Animation Magazine

Author: Ryan Ball

  • Barbera Revisits Tom and Jerry

    It’s been 65 years since Joseph Barbera and William Hanna created the famous cat-and-mouse duo known as Tom and Jerry, but the property is still very much alive. Barbera recently jumped back into the director’s chair with The KarateGuard, a new, seven-minute theatrical short starring the Academy Award-winning mortal enemies. Produced by Warner Bros. Animation, the film has been submitted for 2006 Academy Award consideration and will premiere on Friday, Jan. 27, at 9 p.m. (ET/PT) on Cartoon Network.

    In The KarateGuard, Jerry takes up martial arts to defend himself against Tom, but finds he still needs a little help. To supplement his training, Jerry’s martial arts instructor gives him a mystic gong that summons a canine Samurai bodyguard. Of course, wild chase scenes and comic clobbering ensue.

    The classic Tom and Jerry theatrical shorts were produced at MGM by Barbera and partner Hanna, who passed away in 2001. The films where shown before the studio’s features from 1940-1957 and garnered seven Academy Awards before enjoying a long life on television.

    ‘When we created these characters, we had no idea how popular and beloved Tom and Jerry would become,’ Barbera comments. ‘It was such a thrill to direct this short. With all the creativity coming from animators in the field today, it is great to see that animation is more popular than ever.’

    At the age of 94, Barbera is still an active member of the Warner Bros. Animation team. ‘It is truly an honor to have Joe here at our studio contributing his invaluable experience, wisdom and creativity,’ says studio president Sander Schwartz. ‘He was not only a trailblazer in the field of animation, but also a pioneer in setting standards that are still used throughout the industry today. To have him direct this historic film celebrating the 65th anniversary of Tom and Jerry is remarkable.’

    Hanna and Barbera worked together for more than 60 years and produced more than 3,500 half-hours of animated programming. Other enduring characters to come out of this legendary partnership include The Flintstones, Scooby-Doo, Yogi Bear, The Jetsons, Top Cat, Quick Draw McGraw, Magilla Gorilla and Auggie Doggie and Doggie Daddy.

  • Academy Unveils Sci-Tech Winners

    The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences today announced the 17 winners of Scientific and Technical Academy Awards, which will be presented during a special black-tie gala at The Beverly Hilton on Saturday, Feb. 18. While motion-capture technology reigned last year, the 2006 kudos go mostly to advances in camera heads and crane systems. However, a handful of awards will be given to animation-related entries.

    Pixar principal Ed Catmull will be honored for the original concept of subdivision surfaces as a modeling technique in motion picture production. Tony DeRose and Jos Stam will also be recognized with Oscar statuettes for for their scientific and practical implementation of subdivision surfaces, which has become a preferred modeling primitive for many types of computer graphics.

    Academy Awards will go to John Platt and Demetri Terzopoulos for their pioneering work in physically-based computer-generated techniques used to simulate realistic cloth in motion pictures. Their 1987 paper, titled Elastically Deformable Models, was a milestone in computer graphics, introducing the concept of physically-based techniques to simulate moving, deforming objects.

    Alvah Miller, Michael Sorensen and J. Walt Adamczyk will also pick up Oscars for the design and development of the Aerohead motion control camera head and the J-Viz Pre-Visualization system. This remote head not only serves the needs of the live-action filmmaker, but also provides the functionality of a motion-controlled head, allowing for sophisticated tiling and pre-visualization techniques.

    An Academy Plaque will be presented to David Baraff, Michael Kass and Andrew Witkin for their pioneering work in physically-based computer-generated techniques used to simulate realistic cloth in motion pictures. Their 1998 paper, titled Large Steps in Cloth Simulation, provided the key to demonstrating to the industry that the calculations necessary to simulate realistic, complex cloth could be achieved efficiently and effectively.

    Unlike other Academy Award categories, scientific and technical achievements do not have to have been developed and introduced in 2005. All technologies that have a proven track record of continued, successful use in the film industry are eligible.

  • VES Nominations Announced

    The Visual Effects Society (VES) today announced the nominees for the 4th Annual VES Awards. Recognizing outstanding visual effects in film, television, commercials, music videos and games, the ceremony will be held on Feb. 15 at the Hollywood Palladium, where Pixar Animation Studios founder John Lasseter will follow George Lucas and Robert Zemeckis as the third recipient of the Georges Melies Award for Artistic Excellence.

