Animation Magazine

Author: Ryan Ball

  • Chestnut Named Exec VP of MTV Networks

    Colette Chestnut has been named exec VP and chief financial officer of MTV Networks, which includes Nickelodoen, NOGGIN, Comedy Central, Spike TV, TV Land and MTVN International, among others. She will begin working out of the New York office on March 20, reporting directly to MTVN president and COO Michael Wolf.

    As CFO, Chestnut will be responsible for managing the financial operations of MTV Networks, and will be a member of the MTV Networks Management Committee that plays the lead role in the overall management of the company. She takes the position formerly held by John Cucci, who has been promoted to chief operating officer for the Comedy Central/Spike TV/TV Land Entertainment Group.

    “As we take the company further onto multiple platforms and around the globe, we couldn’t ask for somebody better than Colette to complement the team we have in place at MTV Networks,’ Wolf comments.

    Chestnut joins MTVN from juggernaut ad agency JWT, where she served as the North American chief financial officer since 2000. Prior to that, she served as controller Chiat/Day/Mojo and was integrally involved in the company’s sale to Omnicom and merger into TBWA. She then assumed overall financial responsibility for TBWA Worldwide’s North and South American operations from 1995 to 2000.

  • Hello Kitty Set in Clay

    From stationary to stop-motion’Sanrio’s Hello Kitty brand is headed to the small screen with a new clay-animated series, according to the AFP news service. Hello Kitty Stamp Village will reportedly air first in 15 countries in Asia, Europe and North America.

    The 26-episode series will revolve around the title feline and other Sanrio characters including red-hooded rabbit My Melody and mischievous penguin Bad Badtz-Maru. The $1.3 million show is being aimed at a worldwide market and is being produced in a style that can easily be dubbed into various languages. No word yet on who will handle the animation work.

    A South Korean investment firm and production company has put up 70% of the show’s production budget, while the other 30% is covered by Sanrio. The company first introduced Hello Kitty to the cmsumer products market in Japan in 1974 and has seen the licensing program grow to include more than 50,000 different products.

  • UTV Animation Gets $5 Million Boost

    UTV Toons, one of India’s largest animation studios, will churn out 15 direct-to-video movies with help from a $5 million investment by parent company UTV Software Communications. The funds are building a brand-new, 25,000 square-foot animation facility at its Andheri Studio.

    Equipped for High Definition (HD) work, the new shop boasts 225 workstations with blade render farms and 3ds Max software. The Facility operates around the clock and has ramped up to produce more than 150 minutes of 3D animation a month. More than 700 skilled artists will crank out around 2500 minutes of Flash and traditional animation for film and TV this year.

    “We believe we are executing the single largest workflow out of India, and our excellence in 2D and now in 3D has been acknowledged by our growing repeat customer base from Disney and Fox to Cine Group and Saban.” says UTV COO Ronald Demello.

    UTV CEO Ronnie Screwvala adds, “We were the pioneers in animation out of India, and in the next 18 months our focus is to emerge a clear leader out of South Asia ‘ not just for service outsourcing but origination of content.’

    Within the next two months, the company plans to announce the greenlighting of two animated movies. Tailored primarily for Asian audiences, a majority of films in the 15-pic slate will be based on some of the most famous international classics of all time. UTV will also produce a 52-episode TV series and a series of 20 shorts.

  • Gromit Pulls Off BAFTA Coup

    Mark up another major score for animation. The clay-animated Wallace & Gromit: The Curse of the Were-Rabbit from Aardman Animations and DreamWorks Animation beat out a field of live-action heavy hitters to snag the Alexander Korda Award for Outstanding British Film of the Year at the Orange British Academy Film Awards (BAFTA). The awards ceremony was held on Sunday, Feb. 19, at the Odeon Leicester Square in London.

    Produced by Peter Lord, David Sproxton, Nick Park, Steve Box, Mark Burton and Bob Baker, Were-Rabbit was was a bit of a dark horse in the race, which included BBC Films’ A Cock & Bull Story, United International Pictures’ The Constant Gardener, Path’s Festival and United International Pictures’ Pride & Prejudice.

    Accepting the award, Park was genuinely surprised that his movie was chosen over so many “proper” films, as he put it. Proof of the U.K.’s pride in Aardman, its Pixar, The BAFTA win joins a growing list of kudos the plasticine pic has scooped up this awards season. The Annie Award sweeper’s next conquest just may be the Oscar, which will be presented on March 5.

