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Chris Grove
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Articles by Chris Grove
Academy Tweaks Toon Rules
June 15, 2007 – The Academy of Motion Pictures and Arts announced yesterday that it’s changing its definition of an animated feature film to further clarify the requirements for that category, in light of the emer...
Silver Surfer Challenges CG Penguins
June 15, 2007 – You can spend some time figuring out the different Fantastic Four “surfing”/”boarding”/”rising” into/onto theaters/theater screens headlines this weekend as Fox Studio’s Fantastic Four: R...
Canada Spain Ani Co-Prod Summit Pretty Successful, Eh?
June 15, 2007 – More or less proving that Canada-Spain animation co-prods are a good thing, 80 companies held a two-day summit last week in Barcelona to review and promote details of the recently extended treaty b...
CN/D3 Unleash New Ed, Edd n Eddy Game
June 15, 2007 – Ed, Edd and Eddy can’t seem to stay out of trouble. Cartoon Network Enterprises, the global licensing and merchandising arm of the network, has awarded D3Publisher of America, Inc. the handheld gam...
Live Earth to Help Greens Go Global
June 15, 2007 – When the internationally televised Live Earth rock concert hits the air on July 7, viewers will be introduced to The Greens, an engaging new website from the creative minds at WGBH In...
Men in Black Honcho to Ride with Space Chimps
June 14, 2007 – Barry Sonnenfeld is set to produce the animated comedy Space Chimps along with Vanguard Animation and Starz Media. Twentieth Century Fox will distribute. Sonnenfeld has been a creative consu...
Geronimo Goes For Taffy With Licensing Deal
June 14, 2007 – Consumer products licensing for Geronimo Stilton has been granted to Taffy Entertainment. Taffy signed the deal with Italy's Atlantyca Entertainment yesterday. Geronimo Stilton is an ...
Nerdy Anime Boy MÄR Arrives on DVD
June 14, 2007 – Publishing, animation and licensing company VIZ Media, LLC, is bringing the anime series MÄR to DVD. The first volume, Gateway To MÄR, which debuts this week, contains four episodes. ...
Digital-Tutors Releases The Artist's Guide to MEL
June 14, 2007 – Digitial Tutors, an Autodesk authorized publisher, has announced the release of The Artist’s Guide to MEL.
The latest volume in a growing library of interactive training for emerging May...
Portfolio’s Carl2 Gets Teletoon Nod For Fourth Go-Round
June 14, 2007 – Portfolio Entertainment’s witty tweens-targeted animated comedy series Carl2 is getting a fourth season on TELETOON (Canada) with 13 new episodes.
“TELETOON continues to be an incredibly ...
MYP, CNI, GME in Co-Prod Soup For Hero: 108
April 20, 2007 – Indie animation studio Mike Young Productions, Gamania Digital Entertainment and Cartoon Network International have joined forces to co-produce the new animated comedy/action series Hero: 108
Persepolis, Ark to Shine at Cannes Festival
April 20, 2007 – Among this year’s list of films to be screened or premiered at Cannes, are a couple of animated projects of note. Audiences will be treated to the black and white French-produced animated film P...
Spider-Man, Bono Headed for Great White Way
April 20, 2007 – Not content just to be a dominant movie franchise, Spider-Man is headed to Broadway. The Tony Award winning director Julie Taymor (Lion King) is set to direct. U2's Bono and the Edge ...
Pokemon Explodes at 30 Rock and Online
April 20, 2007 – With billions at stake in the exploding video game industry, the scope of the Pokemon launch this weekend should surprise no one.
Fans worldwide are being invited to virtually attend the...
Rintindumb Chews on New Deal
April 19, 2007 – A raft of broadcasters at MIP-TV has picked up French studio Xilam’s canine comedy Rintindumb. The 2D-animated series, which debuted in September on France 3, has been licensed to Mediaset, ...
Beeb Buys Iconicles
April 19, 2007 – Create Media Ventures and Foothill Entertainment say they’ve secured a BBC commission for their new children’s animation series Iconicles.
Aimed at the 4-6 year old audience, the series ...
TV-Loonland Content with KidsCo
April 19, 2007 – KidsCo, the newly formed global channel for children and families, has announced a significant content deal with TV-Loonland. TV-Loonland, an award winning independent producer and distributor of c...
Grazer, Howard Will Re-Make Colossus
April 19, 2007 – Brian Grazer and Ron Howard’s Imagine Entertainment has had its creative home at Universal for some time now. With yesterday’s announcement that the duo will soon remake the 1970 sci fi saga Col...
Marvel, Sega Bring More Games to Life
April 19, 2007 – Game giant Sega has announced a significant partnership with Marvel Studios. According a report in the trades, the Japanese publisher has signed a deal to make games based on three of its upcoming ...
AOL, Mark Burnett Do Business with Shrek
April 18, 2007 – AOL and Survivor producer Mark Burnett are hoping to see more green thanks to DreamWorks’ third feature outing with the lovable ogre. The online entity will launch an interactive game based ...
Teletoon Doubles Scholarship Offerings
April 18, 2007 – At MIP this week, Canada’s Teletoon announced it was more than doubling the dollar amount for next year’s crop. Total prize money now stands at $70,000 per annum. The funds will be divided between ...
MobiTV Teams up with Intel
April 18, 2007 – MobiTV, Inc., a global leader in mobile and broadband television and music services, is entering into what it calls a “cooperation agreement” with Intel Corporation. The two companies have agreed t...
Summer of ’07 Predicted As Good Vintage For Gamers
April 18, 2007 – After a winter of discontent in the game business, Hollywood’s upcoming summer slate of films should prove to be a season of solace for the people who make and sell video games. The 2007 tent pole ...
Spider-Man Premiere(s) To Set New Marketing Record
April 17, 2007 – The major studios love franchises. When successful, they can generate literally billions of dollars in box office, DVD sales and licensed products.
