Animation Magazine

Author: Ryan Ball

  • 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.

  • Marvel Settles with Lee, Pacts with Paramount

    While they may not exactly be super friends again, Marvel Enterprises Inc. and comic-book creator Stan Lee have put an end to their lengthy court battle. Lee has accepted an undisclosed settlement figure in the lawsuit he filed in November of 2002.

    Lee claimed that he was entitled to a share of profits earned by Marvel from the blockbuster Spider-Man movies and other film and television productions that feature Marvel characters. The settlement covers Lee’s participation claim for both past and any potential future payments. John Turitzin, Marvel’s general counsel, issued a statement saying, “Stan is one of the founders of today’s comic book industry. We are pleased with the settlement and are happy to have resolved all of our disputes with him.”

    Marvel today announced that Paramount Pictures will distribute a slate of Marvel-produced feature films under a new pact. The contract specifies that Marvel may deliver up to ten films to Paramount over an eight-year period, with the first production expected to be released in 2007 or 2008. The entities have not specified what the first film will be, but note that the initial set of titles will include Captain America and Nick Fury. The movies will be budgeted between $45 million and $180 million.

    In order to fund its own productions, Marvel has obtained a financing commitment from Merrill Lynch Commercial Finance Corp. for a $525 million non-recourse revolving credit facility over seven years. The facility will be secured by the theatrical and motion picture production and distribution rights for ten Marvel characters. The non-recourse element limits Marvel’s cash risk to un-reimbursed development costs and general incremental overhead.

    The finance structure will also allow Marvel to receive a producer fee for each film and retain all merchandising revenues. Paramount will receive a distribution fee for each film and will retain worldwide distribution rights for sequels to pics covered under the agreement.

  • New Start for Batman Begins

    Moviegoers will get to see Bruce Wayne transform into the Dark Knight two days sooner than expected. According to Daily Variety, Warner Bros. and changed the start date of Batman Begins from June 17 to June 15.

    While Wednesday openings help to beef up weekend box office numbers and provide an edge on the competition, Warner Bros. says it decided to make the move because distributors in France, Belgium, Mexico, the Philippines and Taiwan plan to release the pic on the 15th.

    Directed by Christopher Nolan (Memento, Insomnia), Batman Begins stars Christian Bale (Reign of Fire, Equilibrium) as Bruce Wayne in a story that explores the origins of the Batman legend and the caped crusader’s emergence as a force for good in Gotham. The film’s cast includes Michael Caine, Liam Neeson, Katie Holmes, Gary Oldman, Cillian Murphy, Tom Wilkinson, Rutger Hauer, Ken Watanabe and Morgan Freeman.

    Batman Begins was also slated to debut at IMAX venues on the 17th. There is no word on whether or not that will change as well.

    An eight-minute preview of Batman Begins is scheduled to air during the 90-minute season finale of The WB’s Superman series, Smallville, on May 18 at 8 p.m. (ET).

  • Oscar Winner Bob Gardiner Dead

    Artist/writer/musician James Robbins “Bob” Gardiner, who won an Oscar for his 1974 clay-animated short film, Closed Mondays, died on April 21 at his home in Grass Valley, Calif. He was 54 years old.

    Gardiner attended California College of Arts and Crafts in Oakland, Calif. and went on to produce a number of clay animated commercials and public service announcements, as well as other art projects in Oregon, where he lived for nearly a decade. He also worked as a comedy writer on two Smothers Brothers television specials and some clay-animated TV productions.

    Co-directed by Gardiner and Will Vinton, Closed Mondays took Best Animated Short Film at the 47th Annual Academy Awards and picked up other national and international honors. Gardiner wrote and co-produced the film, in which a man visits a museum and sees the works of art come to life. The short was included in the 1977 theatrical release Fantastic Animation Festival, a compilation of various animated works.

    Gardiner is survived by his wife, two daughters and five siblings. There will be a memorial on April 30 at 12 noon, at the Chapel of the Angels, located at 250 Race Street in Grass Valley, Calif. There will also be a celebration of Garnier’s art and life in Portland, Oregon, at a date yet to be announced.