    The team of Joe Letteri, Christian Rivers, Brian Van’t Hul and Richard Taylor stomped the competition in the Special Visual Effects category. Universal’s King Kong from producer/director Peter Jackson made monkeys of fellow nominees Disney’s The Chronicles Of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe and the Warner Bros. hits Batman Begins, Charlie and the Chocolate Factory and Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire. Batman, Charlie, Potter and Kong were also up for the award for production design, which ended up going to Goblet.

    The Short Animation Film award was presented to Tomek Baginski’s Fallen Art, a macabre vision of art meeting madness on an abandoned military base in the South Pacific. Also nominated in the category were Anthony Lucas’ Annecy Grand Prix-winning short epic The Mysterious Geographic Explorations of Jasper Morello, Osbert Parker’s Film Noir, Sumito Sakakibara’s Kamiya’s Correspondence and Run Wrake’s Rabbit. Jasper Morello, which was picked up by Monster Distributes, will compete for the Oscar next month.

    The Film of the Year BAFTA went to Paramount Pictures’ Brokeback Mountain, which led a flock that included Sony Pictures’ Capote, United International Pictures’ The Constant Gardener, Lions Gate’s Crash and Warner Independent Pictures’ Good Night, and Good Luck.

    A full list of 2006 BAFTA film award winners can be found at www.bafta.org/site/page287.html.

  • Bambi II Big Overseas

    Disney’s recent direct-to-video hit, Bambi II, has begun a successful thearical run overseas. According to Daily Variety, the 2D sequel has earnned more than $10 million in four markets and is expected to gross north around $50 million after opening wider in Europe and Latin America.

    While Disney has lost confidence in 2D theatrical features at home, the studio has found the overseas box office a lucrative outlet for its lower-cost product. The Jungle Book 2 took in around $87 million in foreign markets, followed by Return to Never Land with $59 million, The Tigger Movie with $50 million and Piglet’s Big Movie with $37 million. The latest DisneyToon Studios release, Pooh’s Heffalump Movie, brought in approximately $34 million in theaters abroad.

    Directed by Brian Pimental (writer on A Goofy Movie, Aladdin and Beauty and the Beast), the followup to the 1942 classic has Bambi reunited with his father (voiced by Patrick Stewart), who must raise the young deer and teach him to be a Great Prince of the Forest like himself. Reconnecting with sweet doe Faline, Bambi finds himself challenged by a young buck with budding horns and faces even greater obstacles as he learns the ways of the forest.

    During its first week at retail, Bambi II sold 2.5 million uniits in the U.S. Day-one sales alone hovered around 800,000 units, topping the 400,000-unit first day for DreamWorks’ and Aardman’s BAFTA winner and Oscar contennder, Wallace & Gromit: The Curse of the Were-Rabbit.

  • Miss BG is Big at Luchon Film Festival

    Miss BG, a popular CG series from Canada’s Breakthrough Animation Inc. and Paris-based Ellipsanime, won the Public Prize award for best children’s animated TV program at this year’s International Luchon Film Festival. An audience of children voted for the show during the event, which took place between Jan. 31 and Feb. 5 in France.

    ‘It is always a gratifying feeling when the audience that you are producing for acknowledges your show by voting it their favorite,’ says Kevin Gillis, managing partner of Breakthrough Animation. This is truly good news and validates the hard work that everyone at Ellipsanime and Breakthrough Animation has contributed to Miss BG.’

    Aimed at kids 5-8, the 52×30 show revolves around Miss BG (short for Big Girl), a precocious eight year-old girl on a mission to teach the ways of the world to her younger brother, George. Many heartfelt and comical lessons in life are shared between her family and friends along the way. Miss BG is adapted from author Fanny Joly’s acclaimed Gudule & les B’b’s book collection illustrated by Roser Capdevilla and published in France by Hachette-Jeunesse. Twelve books in the series have been released since it e first title rolled off the press on in 1990.

    MISS BG is a co-production between Ellipsanime, Breakthrough Animation, Def2shoot, TVO, TFO (Canada) and France 5. Ellipsanime, whose programming catalogue features more than 1000 episodes of award-winning international hits, is currently producing 42 half-hours of 3D animation in its Paris studio and is in production on the feature film Little King Macius. Breakthrough Animation’s first collaboration, Atomic Betty, airs on Cartoon Network in the U.S, and has been sold in more than 120 territories to date.

  • Go WAC-O for Animation!

    World Animation Celebration Online (WAC-O) is Animation Magazine‘s Short Film Festival!

    New Films Online Now! Throughout the year, we’re bringing you fresh new animated shorts from around the world! Download them for FREE and vote for your favorites at www.animationmagazine.net/wac.