    This year, four films are in contention for the top award. Vying for Outstanding Visual Effects in a Visual Effects Driven Motion Picture are Disney/Walden Media’s The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe (Dean Wright, Randy Starr, Bill Westenhofer, Jim Berney), Warner Bros.’ Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire (Jim Mitchell, Theresa Corrao, Tim Alexander, Tim Webber), Universal’s King Kong (Eileen Moran, Joe Letteri, Christian Rivers, Eric Saindon) and 20th Century Fox’s Star Wars: Episode III Revenge of the Sith (John Knoll, Roger Guyett, Rob Coleman, Denise Ream).

    Another big kudo is the Best Single Visual Effect of the Year Award. This year’s nominees are the Nut Room sequence from Warner Bros. Charlie and the Chocolate Factory (Nick Davis, Nikki Penny, Jon Thum, Ben Morris), the opening space battle from Star Wars: Episode III’Revenge of the Sith (John Knoll, Jill Brooks, David Weitzberg, Jeff Sutherland) and the ‘fleeing the neighborhood’ scene in Paramount’s War of the Worlds (Dennis Muren, Pablo Helman, Sandra Scott, Marshall Krasser).

    Up for Outstanding Animated Character in an Animated Motion Picture are King Julian from DreamWorks Animation’s Madagascar (Rex Grignon, Denis Couchon), Fender from Fox Animation’s Robots (Robin Williams, David Torres, Mark Piretti, Ben Williams) and Gromit from DreamWorks Animation/Aardman Animations’ Wallace & Gromit: The Curse of the Were-Rabbit-Gromit (Loyd Price). Meanwhile, the award for an animated character in a live-action motion picture will go to one of the following: Aslan in The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe (Richie Baneham, Erik De Boer, Matt Logue, Joe Ksander), The Dragon form Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire (Steve Rawlins, Eric Wong, Robert Weaver, Steve Nichols) and the titular ape in King Kong (Andy Serkis, Atsushi Sato, Guy Williams, Eric Saindon).

    A panel of more than 60 visual effects professionals selected the nominees on Saturday, Jan. 7. ‘We received over 200 submissions from over a half dozen countries around the world this year, which mirrors the kind of growth we’re experiencing as a global organization,’ says VES exec director Eric Roth. ‘With that growth has come greater diversity, complexity and creativity’hallmarks of the best and brightest the visual effects field has to offer.’

    This year’s nominees will present their work at a special ‘Show and Tell’ session at the Skirball Cultural Center in Los Angeles on Jan. 21. The event is free to VES members and is also open to the public at $20 per ticket. Tickets are available by calling the VES office at (310) 822-9181, and may also be purchased at the door. Final voting for all categories will take place between Jan. 25 and Feb. 12.

    Other 2006 VES Nominees:

    Outstanding Supporting Visual Effects in a Motion Picture

    Jarhead‘Pablo Helman, Jeanie King, Grady Cofer, Brett Northcutt

    Kingdom of Heaven‘ Wes Sewell, Victoria Alonso, Tom Wood, Gary Brozenich

    Memoirs of a Geisha‘Robert Stromberg, Julia Frey, Paul Graff, Adam Watkins

    Outstanding Visual Effects in a Broadcast Miniseries, Movie or Special

    Comet Collision‘John Gross, Nick Black, Christian Bloch, Casey Benn

    Superbowl XXXIX: Open’Benoit Girard, Jason Crosby, Jerome Morin, Chris Del Conte

    Walking With Monsters‘Tim Greenwood, Jo Nodwell, Neil Glasbey, Darren Byford

    Outstanding Visual Effects in a Broadcast Series

    Invasion, ‘Origin of Species”Armen Kevorkian, Matt Scharf, John Karner, Neil Sopata

    Rome, ‘Episode 1”Barrie Hemsley, James Madigan, Duncan Kinnaird, Joe Pavlo

    Smallville, ‘Commencement”Mat Beck, John Wash, John Han, Trent Smith

    Outstanding Supporting Visual Effects in a Broadcast Program

    Alias, ‘The Index”Kevin Blank, Armen Kevorkian, Eric Chauvin, Jonathan Spencer Levy

    Lost, ‘Exodus Part 2”Kevin Blank, Mitchell Ferm, Eric Chauvin, John Teska

    Warm Springs‘Camille Cellucci, Jonathan Keeton, Kirk Cadrette, John Baker

    Outstanding Visual Effects in a Commercial

    Esuvee, ‘Keep it on all Fours”William Bartlett, Scott Griffin, Jake Mengers, Andrew Boyd

    Guinness, ‘noitulovE”William Bartlett, Scott Griffin, Andrew Boyd, Dan Seddon

    Motorola, ‘PEBL”Eric Barba, Lisa Beroud, Janelle Croshaw, Greg Teegarden

    Outstanding Visual Effects in a Music Video

    The Chemical Brothers, ‘Believe’ ‘Ben Cronin, Rebecca Barbour, Andrew Boyd, Jamie Isles