  • 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.

  • D3P to Push Disney Games in Japan

    To help strengthen its presence in the Japanese marketplace, The Walt Disney Co.’s Buena Vista Games has entered into a distribution deal with Tokyo-based D3 Publisher Inc. (D3P). Titles to be released by D3P in Japan include The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, The Witch, and The Wardrobe and Disney’s Chicken Little for multiple platforms including PlayStation 2 and Game Boy Advance; and Tim Burton’s The Nightmare Before Christmas, Disney’s Kim Possible and Disney’s Lilo & Stitch for Game Boy Advance.

    “It’s important for BVG to partner with a company that possesses strong marketing acumen, as well as proven experience meeting the retail community’s needs,” comments Graham Hopper, senior VP and general manager of Buena Vista Games.

    D3P plans to roll out television advertising programs for BVG products that have direct tie-ins with Disney’s television programming. The publisher has also established a 24-hour customer service unit to answer questions from consumers.

    The Kim Possible series made its debut on the Disney Channel in Japan in November 2003 and began airing on terrestrial broadcasting service TV Tokyo Networks in April 2005. The game is schedule for release in the summer on 2005. The Disney’s Lilo & Stitch game is also slated to bow this summer, followed by Tim Burton’s The Nightmare Before Christmas in October and Disney’s Chicken Little in December. The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe, Disney’s upcoming live action/CG adaptation of the classic C.S. Lewis book, will have its interactive debut in Japan in the spring of 2006.

  • Sonic X Dashes to India’s Hungama TV

    Hungama TV, India’s first 24-hour kids programming outlet, is adding the hit animated series Sonic X to its lineup. The action/adventure series, based on the hugely successful SEGA video game franchise, will debut on May 2 during the channel’s prime 4 p.m.-6 p.m. block.

    Sonic X finds our hedgehog hero battling against the mad Dr. Eggman, who is creating evil robots for his plan to build his own empire. When Sonic, his buddies and the Eggman gang are all sucked into a warp, Sonic finds a new friend in a young boy named Christopher.

    Hungaman also plans to introduce the animated series Doraemon and Pororo in the near future. The vintage Doraemon show is based on Hiroshi Fujimoto’s manga series about a robotic cat who is sent back in time to help a weak and lazy boy make something of himself so his ancesters can prosper. The CG-animated Pororo, animated by OCON in Seoul, Korea, follows the adventures of a curious penguin.

    For more information on Hungama TV, go to www.hungamatv.com.

  • Bakshi Hollywood Tribute This Weekend

    Here’s a reminder about the Ralph Bakshi screenings taking place April 29 through May 1 in Los Angeles. Presented in conjunction with ASIFA-Hollywood, the event is part of the American Cinemateque’s fantastic Animation A-Go-Go! series.

    The retrospective will take place at the Egyptian Theatre in Hollywood and the new American Cinematheque venue, the Aero Theatre in Santa Monica. Bakshi will appear in person at the screenings, discussing the films that solidified his stake in animation history while digging up rarities from his personal collection.

    On Friday, April 29, the ball gets rolling at the Egyptian at 7:30 p.m. with the infamous 1972 adult feature Fritz the Cat, Bakshi’s adaptation of a comic series by famed underground comic artist R. Crumb. The film tells the tale of a drop-out tom cat who is caught up in ’60s over-indulgence. The second feature on the double-bill will be Bakshi’s 1973 follow-up, Heavy Traffic, another highly personalized view of urban America. Ticket holders will also be treated to the world premiere of the unseen, three-minute Bakshi short, The Cigarette & The Weed; the 1967 eight-minute Paramount short, Marvin Digs; and a long-lost series of Coca-Cola commercials Bakshi made with Peter Max in the 1960s. Bakshi will be present for a discussion between films.