Now comes word that Sony is preparing to spen...
SpongeBob, Anime and More DVD Releases This Week
April 17, 2007 – There’s a mixed bag of DVD releases today. For anime fans: .hack//Roots (Bandai). The un-rated title has a running time of 125 minutes. The suggested retail price, $24.98. The cast includes...
Ani Mickey Mouse Goes Global
April 17, 2007 – Following its success worldwide on the Playhouse Disney and Disney Channels, the learning-focused, CG-animated preschool series Mickey Mouse Clubhouse is about to attract yet more young fans...
Popular Zigby Making International Move With Co-Prod
April 17, 2007 – Three companies on three continents are joining forces to produce a new animated pre-school series based on the wildly popular literary character Zigby the zebra.
The co-prod partners are...
Nickelodeon, Chorion Brown Bags Olivia
April 17, 2007 – Nickelodeon is partnering with media content company, Chorion, to present Olivia, a new children's animated television series based on the best-selling books by acclaimed author/illustrator ...
Adobe Stuff For Free. For Now
April 17, 2007 – On the heels of the announcement of the latest iterations of its newest suite of cool tools, Adobe is saying that users can get some free public previews online. Adobe Premiere Pro CS3, Adobe After...
Hunger Bombs, Robinsons Strong
April 16, 2007 – The Gen-Y quasi re-make of the Alfred Hitchcock classic Rear Window took first place in this weekend’s box office derby. But it was the holdovers that made the bigger headlines.While the Shi...
Bigger Picture To Draw Original Toons
April 16, 2007 – The alternative entertainment division of AccessIT, The Bigger Picture, has announced the first animated projects it’ll produce for its Kidtoon Films theatrical matinee program. Titles include a pr...
TV2 Adds Lola & Virginia to Roster at MIP
April 16, 2007 – On the heels of a number of similar recent deals, Spanish indie Icon Animation has sold its popular girl-skewed show Lola & Virginia to TV2 Norway at this year’s MIPTV in Cannes.
“We are...
Nick Gets Creepie
April 16, 2007 – Taffy Entertainment and Nickelodeon International have reached a comprehensive agreement that will see the Emmy-nominated Growing Up Creepie on Nickelodeon schedules in early 2008 in Asia-Pa...
Good News/Bad News/Expensive News for HD Disc Fans
April 16, 2007 – While format wars of the past have been good in the long run for innovation, they’ve been hell on consumer wallets. The latest example? Because of format wars in the bright new world of high defini...
Animal Logic Takes On Joy
April 16, 2007 – Booming Aussie vfx and CG animation house Animal Logic has announced that Karin Joy has joined the company as head of film visual effects production. She will be responsible for overseeing the prod...
Pokemon in Battle for Wi-Fi Wii
March 08, 2007 – Wii has been one of the biggest surprises in the game industry in recent memory. Last November in the run-up to Christmas 2006, Nintendo sold 476,000 units of the Wii video game console, more than ...
Earl Meets the Chipmunks
March 08, 2007 – NBC’s My Name is Earl star Jason Lee is set to star as David Seville in the CG/live-action hybrid film Alvin and the Chipmunks for Fox 2000 and Fox Animation. The script is written by...
New Home is Where Your PS3 Is
March 08, 2007 – When it finally got its production-delayed PlayStation 3 to market late last year, Sony got pasted in the Christmas sales derby by Nintendo’s Wii and Microsoft’s Xbox.
At the Game Developers C...
TiVo and Amazon Launch Video Download Service
March 08, 2007 – Marketing synergy can only happen if the basic laws of introducing a new consumer product are followed. The new product has to look and feel like something consumers already have and then improve u...
45 Million U.S. Households Got Game
March 08, 2007 – The good folks at Nielsen Media Research, who seem to count everything, are saying that over 45 million US households now have a video game system of some kind. That represents an 18 percent increa...
HIT Buys Worldwide Magic. Plans TV, Toy Roll-out
March 08, 2007 – For most parents of a three year old, HIT Entertainment basically rocks. HIT allows parents to assuage their guilt at planting their child in front of the TV for a twenty minute respite knowing tha...
Captain America 1941-2007
March 07, 2007 – Birthed onto comic book pages and into the imaginations of 10 year-old boys worldwide when America was getting ready to push Adolf Hitler onto the dust heap of history, Captain America has finally ...
The Heat Is On: NVIDIA Unveils Next Generation Game Development Platform
March 07, 2007 – Unlike most trade shows, the Game Developers Conference often delivers actual news daily.
Topping today’s activity from this year’s iteration currently underway in San Francisco: Graphics king...
Gotham Gets New Anime Channel 24/7
March 07, 2007 – Anime fans in New York City have a whole new reason to call in sick or develop a job they can do at home.
Texas-based FUNimation Entertainment has announced that the FUNimation Channel is now a...
Fox Family Voicetones A Big Hit
March 07, 2007 – While it’s still not as a big a part of the cell phone business as once hoped for, revenue from the sale of ringtones and voicetones has been a nice boost to a number of content providers.
Case...
Xbox to Rock With Mucho Memory
March 07, 2007 – As much a Scotty always needed more dilithium crystals, gamers can always use more memory.
To that end, Microsoft has announced plans to sell a 512MB memory unit for the wildly popular Xbox 360...
Xbox to Rock With Mucho Memory
March 07, 2007 – As much a Scotty always needed more dilithium crystals, gamers can always use more memory.
To that end, Microsoft has announced plans to sell a 512MB memory unit for the wildly popular Xbox 360...
CG Snails and Rat Slither to SIGGRAPH
April 07, 2006 – Animated shorts about a New York city rat and two lovelorn mechanical snails have received the top honors for SIGGRAPH 2006. The Computer Animation Festival's content as well as Best of Show Award ...
