Animation Magazine

Author: Ryan Ball

  • 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.

  • Will Ferrell to Visit Land of the Lost

    In Elf, Will Ferrell interacted with Rankin and Bass-style animation and now it seems the in-demand comic actor will be taking on another iconic stop-motion television favorite. According to the Hollywood trade publications, Ferrell is set to star in Universal’s big-screen adaptation of Sid and Marty Krofft’s cult 1970s series, Land of the Lost.

    Sid and Marty Krofft will serve as producers on the feature update of Land, which was part of their Krofft Superstars kids programming lineup. Former Saturday Night Live contributor Adam McKay, who directed Ferrell in the hit comedy, Anchorman: The Legend of Ron Burgundy, will direct from a script by Chris Henchy (TV’s Entourage) and Dennis McNicholas (Saturday Night Live). Mosaic Media Group’s Jimmy Miller and Julie Wixon-Darmody will produce along with the Kroffts.

    The original Land of the Lost series centered on a forest ranger and his two children as they struggle to survive in a prehistoric world after their river raft gets sucked into time warp. According to the trade, the kids will be cut out of the film’s storyline.

    Despite the absence of some returning characters, the film is sure to offer plenty of dinosaurs. There is no word yet on how the terrible lizards will be animated, but stop-motion is a likely choice, especially if the producers plan to tap into the kitch value of the original series. Since there are few studios still doing stop—motion, it’s possible that the work could go to the Chiodo Bros., who animated the dinosaurs in the 1991 TV revival of Land of the Lost and provided the aforementioned stop-mo for Elf.

    Ferrell will be seen next in Universal’s soccer dad comedy, Kicking and Screaming, set to hit theaters May 13. He also stars in Columbia’s upcoming Bewitched and is filming an adaptation of Mel Brooks’ hit Broadway musical, The Producers, which had its beginnings in film.

    The first two seasons of the classic Land of the Lost series are available on DVD and the third season arrives at retail tomorrow, April 26. The show features stop-motion work by 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).

  • Buena Vista Games to Self-Publish in Europe

    The Walt Disney Co.’s Buena Vista Games (BVG) today announced plans to become a multi-platform publisher, launching a slate of video games in the U.K., Germany and France starting summer 2005. In addition, the company will expand beyond kids- and family-oriented titles to reach tween, teen and core gamers.

    Disney says the new business strategy will not affect publishing partnerships currently in place. THQ, which published the game based on The Incredibles, is now working on an interactive adaptation of the upcoming Disney/Pixar toon feature, Cars. In addition, Capcom is still set to release the long delayed Tim Burton’s The Nightmare before Christmas: Oogie’s Revenge for PlayStation 2 and Xbox, while Square-Enix continues to develop titles in the Kingdom Hearts franchise.

    Among the first titles to be published by BVG is an action/adventure game based on Walt Disney Pictures’ and Walden Media’s The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, The Witch and the Wardrobe, a CG-laden live-action feature set for release during the 2005 holiday season. After that will come an interactive version of Disney’s first in-house CG feature, Chicken Little. That game is slated for all European territories beginning with France in November of 2005. Both titles will be available PlayStation 2, Xbox and GameCube, as well as handheld and PC platforms.

  • Nick Airs Avatar Mini-Marathon

    If you’re not all caught up on Nickelodeon’s anime-inspired action/fantasy cartoon series, Avatar: The Last Airbender, you can catch four back-to-back episodes tonight, April 22, beginning at 7 p.m.

    Avatar: The Last Airbender centers on Aang, a fun-loving 12-year-old who must forego a normal life in order to master his latent powers over the four elements. In the debut episode, Aang the Avatar is discovered in a cavernous iceberg, where he had been trapped for 100 years. Once freed, he befriends his emancipators, Katara and Sokka, and struggles to evade the capture of Prince Zuko, a teenage Firebender who has attacked the Water Tribe in search of him.

