Animation Magazine

Author: Ryan Ball

  • Negadon Trailer, Contest Online

    If you’ve been hitting the fanboy websites lately, you’ve no doubt read drooling reviews of Negadon: The Monster from Mars, filmmaker Jun Awazu’s CG-animated tribute to Japanese monster movie franchises like Godzilla, Mothra and Gamera. Now you can see what all the fuss is about with a new North American trailer just released by distributor Central Park Media, which heavily promoted the fresh take on Japanese monster movies at last week’s New York Comic-Con.

    During a Comic-Con panel, Central Park announced the launch of the official web site, www.NegadonAttacks.com, and a Negadon Kaiju Contest, which offers fans a chance to have their own original Japanese-style giant-monster artwork included on the Negadon DVD, due in stores this summer. Submissions are being accepted until March 25 at the website.

    Relased in Japan in October of 2005, Negadon won the Outstanding Production Award at the 20th Digital Contents Grand Prix and was named a Jury Recommended Work at the 9th Japan Media Arts Festival. The film will next screen at the Anime Syracuse Film Festival in Syracuse’s Palace Theatre on March 25. More information on the event can be found at www.AnimeSyracuse.com.

    Check out the Negadon trailer at www.NegadonAttacks.com. Also, pick up the April issue of Animation Magazine, in which Awazu talks about making this sci-fi/fantasy phenomenon.

  • Fury of Ultraviolet Unleashed in Theaters

    A lot of visual effects work adds to the eye candy as star Milla Jovovich explodes on the big screen with Sony Screen Gems’ futuristic action flick, Ultraviolet. This latest entry in the girls-kicking-butt subgenre arrives in 2,558 theaters today, just a week ahead of Warner Bros.’ V for Vendetta, in which Natalie Portman takes her turn at slicing and dicing her way through legions of baddies.

    Written and directed by Kurt Wimmer (Equilibrium) Ultraviolet is set in the late 21st century and involves a subculture of genetically mutated humans endowed with enhanced speed, incredible stamina and acute intelligence. As more people are infected with the wonder virus, the government that unleashed it resolves to wipe them out unless a rogue warrior named Violet (Jovovich) can stop them.

    Ultraviolet employs CG environments and other forms of digital trickery to bring furtuistic action to the screen. CIS Hollywood handled the lion’s share of the work under the thumb of 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.

    Though it was not screened for critics, generally not a good sign, the PG-13 Ultraviolet should do will the young male demographic that has made Wimmer’s Equilibrium a cult hit and recently plunked down a good chunk of change for Screen Gems’ Underworld 2, which was also kept away from critics.

    Ultraviolet‘s toughest competition this weekend comes from Warner Bros.’ Bruce Willis/Mos Def action-thriller, 16 Blocks, which opens today in around 2,700 theaters. Also opening wide today is 20th century Fox’s tween mermaid fantasy, Aquamarine, while Dave Chappelle’s Block Party from Rogue Pictures promises to do brisk business as it rolls out in approximately 1,200 locations.

  • Gromit Wins Animag Oscar Poll!

    This year’s Animation Magazine Online Oscar Poll sees Aardman Animations’ and DreamWorks Animation’s Wallace & Gromit: The Curse of the Were-Rabbit win with 47% of the vote. The clay-animated comedy from directors Nick Park and Steve Box easily beat fellow leading vote getters Warner Bros.’ Tim Burton’s Corpse Bride (33%) and Disney’s presentation of Studio Ghibli’s Howl’s Moving Castle (20%).

    Though it did lukewarm theatrical and home video business in the U.S., the first-ever Wallace & Gromit feature was a huge hit overseas and looks like a shoo-in to win the Academy Award for Best Animated Feature on Sunday, having already picked up a bevy of kudos this season, including the BAFTA for best British Film.