    On Saturday, April 30, at 7 p.m., the Egyptian will host another double feature starting with the 1977 animated fantasy film, Wizards. The post-apocalyptic tale follows twin wizards—the wicked Blackwolf and the good-hearted Avatar—who battle for rule over a wasteland. Fans will be seeing Bakshi’s personal print of the film, which will be followed by 1975’s Coonskin (a.k.a. Streetfight), a bleak and brutal tale of Harlem street survival and an unforgiving war between gun-toting punks, prostitutes and all the cool, cruel people that populate the rest of the sidewalk. Also screening is The New Adventures of Mighty Mouse episode “Night of the BatBat,” which Bakshi directed in 1987. Bakshi will again be present for a discussion.

    The Sunday, May 1 double-feature at the Egyptian kicks off at 5 p.m. with Bakshi’s 1978 animated take on The Lord of the Rings, which Peter Jackson cited as one of his inspirations for the recent live-action trilogy. American Pop (1981) will follow with the story of four sets of fathers and sons on a musical cruise through rock ‘n’ roll history, fueled by classic tunes from Gershwin, Bob Dylan, The Doors, Jimi Hendrix, Bob Seger and dozens more.

    Aero Theatre event will take place on Sunday, May 1. The double-feature will begin at 5 p.m. Fritz the Cat, followed by Wizards, with Bakshi offering commentary between films.

  • F.Dice Does Adult Toon Cel Division

    Behind the rusted iron gates of an abandoned Hollywood back lot lies an animated metropolis that has become a refuge for washed-up cartoon characters in Cel Division, a new adult animated project in production at animation studio F Dice (www.fdice.com).

    Cel Division plays with various animation styles, combining 2D and 3D visuals to riff on classic cartoons, recent blockbusters and cult genres such as anime. The story revolves around Tyrone Jones, an African-American character created to play a drug dealer in Johnny Law, a short-lived ‘70s cop cartoon. Tyrone’s only ticket out of the Cel Division is to overcome the horrors of typecasting and land a legitimate role in Hollywood’s booming animation industry, a lofty goal for someone born black and 2D.

    The Cel Division is also a playground for Hollywood’s biggest animated stars, who roll into town to indulge their vices away from the watchful eye of fans and studio execs. When one of these elite toon icons ends up murdered in a dive bar, Tyrone is suspected and finds himself again hunted by the tenacious Johnny Law. Complicating matters is a dangerous love triangle and the menace of the anime Yakuza.

    F.Dice is an international animation production house with studios and offices in London, Los Angeles, Nagoya, Riga and soon Barcelona. Company founder Antti Pennanen has a team of character designers, storyboard artists and animators busy at work on Cel Division, which is based on a story by Bijan Tehrani.

    “When Bijan and Ryan presented this story to us, we instantly realized that this is where the future of animation lies," says Penname. "Cel Division packs a fresh air and new ideas into a very exciting and funny story.”

    Pennanen adds, “Our guys are enjoying their time working on this project. Cel Division requires artists with the talent to combine different styles of animation and we are lucky to have a pool of talented creators with feature film production credit under their belts.”

    Cel Division is being produced as a feature film with potential for a television series.

  • Evil Dead Vs. Highlander in Clay Online

    Harry Knowles and the crew over at www.aintitcool.com dug up a cool little clay-animated short depicting a duel between demon slayer Ash from the Evil Dead trilogy and immortal swordsman Conner MacCleod (yes, of the Clan of MacCleod) from the Highlander films. Fans of MTV’s erstwhile Celebrity Death Match should especially appreciate this flick, which is titled Debil Dead (Dumb Dead in English).

    The film is written, directed and animated by Frenchman Pierre Fernandez. The filmmaker also designed the animation puppets, which bare an uncanny resemblance to Bruce Campbell and Christopher Lambert. Also look for cameos by Leatherface from The Texas Chainsaw Massacre and Wesley Snipes’ vampire character from Blade.

    The three-minute FAUXRACCORD production can be downloaded at http://alm.fernandez.free.fr/fichiers/DebilDead.mov.

  • Midway’s AREA 51 Invades Stores

    Midway Games Inc. has shipped the eagerly awaited video game AREA 51, starring the voices of David Duchovny (The X-Files, Evolution), Powers Boothe (Deadwood, Sin City) and Goth rocker Marilyn Manson. The first-person sci-fi/action thriller is beaming down to retail outlets nationwide for PlayStation 2 and Xbox, and will be available for PC on May 23.

