Animation Magazine

Author: Ryan Ball

  • Toon Series to Animate NASCAR Fan

    Fans of The Kellys, an award-winning, animated series featured on NASCAR.com, are vying for a chance to be animated in a future episode. The sweepstakes, being held through Jan. 27, will also send the lucky winner and four friends to the 2006 Daytona 500 on Feb. 19.

    The Kellys is produced by SportsBlast, an animation production company founded by Nancy Cartwright, the voice of Bart Simpson on FOX’s The Simpsons. The studio will use the sweepstakes winner’s likeness to create an animated character in The Kellys, which chronicles the fictional Kelly family’s climb through the ranks of the racing profession. The prize packet also includes tickets to grandstand events leading up to the Daytona 500, hospitality passes for the entire weekend, domestic airfare, accommodations and $500 in spending money.

    NASCAR enthusiasts can enter the sweepstakes on The Kellys web site at http://www.TeamKellyRacing.com, or at NASCAR.com by clicking on the Kellys sweepstakes link. The winner will be announced on Jan. 31 on TeamKellyRacing.com.

    The Kellys is developed and produced in association with Turner Sports Interactive, the company that produces NASCAR.com under license from NASCAR. The program was initially distributed as a series of three-minute, mini-episodes in 2001 and 2002, and made a return in September of 2005. Cartwright leads a voice cast that includes Rob Paulsen (Coconut Fred’s Fruit Salad Island, Pinky & the Brain, The Land Before Time), Jess Harnell (Alf, Buffy the Vampire Slayer), Kath Souci (Rugrats, Winnie the Pooh) and Corey Burton (101 Dalmations, Toy Story 2). Guest stars featured last season include NASCAR NEXTEL Cup Series driver Kevin Harvick, The Practice star Camryn Manheim and Academy Award winning R&B artist Isaac Hayes, who provides the voice of Chef on Comedy Central’s South Park.

  • Ben 10 Bows on Cartoon Network

    With its new Saturday Morning Lineup set to kick off this weekend, Cartoon Network tonight (Jan. 13) debuts its newest original production, Ben 10. The sci-fi action/adventure romp premieres at 7:30 p.m. (ET), before taking its regular spot on Saturdays at 10 a.m.

    Ben 10 is a half-hour series that follows the adventures of 10-year-old Ben Tennyson, whose life is changed when he comes across the Omnitrix, an out-of-this-world wristwatch. With the extraterrestrial gizmo, Ben can transform into any one of ten alien beings, each with their own fantastic superpowers that help him battle the evil Viglax, who will stop at nothing to get the Omnitrix.

    The show is created by Man of Action (the collective name for Joe Casey, Joe Kelly, Duncan Rouleau and Steve Seagle), and produced by Cartoon Network Studios in Burbank, Calif. The network has greenlit 26-episodes.

    Cartoon Network’s fresh Saturday lineup kicks off at 9 a.m. with Alphanim’s Robotboy, produced by Cartoon Network Europe and France 3. Tapping into the classic Pinocchio mythology, the show centers on a powerful battle robot who dreams of becoming a real boy. Back for season two, Cartoon Network Studios’ The Life and Times of Juniper Lee follows at 9:30 a.m. with the continuing adventures of a regular pre-teen with the unusual responsibility of keeping the delicate balance between the real world and the realm of magic.

    There’s more alien action loaded up for 10:30 as the network premieres Zixx from Thunderbird Films Inc. and CG animation studio Mainframe. Aimed at kids 8-12, the sci-fi show chronicles the adventures of an unlikely team of heroes who join forces in a quest to save the universe from evil. Rounding out the block at 11 a.m. is Dragon Hunters. Produced by French animation house Futurikon and managed by BRB Internacional, the series follows the misadventures of Lian Chi and Gwizdo, two warriors who have to take on more than 50 dragons in a fantasy medieval world set in the future.

  • Here! Buddy’s Up with Scott Thompson

    Former Kids in the Hall player Scott Thompson is taking his popular gay bar owner character, Buddy Cole, to the animated arena on gay television network here!. Toronto’s Breakthrough Animation is developing the half-hour toon for broadcast later this year.