    Our Oscar Poll opened in January, inviting animation fans and professionals alike to vote from a host of likely Oscar nominees. Other films short-listed at the time were Disney’s Chicken Little, DreamWorks’ Madagascar, Sony Pictures Classics’ presentation of Katsuhiro Otomo’s Steamboy, The Weinstein Co.’s Hoodwinked, the Disney-distributed Valiant from Vanguard Animation and Gulliver’s Travel from Pentimedia Graphics Ltd. Last year, Animation Magazine readers chose the Disney/Pixar hit The Incredibles from director Brad Bird as the favorite to win the Oscar, which it did.

    In the Best Animated Short competition, Pixar’s One Man Band from directors Andrew Jimenez and Mark Andrews takes the cake with 39% of the vote. Shane Acker’s 9 and Anthony Lucas’ The Mysterious Geographic Explorations of Jasper Morello each received 22% to tie for second place, while Sharon Coleman’s Badgered came in third with 11%. Also in contention was John Canemaker’s The Moon and the Son: An Imagined Conversation with garnered just 6% of votes.

    We’d like to thank everyone who logged on to vote. To see how accurate you were this year, tune in to watch the 78th Annual Academy Awards on Sunday, March. 5. ABC will televise the ceremony live from the Kodak Theater in Hollywood beginning at 5 p.m. More information on all nominated animated films can be found at www.animationmagazine.net/oscar_contenders_05.html.

  • Nick Jr., Noggin Debut Wonder Pets!

    Cute baby animals sing to the rescue in The Wonder Pets!, a new animated preschool series premiering Friday, March 3, on Nick Jr. and Noggin. Two back-to-back episodes of the half-hour show will simulcast on both networks beginning at 11:30 a.m., and the first episode will repeat on Nick Jr. on Sunday, March 5, at 8 a.m.

    The Wonder Pets! Follows the adventures of a guinea pig named Linny, a duckling named Ming-Ming and a turtle named Tuck, who travel the world in their jet-powered, flying boat and use teamwork to save other animals in distress. Being hyped as the first mini-operetta for preschoolers, the show has its cuddly stars singing to music written and developed by Tony and Grammy-winning composers. Musical contributors have worked on such Broadway productions as Avenue Q, Monty Python’s Spamalot and Fiddler on the Roof.

    The show was created by the team at Little Airplane Prods., (which previously brought Piper O’Possum to Nick Jr. and Oobi to Noggin) led by president and founder Josh Selig and creative director Jennifer Oxley. The musical adventure program began life as a series of short films titled The Adventures of Linny the Guinea Pig. Linny’s pals were added to the mix and for a longer show, The Super Singing Power Pets!, which later became The Wonder Pets! Selig previously served as head writer on Nick Jr.’s Little Bill and received eleven Emmy Awards for his writing on Sesame Street.

    The Wonder Pets! employs a style of animation Little Airplane Prods. has ‘photo-puppetry.’ The animators manipulate photographs of real animals to create a look that is unique to Nick Jr. More information on Little Airplane is available at www.littleairplane.com. A host of Wonder Pets! activities for kids can be found at www.nickjr.com.

  • Kid Shows More Violent Than Adult TV?

    The Parents Television Council (www.parentstv.org) has released its first study on children’s television and suggests that there is more violence on children’s entertainment programming than on adult-oriented television.

    Titled ‘Wolves in Sheep’s Clothing: A Content Analysis of Children’s Television,’ the PTC report focused on entertainment programming for school-aged children aged 5-10 on broadcast television and expanded basic cable. Over a three-week period in the summer of 2005, the council monitored after-school and Saturday morning shows on eight networks including ABC, FOX, NBC, WB, ABC Family, Cartoon Network, Disney Channel and Nickelodeon.

    The study found 3,488 incidents of violence for an average of 7.86 instances per hour. This is compared to a 2002 report, in which the organization found an average 4.71 depictions of violence per hour during prime time programming geared to adults. The latest study of kids’ programming also recorded 858 incidents of verbal aggression, 275 incidents of sexual content and 250 incidents of language judged to be offensive.

    ‘This disturbing trend signifies that parents can no longer be confident that their children will not have access to dark violence, sexual innuendo or offensive language on entertainment programming targeted toward children,’ says PTC president L. Brent Bozell. ‘We do realize that this is probably not a deliberate effort to undermine the social fabric of young children, but this thoughtlessness still produces the same end result.’