Ubisoft/Viz Media To Box Naruto
April 07, 2006 – One of the world's largest video game publishers, Ubisoft, has signed a licensing agreement with VIZ Media, LLC, to develop video games based on VIZ's popular Shonen Jump’s Naruto animation ...
WalkerFX 2.2 Available Now
April 07, 2006 – WalkerFX, a technology developer of leading compositing software applications is now shipping WalkerFX 2.2. The software will take its place in the company's advanced, production-proven suite of vi...
New Casper Film Scares Up A-List Voice Cast
April 07, 2006 – These days it seems, all people want to really do in Hollywood isn’t direct, it’s to voice a character in an animated feature. The latest case in point: Casper producer Classic Media ...
Roy Disney Feted at Cartoons on the Bay
April 07, 2006 – It’s been a mixed few years for Roy Disney, nephew of the legendary Walt Disney. He was unceremoniously kicked off the Disney board, later to see his nemesis Michael Eisner publicly rebuked by shar...
DVD Sales Join CD Sales—Heading South
April 06, 2006 – Has the DVD market finally reached the saturation point? One of the most successful consumer products in modern history, home video sales fell the first quarter of 2006 4.3% and video rentals sagge...
Satiric South Gets Last Laugh … and a Peabody
April 06, 2006 – Although some may believe that irony and satire are on their last legs in American pop culture, South Park creators Trey Parker and Matt Stone are doing their best to keep them alive. And, l...
Shochiku, Production I.G to Ride with French Knight
April 06, 2006 – Looking to capitalize on the growing TV animation market, one of Japan’s leading entertainment companies is entering into a production pact with animation house Production I.G. First out of the box...
Big, Flux, Yoram Gross Ready for Raindrop
April 06, 2006 – Big Communications, Flux Animation Studio and Yoram Gross-EM.TV are launching a new co-production deal on Master Raindrop, a 3D/2D animated action adventure comedy series.
This deal, to ...
Kappel Leaves Loonland, New CEO Flamank Flies In
April 05, 2006 – Not all the MIP action is about selling programs. It’s also about selling out execs.
On Tuesday, market attendees were surprised to hear that TV Loonland CEO Selma Kappel had been defenestrated fr...
Sesame Babies Ruffles Feathers
April 05, 2006 – Probably hoping to go where Baby Einstein has gone before, the creators of Sesame Street plan to release a series of videos aimed a children as young as six months. This has drawn voc...
MTV Gets in a Jam with Irish Animator
April 05, 2006 – MTV Networks International has secured television rights to Jam Media's newest hit property, Pic Me, for its Nickelodeon channels in Europe, Asia Pacific and Latin America. The five-year dea...
Canuck Series Goes Online With AOL KOL
April 05, 2006 – American children on the AOL KOL service will now get the chance to watch Nelvana's Jacob Two-Two, which has been seen by worldwide audiences for several years now. As its first English-lan...
New PBS Kids’ Platform A Go For October ‘06
April 05, 2006 – Wishbone and company are getting a new digital home now that the PBS KIDS GO! Channel has announced plans to launch in October. The new 24-Hour digital broadcast channel will be devoted exclusively...
Internet Film Sites Up And Running:
Now What?
April 04, 2006 – If ever there was a product designed by a committee it’s the major Hollywood studios on-line movie download effort launched Monday. Users can download films to their PC and then watch it … on their...
National Geo Launches Toot Straight-To-DVD Release
April 04, 2006 – National Geographic Television and Film’s children’s programming and production unit has started production of Toot & Puddle: I'll Be Home for Christmas as both a straight-to-DVD and as a on...
Foothill Unveils MIP Pilots
April 04, 2006 – Forget March Madness. How about MIP Madness? It continues apace today as, among other things, Santa Barbara-based Foothill Entertainment, Inc. unveils the two completed pilots it’s bringing to MIP-...
Icon’s Vitaminix Gobbled By MIP B’Casters
April 04, 2006 – Barcelona-based Icon Animation has announced the signing of a raft of programming deals at MIPTV 2006 for its Vitaminix series. Panama free TV channel TV7 (Corp. Medcom), UEA cabsat channel ...
BloodRayne In Two-Pack Deal
April 04, 2006 – Fans of Uwe Boll’s BloodRayne won’t need to go to two different aisles when the DVD and video game are released later this year. According to a Hollywood Reporter news item, the May 2...
Ice Freezes Critics, Warms Fox Hearts
April 03, 2006 – With reviews only slightly better than the savaging heaped on Sharon Stone’s return to the screen as a been-around-the-block femme fatale, Fox’s Ice Age 2: The Meltdown took even Fox exec’s ...
Simpson Movie Set for July 2007
April 03, 2006 – Homer, Marge, Bart, Lisa and Maggie are now officially ready for their big-screen close-ups! After years of promising, Fox, Matt Groening and James L. Brookes have finalized plans for the big Si...
Kong King DVD Towers over Competition
April 03, 2006 – It may say something about the nature of the blockbuster mentality of the entertainment business that a film that has grossed $500 million worldwide has garnered so little attention. But the latest...
Nick’s 2006 Kid’s Choice No April Fool
April 03, 2006 – In an era of just way, way, way too many award shows, Nickelodeon’s Kid’s Choice show continues to amaze in scope and the sheer number of A-listers that show up, willing to be doused with goo.
...
V for Vendetta, G for Great Gazoo
March 17, 2006 – This weekend’s new film releases offer variety as much as anything else. First of all, the infamous Wachowski Brothers (The Matrix franchise) are offering up their ultimate antidote to last ...
Viz Media Named Manga Master Licensor
March 17, 2006 – VIZ Media, LLC a leading publishing, animation and licensing company has secured TV, home video and merchandizing rights to Shonen Jump’s Bleach from TV TOKYO Corporation and Shueisha Inc. T...
