Animation Magazine

Author: Ryan Ball

  • Corpse Bride Resurrected on Disc

    Tim Burton’s Corpse Bride arrives on Home Video today, just in time to capitalize on the morning’s announcement of the film’s Oscar nomination. Warner Bros.’ comically macabre stop-motion musical was not among the year’s top-grossing animated releases, but should come alive at retail with a little help from the Academy. Stop-mo fans can also pick up director Will Vinton’s Clay-animated The Adventures of Mark Twain and John Roecker’s Live Freaky! Die Freaky!, a rock musical featuring the voices and music of such top bands as Green Day, Good Charlotte, Rancid and Blink 182.

    Corpse Bride stars Johnny Depp as the voice of Victor, a young man who is whisked away to the underworld and wed to the mysterious title character, voiced by Helena Bonham Carter. While the Land of the Dead proves more lively than his Victorian England, Victor must find a way to get back above ground to his fianc’e, Victoria (Emily Watson).

    DVD special features include a behind-the-scenes documentary titled Inside the Two Worlds, an in-depth look at how the animators approached their characters, a featurette on the film’s creator titled Tim Burton’Dark vs. Light, an exploration of how the voice cast helped bring the animation puppets to life, an inside tour the puppet workshop, pre-production galleries, a featurette on how composer Danny Elfman Interpreted the film’s two distinct worlds and a music-only track.

    Released in September of last year, Corpse Bride earned just $53 million in North America and took in nearly $117 million worldwide. Those who missed it at the theater will surely be checking it out on disc prior to Oscar night. The DVD retails for the suggested price of $28.98.

    In the Will Vinton tradition, 1984’s The Adventures of Mark Twain employs claymation to combine stories from more than four books by the legendary scribe. Actor James Whitmore (The Shawshank Redemption,TV’s The Practice) provides the voice of Twain, who pilots an interplanetary balloon with the goal of finding Halley’s Comet and crashing into it, thus fulfilling his destiny. It’s up to stowaways Tom Sawyer, Becky Thatcher and Huck Finn to convince him that he still has much to offer the world and that the human race isn’t so bad after all. Along the way, they use a magical time portal to witness the historical events that inspired Twain’s works. The MGM/Sony release lists for $14.94.

    Live Freaky! Die Freaky! (2003) is a stop-mo curiosity featuring the voices of such rockers as Billie Joe Armstrong of Green Day, Tim Armstrong from Rancid and Operation Ivy, John Doe of X and Jane Wiedlin from The GoGos. Actress Asia Argento (George Romero’s Land of the Dead), daughter of horror filmmaker Dario Argento, also lends her voice to this musical comedy that has Charles Manson returning to lead survivors of war and ozone depletion in a futuristic world. The DVD features commentary by director John Roecker (Disease is Punishment) and Billie Joe Armstrong, a deleted scene, storyboards, a music video and the behind-the-scenes featurettes Making Puppets Speak, Desert Footage and Soundtrack Rehearsals and Recordings. The Genius/Wellspring release comes with a soundtrack CD and lists for $29.98.

  • Pink Panther Prowls on DVD

    As Sony Pictures’ live-action revisit of Blake Edward’s The Pink Panther gets set to bow in theaters on Feb. 10, the famous feline cartoon creation of Friz Freleng and David DePatie arrives on DVD with a five-disc set of animated episodes.

    Pink Panther Classic Cartoon DVD Collection offers 124 cartoons produced between 1964 and 1980. Retailing for around $69.96, the set also includes a tutorial on how to draw the Pink Panther, storyboard-to-screen comparisons and the original animated title sequences that graced the series of live-action movies.

    Also available as single-disc releases are Pink Panther Classic Cartoon Collection Volume 1: Pranks in the Pink, Pink Panther Classic Cartoon Collection Volume 2: Adventures in the Pink and Pink Panther Classic Cartoon Collection Volume 3: Frolics in the Pink. Each MGM release includes 27 episodes and lists for $14.95

    On the big screen, Steve Martin takes over the role of bumbling French crime fighter Inspector Clouseau, a role originated by the late comic genius Peter Sellers. Also on board for this franchise prequel are Kevin Kline, Jean Reno and Beyonc’ Knowles. In addition, the title character will return for the opening and closing credits courtesy of new 2D animation by Burbank animation house Kurtz and Friends, run by Emmy-winnning Pink Panther veteran Bob Kurtz.