    According to the report, Cartoon Network had the highest total number of violent incidents, while ABC Family was given the most-punch-per-program award. The Disney Channel came out looking the best with the least violent programming. The council warns that the highest levels of offensive language, verbal abuse, sexual content and offensive/excretory references were found on The WB, which will soon be replaced by The CW.

    Examples cited in the report include a fight scene in Fox’s anime-inspired Shaman King, where the character Zeke kicks Yoh in the head and then reaches into his chest and rips out his soul. The index finger was also wagged at the SpongeBob SquarePants episode ‘Sailor Mouth,’ in which SpongeBob unwittingly uses profanity thinking it’s ‘fancy talk.’ Though the curse words are bleeped, the installment raised a big red flag with the PTC, which is also upset by the growing amount of adult-oriented subtext in children’s programming. ‘Sadly, producers must think that if they can entertain parents with double entendres and innuendo the parents will encourage the children to watch,’ Bozell remarks.

  • Dykstra Directing Tortoise, Hippo Tale

    Having earned Academy Awards for his work on the Star Wars and Spider-Man film franchises, visual effects supervisor John Dykstra is trying out his directing chops with Walden Media and Relevant Ent.’s previously reported feature based on a real-life friendship between a 100-year-old tortoise and a baby hippo.

    Tentatively titled Tortoise and Hippo, the film is based on a wire-service photo depicting the animal odd couple cuddling up at a wildlife sanctuary in India after being pulled from the Indian Ocean following the tsunami that devastated parts of Asia in 2004. Shrek co-writer Roger S.H. Schulman is penning the script.

    Andrew Adamson, who co-directed Shrek and helmed The Chronicles of Narnia, is reportedly in talks to produce the live-action/CG pic, along with Relevant Ent. partner Mike Menchel. Much like Narnia, the tortoise and hippo flick will feature stylized, photo-real animal characters in live-action environments.

    Dykstra, who helped form world-renowned vfx studio Industrial Light & Magic (ILM) with George Lucas and Gary Kurtz, is currently working as visual effects designer for Sony Pictures Imageworks. In addition to the Spider-Man films, his credits with the company include Stuart Little, for which he directed second-unit photography. His full-on directorial debut, Tortoise and Hippo, is expected to arrive in theaters in 2007.

  • FUNimation Bringing Anime to Theaters

    Navarre Corp.’s FUNimation Ent. today announced the development of FUNimation Films, a co-venture with theatrical distribution company The Bigger Picture. The latest step in FUNimation’s strategy to expand the U.S. anime audience, this new initiative will bring anime features and series premieres to movie theatres across the nation starting this month.

    On March 17, select Landmark theatres will offer special screening’s of the Dragon Ball Z feature, The Return of Cooler, followed by the U.S. premiere of the Dragon Ball Z movie, Fusion Reborn, courtesy of FUNimation Films.

    “Anime is a growing entertainment segment in the United States and we want to give anime fans a place they can go each month to see the top anime titles in the United States on the big screen,” explains FUNimation Ent. president Gen Fukunaga. “The Bigger Picture’s digital distribution network provides access to theatres throughout the country and is a great fit for FUNimation Films.”

    The Bigger Picture, a subsidiary of Sabella Dern Ent., specializes in the digital distribution of films targeted to underserved audiences during “off-peak” hours. The company’s release program provides fans with an opportunity to enjoy new movies on the big screen on a regular basis.

    In April and May, The Bigger Picture will join FUNimation in presenting such anime favorites as the ninja-horror-action series, Basilisk, and post-apocalyptic vampire action show, Trinity Blood, both productions of acclaimed animation studio GONZO.

    FUNimation Films releases will be distributed to Landmark theatres in Atlanta, Austin, Chicago, Dallas, Minneapolis, Seattle, San Diego, San Francisco and Washington, D.C. More theatre chains and locations will be added each week. More information on screenings can be found at www.funimationfilms.com.