    In Buddy’s, Thompson’s character struggles to maintain his gay establishment under the watchful eye of a bullying “family values” city councilman. To further complicate matters, he’s saddled with the burden of parenthood when his orphaned niece shows up on his doorstep. The series aims to explore the limits of tolerance, the meaning of maturity and the importance of having the last word.

    “here! is thrilled to be in business with one of the funniest minds of our time, and we are proud to offer the kind of cutting-edge television space where Scott’s brilliant wit can thrive,” says Meredith Kadlec, the cabler’s VP of original programming.

    While this is Thompson’s first animated series, the comic actor is no stranger to the toon world. Since the Canadian sketch comedy show, Kids in the Hall, ended its TV run in 1994, he has appeared on numerous network series, including FOX’s The Simpsons.

    The nation’s first gay television network, here! was established in 2002 by Regent Ent. co-founders Paul Colichman and Stephen P. Jarchow. The network is currently available to more than 42 million households and offers a wide variety of original movies and series.

  • Spike TV Confirms Blade Telepic

    After a trio of big-screen outings, Marvel Comics’ Blade is officially headed for the tube. Spike TV confirmed reports that it is producing a two-hour Blade telepic, it’s first scripted original project. The live-action New Line Television production is scheduled to air this June and may lead to a regular series order.

    Actor/recording artist Kirk “Sticky Fingaz” Jones (Over There) will take over the title role originated by Wesley Snipes in the theatrical features. Blade is a sword-wielding half-vampire who battles evil blood suckers out to dominate the world. Jill Wagner, Neil Jackson, Nelson Lee and Jessica Gower will also star.

    Returning from the film trilogy is scribe David S. Goyer, who will exec produce the new TV movie, which he co-wrote with comic-book author Geoff Johns. A superhero specialist, Goyer scripted Warner Bros. Batman Begins and is working on a screenplay for the studio’s big-screen adaptation of DC Comics’ The Flash.

  • Philips to Head Production at LAIKA

    Animation exec Dan Philips has been hired as VP and head of production for LAIKA Ent., the animation company formerly known as Vinton Studios. Having worked on animated hits for DreamWorks, DKP Studios, Walt Disney Feature Animation and Big Idea Co., Philips brings a valuable experience to LAIKA, which is gearing up to enter the feature film arena. The appointment is effective immediately.

    Philips has been involved in all aspects of animation production, including project management, writing, design, music, animation, effects, lighting and compositing. His credits include such animated Disney favorites as The Lion King, Beauty and the Beast, Aladdin and Pocahontas, as well as Big Idea’s Jonah: A Veggie Tales Movie and DreamWorks’ The Prince of Egypt and The Road to El Dorado.

    Before joining LAIKA, Philips headed the art department at Toronto’s DKP Studios for nearly three years. Prior to that, he served as VP and head of production at Chicago’s Big Idea Co., where he exec produced Jonah: A Veggie Tales Movie, the first indie CG feature widely released in the U.S. From 1995 to 2000, he worked at DreamWorks, rising to the rank of triage digital supervisor, after serving for four years as head of CG Imagery for Walt Disney Feature Animation.

    LAIKA, owned by Nike co-founder and Chairman Phil Knight, was a production entity on Warner Bros.’ Tim Burton’s Corpse Bride and is now at work on two feature films. Filmmaker Henry Selick (The Nightmare Before Christmas, James and the Giant Peach) is directing Dakota Fanning in Coraline, an adaptation of the bestselling children’s novel by Neil Gaiman. Also in the pipeline is director Jorgen Klubien’s Jack & Ben’s Animated Adventure, a heartwarming story of brotherly love set in the animal kingdom.

    Selick, who is a supervising director for LAIKA, helmed the company’s flagship CG short, Moongirl. The film has been picking up awards on the festival circuit, nabbing the Short Film Special Jury Prize at the Ottawa Int’l Film Festival and the award for Best Animated Short Film at the Los Angeles Int’l Children’s Festival, among others. More information on the studio can be found at www.laika.com.

  • Theaters Get Hoodwinked

    Hoodwinked, the new animated motion picture from Kanbar Ent. and The Weinstein Co., opens in theaters across North America toady, bringing audiences a comical new take on the classic Brothers Grimm fable of Little Red Riding Hood. First released in Los Angeles in late December in order to qualify for Oscar consideration, the movie has been garnering good reviews from some of the nation’s top critics and just may be the first real breakout CG indie.

