Animation Magazine

Author: Ryan Ball

  • Animal Planet Catalogs Star Wars Creatures

    Are Wookies just overgrown Ewoks? And just what the heck are Taun-Tauns and Dewbacks? All these questions and more will be answered when cable network Animal Planet premieres Animal Icons: Star Wars Creatures on Wednesday, May 18, at 9 p.m. Narrated by C-3PO actor Anthony Daniels, the one-hour special will explore the saga’s strange critters with a little help from George Lucas and the actors, animators and creature designers behind the cinematic phenomenon.

    Just as Chewbacca was inspired by Lucas’ family dog, many of the creatures that populate the Star Wars universe can be traced back to real animals found on Earth. The special will explore these connections and how Lucas brought his ambitious vision to the big screen. Stars Mark Hamill, Harrison Ford and Carrie Fisher will also provide insight through interviews.

    In addition to clips from past Star Wars films, viewers will be treated to advanced footage from Star Wars: Episode III–Revenge of the Sith, which hits theaters the day after the special airs.

    Animal Icons: Star Wars Creatures is produced by Prometheus Ent. in association with Fox Television Studios and Animal Planet. Prometheus’ Kevin Burns and Animal Planet’s Jamie Roberts serve as exec producers.

  • Cartoons on the Bay Picks Winners

    Cartoon Network’s Foster’s Home for Imaginary Friends and Nickelodeon’s Avatar: The Last Airbender are among the big winners of the 9th annual Pulcinella Awards, presented at Cartoons on the Bay in Positano, Italy, over the weekend.

    A total of 40 programs competed for this year’s coveted awards. The winners were chosen by an international jury lead by Belgian author Raoul Servais and composed of Meredith Metz (senior VP of creative affairs for Walt Disney Television Animation), Irene Wellershoff (head of children’s and youth fiction for ZDFof Germany), Heather Kenyon (senior director of development, original animation for Cartoon Network U.S.) and Maria Mussi Bollini (children’s programs, Rai Tre, Italy).

    Winners of the 2005 Pulcinella Awards:

    Best TV Series for Pre-school

    Peppa Pig

    U.K., 2004

    Technique: Computer 3D, Cel Action 2D

    Written by Mark Baker and Neville Astley

    Animation supervised by Joris Van Hulzen

    Directed by Mark Baker and Neville Astley

    Produced by Astley Baker Davies

    Distributed by Contender Entertainment Group

    Best TV Series for Children

    The Cramp Twins Season 2

    U.K., 2004

    Technique: Computer 2D

    Based on the book by Brian Wood

    Animation by RG Prince Films Inc.

    Directed by Frank Gresham

    Co-Produced by Telemagination/Cartoon Network Studios

    Distributed by TV Loonland

    Best TV Series for All Audiences

    Foster’s Home For Imaginary Friends

    U.S., 2004

    Technique: Computer 2D

    Created by Craig McCracken

    Animation supervised by Sandra Benenati

    Directed by Craig McCracken

    Produced by Cartoon Network Studios

    Distributed by Warner Bros TV Italia

    Best Action/Adventure TV Series

    Avatar The Last Airbender

    U.S., 2004

    Technique: 2D

    Created by Bryan Konietzko and Michael Dante Di Martino

    Animation by JM Animation Co.

    Directed by David Filoni

    Produced and distributed by Nickelodeon

    Best Educational and Social Program

    No Limits (short film)

    Germany, 2004

    Technique: Computer 3D

    Written, directed and animated by Heidi Wittlinger, Max Stolzenberg and Anja Perl

    Produced by Filmakademie Baden Württemberg

    Best TV Series Pilot

    Lili’s Island

    France, 2004

    Technique: Computer 2D

    Written by Isabelle Lenoble, Emmanuelle Fleury, Fabien Limousin and Franck Ekinci

    Directed and animated by Fabien Limousin

    Produced and distributed by Je suis bien content

    Best TV Special

    The Dream Bird (special)

    France, 2004

    Technique: Computer 2D

    Written by Alexios Tjoyas

    Animation by Studio Sek

    Directed by Henri Heidsieck

    Produced by La Fabrique

    Distributed by Teleimages International

    Best Short Film

    Cúilín Dualach

    Ireland, 2004

    Technique: Cortometraggio

    Written by Jackie Mac Donnacha

    Directed by Nora Twomey

    Produced by Cartoon Saloon

    Distributed by Network Television Ireland

    Character of the Year

    Bloo (Foster’s Home for Imaginary Friends)

    Created by Craig McCracken

    Produced by Cartoon Network Studios

    Best TV Series

    Avatar, The Last Airbender

    Created by Bryan Konietzko and Michael Dante Di Martino

    Animation by JM Animation Co.

