Animation Magazine

Author: Ryan Ball

  • Autodesk Ships 3ds Max 8

    Just days after announcing intentions to acquire competitor Alias, Autodesk has announced that it is shipping 3ds Max 8, the latest version of its award-winning 3D modeling, animation and rendering software for video game, film and video production pipelines.

    With this latest release, Autodesk has amped up its character animation toolset with advanced rigging tools, motion mixing and motion retargeting (non-linear animation). Modeling and texturing advancements include new UV pelt mapping designed to decrease the time and labor required to accurately texture a 3D model, as well as DirectX and .fx support to create real time shaders inside the 3ds Max viewport.

    To address the need for 3D tools that can scale to manage rapidly expanding data sets and bandwidth/interaction requirements, 3ds Max 8’s comprehensive development framework promises to deliver improved software developer kit (SDK) tools and documentation, XML support that efficiently exchanges scene and animation data, an interactive MAXScript debugger and support for the Autodesk DWF Viewer, the free, downloadable application that offers review and approval collaboration for 3D data.

    Autodesk, which pioneered the concept of unlimited network rendering with 3ds Max and Autodesk Backburner functionality, now introduces the industry’s first scalable, unlimited mental ray network rendering option specifically for 3ds Max. This proprietary addition gives valuable rendering flexibility to customers, allowing 3D artists to distribute rendering tasks (via Backburner) across a network using the integrated mental ray renderer without incurring additional costs. This then allows them to scale their mental ray rendering resources to the limits of their network or render farm capabilities.

    In addition, 3ds Max 8 offers continued connectivity to third-party, industry-standard asset management systems, and further enhances complex data and asset management with the integration of Autodesk Vault, a full-featured data management and asset tracking solution.

    Features released exclusively to Autodesk Subscription clients over the past year are automatically be included in 3ds Max 8, These include Cloth, Hair, Fur, mental ray 3.4 and eight satellite render nodes, along with an extensive collection of visualization features compatible with Autodesk VIZ 2006, including enhanced File Link, Autodesk Inventor import, radiosity and adaptive subdivision.

    Autodesk 3ds Max 8 carries a suggested retail price of $3,495, with upgrades from 3ds Max 7 available for $795. For a complete list of new features, go to www.autodesk.com/3dsmax.

  • Arnie Lays Down Law on Violent Games

    After building a fortune by starring in such shoot-’em-ups as The Terminator, Commando and Eraser, California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger has taken a stand against blood and gore in video games. The former action figure Friday signed into law a bill restricting the sale and rental of ultra-violent video games to minors. California AB 1179 will go into effect on January 1, 2006.

    The bill was supported by Common Sense Media, a non-profit organization dedicated to improving kids’ media lives. “Graphic and sexually-charged media violence needs to be seen for what it is–a threat as dangerous to our kids as tobacco use or underage drinking,” says Common Sense CEO James Steyer. “At Common Sense, we believe in sanity, not censorship. And it is eminently sane to change the way violent games are marketed and sold to kids.”

    Common Sense Media worked closely with leading constitutional scholars on the drafting of AB 1179, and is working with legislators from across the country to support bills like the one passed in California. In signing the bill, Schwarzenegger joined governors Rod Blagojevich of Illinois and Jennifer Granholm of Michigan, who recently passed similar legislation in their states. Lawmakers in seven other states and the District of Columbia are considering bills that would keep violent games away from children.

  • BBC, Super RTL Learn Skunk Fu!

    U.K. broadcaster BBC and Germany’s Super RTL have joined Cartoon Saloon and Hoek, Line & Thinker as key partners on Skunk Fu!, an animated series scheduled for broadcast in 2007. BBC acquired the show in a presale and will air it on its kids’ net, CBBC. Super RTL came on as a co-producer and will also handle licensing and merchandising rights in German-speaking Europe, in addition to airing the series.

    Skunk Fu! is a 52×13 action-comedy created by Aidan Harte and Hyun Ho Khang. The series follows the adventures of a young skunk who accidentally lands in China and has to learn the way of Kung Fu form a wise old Panda. Though he is a super student, Skunk’s over-confidence keeps getting him into comically dangerous situations. The show debuted at Cartoon Forum 2003 in Varese.

    Tom van Waveren, managing director of Hoek, Line & Thinker, comments, “Having Super RTL and BBC as partners on Skunk Fu! is something we are very proud of. It is rare to have the opportunity to be involved in a project which combines such creative distinctiveness, obvious commercial appeal and high-calibre international partners to boot.”

    Cartoon Saloon in Ireland will be the lead studio on Skunk Fu!, the company’s first foray into series production after a number of service work contracts, short film successes and TV commercials. Hoek, Line & Thinker is a Netherlands-based company which specialises in executive production and exploitation of international animation properties.

  • More Mad Ratings for Loonatics

    Warner Bros. Animation’s new Looney Tunes-inspired action-comedy series, Loonatics Unleashed, continues to pull super ratings for Kids’ WB! The show led the network to win another Saturday morning (Oct. 1) among all broadcast and cable competition, including Nickelodeon. Buoyed by Ace Bunny and friends, Kids’ WB! reached season highs and ranked No.1 in key demographics including boys 6-11 and tweens 9-14.