    Written and directed by Cory Edwards, Todd Edwards and Tony Leech, Hoodwinked centers on a band of creatures investigating a domestic disturbance at Grandma’s famous cottage. The animated players, which include a karate-kicking Red, a smart-aleck wolf, a goofy Woodsman and a thrill-seeking Granny, are voiced by the likes of Glenn Close, Jim Belushi, Anne Hathaway, Anthony Anderson and hip-hop artist Xzibit. Andy Dick also lends his voice as a creepy bunny and Benjy Gaither is a standout as a scene-stealing singing goat. The feature also showcases songs penned by Todd Edwards.

    Hoodwinked was produced by Kanbar Ent., which was founded by SKYY Vodka entrepreneur Maurice Kanbar and former Disney Animation exec Sue Bea Montgomery. This is the first computer-animated theatrical release from Bob and Harvey Weinstein, who handled distribution for the direct-to-video Bionicle series through their former company, Miramax. The film open nationally on Jan. 13, 2006. You can read all about the making of this indie project in the January issue of Animation Magazine, now available in Barnes and Noble stores around the country.

  • Autodesk Sponsors WAC, New films Online!

    Animation Magazine is pleased to announce that Autodesk has come aboard as a sponsor of World Animation Celebration (WAC), our online festival of short animated films. We’re also thrilled to bring you a fresh new batch of great shorts from around the world! Download them for FREE and vote for your favorites at https://www.dev.animationmagazine.net/wordpress/wac.

    Having this week completed its acquisition of Alias, Autodesk offers both 3ds Max and Maya, two industry-leading software solutions for 3D modeling and animation, as well as other quality products for digital content creators. Joining existing WAC sponsors Bauhaus Software and NVIDIA, Autodesk will supply some of our winners with valuable software solutions, including Cleaner 6.5, the official video compression suite for WAC.

    With the support of Autodesk, NVIDIA and Bauhaus Software, Animation Magazine will continue throughout the year to bring you fantastic short films from around the globe. 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 https://www.dev.animationmagazine.net/wordpress/wac_entry_form.html.

  • Cartoon Net Enlists Wulin Warriors

    Cartoon Network is bringing some puppet action to its Toonami Saturday programming block with a new series titled Wulin Warriors: Legend of the Seven Stars. Set to premiere on Saturday, Feb. 4, at 8 p.m. (ET/PT), the action/comedy employs hand puppets to put a new spin on the kung-fu and anime genres.

    Wulin Warriors: Legend of the Seven Stars centers on Lone Sword, Scar and Phoenix, warriors selected as children to train with the Sensei Oracle in his mountaintop academy. As darkness and evil threaten to settle across the universe, the three discover that their fighting skills are not enough and set out on a journey in search of the Seven Stars, lost agents of order that can help them save the world.

    ‘The show is an exciting and fun combination of eastern action and western comedy,’ says Terry Kalagian, VP of acquisitions and co-productions for Cartoon Network. ‘It’s like Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon with a teen attitude.’

    Action shows dominate Cartoon Network’s new Saturday Morning lineup, which kicks off on Jan. 14. with the new original series Ben 10 and fresh acquisitions Robotboy, Zixx and Dragon Hunters.

  • Dexter’s Laboratory Joins Boomerang

    Cartoon Network’s first original series, Dexter’s Laboratory, will debut on the network’s classic toon channel, Boomerang, on Monday, Jan. 16. The Emmy-nominated first series from Genndy Tartakovsky (Samurai Jack, Star Wars: Clone Wars). The half-hour series, which debuted in 1995, will begin its Boomerang run with a 12-hour Martin Luther King, Jr. Day marathon (10 a.m. to 10 p.m. ET), before settling into its regular, daily time-slots at 8 a.m. and 9 p.m. starting Tuesday, Jan. 17.