    Directed by David Filoni

    Produced and distributed by Nickelodeon

    Best European Program

    Peppa Pig

    Written by Mark Baker and Neville Astley

    Animation supervised by Joris Van Hulzen

    Directed by Mark Baker and Neville Astley

    Produced by Astley Baker Davies

    Distributed by Contender Entertainment Group

    Special Mention

    Dibo The Gift Dinosaur (TV Series)

    South Korea, 2005

    Technique: Computer 3D

    Written by Aidan Hockey and Hye-jung Jang

    Animated by James Joo

    Directed by Jee-hee Woo

    Produced and distributed by Ocon Inc

    Special Mention

    A Lovely Day (short film)

    Germany, 2004

    Technique: Computer 3D

    Written by Jacky Gleich and Bruno Blume

    Animated and produced by Motion Works

    Directed by Olaf Ulbricht

    Distributed by Bavaria Media Television

    Special Mention

    P.O.P. Pace Of Peace (short film)

    Italy, 2004

    Mixed Techniques

    Created by Gli Studenti della Scuola Secondaria Alsadiya, Qalqilia, Gli Studenti del Liceo Aviv and Raanana (Israele)

    Animated by The Animation Band, A&M, de Mas & Partners, Studio Fusako Yusaki, Graphilm, Green Movie Animation, Studio Matita Animata, Mnogo Film, Proxima, Rainbow, Centro Sperimentale di Cinematografia and Stranemani

    Artistic direction and script by Luca Raffaelli and Attilio Valenti

    Produced by Ufficio per la Pace a Gerusalemme del Comune di Roma, Castelli Animati, Municipalità di Qalqilia e di Raanana

  • CritterPix Draws Top Talent to CG Otter Pic

    CG animation house CritterPix Studios has tapped talent from Pixar, ILM, Tippett Studios and Don Bluth Films to produce its first feature-length film, Ollie the Otter. Budgeted at a modest $30 million, the film about a sea otter and his oceanic friends is being produced in association with New Regency Prods. and with $2.1 million in private financing through Laidlaw & Co.

    CritterPix CEO Kelly Williamson says veteran animation producer and Don Bluth Films alum Gary Goldman will play an instrumental role in managing the production and motivating the animators. “Gary is also masterful at minding a budget, Williamson comments. "For example, he brought An American Tail in for just $9.5 million and The Land Before Time for $12.5 million.”

    Goldman has more than 20 animated feature films to his credit, including The Secret of NIMH, Anastasia and Titan A.E. He was also a creative force behind Don Bluth’s classic video games, Dragon’s Lair and Space Ace.

    Also joining the team is Chris Rock, who served as technical director on the Pixar productions Monsters, Inc., Finding Nemo, The Incredibles and the upcoming Cars. Rock has signed on as CG supervisor for Ollie the Otter.

    From Tippett Studios comes Nathaniel Hunter, who will supervise the visual effects for the CritterPix production. At Tippett, he designed CG effects on the films Son of the Mask, Hellboy and Constantine.

    At Industrial Light & Magic (Lucas Digital), Sandra Joy Lee worked on Saving Private Ryan, Space Cowboys, Pearl Harbor, Pirates of the Caribbean and Star Wars: Episodes I, II, and III. She joins the Ollie team as production asset developer lead and specializes in moving image media and database management.

    Prior to founding CritterPix, Williamson worked in the technology field, serving as exec VP of sales for semiconductor company Intellon Corp., Internet call waiting service provider BuzMe.com and DVD chipset producer Divio Inc. Williamson is also an accomplished screenwriter and author of Ollie the Otter, a children’s book on which the film is based.

  • Pocahontas Celebrates 10th on Disc

    The Academy Award-winning animated feature, Pocahontas, is out of the Disney vault with an all-new, two-disc, feature-loaded 10th anniversary edition. Available in stores today, the release features two versions of the film and never-before-seen animation to accompany a new song ("If I Never Knew You") performed by male lead Mel Gibson.

    Pocahontas is a musical retelling of the historical tale of a free-spirited Native American girl (Irene Bedard) whose life is turned upside down when she meets English settler Captain John Smith (Gibson) and strikes up a romance that will bridge cultures and change history. The voice cast also includes Christian Bale (Batman Begins, Reign of Fire) and David Ogden Stiers (Pooh’s Heffalump Movie, Disney’s Teacher’s Pet).

    Bonus features include a making-of featurette, a development presentation reel, abandoned concepts, deleted animation, storyboard-to-film comparisons, animator insights on character design, a look at early test animation, scene production progression and footage from the film’s theatrical premiere in New York City’s Central Park. There are also set-top games, sing-along songs, music videos, art galleries, theatrical trailers and commentary by producer James Pentacost and directors Eric Goldberg and Mike Gabriel.

    Fans can pick up the Pocahontas 10th Anniversary Edition for the suggested retail price of $29.99.

  • King of the Hill, Batman, Enterprise Journey Home

    A handful of TV favorites hit disc this week in the form of King of the Hill: Season Four, The Batman: Training for Power and Star Trek Enterprise: The Complete First Season.