  • Platinum, Atmosphere Killing Demons on Film

    Comic-book property holder Platinum Studios and Atmosphere Ent. MM have teamed up to bring the Platinum graphic novel Killing Demons to the big screen. The pic is being produced by Platinum chairman Scott Mitchell Rosenberg and Atmosphere chairman and CEO Mark Canton, who hope to announce the attachment of a screenwriter shortly.

    Written by Peter Siegel and illustrated by Brent White, the Killing Demons comic centers on a man who devotes his life to hunting down supernatural creatures like the ones that slaughtered his family when he was a kid. Before being picked up by Platinum, the title was self-published and independently distributed by Siegel and White, and ended up receiving critical acclaim and ranking among the 100 best-selling graphic novels of 2005.

    Rosenberg and Canton first worked together when Canton was chairman of the Columbia TriStar Motion Picture Companies and Rosenberg introduced him to a little-known comic-book property known as Men in Black. Atmosphere MM’s current feture film production slate includes adaptations of such graphic novels and comic books as Frank Miller’s 300 and Neil Gaiman’s Books of Magic for Warner Bros. Pictures. The company also has The Spiderwick Chronicles, based on the best-selling book series by Tony Deterlizzi and Holly Black, set up at Paramount Pictures.

    With the big-screen success of Men In Black, Rosenberg founded Platinum Studios and has since acquired more than 2,500 characters that have appeared in comics worldwide. The company recently inked a financing and production deal with Relativity Media LLC and IDG Films for two back-to-back films based on the Witchblade comic book franchise and also signed the Pang Brothers (The Eye) to direct Platinum’s upcoming feature, The Darkness. Both films are being produced in association with Top Cow Prods. In addition, Platinum has Cowboys & Aliens set up at Sony, Unique at Disney, Mal Chance at Miramax, Wanted at Universal, Inferno at Warner Bros., Fathom at Fox and Meet the Haunteds at NBC. More information on the company can be found at www.platinumstudios.com.

  • Game Center Open at AI’L.A.

    Art Institute of California ‘ Los Angeles cut the ribbon to officially open its new, state-of-the-art Game Center on the evening of Thursday, Jan. 26. The event drew a crowd of both students and professionals in the fields of game development and animation, who toured the facility and enjoyed a private screening of work by Game Wizards, the student game development team at AI’s Los Angeles campus.

    The event started with a well-attended exposition of new hardware, software, games and technology presented by Game Center partners and sponsors. Company representatives were on hand to talk shop and share their latest offerings with artists, engineers, designers, educators, technical experts and programmers, while others seized the opportunity to network with other gaming professionals and enthusiasts.

    “The opening of the Game Center is the first step towards creation of a permanent location for showcasing the latest achievements of the game development industry and a museum of computer games,” says Game Center Liaison Bijan Tehrani.

    Aside from the impressive work being created by the student crew of Game Wizards, one of the coolest aspects of the Game Center is its on-site motion-capture studio featuring top-of-the-line technology donated by sponsor Motion Analysis Corp. Other Game Center partners include Alias, AMD, Animation Magazine, Autodesk Inc., Avid Computer Graphics, F. Dice, International Game Developers Assn. (IGDA), Luminetik Animation Studios, nPower Software, Nvidia Corp., PC Unlimited, Peachpit Press, Pioneer (USA), Seagate Technology, SilverStone, Tyan Computer Corp., ViewSonic and wondertouch.

    One of the Game Center’s on-going activities is the Animation 21 Lecture Series, which invites professionals and celebrities working in animation, game sand digital filmmaking to present their work. The lectures are held ten times a year and are immediately followed by meetings of the Los Angeles chapter of IGDA. Both events are free and open to the public.

