Animation Magazine

Author: Ryan Ball

  • Luke’s Light Saber on Auction Block

    Since Star Wars exploded on the screen in 1977, fans worldwide have dreamed of wielding Luke Skywalker’s light saber. Now one lucky, and wealthy, person will get the opportunity to purchase it when producer Gary Kurtz puts the original screen prop and other Star Wars items up for auction on Friday, July 29, in Beverly Hills.

    Kurtz, producer of Star Wars and Star Wars: The Empire Strikes Back, as well as George Lucas’ American Graffiti and the fantasy films Return to Oz and The Dark Crystal, is auctioning off these treasures from his personal archive through Beverly Hills auctioneer Profiles in History. The former VP of Lucasfilm has amassed a huge archive of film memorabilia, and parting with the light saber and more than 75 other pieces will help fund the restoration and conservation of other artifacts in the collection.

    The original light saber used by star Mark Hammil in the first Star Wars film is expected fetch $60,000 to $80,000. Also on the block are Darth Vader’s hero light saber from Star Wars: The Empire Strikes Back ($40,000-$60,000),

    Luke’s X-Wing flight suit from Star Wars and The Empire Strikes Back ($60,000-$80,000), and an original, screen-used Stormtrooper blaster from Star Wars ($25,000-30,000).

    Profiles in History’s live public auction will include more than 640 items with a total worth of around two million dollars. Collectors from around the world will bid on vintage and contemporary Hollywood artifacts, including Harrison Ford’s signature leather jacket from Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade, the original Derelict Ship set piece from the first two Alien films, and a miniature Batmobile from Tim Burton’s 1989 Batman feature.

    Collectors can bid in person, live on the Internet at www.ebayliveauctions.com, by phone or fax. Profiles in History is found on the web at www.profilesinhistory.com.

  • B.O. Fireworks for War of the Worlds

    Many Americans decided to celebrate Independence Day by taking in another big effects film about an alien invasion. Steven Spielberg’s War of the Worlds earned an estimated $77.6 million over the weekend, bringing its gross to around $113 million since opening last Wednesday. Distributed by DreamWorks and Paramount Pictures, this latest retelling of the classic H.G. Wells sci-fi yarn featuring visual effects by Industrial Light & Magic also dominates the overseas box office, having earned more than $102 million in 78 countries.

    Warner Bros.’ Batman Begins posted a distant second with an estimated take of $18.6 million over the holiday weekend. The expensive superhero actioner about the genesis of DC Comics’ Dark Knight is in the black with a three-week domestic draw of approximately $154 million and another $114 million overseas. Eventual home video sales alone should guarantee a continuation of the franchise as producers gear up to put sequels in the pipeline.

    Now four weeks out of the gate, Mr. and Mrs. Smith from 20th Century Fox is still alive an kicking in third place. The Brad Pitt/Angelina Jolie action vehicle added approximately $12.7 million to its domestic take, which stands at an estimated $146 million. Sony’s modern update of Bewitched follows $10.8 million, bringin its two-week cume to around $40.3 million, less than half of its reported budget.

    Earning around $10.5 million over the weekend, Disney’s kid pic, Herbie: Fully Loaded, edged out DreamWorks’ animated Madagascar for a top-five spot. Madagascar settles for No. 6 with an estimated $7 million and a six-week total nearing $172.5 million.

    With War of the Worlds doing bang-up business at the box office, Universal Pictures announced today that Spielberg has begun production on his yet untitled historical pic focused on the massacre of Israeli athletes during the 1972 Olympics in Munich.

    While the holiday period saw no wide-release challengers for Spielberg’s latest epic, that will change this coming weekend as 20th Century Fox releases its big-screen adaptation of Marvel Comics’ Fantastic Four. The superhero effects feast features work by Soho VFX, Meteor Studios, Giant Killer Robots, Stan Winston Digital, CobaltFX, Pacific Title, CaféFX, Hydraulx, Pixel Magic, Kleiser-Walczak, SW Digital, CIS Hollywood.

  • Madagascar Trumps Batman Overseas

    According to Daily Variety, DreamWorks Animation’s Madagascar beat out Warner Bros.’ Batman Begins for the No. 2 spot at the overseas box office over the weekend. The latest CG toon from Jeffrey Katzenberg and crew earned $15.8 million in 27 markets, just barely besting the $15.7 million raked in by the caped crusader’s return to the screen.