HD-DVD Titles Not Arriving Until Mid-April
March 17, 2006 – Hard on the heels of Sony’s announcement that it’s delaying release of it PlayStation 3, Toshiba has announced that when it ships its new HD-DVD players this month there won’t be any software for t...
After Delay, Sony Ups PSP Features, Downs Price
March 17, 2006 – A day after Sony rocked the geek world with its PS3 delay, the company is promising a whole host of upgrades to its PSP line and a price drop.
PSP users will soon be able to watch televi...
Comedy Central Pulls South Park Seg
March 17, 2006 – If you thought that free speech was alive and well in America, think again. It’s not just the FCC that’s trying to have its unelected five-person committee decide for 295 million Americans what con...
Cartoon Network Grabs Marvel-ous 4
March 16, 2006 – These days, whether a company is selling coffee, cars or animated TV shows, it’s all about doing what must be done to keep the brand in front of consumers. Even with its legacy of almost iconic cha...
Microsoft Enters Kidvid Game with 4Kids
March 16, 2006 – Two things: The game wars continue on all-fronts and it’s never too early to get the kids ramped up about their Christmas 2006 lists.
Microsoft Game Studios and 4Kids Entertainment are introdu...
Brit Software Company Rules at Brummy Kudo-fest
March 16, 2006 – While the concept of cartoons as educational took a beating a few years when a U.S. broadcaster tried to sell the Jetsons as a pedagogic look into the future, some programs really can teach....
Fox Among the Dogs in Graphic Deal
March 16, 2006 – Fox Television Studios has signed a development deal with Spacedog to create projects based on three graphic novels. In a move right out of the book of synergy, plans call for the books to be publi...
Rocket Blasts Off Pre-MIP
March 15, 2006 – Taffy Entertainment, the distribution company for both Mike Young Productions and MoonScoop, has secured pre-market deals for the new MYP show I Got A Rocket!, debuting at this year's MIPTV....
French, Vancouverites Team Up For Scholarship
March 15, 2006 – The Vancouver Film School and French ani ecolé Supinfocom are melding their cultures, methodologies and resources to offer top 3D animation students the opportunity for international training. Both...
Over the Hedge Bows at Sprockets
March 15, 2006 – The ninth annual Sprockets Toronto International Film Festival for Children has announced a slate of films, including some high-profile animated titles.
In its Special Presentation category, for e...
ShoWest Sneaks M:I-3, Fetes Big CGI
March 15, 2006 – ShoWest, the big annual Vegas blowfest for the folk that charge you ten bucks to see a movie and then hit you with big-screen ads, wowed exhibitors from Boston to the Boondocks yesterday with a lit...
The Russians Are Coming? They’re Already Here
March 15, 2006 – Hold on to your games, boys, the Russians are here. According to a report in today’s trades, Russia’s largest game developer, Nival Interactive, has picked Los Angeles for its new worldwide headqua...
South Park Chef Quits Day Job
March 14, 2006 – Okay, right now, all over the world, headline, copy and joke writers are trying to come up with the best pun/joke/play on words to describe Scientologist actor Isaac Hayes of Shaft fame quit...
Bird to Tame New Disney Mouse
March 14, 2006 – Immediately taking and advantage of the riches the Pixar/Disney marriage promises, the Walt Disney Co. has announced that Pixar star director Brad Bird (The Incredibles) has been tapped to d...
Globo Makes Atomic Breakthrough
March 14, 2006 – Breakthrough Entertainment has secured a major broadcast deal with TV Globo to air the first and second seasons of the animated worldwide-hit series Atomic Betty in Brazil. Breakthrough secu...
Early Christmas For Korean Ani Industry
March 14, 2006 – The burgeoning animation industry of South Korea has one more notch in its belt today. Daily Variety is reporting that South Korea's Sieundesign has signed a potentially $10 million deal wit...
Fantasy Followers Drawn to L.A.’s Wizard World
March 14, 2006 – Once the province of young children, the comic book world continues its phenomenal growth in the adult demographic. Case in point: This St. Patrick’s Day in Los Angeles, Wizard World rolls out the ...
British Animators Feel the Love for
Tim Burton's Corpse Bride
March 13, 2006 – The British Animation Awards were handed out late last week. And as many artists have proven though the centuries, creativity trumped politics. Although Americans have never been less popular in Eu...
Mirage Studio Pro On Sale Today
March 13, 2006 – Mirage Studio Pro, the latest addition to the Mirage 2D animation product line, is officially on the market as of tomorrow morning.
The new software integrates both the Bauhaus Animator’...
Argentina’s RedLojo Gets Animated
March 13, 2006 – Veteran Argentinian film and TV producer Jorge Rodriguez, is goosing up his company’s recent entry into the animation business. Rodriguez is head of Buenos Aires-based RedLojo Entertainment. Known ...
Cartoon Network Wants More Child’s Play
March 13, 2006 – Following the advice of leading educators and months of research to survey the opinions of teachers and parents, Cartoon Network has formed a partnership with the National PTA and additional educat...
Can U Pic’s Doom, Fox’s Hitman Succeed Where Others Have Failed?
October 21, 2005 – When it comes to video games transmogrifying into feature films, the B-school logic of the MBA studio marketing teams isn’t hard to figure out (think of a boardroom filled with Apprentice winn...
Fanning Gathering Rosebuds While She’s Young
October 21, 2005 – Whether young Dakota Fanning will be able to make an Elizabeth Taylor-like transition from child star to grown up actor remains to be seen.
Whatever the future holds, her current career as awar...
Sony Electronics Keeping It Reel Debuts 4K Projector
October 21, 2005 – After years of bickering over whom will foot the bill for it, the Holy Grail of digital cinema seems to be coming closer to reality. The major studios and the big exhibition chains know that they&#...
Sci-Fi Channel Grabs Ring Saga
October 21, 2005 – The Sci-Fi Channel has acquired the rights to Ring of the Nibelungs. The hit fantasy-adventure miniseries from Tandem Communications was Germany's most successful TV movie of 2004.