    Duchovny stars as Ethan Cole, a special forces soldier specializing in hazardous materials investigations, while Boothe provides the voice of Major Bridges and Manson plays Edgar, the gray alien.

    As the game starts, players learn that the U.S. Army has received a distress signal from Area 51, where a viral outbreak has just shut down the research facility and the automated quarantine procedures have locked all scientific and military personnel inside. As Cole, gamers will delve into the confines of the famed military outpost, discovering a deadly mind-control side effect of the virus, as well as an ancient alien colony buried beneath the facility. Cole must solve the enigma of Area 51 before the viral mutagen is released and irrevocably mutates all life on Earth.

    Area 51 features online capabilities for up to 16 players on PlayStation 2 and Xbox with game modes such as Deathmatch, Team Deathmatch, Capture the Flag, and Humans vs. Alien Mutant Team Deathmatch.

    Paramount Pictures has acquired worldwide film rights to the game. Producer Christine Peters (How to Lose a Guy in 10 Days) will collaborate with Midway to produce the action-packed big-screen thriller. There is no word yet as to whether or not Duchovny, Boothe and Manson will reprise their roles for the movie, should it survive the development process.

  • Discovery Kids Summons More Tutenstein

    PorchLight Ent.’s Emmy-winning animated series, Tutenstein, will continue to thrill and educate kids 6-14 on Discovery Kids on NBC and Discovery Kids Channel. PorchLight CEO and series exec producer Bruce Johnson announced that 13 more half-hour episodes have been ordered by Discovery Kids, PorchLight’s U.S. production partner, for delivery in 2006. Discovery Kids Channel is currently carrying the initial 26-episode package.

    "As our first animated series, Tutenstein has helped define what this genre means for Discovery Kids," comments Marjorie Kaplan, exec VP and general manager of Discovery Kids. "Thanks to its many strengths, Tutenstein has become as fun and entertaining as any animated series while maintaining our need to provide the kind of compelling real-world information that our audience craves."

    Tutenstein centers on a 3010-year-old boy-mummy-Pharaoh who is brought back when lightning strikes his sarcophagus in a modern-day museum. The once powerful king believes he is the supreme ruler of the world and schemes to take his rightful place with the help of Cleo, a hip, 21st-century 12-year-old girl and Luxor, his faithful feline servant. The series combines ancient Egyptian mythology with contemporary, urban humor. PorchLight’s production team works closely with Dr. Peter Lacovara, an Egyptology consultant who makes sure the historical content is authentic.

    In addition to heading up production on Tutenstein, PorchLight holds TV distribution rights in Asia and Africa, and free TV distribution rights in South America. The company also holds worldwide licensing and video rights, excluding the U.S. and South America. Jetix Europe, PorchLight’s European partner for free TV distribution has licensed Tutenstein’s existing 26-episode package throughout Europe and Australia.

    Los Angeles-based PorchLight Ent. (www.porchlight.com) has produced the award-winning animated PBS children’s series, Jay Jay The Jet Plane amd Adventures From the Book of Virtues, as well as animated long form movies The Night Before Christmas: A Mouse Tale, The Haunted Pumpkin Of Sleepy Hollow and The Christmas Dinosaur. In addition to Tutenstein, the company’s current production slate includes the animated series Four Eyes for France 3 and Nickelodeon Asia.

    Tutenstein can be found on the web at www.tutenstein.com and www.discoverykids.com.

  • SIGGRAPH 2005 Winners Named

    ACM SIGGRAPH has announced the Best of Show Award and Jury Honors winners for its annual Computer Animation Festival. The 32nd Int’l conference on computer graphics and interactive techniques is being held July 31 through August 4 in Los Angeles, Calif.

    Best of Show went to Shane Acker’s beautifully animated CG short, 9. As the film begins, a mechanical beast attacks two rag doll creatures as they scavenge the ruins of their world. After witnessing the death of his mentor, 5, the rag doll 9 must summon all its courage and cunning to confront the vile creature alone.