    Dexter’s Laboratory was born when Cartoon Network commissioned 48 seven-minute shorts from a number of promising young animators in order to cultivate new series ideas. Tartakovsky was working at Hanna-Barbera on 2 Stupid Dogs when he pitched the adventures of Dexter, a boy genius who creates fantastic, world-changing inventions in his laboratory, despite the interference of his pesky older sister, Dee Dee. Produced by Cartoon Network Studios, the show became the network’s highest-rated series in both 1996 and 1997 and launched a successful career for Tartakovsky, who is now developing CG features at San Francisco based The Orphanage.

    “We believe the definition of a ‘classic’ cartoon isn’t just a matter of age, but more importantly a question of quality and lasting entertainment value,” comments Marc Buhaj, VP of programming and scheduling for Cartoon Network and Boomerang. ‘It’s entirely appropriate that Dexter’s Laboratory take its rightful place alongside such revered animated series as The Flintstones, The Jetsons, Tom and Jerry and Scooby-Doo.”

    Boomerang is Turner Broadcasting System, Inc.’s (TBS, Inc.) 24-hour, commercial-free cable/satellite network dedicated to classic animated entertainment. More information on programming can be found at http://Boomerang.CartoonNetwork.com.

  • Ubisoft Takes On Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles

    Video-game developer/publisher Ubisoft will put out a new Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles title through an exclusive worldwide license agreement with 4Kids Ent. and Mirage Group. The game based on the new CG-animated feature film being produced by Imagi Animation Studios in Hong Kong. Scheduled for release in early 2007, the movie will be distributed by Warner Bros. Pictures and The Weinstein Co.

    Introduced to the underground comic-book scene by Peter Laird and Kevin Eastman more than 20 years ago, the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles have starred in three live-action motion pictures and a series of animated shows, but the new production will be the first completely CG-animated adventure for Leonardo, Donatello, Raphael and Michaelangelo.

    Producers say the PG-rated movie will be grittier than the live action films of the ’90s, adhering more closely to the original comic books. The film will be directed by animator/comic-book artist Kevin Munroe from a screenplay he wrote with help from Laird, who will serve as exec producer along with Francis Kao, Gary Richardson and Frederick U. Fierst. Thomas K. Gray and Galen Walker are handling producing duties.

    A new Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles animated series was recently launched by 4Kids TV and now airs in more than 90 territories. 4Kids Ent. Inc will handle worldwide merchandising rights for the new movie.

  • G4, Hasbro Team for Toons

    Video game lifestyle cable network G4 and toymaker Hasbro Inc. have joined forces to create Action Blast, a one-hour live-action and animation programming block that airs on G4. The strategic partnership will also see other joint projects aimed at bringing Hasbro’s many brands to the G4 audience.

    Produced by Hasbro in association with Tango Pix, Action Blast features series based on such Hasbro franchises as Transformers, G.I. Joe, Beastwars and B-Daman. Viewers also get interstitials featuring characters from Kaiju Big Battel, a tongue-in-cheek, underground wrestling circuit inspired by Japanese monster movies, and minute-long animated battles between popular Hasbro action figures.

    “G4 is the perfect television destination for Hasbro to reach the young male audience, and this partnership enables G4 to bring our viewers a retro-cool block of gamer-friendly programming,” says G$ COO Dale Hopkins. “With the Transformers feature film due out next summer, there is clearly a high demand for Hasbro entertainment.”

    Hasbro is also helping to develop entertainment for G4’s late night block, Barbed Wire Biscuit, witch includes the animated series Happy Tree friends and Friends, produced by Mondo Media. Other avenues for collaboration being explored include video on demand (VOD), broadband and wireless platforms.

    Owned by Comcast Corp., G4 launched in April of 2002 and eventually took over Tech-TV, a cable network dedicated largely to gadget hounds and gear heads. Action Blast! airs every day at 8 a.m. ET/PT, with weekend installments featuring best-of recaps of the week’s episodes. More information about G4 programming, including the Anime Unleashed block, can be found at www.g4tv.com.

  • EM. Ent. Acquires Rest of Yoram Gross-EM.TV

    EM. Entertainment GmbH has acquired the remaining 50% of Yoram Gross-EM.TV PTY Ltd. from founders Yoram and Sandra Gross. The mid seven-figure deal gives EM. Ent. 100% control of the Australian production group and 45% of Yoram Gross Prods., in which the founders still hold a majority stake.