  • GigaPix Opens VFX Shop

    CG animation house GigaPix Studios is launching a visual effects department that will provide digital effects work and post-production services for feature films, television, commercials and music videos. The shop will be run by Emmy award-winning vfx supervisor Clay Dale, whose credits include SCI-FI Channel’s Frank Herbert’s Dune miniseries, the feature I, Robot and the Voltron animated series from the late 1990s.

    Dale began his career in 1995 as a lead artist in PlayStation video game development. He has recently contributed to the effects in such feature films as Elektra starring Jennifer Garner, and Sylvester Stallone’s Driven, for which he simulated slow-speed car crashes in CG. Other features he has worked on include Exorcist: The Beginning, The Hot Chick and Mr. & Mrs. Smith.

    ‘Having had so much fun and success working with Dale in the past, I’m excited to have him as a valuable member of the GigaPix creative team,’ says GigaPix president John Savage. ‘Here he’ll get to use his expertise in dynamic simulations like fluid effects, dust and fire and ensure that all our projects reach their full potential.’

    GigaPix has also brought on Emmy winner Greg Pusateri as director of audio. Pusateri has worked for Saban Ent., specializing in children’s animated productions. He later took a position at West Production, where he got the opportunity to work on more network shows and earned his Best Sound Effects Editor Emmy for The X-Files. Shortly after, he was recruited by Warner Bros. to work in their animation department.

    GigaPix was founded in 2002 in Chatsworth, Calif. by CEO Chris Blauvelt and is dedicated to producing CG-animated features. The studio currently has four feature productions in development’an adventure comedy titled Junk Bots, an irreverent rabbit fantasy titled Twilight, a sci-fi thriller titled Alien SAR and a superhero spoof titled Hypnopig. More information on the studio can be found at www.gigapixstudios.com.

  • Hecht’s Worldwide Biggies Goes Broadband

    Worldwide Biggies Inc., a content development company recently founded by former Nickelodeon president Albie Hecht, is launching a new division dubbed Biggies Broadband. The unit will develop and produce original multi-platform content, syndicated web sites and broadband channels aimed at the young adult and family entertainment audience.

    ‘The multiplatform space is where I expect to find the next SpongeBob SquarePants,’ says Hecht. ‘I look forward to identifying and working with young and new creative talent that will lead to the development of the next crop of character franchises.’

    Hecht’s development and character acquisition strategy at Biggies Broadband involves investing in young content creators. The division will also work with partners and clients to establish new models for IP creation and multiplatform revenue generation. For its initial projects, Biggies Broadband is teaming with entertainment companies Virgin and Cranium, but hasn’t released any details on these projects.

    With offices in New York and Los Angeles, Worldwide Biggies is focused on developing and producing family-oriented animated features, hi-definition television series, direct-to-DVD series and broadband/mobile content. Yhje company produced Spike TV’s Video Game Awards and has a children’s programming development deal on Nickelodeon. In addition, Worldwide Biggies is producing its first CG feature film for theatrical release. Written by Shrek and Shrek 2 scribe Joe Stillman, Planet One is being produced with with Ilion Animation Studios.

  • Disney Signs Composer Menken

    Eight-time Academy Award-winning composer Alan Menken has signed a non-exclusive, multi-picture deal with Disney/Touchstone Pictures. The music man behind such enduring animated favorites as The Little Mermaid, Beauty and the Beast, Aladdin, Pocahontas and The Hunchback of Notre Dame is developing a new animated musical, The Frog Princess, for Walt Disney Feature Animation and will score non-animated films and live musical productions for the studio.

    Menken’s first assignment under the new deal is scoring and writing five original songs for Disney’s upcoming romantic musical-fantasy, Enchanted, which is being directed by Kevin Lima (Tarzan, 102 Dalmatians). For that project, Menken will reunite with Tony and Oscar-winning lyricist Stephen Schwartz, with whom he collaborated on Pocahontas and The Hunchback of Notre Dame.

    Menken recently completed scoring Disney’s upcoming live-action comedy re-make, The Shaggy Dog, which is scheduled to arrive in theaters on March 10. He is currently in preproduction on stage version of The Little Mermaid for Disney Theatrical Productions.