Loosel...
You’ve Got A Deal: Mouse House/AOL Sign Narnia Pact
October 21, 2005 – The Walt Disney Studios and AOL have announced an exclusive content partnership through which AOL web sites will offer movie fans a first look at photos, artwork, behind-the-scenes video and extend...
The Rock Opens Wide This Weekend
October 20, 2005 – The Rock is back. Did you miss him?
Universal Picture’s sci-fi thriller Doom opens wide this weekend in North America. The film is helmed by cinematographer-turned-director Andrzej B...
If You Can’t Lick ‘Em, Have Them Join You
October 20, 2005 – A Norwegian hacker hero has been hired by a San Diego, California-based digital music service.
The Associated Press is reporting that Jon Lech Johansen a.k.a "DVD Jon" began work this...
Blu-ray Gains More Traction Over HD DVD
October 20, 2005 – The major trades are reporting today that Warner Bros. has come over to Sony’s Blu-ray platform.
For reasons known only to God, the industry still seems to have a hard time remembering the...
Lagoon Creature To Make Comeback With Eisner Scion
October 20, 2005 – Michael Eisner is out of work, but son Breck is going from strength to strength.
Eisner is now set to direct a re-make of Universal’s Creature From the Black Lagoon with Gary Ross pr...
SpongeBob Juggernaut Rolls On.
October 19, 2005 – Few people, a lot of Nickelodeon execs among them, ever thought a cartoon about an angry, sea-bottom dwelling sponge would become the mega-hit it has become–on TV, in film and in licensed cons...
Spike TV Surprise Winner in Star Wars Bidding Wars
October 19, 2005 – And the winner is…Spike TV?
Yup. Daily Variety is reporting that niche cabler Spike TV has successfully bid between $65 and $70 million in a six-year deal for the cable rights to all six of...
Conan Voice Cast Set
October 19, 2005 – First there was Arnold. Now there’s Ron.
Actor Ron Perlman has been signed to voice the character Conan of Cimmeria for Swordplay Entertainment's upcoming animated feature Conan: Red Nai...
Frank Zappa Progeny Scores With Mouse House
October 19, 2005 – Chalk up another example of the law of unintended consequences. Ahmet Zappa started out writing a gimmick cook book, which his publisher asked him to turn into a novel (perhaps sensing a Harry Pott...
Batman Broods, Castle Opens Wider This Weekend
June 17, 2005 – When Brunei, Guadeloupe, Martinique and Luxembourg are among your opening week territories you know it’s a wide release. In fact, the opening of Batman Begins is the widest release in t...
Legendary Disney Toonman Gets One More Bow
June 17, 2005 – Probably no one will dispute that Joe Grant lived a full life. One of Walt Disney’s original animation artists, Grant passed away a month ago at 96.
Later this month, Grant’s family, friends and...
Legendary Disney Toonman Gets One More Bow
June 17, 2005 – Probably no one will dispute that Joe Grant lived a full life. One of Walt Disney’s original animation artists, Grant passed away a month ago at 96.
Later this month, Grant’s family, f...
Joester Loria Takes On Peppa Pig
June 17, 2005 – Licensing and marketing gurus Debra Joester and Joanne Loria have been retained by UK-based Contender Entertainment Group to represent its award-winning pre-school property Peppa Pig. ...
Polar Set For Happy Thanksgiving
June 17, 2005 – It’s not even summer yet, but execs at the major studios already have visions of sugar plumbs dancing in their heads. Or at least, killer DVD sales figures.
Late yesterday, Warner Home Vide...
Phreex Next for Shrek, Valiant Producer
June 16, 2005 – One of the most successful animation producers in recent years, John H. Williams (Shrek, Valiant), has announced his next project: Phreex, an animated feature, revolves around a group...
Palisades Toys Busts a Move On Comic-Con ’05
June 16, 2005 – Maryland-based Palisades Toys has officially announced its 2005 San Diego Comic-Con International exclusives. They are–the Aqua Teen Hunger Force mini 4-pack (including the Quad Laser);...
Uh Oh. Jakks Adds Yu-Gi-Oh
June 16, 2005 – JAKKS Pacific, Inc. has signed a licensing agreement with 4Kids Entertainment Inc. to develop and market Plug It In & Play TV Games products based on the ever-popular Yu-Gi-Oh! se...
Lucas Memo to TV Execs: Show Me Your Money
June 16, 2005 – The six-film series may be history now, but the revenue will continue to flow for years to come. Yesterday, came word from the George Lucas camp that, if the price is right, you too can have TV rig...
Post-Pixar Disney Unveils Ani Plans
June 16, 2005 – Against the backdrop of swirling rumors that Pixar might come back to the Disney fold now that Michael Eisner is retiring, Walt Disney Feature Animation publicly unveiled its next five animated pro...
Batman Begins, Finally!
June 15, 2005 – Hey, have you heard? A little film called Batman Begins opens today. And you might want to check it out. After, shall we say, some lackluster interregnum years following Tim Burton’s br...
Eleven Centuries Later, Beowulf Still Kickin’ It.
June 15, 2005 – If only the descendants of the guy who wrote the Old English poem Beowulf in the 11th Century had a contract for all-rights for the rest of eternity. Because then, with a great agent on boar...
Dick Tracy, Brenda Starr in Classic Tribune Pact
June 15, 2005 – Tribune Media Services is entering into a co-venture with the New York-based entertainment company Classic Media. According to a report in Daily Variety, the terms of the pact will see Class...
An Afterlife for Firefly
June 15, 2005 – Joss Whedon’s cancelled Fox series Firefly just won’t give up.
Jettisoned over two-and-a-half years ago after only 11 episodes, the Sci Fi Channel has bought the exclusive cable righ...