    The King of the Hill release comes packaged as a three-disc set featuring all 24 episodes from the fourth season of the FOX series created by Mike Judge and Greg Daniels. Judge, who gave us Beavis & Butt-head, also lends his voice to Hill family patriarch, Hank. The show’s voice cast also includes Kathy Najimy, Pamela Segall, Brittany Murphy, Johnny Hardwick and Stephen Root. The Fox Home Entertainment disc set carries a suggested retail price of $39.98.

    Three episodes from the all-new Kids’ WB! animated series, The Batman, are available for the first time on DVD with The Batman: Training for Power. The release includes the installments The Bat in the Belfry, in which the Joker takes over Arkham Asylum and plans to fly a toxin-filled balloon over Gotham; Traction, which has our hero face off against a steroidal Bane; and Call of the Cobblepot, in which The Penguin plots to use trained birds to pull off a series of robberies and a gruesome murder that would affect Batman quite personally. Extras include The Batman Junior Detective challenge, a behind-the-scenes featurette titled Building the Batman and a “Cape & Cowl” toy Easter egg. The Warner Home Video release can be had for $14.97 or less.

    Fans of the recently cancelled Paramount TV series, Star Trek: Enterprise, can take some solace in today’s release of a seven-disc set featuring all 25 episodes from the vfx-pack first season. Bonus materials include commentary on select episodes, deleted scenes, outtakes, Easter eggs and seven featurettes titled Creating Enterprise, O Captain! My Captain! A Profile of Scott Bakula, Cast Impressions: Season One, Inside Shuttlepod One, Star Trek Time Travel: Temporal Cold Wars and Beyond, Enterprise Secrets and Admiral Forrest Takes Center Stage. The Paramount home entertainment release lists for around $100.

  • Cartoonist Zeke Zekley Passes at 90

    Cartoonist Emil Samuel Zekley, best known as Zeke Zekley, died on April 28 at his home in Beverly Hills following a long bout with illness. The artist lent his talents to the strips Bringing Up Father, Maggie and Jiggs, Peachy Keen and Dud Dudley, as well as McDonaldland for fast-food chain McDonalds, The Squirrel’s Club Magazine for Glendale Federal Savings and At Ease magazine for the U.S. Army.

    Chicago-born Zekley was raised in Detroit, Michigan, where he got his start as a cartoonist before moving to Los Angeles. His big break came in 1935 when he was hired as an assistant to George McManus on Bringing Up Father. Starting as an inker, Zekley spent a number of years with McManus, eventually becoming a creative collaborator on the strip. When McManus died in 1954, Zekley went on to work on a number of cartoons before opening his own service shop, Sponsored Comics.

    Zekley is survived by his wife of more than 65 years, Anita; his daughter, Casey Sater; and a number of grandchildren, a great granddaughter, several step children, nieces and nephews. His son, Gary Zekley, died in 1996.

    Services will be held at Hillside Memorial Park at 3 p.m. on Monday, May 2. The family requests that, in lieu of flowers, donations be made to Cedars Sinai Cardiac Care Unit, Eleanor Arthur Ellis Eye Institute or Maple Counseling Center in Beverly Hills.

  • Valve, Vivendi Settle Suit

    Bellevue, Washington-based game developer Valve and global developer/publisher Vivendi Universal Games (VU Games) have reached a settlement in a pending federal court lawsuit filed by Valve in August of 2002. Under the terms of the agreement, VU Games will cease distribution of retail packaged versions of Valve titles, including Half-Life, Half-Life 2, Counter-Strike, Counter-Strike: Condition Zero and Counter-Strike: Source, effective August 31, 2005.

    Cyber café licenses will also be affected by the settlement. Operators that were licensed by VU Games to use Valve titles have been notified that only Valve is authorized to distribute Valve games and grant cyber café licenses. Existing cyber café license agreements from Sierra Ent., VU Games or any affiliates or distributors have been terminated.

    VU Games’ development studios and publishing labels include Blizzard Ent., Radical Ent., Sierra Ent. and Massive Ent. The company’s library of more than 700 titles includes Warcraft, StarCraft, Diablo and World of Warcraft, Crash Bandicoot, Spyro The Dragon, Empire Earth, Leisure Suit Larry, Ground Control and Tribes.

  • DreamWorks Cast, Crew Hit the Stage

    The Film Society of Lincoln Center presented a special program titled "Animation Now: Imagination Innovation Inspiration" on Sunday, welcoming many of the people behind past and upcoming DreamWorks animated productions. Jerry Seinfeld, who is now in production on Bee Movie, greeted the audience, along with Madagascar’s Chris Rock and Shrek 3 cast members Mike Myers and Justin Timberlake.

    Sponsored by HP and hosted by Today weatherman Al Roker, the event also saw DreamWorks producers, directors, writers and other craftspeople take the stage at Alice Tully Hall at Lincoln Center to provide behind-the-scenes peeks at the creation of their animated features.