    Nine Inch Nails, ‘Only”Eric Barba, Lisa Beroud, Jay Barton, Jim Gaczkowski

    Rob Thomas, ‘Lonely No More’ ‘Bert Yukich

    Outstanding Real Time Visuals in a Video Game

    From Russia With Love‘David Carson, Darren Pattenden, Ben Wanat

    Madden NFL 06 for Xbox 360’Mark Mongie, Jim Spoto, Tommy Cinquegrano, Dale Jackson

    NBA Live 06 for Xbox 360’Greg Juby, Tim Tschirner, Jim Perkins, Alex Ferrier

    Need For Speed Most Wanted‘Habib Zargarpour, Greg D’Esposito, Eduardo Agostini, Colin O’Connor

    Outstanding Pre-Rendered Visuals in a Video Game

    Need For Speed Most Wanted‘Habib Zargarpour, Michael Mann, Mataio Gardi, Jason Dowdeswell

    Prince of Persia: The Two Thrones, battle cinematic’Jean-Jacques Tremblay, Raphael Lacoste, Kun Chang

    Prince of Persia: The Two Thrones, palace balcony cinematic’Jean-Jacques Tremblay, Raphael Lacoste, Anne Mai Le Bouyonnec

    Stranger’s Wrath, In-game story clips’Sherry McKenna, Lorne Lanning, Raymond Swanland, Iain Morton

    Outstanding Visual Effects in a Special Venue Project

    Curse of Darkastle: The Ride!‘Dina Benadon, Brent Young, Chuck Comisky, Mario Kamberg

    Deepo’s 3-D Underwater Wondershow‘Michel Heroux, Benoit Girard, Jerome Morin, Chris Del Conte

    Magnificent Desolation: Walking on the Moon‘Jack Geist, Sean Phillips, Johnathan Banta, Jerome Morin

    Outstanding Animated Character in a Live Action Broadcast Program, Commercial, or Music Video

    Cylon from Battlestar Galactica, Episode 2’Dustin Adair, Mark Shimer, Lane Jolly, Steve Graves

    Cylon from Battlestar Galactica, Season 2, Episode 3 ‘Fragged”‘Gary Hutzel, Andrew Karr, Gary Hughes, Allan Henderson

    Baby Sea Creature from Surface, Episode 102’Eric Hance, Robert Bonchune, John Teska, Sean Jackson

    Outstanding Created Environment in a Live Action Motion Picture

    Batman Begins, Gotham City monorail chase’Alex Wuttke, Pete Bebb, Dayne Cowan, Imery Watson

    Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire, Black Lake environment’Andy Kind, Ivan Moran, Rob Allman, Justin Martin

    King Kong, New York dawn attack’Dan Lemmon, R. Christopher White, Matt Aitken, Charles Tait

    Star Wars: Episode III’Revenge of the Sith‘Jonathan Harb, Hilmar Koch, Yanick Dusseault, Brett Northcutt

    Outstanding Created Environment in a Live Action Broadcast Program, Commercial, or Music Video

    Into The West Parts I, II and III‘Cedric Tomacruz, David Bailey, Valeri Pfahning, Siddhartha Jayakar

    Motorola, ‘PEBL”Jim Gaczkowski, Daniel Thron, Janelle Croshaw, Greg Teegarden

    Nine Inch Nails, ‘Only’ ‘Janelle Croshaw, Greg Teegarden, Jim Gaczkowski, Scott Edelstein

    Outstanding Models and Miniatures in a Motion Picture

    Harry Potter and The Goblet of Fire‘Jose Granell, Nigel Stone

    Star Wars: Episode III’Revenge of the Sith‘Brian Gernand, Pamela Choy, Ron Woodall, Kevin Reuter

    War of the Worlds‘Ed Hirsh, Steve Gawley, Joshua Ong, Russell Paul

    Outstanding Models and Miniatures in a Broadcast Program

    Ford, ‘World Traveler” Matthew Gratzner, Greg Boettcher, Enrico Altmann, Matt Burlingame

    Las Vegas, Episode 308 “Bold, Beautiful and Blue”‘Michael Cook, Anthony O’Campo, Eugene Kim, Renaud Talon

    Walgreens Giving Tree / Last Minute, ‘Winter Neighborhood’Ian Hunter, Forest Fischer, Seth Curlin, Joachim (Joe) Duppel