    Tonight’s episode lineup features the installments "The King of Omashu," "Imprisoned," "Winter Solstice Part 1: The Spirit World" and "Winter Solstice Part 2: Avatar Roku."

    The series is created and exec. produced by Michael Dante DiMartino and Bryan Konietzko, who previously worked together on the Fox primetime animated series Mission Hill and King of the Hill. Read more about DiMartino and Konietzko and their new hit series at www.animationmagazine.net/article.php?article_id=3585.

  • CBS Plagues Passover with Locusts

    As their torrid love affair with trashy reality shows winds down, the major television networks find themselves struggling to keep up with the Jonses, meaning the once marginalized cable outlets. As ABC’s Desperate Housewives and Lost successfully compete with HBO’s well-produced and edgy drama fare, CBS is hoping to snatch a piece of SCI-FI Channel’s pie with its own effects-driven killer bug movie. Locusts debuts Sunday, April 24 at 9/8c.

    Locusts stars Lucy Lawless (TV’s Zena: Warrior Princess) as Dr. Maddy Rierdon, a USDA voracious insect expert who discovers that a cataclysmic infestation is the product of a colleague’s experiment to breed super-sized locusts that can reproduce at ten times the natural rate. Working with a special government task force, our heroine races against the clock to save the United States from being devoured by the insatiable critters. The film also stars Dylan Neal (SCI-FI Channel’s Chupacabra: Dark Seas, Babylon 5: The Legend of the Rangers), John Heard (White Chicks, Pollock) and Mike Farrell (TV’s M.A.S.H, Superman: The Animated Series).

    TV effects veteran Craig Weiss serves as visual effects supervisor on the creepy-crawly pic, which arrives just in time for the Passover observance. As depicted in DreamWorks animated feature, The Prince of Egypt, a swarm of locusts was one of the plagues visited upon the people of Egypt before the Israelites were freed from bondage.

  • Classic Media Ditches HIT Bid

    New York-based property rights manager Classic Media has dropped out of the competition to acquire HIT Ent., home to Bob the Builder,Thomas the Tank Engine and other successful animated shows for kids. Now only private equity company Apax Partners and Vancouver-based film and television distributor Lions Gate are left to fight over the financially troubled company.

    Without directly naming Classic Media, HIT said on Friday that one of its suitors had pulled out and noted that Lions Gate is still exercising its right to due diligence after HIT accepted a $917 million takeover bid from Apax. Lions Gate needs to commit to bid by May 13.

    Lions Gate’s family entertainment business has been booming with direct-to-video releases based on Mattel’s Barbie toyline and Scholastic’s Clifford the Big Red Dog books, among others. The company also has plans to release toon videos based on the Marvel comics franchise, The Avengers.

    The Classic Media library includes Mr. Magoo, Rudolph the Red-nosed Reindeer, Peter Cottontail, Rocky and Bullwinkle, Underdog and Lambchop.

    Despite the popularity of Bob the Builder and other HIT commodities, the company has seen home video, licensing and retail revenues slide considerably in the past year, making it a prime target for take-over.

  • Lugosi Resurrected in Toon Tale

    As Dracula in Universal’s classic horror pic, Bela Lugosi rose from his coffin nightly to stalk his prey. Now the late Hungarian actor is reaching out from beyond the grave to send chills up viewers’ spines in a new Spanish animated short based on Edgar Allan Poe’s classic horror story, The Tell-Tale Heart.

    Before he died in 1956, Lugosi recorded an audio rendition of The Tell-Tale Heart, which was thought to be lost. Director Raul Garcia has incorporated the found footage into his computer-animated adaptation of the tale of a murderer who is haunted by the beating of his victim’s heart.

    The black-and-white film is inspired by the artwork of Argentinean illustrator Alberto Breccia. "I’m trying to pay homage to all the artists who influenced me when I was growing up," explains Garcia. "Lugosi, Breccia, Hitchcock, the world of Milton Canniff and the horror magazines Creepy and Eerie — in a sense they’re all there, represented in the film."