    Joining Rock from Madagascar were producer Mireille Soria, director/writers Eric Darnell and Tom McGrath and Oscar-winning composer Hans Zimmer. The gang gave attendees a preview of scenes from the CG comedy about a group of pampered zoo animals who have to learn to survive on an island off the coast of Africa. The film opens on May 27.

    Oscar-winning animated filmmaker Nick Park was on hand to show some scenes from the first feature outing for cheese-loving Englishman Wallace and his brilliant dog, Gromit. Acclaimed British animation house Aardman teamed up with DreamWorks to bring the beloved clay-animated duo to the big screen on Oct. 7, 2005. In addition to showing clips from the film, the director offered some insight into the stop-motion animation process.

    Also present from Aardman was co-founder David Sproxton, who joined Sam Fell, one of the directors of the upcoming Aardman/DreamWorks co-production, Flushed Away. Aardman previously brought its distinct style of clay animation to the big screen with DreamWorks’ 2000 hit, Chicken Run, but Flushed Away will mark Aardman’s first foray into feature-length computer animation. The comedy tells the story of a pampered British rat who accidentally gets flushed from his posh penthouse flat and into the sewer, where he learns how the other half lives. The pic is set for release on Nov. 3, 2006.

    Mike Myers, the voice of Shrek, helped present some early work being done on Shrek 3, which is scheduled to hit theaters on May 18, 2007. Pop star JustinTimberlake’s likeness appeared for a brief gag in Shrek 2, but now the budding thespian is set to join the cast of the next movie, lending his voice to the character Artie, King Harold’s rebellious nephew. The stars were joined on stage by Oscar-winning Shrek franchise producer Aron Warner, and Shrek and Shrek 2 writer/director Andrew Adamson.

    Presentations were also given by Tim Johnson, one of the directors of Over The Hedge (May 19, 2006), and writer/producer/star Seinfeld, who introduced his Bee Movie (Nov.2, 2007) with the help of Steve Hickner, one of the film’s directors.

  • GigaPix Opens Mega Studio for CG Features

    CG animation company GigaPix Studios is ramping up to challenge the majors in the computer-generated feature film biz. The company has set up headquarters in a 32,000 square foot facility in Chatsworth, Calif. with the goal of producing feature films, television series and TV spots.

    Formed in 2002, GigaPix is headed by CEO Chris Blauvelt and president John Savage. "GigaPix Studios enters the market at an opportune time for the independent," notes Blauvelt. "Financing for moderate-budgeted, well-crafted CG features with great storytelling is readily available."

    There are currently four feature productions in development at GigaPix–an adventure comedy titled Junk Bots, an irreverent rabbit fantasy titled Twilight, a sci-fi thriller titled Alien SAR and a super hero spoof titled Hypnopig. In addition, the studio will soon announce the start of a $30 million, 90-minute theatrical film tied to a major theme park in development in the western U.S.

    Having produced several short projects, including corporate-related works for Merrill Lynch, GigaPix is building its feature pipeline and plans to add 15 new artists over the next 90 days. According to Savage, the studio will eventually have 120 to 160 artist workstations to accommodate its feature production staff.

    Savage, who is responsible for spearheading content creation and licensing acquisition, started his career as a traditional artist and spent more than a decade in the video game industry before moving to California. As technical director for Netter Digital Entertainment, he contributed to such CG TV productions as Max Steel for Sony Pictures Ent. and the Emmy award-winning mini-series, Dune, for the SCI-FI Channel. After Netter, he joined Foundation Imaging, working as TD on the Sony Video Game, Twisted Metal Black. In addition, he was heavily involved in the CG work for Power Puff Girls–The Movie, working with Savage Frog.

    "We are excited about this new era of development and production that has essentially leveled the playing field between the large production and distribution powerhouses and the small independent studios," comments Savage. He says the studio will keep costs low and maintain creative control in the U.S. by using a smaller, more mobile domestic talent pool and overseas technical and programming staffs, all networked together through high-speed Internet connections.

  • Hitchhiker Rides to the Top

    Disney execs have no reason to panic as the Buena Vista release, The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy, easily claimed the top spot at the domestic box office over the weekend. The sci-fi comedy picked up an estimated $21.7 million, nearly twice as much as fellow effects-filled newcomer XXX: State of the Union from Sony/Revolution Studios.

    Based on the 1979 book by Douglas Adams, The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy stars Martin Freeman (Love Actually, BBC’s The Office) as Arthur Dent, a man who learns that Earth is about to be exploded to make room for an intergalactic highway. His best friend, Ford Perfect (Mos Def), turns out to be an interstellar hitchhiker who takes Arthur along on an incredible adventure that begins when the world ends. The pic also stars Zooey Deschanel, John Malkovich, Sam Rockwell, Bill Nighy and Alan Rickman (as the voice of Marvin the robot).