    Released more gradually than Batman, Madagascar still has some catching up to do in foreign markets where Batman Begins has earned $114.7 million to Madagascar’s $78.8 million. Still, the tale of spoiled zoo animals struggling o find their way in the wild is performing better than DreamWorks last animated release, Shark Tale, in a number of markets including Poland and South Africa. The pic seems to be finding the most love in France, where it picked up another $3.3 million over the weekend.

    Of course, Steven Spielberg’s War of the Worlds tops the overseas charts with more than $102 million, which falls short of the $144.7 million yearly record set by Star Wars: Episode III–Revenge of the Sith over a five-day period in May.

  • Top Gun Flying to Nintendo DS

    As Tom Cruise battles aliens on the big screen in War of the Worlds, his fighter pilot alter-ego is feeling the need for speed again, this time on the double screen. Video game publisher Mastiff announced plans to publish a Nintendo DS title based on Paramount Pictures’ 1986 blockbuster, Top Gun.

    “Top Gun‘s intense action translates perfectly into a video game,” says Bill Swartz, who’s credited as ‘head woof’ at Mastiff. ‘[The game] exploits the capabilities of the Nintendo DS to duplicate that experience in a handheld environment.” One thing the game will take full advantage of is the DS’s ability to deliver virtual surround-sound.

    Top Gun for Nintendo DS will take gamers back to the Navy’s prestigious Fighter Weapons School, where they enter as rookie pilots and vie to become the best fighter pilot in the world. The title puts the player in the cockpit of a heavily armed jetfighter plane to navigate 10 single-player missions such as high altitude dogfights, escort missions and airspace protection maneuvers over diverse terrain and through dramatic weather. Also featured is head-to-head play for two, three or four players.

    Mastiff, which licensed Top Gun from Viacom Consumer Products, has offices in Tokyo, San Francisco and Los Angeles. The publisher’s recent titles include La Pucelle: Tactics, Gungrave: Overdose, Technic Beat and Top Gun: Combat Zones for PlayStation 2. Go to www.mastiff-games.com for more information.

  • ION Fest Calls for Entries

    The ION Int’l Animation, Games and Film Festival will return to Los Angeles this fall and organizers are looking for submissions of both animated and live-action short films, short documentaries, game trailers, music videos TV spots, movie trailers and films made for mobile devices.

    Last year’s inaugural ION program included Chris Landreth’s Ryan, which won ION’s International Animation of the Year Award in and went on to win the Best Animated Short Oscar. The fest also screened Bill Plympton’s Academy Award-nominated toon short, Guard Dog, and named LucasArts’ Star Wars: Knights Of The Old Republic Game of the Year.

    This year’s ION winners in the short films and short docs categories will be featured in ION’s Short Circuit DVD series. The production will be distributed worldwide to key industry professionals, including studio execs, independent film producers, agents, directors, art directors, creative directors, production houses and select members of the press. Among the studios and broadcasters on the mailing list are Sony Pictures, Sony ImageWorks, DreamWorks, Pixar, Disney, Rhythm and Hues, Klasky Csupo, Nickelodeon and Cartoon Network.

    More information on the festival can be found at http://www.ionfilmfest.com. Submission information is available at http://rs6.net/tn.jsp?t=tedzalbab.0.vqtdclbab.9uoz7yn6.1546&p=

    http%3A%2F%2Fwww.ionfilmfest.com%2Fsubmitfilms.html. The submission deadline is July 31. Volunteers are also needed and will receive free screening passes.

    More than 100 films, including U.S. and world premieres, will screen during the ION Int’l Animation, Games and Film Festival, taking place October 28-30, 2005, in Hollywood. Questions about tickets, passes or group discounts can be directed to festival@ionfilmfestival.com or (310) 360-8333.

  • Tarzan takes Spring Swing to Broadway

    Disney’s 1999 animated hit, Tarzan, will join fellow Mouse House features Aladdin, The Lion King and Beauty and the Beast as it hits the Broadway stage with a musical version. Daily Variety reports that the live show has been slated to bow next spring. The venue and specific start dates are yet to be announced

    Though no casting decisions have been made public, Shuler Hensley, who played Frankenstein’s Monster in Universal’s Van Helsing, is reportedly in final negotiations to play one of the apes. The Tony Award-winning actor will next appear on the Great White Way in The Great American Trailer Park Musical, which opens Sept. 15. He will also show up in the swashbuckling feature film sequel The Legend of Zorro.

