behind such Mouse House sequels as The Lion King II: Simba’s Pride, Lady and the Tramp II: Scamp’s London Adventure, Return to Neverland Jungle Book II and Bambi II. Slated to hit retail in 2007, Cinderella 3 will be the final release to issue forth from the shuttered studio.

    Bonus materials on the DVD will include a Behind the Music of Brother Bear 2 featurette, a music video with Melissa Etheridge and an interactive game titled Trample Off, Eh? The release will carry a suggested retail price of $29.99.

  • South Park, Darkwing, Tailspin, Tick on Disc

    This week’s TV on DVD offerings serve up plenty of laughs for both adults and kids as the complete eighth season of Comedy Central’s South Park is joined on retail shelves by Darkwing Duck Volume 1, Talespin Volume 1, The Tick vs. Season One and Winx Club Volume 5: Battle for Alfea Five.

    South Park: The Complete Eighth Season is a three-disc set offering all 14 episodes from the 2004-2005 run. Noteworthy installments include ‘Good Times with Weapons,’ in which the boys get their hands on martial arts weaponry and imagine themselves to be brawny anime characters, and ‘The Passion of the Jew,’ which has the boys attempting to get their money back from Passion of the Christ director Mel Gibson, who is depicted as a babbling crazy person. The Paramount Home Video release lists for $49.99 and includes mini-commentaries by series creators Matt Stone and Trey Parker.

    Darkwing Duck Volume 1 comes on three discs and includes the pilot episodes and the first 25 installments of the Disney series, which started airing in 1991. The show centers on Drake Mallard, who defends the city of St. Canard as bumbling, egotistical superhero Darkwing Duck. With the help of his dense pilot sidekick, Launchpad McQuack, and his rambuctious adopted daughter, Gosalyn, Darkwing always manages t0 foil the devious plots of various bizarre villains. The Buena Vista Home Entertainment set carries a suggested retail price of $34.99.

    Also from Disney comes the eagerly awaited Talespin Volume 1, a three-disc set with 27 episodes of the animated series from the early 1990s. The show casts Baloo the Bear from The Jungle Book as a 1930s Pacific Islands bush pilot who underatakes dangerous and comical missions with other Jungle Book characters. The four-part series pilot is included in the set, which retails for around $34.99.

    A muscle-bound man dressed as a big, blue tick and a meek accountant in a moth costume serve as urban protectors in The Tick, Ben Edlund’s animated cult favorite that began its short run in 1994. The Tick vs. Season One offers 12 episodes on two discs that contain showdowns with such super villains as The Idea Men, Chairface Chippendale, Dinosaur Neil, Mr. Mental, The Breadmaster, El Seed, The Brainchild, Pineapple Pokopo, Proto-Clown and The Uncommon Cold. There were originally 13 episodes aired during the first season, but for unknown reasons Disney has elected to leave out episode #11, ‘The Tick vs. The Mole Men.’ Released by Buena Vista Home Entertainment, the set carries a suggested retail price of $34.99.

    The magical showdowns continue in Winx Club Volume 5: Battle for Alfea Five. The Rainbow S.r.l./4kids Ent. anime-inspired series centers on a group of tween friends who attend the Alfea School for Fairies, the oldest and most prestigious fairy school in the magic dimension. Episodes contained on the disc round out the show’s first season, which debuted in 2004 in the U.S. during the 4Kids TV Saturday morning block and on Cartoon Network. Fans can pick it up for $14.98 or less.

  • Edgar & Ellen Specials Creep to Nicktoons

    If you enjoyed the Edgar & Ellen shorts included in Animation Magazine‘s World Animation Celebration Online (WAC-O) film fest, you’ll definitely want to catch the six new half-hour specials coming to Nicktoons Network, Nickelodeon’s 24-hour animation outlet. The mischief will kick off on Saturday, Sept. 2, at 8:30 p.m. with the premiere of Accept No Substitutes. A sneak peek at the special is now available at www.nicktoonsnetwork.com and www.edgarandellen.com.

    Mischievous twins living in a gothic mansion wreak havoc on the quiet little town on Nod’s Limb in Edgar & Ellen, which began as a series of shorts on Nicktoons and also has a set of six children’s books available from Simon & Schuster. Produced by Chicago-based Star Farm Prods., the property draws inspiration from the tales of Edgar Allan Poe and the art style of author/illustrator Edward Gorey.