  • Cartoon Network Unveils New Shows

    Cartoon Network today raised the curtain on its 2006 programming lineup at its Upfront presentation in New York. In addition to greenlighting a third season of the new hit show Ben 10, the network is preparing to launch its first-ever live-action/animated production, as well as the previously untitled Andre Benjamin toon project and three movies based on established series.

    Blending live-action and animated elements, Re-Animated is an original two-hour movie in which twelve-year-old Jimmy Roberts gets an emergency brain transplant and ends up with the brain of a famous cartoonist. As a side-effect of the procedure, Jimmy sees cartoon characters wherever he goes. The project was created by Adam Pava and Tim McKeon and is scheduled to premiere this fall.

    Andre Benjamin, also known as Andre 3000 of the hip-hop duo Outkast, exec produces and voices a role in Class of 3000, a new, half-hour series about a group of musically gifted kids at a school for performing arts in Atlanta, Georgia. When former student Sunny Bridges (Benjamin) returns to regain something he lost on his way to fame, he brings sunshine to the lives of the culturally diverse students. Other cast members include the ubiquitous Tom Kenny (SpongeBob SquarePants, Camp Lazlo), Crystal Scales (Static Shock, The Adventures of Jimmy Neutron), Jennifer Hale (Samurai Jack, The Powerpuff Girls), Janice Kawaye (Hi Hi Puffy AmiYumi) and Jeff Glen Bennet (Johnny Bravo, Camp Lazlo). Cartoon Network, along with the Tom Lynch Co. and Benjamin’s Moxie Turtle shingle, is producing twelve episodes of the series at Cartoon Network Studios in Burbank, Calif. The series is set to kick off with a one-hour premiere this November.

    Also joining the lineup is the previously announced Squirrel Boy, a comedy series created by Everett Peck (Duckman). In the show, Andy and his best friend/pet Rodney seek adventure in the backyard and surrounding neighborhood. Tom Kenny again shows up in the cast, joined by Richard Horvitz (The Grim Adventures of Billy & Mandy), Pamela S. Adlon (King of the Hill, Chicken Little) and Kurtwood Smith (That ’70s Show). The show is slated to premiere in July.

    Fans of Codename: Kids Next Door, Foster’s Home for Imaginary Friends and Teen Titans can look forward to all-new movies based on the shows. Cartoon Network has also announced plans to produce 12 more animated movies.

    Coming first in August is Codename: Kids Next Door, OPERATION: Z.E.R.O., a 90-minute feature that has evil forces threatening to turn both kids and adults into tapioca-eating, hideously wrinkly Senior Citizombies unless the greatest kid operative can be re-commissioned for battle.

    For the first time ever, the creators of favorite imaginary friends will be revealed in the hour-long movie Foster’s Home for Imaginary Friends: Good Wilt Hunting. At the Foster’s picnic, the residents are visited by their old pals, people who had to give them up when they got too old for imaginary friends. The special will air in late fall.

    The young superheroes head to Japan in their first animated movie, Teen Titans Tokyo, airing in late fall. When a high-tech ninja attacks Titans Tower, Robin, Starfire, Cyborg, Raven and Beast Boy spring into action and track a mysterious Japanese criminal to Tokyo.

  • O’Brien, Poehler Kick Off O’Grady Season

    Late-night talk-show host Conan O’Brien and Saturday Night Live‘s Amy Poehler guest star in the season premiere of The N’s animated comedy series, O’Grady, airing Friday, March 3 at 9 p.m. Following the season-two kick-off, fans will be able to go to www.the-n.com to view never-before-seen outtakes and other extras, and watch the episode again in its entirety.

    Described as a cross between Friends and The Twilight Zone, O’Grady offers a humorous look at real teenage life with all its relationship issues, drama and general weirdness. The series revolves around Abby, Beth, Kevin and Harold, self-centered high school students whose already challenging lives are further complicated by inexplicable, bizarre phenomena afflicting their town.