    The Game Center will also present A Touch of the GDC on the first Saturday after the Game Developers Conference in San Jose, Calif. Starting on 2007, the annual event will showcase conference highlights at The Art Institute for those who are not able to attend the conference and expo. On the same day, students and graduates can attend The Game Center Job Fair, held in cooperation with IGDA and The Art Institute of California ‘ Los Angeles Career Services Department. Other planned events include an annual Art Festival that will feature competitions for both students and professional developers.

    Free membership to the Game Center is available to students of The Art Institute of California ‘ Los Angeles, members of the IGDA L.A. chapter and industry professionals. To apply, contact Bijan Tehrani at (818) 613-4227 or btehrani@dljl.com.

    photo courtesy of Shahla Bebe

  • Golden Globes in Toon for ’07

    Not even the Hollywood Foreign Press can ignore the growing impact of animation on the art and industry of film. The organization announced today that it has added a Best Animated Feature category for the 64th Annual Golden Globe Awards ceremony in 2007. Eligible films must be “feature-length” (70 minutes or longer) with no more than 25% live action.

    The decision to recognize animation with its own category came after members voted on the matter last month. “Animated features have become an important component of the studio lineup so there was an overwhelming consensus that this new category be created,” says Hollywood Foreign Press Association president Philip Berk.

    While many in the animation industry will see this development as progress, other will no doubt consider it a double-edged sword. Though the new category means that animation will play a larger role in the prestigious annual event, it also excludes animated features from the Best Picture race. Last year, Disney/Pixar’s The Incredibles was up for Best Picture (Musical or Comedy), and contenders in previous years included Disney’s Beauty and the Beast, Aladdin and The Lion King, Disney/Pixar’s Toy Story and Toy Story 2, and DreamWorks’ Chicken Run and Shrek. However, an animated film has never won the award.

    The Best Animated Feature category will be limited to three nominations per year. If less than eight films qualify, the award will not be given, in which case the films would be eligible for Best Picture. The addition brings the total number of Golden Globe categories to 25, not counting the Cecil B. DeMille lifetime achievement Award.

  • Fox, HIT Strike Home Vid Deal

    Twentieth Century Fox Home Entertainment and HIT Ent. have inked a multi-million dollar, multi-year agreement that gives Fox exclusive marketing, sales and distribution rights to HIT’s library of children’s television programming in the U.S. and Canada. Fox will begin distributing such HIT hits as Bob the Builder, Barney, Angelina Ballerina and Thomas & Friends this fall.

    Fox will now perform all of the business functions previously handled by HIT Ent.’s U.S. home entertainment division. Other HIT titles being handled by Fox under the deal include all of The Jim Henson Company’s ‘Henson Family Classics,’ including Fraggle Rock and Animal Jam, for which HIT serves as U.S. agent for home entertainment, licensing and merchandising.

  • New Superman Toon Up, Up and Away

    According to TV Guide, fans of 1996’s Superman: The Animated Series can look forward to a new, feature-length, direct-to-video extension of the popular show. Slated to debut later this year, the movie from Warner Bros. Animation will have Tim Daly and Dana Delany return as the voices of the Man of Steel and Lois Lane, respectively.

    Titled Superman: Brainiac Attacks, the release will see Supes going toe-to-toe with old enemies Lex Luthor and Brainiac. Apparently, the champion of peace, justice and the American Way will also wrestle with his desire to disclose his identity to the lovely Miss Lane. No word yet if Clancy Brown (HBO’s Carnivale, Highlander) will return as the voice of Lex Luther.

    Superman: The Animated Series was produced by Alan Burnett, Paul Dini, Glen Murakami and Bruce Timm. Warner Home Video last year put out a two-disc DVD release of episodes that retails for around $26.99.

  • CPM Bringing Negadon to U.S.

    Central Park Media (CPM) has acquired exclusive U.S. distribution rights to Negadon: The Monster from Mars, a 20-minute CG-animated film that has generated quite a buzz among fans of Japanese monster movies of the 1970s. CoMix Wave of Japan handles worldwide distribution for the property.