    Loonatics Unleashed is set 700 years in the future and stars Looney Tunes descendents Ace Bunny, Lexi Bunny, Danger Duck, Slam Tasmanian, Rev Runner and Tech E. Coyote as the fearless defenders of Acmetropolis. Each possesses special powers that help them deal with supernatural phenomena and such ominous villains as a nefarious carnival barker, a gravity-defying professional thief and giant Viking robots from another dimension.

    According to the network, Loonatics Unleashed packed a double ratings punch with Pokémon Advanced Battle to tie with Nickelodeon’s The Fairly OddParents for No. 2 among tweens 9-14, as well as kids 2-11, kids 6-11 and boys 2-11 in broadcast. The latest incarnation of Pokémon ranked No. 1 with tweens 9-14 and male tweens 9-14, and was the top broadcast series with kids 2-11, kids 6-11 and boys 2-11.  

    In addition to Loonatics, Kids’ WB! recently launched the Warner Bros. Animation series Coconut Fred’s Fruit Salad Island and Johnny Test. Coconut Fred came in at No. 3 with most demographics, tying with Johnny Test among kids 2-11, kids 6-11 and boys 2-11. Fans can catch Loonatics Unleashed on Kids’ WB! Saturday mornings at 10:30 a.m. ET/9:30 a.m. PT).

  • Blitz Takes Corpse Bride Online

    One of the best Halloween treats to come along in years, Tim Burton’s Corpse Bride, transports moviegoers to a visually inventive world where the dead have a lot more fun than the living. Extending that fantastic world to the web was the task placed before BLITZ, the interactive advertising agency tapped by Warner Bros. to help promote the gothic family flick with a dynamic online presence.

    "With this project obviously being a Tim Burton film, we really wanted to create as immersive an environment as physical possible," says BLITZ exec creative director Ken Martin. "He’s one of the moviemakers that definitely have die-hard fan groups and we really wanted to layer a lot of things in there that made revisits to the site a definite possibility."

    According to Josh Esguia, senior art director on the project, Warner Bros. allowed his team creative freedom in translating Burton’s vision. "It was definitely a collaboration in that they were very good about knowing what the general mood of the film was and it was sort of our responsibility to translate that into an experience online," he remarks. "They did give us a good amount of trust in building the site, and at the same time it was a very smooth experience as far as getting assets from them and having them give us feedback on our work."

    Warner Bros. hooked BLITZ up with behind-the-scenes photography to help inspire the creation of the website. "The whole film is very character based, and we were provided with a lot of really good shots of the characters," Esguia notes. "We actually wound up remodeling a few of the characters, which wouldn’t have been possible without good character photography from different angles and with good lighting."

    BLITZ employed both Autodesk’s 3ds max and Alias’ Maya in modeling the Corpse Bride characters, which originally existed only as silicone stop-motion animation puppets. Martin emphasizes the degree of trust Warner Bros.’ had to have in them to do this, remarking, "The fact that they were able to allow us to recreate something such as the main character [Victor], of all things, in 3D, animate it ourselves and incorporate it into the movie assets side-by-side was a great patch for our website-creating jacket."

    The Corpse Bride website takes visitors on a journey through many of the environments in the movie. Assistant art director Paul Hikiji tells us the BLITZ team got its backgrounds by taking the productions photos and digitally removing the animators and any other unwanted elements that happened to be on set at the time. In Victor’s room, for instance, they had to clone out a giant hand reaching through the window to animate Victor’s head.

    While the crew of animators who provided the fluid movements on the actual Corpse Bride film had the luxury of working with the full 24 frames per second, BLITZ had to deal with file size restrictions associated with animating for the web. "On the one hand, we didn’t want to cut it short to the point where we would lose the personality of the characters, but on the other hand, we wanted to give people a reasonable download time," Esguia explains.

    Senior producer Anna Baxter adds that there are a lot of little Easter eggs hidden in the site, including exclusive illustrations by Burton. "There are two levels in each section," she reveals. "One is easy to find and the other is a little bit more challenging, so we tried to make the most interesting content the stuff you have to work for." She points to the piano room, which features a vase you can click on to access a game which, when completed, unlocks cool content. BLITZ even remodeled the movie’s "Harryhausen" piano so visitors can play the keys with their mouses.

    When we spoke to Corpse Bride animation supervisor Anthony Scott for the September issue of Animation Magazine, he mentioned that his favorite character to work with was Scraps, Victor’s skeletal dog. Esguia also says the precious pooch was the most fun to incorporate into the site. "We went through a lot of manipulation to get him to run around the environment we were creating," He recalls. "To make him look like he was actually in the place, we had to light him properly and give him shadows, that kind of thing. He can respond to you and serves as an actual navigation piece, so he was a lot of fun."

    You can catch Tim Burton’s Corpse Bride in theaters now and visit the BLITZ-designed official web site for the movie at http://corpsebridemovie.warnerbros.com.