    Yoram Gross-EM.TV PTY Ltd. General Manager Geoff Watson steps up to the position of managing director of the company, which was formed in 1999 when EM.TV purchased a 50% share in the then 31 year-old Yoram Gross. Successful animated shows produced by the integrated company over the years include Tabaluga, Flipper & Lopaka, Blinky Bill and Dot and the Kangaroo.

    Werner E. Klatten, chairman of the management board at EM.TV AG, says the increased shareholding is aimed at strengthening his company’s influence on Yoram Gross-EM.T and significantly expanding the group’s production skills. ‘We also place a great deal of importance on the activities of the interactive unit, which include mobile content and games,’ he comments. ‘We will be intensifying these considerably over the years to come through Yoram Gross-EM.TV subsidiary forest Interactive, which has become one of Australia’s most creative multimedia producers.’

    Forest Interactive, maker of the popular DVD board game Atmosfear The Gatekeeper, is set to launch MobiStax, a novel mobile phone trading card game that will be accompanied by a series of other games.

  • Aardman Names New Head of Features

    Stephen Moore has been appointed head of features/chief operating officer for Aardman Animations, the Bristol, U.K. studio behind the DreamWorks hits Chicken Run and Wallace & Gromit: The Curse of the Were-Rabbit. Moore previously oversaw theatrical and home entertainment operations as president of international for 20th Century Fox.

    Co-founded by David Sproxton and Peter Lord, Aardman has a five-picture deal in place with DreamWorks Animation. The two entities are following the feature film debut of Nick Park’s clay-animated Wallace and Gromit with Flushed Away, a CG comedy-adventure about a spoiled high-rise rat (voiced by Hugh Jackman), who is plunged into the sewer to learn how the other half lives. That film is scheduled for release this summer.

    ‘Aardman is very pleased to have been able to appoint Stephen at this point in the studio’s history,’ Says Sproxton. ‘[His] vast experience will enable the studio to build considerably on its recent successes and increase its opportunities in many arenas.’

    As head of features, Moore will oversee production on the fourth production in the Aardman/DreamWorks deal. At this time, that film is Crood Awakening, a Stone Age comedy from the mind of Monty Python player John Cleese. Co-writing the screenplay with Cleese is Kirk DeMicco, who previously wrote the family film Racing Stripes and the animated adventure Quest for Camelot.

  • Borders to Head PDI/DreamWorks

    Gloria Borders, former head of post production at Revolution Studios, has joined DreamWorks Animation as head of PDI/DreamWorks, the Redwood City campus where most of the studio’s CG features have been made. Borders will oversee all production and operations at facility, taking over for Patti Burke, who is transitioning into a senior consultant role at the company.

    Before hooking up with Revolution Studios in 2000, Borders served a VP and general manager at Skywalker Sound for several years. During her tenure there, she won an Academy Award in sound effects editing for her work on Terminator 2: Judgment Day, and received an Oscar nomination for her work as supervising sound editor on Forrest Gump.

    Burke’s decision to step down was motivated by a desire to focus more attention on her family life. “I’m so grateful that I will be able to spend more time at home without having to cut my ties to this great studio,” She comments. “The fact that I’m able to make this kind of transition is a testament to this company’s dedication to its people, and I’m so proud to be a part of that.” In her new position, Burke will work on select, high-priority projects for DreamWorks.

    DreamWorks Animation had a major summer 2005 hit in the CG comedy Madagascar, and most recently achieved worldwide success with the clay-animated Aardman production, Wallace & Gromit: The Curse of the Were-Rabbit. This summer, the studio will release Over the Hedge, an animated adaptation of the comic strip by Michael Fry and T. Lewis. The film will be followed by Flushed Away an Aardman CG feature slated for a holiday 2006 release.

  • Autodesk Completes Alias Acquisition

    Autodesk Inc. has closed its $197 million cash acquisition of Alias, a competing developer of 3D graphics technology. Among other things, the transaction joins under one roof Autodesk’s 3ds Max and Alias’ Maya, two 3D animation and modeling software applications that have long been competing for dominance in the entertainment field. While Autodesk plans to continue the development and support of Alias products and services, it is not yet known how Max and Maya will be handled as siblings.