    In the premiere episode, O’Brien lends his voice and likeness to a character named Chip, the oldest lifeguard in O’Grady, who pines for the attention of Wendy, the less-than-perfect and sometimes flighty concession stand girl played by Poehler. The installment is one of six new episodes to air on The N, MTV Networks’ channel for teens. Other guest stars lined up include David Cross (Arrested Development, Mr. Show) , Will Arnett (Arrested Development, Danny Phantom), Rachel Dratch (Saturday Night Live, Click) and Rob Corddry (The Daily Show with Jon Stewart, Old School).

    O’Grady is co-created by Tom Snyder, exec producer of Dr. Katz: Professional Therapist and Home Movies, and Sunday Pants director Carl Adams, and written and produced by award-winning production company Soup2Nuts (Dr. Katz: Professional Therapist, Home Movies). The series airs regularly on Monday nights at 9 p.m. on The N.

  • Game Icons to Get Stars

    Video game industry visionaries and popular franchises will be honored with stars on the Walk of Game at San Francisco’s Metreon on Thursday, March 16.

    This year’s Lifetime Achievement inductees are Sid Meier, creator of Civilization, Railroad Tycoon and Pirates, and John Carmack, technical director for DOOM and QUAKE developer id Software. Also getting stars are Tomb Raider lead character Lara Croft and the StarCraft, Final Fantasy and EverQuest game series.

    Atari co-founder and Pong creator Nolan Bushnell, the 2005 Lifetime Achievement honoree, will headline the induction ceremony, a press and industry-only reception at the Metreon. The newest additions to the attraction will then be open to the public on Friday, March 17, in time for the Game Developers Conference (GDC) in San Jose, Calif.

    Each of the 2006 inductees will receive a permanent, 24’x24′ star on the Walk of Game, the interactive entertainment industry’s answer to the Hollywood Walk of Fame. The gaming stars can be found inside the Metreon, a mecca for the gaming community in downtown San Francisco.

    The Walk of Game was established in 2005 with inaugural inductees that included The Legend of Zelda developer Link and the Halo, Mario and Sonic the Hedgehog franchises. Joining Bushnell as a first Lifetime Achievement Award recipient was Shigeru Miyamoto, creator of Mario Bros. and Donkey Kong.

    Every October, gamers worldwide cast their votes for the top four games/characters and the top two lifetime achievers through paper ballots and online submissions at www.WalkOfGame.com during a one-month voting period. Nominations for 2007 will be announced later this year. Additional information is available at www.WalkOfGame.com.

  • Lady and the Tramp Back on DVD

    Springing free from the Disney vault this week is the 1955 animated classic Lady and the Tramp, which returns with a special edition DVD featuring a host of bonus materials. The digitally restored favorite is now available as a two-disc, 50th anniversary set from Buena Vista Home Entertainment.

    Lady and the Tramp is the story of a pampered cocker spaniel who falls in love with a street-wise mutt from the wrong side of the tracks and discovers the joys of life off the leash. Directed by Clyde Geronimi, Wilfred Jackson and Hamilton Luske, the film features the voices of Peggy Lee, Barbara Luddy, Larry Roberts, Bill Thompson, Bill Baucom and Stan Freberg.

    The DVD offers never-before-seen deleted scenes, the original 1943 storyboard version of the film, a making-of documentary, an all-new ‘Bella Notte’ music video and a featurette on the art of the storyboard, DVD-ROM features include the Disney Dog Trivia virtual board game, a virtual puppy activity and Your Inner Bark: Personality Profile. Fans can pick it up for the suggested retail price of $29.99.

    Also available on DVD today is C.O.P.S. The Animated Series, a four-disc set containing 22 episodes of the toon show from the late 1980s. Bonus materials include sketches and concept art, a storyboard-to-screen comparison, concept paintings for select episodes and a series of “C.O.P.S. for Kids” PSAs. The set from Shout! Factory offers 480 minutes of entertainment and lists for $34.98.

    Other animated titles to seek today are Sony’s Real Ghostbusters, Vol. 1-3($9.95 each), Toei’s One Piece: Vol. 1’King of the Pirates ($19.95), Bandai’s Cowboy Bebop: Remix Vol. 5 ($29.98) and Rhino’s Beast Machines: The Complete Series ($59.95).