    "Inspired by the work of stop-motion animation masters Jan Svankmeyer, The Brothers Quay and the Lauenstein Brothers, I sought to immerse the audience in a gritty, textural world inhabited by creatures composed of fabric scraps and bits of broken machinery," Acker explains. "The fantasy artwork of Zdzislaw Beksinski and photographs of European cities destroyed in World War II inspired the scenic design. The non-verbal narrative is loosely based on the old English Poem Beowulf, and relies heavily on pantomime, combined with strong composition and staging to tell the story." More information on the film and its creator can be found at www.shaneacker.com.

    With his latest CG short, Fallen Art, Polish filmmaker Tomek Baginski becomes the first two-time winner at the SIGGRAPH Computer Animation Festival, having previously won Best Animated Short for his 2002 effort, The Cathedral. Jury Honors go to Fallen Art, which takes place on a decaying, forgotten military base in the Pacific where soldiers who have lost their minds due to the hardships of war have gathered to complete one final, macabre mission.

    “Fallen Art is a monumental film that takes us into the mind of a character who is creating art only for himself," Comments Samuel Lord Black, chairman of the 2005 Computer Animation Festival. "The jury lost themselves in the depths of this self-involvement–discussing back and forth if the artist creates the art, or the art creates the artist. This is a truly a thought-provoking piece that is more than worthy of this high recognition."

    Jury Honors also go to La Migration Bigoudenn by Eric Castaing, Alexandre Heboyan and Fafah Togora Gobelins of L’École de L’Image in France. In the film, a gathering of Brittany ladies in traditional dress compete in a contest to cook the Breton specialty of crêpes of an ethereal lightness.

    "French film students continue to show their creativity, talent and strength by winning Jury Honors for the third time in the past four years," Black notes. “This is both a beautiful and poignant story. Its lovely non-photorealistic style is strikingly evocative of a strange alien world, and its simplicity and brevity are goals that all filmmakers can meaningfully aspire to. The fact that this work was created by students makes it even more impressive."

    The Computer Animation Festival jury selected the three award winners from 560 entries. A complete list of films selected for this year’s screenings can be found at www.siggraph.org/s2005/main.php?f=conference&p=caf.

  • Serenity Trailer Hits the Web

    Fans of Joss Whedon’s short-lived FOX sci-fi series, Firefly, have long been waiting for the property to be resurrected on the big screen. With Serenity finally set to bow on Sept. 30, Universal today made the show’s loyal cult following very happy with the release of the first trailer.

    Featuring a heaping helping of visual effects by Zoic Studios, Illusion Arts and Rhythm & Hues, Serenity has Captain Malcolm Reynolds and his rag-tag crew getting into hot water when they pick up a brother and sister who happen to be fugitives from a powerful coalition. The Universal Alliance will stop at nothing to reclaim the girl, a dangerous telepath who may pose more of a threat to the crew of the Serenity than the invincible military force or the cannibalistic Reavers simultaneously hunting them down.

    Whedon, creator of the popular WB series Buffy the Vampire Slayer and Angel, makes his feature directorial debut with Serenity. A video game based on the film is also in development and will be released by Vivendi Universal Games around the time of the feature’s theatrical debut.

    The Serenity trailer can be downloaded at the Apple web site at www.apple.com/trailers/universal/serenity.

  • Snicket, Blade Duel on Disc

    Digital effects abound in this week’s slate of DVD releases, headlined by Paramount’s Lemony Snicket’s A Series of Unfortunate Events and New Line Cinema’s Blade: Trinity. Both get the two-disc deluxe treatment with plenty of bonus goodies including behind-the-scenes looks at how the effects were accomplished.

    Combining elements from the first three books in the popular kid lit series by Daniel Handler (a.k.a. Lemony Snicket), A Series of Unfortunate Events follows the misadventures of the Baudelaire children, whose parents were killed in a fire. The fun starts when they are sent to live with a distant relative, a failed actor named Count Olaf (played with relish by the mercurial Jim Carey). Olaf sees an opportunity to inherit a lot of money but finds offing of the kids much more of a challenge than he ever imagined.