    The film’s highlights include the animated vignettes that illustrate chapters of the title publication, The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy. British animation house Shynola created the humorous 2D animation, while Cinesite (Europe) handled the lion’s share of the movie’s digital effects work and Jim Henson’s Creature shop combined animatronics and costumed characters to bring even more texture to the production.

    Universal’s political thriller, The Interpreter, slipped to second place with around $14.2 million in its second week. The pairing of Sean Pen and Nicole Kidman proved more enticing than Ice Cube taking over for Vin Diesel in XXX: State of the Union, which debuted in third with a disappointing $13.7 million. ILM provided the extensive digital effects work for this story of a streetwise convict who escapes from prison to join a very unconventional secret agent program.

    MGM’s remake of The Amityville Horror scared up just over $8 million, bringing the $20 million movie’s cume to around $55 million in its third week. The moderately budgeted fright flick has grossed nearly as much as Paramount’s $130 million Sahara. The action/adventure/comedy rounds out the top five with an estimated $6 million for the weekend and a four-week take of roughly $57 million.

  • Apple’s Mac OS X Tiger Unleashed

    Apple’s Mac OS X Server version 10.4, also known as “Tiger,” is available today, April 29, along with the Tiger desktop version. This latest major release of Apple’s UNIX-based server operating system integrates more than 100 leading open-source projects and standards-based software applications with user-friendly management tools for Mac, Windows and Linux clients.

    Tiger Server boasts more than 200 new features including native support for 64-bit applications; iChat Server for secure instant messaging within an organization; Weblog Server for publishing and sharing weblogs (blogs); and Xgrid for turning a group of Macs into a virtual supercomputer.

    Bringing the power of 64-bit computing to mainstream servers, Tiger Server allows applications to utilize 64-bit performance when accessing massive amounts of memory through 64-bit addressing. Combined with Apple’s Power Mac G5 or Xserve G5, Tiger Server promises to be an affordable, easy-to-manage solution for the most demanding high-performance scientific, technical and creative computing needs.

    Tiger is the first operating system to include a built-in distributed computing architecture for both the desktop and server versions. Both Tiger and Tiger Server include Xgrid, Apple’s solution for distributed computing. Xgrid streamlines the process of assembling nodes, submitting jobs and retrieving results. With Xgrid, animators, scientists, and digital content creators can run a single job across multiple computers at once to improve performance and responsiveness.

    Other new features in Tiger Server include:

    ‘ Support for access control lists and native file permissions of Windows XP and Windows Server 2003 active directory environments to give administrators better control over files, folders and network services in mixed platform environments.

    ‘ Software update server designed to save network costs and avoid bandwidth bottlenecks by letting system administrators host their own proxy/cache server to control the availability of Apple’s software updates.

    ‘ Adaptive junk mail filtering with virus detection and quarantine.

    ‘ Gateway setup assistant to help small business and home office users set up complex network services, including DHCP, NAT, DNS, port routing, firewall and VPN services.

    ‘ Ethernet link aggregation and network interface failover that support the IEEE 802.3ad standard to increase potential I/O performance and eliminate single points of failure by allowing multiple network interfaces to appear as a single interface.

    Mac OS X Server version 10.4 Tiger is now available at Apple’s retail stores and through authorized resellers for a suggested retail price of $499 for a 10-client edition and $999 for an unlimited-client edition. Current subscribers to the Apple Maintenance Program will receive Tiger Server as part of their service agreement, and the standard Mac OS upgrade package is available to all customers who purchase a new Xserve G5 system from Apple or an authorized reseller for a shipping and handling fee of $9.95. Tiger Server is included with Apple’s Xserve G5 rack-mount server hardware and can run on any Macintosh computer with a PowerPC G5, G4, or G3 processor; a minimum 256MB RAM; built-in FireWire and at least 4GB of available disk space. For more information, go to (www.apple.com).

  • Cisco, Macromedia Grab Piece of Indiagames

    Cisco Systems and Macromedia will shell out a total of $4 million to acquire a combined stake of 18.2% in global mobile games publisher Indiagames Ltd., majority owned by wireless Internet company TOM Online Inc. of China.

    Cisco is a worldwide leader in networking for the Internet and an innovator in Internet Protocol (IP)-based networking technologies, while Macromedia is a major independent software company whose Flash technology is widely used in wireless applications. Indiagames will publish and support all of its content on the Macromedia Flash Lite platform.

    With the investments made by Cisco and Macromedia, TOM Online’s share in Indiagames will be diluted to 62.42% from 76.3%. Indiagames’ original shareholders and management, including founder/CEO Vishal Gondal, will continue to hold a 19.4% stake in the company.

    “I am delighted to have Cisco and Macromedia as investors in Indiagames,” comments Gondal. “We now have Chinese, Indian and American investors, all leaders in their respective verticals. This combination is really very unique and will surely help accelerate our global growth plans, keeping us on the cutting edge of mobile, broadband and Internet technology.”