    Written and directed by Jun Awazu, Negadon pays homage to such movie franchises as Godzilla, Mothra and Gamera, Atomic-age creations that helped pave the way for the success of the Japanese animation industry. While Toho Studios’ used men in rubber suits for its classic creature flicks, Awazu spent three years creating Negadon entirely in CG. He even invented special rendering algorithms to bring an authentic retro look to the film. Makoto Miyahara performed the nimation modeling and Kenjiro Kato served as vfx supervisor.

    Released theatrically 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 2005 Japan Media Arts Festival. The film will be released in the U.S. theatrically this spring and on home video this summer. Central Park Media will make further announcements regarding it splans for the film at the New York Comic-Con in late February.

  • Disney Exec Carey Swims to CritterPix

    With the Pixar crew moving in to take over Mouse House animation, Walt Disney Picture’s VP of production and technology, John Carey, has made the move to CritterPix Studios. The fledgling northern California computer animation shop is at work on its first feature film, Ollie, a sea otter comedy-adventure pic tentatively scheduled for release in 2008.

    Carey will serve as senior VP of production for CritterPix. The 30-year showbiz veteran has established and maintained CG pipelines for a number of animated feature productions and companies. At Disney, he led a team of more than 150 professionals that managed both technology and film production.

    In his new position, Carey will play a critical role in finalizing the implementation of CritterPix’s hardware and software platforms and overall workflow environment. ‘We will be building world-class feature animation workflow systems that will enable CritterPix to develop top-quality 3D animation movies more cost effectively than has ever been done before,” he comments.

    CritterPix plans to produce one CG-animated movie per year. Ollie, written by CritterPix CEO Kelly Williamson and co-produced by New Regency, will be followed by Hollywood Vermin, a film being penned by Lion King scribe Jonathan Roberts. That pic will tell the story of unsavory underdog outsiders who break into a fat-cat insider’s game. Three additional features are in development but no details are available at this time.

    To help bring its productions to the screen, CritterPix has been enlisting the talents of such animation veterans as producer Gary Goldman from Don Bluth Films, Pixar technical director Chris Rock, visual effects supervisor Nathaniel Hunter from Tippett Studios and production asset developer Sandra Joy Lee from Industrial Light & Magic. Most recently, former Interwoven CFO Dave Allen joined the team as chief financial officer. More information on CritterPix can be found at www.critterpix.com.

  • Howl’s Moving Castle on Disc in March

    Howl’s Moving Castle, the latest animated feature from Oscar-winning filmmaker Hayao Miyazaki (Spirited Away), is coming to home video on March 7 as part of a Studio Ghibli three-for-one. The film will be packaged with Miyazaki’s My Neighbor Totoro and the late Yoshifumi Kondo’s Whisper of the Heart.

    In Howl’s Moving Castle, a quiet young woman who works in a hat shop finds her life thrown into turmoil when she is literally swept off her feet by a handsome and mysterious wizard named Howl. Jealous of their friendship, the vain and vengeful Wicked Witch of the Waste puts a spell on Sophie and sets her on an odyssey in a magical world where fire talks, dogs spy for their wizard owners and a ramshackle castle flies across the countryside. The English-language dub features the voice talents of Lauren Bacall, Christian Bale, Jean Simmons, Blythe Danner and Billy Crystal.

    Beloved by fans around the world, My Neighbor Totoro follows the adventures of Satsuki and her four-year-old sister, Mei, who move into a new home in the countryside and discover that their new neighbor is a mysterious forest spirit called who can be seen only through the eyes of a child. Totoro introduces them to extraordinary characters, including a cat that doubles as a bus, and takes them on an incredible journey. Ubiquitous child star Dakota Fanning and sibling Elle Fanning lend their voices to the English-language dub.