    The film was shot almost entirely on sound stages in Los Angeles, Calif. and features visual effects by Industrial Light & Magic (ILM) under visual effects supervisor Stephan Fangmeier (Master and Commander: The far Side of the World, The Perfect Storm).

    The special collector’s edition of Snicket’s includes four special effects featurettes, commentary by director Brad Silberling and Lemony Snicket, 11 deleted scenes, outtakes, a series of three featurettes titled Bad Beginnings, five featurettes titled A Terrible Tragedy, three sound design featurettes and three still photo galleries. The edition lists for $38.99

    In Blade: Trinity, Wesley Snipes reprises the role of Blade, a vampire hunter who is himself half vampire. Wanted by the FBI, the half-breed warrior must join forces with the Nightstalkers to take on the most powerful bloodsucker of all, Dracula. Kris Kristofferson returns as Blade’s pal, Abraham Whistler, in this latest entry, which was given a luke-warm reception at the box office but should do well on home video.

    Blade: Trinity is available in the R-rated theatrical version and also an unrated edition featuring 10 minutes of additional footage. DVD extras include commentary tracks by writer/director David Goyer, co-stars Jessica Biel and Ryan Reynolds and other crew members. There’s also a 16-part behind-the-scenes documentary titled Daywalkers, Nightstalkers & Familiars: Inside the World of Blade: Trinity, a Blooper reel, an alternate ending, featurettes on the film’s visual effects and weapons and an interview with Goyer. The New Line Home Entertainment release can be had for $29.99.

  • Land of the Lost Found on DVD

    With yesterday’s news that Saturday Night Live alum Will Ferrell is set to star in Universal’s big-screen adaptation of the cult ’70s kids series, Land of the Lost, there’s sure to be renewed interest in the classic, animation-heavy show from Sid and Marty Krofft. This should help drive sales of Land of the Lost: The Complete Third Season, which arrives on DVD today.

    Land of the Lost aired on Saturday morning TV from 1973 through 1977. The show follows the adventures of a forest ranger and his two children as they struggle to survive in a prehistoric world after their river raft gets sucked into a time warp. In the third season, a devastating earthquake separates Will and Holly from their father, but Uncle Jack arrives to join the expedition and help the kids fight the evil Sleestak. The three-disc collection includes all 17 original broadcast episodes, plus commentary and an interview with actor Ron Harper (Uncle Jack).

    The dinosaurs in the show were brought to life by stop-motion animators Gene Warren Sr. (Jack the Giant Killer, The Wonderful World of the Brothers Grimm), Wah Chang (Dinosaurus!, The 7 Faces of Dr. Lao) and Pete Kleinow (Army of Darkness, Robocop 2). The series was revived for a short time in 1991 with the Chiodo Bros. taking over at the animation table.

    Land of the Lost: The Complete Third Season carries a suggested retail price of $29.95. The first two seasons are also widely available on DVD.

  • EA, USC to Host Sims 2 Filmmaking Contest

    Thanks to video game engines, you don’t have to have a studio the size of Pixar to create a computer-animated film these days. In support of the new artform known as Machinima, Electronic Arts today announced that has partnered with the University of Southern California–School of Cinema Television to launch The Sims 2 Student Life Movie Contest.

    Aspiring filmmakers will use the hit PC game, The Sims 2, to create short films with its in-game movie-making feature. Participants will compete for a grand prize of $5,000 or a four-week associate intern position, working alongside the Sims 2 development team at Electronic Arts’ Maxis Studio in Redwood City, Calif. One second-place winner will receive a state-of-the-art NVIDIA-powered PC computer system and three third-place winners will each receive one NVIDIA video card. Submissions are now being accepted through the end of May. Winners will be announced this summer.