    "It’s a highly personal project I’ve been preparing for more than 20 years," Garcia comments. "Fortunately for me, I was lucky enough to find in Lugosi the perfect voice for the film." In his quest to cast the film’s narrator, Garcia says he originally approached Vincent Price during what would prove to be the late horror icon’s last visit to Spain.

    The project was put on the back burner as Garcia went to Hollywood in 1991, working as an animator for Disney on such blockbusters as Aladdin, The Lion King and Pocahontas. He also served as a sequence director on the Paramount pics Jimmy Neutron: Boy Genus, The Rugrats In Paris and The Wild Thornberrys Movie.

    In 1995, actor Martin Landau won an Oscar for portraying Lugosi in Tim Burton’s creative biopic, Ed Wood. Garcia hopes his own film will once again renew interest in the silver-screen scream king.

    Garcia’s The Tell-Tale Heart premiered at the Int’l Festival of Young Filmmakers in Granada, Spain, on April 17, taking top honors for Best Spanish Short Film and earning Garcia the award for Best Director. The ten-minute short will hit the festival circuit in the coming months.

    The Tell-Tale Heart is a co-production of R & R Communications Inc. in the U.S., Melusine Prods. of Luxembourg and Kandor Graphics of Spain. Bela G. Lugosi, son of the legendary actor, served as exec producer. The film serves as a forerunner to Garcia’s upcoming feature projects, which include Sian Ka’an, starring the voices of Salma Hayek, Placido Domingo and Alfred Molina, and the CGI feature, Backyard Heroes.

  • First Image From Superman Returns

    If you’ve been wondering what newcomer Brandon Routh is going to look like in those iconic blue tights and a red cape, the wait is over. Warner Bros. Pictures today released the first image from the highly anticipated Superman Returns.

    Directed by Bryan Singer (X2: X-Men United, X-Men, The Usual Suspects), Superman Returns has the Man of Steel returning to Metropolis after a mysterious absence of several years. While an old enemy plots to render him powerless once and for all, our hero faces the heartbreaking realization that Lois Lane has moved on with her life. His bittersweet return challenges him to bridge the distance between them while finding a place in a society that has learned to survive without him. In an attempt to protect the world he loves from cataclysmic destruction, the caped crimefighter embarks on an epic journey of redemption that takes him from the depths of the ocean to the far reaches of outer space.

    A 25-year-old Iowa native, Routh previously appeared in episodes of the TV series Cold Case and Gilmore Girls. Kate Bosworth (Beyond the Sea, Blue Crush) plays love interest Lois Lane and Oscar-winner Kevin Spacey (Beyond the Sea, American Beauty) takes a turn as the villainous Lex Luthor. Also on board are James Marsden (X-Men) as Richard White, Eva Marie Saint (North By Northwest) as Martha Kent, Parker Posey (Blade: Trinity) as Kitty Kowalski, Kal Penn (Harold & Kumar Go to White Castle) as Stanford and Sam Huntington (Detroit Rock City) as Jimmy Olsen.

    Superman Returns is slated for release on June 30, 2006. The Imax Corp. is even in discussions to convert it to stereoscopic 3D for large-format exhibition. Jon Peters is producing through his Peters Ent., in association with Singer’s Bad Hat Harry Prods. Singer and Gilbert Adler are also listed as producers, and Chris Lee is exec producer. The screenplay was written by Michael Dougherty and Dan Harris.

  • Disney’s Howl’s Moving Castle Trailer Online

    As Disney gets set for its June 10 release of the English-language version of director Hayao Miyazaki’s latest feature, Howl’s Moving Castle, a trailer for the Mouse House treatment has emerged online.

    Animation fans have been eagerly awaiting the North American release of Miyazaki’s follow-up to his Oscar-winning 2002 fantasy masterpiece, Spirited Away. Howl’s played at the Venice Int’l film festival in September of 2004 and bowed to great success in Japan in November.