    The second new Edgar & Ellen special, the Halloween-themed Trick or Twins, will premiere in October during Nicktoons’ ‘Scare-A-Thon.’ Cold Medalists will follow this winter, and the remaining three specials, Crushed, Nobody’s Fools and Frog Days of Summer, will roll out in 2007.

  • Rippa and Son do Diego

    Television personality Kelly Ripa (Live with Regis & Kelly, Hope & Faith) will guest star in an upcoming episode of Nickelodeon’s Go, Diego, Go! Titled “Diego’s Wolf Pup Rescue,’ the installment has the perky blonde providing the voice of a mother wolf who has lost her cub, voiced by her own real-life son, Michael.

    Set to premiere on Monday, Sept. 18 at 9:30 a.m. (ET/PT), the episode has animal rescuer Diego teaming up with cousin Dora the Explorer to help rescue a lost baby wolf pup who is separated from his family shortly after being born at the Rescue Center. Nick Jr. will make an excerpt from the show available on wireless carriers on Sept. 15, before the episode and three other installments arrive on home video on Sept 19. The full half-hour show will then stream on Nick Jr.’s broadband video service, Nick Jr. Video, starting Oct. 2.

    The second season of Go, Diego, Go! Kicks off on Monday, Oct. 2, at 9:30 a.m. Among other stars lined up for voice spots include Academy Award-nominated actress Rosie Perez (Fearless), who returns as the voice of Click the Camera. Series star Jake T. Austin (Diego) can be heard as main character Yankee Irving in IDT Ent.’s animated feature, Everyone’s Hero, which is slated to arrive in theaters on Sept. 15.

  • Plympton’s Hair High Screens in NYC

    Hair High, the latest animated feature from indie legend Bill Plympton, will play at the Two Boots Pioneer theater in New York as part of the venue’s ‘Month of Horror’ festivities. Plympton and cast members will be on hand for the screening and every guest will receive an original Plympton drawing.

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

    Plympton wrote, directed, produced and self-financed the film, which is co-produced by his friend and distant cousin, actress Martha Plimpton (TV’s 7th Heaven), who also provides a voice in the movie. Hair High had its world premiere at the Slamdance Film Festival and enjoyed a successful run on the festival circuit last year.

    The Pioneer Two Boots Theater is located at 155 East 3rd St. (between Ave. A and B) in New York City. For showtimes, call 212-591-0434. Tickets can be purchased at www.twoboots.com/pioneer/hairhigh.htm. More more information about the film is available at www.hairhigh.com or www.plymptoons.com.

  • SupperTime, Telescreen Engineer Alien Clones

    The Simon & Schuster children’s book series, Alien Clones from Outer Space, is set to become an animated series through a co-production deal between SupperTime Ent. and Telescreen BV. The entities will jointly handle development, production and distribution of the show, while also managing all home entertainment, licensing, merchandise, publishing and new media rights.

    Written by H.B. Homzie, the four Alien Clones ‘First Chapter’ books chronicle the exploits of ten-year old twins Barton and Nancy Jamison, whos lives are turned upside-down when their alien clones arrive and take up residence in the attic.

    SupperTime currently serves as both an exec producer and co-creator of the Emmy-nominated animated preschool series ToddWorld, which airs on Discovery Kids in the U.S. Alien Clones‘ U.S. production team will consist of SupperTime exec producers Gerry Renert and Liz Stahler, and animation veteran Chris Henderson (Disney’s Return to Neverland, Clifford’s Really Big Movie. Other crew members include director Terry Lennon (Winnie the Pooh, WB Classics Bugs and Daffy, Lion King 1 1/2), art director Alan Bodner (The Iron Giant, Kim Possible, The Life and Times of Juniper Lee), production designer Stephen Lewis (Kim Possible, The Life and Times of Juniper Lee, Mickey’s Twice Upon a Christmas) and animation/technical director Woody Yocum (Kim Possible, The Emperor’s New Skool, Dave the Barbarian).

    Based in the Netherlands, Telescreen is a producer, distributor and rights manager that has handled such properties as Miffy, Moomin and Lizzy McGuire. The company’s Paz airs on Discovery Kids in the U.S. and has also received two Emmy nominations.

    Alien Clones Author Homzie is a comedy writer whose sketch work has been performed on both Saturday Night Live and Late Night with David Letterman. She will serve as a creative consultant on the animated series.