    Your votes will determine four quarterly winners and one year-end Grand Prize recipient. In addition to worldwide exposure, WAC winners will receive valuable hardware and software products from sponsors Bauhaus Software, NVIDIA and Autodesk.

    New movies will be added on a regular basis, so keep checking back. And tell your friends! Information on submitting your own short animated film can be found at www.animationmagazine.net/wac_entry_form.html.

    While you’re screening films from the comfort of your own home, don’t forget to dip into the Animag Fun Bag for exclusive animated series, comics, contest and more! Go directly to the Fun Bag here: www.animationmagazine.net/wac/fun_bag.html.

  • Distrib Picks Up Short Oscar Nominees

    Magnolia Pictures and Shorts International have joined forces to distribute this year’s Academy Award-nominated live-action and animated short films in select U.S. theatres prior to the March 5 awards ceremony. The films will later be available through HDNet and Magnolia’s new home entertainment division, as well other platforms including ShortsTV on mobile phones.

    “Up until now, people had very little access to see Academy short nominations before the Academy ceremony,’ says Magnolia president Eamonn Bowles. ‘We’re excited to have the opportunity to showcase these fantastic films while they’re still in contention for the big prize.”

    The series will begin running on Feb. 24th at the Cinema Village in New York and Laemmle Fairfax in Los Angeles. Weeklong runs will also kick off at Landmark Theatres in San Francisco, Detroit, Berkeley, Atlanta, Seattle, and Denver, while Regal Cinemas in Austin and Portland begin screenings on Feb. 26 and 27. The Gene Siskel Film Center in Chicago will run the series March 3-9, and more markets will be added in the coming weeks.

    The animated shorts vying for the Oscar this year are Sharon Colman’s Badgered, John Canemaker’s The Moon and the Son: An Imagined Conversation, Anthony Lucas’ The Mysterious Geographic Explorations of Jasper Morello, Shane Acker’s 9, and Andrew Jimenez and Mark Andrews’ One Man Band, a production of Pixar Animation Studios. More information on all of these films is available at www.animationmagazine.net/oscar_contenders_05.html.

    Shorts International, a division of Britshorts Ltd., is a leading short film company with a diverse film catalogue that includes titles from the American Film Institute, the British Film Institute and the former Hypnotic catalogue. The company recently launched ShortsTV and Spanish-language version ShortsTV Corto, short film channels created for distribution to mobile platforms and cable television networks.

    Independent distributor Magnolia Pictures, recently released Roger Donaldson’s feature The World’s Fastest Indian starring Anthony Hopkins, and Alex Gibney’s Academy Award-nominated documentary Enron: The Smartest Guys in the Room. The company also mounted the controversial multi-platform release of Steven Soderbergh’s Bubble. Magnolia Pictures is part of a vertically-integrated group of media properties, co-owned by Todd Wagner and Mark Cuban, that includes the Landmark Theatres chain, production companies HDNet Films and 2929 Prods., high-definition cable networks HDNet and HDNet Movies, and film and television library Rysher Ent.

  • The Many Voices of Carlos Alazraqui

    Listen to audio from this interview in the Animag Fun Bag

    As one of the brilliant cast members of Comedy Central’s Reno 911!, Carlos Alazraqui has been getting some face time in front of the camera these days, especially with a feature film, Reno 911!: Miami, set to hit theaters this summer. However, most of the comedian’s career has been spent in the recording booth where he has helped create a laundry list of memorable cartoon characters over the past 14 years. Having made his mark on pop culture as the voice of Madison Avenue’s Taco Bell Chihuahua, Alazraqui is now working on eight animated series, including Cartoon Network’s Camp Lazlo and The Life and Times of Juniper Lee, PBS’s Maya & Miguel and Nickelodoen’s Wow! Wow! Wubbzy! He also plays a Scarface-like latino penguin in Warner Bros.’ upcoming CG-animated movie, Happy Feet, which waddles into theaters on Nov. 17.

    Animation Magazine Online: How did you get started in the business? Doing stand-up?