    The Tarzan musical is directed by Bob Crowley and will boast new songs by Phil Collins, who won an Oscar for the song “You’ll be in My Heart” and an Annie Award for “Two Worlds,” which were both featured in the animated movie. The show’s book was written by David Henry Hwang and choreography is being handled by Meryl Tankard.

  • War on Path to Victory

    A vast number of disappearances on Wednesday may be attributed to the opening of Steven Spielberg’s big-screen adaptation of H.G. Wells’ War of the Worlds. The film abducted moviegoers to the tune of $34.6 million worldwide, marking the biggest opening day in Paramount history and star Tom Cruise’s career.

    Domestically, War of the Worlds snatched up $21.2 million in 3,908 theaters, and racked up an additional $13.3 million (est.) internationally from 46 territories. The film has yet to open in 10 markets, including the U.K., France, Belgium and Korea.

    A contemporary retelling of Wells’ sci-fi literary classic, Spielberg’s $135 million PG-13 action thriller employs visual effects by Industrial Light & Magic to depict the battle for the future of humankind as seen through the eyes of one American family fighting to survive an alien invasion. Cruise is joined in the cast by Dakota Fanning, Miranda Otto, Justin Chatwin and Tim Robbins. Josh Friedman and David Koepp scripted this adaptation of the beloved novel, which was first brought to the screen by George Pal in 1956 and has been mined for numerous telepics and direct-to-video productions.

    Presented by Paramount Pictures and DreamWorks Pictures, War of the Worlds is a production of Spielberg’s Amblin Entertainment and Cruise|Wagner. The pic is produced by Kathleen Kennedy and Colin Wilson, with Paula Wagner serving as exec producer.

    The effects tour de force should ignite more box office fireworks over the long Fourth of July weekend, displacing Warner Bros.’ Batman Begins as the top movie. However, the return of the Dark Knight should also get a boost from the holiday weekend as latecomers take advantage of the day off to catch up on their caped crusading.

  • Pixar Back-peddles on Incredibles Sales

    While The Incredibles easily vanquished the competition on home video, sales haven’t quite met Disney’s expectations, leading Pixar to revise earnings projections for its second quarter. The toon juggernaut has modified its earlier forecast of roughly $0.15 per diluted share to approximately $0.10, a net income difference of around $6 million.

    “The Incredibles is the best-selling home video title of 2005 to date, and we continue to expect it to generate home video revenues similar to Monsters, Inc.,” Pixar CEO Steve Jobs said during a conference call Thursday. “But based on the most recent sell-through information, we have opted to be more cautious with respect to our second quarter home video reserves.”

    According to Simon Bax, Pixar’s exec VP and chief financial officer, gross worldwide home video wholesale revenues for The Incredibles before distribution fees are projected to be $450 million through the second quarter, putting it on par with Monsters, Inc. but 7% below original estimates.

    Jobs added, ‘I think it’s valuable to put this all into perspective. Of course we’re disappointed to miss our guidance this quarter, but we’re talking about units that are 7% lower than expected. In this wide world, projecting something within 7% isn’t so bad. The only reason that $6 million dollars is material enough to warrant updating our guidance is that this is a low revenue quarter. We’re in a trough that we will get out of next year when we release Cars.’

    Pixar’s revision echoes, to some degree, a similar move DreamWorks made in May due to lower-than-expected Shrek 2 home video sales. In that case, the admission of overestimation spurred a class-action lawsuit on behalf of investors who claim they were mislead by artificially inflated earnings projections. That scenario is unlikely to play out in this case.

    Bax declined to speculate on any possible changes in consumer buying patterns that may be adversely affecting DVD sales in general. When asked if he thought digital piracy played a role in the case of The Incredibles, he responded, ‘It’s not something that we believe is having a material impact in the U.S.’

    Though he to keep the conference focused on the matter at hand, Jobs mentioned that he was still having positive talks with Disney regarding the possibility of striking a new distribution deal that would extend the lucrative partnership beyond Cars, which is scheduled to race into theaters on June 9, 2006.

    A more detailed review of Pixar’s second quarter is expected in advance of its next quarterly earnings call, scheduled for Aug. 4, 2005.

