Animation Magazine

Author: Ryan Ball

  • Screenplay Comp Offers Comic Deal

    The Screenwriting Expo 5 Screenplay Competition has upped the ante this year by teaming with comic book studio Dabel Brothers Prods. (DB Pro) to turn the winning entry into a comic-book series or graphic novel. DB Pro will give the project a $50,000 budget and will sell the finished product in bookstores around the world. The grand prize winner will also receive $20,000 in cash as part of the Expo’s overall $100,000 prize purse.

    DB Pro’s previous successes include Robert Jordan’s 100 million-selling The Wheel of Time: New Spring and the top graphic novel of 2004, George R. R. Martin’s The Hedge Knight. Since Screenwriting Expo 5 is calling for all type of scripts, any genre is fair game for comic adaptation.

    The winner in the new Short Screenplay category will have a chance to have his or her script produced by onwaecan Films with a budget of $10,000. Another entrant will be flown out Albuquerque, New Mexico to make their short film in one week as part of the Duke City Shootout competition.

    In addition, Writers Boot Camp is granting two winners entry into its 22-month long career development Think Tank, a $17,000 value. Through this program, writers develop three features and hone their skills to succeed on a professional level.

    Manager Andrew Kersey, who has sold projects to DreamWorks, Nickelodeon, the Weinstein Company and Montecito Pictures, will also choose a script to develop and send to several major buyers. The writers of the top-20 screenplays will additionally have access to more than 350 production companies, agencies and managers. Each scribe will be partnered with a consultant or working writer, who will give them professional feedback on their work.

    The contest winners will be announced the last day of the expo, which takes place Oct. 19-22 in Los Angeles. In addition to Dabel Brothers Prods., onwaecan Films, Duke City Shootout and Writers Boot Camp, sponsors include Write Brothers, Truby Studios, Creative Screenwriting magazine Script Pimp and YourBestDraft.com. For morel information, go to www.screenwritingexpo.com.

  • BKN, U.M.O. Ink U.K. Vid Deal

    BKN Home Entertainment Ltd, a subsidiary of global animation company BKN International AG, has pacted with Universal Music Operations (U.M.O.) for the exclusive distribution of BKN DVD and home entertainment products in the U.K. and Ireland.

    Matthew Graham-Clare, managing director of BKN Home Entertainment Ltd, comments, ‘U.M.O. is arguably the biggest and best distributor in the U.K. and is the perfect partner to help successfully launch BKN Home Entertainment and give the trade further belief in our commitment to the U.K. DVD market.’

    ‘We are very impressed by BKN’s slate of Hi-Definition CGI animation, their global infrastructure and financial strength and success,’ adds Russell Richards, distribution director at U.M.O. ‘We are committed to the home entertainment industry and it is a great opportunity to expand our client base with this ambitious and professional label.’

    BKN’s home entertainment properties include the animated series Legend of the Dragon, Dork Hunters From Outer Space and Zorro: Generation Z, as well as the features Kong: Return to the Jungle, A Christmas Carol and Ali Baba and the Forty Thieves. The entire catalogue can be viewed at www.bknhomeentertainment.com.

  • Superman Has Super Wednesday

    Warner Bros.’ Superman Returns scored the eighth highest Wednesday opening in cinema history with an estimated first-day take of $21 million. The film ranks closely behind Paramount’s War of the Worlds on the list of mid-week openers, which is topped by Sony’s Spider-Man 2 ($40.2 million), New Line’s The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King ($34.4 million) and Star Wars Episode I: The Phantom Menace ($28.5 million).

    Originally slated to open on Friday, June 30, Superman Returns was pushed up so that Warner Bros. could collect as much coin as possible before Disney releases Pirates of the Caribean: Dead Man’s Chest on the following weekend. Supe’s box office should soar to great heights over the Fourth of July holiday, especially if word of mouth has any muscle. Weekend totals will decide whether auds are ready for the second coming of the last son of Krypton or simply suffering from superhero fatigue after flocking to X-Men: The Last Stand, Batman Begins and Fantastic Four.