    Outstanding Compositing in a Motion Picture

    Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire, Voldemort’s nose’Ben Shepherd, Uel Horman, Charley Henley, Nicolas Aithadi

    King Kong, V-Rex fight’Erik Winquist, Michaell Pangrazio, Steve Cronin, Suzanne Jandu

    War of the Worlds‘Marshall Krasser, Michael Jamieson, Jeff Saltzman, Regan McGee

    Outstanding Compositing in a Broadcast Program, Commercial, or Music Video

    Empire‘Stefano Trivelli, Michele Moen, Kelly Bumbarger, Sean Wilson

    Into The West Part I ‘Wheel to the Stars”Jared Jones, Jason Korber, Geeta Basantani, Ryan Dutour

    Mezzo Djarum, ‘Race”Mark Rienzo, Feliciano di Giorgio, Maciek Sokalski,

  • Nick Jr. Rolls on Wow! Wow! Wubbzy!

    Preschool cable outlet Nick Jr. has begun production on Wow! Wow! Wubbzy!, an original, 26-episode animated preschool series produced by Bolder Media for Boys and Girls in association with IDT/Film Roman. Created by Bob Boyle, a producer on Nickelodeon’s The Fairly OddParents and Danny Phantom, the property previously known Wubby, Widget and Walden is slated to premiere on Nick Jr. in the fall.

    Wow! Wow! Wubbzy! Centers on a curious little creature named Wubbzy, who lives in the mythical city of Wuzzleburg. With the help of pals Widget and Walden, he tackles everyday kid problems so he can pursue such interests as chasing flutterflies, eating ice cream and playing hippity-hopscotch. Widget is a mechanical whiz and inventor who owns her own fix-it shop, and Walden is a quirky scientist who finds great wisdom in everything from ancient philosophy to tarot card reading.

    Channel Frederator and Bolder Media for Boys and Girls are introducing the world of Wubbzy with The Wubbcast (www.wubbzy.com), a video podcast that offers 5 to 7-minute episodes of musical animation for portable video devices including the Apple iPod, the Sony PSP and mobile telephones. On January 10, The Wubbcast, Nick Jr. Video (www.nickjrvideo.com) and Channel Frederator (www.channelfrederator.com) will all offer a sneak peek from the premiere episode of the new TV series.

    Each half-hour episode of Wow! Wow! Wubbzy! will feature two, 10-minute adventures with themes that are reinforced with original music videos. Creator Boyle is exec producer, along with Susan Miller and Fred Seibert, co-founders of Bolder Media for Boys and Girls.

  • Branson’s Virgin Animation to Fly in India

    According to The Hollywood Reporter, Virgin Comics and Virgin Animation are being set up in India by Virgin Air mogul Richard Branson, filmmaker Shekar Kapur, author Deepak Chopra and Gotham Entertainment Group. Based in Bangalore, the new companies will reportedly mix Eastern and Western mythologies in the creation of original properties from the likes of Kapur and fellow director John Woo.

    Virgin Comics expects to release its initial titles this year.One property is being co-created by Woo, while Kapur crafts story elements for the company. Meanwhile, the animation branch will focus on building production and distribution partnerships for animated features, both traditional and CG. Other avenues considered for exploration include television, gaming and wireless.

    Gotham Chopra serves as chief creative officer for the entities, while business partner Sharad Devarajan serves as CEO. Suresh Seetharaman will be president of Indian operations.

  • Autodesk Gives Max Subscribers Pro Booleans

    Autodesk’s subscription customers are receiving Pro Booleans, an exclusive new feature extension for 3ds Max8, the company’s leading 3D modeling and animation software. Based on Power Booleans from NPower Software, Pro Booleans promises to bring expanded flexibility to Max’s installed modeling tools for higher-quality results.

    According to Autodesk, Pro Booleans is ideal for building highly detailed, inorganic shapes such as vehicles, hand-held items or mechanical objects for use in visual effects, game development and design visualization. The extension can also be used to quickly create detailed, accurate surfaces with fewer polygons. With it, 3ds Max subscription customers also get Pro Cutter, a tool designed to dismantle a model in a number of different ways for shattering glass and other animation effects.

    Autodesk expects to deliver Pro Booleans for its 3ds Max 8 subscription

    customers this winter. The company’s 3ds Max 8 software is available for the suggested retail price of $3495, and 3ds Max subscriptions are available for an

    additional $440. Non-subscription customers can purchase Power Booleans directly from NPower Software for $295. For more information, contact an Autodesk Authorized Reseller or go to http://www.autodesk.com/subscription.