  • Wallace & Gromit Gets Crackin’

    Today is the day fans of Aardman Animations’ clay-animated Wallace & Gromit shorts have been waiting for. Having starred in Oscar-winning brief adventures, the title plasticine duo arrive on the big screen with Wallace & Gromit: The Curse of the Were-Rabbit, a DreamWorks Animation release. The critically acclaimed toon hops into a whopping 3,645 theaters nationwide to take on fellow stop-motion family flick Tim Burton’s Corpse Bride and all other competitors.

    In Wallace & Gromit: Curse of the Were-Rabbit, we find the title pair the proprietors of Anti-Pesto, a humane pest control company currently employed in ridding gardens of hungry bunnies as the town’s annual vegetable growing contest nears. During a service call, Wallace falls for Lady Tottington (Helena Bonham Carter) and makes an enemy of Victor Quartermain (Ralph Fiennes), a huntsman and social climber who’s after a chunk of the Tottington fortune. More trouble arises when the town is terrorized by a mysterious beast that is gobbling up every bit of produce, even those cleverly guarded by Anti-Pesto devices. The feature will be preceded by A Christmas Caper, the new DreamWorks Animation short starring the mischievous penguins from Madagascar.

    The big-screen debut for Wallace and Gromit was animated at Aardman in the U.K. using clay figures on exquisitely detailed, miniature sets. The fast-paced action was captured one frame at a time on 35mm film, which is a rarity on stop-motion shoots these days. Most stop-mo productions, including Corpse Bride, employ high-resolution still digital cameras for acquisition, allowing for immediate playback.

    Directed by Nick Park and Steve Box, Wallace & Gromit: The Curse of the Were-Rabbit is Aardman’s second collaboration with DreamWorks following the clay-animated hit movie Chicken Run, released in 2000. The entities have two more in development; the CG animated sewer rat adventure story Flushed Away and the John Cleese-scripted prehistoric comedy Crood Awakening.

    For more details on the animation process behind the movie, see this month’s Animated People on our homepage. And be sure to check out the cover story on Curse of the Were-Rabbit in the October issue of Animation Magazine.

  • An American in Gromit Land

    Animator Teresa Drilling talks about her Aard-uous work on Wallace & Gromit: The Curse of the Were-Rabbit

    As one of only two American animators enlisted to help bring Wallace & Gromit to life on the big screen, Teresa Drilling has a unique perspective on working with celebrated toon studio Aardman Animations, maker of the Oscar-winning clay-animated Wallace & Gromit shorts, festival favorite Creature Comforts and the DreamWorks feature film Chicken Run. When last we spoke with Drilling she had just completed character animation on New Line’s Elf with the Chiodo Bros., and she promised to give us the lowdown on her Gromit gig when she got back from Blighty. Here’s what she had to say:

    Animation Magazine Online: How did you get involved with the Wallace & Gromit movie?

    Teresa Drillng: I was one of the animators on Chicken Run [Aardman’s and DreamWorks’ 2000 clay-animated feature]. I was an additional key animator who came in during the last part of production and they really liked my work. When it came time to start staffing up for Curse of the Were-Rabbit, they gave me a call and here we are. I came on three months from the beginning of production, so I was there from pretty much the middle of January 2004 until within a week of the end of production in June 2005. Because I’m not an EU or British citizen, they had to bring all their other key animators on first and get them up and running before they could legally bring me over to start up. The other American animator was Jerold Howard and he came in for the last three weeks.

    Did you work on any specific characters or did you just kind of bounce around?

    This was a little different from Chicken Run in several ways. There was a litte bit more moving around form me and some of the other animators. So I did get to move around on several different sequences but I worked mostly with Gromit, Wallace and Philip, the villain’s dog. And I also worked a lot with Mrs. Mulch, who has a very funny run at one point, so they put me on that.

    Can you tell us about some other scenes you worked on?

    I worked on the scene, which is in the trailers, where we see them come to their first job and they leap over the fence and into the Mulchs’ garden to nab a pest. There’s a lot of work I did in a scene toward the end of the movie that takes place on the ledge of Tottington Hall, and also on the grounds of Tottington Hall. And I can’t tell you much more than that without giving too much away.

    Which scenes were the most fun to work on?

    They all had their own challenges and rewards. I think, for me, one of the most satisfying experiences was getting the chance to get Gromit. Gromit is a really subtle character and he’s very simple, but that doesn’t make it easy. It makes it more difficult sometimes. With Gromit, it’s all in the posture and where he’s looking, and he, more than any of the others, is a thinking character and you have to get an idea of what he’s thinking about before he takes action. So that’s a very subtle performance with a lot of nuance in it and he’s really, really tricky. So to finally get a sense of that and finally channel Gromit was really satisfying for me?

    I saw some of the animation puppets on display at DreamWorks and was star-struck just looking at them. I can’t imagine sitting down and thinking, "Gee, I actually get to animate these guys!" What was that like?

    I was a little bit star-struck, too. You know, when you’re in the business that I’m in and you see something come out, you can’t help but look at it and analyze it kind of dissect it to figure out what it was they did technically and so forth. But I always resisted doing that with Wallace & Gromit because they’re just perfect. Especially The Wrong Trousers, that’s the perfect animated movie, and I wanted to keep that sense of wonder and awe. So when I finally got to Aardman and started working with them, that’s the point where I really had to start breaking them down. To sit down in front of them for the first time was a little daunting. It was like, "Oh my God! This is Wallace and Gromit! I’m not sure I’m worthy," that sort of thing. So it was a real challenge to get my head around that but it was really satisfying when I finally did get it.