    Indiagames is among the first companies to obtain branded licenses for mobile products with the launch of Spider-Man Classic in 2003. In the past 12 months, the company has licensed such brands as Predator, Buffy The Vampire Slayer, The Mummy, Scorpion King, Jurassic Park, Garfield, The Day After Tomorrow, Spy Kids, Indian Idol, Singapore Idol, Malaysian Idol, Indonesian Idol and martial arts legend Bruce Lee.

    Distribution channels for Indiagames content include Vodafone, O2, T-Mobile, Orange, Verizon, Sprint, Singtel, Airtel, Tata, China Mobile, Optus, Hutch, Amena, Telefonica, and Wind.

    Earlier this month, Adobe announced plans to purchase Macromedia in an all-stock transaction valued at approximately $3.4 billion. The purchase will add PDF and Flash to Adobe’s lineup of development, authoring and collaboration tools, which includes PhotoShop, AfterEffects and Premiere.

  • FOX Mounts Animation Domination

    No, it’s not Betty Boop with a riding crop and a bull whip. Animation Domination is the FOX network’s re-branding of its Sunday night lineup, which kicks into gear this weekend. Highlights of the May 1 launch include the 350th episode of The Simpsons, the season premiere of the resurrected Family Guy and the series premiere of Seth MacFarlane’s new toon show, American Dad.

    Animation Domination gets rolling this Sunday with an all-new episode of King of the Hill, which features a guest turn by Brendan Fraser (Looney Tunes: Back in Action) as a gung-ho meteorologist who arrives in town to give Nancy a run for her money. Determined to get a scoop, Nancy then drives a stolen news van into a raging wildfire. Fraser also voices the role of a bully who makes Bobby wet his pants at school.

    After Malcolm in the Middle, the milestone episode of The Simpsons guest-stars Albert Brooks (Finding Nemo) as the proprietor of a fat camp that Bart is sent to after Springfield Elementary installs a new vending machine full of junk food. Then it’s another new Simpsons episode featuring the voices of Stephen Hawking and Ray Romano. In "Don’t Fear the Roofer,” a storm hits Springfield and Homer enlists a beer-loving roofer (Romano) to repair a leak in the roof. When Homer’s new best friend never shows up, Marge and Dr. Hibbert assume that he’s a figment of Homer’s imagination and place him in a mental hospital.

    Bolstered by strong DVD sales, MacFarlane’s once canceled Family Guy returns to the lineup with the season four premiere In the episode “North by North Quahog,” Lois and Peter run into trouble on their second honeymoon and Peter ends up posing as Mel Gibson so they stay in his suite. Things get even more interesting when they accidentally discover a copy of Passion of the Christ 2.

    The American Dad pilot aired on Superbowl Sunday but now the series officially joins the lineup. In “Threat Levels,” CIA agent Stan Smith returns home from work with the wrong thermos and exposes his family to hazardous material. The scare prompts his wife, Francine, to do more with her life and she becomes a successful realtor. Emasculated by her earnings, Stan sets out to sabotage her work.

  • BKN Inks with China’ sToonMax TV

    Animation company BKN International A.G. has pacted with Shanghai-based satellite and cable TV channel ToonMax TV to create Chinese content. ToonMax TV will also license at least 26 episodes from BKN’s catalogue of Western properties annually for the next ten years. The entities have signed a memorandum of understanding (MOU), which is expected to become binding within the next 90 days.

    The joint venture will feature a $1 million initial share capital to co-produce at least 26 episodes of animated content each year. In addition, ToonMax TV will air such BKN properties as Legend of the Dragon, which will join the weekday 4 p.m. to 9 p.m. lineup in September of this year.

    Hong Kong toy company Asian World Enterprises has secured the master toy license for Legend of the Dragon and will launch its product line in 2006.

    BKN has an option with first refusal right to acquire equity shares of ToonMax TV when Chinese law allows for foreign investment in local media companies or when ToonMax TV files for an IPO, whichever comes first.

    "China is the only market with such vast potential and limited competition from the major global kids’ broadcasters," says Allen Bohbot, chairman and CEO of BKN International AG. “We are extremely pleased that we have successfully found a good formula for establishing our presence in this crucial market. ToonMax TV and its major shareholders will make excellent partners for our company as we look for ways to establish ourselves in China ahead of our major Western competitors."

    Partly owned by Shanghai Media Group, China’s second largest state-owned media enterprise, ToonMax TV airs 18 hours of animated programming seven days a week.

  • Toon Movie Posters to Hit Academy Galleries

    Movie posters from animated films going back more than 90 years will be on display at Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences in Los Angeles beginning Friday, May 13. A total of 130 posters and lobby cards will illustrate the evolution of the animated film from silent novelty to blockbuster phenomenon. As with all Academy exhibitions, “Toon In: Animated Movie Posters from the Cudequest Family Collection” will be free and open to the public.