  • Imageworks Educates with New Program

    Sony Pictures Imageworks, the Academy Award-winning visual effects and character animation studio behind Spider-Man 2 and other blockbusters, is helping to train the next generation of vfx wizards with the establishment of the Imageworks Professional Academic Excellence (IPAX) program. Created to educate faculty and structure curricula at the country’s leading academic institutions, IPAX will allow instructors to experience a working production environment on-site at Imageworks and share acquired knowledge with students.

    "Imageworks has experienced tremendous growth and accolades over the past year, triggering an internal evaluation of how we could give back to both the academic and visual effects communities," explains Imageworks president Tim Sarnoff. "We are very excited by the idea of working with educators to create specialized curriculum-based programs which will ensure that the heart of our industry–the future artists, designers and engineers–continues to grow, learn and prosper."

    Imageworks has so far admitted six schools into the program. Those that passed the rigorous preliminary acceptance process are DePaul University Computer Graphics and Animation Program, Gnomon School of Visual Effects, Otis College of Art + Design, Pratt Institute School of Art & Design, Ringling School of Art & Design and University of Southern California School of Cinema-Television.

    The IPAX program will offer a yearly review of curricula to ensure that students are exposed to the latest developments in technology and techniques used not only at Imageworks, but throughout the visual effects and digital animation industries. In addition, Imageworks will offer fellowships to IPAX members that integrate faculty into the Imageworks production environment and allow them to attend guest lectures, training sessions and more.

    Spearheading the IPAX initiatives are Imageworks execs Mae Turner Moody, VP of digital production and administration, and Sande Scoredos, exec director of training and development. Scoredos heads Imageworks’ dedicated training center, which is integrated directly with production and allows instructors to train new hires, conduct continuing education for crew members, teach third-party and proprietary software and techniques, provide career development opportunities and offer special events and screenings. The training program offers more than 30 courses, including life drawing, sculpting, acting and special lectures, as well as specialized task-oriented classes for such skills as rotoscoping, matchmoving, animation, particle effects, compositing, color and lighting.

  • Madagascar’s Penguins March for Computing

    Having tickled many a funny bone in DreamWorks Animation’s hit feature, Madagascar, those mischievous animated penguins are starring in a video illustrating how High Performance Computing (HPC) impacts the daily lives of average consumers. Commissioned by The Council on Competitiveness, a national organization of business, academic and labor executives, the video will be presented at the Second Annual High Performance Computing (HPC) Users Conference on July 13 in Washington, D.C.

    The video, produced by DreamWorks Animation, is designed to help viewers grasp the importance of HPC in breakthrough innovation in fields ranging from medicine to consumer products, energy security and aerospace. It will also demonstrate the need for continued funding and support of those efforts.

    The Council worked with companies, universities and national laboratories to reveal how HPC is behind many of the commonplace products and services consumers take for granted. Contributors include Boeing, Chevron, DaimlerChrysler, the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency, Ford, IBM, Intel, Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, Los Alamos National Laboratory, Oak Ridge National Laboratory, Ohio Supercomputer Center, Pacific Northwest National Laboratory, Pittsburgh Supercomputing Center, Procter & Gamble, Sandia National Laboratories, SGI and the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign National Center for Supercomputing Applications.  

    At the conference, leaders from industry, academia and the national laboratories will discuss problems whose solutions could have a significant impact on competitiveness if more computational capability were available. Panelists will also address the challenges of creating, using and maintaining application software suitable for a competitive, corporate production environment, and the role of universities and national laboratories in helping accelerate development of new and/or updated code.

    The Second Annual HPC Users Conference is co-sponsored by the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency, the U.S. Department of Energy’s National Nuclear Security Administration and Office of Science and the National Science Foundation. More information on the conference and its speakers is available at www.hpcusersconference.com. The Council on Competitiveness is on the web at www.compete.org.

  • Gamers to be Left Behind

    Long regarded as an outlet for anti-social tendencies and appetites for destruction, the world of video games is perhaps the last place one would look to find religious affirmation. That may soon change with the announcement that Left Behind Games is developing a real-time-strategy title based on the best-selling, apocalyptic Left Behind book series and films. Left Behind: Eternal Forces for PC is slated to hit retail between Christmas 2005 and Easter 2006.