    What was the overall experience of working with Aardman like?

    It’s a very different style, very different vocabulary and very different sort of conceptual phrasing for what is done by the animators there than what a lot of stop-motion animators in America do.

    So they have their own shorthand, their own language in essence?

    Yeah. It is definitely a different language. It’s like the difference between French and German. You’d think that there would be some words in common and it’d be like "Yeah, yeah, we’ll figure this out." But then you come across a real different sort of phrase and you’re like, "Whoa, wait a minute!" Also, in general, their focus is on the personality of the character and the motion in them, where a lot of American work is focused a bit more on the action, the finesse and the spectacular way something can be pulled off in a movement. But there’s definitely some crossover on those. I’m just making some really gross generalizations. And that’s what’s so good about it. I’ve been working in stop-motion for over 20 years and to be able to go someplace where they have a very complete culture, a really high-quality, world-class culture, and find myself in new waters after 20 years is just a wonderful gift.

    Is it a well-oiled machine there, or was there chaos like any other production?

    I think with any creative endeavor you have to allow some room for chaos because that’s where the spark comes in. You can’t preconceive every single bit of it or it’ll come in on time and on budget but it could perhaps lose a bit of that life and spark that only comes about as you’re in the middle of it. So there’s always room for chaos and suddenly turning on a dime and going in another direction very quickly. Given that, it was also a very well-oiled machine. There were protocols in place for having enough of a framework that doesn’t stifle the creative process but allows you to move as quickly as you have to in changing directions. When you’re under the direction of someone so capable and so talented as Nick Park, you can have total trust in his calls, even if he asks for something and you don’t see how it could possibly work. You know enough about his work, his thoughtfulness and the way he can hold so many things in his mind at one time in a way that’s astounding when you realize what he’s doing. They’ve learned a lot from Chicken Run and have been consistently working up to larger and larger productions. So they really do know how it needs to work and what lines of communication need to be followed through on the floor. It’s really nice because you can concentrate on the work itself rather than doing the running around and all that.

    You say you’ve been in stop-motion for 20 years, how much of that was working with clay?

    The very first little stop-motion piece I did in school was a clay piece, so I guess you could say from the beginning. Then I was an animator and ultimately a director on the commercial side at Vinton Studios for about 14 years. I became one of the senior creatives by the time I left and pretty much developed a lot of the style, not consciously, but just in the process of working while the whole thing was evolving. I was behind the concept of Cecil the Ball on Sesame Street, along with Barry Bruce, who was the supervisor on that. I came in just as Vinton was doing the California Raisins spots and worked on the different television specials they did, and actually won an Emmy in 1991 for my work on one of those.

    Since stop-motion features are relatively rare, there seems to be some pressure on Corpse Bride and Wallace & Gromit to do well at the box office so that producers don’t say, "We’re not doing that anymore."

    I don’t see how they can’t do well. Chicken Run far exceeded expectations and that was a warm-up. Not to take anything away from that movie at all, but it was a warm-up for everybody–for the relationship between DreamWorks and Aardman, for taking a film from a 30-minute format to an 80-minute format and getting the proper number of crew members on board.

    When you’re spending that amount of time on something, you want it to be as good as can because that’s pretty much what you chose to do with that part of your finite life. And I think there’s a bit of an awareness that you need to do it as well as you can so that it remains viable and people still think it’s interesting and magical and want to see more of it.

    People will surely want to see more of Wallace & Gromit after they see Curse of the Were-Rabbit, which opens nationwide today, Oct. 7. Read our cover story on the film in the October issue of Animation Magazine and check out some personal impressions of this latest feature outing for Aardman and DreamWorks Animation at www.animationmagazine.net/editorial.php.

  • SIGGRAPH Electronic Theater Revisited in Hollywood

    If you missed the SIGGRAPH 2005 Electronic Theater this year, or just want to see it again, head down to Hollywood on Tuesday for a special encore presentation courtesy of the Los Angeles Professional Chapter of ACM SIGGRAPH. This prestigious showcase of some the best CG-animated shorts, visual effects and other computer graphics will be presented on Tuesday, Oct. 11, in the Digital Cinema Laboratory at the Pacific Hollywood Theatre, located at 6433 Hollywood Blvd.

    Social hour complete with free hors d’oeuvres and beverages will begin at 6:30 p.m., and will include a pre-show live art performance by J. Walt Adamcyzk. Titled Autocosm: Gardens of Thuban, Adamcyzk’s graphic display was specially created for SIGGRAPH 2005, taking viewers on a magical journey through a wondrous extraterrestrial landscape populated by bizarre creatures, all fluidly animated in real time. Adamcyzk will also speak about the performance before the Electronic Theater screening, which kicks off at 7:30.