  • Marvel, Toy Biz Worldwide Part Ways

    Marvel Ent. Inc. has terminated its licensing agreement with Toy Biz Worldwide Ltd. a year before the arrangement was scheduled to expire. Marvel-branded action figures and other toys formerly produced by Toy Biz will be made by Marvel in 2006 as the company prepares to shift toy development, manufacturing, shipping and other operations to Hasbro in 2007.

    “While Marvel will own any inventory produced for 2006, our policy of predominantly manufacturing to order should help mitigate our inventory risk,’ says Marvel chairman Morton Handel.

    The combined percentage royalty and fees coming in from Hasbro will be generally lower than those paid by Toy Biz Worldwide, but Marvel believes its brand and sales will benefit greatly from Hasbro’s strong worldwide marketing, promotion and distribution network. In addition, Hasbro will pay Marvel a non-refundable advance of $100 million.

    As a result of the early termination, Marvel will pay Toy Biz a penalty of $13 million-$16 million. This one-time cash charge will be recorded for the fourth quarter of 2005, but is not reflected in the company’s financial guidance for the year. Meanwhile, the Hasbro license is conditioned on its clearance under the Hart-Scott-Rodino Antitrust Improvements Act of 1976.

  • Marvel, Toy Biz Worldwide Part Ways

    Marvel Ent. Inc. has terminated its licensing agreement with Toy Biz Worldwide Ltd. a year before the arrangement was scheduled to expire. Marvel-branded action figures and other toys formerly produced by Toy Biz will be made by Marvel in 2006 as the company prepares to shift toy development, manufacturing, shipping and other operations to Hasbro in 2007.

    “While Marvel will own any inventory produced for 2006, our policy of predominantly manufacturing to order should help mitigate our inventory risk,’ says Marvel chairman Morton Handel.

    The combined percentage royalty and fees coming in from Hasbro will be generally lower than those paid by Toy Biz Worldwide, but Marvel believes its brand and sales will benefit greatly from Hasbro’s strong worldwide marketing, promotion and distribution network. In addition, Hasbro will pay Marvel a non-refundable advance of $100 million.

    As a result of the early termination, Marvel will pay Toy Biz a penalty of $13 million-$16 million. This one-time cash charge will be recorded for the fourth quarter of 2005, but is not reflected in the company’s financial guidance for the year. Meanwhile, the Hasbro license is conditioned on its clearance under the Hart-Scott-Rodino Antitrust Improvements Act of 1976.

  • Comedy Central Motherload Gets Heavier

    Comedy Central has unveiled its 2006 original development slate for its broadband programming outlet, Motherload. Among the additions are new cartoon shorts that will be available for download at www.comedycentral.com.

    One of the first network broadband channels to premiere original series, Comedy Central Motherload launched on Nov. 1, 2005 and features such animated series as Odd Todd from Todd Rosenberg and Shadow Rock from Max Cannon, the artist behind Red Meat, a popular cult comic strip featured every week in The Onion.

    “Our 2006 broadband development slate further represents Comedy Central’s commitment to developing and producing quality programming exclusively for this digital platform,” says Lou Wallach, senior VP of original programming and development for Comedy Central. “Top comedians, actors and writers are looking to Comedy Central as the launching pad for their broadband shows.

    Among the new animated series in development is Golden Age from Augenblick Studios, whose animation has appeared in Comedy Central’s Shorties Watching Shorties and MTV2’s Wonder Showzen. Each episode of Golden Age reveals what happened to retired cartoon characters such Jerome the gumdrop from the ‘Let’s Go Out to the Lobby” film strips that played before movies in the 70s.

    Animation and comic fans can also look forward to a dark and twisted Reading Rainbow parody titled Daisy Garden Story Time. The series is created by Nick Gurewitch, the artist behind the cult comic strip The Perry Bible Fellowship. Comedy central has also put an order in for Fanboy, a live-action series about an obnoxious comic-book geek, developed by Hungryman, a commercial production company that works with acclaimed directors Spike Jonze and Michel Gondry.

  • Disney’s Dinosaur Bound for Blue-ray

    The Walt Disney Co. has announced its first slate of films to be released in the new Blue-ray Disc format, including among them the 2000 animated theatrical release, Dinosaur. The Blue-ray Disc has been adopted by many major studios and distributors and has emerged as the frontrunner to replace standard DVDs in the home entertainment market.

    Blu-ray discs can store 5 times more information than current DVDs and promise better picture and sound quality since images are compressed and authored in full high-definition 1080p resolution (1920 x 1080) with lossless audio. What’s more, they feature a scratch-resistant surface to protect them agains rough handling. In addition to movies, Blu-ray discs will be used for music, gaming and other digital entertainment.