  • Snakes on an Auction Block

    Though most of the title reptiles in New Line Cinema’s hit creature feature Snakes on a Plane were computer generated, a few silicone replicas were used during filming to stand in for real snakes present on the set. Now New Line is offering fans of the film a chance to own a couple of these rubber serpents, which will be auctioned off to benefit American Humane, the organization that ensured the safety of the live animals used in the movie.

    Up for bids are a 53-inch silicone cottonmouth and the 40-inch coral snake, which cost the production $12,000 and $9,000, respectively. The cottonmouth was used in the shot where Samuel L. Jackson holds a phone in one hand and a snake in the other, and the coral snake stand-in was smacked with a clipboard during a cockpit scene. The auction will run for two weeks at http://auction.newline.com.

    American Humane has been monitoring animal action in filmed productions since 1940, and is the organization behind the ‘No animals were harmed’ statement included in the end credits of just about every movie made in the U.S. A spokesperson for the group commends New Line for its concern for animal safety, even during shots filmed outside of the country.

    For a behind-the-scenes look at the animal action in Snakes on a Plane or to learn more about American Humane’s film monitoring work, go to www.americanhumane.org/film.

  • Kater Releases Design First for 3D Sketchbook

    Geoffrey Kater, author of Design First for 3D Artists, has announced the release of his second book, Design First for 3D Sketchbook. The richly illustrated tome offers hundreds of full-on designs and thumbnail sketches that serve to inspire designers, 3D artists and filmmakers.

    ‘Inspiration is probably the single most important thing in learning design, and nothing is better for that than pure sketching and illustration books,’ says Kater. ‘It’s the best way to provide both beginners and professionals with a variety of approaches to the same subject. For example, if you are designing a spacecraft, you have to address a variety of issues’who’s it for, what kind of environment does it fly through, what is it supposed to do? Once you settle on a certain style, then you can explore a myriad of different shapes and layouts that further refine its design and execution’.

    Featuring 145 original rough sketches and 120 thumbnail sketches done in Kater’s award-winning futurist style, the book is broken into sections on vehicles, spacecraft, cars, boats, props and backgrounds. Future Design First sketchbooks will delve more into character design with contributions from several leading comic book artists, production designers and animation designers. Kater is set to begin shooting next month for an instructional DVD series that will provide a step-by-step explanation of the production process.

    Kater co-founded S4 Studios in 1999 to produce animation for commercials, trailers, TV shows and feature film effects. His design work has been published in Business Week, Car Styling and Popular Hot Rodding magazines, and one of his spaceship designs currently hangs in the Griffith Observatory in Los Angeles. In TV, he has worked as a prop designer, production designer, 3D animator and illustrator for Where on Earth Is Carmen Sandiego?, The Avengers, Street Sharks and Thumb Wars.

    Design First for 3D Sketchbook can be ordered through the Design First

    site, www.designfirstfor3D.com, or at www.lulu.com.

  • Marathon Brings Monster to MIPCOM

    Having scored hits with the 2D cartoon shows Totally Spies!, Martin Mystery and Team Galaxy, Marathon is set to launch its first 3D series, Monster Buster Club, at MIPCOM and MIPCOM Jr. in October. Created by Marathon Media’s Vincent Chalvon-Demersay and David Michel, the action-comedy is co-produced by TF1, Jetix Europe, Mystery Animation and YTV with a production budget of around $23 million.

    Monster Buster Club aims to entertain kids 5-11 with the adventures of five 10-year-olds who make up a top-secret club sworn to fight off an alien invasion that only they know of. Using a network of underground tunnels, the heroes hunt down the extraterrestrial creatures while maintaining the appearance of average school kids.

    Marathon and its co-production partners have committed to producing 52 episodes, a full two-season slate. International sales are handled by Marathon International.

  • Monster House to Open Again

    Those who missed Sony Pictures’ Monster House in 3D the first go-round will have another chance when the studio re-releases the animated feature on 100 screens on October 6. If successful, the second run could be the start of a Halloween tradition, much like Warner Bros.’ annual holiday 3D screenings of Robert Zemeckis’ other performance’capture feature, The Polar Express.

    Since its late-July release, Monster House has earned more than $88 million worldwide, just covering its reported $75 million production budget. However, the pic stands to make good on its investment if its 3D business picks up. The Polar Express suffered a weak opening but has gone on to earn more than $300 million worldwide, $60 million of that coming from IMAX 3D venues alone.

    Exec produced by Zemeckis and Steven Spielberg, Monster House is the feature directorial debut of UCLA Spotlight Award winner Gil Kenan. The spooky comedy-adventure centers on three kids who venture across the street to a mysterious house that they believe to be alive. The film will be released on DVD in North America on October 24.