    Alias’ products, technology and services will be integrated with Autodesk’s

    Manufacturing Solutions and Media & Entertainment divisions and Autodesk’s

    consulting organization. The combined company boasts more than seven million users, including such major film studios and game developers as Industrial Light & Magic, DreamWorks SKG, Weta Digital, Sony Pictures Imageworks, Electronic Arts, Midway Games, Nintendo and SEGA. Another key area for Autodesk and Alias products is automotive and design, where customers include BMW, Boeing, General Motors, Mattel, Honda, Renault and Rollerblade.

    Alias’ former global headquarters in Toronto, Canada, will remain

    a key development center for Autodesk, which welcomes aboard several Alias management team members. Dave Wharry, formerly Alias’ VP of global sales and marketing, is now VP of sales for Autodesk’s Media & Entertainment Division. In addition, Michel Besner, Alias’ VP of business development’emerging markets, is now leading product management for Autodesk’s Media & Entertainment Division 3D product portfolio.

    Autodesk COO Carl Bass states that the acquisition of Alias is

    about giving design and creative professionals the best software tools for realizing their ideas. ‘Customers are demanding the next generation of 3D photorealistic visualization and animation tools, and we are poised to deliver,’ he comments. ‘In the future, 3D assets will be created once and shared across a range of industries, from automotive and architectural design to films and games. This will be enabled by Autodesk technology.”

    More information on Autodesk’s acquisition of Alias can be found at

    www.autodesk.com/autodeskandalias.

  • BOXX Introduces VFX Workstation

    BOXX Technologies today introduced APEXX 4, a top-of-the-line personal workstation specifically engineered to maximize the productivity of visual effects professionals. The true 64-bit machine offers four Dual-Core AMD Opteron processor architecture and as much as 64GB of memory to boost the efficiency of artists working on the large CG scenes and realistic digital characters.

    BOXX’s APEXX 4 promises to deliver a high-end computing experience that has been the exclusive domain of proprietary UNIX workstations, for a fraction of the price. According to BOXX , studios that invest in these workstations can enjoy a shorter pipeline, a more streamlined workflow and more flexibility to make changes later in the design cycle.

    ‘APEXX 4 exemplifies BOXX’s commitment to the VFX community,’ states Fran’ois Wolf, director of marketing for BOXX Technologies. ‘It is an innovative product based on intelligently integrated, cutting-edge technology that makes sense for digital artists that trust BOXX to help them meet their challenges.’ The machines are designed to be quiet and compact enough to run right next to the artist.

    Mental Images, maker of the industry-leading Mental Ray rendering software, had the opportunity to put the new model through its paces. ‘The BOXX APEXX4 workstation achieves a speedup factor of 7.2 compared to a one-processor machine for our standard rendering benchmark,’ notes Runa Loeber, director of platforms security for mental images. ‘Artists can very efficiently light and tune a scene with mental ray on this workstation. Instead of waiting seven minutes for the rendering of a complex scene, it will now take less than a minute.”

    APEXX 4 workstations are now available from BOXX, which offers flexible financing options. For more information, go to www.boxxtech.com/apexx4.

  • Canemaker Salutes McCay at LACMA

    The Los Angeles County Museum of Art (LACMA) will host animation historian/animator John Canemaker as he signs copies of his Windsor McCay biography and presents a screening of films by the legendary animation pioneer. The event will take place on Saturday, January 14 at 7 p.m. The signing will be held in the Bookshelf and the screening will take place in the Bing Theater.

    Canemaker’s Windsor McCay, featuring a foreword by Maurice Sendak, is the only existing biography of the highly influential cartoonists whose animated achievements, such as Gertie the Dinosaur, inspired Walt Disney. Originally published in 1987, the book is now back in print with a newly expanded and revised edition on the occasion of the 100th anniversary of McCay’s comic strip, Little Nemo in Slumberland. Newly found Nemo comics and sketches by McCay have been added since the first priniting of the book, which profiles both McCay’s life and art.

    In addition to writing eight books on animation history and contributing regularly to the New York Times, Canemaker’s own award-winning, independent animated films are in the permanent collection of The Museum of Modern Art in New York. his most recent short, The Moon and th Son: An Imagined Conversation has been receiving great reviews on the festival circuit.