    Electronic Arts VP Steve Seabolt comments, “This contest is further affirmation of the EA/USC partnership. The ability to customize the gameplay experience and tell your own story is an increasingly important part of the interactive entertainment experience. This contest taps into USC’s legendary expertise in cinematography and the art of storytelling and marries it to EA’s state of the art technology.”

    The fastest-selling PC title ever, The Sims 2 allows players to control their Sims over an entire lifetime, making decisions that will affect characters’ lives from the cradle to the grave. Since the game launched in the Fall 2004, players have used it to create approximately 7,000 movies and posted them on the game’s official web site, www.thesims2.com.

    For more information on The Sims 2 and The Sims 2 Student Life Movie Contest, go to www.thesims2.com.

  • Superhero Special Coming to Bravo

    The Bravo cable network is taking on some of the biggest names in comic books, both real and fictional, with a new three-part documentary. Ultimate Super Heroes, Ultimate Super Villains and Ultimate Super Vixens will air three consecutive nights starting Thursday, May 26, at 10 p.m.

    Adam West, most famous for playing Batman in the beloved 1960s series, narrates this look at comic-book characters, their creators and the filmmakers and actors who have brought them to the screen over the years. In addition, all the heroes, villains and vixens will square off in top-20 countdowns.

    The miniseries airs just weeks before the June 15 release of Batman Begins, a prequel that Warner Bros. hopes will revive the big-screen franchise that director Tim Burton kicked off in 1989.

  • Comedy Central Seeks Ultimate South Park Fan

    Think you know more about South Park than anyone else? Comedy Central wants you to put that notion to the test when it launches The South Park Your Way contest, a trivia competition that will see one lucky winner take over programming on the cable network for four straight days.

    From May 9 to May 19, fans will be able to log onto comedycentral.com to test their knowledge of all things South Park. The winner will take the channel’s reins at 9:30 p.m. the week of May 23 to air his or her four favorite episodes of the network’s long-running animated series for adults.

    The South Park Your Way contest is sponsored by Burger King. During the week the chosen episodes are to air, customized billboards will be displayed featuring the winner and the fact that he or she is having South Park his/her way.

    Created by and exec produced by Trey Parker and Matt Stone, the Emmy-nominated South Park debuted in 1997 and remains the highest-rated series on Comedy Central.

  • Animated Encounters Names Winners

    U.K. animation fest Animated Encounters concluded Saturday, April 23, at Bristol’s Watershed with the presentation of the annual awards ceremony. Hosted by Bush and Troy from GWR Bristol’s popular morning show, the event saw awards go to Norwegian director Pjotr Sapegin for Through My Thick Glasses; French filmmakers Oury Atlan, Thibault Berian and Damien Ferrie for Overtime; and Paul Taylor for In the Rough.

    The stop-motion-animated Through My Thick Glasses proved the most popular film at the festival, taking the Audience Award. The short film centers on an old man whose grand-daughter refuses to wear her cap unless she is told a story. The grandfather then relates his experiences as a young man determined to join the Norwegian resistance and defeat the German occupation during WWII. As the winner of the Audience Award, the film will go on to be a finalist for the prestigious Cartoon d’Or, to be presented at the next Cartoon Forum in Kolding, Denmark.

    The OLC/Rights Entertainment International Newcomer Award was given to the Overtime, a black-and-white CG-animated tribute to the late Jim Henson. The film has a dead puppeteer being serenaded by an army of Kermit-like frogs. The jury chose the film for "its pitch-perfect balance of stunning music, visual story and faultless production values."

    Meanwhile, In the Rough picked up the Cosgrove Hall Films Children’s Jury Award. A jury of young people aged 11-18 from Bath, Bristol and Clevedon picked the Oscar-nominated short produced by Blur Studios. In the film. a caveman is evicted from his cozy cave by his irate wife only to find that a bachelor’s life in the wild isn’t all its cracked up to be.

    Animated Encounters is funded by Bristol City Council and South West Screen, with assistance from the UK Film Council. Principal sponsors include Cartoon Network, DreamWorks SKG, OLC, Hewlett Packard and Aardman Animations. Other major sponsors include BBC Worldwide, Cosgrove Hall Films and HIT Ent.