    Written by Tim LaHaye and Jerry B. Jenkins, the Left Behind books use the prophecies of the Book of Revelation as a framework, presenting a post-Rapture world in which the Antichrist has taken power of the United Nations and is gathering the countries of the world under his wing. Standing between Satan’s legions and ultimate victory is a small resistance known as the Tribulation Forces.

    In the game, players will be asked to join the Tribulation Forces to battle demonic forces at work in New York City during the End of Days. Gamer can experience events from the books in single player mode or capture territory from other players in multi-player online play. One challenge of the game is convert secular/neutral units to fight on the side of light or darkness. The title also promises a realistic representation of The Big Apple. Maps and 3D environments were created using photographs of nearly 500 actual city blocks.

    Left Behind Games Inc. was founded in October 2001 to develop games based on the popular series, as well as other interactive entertainment products that perpetuate family values and appeal to Christian and mainstream audiences. An industry vet with more than 20 years of experience under his belt, company CEO and co-founder Troy Lyndon produced Madden Football for Electronic Arts in 1990. President Jeffrey Frichner has been an investment and financial advisory consulting services professional for 15 years. For more information or to play the free Left Behind trivia game, go to www.leftbehindgames.com.

  • Women’s Game Conference Director Appointed

    The Game Initiative, an Austin, Texas-based producer of conferences and events for professionals in the video game industry, has named Suzanne Freyjadis-Chuberka the new conference director for the Women’s Game Conference (WGC), taking place Oct. 26-27 in Austin. The organization has also set July 15 as the deadline for speaker panel participation proposals.

    Freyjadis-Chuberka holds a Master’s Degree in Women’s and Gender Studies, with a focus on women and video games, from the University of Texas at Austin. She is an accomplished researcher and presenter in the fields of gender issues, gaming and girls’ youth culture, and has been researching various aspects of the female gamer market for the past three years.

    WGC focuses on women in the video game industry, gender-inclusive game design and women and girls as consumers of interactive entertainment. The 2005 conference sessions include: Quality of Life Issues, Recruiting and Retention of Women in the Game Industry, Team Building, Design of Female Avatars in MMOGs, Women and the Casual Games Market, Marketing to Women and Research on Women and Video Games. Qualified industry professionals interested in speaking on a panel should visit www.WomensGameConference.com and contact Freyjadis-Chuberka.

    Other Game Initiative events include the Austin Game Conference, the Mobile Game Conference, The Advertising In Games Forum, The Casual Games Conference, Game Technology Association Meetings and the How to Break into the Game Industry national conference series. More information about the organization can be found at www.GameConferences.com.

  • Producers Go For Black Belt

    Having produced the big-budget features I, Robot and Catch Me if You Can, Hand Picked Films principles Anthony Romano and Michel Shane have teamed with financier/producer Steven Gagnon’s Gravity Ent. and Jeff Gomez of animation producer Starlight Runner Ent. to adapt Dawn Barnes’ children’s book series, The Black Belt Club.

    Published by Scholastic, The Black Belt Club: Seven Wheels of Power is the first of what is intended to be a twelve-book series. The kid lit/graphic novel hybrid featuring illustrations by acclaimed artist Bernard Chang has sold more than 120,000 copies in just three months.

    The companies involved in this latest license plan to exploit the property across a number of media platforms, including animated television, direct-to-video movies, video games and feature films. Hand Picked will co-produce the series with Gravity Pictures, the production arm of Gravity Ent.

    Gomez and Starlight Runner are working closely with Barnes to layout the mythology of the book series for screen adaptation. Previous Starlight Runner productions include, Mattel’s Hot Wheels World Race and Hot Wheels Highway 35 animated features.

    In The Black Belt Club: Seven Wheels of Power, young hero Max and his fellow karate students pull from her studies in martial arts and Native American

    Mysticism as they battle evil through teamwork. More information on the book can be found at www.theblackbeltclub.com.

  • Jakers! Takes Home Humanitas

    It’s been a big award season for an eight-year-old CG-animated pig called Jakers. Last night, the Entara/Mike Young Productions’ series, Jakers! The Adventures of Piggley Winks, won the 2005 Humanitas prize in the children’s animation category. Written by Kelly Ward and Cliff MacGillivray, the episode "Waking Thor" won for its "sensitive reminder that we can count on others". The show currently airs on PBS nationwide and will be stripped daily in the fall.