    Carlos Alazraqui: I started doing stand-up in college. I did mime in college as well. I did stand-up comedy competitions on and off campus, then got in a comedy duo called the Brew-Ha-Has. We did bits like William F. Buckley interviewing Floyd the Barber from The Andy Griffith Show on policy in Central America. We did Devo singing ‘White Christmas’ and all these other weird things at a place called The Metro bar and Grill. Then in ’87, I moved to San Francisco and a local producer named Mark MacNamara, a professor at SF State, was working with a local San Jose cartoonist [Joe Murray] who had developed a little concept called Rocko’s Modern Life for MTV/Nickelodoen. I didn’t have an agent but I made a tape in my kitchen and went in and auditioned in this guy’s basement. They liked what I did and I got Rocko, which turned into a pilot. I then won the San Francisco comedy competition a year later in ’93 and moved back to L.A., got an agent and took workshops with [casting directors] Ginny McSwain, Chris Zimmerman and a bunch of other people. Four years later I started to get more auditions and weaseled my way into a voiceover career.

    What advice would you give someone who wants to get into the voiceover biz?

    I think the No.1 thing is to be persistent and to take workshops and acting lessons. There are tons of people who can do amazing things with their voice, like, ‘Hey, I can do Bobby and Donald Duck.’ Yeah, but can you act? That’s the one thing I’ve learned by watching Tom Kenny, Jeff Bennett, Kath Soucie, Tara Strong, Billy West, Richard Horvitz, Pam Alder and all of the people I work with. I just watched and learned that you have to be able to act, too. You have to bring some flavor and depth to it. It’s not just about mimicry or doing a great voice.

    I happen to know that Matt Groening, creator of The Simpsons, is a huge fan of Reno 911!

    Oh, wow! I didn’t know that. I’ll have to tell my voice agent to send something to him. [The show] has given me a lot more credibility. Cedric Yarbrough, who’s on The Boondocks, is a very talented voice actor and he will soon get more parts. We did a commercial for Sorensen Ford in Brookfield, Wisconsin, and the guy loved us from Reno so he hired us. I did a Jack-in-the-Box commercial where I played a talking French fry, ‘Salt is for Suckaz, Sucka!’ When I got the callback, I talked to the director and said, ‘I did a couple of different takes, which one did you like?’ And he said, ‘It doesn’t matter. I love Reno 911! ‘ I’m getting jobs because people like me on a show. I’ll take it. It’s nice to hear that someone like a Matt Groening is a fan of the show.

    So we hope to hear your voice on The Simpsons soon.

    That would be nice. It would be fun if we could come on and play our characters, now that Fox is involved in the Reno 911 movie. I think the Fox/Paramount cross-promotion and it being on the big screen will help push things to a new level. I think the movie’s not going to be revered by critics, but it’s not that kind of movie. It’s stupid. It’s Police Academy amped up. Bring some popcorn and have a good time.

    You work both in front of the camera and behind the microphone. Is there one that you prefer over the other?

    It’s reall relative to the day and what you’re working on. I love Juniper Lee and all the other cartoons, but when I’m working on Camp Lazlo, it’s me, Tom Kenny, Jeff Bennett, Doug Lawrence, Steve Little and Jill Talley and we just crack each other up. [Series creator] Joe Murray gets our stuff and when that’s clicking and we’re cracking each other up, that’s the best time. On Reno, when I’m driving around with Cedric and betting kids that they can’t jump off a roof, how can that not be the funnest thing in the world? The Taco Bell thing was a dream gig. I would drive to Brian Boyd Casting in L.A. on Pico and Bundy and kick a soccer ball around with the valet guy. Then I’d walk a block to get some Taco Bell, an IBC root beer and a frozen Snickers Bar and I’d go in there and go, ‘Gooey, gooey cheese.’ And they’d go, ‘Okay, we’ve got it.’

    I’ve talked to other voice actors who have been a little upset that Hollywood keeps turning to big-name stars when they do features and they get the recognition and awards rather than you guys who have been working in the industry for years.

    I used to be kind of bitter and jealous as well, but I get it. It’s business. If DreamWorks and Disney need that name to sell the cartoon and get people in the seats, that’s what they need. It’s not fair, but there’s plenty of other work for us to do. If it’s only based on whether or not you’re going to get an award, that’s trivial. As a matter of fact, I was the lead on Handy Manny, but Disney thought, ‘You know what? For our press junkets and stuff like that, we need somebody who has more celebrity to help push this cartoon.’ So they got my friend, Wilmer Valderrama from That ’70s Show. He’s not as experienced as I am, and that’s hard to take. I’m still on the show and still get paid the same. My ego got hurt a little bit, but I get it. If it helps them to sell the cartoon, in the long run, it’s going to help me, too. It’s weird. A lot of us are like, ‘It’s not fair!’ There’s a big sign right underneath the Hollywood sign that says ‘Not Fair Land.’ [laughs].

    Hear some of the many voices of Carlos Alazraqui from this exclusive interview at https://www.dev.animationmagazine.net/wordpress/wac/fun_bag.html, and learn more about Carlos at http://www.carlosalazraqui.com.