    The screening is free to LA SIGGRAPH members (membership information available at www.la.siggraph.org), and $15 for non-members. The Pacific Hollywood Theatre is on the corner of Wilcox and Hollywood. Parking lots are available both north and south of Hollywood Blvd. on Wilcox and Cahuenga, including behind the theater. Rates vary from $5 to $10. Street parking may also be available. For a map showing directions and parking information, see http://etcenter.org/Downloads/DCL_map.pdf.

    Updates on this meeting will be posted to http://www.la.siggraph.org.

  • Luminetik Animation Illuminates AI/IGDA Lecture Series

    As part of their Animation 2005 Lecture Series, The Art Institute of Calif., Los Angeles, and the International Game Developers’ Association (IGDA) will host a discussion on the development of computer-animated franchises for teenagers and creating and bringing up virtual 3D characters on Oct. 13 at 6:30 p.m. Luminetik Animation Studios’ Akiko Ashley, Eric Durst, Kevin Cahill and Stephanie Johnson will present their take on the subject and discuss their groundbreaking project about a young girl whose destiny is to become a super heroine.

    Akiko Ashley, an industry veteran, is one of the founders of Santa Monica-based Luminetik. She started her career writing games for Nintendo in Japan in the early 1980s. At Luminetik, she has served as exec producer on such projects as vfx work on the Castlerock/Warner Bros. comedy Two Weeks Notice, four commercials for Arm and Hammer featuring New York Yankee Jason Giambi, and CG work for National Geographic’s Snake Wrangler.

    Eric Durst is an award-winning film director and has been a principal at Luminetik since 2004. He has directed successful campaigns for national and international advertisers such as AT&T, Polaroid, Mazda, Blue Cross, Dodge, Volkswagen, Sprint PCS, Moneygram, Diet Pepsi, MCI, Texaco and Black & Decker. His “Fahrvernugen” campaigns for Volkswagen are classics and set the standard for combining graphic design and live action in automotive advertising. In feature films, Durst has designed and supervised visual effects for productions such as Spiderman 2, Torque, End of Days and The One. He has twice been nominated for visual effects Academy Awards for his work in visualizing Gotham City for Batman Forever and Batman and Robin, and his work on George Michael’s music video for “Freeek!” earned him the award for Best Visual Effects of the Year in the 2003 MVPA Awards.

    Kevin Cahill, also a founder of Luminetik, was working with the Radiosity render software long before it was a popular rendering style. He has involved in designing the new Oakland to San Francisco Bay Bridge and a custom car garage in Manhattan for Jerry Seinfeld, and has worked with such architectural icons as Maya Lin, who designed the Vietnam War Memorial in Washington DC.

    Production coordinator Stephanie Johnson has been working as an agent, producer and writer in Hollywood since 1992, holding positions at William Morris, International Creative Management and Innovative Artists.

    The event will take place in the Big Room at the Art Institute of California, Los Angeles. The school is located at 2900 31st Street in Santa Monica. Following the presentation, the IGDA LA Chapter will hold its monthly meeting in the same room at 7:50 p.m. The topic of this session is “Creating and Animating Characters for Games.” For more information about this program, contact Bijan Tehrani at (818) 613-4227 or btehrani@dljl.com.

    The Art Institute of California’Los Angeles, in conjunction with IGDA LA, will open The Game Center on Dec. 8, 2005. The Game Center will showcase the latest game development tools, games, materials, literature and state-of-the-art game software provided by top developers. The facility will eventually host a festival of games, a development seminar and a job fair, which are now in the planning stages. The Game Center will be open to IGDA members, game development professionals and members of the media. Game Center partners are: Animation Magazine, Autodesk Inc., Avid Computer Graphics, F.Dice, IGDA Los Angeles Chapter, Motion Analysis Corp., NVIDIA Corp., Personal Computers Unlimited, Inc., Peachpit Press, SilverStone, Tyan Computer Corp. and ViewSonic.

  • Exhibitors Prep for Chicken Little in 3-D

    According to The Hollywood Reporter, leading theater chains AMC Entertainment and Loews Cineplex have signed five-year contracts with Real D, a technology provider specializing in stereoscopic 3-D exhibition. Regal Entertainment Group is also in negotiations to adopt Real D’s digital projection system in time to make the sky fall on audiences when Disney releases Chicken Little in both 3-D and standard presentation on Nov. 4.

    In addition to the big three, nearly 20 smaller theater chains have made pacts with Real D, creating 85 locations around the country for Chicken Little to screen in 3-D. The roll-out will be milestone for Disney, which teamed with technology partner Dolby Labs to develop the digital cinema servers that will be employed in distributing films via data transfer rather that mailing out 35mm film prints.

    As studios and exhibitors see cinema attendence continue to wane, they are exploring new ways to entice consumers content to enjoy movies on home theater systems. The hope is that 3-D will bring new value to the moviegoing experience.

    Stereoscopic 3-D exhibition has been around since the 1950’s, helping exhibitors pack houses with science-fiction B movies like The Creature from the Black Lagoon. However, the gimmick proved to be little more than a passing fad that enjoyed a brief resurgence in the 1980s with films such as Jaws 3-D, Friday the 13th 3-D, The Amityville Horror 3-D and Spacehunter. The process was revived in recent years with Robert Rodriguez’s Spy Kids 3-D: Game Over and The Adventures of Sharkboy and Lavagirl, as well as Warner Bros.’s The Polar Express, which hauled in around $45 million during its IMAX 3-D engagement.

