Animation Magazine

Author: Ryan Ball

  • Cartoon Network Puts on Short Pants

    Sunday Pants, a new half-hour showcase of original and acquired animated shorts, will debut on Cartoon Network on Sunday, Oct. 2, at 9:30 p.m. (ET, PT). The series, which will air every Sunday evening, recalls the network’s 1995 original shorts show, World Premiere Toons, which ultimately launched such series as The Powerpuff Girls, Dexter’s Laboratory, Courage the Cowardly Dog, Johnny Bravo and Cow and Chicken.

    Short toon pieces around the world will feature a variety of animation styles, from hand-drawn traditional to state-of-the-art CG. Each week’s lineup will reflect a common theme and will include musical interludes by the band The Slacks. The show’s theme song is performed by Joey Santiago, lead guitarist for the Pixies.

    “We think that the most avid fans of animation will be thrilled with the different approach each creator takes to the weekly theme, and we’ll see some really experimental storytelling,” said Pola Changnon, VP of on-air promotion and exec producer of program production for Cartoon Network. “But this isn’t some sort of highbrow film festival. We’re putting forward the most entertaining cartoons we can find. Each episode will contain about a dozen shorts, so Sunday Pants will be a fast moving, hilarious half-hour.”

    To provide content for Pants, Cartoon Network has enlisted veteran animators, up-and-coming talents and even a few in-house creators. Among the creators tapped are Lance Taylor of Facelift Enterprises Inc., Lincoln Pierce of Global Mechanic, Tim McKeon and Adam Pava from Cartoon Network Studios, Andy Fielding of Red Kite Animation and Andy Merrill, Craig “Sven” Gordon and Stuart Hill from Cartoon Network.

  • Corpse Bride Walks the Aisles

    After last weekend’s successful launch in a few select theaters in New York and Los Angeles, Tim Burton’s stop-motion animated romantic musical comedy, Corpse Bride, opens nationwide today. Co-directed by Mike Johnson, the Warner Bros. release is one of the highest-rated new entries on film critic compendium rottentomatoes.com, and should show strong legs through Halloween.

    Based on a 19th century Eastern European folk tale, Corpse Bride stars Oscar nominee Johnny Depp (Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl, Sleepy Hollow) as the voice of Victor, a young man who is about to be wed when he is whisked away to the underworld and married to the mysterious Corpse Bride, voiced by Helena Bonham-Carter (Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, Wallace & Gromit: Curse of the Were-Rabbit). Frightened of her at first, Victor warms up to his departed spouse and finds himself torn between two worlds. Emily Watson (Equilibrium, Punch Drunk Love) provides the voice of Victoria, Victor’s fiancée who pines away for him in the land of the living.

    Corpse Bride was animated in England under animation supervisor Anthony Scott, who worked with Burton on his 1993 stop-mo opus, The Nightmare Before Christmas. The puppet armatures were machined by Merrick Cheney, and fabricators Mackinnon & Saunders in Manchester, England, crafted mechanical heads that allowed the animators to bring more expression and fluid lip sync to the characters. And while the majority of the feature was done with stop-motion, The Moving Picture Co. added some CG elements here and there.

    As Burton’s Charlie and the Chocolate Factory and Warner Independent’s hit documentary, March of the Penguins, recede from theaters, Corpse Bride is well-positioned to draw in the family crowd, but its gothic themes and edgy humor should also appeal to the teen and college set. Also opening in wide release today are Buena Vista’s airborne thriller, Flight Plan, and FoxSearchlight’s roller boogie flashback, Roll Bounce.

    Read more about the making of Corpse Bride in the September issue of Animation Magazine, and check out our reactions to the movie at www.animationmagazine.net/article.php?article_id=4474. <

  • Disney’s Cook Talks Toon Slate

    Speaking a the Walt Disney Studios Showcase event on Thursday, Walt Disney Studios chairman Richard Cook revealed details of animated features in the Mouse House pipeline beyond this fall’s Chicken Little, the studio’s first in-house CG feature, and next year’s Cars, perhaps the last Disney/Pixar joint effort.

    Sharing the 2006 release calendar with Cars is an animated flick titled A Day With Wilbur Robinson. Steve Anderson, head of story on The Emperor’s New Groove and Brother Bear, will adapt the book by William Joyce (Rolie Polie Olie), in which a boy genius invents a time machine and meets a futuristic family whose survival depends on his ingenuity.