    February 17, 2006

  • Csupo Begins Lensing Terabithia

    Gabor Csupo, co-founder of animation shop Klasky Csupo, has begun principal photography on his live-action directorial debut, Disney and Walden Media’s adaptation of Katherine Paterson’s Newbery Award-winning novel, Bridge to Terabithia. Being shot on location in Auckland, New Zealand, the film is the second fantasy lit adaptation for Disney and Walden, who joined forces to bring C.S. Lewis’ The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe to the screen.

    Bridge to Terabithia will star Josh Hutcherson (Zathura, The Polar Express) as 11-year-old Jess Aarons, who finds a rival in the new girl at school, Leslie Burke, played by Anna Sophia Robb (Charlie and the Chocolate Factory). The two eventually become good friends and retreat to a nearby forest where they escape from their problems by inventing a magical kingdom called Terabithia. The pic will also star Zooey Deschanel (Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy, Elf) and Robert Patrick (Walk the Line, Terminator 2: Judgement Day).

    Emmy winner Csupo has produced big-screen expansions of the hit Klasky Csupo TV productions Rugrats and The Wild Thornberrys, but has yet to direct a theatrical feature. Like Narnia director Andrew Adamson, who previously co-directed DreamWorks’ Shrek, his vast experience with animation should come in handy as he deals with all the animated creatures that inhabit the film’s title kingdom.

    Terabithia will feature a heaping helping of digital visual effects by New Zealand’s Weta Digital, the Oscar-winning shop behind Peter Jackson’s King Kong, The Lord of the Rings trilogy and The Chronicles of Narnia.

    Bridge to Terabithia is slated for an early 2007 release via Disney. International sales and distribution will be handled by Summit Ent.

  • Atari to Lay off 20%

    Video game maker Atari Inc. today announced the implementation of its latest corporate action plan, a drastic cost-control measure that will dispose of non-core assets and reduce the company’s worldwide workforce by a whopping 20%. In addition to issuing pink slips to employees, the company will be saying goodbye to weaker-selling franchises and relying more on external development studios.

    “Today’s decisive action will provide us with the flexibility necessary in a changing business environment,” says Atari chairman and CEO Bruno Bonnell. ‘Adjusting our cost structure is a significant first step and demonstrates our commitment to restoring shareholder value.”

    Atari’s library of more than 1,000 titles includes such hit franchises as DRIVER, The Matrix, Stuntman and Test Drive, as well as children’s properties such as Dragon Ball Z and Nickelodeon’s Blue’s Clues and Dora the Explorer. Atari Inc. is a majority-owned subsidiary of France-based Infogrames Entertainment SA, the largest interactive games publisher in Europe. More information on the company can be found at www.atari.com.

    All game companies have been feeling the pinch of slumping games sales is recent months. Gamers are apparently turning a cold shoulder to current platform titles as they await the arrival of next-generation titles to accompany Microsoft’s new Xbox 360 and the upcoming PlayStation 3 and Revolution consoles from Sony and Nintendo, respectively. Electronic Arts and Activision are among the other major players cutting costs by dropping the axe on employees. Each is laying off between 5% and 6% of their workforce to weather the slow sales period.

  • Aardman’s Morph to Phone It In

    One of Aardman Animations’ first clay creations is set to make a comeback of the cellular kind some thirty years after his television debut. The multi award-winning Bristol-based animation studio has inked licensing deals with Orange, Vodafone, T-Mobile, O2 and international operators to bring animated shorts featuring Morph and friends to mobile phones.

    The mercurial Morph will be joined by pals Chas, GrandMorph, Delilah, Gillespie, Nailbrush, Folly, Gobbledygook and the Very Small Creatures in re-edited shorts specially designed for mobile phones. Thirty five episodes and retro-styled wallpapers and screensavers will be available immediately.

    Created by Aardman co-founders Peter Lord and David Sproxton, Morph served as a teething ring many of Aardman’s animators, including Oscar winner Nick Park, co-director of Chicken Run and Wallace & Gromit: The Curse of the Were-Rabbit. Having recently swept the Annie Awards, Wallace & Gromit is favored to win this year’s Academy Award for Best Animated Feature.

    The latest licensing deals, brokered by Aardman’s mobile agent, Crucible Media, further advance Aardman’s cross-platform media blitz. In addition to the five-picture deal with DreamWorks Animation, the studio is working on a second season of its clay-animated hit BBC series, Creature Comforts, and is developing an Americanized version for CBS. Head over to the Animag Fun Bag at www.animationmagazine.net/wac/fun_bag.html to check out some behind-the-scenes footage and first-look clips from Aardman’s and DreamWorks’ next big-screen effort, the CG-animated Flushed Away.