    Scripted by Miyazaki, Whisper of the Heart centers on a schoolgirl named Shizuku, who one day observes an ordinary-looking cat riding by himself on the train and decides to follow him. This chance encounter leads her to a mysterious boy named Seiji The Baron, a magical cat figurine who helps her listen to the whispers in her heart. Brittany Snow, Courtney Thorne-Smith, David Gallagher and Cary Elwes fill out this version’s voice cast. Miyazaki had intended Kondo to be his successor as Studio Ghibli’s director. However, he passed away in 1998.

    Miyazaki and Takahata founded Studio Ghibli in 1985 and have since produced some of the most revered animated films of all time. In fact, Miyazaki is widely regarded as the Walt Disney of Japan. His critically acclaimed Spirited Away won the Academy Award for Best Animated Feature in 2004 and picked up many other awards worldwide. Howl’s Moving Castle was a huge hit in Japan before being released theatrically in the U.S. this past summer. The pic, which Miyazaki claims will be his last effort as writer/director, may also earn him another Oscar when the Academy chooses this year’s winner on March 5.

  • Nanny McPhee in Theatres

    Look out, Mary Poppins, there’s a new magical governess in town as Universal’s Nanny McPhee arrives in theaters today. The family film works some charming vfx magic in a bid to steal the box office title from Screen Gems’ violent vampire vs. werewolf thriller, Underworld: Evolution.

    Written by star Emma Thompson (Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban, Angels in America) and directed by Kirk Jones (Waking Ned Devine), Nanny McPhee is based the series of Nurse Matilda books by late British author Christianna Brand. Nearly unrecognizable under layers of prosthetic makeup, Thompson plays the title caregiver, who steps in to take charge of seven unruly children who have recently lost their mother. Colin Firth (Bridget Jones; The Edge of Reason, Love Actually) plays the overwhelmed father who realizes that this unusual-looking woman may be his last hope for keeping his family together. Angela Lansbury also stars as the evil Aunt Adelaide.

    The magical world of Nanny McPhee is brought to the screen with the help of digital wizardry by Framestore CFC under visual effects supervisor Mike McGee (Thunderbirds, TV’s Dinotopia) and CG supervisor Andrew Rawling. The team completed around 150 shots for the movie.

    With Underworld: Evolution expected lose a big segment of its audience in the second week, McPhee’s main competition comes from 20th Century Fox’s Big Mama’s House 2, another release whose star is under heavy prosthetic makeup for much of the film. Martin Lawrence returns as an undercover cop who poses as a heavy-set elderly woman in this sequel to the surprise hit from 2000. The comedy opens in more than a thousand more theaters than Nanny McPhee, which should give it a major edge. Also opening in fairly wide release is Buena Vista’s Annapolis starring James Franco and Tyrese Gibson. The fictional look at life inside the famed naval academy rolls out in 1600 theaters.

  • Weinstein Financing Reaches $1.2 Billion

    Following the successful launch of its first animated feature, Hoodwinked, The Weinstein Co. has announced the closing of a $500 million film securitization facility. With total financing at approximately 1.2 billion, the company has a solid foothold for producing and distributing more animated and live-action independent films.

    Founded in October of 2005 by former Miramax heads Bob and Harvey Weinstein, The Weinstein Co. will put up half the money for the Hoodwinked sequel, titled Hood Vs. Evil. The film is being produced by Kanbar Animation in the Philippines and will have a considerably bigger budget than its predecessor, which was made for less then $20 million.

    Currently, The Weinstein Co. is preparing for the Feb. 24 release of its second animated movie, Doogal. The pic was released in Europe last year under the title Sprung: The Magic Roundabout. Fairly OddParents creator Butch Hartman was called in to tweak the film for U.S. audiences, adding voice work by Kenan Thompson, Jon Stewart, Jimmy Fallon, William H. Macy and Whoopie Goldberg. The company’s full slate of upcoming films also includes a sequel to last year’s live-action/CG hybrid, Sin City, directed by Robert Rodriguez and comic creator Frank Miller.

    Portfolio Funding Company LLC, a subsidiary of The Weinstein Co., will be the borrower under the $500 facility and will hold distribution rights of the films that are part of the securitization. Paul, Weiss, Rifkind, Wharton & Garrison LLP and O’Melveny & Myers LLP advised the Weinsteins in the transaction.