    Next year will truly be the year of comic-book superhero adaptations as studios get set to release Spider-Man 3 (May 4, 2007), Fantastic Four 2 (June 15, 2007), Ghost Rider (Feb. 16, 2007), Hellboy II (early 2007) and Wonder Woman (sometime in 2007). We may also see the X-Men spin off, Wolverine, next year if production stays on schedule.

  • Negadon Attacks L.A.

    Animation and Kaiju fans living in the Los Angeles area will have a chance to catch a big-screen viewing of Negadon: The Monster From Mars on Friday, June 29, at the Egyptian Theater in Hollywood. The America Cinematheque will screen the 26-minute, CG-animated short along with the Los Angeles premieres of the Japanese fantasy flick The Great Yokai War and the new Gamera feature, Gamera the Brave.

    Directed by computer animator Jun Awazu, Negadon pays homage to such Japanese monster franchises as Godzilla, Mothra and Gamera. The award-winning film brings 3D animation to the genre known as Kaiju, which typically employs men brawling in rubber monster suits. Awazu previously lent his graphics and visual effects talents to the films Kamen Rider 555 and the Godzilla, Mothra and King Ghidorah: Giant Monsters All-Out Attack, also known as Godzilla GMK.

    In the year 2025, extreme overpopulation has led to the Mars Terraforming Project, a plan to make the red planet a habitable world. Awakened by the process, space monster Negadon crash lands in Tokyo destroying all in its path. Earth’s only hope is Miroku, a prototype robot piloted by its inventor. The film will be presented in Japanese with English subtitles.

    Negadon will kick off the triple feature at 7:30 p.m. on Friday. More monsters will attack the Egyptian on Saturday as the Cinematheque presents an ultra-rare screening of the 1956 Toho classic Godzilla: King of the Monsters at 6 p.m., followed by a double feature of Godzilla 2000 and Godzilla GMK, starting at 8:30 p.m.

  • aniBOOM Judges Announced

    Interactive animation content site aniBOOM today announced the six judges tapped to help decide the winners of its inaugural short animation competition. The panel of industry pros will pore over submissions from all over the world representing all styles of animation. The general public will be able to view and rate the films when the aniBOOM portal launches on Sept. 1.

    The six judges are Fred Cohen, former chairman of the International Academy of Television Arts & Sciences and former president of King World International Prods.; Ken-Ichiro Hayafune, exec producer of Nippon Animation and chief producer of Nippon Animedia; Max Howard, who served as president of Feature Animation at Warner Bros. and is now producing the upcoming Exodus Film Group toon features Igor and The Hero of Color City; professor Rony Oren, head of the animation unit at the Bezalel Academy of Art and Design; Arlene Sherman, an Emmy Award-winning creative development exec at Sesame Workshop; and Douglas Wood, a former VP of production and creative affairs at Universal, Turner Pictures and Warner Bros. Feature Animation who currently heads development for the JVP Feature Animation Studio. More judges are expected to be announced soon.

    Online ratings will decide the top 25 finalists made up of five movies from each of the categories’Funny, Drama, Music Videos, Experimental and Crappy. The finalists will then be submitted to the judges for further scrutiny. The judges’ opinions will account for only 30% of the final vote as they work with the public to help aniBoom give out $50,000 in prizes.

    ‘aniBOOM was created to change the distribution chain so that young talent can expose their work to animation fans and industry professionals,’ says aniBOOM CEO Uri Shinar. ‘We are honored to have such distinguished professionals on our panel of judges for this first year festival. These six judges demonstrate how aniBOOM brings together the entire animation community.’

    aniBoom, which plans to share online ad revenue with filmmakers, hopes to create a leading cross-media broadband animation hub. In addition to the contest, the new platform will consist of original animated series, special events and a variety of unique content creation tools and applications. For more information, visit www.aniboom.com.