    The following year goes to the dogs as American Dog gets set to bow-wow in 2007. Lilo & Stitch creator/director Chris Sanders is helming this toon about a famous canine TV star who, after leading an extremely sheltered on-set life., finds himself stranded in the Nevada desert with an over-sized rabbit and a testy cat. Also being coiffed for the frame is Rapunzel Unbraided, a spoof of the classic fairytale as imagined by master Disney animator Glen Keane (Tarzan, Beauty and the Beast, The Little Mermaid).

    Shakespeare is also on the hit list as Gnomeo & Juliet goes into development. After composing and performing songs for such toon features as Disney’s The Lion King and DreamWorks’ The Road to El Dorado, Sir Elton John is taking a producer credit on this comic tale of forbidden romance between indoor and outdoor garden gnomes. John is also composing original songs for the film.

  • Alias Offers Maya, MotionBuilder 7 PLEs

    Maya 7 Personal Learning Edition (PLE) and MotionBuilder 7 Personal Learning Edition are now available for download through the Alias website. These special versions of Maya Complete and Alias MotionBuilder Standard provide free access to the software for non-commercial use and are designed to allow novice to advanced animators to learn and refine new skills.

    With the Personal Learning Editions, industry professionals and those interested in breaking into the world of 3D have an opportunity to learn with the same industry-leading tools found in professional production studios around the world. Demand for skilled artists remains high and the Maya and MotionBuilder Personal Learning Editions allow anyone to develop sought-after 3D skills.

    MotionBuilder 7 PLE almost every feature found in the commercial version, including advanced real-time animation tools, a unique story timeline performance environment, auto rigging, motion editing, motion layering and storytelling tools. Artists can also use any commercial 3D software that supports the FBX file format to open files in PLE for evaluation of compatibility with existing content.

    Maya 7 PLE offers Alias MotionBuilder full-body IK technology, new polygonal modeling and UV tools, specialized visual effects tools such as a new Toon Shader, advanced render layers technology and faster, more seamless connections between Maya and other key production software such as Adobe Photoshop and Adobe Illustrator. Maya 7 PLE users can also take advantage of four separate renderers: Maya software, hardware, vector and the award-winning mental ray for Maya renderer.

    New this year to the PLE versions is the ability to import and export files between the Alias MotionBuilder 7 real-time 3D character animation productivity and the Maya 7 modeling, animation, visual effects and rendering software. This allows artists to evaluate a simulated production pipeline.

    Tutorials, how-to projects, movies and more than 800 free downloads are offered through the Alias user community online. Located at www.alias.com/community, the community is an interactive hub that offers, peer-to-peer discussions, image galleries, modifiable data files, stories and more. Also supporting the learning process is the recently released Learning Maya? 7 | Foundation book, which provides step-by-step lessons that teach readers about storyboarding and planning while they explore modeling with NURBS and polygons, animation, texture maps, visual effects and scene rendering. Learning MotionBuilder 7 | Foundation and Alias MotionBuilder 7 Beginner’s Guide DVDs will be released next month.

    Maya 7 PLE is now available for Windows 2000/XP Professional and Mac OS X operating systems. MotionBuilder 7 PLE is out for Windows XP Professional and Mac OS X. They can be downloaded at www.alias.com/mayaple and www.alias.com/motionbuilderple respectively.

  • U.K. Deals for Wallace & Gromit

    It seems you can’t go anywhere in the U.K. this fall without running into Wallace and Gromit. Aardman Animations has secured a raft of brand partnerships and licensing deals for its upcoming feature film, Wallace & Gromit: Curse of the Were-Rabbit. The film is slated for a Blighty release on October 14, a week after DreamWorks releases it in North America.

    Wallace and Gromit can be seen on TV taking tea in their back garden with Lady Tottington (voiced by Helena Bonham Carter in the movie) in an exclusive commercial spot for PG Tips. The multi-million-pound campaign will feature a free ‘Gromit Thermo-nose Mug’ in 1 million promotional packs.

    Kids will be able to make their own characters from the film with a set of six different molds and plasticine available at Burger King. One toy will be available with every Kids Meal. Significant TV and in-store support will also focus on a limited-edition Wallace & Gromit ‘Grapple Bag’ (apple and grape fruit bag) and the introduction of a fruit smoothie to the menu for the duration of the promotion.

    The plasticine pals are also going mobile, showing up in java games, video clips, voice tones and avatars for customers of Orange U.K., which has selected Wallace & Gromit: Curse of the Were-Rabbit as the October Movie of the Month.