    Sony pictures plans release its performance-capture adventure, Monster House, in 3-D on July 21, 2006, and Warner Bros. recently announced that its upcoming CG penguin feature, Happy Feet, will get the IMAX 3-D treatment along with its traditional release on Nov. 17, 2006.

    Smaller theater chains are especially interested in digital distribution and 3-D cinema as they strive to compete with multiplexes. The main roadblock has been the availability and cost of 2K digital projectors. Independent movie houses that are already struggling are hesitant to invest in the hardware and technology without assurance that it will entice customers.

  • Favreau to Pilot John Carter of Mars

    Daily Variety reports that actor and Elf director Jon Favreau has been hired to direct Paramount Pictures’ long-gestating film adaptation of Edgar Rice Burroughs’ classic 11-volume book series, John Carter of Mars. A considerable amount of visual effects can be expected to tell this story of a Civil War soldier who is transported to another world.

    Favreau fills the spot left vacant by Robert Rodriguez, who had to leave the project when he dropped out of the Directors Guild of America in order to make Frank Miller his co-director on Sin City. Kerry Conran, creator and director of Sky Captain and the World of Tomorrow, was also attached to Mars for a time.

    While he was hesitant to use digital effects in New Line’s Elf (tradition stop-motion was used for special character animation), Favreau wasn’t able to get around it with his latest directing gig, Sony’s adaptation of Chris Van Allsburg’s children’s book, Zathrua, a sequel to Jumanji. Zathura is scheduled for release on Nov. 11.

    Alphaville Prods. partners Daniel and Jim Jacks are producing John Carter of Mars. Harry Knowles, founder of online fanboy Mecca Ain’t It Cool News, is co-producing along with scribe Ehren Kruger (The Brothers Grimm, The Ring), who reworked Mark Protosevich’s screenplay based on Burroughs’ works.

  • Toon Boom Ships Solo

    Toon Boom Animation has announced that Toon Boom Solo, its latest 2D animation software package, is shipping to customers and retailers. Designed for small studios and independent animation filmmakers, the stand-alone application promises to simplify workflow and enhance creativity for traditional, digital or cut-out style animation for film, video, television, web sites, games and mobile applications.

    A start-to-finish animation tool, Toon Boom Solo allows artists to draw directly on the screen and carry the workflow through scanning, inking and painting, compositing, laying out animation in 3D space, applying special effects and rendering. Advanced features include morphing, inverse kinematics, glue and special effects.

    Designed to easily integrate into any existing pipelines running on Windows, Linux and Mac OS X, Toon Boom Solo comes with a DVD case and CD, a security key (dongle), keyboard shortcuts, tutorials and a two-volume user guide.

    Toon Boom recently won the 2005 Primetime Emmy Engineering Award for its traditional animation sotware solution, US Animation Opus. The company’s other animation products include Toon Boom Harmony and Toon Boom Studio. Some of the high-profile productions completed with these tools include The Triplettes of Belleville, Looney Tunes: Back in Action, Rugrats and SpongeBob SquarePants The Movie. For more information and a launch special on Toon Boom Solo, go to www.toonboom.com.

  • EA Settles Overtime Class Action Suit

    Video game giant Electronic Arts (EA) has reached a settlement agreement with current and former computer graphic artists employed at its California studios. EA will pay a total of $15.6 million to cover claims of unpaid overtime, plaintiffs’ attorney fees, any incentive payments to the named plaintiffs and all administrative costs of the settlement.

    Any portion of the settlement fund that is unclaimed by class members will go to the Jackie Robinson Foundation, a national nonprofit organization that awards college scholarships to minority students, with a preference toward students interested in studying interactive entertainment.

    Settlement of the case, which is pending in the Superior Court of San Mateo County, California, must be approved by the Court before it can become effective.

    Headquartered in Redwood City, Calif., EA develops, publishes and distributes interactive software worldwide for videogame systems, personal computers and the Internet. The company markets its products under the brand names EA SPORTS, EA, EA SPORTS BIG and POGO. In fiscal 2005, EA posted revenues of $3.1 billion and had 31 titles that sold more than one million copies. More information about the company’s products can be found at www.ea.com.

  • Sundance Hopes for Animal Magnetism

    Sundance Channel tonight premieres the award-wining, six-part BBC animated series I Am Not an Animal. The half-hour dark comedy centers on pampered lab animals who have to learn to get by on their own after an animal rights activist "rescues" them. The show debuted on BBC in 2004 and has picked up several European broadcast kudos.

    The series is the first animated project for U.K.-based Baby Cow Prods., which is headed up by actor Steve Coogan (Disney’s Around the World in 80 Days, Coffee and Cigarettes) and producer Henry Normal (The Sketch Show, 24 Hour Party People). In addition to serving as exec producer, Coogan voices the characters Philip the Horse and Mark the Bird, two members of a group of scientifically altered critters who talk and behave like humans. Simon Pegg, star of the breakout British horror spoof, Shaun of the Dead, also lends his voice to the series.