  • Cartoon Network Adds Broadband

    Turner Broadcasting Systems has inked a two-year deal with digital rights company Premium TV, which will provide a broadband TV platform for Cartoon Network in Europe, the Middle East and Africa. Set to debut in fourth quarter of 2006, SuperCartoonNetwork.co.uk will mark Cartoon Network’s first foray into broadband content tailored to the PC.

    The subscription-based site will offer hours of regularly updated content from such Cartoon Network series as Ben 10 and Foster’s Home for Imaginary Friends, as well as archived episodes of hit shows.

    “The broadband market is maturing to the stage where there is a real commercial opportunity in offering consumers a true broadband experience,’ comments Casey Harwood, senior VP of Digital Media for Turner Broadcasting Systems. ‘Based on their expertise and talent, Premium TV will play a key role in helping us realise this.”

    Usng its DRM technology, Premium TV previously handled digital rights for major sports organizations including Football League Interactive (FLi) and World Rally Championship (WRC). According to company CEO Oliver Slipper, the Cartoon Network deal is significant in that it ushers Premium TV into the entertainment sector.

    SuperCartoonNetwork.co.uk will supplement existing site CartoonNetwork.co.uk, which logs more than 30 million page impressions per month, according to Turner.

  • The Bunnies Do Superman

    Angry Alien Prods. and premium cable network Starz have released the latest installment in their 30-second, Flash-animated bunny parodies, this time taking on the Man of Steel. As Bryan Singer’s big-budget Superman Returns burns up the box office, Angry Alien founder Jennifer Shiman and crew chose to put the bunnies to work reenacting Richard Donner’s Superman: The Movie from 1978.

    Featuring all-bunny casts, Shiman’s shorts boil down such iconic films as Jaws, Pulp Fiction, The Shining and The Texas Chainsaw Massacre, retelling their stories as bite-sized comedies. The parody of a certain James Cameron disaster flick has even been included as an Easter egg on Fox’s Titanic special edition DVD.

    Last year, Angry Alien pacted with Starz to make the shorts available via Starz’s video on-demand service. Since launching in April of 2005, the shorts have logged millions of viewings, according to Starz Entertainment Group LLC.

    The Superman re-enactment can be viewed at

    www.starz.com/features/bunnyclub/superman/index.html. Other hit films tackled with the bunny formula include Scream, The Exorcist, Alien, The Rocky Horror Picture Show and It’s a Wonderful Life. They can all be downloaded at the Angry Alien Prods. website, www.angryalien.com.

  • ReelTime to Offer Lost Superman Toons

    As everyone scrambles to capitalize on the hoopla surrounding Warner Bros.’ release of Superman Returns, ReelTime Rentals Inc. is getting into the act, but for a good cause. The company today announced that it will make unaired episodes of Famous Studios’ 1940s Superman cartoons available to the public free of charge. Each time one is viewed, RealTime will make a donation to the Christopher Reeve Foundation.

    Currently in the library of Echelon Entertainment, the collection of wartime-era Superman animated shorts were produced by Famous Studios, which Paramount Pictures established after it foreclosed on Fleischer Studios. Famous continued the Superman series without Max Fleischer, whose animated exploits of the Man of Steel were popular appetizers to feature films in theaters.

    “We are pleased to make these historically significant shows available for viewers around the world to enjoy, and are happy that at the same time we can help support the Christopher Reeve Foundation’s important work in finding treatments and cures for paralysis,’ says Beverly Zaslow, ReelTime’s VP of business development.

    The Christopher and Dana Reeve Paralysis Resource Center (PRC) provides a comprehensive, national source of information for people living with spinal cord injury, paralysis and all mobility-related disabilities. For more information, go to www.christopherreeve.org/

    ReelTime Rentals’ website, RealTimeTV.net, is set to launch in the coming days, providing subscription and pay-per-view access to DVD-quality, full-length movies. The ‘lost’ Superman installments all feature a Mighty Mouse cartoon at the end, and will be available as streaming video that plays immediately and allows viewers to rewind and fast-forward.