    The Department for Education and Skills has tapped into the movie’s vegetable-growing themes by launching a competition for primary school kids to design their own school vegetable gardens. Schools will also receive resource packs massive Massive Wallace & Gromit wall charts for every classroom.

    Other partners include The Scottish Dairy Council, which is featuring Wallace and Gromit as part of its long-standing milk moustache campaign on outdoor posters and 4 million milk cartons. Kids will get a free Wallace & Gromit movie book and other items with a children’s savings account with Bradford & Bingley, and can search for the Golden Carrot in special packs of Weetos to win an exclusive Aardman Animation Day at their school.

    Aardman has more than 40 licensees for the UK alone. Other partners including Gosh, Wesco, Corgi Classics, Humbrol and Penguin & Titan Books. The company is now lining up promotional relationships for its next theatrical DreamWorks collaboration, the CG-animated Flushed Away, starring the voices of Hugh Jackman, Kate Winslet and Sir Ian McKellen. That film is set for release in the fall of 2006. More information on the studio can be found at www.aardman.com.

  • REDCAT Screens Toons in October

    A number if international animated films are scheduled to screen Oct. 6-8 at REDCAT, CalArts’ Downtown Center for Innovative Visual, Performing and Media Arts. The program, designed to offer a look at animation being produced around the world, will be held inside the Walt Disney Concert Hall complex at 613 West 2nd Street in Los Angeles.

    Curated by Myron Emery, Bér´nice Reynaud and Maureen Selwood of the CalArts School of Film/Video, the New International Animation showcase kicks off on Thursday, Oct. 6 at 8 p.m. with new animation from Hong Kong, China and Japan. The centerpiece of the program is Hong Kong filmmaker Toe Yuen’s award-winning feature, Mai dau goo si (My Life as McDull). Based on the hugely successful cartoons by Alice Mak, the sweetly comic film follows a sentimental piglet as he tries to fulfill the dreams of his overachieving single mother.

    Highlights from the 2005 Annecy Int’l Animated Film Festival will be presented on Friday, Oct. 7 at 8 p.m. Works by Raul Arroyo, Laurent Bourdoiseau, John Canemaker, Gaelle Denis, Arnauld Ganzerli, Maja Lindstorm, Anthony Lucas, Jose Miguel Ribeiro, Rosto and Ali Taylor will be featured in this collection of favorites from one of the foremost animation fests in the world.

    A program title "Phantoms and Dreams" wraps things up on Saturday, Oct. 8, at 8 p.m. Reality and imagination, beauty and horror and solace and malediction collide in this international spectrum of distinctly personal approaches to animation. Films include works from Alex Budovsky, Michelle Cournoyer, Sarah Cox, Marc Craste, Isabel Helguera, Henry Hughes, Vuk Jevremovic, Raimund Krumme, Mathilde Philippon-Aginski, Gabriel Pielke, Maureen Selwood and Virgil Vidrich.

    Tickets are now available by phone at 213-237-2800 and online at www.redcat.org. The box office, located at the corner of 2nd and Hope Streets in the Disney Concert Hall complex, is open Tuesday-Saturday from noon to 6 p.m., and two hours prior to curtain.

  • Mike Young Plunges into "Dive! Olly! Dive!"

    Mike Young Prods. (MYP) has boarded the international co-production, Dive! Olly! Dive!, a CG-animated series for kids 4-7. The slate of 52 eleven-minute episodes is a group effort for Yoram Gross Australia, KIKA of Germany, Telegael of Ireland, MYP’s Taffy Ent. and Moonscoop of France.

    Created by U.K.-based Liverpudlians Ian and Andrew Ross, Dive! Olly! Dive!, aims to teach kids about scientific principles and cooperation as it follows the adventures of Olly, a young, unmanned, anthropomorphic research submarine in training. Olly and his sub buddy, Beth, live in a deep-sea research facility with their human supervisor and mentor, Deep Sea Diver Doug, Doug’s transportation vehicle, SKID, and a permanent barnacle named Brandt.

    Geoff Watson of Yoram Gross, Australia comments, "This show is a prime example of the commercial benefits of production partners teaming up around the world. We’re setting out to produce a show with global appeal, while still tailoring to individual markets. "Indigenous versions of the series will be created to appeal specifically to young viewers around the world.