  • Cartoon Movie Names Tribute Nominees

    Three pairs of leading animated filmmakers are in the running for Best European Director at the 8th edition of Cartoon Movie. Set to take place march 9-11 at the Babelsberg Studio in Potsdam, Germany, the fest will open with a preview screening of Asterix and the Vikings from M6 Studio, 2d/3D Animations and A.Film A/S.

    Every year, animation professionals present at Cartoon Movie offer their tribute to three personalities or companies who have worked for the development and increased prestige of European animated film. The twelve nominees for 2006 include producers, directors or distributors who will be voted on by their peers at Cartoon Movie on Saturday, March 11.

    This year’s nominees in the directing category are Michel Ocelot and B’n’dicte Galup for Kirikou and the Wild Beasts, Nick Park and Steve Box for Wallace & Gromit: The Curse of the Were-Rabbit and J’rgen Lerdam and Anders S’rensen for Pettson and Findus: The Tomte Machine.

    Ocelot, who spent his childhood in Guinea and retains a love for African culture, directed the first Kirikou adventure. To bring this follow-up to the screen, he enlisted the help of Galup, an animator who served as studio manager on the original Kirikou and Sylvain Chomet’s The Triplets of Belleville.

    It’s been a good year for Park and Box, whose Wallace & Gromit feature has picked up bevy of awards on its way to the upcoming Academy Awards showdown. Park, who has won Oscars for Creature Comforts and two of his Wallace & Gromit shorts, is no stranger to awards season. Box, however, is a bit new to the spotlight having spent years working as an Aardman animator. He started his career at CMBT Studio, where he made the cult hit TV series Trap Door.

    Animation veterans Lerdam and S’rensen bucked the current CG trend by sticking to 2D animation for the third Pettson and Findus feature. Lerdam has worked as an animator or director on such features The Princess and the Goblin, Ferngully, Asterix in America and Help! I’m a Fish! S’rensen’s credits include The World History, Jungo and The Invisible Baby.

    Cartoon Movie is made possible with support from the Media Programme of the European Union, the Medienboard Berlin-Brandenburg, the Ministry of Economy of the Land Brandenburg, the Mitteldeutsche Medienf’rderung, the German Federal Film Board and the ILB, among others.

  • [adult swim] Extends Broadband Fix

    AdultSwim.com has announced plans to further serve fans who get enough of adult oriented toon series such as The Boondocks, Aqua Teen Hunger Force and Moral Orel. On Monday, March 27, the site will launch Adult Swim Fix, a video on demand service that will stream full-length episodes online twenty-four hours a day.

    Adult Swim Fix will have seven archival episodes available at all times, while premieres will debut on Fridays, two days before they air on cable. In addition to the shows listed above, the offerings will include installments of Harvey Birdman, Attorney at Law, Sealab 2021, Space Ghost Coast to Coast, Samurai Champloo and more. A full online programming schedule will be released shortly.

    The new service is an extension of Friday Night Fix, the broadband VOD feature launched on AdultSwim.com this past September. New episodes are made available every Friday night at 11 p.m. at www.adultswim.com/fridaynightfix.

  • Poehler in Toon with Nick

    Amy Poehler’s star has been rapidly rising since she took over the high-profile Weekend Update seat vacated by former Saturday Night Live player Jimmy Fallon. Now Daily Variety reports that the comedic actress his setting up an animated pilot with leading kid network Nickelodoen. The broadcaster has greenlit production on Super Scout, in which Poehler will voice a Girl Scout-type character that she has been developing on stage as a member of the comedy troupes Second City and Upright Citizens Brigade.

    Super Scout will follow the adventures of Bessie Higgenbottem, an overly eager Honeybee Scout who entertains superhero fantasies while tirelessly pursuing scouting badges. The voice cast will include Andy Richter, star of the critically acclaimed but short-lived FOX comedy Andy Richter Controls the Universe, and his wife, Sarah Thyre from Comedy Central’s Strangers With Candy. Poehler serves as series exec producer, along with writers Erik Wiese (SpongeBob SquarePants) and Cynthia True (The Fairly OddParents).

    Nickelodeon has also ordered a pilot for Diggs Tailwagger, an animated show created by SpongeBob SquarePants creative director Derek Drymon. The show will focus on a low-ranking canine crewmember of the Galactic Rover. The network is expected to make series pick-up decisions by the end of this summer.