    The Fourth Floor Gallery installation will focus on animation from the first half of the 20th century, showcasing stone lithographs from the silent era, as well as posters from the 1930s and 1940s. Highlights include one-sheets for early shorts featuring Mutt and Jeff, Felix the Cat, Oswald the Rabbit and Mickey Mouse, as well as Walt Disney’s early Alice comedies, which blended animation and live-action.

    Posters from the 1950s to the present will be featured in the Grand Lobby Gallery. These will include Yellow Submarine, Allegro Non Troppo, and Ghost in the Shell, as well as recent Oscar winners Shrek, Finding Nemo, Spirited Away and The Incredibles.

    Bob Cudequest began collecting toon posters in the 1990s, acquiring approximately 1,500 one-sheets, three-sheets, six-sheets, banners, lobby cards, photographs and press books in the past ten years. The collection was donated to the Academy’s Margaret Herrick Library in December of 2002.

    "Toon In" will continue at the Academy through August 21. Academy Gallery viewing hours are Tuesdays through Fridays, 10 a.m. to 5 p.m., and weekends from noon to 6 p.m. The Academy is located at 8949 Wilshire Boulevard in Beverly Hills. For more information call 310-247-3600, or visit www.oscars.org/events.

  • Hitchhiker Thumbs to Theaters

    A ton of digital effects by Cinesite (Europe) combine with superb rubber and animatronic work by Jim Henson’s Creature Shop to bring author Douglas Adam’s sci-fi cult favorite to the big screen in Buena Vista’s The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy. The far-out comedy takes on fellow newcomer XXX: State of the Union from Sony/Revolution Studios for a shot at the top spot, currently held by Universal’s political thriller, The Interpreter.

    The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy stars Martin Freeman (Love Actually, BBC’s The Office) as Arthur Dent, a man who learns that Earth is about to be exploded to make room for an intergalactic highway. At the same time, he discovers that his best friend, Ford Perfect (Mos Def), is an alien and the two hitch a ride that sends them on a series of wacky adventures throughout the galaxy. The pic also stars Zooey Deschanel, John Malkovich, Sam Rockwell and Bill Nighy. Alan Rickman also shows up as the voice of Marvin the robot.

    In addition to the main action, the film features hilarious animated vignettes that illustrate chapters of The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy, a book that Arthur is given to help him cope with the challenges of intergalactic travel. British animation house Shynola provided the 2D toon work. There is even a brief but humorous stop-motion animation sequence created by Mal Woolbridge, Digna Migoumi and Jay Mallot.

    ILM provided the visual effects for XXX: State of the Union, a sequel to the 2002 Vin Diesel secret agent actioner. This time around, Ice Cube takes over as Darius Stone, a new agent in the XXX program, who must track a dangerous military splinter group that is conspiring to overthrow the U.S. Government in the nation’s capital. Samuel L. Jackson returns as spy recruiter Agustus Gibbons and Willem Dafoe plays renegade general George Octavius Deckert.

  • More Sin City, Mummy Coming?

    Here’s a little item from the grapevine. Citing an unnamed source, movie fansite JoBlo.com reports that director Robert Rodriguez is planning to shoot Sin City 2 and 3 back to back. The same source says Stephen Sommers has scripted a third Mummy installment for Universal and hopes to start shooting by the end of this year.

    Distributed by Dimension Films, Sin City was made relatively cheaply ($40 million) using digitally-created backgrounds and other CG elements. To date, the film has earned nearly $70 million and should make a killing on home video. The pic was also a hit with critics, who applauded its bold visual style and unique approach to bringing Frank Miller’s graphic novels to the screen.

    Sommers has made a lucrative career of resurrecting Universal’s classic horror franchises, lumping Dracula, Frankenstein and The Wolfman into last summer’s CG-laden hit, Van Helsing. Since his two Mummy movies grossed more than $800 million worldwide combined, it’s a wonder Universal has waited this long to complete the trilogy.

    Again, these projects have yet to be confirmed, but we’ll certainly follow them and let you know when we learn more.

  • BOXX Unveils Dual Core, 64-bit Workstations

    BOXX Technologies is trumpeting the new BOXX 7400 series of workstations featuring dual AMD Opteron Dual Core processors and the NVIDIA nForce professional Media and Communications Processors (MCPs).

    Designed to support Microsoft Windows XP Professional x64 Edition, BOXX 7400 workstations give customers the ability to run 32- and 64-bit applications simultaneously. With the addition of the system latency lowering AMD Direct Connect Architecture, the Hypertransport bus, dual PCI Express x16 certified graphics for NVIDIA SLI technology and multi-GPU dual monitor support, the BOXX 7400 Series is being hailed as BOXX’s most powerful 64-bit workstation.