Discovery Kids Toons Nab Humanitas Noms
June 15, 2005 – Three top preschool animated shows have made the cut as finalists for the 2005 Humanitas Prize. Running in the animation category of the prestigious honor are PBS’s Jakers! The Adventures o...
NEC Selects New Tech For Express Workstation
June 15, 2005 – Good news for Wildcat Realizm 800 graphics technology. 3Dlabs Inc.,
Ltd., a leading innovator in professional visual processing, has just announced that Realizm has been selected by NEC to b...
Tarzan Swings (Again) While Fairly OddParents Sing
June 14, 2005 – Three new animated DVD and VHS packages hit the stores and online vendors today.
Tarzan II, the direct-to-video prequel of Disney’s very successful Tarzan feature, is ready...
Robots Gets Game On, Release DVD Day-And-Date
June 14, 2005 – Reflecting the new reality of the growing importance of the after-legit release market, Fox will unveil its DVD of Robots on the same day as its related Sony PlayStation Game.
Robots
Nick Back in Germany Sans SpongeBob SquarePants
June 14, 2005 – A chastened Nickleodeon, which launched and flamed out in Germany in three years in the mid 1990s, is coming back to Germany for one more try. And it’ll have to do it, at least for now, without its...
Electronic Arts. Can They Get Any Bigger?
June 14, 2005 – Well, yes. Word on Wall Street is that game giant EA is close to acquiring Ubisoft Entertainment SA of France.
Shares of Electronic Arts rose $4.50 on Monday to close at $58 on volume of 11.4 m...
Bergeron: We’ll Always Have Burbank.
June 14, 2005 – After spending eight years at DreamWorks, where he made The Road To Eldorado and SharkTale, Eric Bibo Bergeron is returning to France to produce and direct his latest projects.
Th...
Madagascar, Miyazaki Keep Up with Brangelina
June 13, 2005 – Now that the Brad Pitt/Angelina Jolie bondage and discipline tent-pole flick has opened and given them a personal best (an estimated $51.1 million stateside over the weekend), perhaps the entertain...
Nintendo, DreamWorks Form Vid Pact.
June 13, 2005 – After the DVD revolution took even the hype-est of studio hypers by surprise in the late 1990s, no one wants to be accused of leaving any stone unturned. There’s just too much revenue at stake...
Nokia Adds More Devices To Mobile TV Race
June 13, 2005 – Until recently, it was all about the bandwidth. Or lack of it. TV on your cell phone really wasn’t possible, unless you could live with two frames per-second. That’s quickly changing as c...
BOXX Ships More Powerful Workstations
June 13, 2005 – BOXX Technologies announced that it is ready to ship its 7400 Series of high-performance workstations, featuring Dual-Core AMD Opteron processors. Dual-Core AMD64 technology is a natural extension ...
Star Wars Master Receives AFI Award
June 13, 2005 – Thousands of guests filled the Kodak Theatre in Los Angeles on Friday for the 33rd American Film Institute Life Achievement Award. This time to honor George Lucas.
Next to Oscar’s li...
X-Box in HD? Gnarly. Sick. Primo
March 10, 2005 – Put down that console. Log-off. Big doings at the Game Developers Conference in San Francisco yesterday. The big Magilla, Microsoft Corp. announced the first details of its next-generation Xbox
Awards Season Not Over Yet
March 10, 2005 – Proving that awards season has become a 24/7/365 proposition, the International Game Developers Association (IGDA) yesterday announced the recipients of the 5th annual Game Developers Choice Awards...
Bambi Big. Phoenix Rises. SpongeBob Floats
March 10, 2005 – Can the apocalypse be far behind? In the same week that Vin Diesel established himself as a comedy star (The Pacifier) and Dan Rather told us, once again, to have "courage," a 63-y...
Fox Woos, Wins Who-Hearing Horton
March 10, 2005 – After enduring the savaging of her late husband’s beloved Cat In The Hat at the hands of a mugging Mike Myers, Audrey Geisel has sold 20th Century Fox Animation and Blue Sky Studi...
RealArcade, GameHouse 250 Million Downloads. But Who’s Counting?
March 10, 2005 – RealNetworks says that its RealArcade service and GameHouse Studios surpassed more than 250 million casual game downloads. The company also said that the number of games downloaded each week has so...
Robots Rolls Friday. Opens Wide
March 10, 2005 – In case you haven’t been driving in the past two weeks (and missed the billboards), or gone to the movies (and missed the ubiquitous trailers) or had a broken TV (and missed the wall-to-wall ad cam...
UPDATED:
Half-Life 2 Named Developers' Choice
March 10, 2005 – Microsoft's hit Half-Life 2 from Valve Software took top honors at the fifth annual Game Developers Choice Awards, a highlight of the Game Developers Conference (GDC) in San Francisco, Calif...
Disney 2D Vet Vance Gerry Dead at 75
March 09, 2005 – Vance Gerry, a veteran Disney animation story developer, layout artist, and visual development artist since 1955, passed away Saturday, March 5th in Pasadena, California, of complications from canc...
Live-Action Diesel Gets Animated
March 09, 2005 – Having conquered the action-pic genre and, more surprisingly, kiddie comedy (The Pacifier), basso-voiced thesp Vin Diesel is about to get into the animation business.
The actor’s ...
Vinton Snags Pixar Exec
March 09, 2005 – An eight-year veteran of the Pixar hit machine, Jorgen Klubien, has been named director of story for feature film at Vinton Studios. Among other things, Klubien wrote and illustrated the original c...
Sinbad Launches New Voyage with Neo, XXX Helmer
March 09, 2005 – With Keanu Reeves starring and action director Rob Cohen at the helm, Columbia Pics is launching The 8th Voyage of Sinbad.
This, of course, is not the first voyage for the titular hero. S...