  • Spike Pulls Out the Blade

    If you’re avoiding the long lines at the box office tonight, Spike TV hopes you’ll tune in to catch another superhero screen debut. The male-centric cable outlet tonight premieres Blade: The Series, a live-action show based on the Marvel comics and New Line Cinema’s feature film franchise. The bloodthirsty fun kicks off with a two-hour movie airing at 10 p.m. (ET/PT).

    Blade: The Series takes place on the mean streets of Detroit, where only a sword-wielding Daywalker stands between evil vampires and their plan to rule over mankind. Blade is a half human and half vampire, which affords him all of the powers of a blood sucker but none of the weaknesses, except for a hemoglobin craving. He is joined in his adventures by a master weapons maker named Shen (Nelson Lee) and a sexy former Army sergeant named Krista (Jill Wagner), who is bent on avenging the death of her twin brother. Taking over the title role originated by Wesley Snipes on the big screen is hip-hop recording artist Sticky Fingaz, whose acting credits include Dead Presidents, Next Friday and House of the Dead 2: Dead Aim.

    Directed by Peter O’Fallon (TV’s House, Ghost Whisperer), the two-hour pilot movie was written by David S. Goyer, who directed the feature film Blade: Trinity and penned Batman Begins. Goyer also exec produces the series, along with former Marvel CEO Ari Arad. Goyer has become quite the superhero specialist. Projects currently on his plate include an untitled Batman Begins sequel and big-screen adaptations of comic-book faves The Flash and Captain America.

    Produced by New Line Television, Blade: The Series is the first original scripted production for Spike TV. More information on the show, including on-set interviews with the cast, can be found at www.spiketv.com.

  • Supes Is Back!

    After suffering a near fatal dose of cinematic Kryptonite, a.k.a. bad sequels, the man in the blue tights and red cape is back on the big screen in Warner Bros.’ Superman Returns, a film that promises to do for the franchise what Warner’s Batman Begins did for the Dark Knight’s cinematic career. Expect a number of your co-workers to call in sick today since the film opened with late-night screenings that drew crowds of DC Comics fans and other moviegoers hungry for a good summer popcorn flick.

    Directed by Bryan Singer (X-Men, X-2: X-Men United, The Usual Suspects), Superman Returns stars newcomer Brandon Routh as the title character, created for the comics pages by Jerry Seigel and Joe Shuster in 1939. In the film, the last son of Krypton returns to Earth after a mysterious absence of several years to find that the world he protected and the woman he loved have learned to get along without him. Meanwhile, old nemesis Lex Luthor (Kevin Spacey) is up to his old tricks and launches a scheme that will send our hero on an epic journey of redemption.

    The script was penned by the writing team of Dan Harris and Michael Dougherty, who also wrote X2: X-Men United and Singer’s upcoming Logan’s Run remake. Dougherty studied animation at N.Y.U under Oscar winner John Canemaker and worked as an animator on such shows as Blue’s Clues and Little Bill, in addition to making his own animated shorts.

    As it rolls out in conventional theaters, Superman Returns also flies into IMAX venues, where 20 minutes of it are presented in stereoscopic 3D. During select sequences of the film, a visual cue designed by Singer will tell viewers when they should put on and remove their IMAX 3D glasses. This may be the best way to view some of he film’s many visual effects, which were provided by an army of artists at Sony Pictures Imageworks, Framestore CFC, The Orphanage, Rhythm & Hues, Frantic Films Pixel Liberation Front, Digital Neural Axis, New Deal Studios Inc., Rising Sun Pictures, Lola Visual Effects and Photon VFX.

    The film has been receiving mostly good reviews, though Roger Ebert and critics for The L.A. Times and New York Times suggest staying away. But those downward-pointing thumbs will no doubt bounce off the Man of Steel like so much heavy artillery as the movie is sure to rake in plenty of the green stuff during the long holiday weekend. Warner Bros. will then face tough competition from Disney the following weekend when Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man’s Chest opens on July 7.