    Mike Young Prods. won two Daytime Emmys this year for the CG preschool series Jakers! The Adventures of Piggley Winks. The company’s Taffy Ent. is a rights management and distribution company which distributes a number of MYP ’s shows, including Jakers!, ToddWorld, He-Man and the Masters of the Universe and Pet Alien.

    Yoram Gross-EM.TV is celebrating 37 years of production this year. The company’s successful properties include Blinky Bill, Skippy and Dot and the Kangaroo. Six new series and a made-for-TV movie are currently in production, and the company has diversified into live-action television series with Bambaloo, Art Alive and K-Zone TV.

  • Kids Crazy for Loonatics

    Despite some fan opposition over the updated look of Warner Bros.’ classic Looney Tunes characters, the new Loonatics Unleashed was the top-rated Saturday morning show among U.S. kids 2-11, according to the studio. The series debuted Saturday, Sept. 17, on Kids’ WB! and placed first with girls 2-11, and second with boys 2-11, kids 6-11, boys 6-11 and girls 6-11.

    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. The show is produced by Warner Bros. Animation under the guidance of exec producer Sander Schwartz, Emmy Award-nominated producer Ron Myrick, story editor Rick Copp and creative execs Christopher Keenan and Megan Casey.

    Celebrity guest voices tapped for the series include Academy Award nominee Michael Clarke Duncan (Sin City, The Green Mile), Emmy Award winner Tim Curry (The Wild Thornberrys, The Rocky Horror Picture Show) Vivica A. Fox (Kill Bill: Vol. 1, Missing), TV icon Florence Henderson (The Brady Bunch), Tom Kenny (SpongeBob SquarePants, The Batman) and Phil LaMarr (Pulp Fiction, Mad TV).

    Headlining Loonatics’ cast of regulars is Emmy winner Rob Paulsen (Steven Spielberg Presents Pinky & The Brain, Animaniacs), Emmy nominee Kevin Michael Richardson (The Batman, The Matrix Revolutions), Charlie Schlatter (Diagnosis Murder, TV’s Ferris Bueller), Jason Marsden (Spirited Away, Static Shock), Candi Milo (Mucha Lucha!, Dexter’s Laboratory) and newcomer Jessica DiCicco (The Buzz on Maggie).

    Loonatics Unleashed debuted alongside two other new Warner Bros. Animation series, Coconut Fred’s Fruit Salad Island and Johnny Test. Fans can catch the looney action on Kids’ WB! Saturday mornings at 10:30 a.m. ET/9:30 a.m. PT).

  • Zagat’s 2006 Movie Guide Premieres

    If you’re building your Netflix queue or simply looking to add to your DVD collection, there are plenty of suggestions to be found in the Zagat Survey 2006 Movie Guide. A compendium of more than 1,350 top movies, including animated favorites, the guide offers ratings and reviews of films selected by more than 12,000 movie buffs.

    Moviegoers surveyed in the book chose Disney’s Fantasia as the top classic animated feature, followed by Snow White in second place and Pinocchio, Cinderella, Bambi and Lady and the Tramp all tying for third. Meanwhile, Disney/Pixar flicks rule the modern toon category, leading with Finding Nemo and Toy Story. Third place is a run-off between DreamWorks’ Shrek and Shrek 2, Disney’s Beauty and the Beast, and Disney/Pixar’s The Incredibles and Monsters, Inc.

    In the list of the 100 Favorite Films of All Time, the only animated entry to make the cut is DreamWorks’ Shrek. The fairytale comedy comes in at No. 38, well ahead of such live-action favorites as E.T., Doctor Zhivago, Some Like It Hot and Titanic.

    Best known for its restaurant and lifestyle guides, Zagat has been putting out its Movie Guide for four years now. To find more information on the company and its products, and to register to participate in upcoming surveys, go to www.zagat.com.

  • Ultimate Spider-Man Slings into Stores

    It’s a good week for gamers who love comic-book superheroes. On the heels of their release of X-Men Legends II: Rise of Apocalypse, Marvel and Activision today announced the retail launch of the eagerly awaited Ultimate Spider-Man. The new interactive title features motion graphics panels and Activision’s patented 3D Comic Inking Technology to bring the look and feel of a comic book to the gameplay.

    In Ultimate Spider-Man, players are set loose to roam a massive New York City environment as they engage in an original storyline written by Brian Michael Bendis and illustrated by Mark Bagley, the creative team behind Marvel’s best-selling Ultimate Spider-Man series. Developed by Treyarch, the title lets gamers play both superhero and super villain as Spidey takes on his most formidable foe, Venom.