    The other Buena Vista Home Entertainment titles currently earmarked for Blue-ray distribution include Quentin Tarantino’s Kill Bill: Vol. 1, which features anime produced by Production I.G., Terry Gilliam’s The Brothers Grimm, Michael Bay’s vfx-laden Armageddon, the Kevin Smith comedy Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back, the chiller Dark Water, Ladder 49 and The Great Raid. The releases will roll out this summer as Blue-ray Disc hardware products begin to hit the market.

    Directed by Eric Leighton and Ralph Zondag, Dinosaur combines CG animation with photographed backgrounds to tell the tale of an orphaned dinosaur who undertakes a perilous journey to seek sanctuary when his family home is destroyed by a meteorite shower. The film reportedly cost around $127 million to make and barely broke even at the domestic box office. A bigger hit overseas, it went on to earn more than $354 million worldwide.

  • Disney Debuts The Wild Trailer on Starz

    Premium cable network Starz will host the world television premiere of the trailer for Walt Disney Pictures’ upcoming animated feature, The Wild. Stars Entertainment Group subscribers can tune in at various times on Monday, Jan. 9, to catch the 1:40 teaser for the adventure-comedy about New York City zoo animals who have to learn to survive in the wilds of Africa.

    The Wild stars 24’s Kiefer Sutherland as Samson, the respected lion leader, Greg Cipes as Samson’s rebellious son, Ryan, Jim Belushi as a street-smart squirrel named Benny, Janeane Garofalo as a pampered giraffe, Richard Kind as a dim-witted anaconda, William Shatner as a wicked wildebeest and Eddie Izzard as Nigel, an acerbic koala. The film is slated for release on April 14.

    The trailer will premiere at 5:30 p.m. (ET/PT) on Starz Kids & Family, 7:15 p.m. on Starz and 10 p.m. on Starz Comedy. Starz Entertainment Group, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Liberty Media Corp., reaches approximately 40 million viewers with 13 digital movie channels including the flagship Starz and Encore channels. The network’s web site is www.starz.com.

  • BloodRayne Brings Game to Screen

    The latest video game to come to the big screen is BloodRayne, a Majesco title adapted by game-to-film specialist Uwe Boll (House of the Dead, Alone in the Dark). The production was in search of a distributor for some time before being picked up by Romar Ent. and unleashed in nearly 2,000 theaters across North America today.

    BloodRayne stars Kristanna Loken (Terminator 3: Rise of the Machines) as the title sword-wielding half-vampire who is driven by vengeance to overthrow her father, Kagan (Sir Ben Kingsley), king of all vampires. The cast also features Michael Madsen (Kill Bill Vol. 2) and Michelle Rodriguez (TV’s Lost).

    Written by American Psycho scribe Guinevere Turner, BloodRayne is produced by 1st Boll Kino Beteiligungs GmbH and Brightlight Pictures Inc. In addition to tackling Sega’s House of the Dead and Atari’s Alone in the Dark, Director Boll is is producing a movie based on Crytek’s first-person shooter, Far Cry.

    Majesco’s two BloodRayne video games are developed by Terminal Reality, and are available for PlayStation 2 and Xbox for a suggested retail price of $49.99. More information about the latest title can be found online at www.bloodrayne2.com.

    Also debuting in wide release today are 20th Century Fox’s comedy, Grandma’s Boy, a film produced by Adam Sandler’s Happy Madison Prods., and Lions Gate’s gory horror flick, Hostel. Directed by Eli Roth (Cabin Fever), Hostel has been generating some outr’ buzz and has some chance of stealing the top spot from Disney’s and Walden Media’s The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe. In the fourth week of its release, the adaptation of C.S. Lewis’ classic fantasy novel pulled off a major coop by reclaiming the No. 1 slot from Universals’ King Kong over the New Year holiday.

  • South Park Gets Mobilized

    Comedy Central’s Emmy-winning animated series, South Park, is coming to mobile phones this month through a new deal with Amp’d Mobile. This is the first mobile content deal for the irreverent toon comedy and the network’s other ratings darling, Chappelle’s Show, which will also be carried.

    ‘These deals further represent Comedy Central’s multi-platform strategy to deliver content anywhere, anytime,” comments Comedy Central exec VP and general manager Michele Ganeless. “With the mobile launch of South Park and Chappelle’s Show, two of the top-rated shows on our network, Comedy Central is leading the charge in the wireless entertainment content arena.”

    In addition to video clips, mobile subscribers will be able to download South Park ringtones, ringbacks, voicemail, wallpapers and games at the Comedy Central Mobile Storefront.