    More information on the LACMA book signing and screening, go to http://lacma.pmailus.com/pmailweb/ct?d=BYq2rABzAAX—–AACDEw.

  • Art Institute Opens Game Center in L.A.

    The Art Institute of California’Los Angeles is set to cut the ribbon on The Game Center, its new state-of-the-art facility featuring top-of-the-line development tools and software. Game development professionals, game art students and members of the media are invited to attend the grand opening ceremony and exhibition on Thursday, Jan. 26, from 4 p.m. to 6:30 p.m.

    In addition to the hottest new video games and consoles, books, board games and magazines, the Game Center boasts a motion-capture system from sponsor Motion Analysis Corp. Other sponsors include Alias, AMD, Animation Magazine, Autodesk Inc., Avid Computer Graphics, F. Dice, International Game Developers Assn. (IGDA), Luminetik Animation Studios, Nvidia Corp., PC Unlimited, Peachpit Press, Pioneer (USA), Seagate Technology, SilverStone, Tyan Computer Corp. and ViewSonic.

    The Art Institute of California’Los Angeles is located at 2900 31st Street in Santa Monica (cross-street is Ocean Park). The school is one of 31 Art Institutes located throughout North America. Providing instruction in design, media arts, fashion and culinary arts, the Art Institutes can be found on the web at www.artinstitutes.edu.

  • McCarron Named Academic Director at AI, Vancouver

    The Art Institute of Vancouver has appointed animator and artist Jeremy McCarron to the post of academic director of animation art & design. McCarron comes to the position with more than 10 years of production experience in the television and video-game industries. His credits include the ReBoot, Beast Wars, and Shadow Raiders TV series, The Simpson’s Road Rage and Scarface video games and the Barbie and Fairytopia home video franchises.

    As academic director, McCarron will act as a liaison between students, faculty and industry. ‘I want to make a positive impact on people’s lives by passing on the knowledge and experience that I have gained over the course of my career,’ McCarron states. ‘Students benefit from an education at The Art Institute of Vancouver because of the high quality of instruction from trained faculty, many of whom have industry experience in the fields they teach. Students receive a solid foundation in the traditional arts and train with industry-relevant software and techniques.’

    The Art Institute of Vancouver is one of 31 Art Institutes located throughout North America. Providing instruction in design, media arts, fashion and culinary arts, the Art Institutes can be found on the web at www.artinstitutes.edu.

  • Underworld, The Flash Return on Disc

    This week’s slate of home video releases offers slim pickings for the animation fan, but there is some vfx and comic-book fun to be had in the form of Sony’s Underworld Unrated, Extended Cut, Limited Edition and Warner Home Video’s The Flash: The Complete Series.

    With Sony Screen Gems’ Underworld: Evolution set to hit theaters next Friday, it’s 2003 predecessor has been re-released on DVD as a three-disc set featuring new stuff. The vampire vs. werewolf actioner, starring Kate Beckinsale, Scott Speedman and Bill Nighy, was a surprise hit at the box office, earning more than $93 million worldwide.

    The new DVD offers all materials included in the previously issued unrated extended cut, including commentary by director Len Wiseman, additional footage, vfx featurettes, a music video, storyboards and outtakes. In addition, fans get a sneak peek at the sequel, a DVD-ROM link to view an exclusive scene from the new movie and an exclusive look at the all-new Underworld Evolution comic book.

    One of the better live-action comic-book adaptations for television, 1990’s The Flash is back with a six-disc set featuring all 21 episodes from the first and only season. Based on the popular DC Comics superhero property, the series stars former soap star John Wesley Shipp as police scientist Barry Allen, who, through a lab mishap, develops the ability to move at nearly the speed of sound Warner Bros. Has hired Batman Begins scribe David S. Goyer to tackle a big-screen adaptation. Until then, the disc set of the TV show is available for the suggested retail price of $59.98.

    For the kiddies, Dora the Explorer: Save the Day offers episodes of the hugely successful Nickelodoen animated. Series. The Paramount release lists for $16.99 and offers a music video titled Move Like the Animals Do, and the bonus episodes “Boot’s Cuddly Dinosaur” and “Roberto the Robot.”