  • Warner Bros., McFarlane Toy with Hanna-Barbera

    Warner Bros. Consumer Products has entered into a global partnership with McFarlane Toys to introduce an all-new line of action figures based on characters from the Hanna-Barbera library. The first products will be available at retail worldwide this summer and fall.

    Expected to sell for around $12.00, the new figures from McFarlane Toys will be 3D representations of such classic cartoon denizens as Fred Flintstone, Quickdraw McGraw and Tom and Jerry.

    “I believe the nature of the Hanna-Barbera brand will allow us to bring to life a wonderful new world of action figures, which will be embraced by collectors and fans alike,” says McFarlane Toys CEO Todd McFarlane, creator of the Spawn comic-book, feature film and animation franchise. “We will be utilizing the full range of McFarlane talent for this collection and applying our characteristic style and finesse to the timeless Hanna-Barbera characters.”

    McFarlane Toys produces toy lines based on such major entertainment brands as Warner Bros.’ Matrix trilogy DreamWorks’ Shrek, Paramount’s Tim Burton’s Sleepy Hollow, New Line Cinema’s Austin Powers films and 20th Century Fox’s The X-Files and Alien Vs. Predator. In 2005, the company released figures from DreamWorks’ latest animated feature, Wallace and Gromit: The Curse of the Were-Rabbit, and acquired the master toy license for Tim Burton’s stop-motion animated Corpse Bride. More information on these and other products can be found at www.spawn.com.

  • Lady and the Tramp Returns in Hollywood

    Walt Disney’s animated classic Lady and the Tramp will return to the big screen at Hollywood’s El Capitan Theatre for two weeks in February. The February 2-14 special engagement will offer moviegoers a Valentine’s Day treat while promoting the upcoming 50 Anniversary edition DVD of the beloved film about star-crossed canine lovers.

    In addition to seeing a new, digitally restored Cinemascope version of the film, those who attend the Thursday, Feb. 2, opening night celebration will enjoy a panel discussion featuring comic legend Stan Freberg (who provided the voice of the Beaver in the film) and respected animators Andreas Deja and Eric Goldberg, among others. The event will start at 7 p.m. All shows during the engagement will offer a live appearance by Mickey Mouse and Minnie Mouse.

    Scheduled to hit retail on Feb. 28, the Lady and the Tramp limited, two-Disc special edition DVD will offer, never-before-seen deleted scenes, a newly discovered alternate storyboard version of the film and a making-of featurette complete with rare footage of Walt Disney. Interactive bonus materials will include a virtual board game and a virtual DVD-Rom adopt-your-own-puppy feature.

    Tickets for the El Capitan screenings of the restored 1955 Lady and the Tramp are available at the box office by phone (1-800-DISNEY6), or online at www.elcapitantickets.com.

  • Boondocks Gets Second Season

    Aaron McGruder’s controversial animated series, The Boondocks, will return for a second season on Cartoon Network’s [adult swim]. The broadcaster has ordered 20 more episodes of the social satire based on McGruder’s award-winning comic strip of the same name.

    Produced by McGruder’s Rebel Base shingle, in association with Sony Pictures Television, The Boondocks explores race relations and other socio-political issues as seen through the eyes of two street-wise young boys sent to live with their grandfather in a white-bread suburban neighborhood.

    The show debuted on Nov. 6 of last year with the most-watched series premiere in [adult swim] history, and has consistently ranked among the top programs on basic cable each week among young adult viewers.

    Mike Lazzo, Cartoon Network’s senior vice president, programming and production, responsible for [adult swim], says simply, “Thank God for The Boondocks and Aaron McGruder.”

    This month, The Boondocks was nominated for an NAACP Image Award for Outstanding Comedy Series. Five installments of the initial 15-episode order have yet to air, and the new season is expected to begin in late 2006.