  • Full Metal Alchemist Movie in Theaters

    Though the Hollywood studios are taking a short breather before unleashing their next raft of family-oriented CG feature films, there’s still big-screen animation to be sought ths weekend with FUNimation Films’ limited North American release of Fullmetal Alchemist the Movie: Conqueror of Shamballa (Hagane no Renkinjutsushi: Shanbara o Yuku Mono). Released in Japan in July of 2005, the feature-length extension of the popular anime television series won the Animation of the Year award at the Tokyo Int’l Anime Fair.

    Set two years after the events of the TV show’s last episode, the movie finds the otherworldly Edward Elric living in 1920s Munich, Germany. Stripped of his alchemical powers, he studies rocketry and searches for a way to return to his parallel home world while a conspiracy threatens to bring harm to both worlds.

    Fullmetal Alchemist the Movie is directed by Seiji Mizushima, who also directed the series and other anime shows including Shaman King and Dai-Guard. The English-language version is directed by Mike McFarland, who also voices the role of Lieutenant Havoc.

    To view the theatrical trailer, show times and additional information on the film, go to www.fullmetalalchemist.com. The DVD is slated to hit North American retail outlets on Sept. 12.

  • Liberty Closes First Stage of IDT Buy

    Liberty Media Corp. has officially taken control of all of the U.S. and certain international operations of IDT Corp.’s entertainment division during the initial stage of its acquisition plan. The move comes as IDT Ent. gears up for the release of its first theatrical CG feature, Everyone’s Hero, which arrives on the big screen on Sept. 15.

    IDT’s entertainment division will be combined with Liberty subsidiary Starz Entertainment Group and will be attributed to the Liberty Capital Group. The transition will be complete once the sale of the Canadian and Australian operations is complete, which is expected to happen in the next several weeks.

    “Joining IDT Entertainment and Starz will allow both to benefit and grow as part of an integrated media organization with substantial programming production capabilities and access to all distribution outlets,” says Liberty president and CEO Gregory B. Maffeim, “And this transaction advances our strategy of converting passive assets into operating business units.”

    “In a few short years, IDT Entertainment grew from a start-up to a producer and distributor of first class animated and live action programming,” adds IDT Corp. CEO Jim Courter. “The next phase of its development will be directed by Liberty Media, a company with a record for realizing the potential of media and entertainment assets.”

    Everyone’s Hero, previously known as Yankee Irving, is the story of a young boy who teams up with a talking baseball to return Babe Ruth’s stolen bat in order to save the World Series. Featuring a voice cast led by Rob Reiner, Whoopi Goldberg and William H. Macy, the movie was being directed by actor/director Christopher Reeve at the time of his death. Animation was produced at IDT Entertainment Animation’s studio and distribution will be handled through IDT’s multi-picture deal with Twentieth Century Fox.

    IDT Ent. joined forces with Vanguard Animation (Valiant) to produce its next animated feature, Space Chimps. Produced by Vanguard CEO and Shrek producer John H. Williams, the comedy will follow the galactic misadventures of a hapless descendant of the first chimps in space. The pic will also be released in theaters by 20th Century Fox.

  • Connery Toon Looks to Feature

    Back in December of last year, we reported that screen legend Sir Sean Connery had teamed with Glasgow Animation to form Billi Prods. and produce a CG-animated short titled Sir Billi. Now the principals involved are looking to raise ‘3 million (roughly $5.6 million) to expand the short into a full-length feature.

    Glasgow Animation, owned by Scottish husband-and-wife team Sascha and Tessa Hartmann, have been working with Connery on the short film for around 3 years, spending more than $5 million on development and pre-production, and assembling a stellar voice cast. In addition to Connery’s often imitated Scottish slur, the pic will feature the voices of Alan Cumming (X2: X-Men United, X-Men: The Last Stand), Miriam Margolyes (Harry Potter series, Romeo & Juliet), Richard Briers (Monarch of the Glen, Peter Pan), Barbara Rafferty (The Wicker Man, River City), Alex Norton (Pirates of the Caribbean: Curse of the Black Pearl, Taggart), Gail Porter (Dead Famous), Ford Kiernan (Chewing the Fat, The last Great Wilderness) and comedian/broadcaster Ruby Wax.

    The musical score for Sir Billi is being provided by Oscar-nominated composer Patrick Doyle, who also voices a main role in the short. A Golden Globe winner, Doyle recently completed the score for Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire.