    The game boasts a wide variety of demanding missions, diverse gameplay and a new combat system that allows players to face off against the largest number of Marvel characters ever assembled in a Spider-Man title.

    Ultimate Spider-Man is rated “T” (Teen) for language and violence. The game is available for PlayStation 2, Xbox and GameCube for a suggested retail price of $49.99. A PC/CD-ROM version, developed by Beenox Studio, is also available for $29.99. Handheld gamers can pick it up for the Nintendo DS for $39.99 and Game Boy Advance for $29.99. Both handheld versions, developed by Vicarious Visions, are rated “E10+” (Everyone 10+).

  • Warner Takes DIC’s Trollz Overseas

    The classic Troll dolls have had a long journey back into the limelight, and now their new animated home video features are set to go around the world through an exclusive home video distribution agreement between DIC Ent. and Warner Home Video. The five-year deal will see the Warner division distribute a series of nine made-for-video Trollz titles in key territories around the world, with the exception of the U.K., France and Portugal.

    Trollz is a contemporary version of the world-famous spiky-haired dolls originally created by Thomas Dam in Denmark more than 50 years ago. This new teenage lifestyle brand revolves around five teenage best friends— Amethyst, Onyx, Sapphire, Topaz and Ruby—who each offers her own unique style in personality, color and fashion. Together, they form the “Magic of The Five,” to ward off bad spells and extol the virtues of friendship and forgiveness.

    The first two Trollz titles, Best Friends For Life and Magic of the Five, will begin rolling out overseas in the fourth quarter 2005, with subsequent releases following in 2006. Warner also handles distribution of Trollz productions in the U.S., where Best Friends For Life recently debuted on Disney Channel. That film and Magic of the Five are both available on home video in North America. Nickelodeon International holds exclusive cable, satellite and pay TV rights for DIC’s animated Trollz television series.

  • DreamWorks Toon Slate Takes Shape

    DreamWorks Animation spilled the beans on some of the computer-animated features in development to Daily Variety. It was also announced today that actor Jack Black has signed on to voice the lead role in the upcoming comedy, Kung Fu Panda.

    Dedicated to producing two animated releases theatrically each year, DreamWorks Animation is moving out of its start-up phase and focusing on getting a full slate of projects in the pipeline. The studio is moving forward with Kung Fu Panda, which is slated to share the 2008 release schedule with the recently announced sequel to the $500 million-grossing adventure comedy, Madagascar.

    Storyboard artist John Stevenson (Madagascar, Shrek 2, Sinbad: Legend of the Seven Seas) and Oscar-nominated animated filmmaker Mark Osborne (More) are directing Kung Fu Panda from a script by Monster House scribes Dan Harmon and Rob Schrab. Melissa Cobb is producing the pic about a lazy, irreverent, slacker panda named Po, who must somehow become a Kung Fu Master in order to save the Valley of Peace from a villainous snow leopard named Tai Lung.

    Other candidates in development include an adaptation of Cressida Cowell’s children’s book, How to Train Your Dragon, about a Viking boy who must prove his worthiness by capturing a fire-breathing beast. Attached to direct are Spirit: Stallion of the Cimarron helmer Lorna Cook and David Soren, a story artist on Shark Tale and Shrek.

    Directors Conrad Vernon (Shrek 2) and Rob Letterman (Shark Tale) are developing an adaptation of vintage comic-book property Rex Havoc, which will have the monster hunter assembling a team of genetic mutants to take on invading aliens. The comic is being adapted for the screen by Maya Forbes (The Larry Sanders Show) and Wally Wolodarsky (The Simpsons).

    The theme of alien invasion is also being explored with It Came From Earth!, only this time there’s a twist. Martians have to deal with the arrival of human astronauts in the script by South Park contributors Josh Lobis and Darin Moiselle. No director has been assigned.

    Conrad Vernon has also co-written a script with comedian/actor Harlan Williams titled Route 66. The story gives new meaning to the term "roadside attraction" as an enormous golf ball sets off on an adventure to find the love of his life, a giant blueberry that used to draw business to a produce stand across the road. Vernon and Williams pitched the concept with DreamWorks story department head Rej Bourdages, a former college roommate of Williams’.