    Based on a fantasy book written by Diana Wynne Jones with a script by Reiko Yoshida, the movie centers on an enchanted 18-year-old named Sophie who transformed into an old woman and encounters a wizard who inhabits a magical moving castle.

    The English-language version is directed by Pete Docter (Monsters, Inc.) and features the voices of Christian Bale, Jean Simmons, Lauren Bacall, Emily Mortimer, Billy Crystal and Blythe Danner.

    On April 29, The Tokyo Museum of Contemproary Art is launching a 100-day exhibit titled Howl’s Moving Castle– Big Circus Update." The show focuses on what happens to the film’s main characters after the movie ends and they form a circus group.

    The Howl’s Moving Castle trailer can be downloaded at

    http://bvbp-qt.vitalstream.com/HowlsMovingCastle/Howls_Trailer1_Domestic41905_3000.mov.

  • Adobe to Buy Macromedia

    Adobe Systems Incorporated has signed a definitive agreement to acquire Macromedia, maker of the Flash animation software. The all-stock transaction is valued at approximately $3.4 billion and has been approved by both boards of directors. Under the terms of the agreement, Macromedia stockholders will receive 0.69 shares of Adobe common stock (at approximately $41.86 per share) for every share of Macromedia common stock in a tax-free exchange.

    With the purchase of Macromedia, Adobe will add PDF and Flash to its lineup of development, authoring and collaboration tools, which includes PhotoShop, AfterEffects and Premiere. The company says the combined resources will help it continue to drive innovations that are changing the ways people everywhere experience and interact with information.

  • Pacino Back as Scarface

    Get ready to say hello to Al Pacino’s little friend again. The Oscar-winning actor has signed on to lend his voice and likeness to Vivendi Universal Games’ upcoming video game based on director Brian DePalma’s 1983 violent crime classic, Scarface. Titled Scarface: The World is Yours, the game is set for release this fall and will also feature the voices of returning cast members Steven Bauer and Robert Loggia. Rounding out the talent roster are comedians Jay Mohr and Cheech Marin, and actors James Woods, Miguel Sandoval, Robert Davi, Michael Rappaport and Michael York.

    The Scarface video game picks up where the film left of and explores what might have happened if Tony Montana had survived the climactic shootout. On a mission to rebuild a fallen empire, gamers will travel through the steamy streets of Miami and various Caribbean locales, interacting with seedy and dangerous characters to procure information, negotiate business deals and smuggle contraband under the noses of DEA agents. The title is being developed by Radical Games for PlayStation 2, Xbox and PC.

    With the popularity of violent video games, Scarface is a prime property to tap, especially considering its enduring appeal among young adult males. And while the film’s cult continues to grow, the fascination with the brutal criminal underworld goes way back. DePalma’s Scarface, written by Academy Award-winner Oliver Stone, was merely an update of director Howard Hawkes’ classic 1932 Al capone pic of the same name, starring Paul Muni.

    Attendees at the Electronic Entertainment Expo (E3) in Los Angeles will get a first look at Scarface: The World is Yours ton May 18th.

  • LucasArts Enlists for Star Wars Battlefront II

    As legions of devoted fans assembled at the Indiana Convention Center for the four-day event known as Star Wars Celebration III, LucasArts announced the coming of Star Wars Battlefront II. Set for release on PlayStation 2, Xbox and Windows platforms in the fall of 2005, the game is being developed by Pandemic Studios and will include all-new space combat, more playable Jedi and never-before-seen environments straight out of Star Wars: Episode III Revenge of the Sith.

    Star Wars Battlefront II promises to improve upon the original game’s single-player experience with open-ended, mission-based objectives inspired from all six Star Wars films. The gameplay and storyline span more than 12 new locations, including volcanic Mustafar and the space battle zone above Coruscant. For the first time, players can engage in space combat and board enemy ships to attack from within. All-new classic movie moments complete the experience as players battle within the interior of the Death Star and visit Princess Leia’s blockade runner, the Tantive IV, as seen at the beginning of Episode IV–A New Hope.