    Created by Trey Parker and Matt Stone, South Park is now in its ninth season and remains the network’s highest-rated series. Comedy Central has renewed the show for at least three more years and will air 42 new episodes between now and 2008.

  • Turner’s GameTap Enhanced by Intel

    Turner Broadcasting’s broadband video game network, GameTap, has been verified to work with the Intel Viiv technology that beams PC signals to a television monitor up to 10 feet away. Now gamers will be able to enjoy GameTap’s library of more than 300 on-demand game titles on at television screen using wireless USB peripheral game controllers and MCE remote control.

    The Intel Viiv version of GameTap requires a PC running Microsoft Windows XP Media Center Edition 2005 and promises rich, 3D navigation and sophisticated graphics, combined with the speed of Intel’s powerful dual-core processors.

    “Playing GameTap just got better for consumers as we take the experience beyond the PC environment and into virtually any room in the home,” says GameTap General Manager Stuart Snyder. “The ability to expand the playground to a large screen and experience the network in a bigger way brings the consumer into an even more immersive world of video games and makes playing even more compelling.”

    GameTap features a wide variety of games ranging from Pong and Pac-Man to Tom Clancy’s Splinter Cell and Myst. Turner has licensed nearly 1,200 games from 24 publishers, including Activision, Atari, Capcom, Codemasters, Electronic Arts, Midway, Namco, SEGA, Ubisoft and Vivendi Universal Games. Users must download the GameTap software, which acts as a gateway to the GameTap vault. All-you-can-play access requires a flat monthly fee for up to two household PCs, and several sub accounts can also be created. More information of the GameTap service can be found at www.gametap.com.

  • PGA Nominates Toons

    The Producers Guild of America (PGA) has announced the nominees for its 2006 awards ceremony, which will be held on Sunday, Jan. 22, at the Universal Hilton in Los Angeles. Recognizing films released in 2005, the kudo fest has added an animated motion picture category and has placed five productions in the running.

    The nominees for Best Animated Motion Picture are Disney’s Chicken Little (producer Randy Fullmer), DreamWorks Animation’s Madagascar (Mireille Soria), Fox Animation’s Robots, (Jerry Davis, John C. Donkin, William Joyce), Warner Bros.’ Tim Burton’s Corpse Bride (Tim Burton, Allison Abbate) and DreamWorks Animation/Aardman Animations’ Wallace & Gromit: The Curse of the Were-Rabbit (Credits are pending arbitration).

    The PGA didn’t have an animated category last year, but one CG feature managed to earn a spot in the race for the top award. Disney/Pixar’s The Incredibles, produced by John Walker and exec produced by John Lasseter, was up for the Darryl F. Zanuck Producer of the Year Award, going up against such live-action heavy hitters as The Aviator, Finding Neverland, Million Dollar Baby and Sideways.

    The 2006 PGA Awards will also fete long-form, episodic drama, episodic comedy, non-fiction and variety television productions. Voting is now open to PGA members and will close on Jan. 20. To see the full list of nomnees, go to www.producersguild.org/pg/awards_a/.

  • Hoodwinked Game Online

    Set to roll out in theaters nationwide on Jan. 13, The Weinstein Co.’s new animated feature film, Hoodwinked, is getting its game on. A video game based on the CG animated, musical fairy tale spoof has hit the web courtesy of FamilyMediaGuide.com, letting fans enter this unique take on the world of Little Red Riding Hood.

    In the movie, produced by Kanbar Ent., investigators look at all the angles as they get to the bottom of the famous case of domestic distrubance involving Red (Anne Hathaway), Granny (Glenn Close) the Wolf (Patrick Warburton) and the axe-wileding Woodsman (Jim Belushi).

    Hoodwinked Whodunnit? is a character-driven, interactive mystery that has players solve a series of questions using clues from other family-friendly movies featured throughout the FamilyMediaGuide.com site. Participants will also have a chance to win autographed Hoodwinked posters, soundtracks and other prizes.

    FamilyMediaGuide.com researches movies and supplies parents and caregivers with detailed content analysis indicating all instances of profanity, sex, violence, drug use and illegal behavior. The site will also be partnering with The Weinstein Co. to help promote the upcoming animated feature Doogal, which features four critters on a hero’s journey to return the evil wizard Zeebad to his icy, underground prison. For details, visit www.FamilyMediaGuide.com or www.hoodwinkedthemovie.com.