  • New Shows for Nick Latin America

    At NATPE, Nickelodeon Latin America announced the lineup new animated and live-programming to join its 2006 schedule. The network has acquired the animated series Lola and Virginia from Icon Animations and Kappa Mikey from Animation Collective, and picked up Whoopi Goldberg’s live-action series Just for Kicks. Also on tap is the network’s first’ever original series, Skimo, a live-action sitcom being produced in Mexico City.

    Other animated series acquired for 2006 include the Nickelodeon originals The X’s and Catscratch, Method Film’s Skyland and 4 Kids Prods.’ Yu-Gi-Oh Gx. Nick Latin America will also air fresh episodes of popular toon shows including SpongeBob Square Pants, Avatar: The Last Airbender, Rugrats All Grown Up, Danny Phantom, My life as a Teenage Robot, Trollz, Dora the Explorer, Blue’s Clues, Little Bill and Go Diego Go! Nick Jr. will also premiere Dougie in Disguise, a show about an ordinary kid whose collectible sticker albums come to life through imagination, and Wonder Pets, a live-action/animated series about three, brave opera-singing classroom pets that become superheroes after school.

    Nick’s Latin America audience will also be treated to the Feb. 13 debut of Nick at Nite, the night-time programming block featuring iconic sitcoms of the 60’s, 70’s, 80’s and 90’s. The block will debut pan-regionally in Spanish and Portuguese, airing daily on Nickelodeon Latin America and Nickelodeon Brazil from 10 p.m. to 6 a.m. and 10 p.m. to 5 a.m. respectively. Shows on tap include Alf, Mork & Mindy, Different Strokes, The Facts of Life, The Addams Family, The Munsters, Bewitched, I Dream of Jeannie and Growing Pains.

    MTV Networks Latin America Inc., a unit of Viacom Inc., owns and operates MTV Latin America, Nickelodeon Latin America, VH1 Latin America, Viacom Networks Brazil and the MTV Networks Digital Suite, a package of five digital services’MTV James, MTV Hits, VH1 Soul, VH1 Mega Hits and Nickelodeon’s GAS (Games and Sports for Kids).

  • Disney Sequel Factory to Close

    With the news of Disney’s impending purchase of Pixar, The Los Angeles Times reports today that Disney will scrub the toon unit it has been building for the express purpose of creating sequels to Pixar hits such as Toy Story and Monsters, Inc. The good news for fans is that Pixar will be handling those franchise follow-ups instead.

    ‘We feel very strongly that if the sequels are going to be made, we want the people who were involved in the original films involved in the sequels,’ Pixar CEO Steve Jobs said during a conference call on Tuesday.

    Last year, Disney took over a warehouse in Glendale, Calif. and assembled a team of approximately 150 artists to start work on Toy Story 3. Known officially as Circle 7 but nicknamed Pixaren’t, the crew has spent three months on pre-production for the return of Woody, Buzz and the gang. Now that work is being yanked out of their hands and turned over the Pixar team, which will continue to operate in the company’s facilities in Emeryville, Calif.

    This follows yesterday’s news that as the result of the Pixar purchase, Pixar’s Ed Catmull and John Lasseter are now at the helm of Disney’s Feature Animation division. According to internal Disney sources, David Stainton is stepping down from his position, but will remain at the Mouse House. Among the features in the Disney toon pipeline are Chris Sanders’ American Dog (which was heavily promoted at last year’s SIGGRAPH), slated for a 2007 release and Glen Keane’s Rapunzel for 2008.

  • BCI Brings Joe Cartoon to DVD

    Home entertainment publisher BCI, a wholly owned subsidiary of Navarre Corp., has inked a deal to distribute animated shorts from Joe Cartoon on DVD. Prominently featured on AtomFilms, Joe Cartoon has been one of the leading producers of animated content for the web since the debut of Frog in a Blender. A first volume of greatest hits will be available on disc this April.

    Joe Cartoon is known for low-brow, interactive animation such as the latest short, Gerbil Fishing, in which users decide the fate of a foul-mouthed pet dangled in front of hungry fish. The interactive aspect, which Joe Cartoon calls ‘Press & Splode’ technology, has been replicated for DVD viewers, who can use the directional keys on their remote controls to pan across the screen and press the menu button to activate the action.