  • Comedy Central Steps Right Up for Freak Show

    Comedy Central has given the greenlight to Freak Show, an animated half-hour comedy from the minds of David Cross (Arrested Development, Mr. Show) and H. Jon Benjamin (Dr. Katz: Professional Therapist, Home Movies). Production is set to get underway for a broadcast debut in late 2006 or early 2007.

    Freak Show will follow a band of sideshow performers who also happen to be second-rate superheroes secretly employed by the United States government. When the Freak Squad is not busy undertaking low-priority missions for the Pentagon, they retreat to their alternate lives as performers in America’s last independently-owned traveling freak show, Bob and Helen Hartsdale’s Funtyme Freak Show.

    “We’ve been chasing David and Jon for years, and it was worth the wait,” says Lauren Corrao, exec VP of original programming and development for Comedy Central. “After one of the funniest pitches we heard all year, they have delivered a pilot that’s high in concept and hilarity. What other show on television features an animated premature baby super-hero?”

    “I just want to thank God for giving me this chance to shine and spread his word through 2D cell animation,” Cross remarks. “I truly believe that this voyage on which we are about to embark will, in the future, make me some money.” Benjamin adds, ‘Freak Show is the culmination of 37 years of hard work and brute labor and finally seeing it come to fruition is an amazing anti-climax. That said, I look forward to providing brand new horizons for television in America.”

    Comedy Central has ordered seven episodes of Freak Show, which Cross and Benjamin will exec produce and provide voices for. Lou Wallach and Dan Powell will serve as execs in charge of production for the network. Animation production is being handled by Radical Axis, which produces [adult swim] favorites Aqua Teen Hunger Force and Squidbillies.

  • Disney Expands on U.K.’s BSkyB

    The Walt Disney Co. has inked a deal to provide more programming on Britain’s BSkyB. The pay-TV service is even adding a new channel dedicated to animated films from the Disney library.

    While financial terms of the contract have not been made public by neither Disney nor BSkyB, Britain’s Times newspaper reports that it’s valued at 130 million pounds ($226 million) a year.

    The deal gives BSkyB an edge in the competitive children’s television market, and provides Disney with a new outlet for its animated productions. In addition to tacking on the animated movie channel, BSkyB will make Disney Channel and Playhouse Disney available to more Sky satellite service subscribers by taking them out of the premium service package and including them in its basic channel linup.

    The movie channel, Disney Cinemagic, will launch as a new premium service that will feature both classic Mouse House product such as Lady and the Tramp, and recent hits such as Pixar’s The Incredibles. BSkyB is also extending Disney’s sports coverage with the inclusion of ESPN Classic.

  • Zenith, Neptuno Bringing More Disasters to Round Table

    London-based Zenith Ent. and Barcelona’s Neptuno Films have renewed their animation co-production and co-financing agreement for a second season of King Arthur’s Disasters. The companies will produce 13 additional half hours of the comedy series for air on CiTV this September. The first season is set to begin its digital run this spring on Nickelodeon U.K.

    King Arthur’s Disasters follows the epic adventures of the legendary title monarch, who sets out on various quests to satisfy Guinevere’s need for exotic presents in the vain hope that she will finally agree to marry him. Based on an original idea by Paul Parkes and Will Ashurst, the 13×30 series features the voices of Brit comics Rik Mayall, Matt Lucas, Phil Cornwell and Morwenna Banks.

    Julian Scott, head of children’s drama and animation at Zenith, comments, ‘The first series was greeted with great critical and commercial success and it is exciting to be working with Neptuno again. We look forward to building on the international sales with this second season.’

    Zenith will deficit finance the show and retain distribution rights with the exception of Spanish/Brazilian speaking territories, which are reserved for Neptuno. Both companies will finance the series and Cake Ent. Ltd will distribute in key territories for Zenith.