    In addition to the literary-minded Philip and headstrong sparrow Mark, the test group known as Batch 4 includes prima donna bulldog Winona, sex-crazed monkey Hugh, self-pitying rat Claire and spaced-out rabbit Liam. In the lab, they spent their days sipping fine wine and conversing about the latest celebrity gossip and London trends. Now these fish out of water have to see if they can pass themselves off as actual members of British society.

    The show’s animation, directed by Tim Searle (2DTV) has a cut-out look and features characters that resemble elements of a magazine collage art project. The series is produced by Richard Bennett (2DTV), and writer/director Peter Baynham (Bob and Margaret, Monkey Dust) serves as exec producer with Coogan and Normal.

    I Am Not an Animal premieres on Sundance Channel Wednesday, Oct. 5 at 6 p.m. Repeats will air Thursdays at 6 p.m., Fridays at 11 p.m. and Saturdays and Tuesdays at 8:30 p.m.

  • First Serve, Toonz Form Company

    California-based global media company First Serve International LLC and animation studio Toonz Animation India have formed a joint venture dubbed First Serve Toonz (FST). The new entity will produce and distribute animation programming for the international marketplace and operate a consumer products licensing business. The first major project will be announced in the next few weeks.

    Vijay Amritraj, a tennis legend turned entertainment entrepreneur and chairman of First Serve International, comments, "My company is excited to team up with Toonz at this time as India and its animation industry accelerate to new heights. Our joint venture is strategically positioned to take advantage of a tremendous growth in animation and consumer products business in our region and around the world."

    Toonz Animation India CEO P. Jayakumar adds, "While First Serve International brings global experience and perspective to the joint venture, Toonz will deliver cutting-edge creativity and high production values. FST will leverage the strengths of the two partners to become a significant player in the business."

    First Serve Interantional CEO Edward Borgerding will also serve as CEO of FST. "FST will be working with major Hollywood brands and content companies to develop, finance, produce and distribute top quality productions," says the industry veteran who spent 20 years with The Walt Disney Co., most recently as exec VP.

    Founded in 1999, Toonz Animation India is working on a slate of projects with production houses and entertainment companies across the globe. The studio also maintains an extensive library of original content and is currently working on its in-house productions The Adventures of Hanuman, Paddy’s Pages and Frogskool.

  • Disney’s Haunted Mansion Becomes Comic Book

    Having enjoyed a moderately successful leap to the big screen in 2003, the long-standing Disneyland E Ticket attraction, The Haunted Mansion, will be adapted into a comic-book anthology. SLG Publishing, working in partnership with Disney Publishing Worldwide, will release releases the first issue this month, just in time for Halloween.

    The Haunted Mansion comics will not be based on the feature film starring Eddie Murphy. The installments will instead draw inspiration from the amusement park ride with stories contributed by some of SLG Publishing’s top creators including Roman Dirge (Lenore) and Serena Valentino (Gloomcookie, Nightmares & Fairy Tales), as well as outside talent.

    “The ride’s elements really lend themselves to an anthology comic book” says SLG Publishing president and series editor Dan Vado. “There are 999 ghosts living in the mansion, that means there is potential for 999 different stories.”

    The comics will create a new backstory for the Mansion and tell the intertwining stories of The Ghost Host, Madame Leotta, and the Bride who resides in the attic. The first several issues will reval to readers how the ghosts all came to be in the mansion and why the structure is so attractive to apparitions.

    “The goal is to create a comic book that feels like a little piece of the ride living in your bookshelf,” Vado adds. “The end result should be something that will satisfy the casual reader as well as the hardcore ride fans (like myself) who have spent good chunks of their lives riding The Haunted Mansion over and over again.”

    The Haunted Mansion will be a 32 page black-and-white comic book with covers by Roman Dirge. The series will be available at many comic book stores, select book retailers, Hot Topic stores and Amazon.com for $2.95. It will also be available through the publisher’s website at www.slgpublishing.com.

  • Teddy Ruxpin to Return on DVD

    The popular ’80s cartoon series The Adventures of Teddy Ruxpin is slated for release on DVD for the first time. First National Pictures (FNP), the newly minted DVD distributor led by Ryan Kugler, president of DV&A, has acquired the North American home entertainment rights to the property from DLT Ent. The show was based on the hot-selling animatronic toy that celebrates its 20-year anniversary this month.

    The Adventures of Teddy Ruxpin debuted in the fall of 1987, two years after the technologically advanced, talking doll became a worldwide sales phenomenon. The animated series follows the title bear and his best friends, Grubby and Newton Gimmick, through 65 episodes of musical adventures in which the trio seeks out the true purpose of six newly discovered ancient crystals.

    FNP plans to release the entire Ruxpin series on DVD over the coming years. Details about specific content and release scheduling are to be announced at a later date. The company says it will also announce a second familiar animated franchise to join its children’s entertainment catalog, which includes the award-winning Canadian program Scoop and Doozie and Bix Pix’s clay-animated adaptation of Dorothea Warren Fox’s classic children’s book, Miss Twiggley’s Tree.