    In online play mode, gamers will be able locate their buddies and track their stats as they battle alongside more players than ever (up to 24 on PS2, 32 on Xbox, 64 on Windows).

    The original Star Wars Battlefront was launched day-and-date with the release of the classic trilogy on DVD. LucasArts says the marketing campaign for this followup will be even bigger, including promotions with major national partners and unprecedented in-store support.

  • Episode III Breaks Fandango Records

    Fans eager to see Star Wars: Episode III–Revenge Of The Sith have been snatching up tickets online and by phone, making the film the fastest-selling movie to-date on the Fandango movie ticketing service. Select markets are already reporting sold-out shows and the pic is still nearly a month from opening.

    Revenge of the Sith has sold five times as many tickets as Fandango’s next best-selling movie, Mel Gibson’s The Passion Of The Christ. With the return of Darth Vader, Chubacca and other elements that tie the new trilogy to the original, this latest installment in the Star Wars saga represents a new hope for die-hard fans who were disappointed by the last two entries.

    Fandango is predicting that Sith will enjoy one of the top-ten best openings ever. A weekly moviegoer poll posted on Fandango.com reveals that 79% of fans who responded are planning to see the third episode between May 19 and May 22, indicating a blockbuster first weekend starting May 19.

    Tickets are now available for purchase at www.fandango.com and will also go on sale on 1-800-FANDANGO on May 16.

  • Disney Appoints Chief Creative Officer

    Buena Vista Pictures Marketing president Oren Aviv has been promoted to the newly created title of chief creative officer at The Walt Disney Co., according to Daily Variety. Disney reportedly once toyed with the idea of giving to title to outgoing CEO Michael Eisner.

    Having earned story and exec producer credits on the recent hit National Treasure and 1997’s Rocket Man, Aviv has been looking to serve in a more creative capacity and was reportedly weighing offers from other studios.

    Aviv joined Disney in 1991, serving as VP of creative services and later senior VP and creative director. Before that, he was instrumental in the launch of the hit series Twin Peaks and Roseanne as director of special projects for Cap Cities/ABC.

  • Disney Buys Avalanche, Builds Game Studio

    In its efforts to make Buena Vista Games a major player in the interactive entertainment sphere, the Walt Disney Company has acquired Salt Lake City-based video game developer Avalanche Software LC, which is making the game based on Disney’s November CG toon release, Chicken Little. The House of Mouse is also establishing a development studio in Vancouver, Canada, which will be headed up by former Electronic Arts Canada senior development and business personnel.

    “The acquisition of Avalanche Software and the creation of a development studio in Vancouver mark a significant milestone in becoming a top tier video game publisher by securing the industry’s top talent to build and create game franchises,” says Graham Hopper, senior VP and general manager of Buena Vista Games. He goes on to say that the new studio is already off to a strong start and growing rapidly to focus on cutting-edge, action/adventure-oriented games.

    Founded in 1995, console game developer Avalanche Software employs more than 100 artists, programmers and game designers. The company’s credits include the hit titles Tak and the Power of Juju, Tak 2: The Staff of Dreams, Dragonball Z Sagas: Evolution and the upcoming 25 to Life online multiplayer shooter.

    Under the terms of the agreement, Avalanche Software will operate as a division of Buena Vista Games and will maintain its development studio in Utah. Some senior management and key employees have even signed long-term employment agreements with the Disney arm.

    The new Vancouver development studio is founded by Josh Holmes, Howard Donaldson, Daryl Anselmo and Jorge Freitas. Holmes, Anselmo and Freitas were instrumental in creating the NBA Street and Def Jam franchises for Electronic Arts. Donaldson served as EA Canada’s CFO for seven years. The facility has already hired than 20 veteran game developers and is continuing to build its core team.