    Jakers! beat out an episode of Mike Young Productions’ own ToddWorld written by Dennys McCoy and Pamela Hickey, also writers on Jakers!, as well as pre-school show Paz (produced by Discovery, Egmont Imagination, King Rollo Films and Open Mind) both broadcast on the Discovery Kids/TLC. Ward and MacGillivray were awarded $25,000 at the award’s annual luncheon which took place yesterday at the Hilton Universal Hotel, Hollywood.

    Indie toon house Mike Young Productions also won two Emmys for Jakers! The Adventures Of Piggley Winks this year, bringing the show’s total to four. The company also received the most daytime Emmy nominations within its category, including a nomination for Outstanding Children’s Animated Program and picked up a Gold Plaque Hugo Award, again for series Jakers! in addition to a Silver Hugo for ToddWorld. There are also major toys and merchandising plans in store for Jakers! next year.

    The Humanitas prize is an annual screenwriter’s award founded in 1974 to encourage, stimulate and sustain the nation’s screenwriters in their humanizing task, and to give them the recognition they deserve. The Humanitas prize honors stories that affirm the dignity of the human person, probe the meaning of life, and enlighten the use of human freedom. For more info. visit www.humanitas.org

  • Fox Gets Strange for Emily

    Emily the Strange, a subversive, 13-year-old goth girl who popped up in 1993 on promotional stickers, clothing and skateboards, is making her way to the big screen, according to Daily Variety. The trade reports that 20th Century Fox has picked up rights to Rob Reger’s creation and plans to produce a live-action/animated feature through Fox Animation.

    Over the past 12 years, Reger’s garage-based Cosmic Debris Etc. has become a multimillion-dollar business. He has seen Emily’s reach extend from specialty shops to best-selling books published by Chronicle Books and a soon-to-be-launched comic book series from Dark Horse Comics. The character’s journey to the screen has so far been five years in the making.

    Chris Meledandri, president of 20th Century Fox Animation, will oversee production of the feature with studio VP John Cohen. Reger will also be heavily involved in seeing his property translated to film.

    A wide variety of Emily the Strange merchandise, including the series of books, apparel and a "disorganizer," can be ordered at www.emilystrange.com.

  • Looney Tunes Channel Sprints to Phones

    Bugs Bunny, Daffy Duck, Tweety and the rest of the gang are going mobile as the first-ever Looney Tunes and Friends mobile video channel launches on Sprint PCS Vision Multimedia Services (Channel 12). For $4.95 per month, fans will get continuous 3-5 minute video streams of classic cartoons that will soon include installments of Scooby-Doo, The Flintstones and The Jetsons.

    In addition to clips created by such animation greats as Chuck Jones, Bob Clampett, Tex Avery and the team of William Hanna and Joseph Barbera, the channel will also feature original Looney Tunes shorts created by Warner Bros. Online. More than 20 clips will be available at any time and content will be updated weekly.

    Warner Bros. and Sprint are also launching a Warner Bros. Entertainment film trailer channel that will promote titles from Warner Bros. Pictures and Warner Independent Pictures. The free service will launch on Channel 22 with the trailer for Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, which hits theaters nationwide on July 15.

  • IDT Ent. Taps DreamWorks’ Gladstone as VP

    IDT Ent. has snatched up DreamWorks Animation, Warner Bros. Animation and Disney veteran Frank Gladstone to fill the role of VP of artistic development. Gladstone will be responsible for all artistic training and recruitment issues, as well as community outreach and education. In addition, the 30-year industry vet will have creative input on story development and assist with the acquisition of outside projects.

    At IDT, Gladstone reunites with former DreamWorks colleague Janet Healy, now president of Animation at IDT Ent. "Frank has an unparalleled, encyclopedic understanding of animation and a huge appreciation of, and eye for, artistic talent, "Healy comments. "His sophisticated, whimsical story sensibility further enhances our company’s vision."

    I think we have the energy and means to develop a wonderful slate of projects and an exciting approach to producing feature animation," says Gladstone of his new team. "We are building something that I think is unique and innovative, creatively relying on the artistic vision and talent of our staff to craft the heart, charm and comedy that all of us who love animation want to see."

    As head of artistic recruitment and development at DreamWorks, Gladstone was involved with such productions as The Road to El Dorado, Spirit: Stallion of the Cimarron, Sinbad: Legend of the Sven Seas and Shark Tale. He also helped to shepherd the U.S. releases of such anime titles as Millennium Actress, Ghost in the Shell II and the upcoming Casshern, all distributed under DreamWorks’ Go Fish banner.