    The NVIDIA nForce Professional MCPs offer an advanced PCI Express design for high performance and provide a comprehensive feature set for both single-GPU and multi-GPU workstations. NVIDIA also works hand-in-hand with the industry’s leading workstation ISVs, ensuring that its solutions maximize productivity for MCAD, DCC and film/video applications.

    BOXX 7400’s Dual PCI-E x16 slots include full x16 speed on each slot for optimized dual monitor performance and compatibility with NVIDIA Quadro SLI GPUs. The workstations also feature expanded I/O options including SATA 3Gbps and storage for large datasets (up to 5TB internal), multiple chassis options for expanded RAID protected storage and hotswap storage options.

    The BOXX 7400 workstations are available for immediate order, with an expected ship date of June 2005. System pricing starts at $4,027 and varies with system configuration. For more details, call BOXX toll free at 1-877-877-BOXX in the U.S. and Canada or 512-835-0400 (outside the U.S.) Go to the BOXX web site at www.boxxtech.com to create a customized workstation configuration or www.boxxvideo.com to view customer videos.

  • Bay Area Game Job Confab Set for June

    The Game Initiative announced that its San Francisco Video Game Industry Job Conference and Resume Workshop will take place in Oakland, Calif., on June 4, 2005 at Skyline High School. The event is designed to help artists, programmers, designers, business professionals, musicians and writers get into the computer and video game business.

    "Attendees will find out key resume strategies that will help raise their resume to the top of the pile,” says Game Initiative exec director Christopher Sherman. “No other event provides game industry job seekers this level of direct access to knowledgeable industry insiders.”

    Speakers lined up for the event include representatives from Electronic Arts, Sony Computer Entertainment America, Linden Lab, Planet Moon Studios, Trymedia Systems, recruiter Mary-Margaret.com, Stormfront Studios, Centerscore and Visual Concepts.

    Students will get tips on how to build a road map to a career in the game industry and professionals looking to move into the business from other industries will learn how to transfer their experience and skills. In addition, local game companies will be looking for talent at the event. Sponsors include Linden Labs, GameDev.net and Mary-Margaret.com.

    The cost of admission is $45 in advance at www.GameConferences.com/sf/ or $60 at the door.

    A leading producer of conferences and events for professionals in the computer and video game industry, The Game Initiative also puts on the Austin Game Conference, the Women’s Game Conference, The Advertising In Games Forum, The Casual Games Conference, Game Technology Association Meetings and the national How to Break into the Game Industry conference series. More information about the Game Initiative can be found at www.GameConferences.com.

  • Platinum, The Shop Talk CG Horror

    Comic-book library controller Platinum Studios and computer animation production company The Shop Prods. are developing what may be the first feature-length, theatrically distributed CG horror film. Writer Alan McElroy will adapt Platinum Studios’ upcoming graphic novel Bonesaw by Rob Moran. Talent firm Relativity Management will be co-finance the picture and is arranging the international elements. Production is set to begin in Vancouver in early 2006 for completion in the fall of 2007.

    Bonesaw tells the story of a horror-fantasy writer who discovers that her hit novels are about to release into our world a villain named Bonesaw and the other hellish creatures she’s been writing about. The film is budgeted at around $18 million, roughly the cost of the average live-action theatrical horror pic.

    "Bonesaw will do for animation what Sin City has done for live action–set a new paradigm for visual style," boasts Ian Pearson, co-founder of The Shop. "This represents another chance for us to redefine what CG storytelling is all about and to show the world how far you can go.”

    McElroy previously teamed with Spawn creator Todd McFarlane to write both the Spawn feature film and the Emmy-winning first season of the animated series that aired on HBO. More recently, he scripted the upcoming Fox release The Marine for the producers of Walking Tall and The Rundown, both starring wrestling superstar, The Rock.

    Platinum is founded by chairman Scott Mitchell Rosenberg, who is responsible for bringing the Men In Black comic book to Sony Pictures. Rosenberg says his company has several projects in development with major studios, including Cowboys & Aliens with Sony, Unique with Disney and Mal Chance with Miramax. Other upcoming projects include Dead of Night by Sahara scribes Thomas Dean Donnelly and Joshua Oppenheimer, and a 10-Picture slate with comic company Gold Circle. The company has also recently acquired rights to Hexagon Comics, a large, creator-owned comic book syndicate operating in Europe.

    For the small screen, Platinum brought the graphic novel series Jeremiah to Showtime and is currently working on a feature film prequel to the show, which starred Luke Perry and Sean Astin.

    Also in development at Platinum and The Shop is a computer-animated thriller based on the Dylan Dog comic-book series. Dylan Dog: The Fourth Kingdom is set to go into pre-production in June.

    Producing Bonesaw alongside Rosenberg and Pearson is The Shop co-founder Aaron L. Gilbert. Platinum’s director of development, Aaron Severson, and director of production, Jay Burns, will co-produce.