Rich Cats, Singing Pets, Family Spies Added to 05-06 Nick Sked
March 09, 2005 – In addition to a new live-action series from the mind of Whoopi Goldberg, Nickleodeon is adding five toon new series to its 2005-2006 fall line-up.
The new slate includes a series featuring some...
Anark Gameface Debuts New Tools at GDC
March 09, 2005 – Amongst the frenzied activity at the 2005 chapter of the Game Developers Conference in San Francisco, Anark Gameface is announcing the official release of the Anark Gameface bundle, the first compl...
With Pixar Gone, How Will Eisner Fare?
January 30, 2004 – When Disney shareholders get together on March 3, Michael Eisner and his team could be in for a bumpy ride. Now that Pixar has all but said good-bye, the case that Eisner critics have been making f...
Hitchhiker’s Guide Finally Lands Film Deal
January 30, 2004 – With hip-hop artist/actor Mos Def and Gen-Y darling Zooey Deschanel on-board, the cult fave The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy is finally making it to the big screen.
Co-produced b...
Not Another Oscars, Annual Annies Set for 31st Frame
January 30, 2004 – A few weeks before the big one at the Kodak Theater, the International Animated Film Society will present its picks for the best in TV and film animation of 2003.
Hosted by Emmy- and Ann...
Imax Dives in with Coral Reef Adventure
January 30, 2004 – If you’ve had enough of animated fish, no matter how brilliantly rendered, MacGillivray Freeman Films’ latest Imax offering Coral Reef Adventure may be just the ticket. In regional...
Geek Dream Date Set For Tech Oscar Show
January 30, 2004 – Ouch, dude. Jennifer Garner, the Alias hotty-of-hotties, has been confirmed as the presenter of this year’s Academy Award scientific and technical awards.
The non-broadcast event tak...
Massa Helms New Argentine Toon
January 30, 2004 – The director best known for the 2001 international kid’s hit Chiquititas, is now fully engaged filming the animated epic Patoruzito.
The Buenos Aires-based Patagonik Film Grou...
Marvel, Sony Take the Gloves Off, Again
January 30, 2004 – There is, as the joke goes, two kinds of accounting. The real kind and Hollywood’s. As long as the sun shines on the planet, creatives and studios will argue about what the real gross was and ...
Shrek 2 Makes Cannes See Green
January 29, 2004 – Talk about a classy start to what should be a big-budget bang at this summer’s box office.
DreamWorks has announced that the much-anticipated Shrek 2 has been selected for the main compet...
Sci Fi Greenlights Prehistoric Pilot
January 29, 2004 – Sci Fi Channel has eyes on all things Jurassic . After over three years in development, the niche cabler has given the greenlight to Anonymous Rex, a two-hour back door pilot based on the bo...
BAM! To Publish Bujingai for PS2
January 29, 2004 – BAM! Entertainment will soon be publishing Bujingai:The Forsaken City for PlayStation 2, under a license from Japan-based Taito Corporation. The exact release date for May 2004 has yet to be...
Norrath Ships in Time For Valentines Day
January 29, 2004 – Sony Online Entertainment’s PS2 version of Champions of Norrath will ship to U.S. and Canadian retail stores on Feb. 11, 2004.
"With five playable characters, randomly generated dung...
Vegas Ani Org Seeks Submissions for New Fest
January 29, 2004 – Las Vegas based Comic-Con, in association with cartoonmogul.com, is gearing up to host the inaugural The Big Cartoon Exhibition 2004 in late October. The non-competitive fest is designed to ...
NVIDIA Unveils New 2D Graphics Board
January 29, 2004 – Ever on the lookout for the next big thing graphically speaking, NVIDIA Corp. is bringing a new 2D solution to the pro marketplace. The new NVIDIA Quadro NVS 280 PCI, is a professional 2D graphics ...
If Disney Wins, What Will He Say?
January 28, 2004 – In the annals of Oscar acceptance speeches, Roy E. Disney’s could be a doozy.
Now that his ani short Destino has been nominated for an Oscar, it’s interesting to speculate about...
Gallic Auteur Signs Deal with Disney
January 28, 2004 – Perhaps taking his inspiration from reality TV, Gallic actor-director-producer Alain Chabat has signed a six-figure deal with the Walt Disney Co. to produce a romantic comedy that’s part Av...
In Acquiring Mood, IDT Nabs Archie and Friends
January 28, 2004 – A month after buying a controlling share of Canadian-based ani house Mainframe Entertainment, IDT Entertainment has announced that it has added a stake in Archie Comics to its portfolio.
With a...
Electronic Arts Achieves Record, Then Gets Punched by Stock Geeks
January 28, 2004 – As a sign that vid game giant Electronic Arts is a major player in investor’s minds, Wall Street punished the company’s stock price yesterday even as EA announced record results.
For i...
Acclaim Signs on with Avalon
January 28, 2004 – Acclaim Entertainment Ltd. has signed a distribution agreement with Avalon Interactive for the upcoming release of Baldur's Gate: Dark Alliance II in the U.K., France, Benelux and Germany.
...
Barbarian Makes Solid Invasion in Debut
January 27, 2004 – The latest offering from the Disney Channel, a toon about an effete but tough caveman has had a solid debut in its first outings, winning its time period versus all basic cable programming for kid...
Alice, Python, Critic, Trek and Others Feed DVD Week’s Fix
January 27, 2004 – Classic sci-fi, children’s tales and comedy are among the riches filling DVD racks this week.
First up, Disney’s 1951 ani classic Alice in Wonderland. The two-disc release featu...
Game-Maker Gets Real With Web Streamer
January 27, 2004 – RealNetworks Inc. is entering into a definitive agreement to acquire Seattle-based GameHouse, Inc. a top developer, publisher and distributor of downloadable PC games, it was announced late yesterd...
Infinium Gains News Head Honcho
January 27, 2004 – A leading on-demand game company, Infinium Labs, has hired a new president/CEO to gin up its efforts to grab a bigger piece of the action in the burgeoning $30 billion vid game industry.