    DreamWorks Animation is releasing Aardman Animation’s Wallace & Gromit: curse of the Were-Rabbit on Oct. 7. In production for 2006 are Over the Hedge, an adaptation of the comic strip by Michael Fry and T. Lewis, and Flushed Away, the story of a high-rise dwelling rat who learns how the other half lives when he is flushed into the sewer.

  • Eden Brings FX to Surface, Invasion

    Inspired by the success of ABC’s supernatural thriller, Lost, the networks have introduced a number of genre series to their fall lineups and Eden FX has been made a significant part of the equation. The vfx shop was signed to produce original CG effects NBC’s Surface and ABC’s Invasion, both dealing with the arrival of beings from other worlds.

    "We are thrilled to be working on these two new, high-profile, effects-heavy series," comments John Gross, who shares president duties at Eden with Mark Miller. "They are creatively challenging and utilize our capabilities to the fullest in terms of character animation, digital matte paintings and compositing. I am extremely pleased with the company’s continuing growth in television effects."

    Rockfish Films and NBC Universal brought Eden FX on to create and animate CG creatures for Surface. In addition to the extensive character animation, the company is also creating CG water effects, underwater digital environments and photorealistic CG vehicles for the show about various people who encounter a new form of marine life that may not be as harmless as it seems.

    There’s more CG water effects on tap for ABC’s Invasion, a production of Warner Bros Television. Other digital elements include vehicles, environments and extensive matte paintings and set extensions that help tell this story of humans struggling to survive an alien threat that walks among us.

    Eden, which provides CG visual effects for Lost, Alias and Navy NCIS, was also contracted to crated a digital Air Force One for both the pilot and another episode of ABC TV’s new series, Commander in Chief, starring Gena Davis. The company previously produced all of the digital visual effects for the entire run of UPN’s Star Trek Enterprise.

  • Verizon Snares Disney Programming

    Verizon Communications will make Disney Channel programming part of its new video service via a long-term agreement with the Magic Kingdom. Dubbed Fios, Verizon’s high-speed, fiber-optic content delivery system is being tested in Keller, Texas, and is slated for availability in 3 million homes this year.

    Fios is Verison’s stab at competing with cable television providers, which are encroaching on its turf by offering telephone and high-speed Internet services in addition to TV signals.

    In addition to Disney Channel, Version will carry 12 other Disney outlets, including ESPN and ABC News. The company is also in negotiations to acquire content from Rupert Murdoch’s News Corp., which owns FOX, FX and Fox News.

    Verizon’s efforts to break into video delivery may be impeded by a requirement to obtain licenses for specific service areas. The company is reportedly pushing for legislation aimed at simplifying the process with statewide or national licenses.

  • Activision Unleashes X-Men Legends II

    The best-selling X-Men game ever got a second chapter this week as Activision released X-Men Legends II: Rise of Apocalypse. Based on the successful Marvel comic-book franchise, the new RPG title allows gamers to create superhero dream teams, teaming up their favorite mutants with Brotherhood villains for the first time to prevent a devastating attack on mankind.

    X-Men Legends II: Rise of Apocalypse promises to deliver a truly epic story, a ton of new playable characters, larger gameplay environments, increased customization features and the addition of an online multiplayer mode. Players can switch instantly between teammates and utilize new super powers and skills to overcome obstacles, solve puzzles and defeat more than 100 kinds of enemies, including Lady Deathstrike and the notorious Four Horsemen of Apocalypse.

    Available for the PlayStation 2, Xbox and Nintendo GameCube, X-Men Legends II: Rise of Apocalypse lists at $49.99 and has been rated "T" (Teen) for mild language and violence). A PC/CD-ROM version is also available for the suggested retail price of $39.99, and the PSP version will be available later this fall for $49.99.

  • Toon Voices Sign for Hurricane Victims

    Talent agency CESD, which handles many of the top names in the animation voiceover biz, is teaming up with the Los Angeles Branch of the Red Cross to produce an autograph show to benefit the victims of Hurricane Katrina. Actors from a number of hit series will be on hand at the Shrine Auditorium to autograph various items on Sunday, Oct. 9, from 10 a.m. until 4 p.m.

    Participants will include voice cast members from the original Transformers, King of the Hill, Teen Titans, Loonatics, Looney Tunes, Hi Hi Puffy AmiYumi, The Grim Adventures of Billy and Mandy, Fosters Home for Imaginary Friends, Rugrats and My Life as a Teenage Robot, as well as costumed Disney characters Goofy and Jimminy Cricket. Star Trek can also get autographs from franchise stars Armin Shimmerman, Rene Auberjonois, Robert Picardo and Tim Russ. Additional participating talent will be announced before the event.