    ‘Having received interest from some major book publishers, music publishers and other areas of revenue, it really made sense to progress to full-length feature,’ says director Sascha Hartmann. ‘Our entire production facilities have been based in Scotland from day one and it is our intention to keep this very much a Scottish product, based in the U.K. After all, there is no one else who has created, produced and cast an independent production like this from Scotland.’

    Connery has been actively promoting the project, sporting a Sir Billi tartan at Dressed to Kilt in New York earlier this year. As a result, the production company has been receiving kilt requests from a number of celebrities including Gun’s N Roses front man Axel Rose, according to Tessa Hartmann.

    Billi Prods. has completed a seven-minute trailer of the film and is in discussions with several venture capital houses, private investors and banks. If funding comes through quickly, the Hartmanns say they can have the feature complete in 12 months.

  • Disney’s Toonfest a Sell-out

    Disney is expecting thousands of fans to show up for its first-ever ToonFest, the official fan fest dedicated to the family-friendly video game, Disney’s Toontown Online. The sold-out event takes place this Saturday, Aug. 26, at Walt Disney Studios in Burbank, Calif. Festivities will include panel discussions with Disney Online game designers, contests, activity stations, carnival games, computer play, a judged costume parade and a celebrity appearance by Kyle Massey from That’s So Raven and the upcoming Disney Channel original series Cory in the House.

    Toontown Online is a massively multiplayer PC video game in which users create Toon characters and join forces with other Toons to save the world from the invading Cogs’humorless business robots unleashed by an unsuspecting Scrooge McDuck. Since Cogs can’t take a joke, Toons confront them with gags, such as dousing them with seltzer or giving them a pie in the face. Since its launch in 2003, the game has seen more than 15 million Toons created by players.

    Disney’s Virtual Reality Studio, established as part of Walt Disney Imagineering R&D, developed Toontown Online using its own PANDA3D proprietary network game engine. The game can be accessed at www.toontown.com, and a U.K. version is available at www.disney.co.uk/toontown. In addition, a retail version was released by Sony Online Entertainment’s Platform Publishing.

  • Sun Ultra 40 Workstations Get Graphic with NVIDIA

    NVIDIA Corp. has announced that an array of NVIDIA Quadro FX graphics solutions are now available in the 64-bit Sun Ultra 40 workstations, which are used in digital content creation, film, broadcast, mechanical computer-aided design, medical imaging and a host of other technical fields.

    Sun Ultra 40 workstation will feature the NVIDIA Quadro FX 5500 (1GB DDR2), NVIDIA Quadro FX 3500 (256MB GDDR3), NVIDIA Quadro FX 1500 (256MB GDDR3) NVIDIA Quadro FX 560, (128MB graphics memory) and part of their standard configurations.

    “NVIDIA Quadro FX graphics offer a range of high-end features for professional graphics, providing Sun customers with a variety of solutions to meet their individual needs,” says Jeff Brown, general manager of NVIDIA Professional Solutions Group. “When coupled with the high-performance Sun Ultra 40 workstations, NVIDIA Quadro FX graphics help users quickly realize the most complex visualization challenges.”

    For more information on NVIDIA Quadro-based products, go to www.nvidia.com/quadro .

  • Elastic Rights Nabs Lunar Jim for Iberia

    Brand management company Elastic Rights has acquired rights to the stop-motion kids’ show Lunar Jim across all platforms in Spain and Portugal. Co-produced by The Halifax Film Company and distributed by Alliance Atlantis, the 26×30 series takes young viewers along for the ride as Jim sets out on mission of discovery with his band of astronauts: Rover the dog, Ripple the mechanic, Eco the farmer and T.E.D.

    Lunar Jim debuted last year on CBC in Canada and can now be seen on such networks as BBC and CBeebies in the U.K., ZDF and Kika in Germany, ABC in Australia and Discovery across Latin America. In addition to these TV deals, Alliance Atlantis has signed Fisher Price to produce and distribute a line of toys and games worldwide.

    Working closely with TV, home entertainment, publishing, toys, merchandising and internet companies in Iberia, Elastic Rights has handled the integrated brand management of such well-known pre-school properties as Cookie Jar’s Caillou, Taffy Ent.’s ToddWorld and CCI’s Harry and His Bucket full of Dinosaurs. The company is now mapping out an integrated marketing campaign for Lunar Jim in Spain and Portugal.