    For a behind-the-scenes look Superman Returns‘ visual effects work and a chat with screenwriter Michael Dougherty, pick up the July issue of Animation Magazine, available at Barnes & Noble locations and other fine booksellers.

  • Kitaro Anime Goes Live Action

    After thrilling and chilling fans in animated productions over the years, manga creator Shigeru Mizuki’s Ge Ge Ge no Kitaro is set to become a live-action motion picture, according to The Hollywood Reporter. The production is being spearheaded by Japanese production company Shochiku and Hong Kong vfx studio Centro Digital Pictures, which created effects for both of Quentin Tarantino’s Kill Bill movies and the international hit, Shaolin Soccer.

    Created by in Mizuki in 1954, Ge Ge Ge no Kitaro is a supernatural series about a one-eyed orphan boy who was born in a graveyard and has the power to communicate with spirits. Dedicated to helping humans and goblins live together in peace, Kitaro is looked after by his dead father’s eyeball, who resides in the boy’s empty left eye socket. The manga first appeared in Shonen Magazine in 1966 and Toei Animation’s cartoon series was broadcast on Fuji Television at various times between 1968 and 1998.

    The live-action film is being directed by Katsuhide Motoki (Drugstore Girl) and stars Eiji Wentz and Yo Oizumi, whose voices can both be heard in Hayao Miyazaki’s animated features Howl’s Moving Castle and Spirited Away. Central Digital Pictures will use CG animation to bring the movie’s many monsters and spirits to the screen as Kitaro tries to save a pair of siblings who have come in possession of a mysterious stone with catastrophic powers. Filming has reportedly begun with Shochiku aiming for an April 2007 release.

  • Bloo Back in July

    Cartoon Network has announced that new episodes of the hit series Foster’s Home for Imaginary Friends are slated to begin airing on Monday, July 17. The season four debut is part of the Network’s summer-long rollout of season premieres airing every Monday through Thursday at 7 p.m. (ET/ PT).

    Foster’s Home centers on a boy named Mac who has all kinds of zany adventures when he goes to visit his imaginary friend, Blooregard Q. Kazoo, in a very special boarding house populated by strange creatures that kids have had to give up when they got too old for invented pals. The new episodes have Bloo and the gang throwing birthday and slumber party bashes that always seem to end up in mayhem. In one installment, Bloo takes the crew on a joyride in the Foster’s bus, leaving the fate of everyone in the hands of Cheese.

    Mac and Bloo will also host Cartoon Network’s summer primetime line-up, presenting special segments of “Are You a Cartoon Network Kid?” and welcoming favorite Cartoon Network characters such as Lazlo, Ben 10 and Billy and Mandy. Fans can also have fun with Mac and Bloo annd even create their own imaginary friends in Foster’s Big Fat Awesome House Party, a free online game that launched on CartoonNetwork.com in May and has since attracted more than 2 million registered users, according to the network.

  • SIGGRAPH to screen Dream Machine

    Leading figures in birth of digital animation are profiled in The Dream Machine, a two-hour documentary that will be shown on July 30 during the SIGGRAPH computer graphics conference and expo in Boston, Mass. The film was put together by David Sieg, who edited more than 30 hours of interviews and classic analog computer animation to chronicle the achievements of these visionary inventors and the computer that gave birth to a revolution.

    Among the pioneers featured is Lee Harrison, whose Denver-based Computer Image Corp in the late 1970s developed and built eight Scanimate analog computers that would produce most of the electronic animation seen on television for nearly a decade.

    Sieg worked for Image West in Hollywood, where a team of engineers and artists used two Scanimates to produce thousands of animated graphics for network TV shows, commercials and even a scene in the first Star Wars film. The doc features interviews with a number of people who cut their teeth on the Scanimates and are now heading up visual effects work at such leading companies as Digital Domain and Industrial Light & Magic. Sieg has the only remaining working Scanimate computer in his studio in Kingsport, Tennessee.

    “Technology moves so fast, we forget sometimes how things ever got started.” Sieg states. “To me, the real story is not the machines, but the people. I feel like I’ve helped put a human face to this amazing period of time, and perhaps helped tell a story that would have been lost otherwise.”