  • Majesco Clashes with Teen Titans

    Video game maker Majesco Ent. has licensed rights to Warner Bros. Animation’s popular TV series, Teen Titans. The deal with Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment will see developer Artificial Mind & Movement (A2M) create games for Game Boy Advance later this year, expanding to Xbox, PlayStation 2 and GameCube in 2006.

    Based on DC Comics characters, Teen Titans explores the adolescent adventures of superheroes Robin, Beast Boy, Starfire, Raven, Cyborg and Terra. The anime-inspired series airs on Cartoon Network and Kids’ WB.

    Created by Marv Wolfman and George Perez, Teen Titans made its comic book debut in 1964 and soon grew into its own monthly comic book series that ran for seven years. The New Teen Titans followed in 1980 and became DC’s most popular comic book of the decade that followed. The revamped version dealt more with the teenage angst aspect and serves as the basis for the animated series, produced under the guidance of Emmy Award winner Glen Murakami.

    In Majesco’s Teen Titans, players switch control in real time between the heroes, utilizing each one’s unique moves and abilities. The multi-player, multi-level action takes place in a crime-ridden city plagued by notorious villains Slade, Overload, Jinx, Gizmo, and Mammoth.

    Edison, New Jersey-based Majesco is also set to release the highly anticipated titles Advent Rising and Psychonauts. More information about Teen Titans and the company’s entire product lineup can be found at www.majescoentertainment.com.

  • Batman Sneaks into Smallville

    While plans for a Batman Vs. Superman feature film have been shelved, the two DC Comics superheroes are getting together on the small screen. The 90-minute season finale of The WB’s Smallville will feature an exclusive eight-minute preview of the eagerly awaited summer release, Batman Begins. The episode will air on Wednesday, May 18, at 8 p.m. (ET).

    The Batman Begins sneak peak will offer exclusive footage of the fifth film in the Dark Knight franchise. Directed by Christopher Nolan (Memento), the prequel stars Christian Bale (Reign of Fire, Equilibrium) as a young Bruce Wayne driven by vengeance to adopt a crime-fighting alter-ego. Michael Caine, Liam Neeson, Katie Holmes, Gary Oldman, Cillian Murphy, Tom Wilkinson, Rutger Hauer, Ken Watanabe and Morgan Freeman also appear in the film, which is set to hit theaters on June 17.

    Developed for television by Alfred Gough and Miles Millar, Smallville likewise explores the early years of Clark Kent’s evolution as Superman. The hit series airs Wednesdays at 8 p.m. (ET/PT) on The WB Network and is produced by Tollin/Robbins Prods. and Warner Bros. Television Production Inc. The highly anticipated season finale promises murder, betrayal and an unforgettable graduation day.

  • More Stars Under DreamWork’s Hedge

    DreamWorks Animation SKG’s upcoming CG comedy feature, Over the Hedge, has increased its star power with the signing of Oscar nominee Nick Nolte, Star Trek alum William Shatner, The Office’s Steve Carell, rocker Avril Lavigne, comedian Wanda Sykes, The West Wing’s Allison Janney and A Mighty Wind co-stars Catherine O’Hara and Eugene Levy. The new recruits will join Bruce Willis and Garry Shandling, who are voicing the lead roles.

    Adapted from the comic strip by Michael Fry and T. Lewis, Over the Hedge is a buddy comedy about woodland pals who awake from a long winter’s nap to find a suburban housing development encroaching on their turf. While most of the animals fear the new neighbors, R.J., a con artist racoon (Willis), convinces turtle friend Verne (Gary Shandling) and the others that there is a gold mine to be found in the trash cans and homes of the human invaders. Tim Johnson and Karey Kirkpatrick are directing from a script by Len Blum.