    CESD will provide volunteers while Bruce Schwartz, owner and coordinator of the Los Angeles Comic Book and Sci Fi Convention (www.comicbookscifi.com), graciously donates space and tables where the talent will autograph photos, pieces of paper, the event program or items brought by attendees. Fans will be able to purchase tax-deductible $10 autograph tickets from Red Cross reps at the door with all proceeds going to The Red Cross. Some autographs will require two tickets and others only one.

  • Wallace & Gromit Shorts Hit Disc

    As fans eagerly anticipate the Oct. 7 theatrical release of DreamWorks Animation’s and Aardman Animation’s Wallace & Gromit: The Curse of the Were-Rabbit, DreamWorks Home Entertainment today released the original, Oscar-winning Wallace & Gromit short films together on one DVD. Wallace & Gromit in Three Amazing Adventures includes the films A Close Shave, The Wrong Trousers and A Grand Day Out, as well as the 10-part micro-series, Cracking Contraptions.

    In A Grand Day Out, cheese-loving Wallace finds his fridge empty and the local corner shop shut for the Bank Holiday. Determined to have his favorite snack, the blundering inventor builds a rocket and takes his canine pal, Gromit, on a trip to the moon for some cheese of the green variety.

    The Wrong Trousers has our plasticine heroes up against an extraordinary pair of automated trousers and a villainous penguin, who poses as an innocent lodger to recruiting mild-mannered Wallace as an unwitting accomplice to his diamond heist. It’s up to Gromit to turn detective and save the day as the ensuing mayhem culminates in a train chase sequence that represents some of the best animation work ever captured on film.

    Wallace and Gromit find success with their Wash ’N Go window cleaning service and diversify into the wool biz in A Close Shave. Wallace’s Knit-O-Matic machine takes all the guess work out of sheering sheep and making sweaters, but supplies begin to run low as a rustling ring depletes the local pool of sheep.

    Cracking Contraptions is a collection of mini-shorts that focus on Wallace’s many wacky inventions, including the Snoozatron, the Autochef, the Snowmanatron and the BullyProof Vest. The one-minute animated pieces originally appeared on the AtomFilms website (www.atomfilms.com) in October of 2002, but have not been available on DVD in the U.S. until this release. The DVD also includes a behind-the-scenes look at the making of the shorts, with interviews with the filmmakers and a look at the intricate production process.

    The release also offers a sneak peek at the upcoming feature with a behind-the-scenes featurette that includes outtakes from the film and interviews with Wallace & Gromit creator and two-time Academy Award-winning writer/director Nick Park (Chicken Run). Wallace & Gromit in Three Amazing Adventures carries a suggested price of $19.99.

  • Ren & Stimpy, Heathcliff Come Home

    There’s plenty of twisted, four-legged fun to be found at video retailers today as The Ren & Stimpy Show–Seasons Five & Some More of Four and Heathcliff & the Cadillac Cats arrive as multi-disc sets. The cartoon favorites are joined on shelves by episodes of SpongeBob SquarePants and the 2004 German animated feature, Boo, Zino and the Snurks (a.k.a. Back to Gaya).

    The Ren & Stimpy Show–Seasons Five & Some More of Four is a three-disc release featuring 17 episodes of the Nickelodoen cartoon created by animation maverick John Kricfalusi and produced by his Spumco Inc. Fans can enjoy watching installments from the second half of season 4 and all of season 5, as well as the featurette Ren & Stimpy on Ren & Stimpy and 13 audio commentaries from both the Spumco and Games animation teams.

    Launched on Nickelodeon in 1991, The Ren & Stimpy Show earned an Emmy nomination in 1993. Kricfalusi left the show after the first season due to creative differences and later resurrected the characters for Ren & Stimpy Adult Party Cartoon, which ran for a season in 2003 on Spike TV. He now has aspirations of taking the property to the big screen.

    The Ren & Stimpy Show recently returned to Nickelodeon via its 24-hour animation network, Nicktoons. All three original seasons of series began airing in late July at 9:30 p.m., marking the property’s return to kids’ TV for the first time since 2002. The new DVD release from Paramount Home Entertainment lists for $39.99.