    Joe Cartoon is actually Joseph C. Shields, a freelance comic artist and t-shirt and toy designer from Michigan who launched www.joecartoon.com in the late ’90s and became a sort of godfather of interactive animated content. Today, the brand averages approximately 10 million page views per month, and is one of the top-10 podcasts on Apple’s iTunes.

    Joe Cartoon-Greatest Hits, Volume One on DVD will feature such internet favorites as Gerbil in a Microwave, Lump: the No-legged Dog, Stoneflies and Thuh Greenfields. The disc, packaged with a Joe Cartoon character toy, will list for $14.98. Volume 2 will follow in July, and a three-disc boxed set, featuring a drunken commentary with Joe and his friends, will be available in November.

  • Blur’s Feature Efforts Gopher Broke

    VFX and animation shop Blur Studio has announced plans to make a feature-length version of its Academy Award-nominated animated short film, Gopher Broke. The CG short is currently screening in Park City, Utah, as an official selection of this year’s Sundance Film Festival.

    Celebrating its 10 year anniversary, Blur Studio is focused on expanding into the feature film arena, joining a crowded field of contenders hoping to offer some competition for Disney and Pixar. Blur and other independent studios such as Exodus (Igor) and Phathom Studios (Delgo) have no doubt been spurred on by the recent success of The Weinstein Co.’s animated Hoodwinked, which was produced by Kanbar Ent. for less than $20 million and has earned nearly $30 million in two weeks.

    In 2003, Blur moved into a 20,000 square foot, state-of-the-art computer animation studio nearly triple the size of its original digs. The company also launched an international talent search to strengthen its ranks as it gears up for feature film production while continuing to provide service work. Blur apparently has several animated feature films in development, but is keeping a tight lid on details.

    Directed and produced by Jeff Fowler and Blur founder Tim Miller, the Gopher Broke short is a comedic romp about a hungry Gopher intent on scoring a tasty veggie snack from one of the farm trucks that regularly passes down the dirt road near his hole. In traditional slapstick style, our hero ends up getting way more than he bargained for. The film was nominated for the Best Animated Short Film Oscar last year, but ended up losing to Chris Landreth’s Ryan, a computer-animated pseudo-documentary on the tragic life of animator Ryan Larkin.

    No specific details about the feature version of Gopher Broke have been released at this time. More information on the film and Blur Studio in general can be found at www.blur.com.

  • VICON Mints Entertainment Division

    Academy Award-winning motion capture technology developer VICON announced that it is opening a dedicated U.S. entertainment division in Los Angeles. The Oxford, U.K.-based company will leverage the new L.A. home base and its motion capture service facility, House of Moves, to service customers in the entertainment industry with everything from technology development to actual motion capture production.

    VICON development manager Gary Roberts has been appointed VP of professional services for the Vicon Feature Unit and House of Moves. Moving to the U.S. from Vicon’s UK headquarters, Roberts will continue to forge relationships with top feature film and game companies. In his former position, he guided product development for VICON iQ and consulted with Sony Pictures Imageworks and SQUARE Enix to develop custom mo-cap solutions. Prior to joining VICON, he was CEO of Performance Capture Studios and served as a motion capture supervisor at Electronic Arts.

    In addition, Jon Damush has been named VP and general manager of VICON’s entertainment division, and House of Moves founder Tom Tolles, has been tapped to oversee VICON’s worldwide entertainment product marketing. Architect of the Diva software package, Tolles will apply his entertainment-focused solutions and software development expertise in his new role.

    VICON was recognized with a 2005 Scientific and Technical Academy Award from the Academy of Motion Picture Arts & Sciences. The company’s new Los Angeles headquarters is located on Beatrice Street, adjacent to the 12,000 square-foot House of Moves motion capture stage and production offices. For more information on VICON, or to view a comprehensive list of worldwide distributors, go to www.vicon.com.