    Nolte is set to make his toon debut as a bear named Vincent. Shatner, whose previous toon voice work includes Warner Bros.’ Osmosis Jones, will play Ozzie the possum, whose daughter, Heather, will be voiced by Lavigne. Carell will play a squirrel named Hammy while Sykes takes on the persona of Stella the skunk. After playing a starfish in Pixar’s Finding Nemo, Janney returns to human form this time around as a Realtor named Gladys. Fresh off a featured role in Disney’s upcoming CG feature, Chicken Little, O’Hara will voice a porcupine named Penny, playing opposite fellow SCTV player Levy as porcupine Lew. Levy will also be heard along with Will Ferrell in Universal’s forthcoming adaptation of the popular children’s book, Curious George.

  • Sin City, Star Wars to Play Cannes

    Big-screen digital effects will have a place of honor Cannes. Taking place May 11-22 in the south of France, the prestigious annual film festival will showcase Robert Rodriguez’s adaptation of Frank Miller’s Sin City graphic novel series and George Lucas’ latest addition to the Star Wars saga.

    Having earned more than $60 million domestically in the past three weeks, Sin City is one of 20 feature films selected for competition at Cannes. Much like Rodriguez’s Spy Kids 3-D: Game Over, Sin City features real actors on sets largely created with digital software. Contracted to provide the film’s visual effects were The Orphanage, Café FX and Hybride. Daniel LeDuc, who served as visual effects supervisor on the Spy Kids movies and Rodriguez’s last effort, Once Upon a Time in Mexico, again took the vfx reins.

    Meanwhile, Star Wars: Episode III–Revenge of the Sith, which hits theaters on May 19, will screen out of competition. This last installment in the saga is also a hybrid of live-action photography and digital imaging, incorporating fully animated characters such as Yoda and other otherworldly creatures.

    This year’s festival is marked by the heavy presence of established auteurs. In addition to Rodriguez and Lucas, the slate includes new films from David Cronenberg (A History of Violence), Jim Jarmusch (Broken Flowers), Gus Van Sant (Last Days), Lars Von Trier (Manderlay), Wim Wenders (Don’t Come Knockin’) and Adam Egoyan (Where the Truth Lies). In addition, actor Tommy Lee Jones’ directorial debut, The Three Burials of Melquiades Estrada, will be competing for a prize.

    A full list of films selected to screen at Cannes can be found at www.festival-cannes.fr

  • NAB COVERAGE

    HP, Ascent Media to Digitize Sony’s Library

    Hewlett Packard has announced it is working with Ascent Media Group and Sony Pictures Ent. (SPE) to digitize Sony’s library of film and TV assets. The project will move the studio’s content management and distribution from analog to a tapeless digital environment.

    “At SPE, the ability to deliver our content in an efficient, cost-effective and secure way is critical,” says Jeff Hargleroad, senior VP of worldwide product fulfillment at Sony Pictures Ent. “This project marks a significant step towards the future of file-based digital content delivery. Ascent Media Group’s knowledge of the complexities of media asset creation and workflows combined with HP’s innovation in digital entertainment technologies makes our partnership uniquely positioned to fulfill our vision.”

    The Sony library includes the blockbuster Spider-Man film series, as well as many hours of animated television programming.

    wondertouch Expands Particle Products

    Visual effects software developer wondertouch, maker of particleIllusion, announced significant enhancement of its product development scope. Following the recent release of particleIllusion 2.0 SE for Mac OSX, the company is completing two further releases of its flagship product. This June, wondertouch is scheduled to release its highly anticipated new particleIllusion plug-in for Adobe After Effects, affording motion graphics and visual effects professionals with easy access to the powerful particleIllusion 3.0 software engine from directly within the After Effects environment. The following month will see the release of particleIllusion 3.0 for Mac OSX.

    Demonstrations of the wondertouch range of particle effects solutions are taking place each day of the NAB convention at the wondertouch booth, SL #453, located in the South Hall, Lower Level. Additional information on wondertouch can be found at www.wondertouch.com.

    Apple Opens Final Cut Studio

    Apple unveiled Final Cut Studio, a top-of-the-line HD video production suite that features Final Cut Pro 5, a major upgrade to the Emmy award-winning editing software for DV, SD, HD and film.