    Before joining DreamWorks, Gladstone served as a producer at Warner Bros. Feature Animation from 1995 to 1997. He then moved to Walt Disney Feature Animation, where he was manager of training from 1990 to 1995, working on such films as Rescuers Down Under, Beauty and the Beast, Aladdin, The Lion King and Pocahontas.

    Gladstone has lectured on the animation industry at schools and institutions throughout the United States, Europe, Asia and the Caribbean. He has also taught various animation, cinematography and motion picture courses and workshops at such prestigious schools as Stanford University, UCLA, American Film Institute, University of Miami, Vancouver Film School, Loyola Marymount University and San Jose State. Currently, he teaches at Pasadena’s Art Center College of Design.

  • Alias Releases SketchBook Pro 2

    Alias today announced the release of SketchBook Pro 2, the latest version of its award-winning paint and drawing software application. Available for both Windows and Mac platforms, the package can be purchased globally from the Alias web site and authorized Alias resellers.

    Alias says it has improved the power and potential of digital creations with toolset updates that include fast, reactive pencils, markers and brushes; pen-driven layers; background templates; a 75-brushstroke undo/redo option and unique tools for move/scale/rotate and pan/zoom.

    New features include enhanced brush controls that allow users to resize each default brush or create and store up to 28 custom brushes; an unlimited number of image layers with marking menus; the ability to read and write BMP, GIF, JPG and PNG files in addition to layered TIFF images; lasso select for arbitrary shapes that can also be scaled and rotated using a modified version of the pan/zoom tool; interactive brush resize; image and canvas resize; and undo/redo capability.

    Alias SketchBook Pro 2 is priced at $199.00. Current users can upgrade to version 2 at a special upgrade price of $99, or download the upgrade version at www.alias.com/sketchbookpro for $79.00.

  • BRB, Futurikon Hatch Dragon Hunters

    Following its successful debut at last year’s MIPCOM Jr., the new animated series Dragon Hunters is set to debut in the Spanish and Portuguese markets. Produced by French animation house Futurikon and managed by BRB Internacional, the series has also garnered commitments from Cartoon Network in the U.S., France 3 and Canal J in France, RAI in Italy and Super RTL in Germany.

    Dragon Hunters follows the misadventures of Lian Chi and Gwizdo, two warriors who have to take on more than 50 dragons in a fantasy medieval world set in the future. Having pulled strong numbers with its debut on French TV, the show has attracted major licensees in the video games, comics, trading cards and collectibles sectors. The characters are set to show up in McDonald’s Happy Meals in Germany and the soundtrack, created by goth rock band The Cure, will soon be released on CD.

    BRB Internacional is the exclusive agent for all rights to Dragon Hunters in Spain and Portugal. The company’s other properties include David the Gnome, Dogtanian, Around the World with Willy Fog and Mort & Phil. One of the founders and a member of APIA (Spanish National Association of Animation Producers), BRB also has offices in Italy and the U.K.

    Based in Angoulême, Futurikon’ credits include the animated series Fly Tales, Malo Korrigan and the Space Tracers, Kaput & Zösky, and Flatmania. For more information about the two companies, go to www.brb.es and www.futurikon.fr.

  • Cartoon Net Animates Latin American Comics

    Daily Variety reports that Cartoon Network Latin America has signed on to co-produce two animated series with Indiecito, the Buenos Aires-based animation arm of Red Lojo Ent. Both shows will be based on Latin American comic-strip characters created by Dante Quinterno.

    Set to debut by the end of the year is a 10-episode series centering on Quinterno’s Isidoro Canones, a playboy and swindler character who first showed up in local newspapers in 1945. Living on the wealth of his uncle, Colonel Canones, Isidoro enjoys his scotch and the finer things in life while avoiding work and responsibility.

    The companies will also revisit Quinterno’s Patoruzito, a sort of comical Native American superhero reminiscent of Don Quixote. The character, created in 1927, was recently kiddified for Jose Luis Massa’s 2004 animated feature, Patoruzito, which sold 2.1 million tickets in Argentina, placing it third behind Shrek 2 and The Passion of the Christ. Cartoon Network has acquired rights to the film, which will air, along with the new series, on Feevee in the first quarter of 2006.