  • Moviegoers Get Curious

    Curiosity may have killed the cat, but it seems to have worked out for one monkey who won the affection of generations of young readers before finally making it to the big screen. Universal’s Curious George opens in theaters nationwide this weekend and has fans and pundits more than a little curious as to whether or not a 2D-animated feature can compete in a field currently dominated by CG.

    Based on the beloved, 60-year-old series of children’s books by H.A. Rey and Margaret Rey, Curious George follows the misadventures of an inquisitive chimp who makes monkey trouble for his human pal, the Man in the Yellow Hat, voiced by comedy champ Will Ferrell. Drew Barrymore, Eugene Levy, Dick Van Dyke, David Cross and Frank Welker also lend their voices to this family pic directed by Disney animation veteran Matthew O’Callaghan (Mickey’s Twice Upon a Christmas) and produced by Oscar-winning filmmaker Ron Howard, David Kirschner, Bonne Radford and Jon Shapiro.

    The film has traveled a rocky road to the screen since going into development about a decade ago. It was originally going to be produced in CG, then live-action combined with digital animation before Universal finally decided to roll the dice with 2D. The studio and Brian Grazer’s Imagine Ent. then brought in Monsters, Inc. scribes Robert L. Baird and Dan Gerson to rewrite the screenplay by Michael McCullers. A number of other factors caused the release date to be pushed back more than once. However, the production team stayed committed to delivering the film by February, since the wheels had already been set in motion for Curious George, the animated TV series to premiere on PBS in the fall.

    To get the movie in the can, Universal enlisted the talents of several animation studios, including the Disney Paris team (now called Neomis Animation), Project Firefly in Orlando, Fla., Yowza in Toronto, Fat Cat in Phoenix, Az., July Films in Simi Valley, Calif., Wang Film Prods. in Taipei, Ink and Paint in Manila and Warner Bros. Feature Animation in Sherman Oaks, Calif., in addition to Universal’s in-house team.

    Arriving at last, Curious George has received mostly positive reviews from critics, who have been praising it for its charm and fidelity to the simplistic tone of the books as well as its lush color scheme. A built-in audience should ensure a good opening weekend with even bigger returns expected on home video. At any rate, it offers some stiff competition for The Weinstein Co.’s animated Hoodwinked!, which has managed to hold onto a top-five spot for the past eight weeks. (The February issue of Animation Magazine features a cover story about the making of the feature which includes interviews with members of the key creative team.)

    Also opening in wide release this weekend is Sony’s The Pink Panther, a stab at resurrecting a popular film franchise that fizzled out decades ago. Steve Martin fills in for late comic genius Peter Sellers as the bumbling Inspector Clouseau in this prequel, which also stars Kevin Kline, Jean Reno and Beyonc’ Knowles. In addition, the film’s cartoon mascot returns for the opening and closing credits courtesy of new 2D animation by Burbank animation house Kurtz and Friends, run by Emmy-winning Pink Panther veteran Bob Kurtz.

    A pair of thrillers go toe-to-toe as well this weekend as New Line’s Final Destination 3 taps the lucrative teen horror market and Warner Bros. aims for a slightly more mature audience with the Harrison Ford family-in-jeopardy vehicle Firewall.

  • Oswald Traded Back to Disney

    Disney announced that Oswald the Lucky Rabbit, the first big-eared star to issue from the studio’s light boxes, is coming home via a deal with NBC/Universal, which has held rights to the property since its theatrical debut in 1927. In exchange, Disney will allow popular ABC sportscaster Al Michaels to contract with NBC.

    “As the forerunner to Mickey Mouse and an important part of Walt Disney’s creative legacy, the fun and mischievous Oswald is back where he belongs, at the home of his creator and among the stable of beloved characters created by Walt himself,” says Disney CEO Robert Iger. Upon taking the office, the new studio chief told Diane Disney Miller, Walt’s daughter, that bringing Oswald back into the fold was one of his priorities

    After spending four years with the famous Alice live-action/animated comedy shorts, Walt Disney produced 26 silent Oswald cartoons between 1927 and 1928 for Charles Mintz, who contracted with Universal for the distribution. On a trip to New York to renew his contract for Oswald, Walt discovered a clause that gave Universal ownership of his popular new character. Devastated, Walt resolved to come up with a new character that he would own completely and on the train ride back to Hollywood he came up with Mickey Mouse. Incidentally, Oswald was the first Disney character to launch a merchandising campaign’the Lucky Rabbit’s fans could enjoy an Oswald candy bar, a stencil set and a pin-backed button!