    An updated version of the Teddy Ruxpin toy with state-of-the-art MP3 technology is scheduled to hit store shelves next year from BackPack Toys, and is available now via their website at www.teddyruxpin.com.

  • Calling All Animators! Send Us Your Shorts!

    The legendary World Animation Celebration is back with an online festival and competition for animated shorts! Submit your cartoon masterpiece (under 10 minutes in length) for exposure on Animation Magazine’s website and a chance to win fabulous prizes from our sponsors! Viewers’ Choice winners will be selected each quarter, and quarterly winners will go on to compete in the year-end grand prize finals. There is no submission fee. Forms and information on the fest can be found at: https://www.dev.animationmagazine.net/wordpress/wac_entry_form.html

  • Peter Jackson In the Ring for Halo

    After taking on the monumental task of adapting J.R.R. Tolkien’s Lord of the Rings literary saga and remaking the cinematic classic King Kong, filmmaker Peter Jackson is set to tackle one of the biggest video game franchises ever. Universal Pictures and Twentieth Century Fox announced today that Jackson and his producing partner, Fran Walsh, will serve as the exec producers on HALO, the upcoming feature film based on the best-selling Microsoft video games developed by Bungie Studios.

    While Jackson is not directing HALO, he and Walsh will provide creative consulting on all aspects of the film through their WingNut Films banner. In addition, Jackson’s Oscar-winning Weta Digital Ltd. and Weta Workshop Ltd. will provide creatures, miniatures and other visual effects for the production, which will be filmed entirely in Jackson’s hometown of Wellington, New Zealand.

    Slated for release in 2007, HALO is being produced by Mary Parent (The 40-Year-Old Virgin) and Scott Stuber (The Skeleton Key), with Peter Schlessel (Stay Alive). Parent is also exec producing the upcoming animated features Where the Wild Things, directed by Spike Jonze, and The Tale of Despereaux, helmed by Triplets of Belleville director Sylvain Chomet.

    After Fox, led by president Hutch Parker, and Universal, led by production president Donna Langley, acquired the feature film rights to HALO and will oversee the production for their respective studios, along with Microsoft.

    The studios worked in conjunction with Schlessel to audition a number of producers for Microsoft and Bungie. Universal will handle domestic distribution of the film, and Fox will handle the international release.

    “As a gaming fan, I’m excited to bring HALO‘s premise, action and settings to the screen with all the specificity and reality today’s technology can provide,” Jackson comments. “Fran and I are intrigued by the unique challenges this project offers, and we’re delighted to be working again with our friends at Universal, and with our new ones at Fox and Microsoft. I’m a huge fan of the game and look forward to helping it come alive on the cinema screen.”

    “Peter Jackson is one of Hollywood’s most exciting innovators, and our partnership with him will greatly broaden the appeal of the HALO franchise,” adds Bill Gates, Microsoft’s chairman and chief software architect. “We’re confident he’ll create an epic that not only thrills existing HALO fans, but also introduces millions of moviegoers around the world to this amazing saga.”

    The original script for the Halo movie was written by acclaimed screenwriter Alex Garland (28 Days Later), and a director will be announced soon. Meanwhile, Jackson is busy in post-production on King Kong, which is scheduled to arrive in theaters on Dec. 14.

    The first Halo video game was released in 2001 and spawned a hugely successful sequel, Halo 2, in 2004. Together, the titles have sold more than 13.8 million copies worldwide and grossed more than $600 million. Halo 2 alone earned $125 million in first-day sales.

  • Annie Awards Deadline This Week

    The deadline to receive entry forms for ASIFA-Hollywood’s 33rd Annual Annie Awards is Friday, Oct. 7. Presented by ASIFA-Hollywood, The International Animated Film Society, the animation industry’s oldest and most prestigious kudo fest will honor outstanding achievement in animation in 22 categories encompassing film, television, commercials, short subjects and video games.

    Entries submitted for consideration must be from productions that originally aired, were exhibited in an animation festival or were commercially released in the Unites States between Jan. 1, 2005 and Dec. 31, 2005. All rules, category information and entry forms are available online at www.annieawards.com. All nomination judging material is due by Oct. 28, 2005, and final nominations will be announced by ASIFA-Hollywood on Dec. 5, 2005.

    The coveted Annie Award for Best Animated Feature has consistently been the predictor of the Oscar for animation. Last year, The Incredibles from Pixar Animation Studios took top honors, as well as nine other Annies for directing, voice acting, effects animation, writing, music and more.

    Annie winners will be announced at an annual black-tie gala celebration on February 4, 2006 at the Alex Theatre in Glendale, Calif. The event will be attended by more than 1,000 industry insiders and will include presentations by animation luminaries and celebrities from film and television. Tickets are available to the general public, space permitting. For tickets, general information and sponsorship opportunities, visit www.annieawards.com or contact ASIFA-Hollywood at (818) 842-8330.

    Founded in 1972 by ASIFA member and veteran voice talent June Foray, the Annie Awards have grown in scope and stature over the past three decades. Today, ASIFA-Hollywood, the largest of an international network of chapters, supports a range of animation activities and preservation efforts through its membership. Current initiatives include special animation events, classes, screenings, film and video archives and film preservation efforts.