    Heathcliff & the Cadillac Cats offers 24 episodes of the classic DIC animated series on four discs. Featuring legendary Warner Bros. Animation icon Mel Blanc as the voice of the original fat, orange tabby, Heathcliff follows the feline practical joker as he struts through the town of Westfinster in search of new ways to torment neighborhood bulldog Spike, woo his beloved Sonja and annoy his human Grandpa. Each Heathcliff episode is followed by a Cats and Co. cartoon, starring a comical junkyard gang of feline hustlers known as the Catillac Cats.

    Bonus features on the Heathcliff & The Catillac Cats set include original promos, a click-thru gallery of panels from the syndicated newspaper cartoon from its 1973 inception to present day and an interview with current Heathcliff comic panel illustrator Peter Gallagher. The set from Shout! Factory carries a suggested retail price of $34.98.

    SpongeBob SquarePants: Absorbing Favorites offers handful of adventures from the hit Nickelodeon series. "Ripped Pants," "Mermaidman and Barnacleboy," "Karate Choppers," "Gary Takes a Bath," "Jellyfish Hunter," "Frycook Games," "Club SpongeBob," "Plankton’s Army," and "The Sponge Who Could Fly" are all packaged on one disc, along with a What SpongeBob Character Are You? game and Ripped Pants Karaoke. The release is available from Paramount Home Entertainment for $16.99.

    The English dub for Boo, Zino and the Snurks features the voices of Patrick Stewart (X-Men, TV’s Star Trek: The Next Generation) and Emily Watson (Corpse Bride, Equilibrium). A production of Morena Flimes, Ambient Ent. GmbH and Recorded Picture Cp. (RPC), the CG-animated fantasy feature is reportedly the final project for renowned composer Michael Kamen, who died during the course of production. DVD bonus materials include a making-of featurette focusing on the creation of the digital characters and a feature titled Throughts from your favorite Characters. The First Look Home Entertainment release lists for $19.98.

  • Innamation Joins 3D Feature Goldrush

    Another production company has emerged to stake its claim in the lucrative 3D computer animation world. Backed by private equity funding, Innamation Films was established in 2003 by producer/director Brian Panzer to focus on family-friendly direct-to-video features starting with a holiday entry.

    The first film in the Innamation pipeline is The Christmas Rescue, about a trio of woodland friends who save Christmas by finding Santa when he is swept off course during a storm. A spokesperson for the company tells us they are working on lining up voice talent before approaching distributors. Other features in development include adaptations of the Brothers Grimm fairytales Little Red Riding Hood and Goldilocks and the Three Bears. Budgets have not been determined.

    Innamation Films produced its first 3D-animated short in 2004. The re-telling of Goldilocks and the Three Bears was an official selection of the CINEME Int’l Animation Festival and will serve as the basis for the upcoming feature treatment.

    Panzer, an American Academy of Art graduate, previously founded DARKMOON Studios, which specialized in 3D animation, modeling and web site design for corporate clientele. You can find his Innamation Films on the web at www.innamationfilms.com.

  • Tiles in Place as G4 Prez

    Neal Tiles has been appointed president of growing cable outlet G4–videogame tv, stepping in for Network founder Charles Hirschhorn. In addition, Dale Hopkins has been promoted to chief operating officer of the Comcast network founded in 2002.

    “I’m thrilled to have the opportunity to lead such a growing, dynamic network,” says Tiles. “Over the past three years, G4 has established itself as an exciting destination for young male viewers and I look forward to continuing to grow the network and deliver vibrant, appealing programming to our audience.”

    Tiles comes to G4 from DirecTV, where he served as exec VP of marketing and was responsible for advertising, brand management and other creative services. He previously served as exec VP of FOX Sports, where he was responsible for marketing FOX Sports and FOX Sports Net.

    “Neal’s brand-building expertise and Dale’s leadership in growing G4 to over 50 million homes in less than 3 years are an ideal combination,” comments Hirschhorn. “They are a dynamic duo who can elevate G4’s game to the next level.”

    Hirschhorn is in discussions regarding consulting opportunities with G4 and other Comcast content entities, and is considering other entrepreneurial pursuits.

    G4, which absorbed Tech TV in 2004, features a late-night animation block titled Anime Unleashed. Last month, the network launched Barbed Wire Biscuit, an hour-long Monday-Friday strip featuring edgy animated and live-action series including the gory toon comedy, Happy Tree Friends & Friends, the weird science show, Brainiac, and video game cut-scene showcase, Cinematech: Nocturnal Emissions. Ore information on the Los Angeles-based entity is available at www.g4tv.com.