    In addition to the Al Michaels move, the transaction grants ESPN significant programming and promotional rights, including telecasts of the live Friday coverage of four Ryder Cup golf championships through 2014, expanded video highlights of the Olympics through 2012, video promotion for ESPN’s Monday Night Football during NBC’s Sunday night football through 2011, and expanded highlight rights to other NBC Sports properties through 2011.

  • MGA Ent. Plays with Shrek

    MGA Ent. Is going from the shopping mall to the swamp with its new deal with DreamWorks Animation SKG. Home to the Bratz property and other kid lifestyle favorites, MGA has signed a two-year master toy and games licensing agreement with the toon studio for the Shrek franchise.

    MGA will begin bringing Shrek-themed products to retail in the spring of 2007, just in time for the theatrical release of Shrek 3. Under the license, the company will produce a variety of products, including dolls and collectible Figures, plush toys, youth electronics, games, puzzles and room d’cor.

    “Shrek is a modern classic and evergreen brand in family entertainment,’ says MGA Ent. CEO Isaac Larian. ‘We think that the franchise has great potential to be a broad toy program across our entire company, and we look forward to creating fun and innovative products that deliver all the fun of such beloved and well-known characters.”

    MGA’s Bratz toy line was introduced to retail in June of 2001 and quickly became one of the world’s top lifestyle brands for girls. In addition to securing 350 licensees worldwide, the property won Family Fun magazine’s Toy of the Year Award four years in a row. More information on Van Nuys, Calif.-based MGA Ent., go to www.mgae.com.

  • Warner Bros. Gives Thinkway Toys Happy Feet

    Warner Bros. Consumer Products has awarded Thinkway Toys the global master toy license for the upcoming CG-animated theatrical release Happy Feet. The penguin comedy from Warner Bros. Pictures and Village Roadshow Pictures is scheduled waddle into theaters nationwide this November.

    Thinkway Toys will manufacture, market and sell a full line of toys inspired by the movie, including an interactive singing and dancing plush, tap-dancing penguin feet, dance mats and a karaoke microphone. These products all play into the movie’s story of a young pennguine who can’t sing to attract a mate but discovers a knack for dancing. Collectible figures, play sets and role-play toys will also hit retail stores worldwide beginning this fall.

    Happy Feet is set deep in Antarctica, where the Emperor Penguins each need a heart song to attract a soul mate. Born lacking the ability to sing, Mumble (voiced by Elijah Wood) must rely on fancy footwork to show the girls he’s got what it takes. Directed by Mad Max saga helmer George Miller (Babe: Pig in the City), the pic also features the voices of Hugh Jackman, Nicole Kidman, Robin Williams, Brittanny Murphy and Carlos Alazraqui.

  • Tao Group, NVIDIA Enhance Mobile Games

    Tao Group, maker of the intent GamePlayer mobile platform, and leading computer graphics solution provider NVIDIA have teamed up to bring the 3D mobile game experience closer to the console level. The intent GamePlayer platform, coupled with NVIDIA GoForce handheld graphics processing units (GPUs), promises to deliver rich 3D graphics, high-resolution photos and smooth motion video previously only dreamed of in the multi-billion-dollar mobile market.

    According to Tao Group, the intent GamePlayer is a breakthrough portable platform that allows content owners and operators to maximize the return on investment in creating and deploying premium content. The product unlocks the native performance capabilities of the underlying processor architecture, independent of the resident software environment.

    “We are working to make native 3D acceleration available to developers so they are enabled to deliver ever more compelling mobile gaming experiences,” says Mike Rayfield, general manager for handheld GPUs at NVIDIA. “We have chosen to work with Tao as they have clearly demonstrated that intent GamePlayer is a standards-based platform that provides code portability together with full native 3D graphics performance.”

    Both NVIDIA and Tao are members of the Khronos Group, an industry consortium creating open standards for the authoring and playback of rich media on mobile handsets. Khronos recently announced the OpenKODE (Khronos Open Development Environment) initiative to create a widely available native API platform to enable portable, high-performance rich media applications. Both companies are strongly supporting OpenKODE and contributing to the effort to establish this open industry standard. More information on OpenKODE is available at www.khronos.org/news/press/releases/rel51.html.

    NVIDIA and Tao will demonstrate the intent GamePlayer and NVIDIA GoForce handheld GPUs at 3GSM 2006 in Barcelona, Spain, Feb. 13-16. Attendees can learn more at the Tao Roadshow, located directly outside the main halls at AV20-25.