    More information on the Scanimate computers and The Dream

    Machine can be found at http://scanimate.net.

  • MGM, Bandai America Join Team Galaxy

    French production entity Marathon Media has secured new partners for its its animated series, Team Galaxy, naming MGM Consumer Products the exclusive North American licensing agent and Bandai America Inc. the master toy licensee for the action-packed property set to debut on Cartoon Network this fall. Marathon is producing 52 half-hour episodes of the show.

    A fast-paced, futuristic adventure for kids 6-11, Team Galaxy takes place at Galaxy High, where the students are trained as space marshals. The series follows the intergalactic exploits of students Josh, Brett and Yoko, who have to juggle the demands of normal teen life with their high-flying space adventures unlikely defenders of Earth. Aimed squarely at boys, the show features speedy spaceships, over-the-top aliens and lots of gadgets, all of which make it a desirable consumer products property.

    ‘Team Galaxy represents an ideal opportunity for licensees to tap into a high-energy brand and exciting characters that appeal to today’s kids,’ says Travis Rutherford, executive VP of MGM Consumer Products and Location Based Entertainment.

    ‘With a proven track record of transforming popular kids’ TV shows into top-selling toys, Bandai America is excited to partner with Marathon Media on a dynamic vehicle-based toy line for Team Galaxy,’ adds Michael Riley, VP of Marketing of Bandai America Inc. ‘We were initially drawn to the property’s colorful animation, humorous storylines and galactic adventures with interesting characters’both human and alien. And boys are sure to be drawn to the series and toys as a result.’

    Marathon also produces the popular animated series Martin Mystery, Totally Spies! and Marsupilami. It’s biggest hit, Totally Spies! is currently seen in more than 100 countries and territories, including Cartoon Network in the U.S. Team Galaxy‘s Cartoon Network launch will be accompanied by an aggressive licensing push that will feature a full spectrum of licensed products including toys, books, interactive games, apparel and accessories.

  • Insomniac Among Top Employers

    For the second consecutive year, independent video game developer Insomniac games ranked among the top five in the Society for Human Resource Management’s list of the 25 best small-sized companies to work for in America. The rankings were announced at SHRM’s 58th Annual Conference & Exposition in Washington, DC.

    Makers of Ratchet & Clank, Spyro the Dragon and other successful game franchises, Insomniac remains the first and only video games company to be named to annual list. Last year, the company ranked third among small businesses, but slipped slightly to fourth this year.

    One of two Southern California companies to make the list, Insomniac earned its reputation as a desirable place to work by offering employees such perks as Yoga classes, massage therapy, free catered meals and discounted gym memberships. The company currently employs around 155 people.

    The SHRM rankings recognize the top 25 small and top 25 medium companies in America that have used smart people management strategies to develop successful organizations with highly productive and satisfied workforces. The winning organizations, which range in size from 50 to 999 employees, were selected and ranked by the Great Place to Work Institute (GPTW). The results were primarily based on a randomly distributed employee opinion survey that measures several categories such as workplace environment, management’s responsiveness to employee feedback and adherence to company philosophy.

    “It’s a real honor to be included once again among the five best small companies to work for in America because the ranking is based on our own employees’ attitudes about Insomniac Games,” says Insomniac founder and president Ted Price. “Our back-to-back, top-five ranking demonstrates that concepts like ‘collaboration,’ ‘quality-over-quantity’ and ‘innovation’ have real meaning here and are in practice every day.”

    Insomniac Games continues to seek new employees in a variety of production-related positions. The company is currently developing Resistance: Fall of Man exclusively for PlayStation 3 this holiday season. More information can be found on the company’s website at www.insomniacgames.com.