    In addition to Final Cut Pro 5, Final Cut Studio’s toolset includes Soundtrack Pro, a new audio editing and sound design application; Motion 2, a groundbreaking real-time motion graphics application with GPU accelerated 32-bit float rendering; and DVD Studio Pro 4, the first commercially available DVD authoring software that burns high-definition DVDs to the latest HD DVD specification.

    “The arrival of Final Cut Studio ushers in a new era of high-definition video production that relies on effortless integration of video, audio and effects to elevate production values,” boasts Rob Schoeben, Apple’s VP of applications marketing.’ “Final Cut Studio allows producers to edit in a broad range of HD formats, add stunning motion graphics, sculpt the perfect soundtrack and burn their projects to high-def DVDs.”

    Final Cut Pro 5 is designed for professional editors working in a number of formats, including DV, SD, film, and all major HD formats, including HDV, DVCPRO HD and fully uncompressed HD. Native HDV (long GOP MPEG-2) support in Final Cut Pro 5 enables users to edit camera native HDV without generation loss. In addition, powerful new multicam tools let editors cut from up to 128 sources, with simultaneous, real-time playback of up to 16 angles at a time. A new IMX codec allows for native editing of broadcast content from Sony’s XDCAM and direct support for Panasonic’s P2 solid state media gives editors a high-speed solution for tapeless transfer of DVCPRO, DVCPRO50 and DVCPRO HD video.

    Final Cut Studio will be available in May through the Apple Store (www.apple.com), Apple’s retail stores and Apple Authorized Resellers for a suggested retail price of $1,299. Registered users of any previous version of Final Cut Pro can upgrade for $699 and Production Suite customers can upgrade for $499. Final Cut Pro 5, Soundtrack Pro, Motion 2 and DVD Studio Pro 4 will also be sold separately. Full system requirements and more information on Final Cut Studio can be found at www.apple.com/finalcutstudio.

    IRIDAS Takes New Product Line-up to NAB

    Munich, Germany-based uncompressed playback and metadata-based color correction tech manufacturer IRIDAS is taking an impressive line of new products to the NAB confab in Vegas (April 18-21). The new IRIDAS items include FrameCycler Digital Daily System (DDS) 3.5, FrameCycler Professional 3.5, SpeedGrade DI, and SpeedGrade On Set.

    The SpeedGrade products represent both ends of the world’s first unbroken color pipeline from filming through postproduction and finishing. FrameCycler is billed as the first 2K playback technology to run on the Windows, Mac, and Linux platforms.

    While all IRIDAS products operate as stand-alone applications, they are designed to work within a pipeline, alongside other applications.

    FrameCycler Professional 3.5 will be demonstrated with Shake integration on Mac OS X systems at the Apple booth. Both new FrameCycler 3.5 products are able to playback calibrated, color corrected sequences from SpeedGrade on any nVidia FX graphics card-equipped workstation.

    “IRIDAS products leverage the latest capabilities in nVidia Quadro graphics hardware, putting pixel shader technology to excellent use in film and video postproduction work,” said Jeff Brown, general manager of professional products at nVidia. “SpeedGrade and the new FrameCycler products open up a whole new world of possibilities in color correction on full-rez digital intermediates.”

    IRIDAS products will be at several exhibits at NAB 2005: Apple will present FrameCycler Professional 3.5 at their booth and FrameCycler DDS 3.5 in their demo suites; IRIDAS will present a fully equipped demo pod at the nVidia booth along with a demo suite at the Las Vegas Hilton. IRIDAS partners, including DVC, Ciprico, Arri, Kinetta, and others, will also feature IRIDAS technology at the show.

    The NAB 2005 exhibition runs from April 18 – 21, 2005 at the Las Vegas Convention Center. You can visit IRIDAS at Booth SL5501 (nVidia exhibit) or call (818) 951-8927 to make an appointment at the IRIDAS suite. Visit www.iridas.com for more information.