  • Wild Brain, Kidrobot Cross Circuits

    Independent animation studio Wild Brain has acquired a majority stake in New York-based limited-edition art toy creator Kidrobot. Together, the two companies will develop animated entertainment properties for television, film, direct-to-video and other media based on existing Kidrobot characters and others to be created.

    ‘Wild Brain provides Kidrobot with the opportunity to extend its creative energy into the world of digital animation,’ says Kidrobot owner and founder Paul Budnitz. ‘This is a logical next step for Kidrobot, as much of our inspiration comes from animated media.’ Budnitz will continue to serve as president of Kidrobot while taking on the duties of exec producer at Wild Brain Animation Studios.

    Founded in 1994, Wild Brain Inc. develops and produces content for the global film, television and commercials markets. The company’s client list includes Universal, Twentieth Century Fox, Disney, DreamWorks, Warner Bros, Nickelodeon, Cartoon Network and Oxygen. More information can be found at www.wildbrain.com.

    Kidrobot mixes urban street trends with creative design and fine art to produce limited edition, collectible pieces of art. The company operates store-galleries in SoHo, New York City, San Francisco, Calif. and Santa Monica, Calif. The company can also be found on the web at www.kidrobot.com.

  • New York Comic-Con a Sell-Out

    Enthusiastic fans of fantasy and sci-fi were turned away at the Jacob Javits Center over the weekend after all tickets were quickly snatched up for the first inaugural New York Comic-Con convention. The east coast’s answer to the hugely successful San Diego Comic-Con Int’l (with no actual affiliation to the West Coast event) got off to a phenomenal start, drawing more than 20,000 attendees and establishing a new geek Mecca that should inspire pilgrimages for decades to come.

    Fans lined up to see a special appearance by filmmaker and comic-book aficionado Kevin Smith, who is currently drumming up buzz for his eagerly awaited sequel, Clerks II. Actress Milla Jovovich (Resident Evil, The Fifth Element) was also on hand to answer questions about her latest vfx-laden sci-fi actioner, Ultraviolet, from Equilibrium director Kurt Wimmer.

    The program also featured a sneak peek as scenes from Richard Linklatter’s rotoscoped Phillip K. Dick adaptation, A Scanner Darkly, and retrospective on the works of Spawn creator Todd McFarlane, presented by The Museum of Comic and Cartoon Art. Also representing the animation world was J.J. Sedelmaier, whose J.J. Sedelmaier Prods. has produced popular cartoons for Saturday Night Live, in addition to providing service work for MTV’s Beavis and Butt-Head and many other animated shows. In addition, the New York event became a stop on the 2006 Robotech Convention Tour, which featured a preview of Harmony Gold’s upcoming sequel, Robotech: The Shadow Chronicles.

    As successful as it was, the New York Comic-Con shouldn’t take any business away from its west coast counterpart, which kicks off on July 20 in San Diego, Calif. More information on these events can be found at www.nycomiccon.com and www.comic-con.org.

  • FUNimation Snags Afro Samurai

    Navarre Corp.’s FUNimation Ent. has acquired home video, master toy and merchandising rights to Afro Samurai, an animated mini-series set to premiere on Spike TV in 2006. Academy Award-nominee Samuel L. Jackson (Freedomland, Pulp Fiction) will voice the title role and serve as co-producer on the show being animated at GONZO.

    Based on a graphic novel by Takashi Okazaki, Afro Samurai takes place in a futuristic world that contains aspects of ancient Japan. Afro, a solitary samurai on a quest to avenge the wrongful death of his father, is chased by powerful enemies in a lawless dystopia as he hunts down a man who will not die.

    Pulling a reversal on the usual order of anime distribution, Afro Samurai will first air in North America before rolling out in Japan. The five-part series is also being developed as a video game by NAMCO. DVD distribution of the show is expected to begin in early 2007.

    FUNimation’s other sword-wielding action/fantasy series, Akira Kurosawa’s Samurai 7, also produced by GONZO, is set to air on VOOM HD Networks’ ANIMANIA HD on March 1, followed by an April 1 start date on cable network IFC. All the latest news and information on Afro Samurai can be found at www.afrosamurai.com.