  • Nick Tops Basic Cable Again

    Kid net Nickelodeon announced today that it is the top-rated basic cable network for the eleventh consecutive year. Home to such animated hits as SpongeBob SquarePants, Dora the Explorer and Avatar: The Last Airbender, the broadcaster cites Nielsen Media Research in claiming the lead within the total programming day among all viewers and across all kids demographics for the just-completed second quarter of 2006. In addition, the network says it experienced double-digit growth in its multiple media operations, which include Nick.com, Nickjr.com and its video-on-demand service.

    With its primary demo of kids 2-11, Nickelodeon posted a 3.8/1.3 million, up more than 3% from the second quarter 2005 and more than 81% ahead of Cartoon Network and 52% ahead of Disney Channel. The Network also apparently ranked first with preschoolers, averaging a 4.5/560,000 with the top-ten shows Go, Diego, Go!, Dora the Explorer, The Wonder Pets, Blue’s Clues, The Backyardigans, LazyTown and Miss Spider. The net’s closest competitor in the kids 6-11demo is The Disney Channel, which posted a 2.4 rating behind Nick’s 3.5 mark. Nick’s delivery of tweens 9-14 stayed the same but still beat the competition by double digits, according to the network.

    Nickelodeon’s quarter-to-quarter growth was fueled in part by the 19th Annual Kids’ Choice Awards, which averaged 3.2 million kid viewers, and the hour-long Fairy OddParents special, Fairy Idol, which attracted an average of 3 million kids.

    Broadband and other new media platforms were also good to Nickelodoen as downloads on its TurboNick service showed 46% growth over the first quarter of 2006, Meanwhile, the boradcaster’s Nick Jr. Video broadband service is approaching its 100th million stream since launching in August of 2005.

  • Hollywood and Games Summit Kicks Off in L.A.

    The first-ever Hollywood and Games Summit got started today at the Beverly Hills Hotel as business and creative professionals from the video-game and film industries gathered to address the increasing collaboration between film and interactive entertainment. Presented by the CMP Game Group, host of the Game Developers Conference (GDC), and entertainment trade publication The Hollywood Reporter, the event kicked off with a keynote address by filmmaker Paul W.S. Anderson, who has adapted such hit games as Mortal Kombat and Resident Evil, and is next tackling the classic PC fave Castlevania.

    “Our goal is to synchronize the creative and business leaders of game and film,

    and thereby take chance out of the collaboration equation,” says Jamil Moledina,

    exec director of the GDC. “By peeling back the filtering layers that normally

    surround these visionaries, we enable a greater density of effective networking.”

    The inaugural event covers topics such as synchronized production, how to pitch to the other side, capturing the movie feel in game play, sharing marketing buzz and cross-pollinating production techniques such as pre-visualization. Session panelists include Village Roadshow Pictures president and CEO Steve Krone; Electronic Arts Los Angeles VP and general manager Neil Young; 20th Century Fox VP of Production Steve Asbell; Marvel Studios president of production Kevin Feige; Treyarch exec producer Chris Archer; Movielink VP of business development Sean Besser; and Xbox Live Arcade general manager Greg Canessa.

    More information on the Hollywood and Games Summit can be found at www.hollywoodandgames.com.

  • Disney Exec to Keynote SIGGRAPH

    The 33rd annual SIGGRAPH computer graphics conference and expo will feature a keynote address by Joe Rohde, executive designer and VP with Walt Disney Imagineering. Titled ‘From Myth to Mountain: Insights Into Virtual Placemaking,’ Rohde’s speech will include aspects of work in leading conceptualization, design, and production for Disney’s Animal Kingdom amusement park since its inception in 1990. This year’s edition of SIGGRAPH will be held in Boston, Mass. from July 30 through August 3.

    Most recently, Rohde headed development and production of Expedition Everest, the new thrill attraction at Disney’s Animal Kingdom. The project took him to the far corners of the Himalayas, researching the background details to incorporate into the authentic environment designed for the ride, which incorporates the myth of the Yeti. Rohde joined the Imagineering team in 1980 during the development of Epcot.