  • Harryhausen Art Book Coming in March

    Billboard Books is set to release The Art Of Ray Harryhausen, a companion to its best-selling autobiography, Ray Harryhausen: An Animated Life. We first reported on this when Harryhausen announced the project at the San Diego Comic-Con in July (www.animationmagazine.net/article.php?article_id=4224). Due to hit retail in March with a forward by Oscar-winning filmmaker Peter Jackson, the book spotlights the impressive body of concept drawings and other pieces of art created by the father of modern visual effects.

    Featured in the book are previously unpublished photos, production drawings and elaborate stoyrboards from the production of such classic fantasy films as The 7th Voyage of Sinbad, Jason and the Argonauts and Clash of the Titans, to name a few. In addition, there will be essays by Harryhausen and co-writer Tony Dalton, and frame -by-frame deconstructions exploring the stop-motion animation process and how Harryhausen’s ground-Breaking effects were achieved.

    Harryhausen, who makes his home in London, will retrun to the U.S. to promote the release with book signings. The Art of Ray Harryhausen consists of 240 pages featuring 211 color and 75 black-and-white illustrations. The hardcover will be available from Billboard Books in March for the suggested retail price of $50.

  • Disney Toons Bound for iTunes

    The Walt Disney Co. announced that it will include Walt Disney Feature Animation productions in its expanded offering of content for Apple’s iTunes. In addition to programming from such Disney-owned networks as ESPN, ABC, Touchstone Television and Disney Channel, iPod owners will be able to download classic animated shorts at the iTunes Music Store (www.itunes.com).

    The Walt Disney Co. chairman Dick Cook says iTunes gives the company another distribution avenue for its vast library of classic animated shorts, which have been selling well in a number of DVD compilations. “Our animated product has always been the touchstone of The Walt Disney Co.,” he states. ‘It is certainly gratifying to know that consumers of all ages will get to experience first hand the remarkable and award-winning works from some of the most gifted animators in history.”

    Among the toons bound for iTunes are entries from the upcoming Buena Vista Home Entertainment release, Disney at the Academy Awards, which includes the Academy Award-winning shorts The Three Little Pigs (1933) and The Tortoise and the Hare (1935). Other mouse House animated fare coming to the mobile platform include Disney Channel’s Kim Possible and The Proud Family.

    Priced at $1.99 per episode, the new downloadable content offerings will join such Disney ABC Television Group programs as Commander in Chief, Desperate Housewives, Lost, That’s So Raven and The Suite Life of Zack and Cody, which are currently available for purchase on the iTunes Music Store.

  • Company Expands PSP Screens

    Sony’s PSP (PlayStation Protable) has won the respect of countless gamers and gear heads with its high-resolution presentation, but many have been frustrated with the inability to play games and movies on a larger screen. Enter Digital Innovations, an Illinois-based company that plans to release a gizmo that captures the PSP screen image and transfers it to any standard television or computer monitor.

    The GameDR Excelerator Series ScreenMax will retail for $69.99, offering an affordable way to enjoy games and UMD movies at home without squinting. Resembling an oversized computer mouse, the unit snaps into two holes on the PSP and covers the player’s screen like a hat. An internal camera system digitizes the PSP image and transmits it a TV or monitor via a built-in cable. A second cable plugs into the PSP’s headphone jack to carry the sound.

    The ScreenMax runs on four AA batteries or AC power and has brightness and contrast controls. While the quality of the transferred image is yet to be seen, the gadget promises to offer gamers a way to share PSP experiences with friends and may solve the problem of having to buy movies and games in multiple platforms.

    Digital Innovation’s flagship product was the SkipDR, an optical disc repair system. Other PSP accessories available from the company include a glare shield, a locking system and a variety of cartridge, lens and screen cleaners.

    The ScreenMax Transmission System for PSP will be available in February from Best Buy, Circuit City, Fry’s Electronics and other major consumer electronics retailers. Gamers will also be able to purchase it at www.digitalinnovations.com.

  • KIDDINX, ZDF Team for More Bibi Blocksberg

    KIDDINX of Berlin announced that it has inked a co-production deal with ZDF Enterprises for further episodes of the popular animated series Bibi Blocksberg. The companies plan to complete a new slate of 26 half-hour episodes by September of this year.

    A hit in Germany, Bibi Blocksberg follows the adventures of a cheeky, blond, teenage witch. The new season has been picked up by Portugal’s Public broadcaster, RTP, and other worldwide sales efforts are underway.

    In addition to the TV series, the Bibi Blockberg property boasts its own magazine, a popular touring stage musical, a Game Boy Advance video game and two successful feature films. One of the movies, Bibi Blocksberg and the Secret of the Blue Owls, was honoured with the Children’s Jury Prize at the 2005 Chicago Int’l Children’s Film Festival.