    Immediately prior to the keynote address, ACM SIGGRAPH will presents three awards. Thomas W. Sederberg from Brigham Young University will receive the Computer Graphics Achievement Award, Takeo Igarashi from The University of Tokyo will accept the Significant New Researcher Award and John M. Fujii from

    Hewlett Packard Company will be honored with the ACM SIGGRAPH Outstanding Service Award.

    SIGGRAPH 2006 promises to attract an estimated 25,000 computer graphics and interactive technology professionals from six continents to Boston for a series of technical and creative programs focusing on research, entertainment, science, art, animation, gaming, interactivity and education. Open Aug 1-3, the expo show floor will feature an exhibition of products and services from more than 250 companies from around the world. Registration for the conference and exhibition is open to the public. More information on 2006 Keynote Address is available on the SIGGRAPH 2006 Keynote page at http://ls.siggraph.org/t/635990/21277446/49792/0.

  • Latest Stitch Hits Disc

    Lilo and her little, blue alien pal are back in an all-new adventure with Disney’s Leroy & Stitch, a direct-to-DVD feature released today by Buena Vista Home Entertainment. The movie serves as the conclusion to the Lilo & Stitch TV series, which debuted on ABC Kids in the fall of 2003. Also bowing on disc today is Sony Pictures vfx-intensive, comic book-inspired action flick, Ultraviolet, which is available as an unrated extended edition.

    As a reward for rounding up all 625 experiments, Lilo, Stitch, Jumba, and Pleakley have been placed around the galaxy in a spot where each of them thinks they truly belong. Soon, however, their lives are shook up when the dastardly Dr. Hamsterviel breaks out of prison and forces Dr. Jumba to create a new experiment’Leroy, the evil twin of Stitch. When Hamsterviel forms his own mischievous army of Leroy clones, it’s up to Lilo to gather Stitch and the rest of the gang from the far corners of outer space to foil his evil plan. The pic was written by Robert Gannaway and Joss Winfield, and fetures series voice cast members Daveigh Chase, Tia Carrere, Kevin McDonald and David Ogden Stiers. Extra features on the DVD include a never-before-seen episode of the Lilo & Stitch TV series and a flight simulator game titled Big Red Battleship.

    Milla Jovovich is a vampire warrior out to stop a corrupt government from wiping out her kind in Ultraviolet, director Kurt Wimmer’s largely incoherent but entertaining followup to Equilibrium. Ridiculous action is the order of the day as Jovovich takes on armies of soldiers in a futuristic world created in CG with CIS Hollywood handling most of the vfx work under visual effects supervisor Victor Wong, whose previous credits include the Hong Kong-made hits House of Flying Daggers, Initial D and Internal Affairs I & II. Bonus materials offer commentary by Jovovich and a making-of featurette. The unrated, extended cut also features seven minutes of extra footage that was deleted from the theatrical version.

  • Stan Lee Gets Real with SCI FI

    Stan Lee, the comic-book legend behind Spider-Man, The Incredible Hulk, Fantastic Four and X-Men, has joined forces with SCI FI Channel and Nash Ent. to produce a weekly reality series titled Who Wants to Be a Superhero? Six hour-long episodes are being produced by Nash, the company that brought you the primetime series Meet My Folks, For Love or Money and Who Wants to Mary My Dad?

    Contestants on Who Wants to e A Superhero? Will create their own crime-fighting alter egos and compete against each other for a shot at comic-book immortality. Thousands of hopefuls will be whittled down to 11 finalists, who will all live together in a secret lair for six weeks. Each week, they will be challenged with competitions that test their courage, integrity, self-sacrifice, compassion and resourcefulness. The winner will have his or her character brought to life in a new comic book created by Lee and in an original SCI FI Channel movie.

    The series is one of many projects in the works for Lee’s POW! Ent.

    The company is also developing an animated TV special titled Stan Lee’s Superhero Christmas, and is working with Celebrities in Action to produce The Fantasy Zone, a series of hoe video releases starring well-known public figures living out their superhero fantasies. For more information on Who Wants to Be a Superhero?, go to www.scifi.com/superhero/.