Accordi...
King Golden, Oscars to Follow?
January 26, 2004 – If past is prologue, particularly in Hollywood’s award-season 2004, then Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King is headed for a golden February.
Whether it’s a real co-relati...
Critics? What Critics, Dude?
January 26, 2004 – The ubiquitous Ashton Kutcher proved this weekend that he is, for the meantime, critic-proof. While his first "serious" film, The Butterfly Effect, got some horrible reviews it wen...
Roger Rabbit Suit Back in Play
January 26, 2004 – Here’s a movie you probably thought wouldn’t be making headlines in 2004.
But litigation surrounding the 1988 mega-hit Who Framed Roger Rabbit has been given new life. A Califor...
Johnny Bravo Goes Hollywood
January 26, 2004 – Talk about checking your ego at the door. Alec Baldwin, Jessica Biehl and Don Knotts, an unlikely combo if ever there was one, are about to play second-fiddle to a TV cartoon star. All three are vo...
Game Creator to Become Latest Trilogy King
January 26, 2004 – A new vid game version of The Wizard of Oz from noted artist and twisted toy maker American McGee should be coming to the big screen soon. McGee tells Animation Magazine Online that J...
Power Rangers Go Back to Jurassic Age
January 26, 2004 – The ever-morphing Power Rangers are going to spend their 12th season fighting the forces of evil back in the time of dinosaurs. For every one of its season, Rangers has changed locale...
Shrek Hungry for Trilogy Status
January 23, 2004 – Move over Lord of The Rings, a green ogre’s coming through. A few months before the much-anticipated Shrek 2 is due to hit theaters and have a crack at Finding Nemo’s...
Nemo Sets Yet Another High-Water Mark
January 23, 2004 – Soon the bad newspaper and TV news puns about swimming, water and fishes will abate when Disney/Pixar’s mega-hit Finding Nemo finally ends its theatrical run and award season 2004 close...
Butterfly FX Join Animated Fare at Box Office
January 23, 2004 – Mid-January 2004 continues in the tradition of most Januarys in the film biz. (Not much going on, waiting for the Oscars to happen). While Disney’s Teacher’s Pet and Satoshi Kon...
Mad Mag Illustrator Woodbridge Dies at 73
January 23, 2004 – One of Mad Magazine’s leading illustrators has died. George Woodbridge–whose detailed drawings helped introduce million of teens to satire beginning in the mid-1950s–was 73.
...
Disney’s Dave the Barbarian out of the Cave Tonight
January 23, 2004 – When it’s not dominating the worldwide box office with its animated films, the Walt Disney Co.’s TV animation divisions continue to produce a steady stream of strong product. Case in poin...
Comic Book Nerd Nirvana Comes to Long Beach, Calif.
January 23, 2004 – Emerging from their winter hibernation, comic book fans from around the world will be homing in on Los Angeles County’s south beach city of Long Beach in late March for a three-day confab.
...
Coming Soon: More Pics Based on Vid Games
January 22, 2004 – Film producers are constantly searching for films that will appeal to teenage boys who are more than happy to pay to see the same film over-and-over again. So it's not a big surprise that more movi...
Mouse, Pooh Kin Lose Appeal in Rights Fight
January 22, 2004 – The long-running saga of the Winnie-the-Pooh rights-fight won’t soon be over, but it has closed at least one chapter. Perhaps.
In the latest development, the Pooh rights holde...
Catz Shark Gives New USB Option to Gamers
January 22, 2004 – Canuck-based Mad Catz Interactive is launching the SharkBoard from GameShark. The much-anticipated release offers gamers a full-size, fully functional USB keyboard for easier play.
A comp...
Cartoon Net, NBA Stars Team for B-Ball Slam
January 22, 2004 – Shaq may be hobbled from real play right now, but that doesn’t mean he can’t have any fun.
He and other NBA stars such as Steve Francis, Jason Kidd and wunderkind LeBron James will be ...
Yantis to Meld into IEG
January 22, 2004 – Internet Gaming Entertainment, a worldwide leader in the market for buying and selling virtual property used in multiplayer online games, announced today that it has agreed to acquire substantially...
Sony Games Has Big Year
January 21, 2004 – One of the reasons the travel industry had such a tough time last year might have been all those computer games consumers were buying. Who can leave home with all that new technology to play with?
...
NATPE 2004 Generates New Ani Buzz
January 21, 2004 – Among the developments at the Las Vegas-HQ’d NATPE yesterday, Calif.-based Cybergraphix Animation announced a trio of new kids series that it plans to co-produce with its animation partners in Indi...
Sprint Comics Going Mobile, In Living Color
January 21, 2004 – One more reason for people to stare at their mobile phones in public has come on-line today as mobile phone giant Sprint says it’s bringing the funnies to cell phones nationwide.
Through th...
Simpsons Score Tallied by ESPN
January 21, 2004 – They’ve starred in a TV series for 15 years, recorded two albums and horrified conservative parents groups since they first went on the air in the late 1980s. Now they’re getting their props from E...
Pixar Posts New Short, Hints at What’s to Come
January 21, 2004 – It all began with a short, so anytime the animators at Pixar Animation come up with a new one, the production community pays a lot of attention.
Now getting a sneak peak on Pixar’s website ...
Marvel Studios Gets New Chief, New Brief
January 20, 2004 – Looking to control its own destiny in an entertainment business continually hungering for the next franchise, Marvel Studios has named David Maisel as its new president and COO.
Fresh from his f...
WGA: Homer’s Still Got It
January 20, 2004 – It began as a tentative 13-episode pick-up in the late 1980s when the Fox network was a borderline joke and the notion of a primetime animated series was scoffed at by execs at the big three as a n...
Manga Sees Starz in New Deal
January 20, 2004 – Japanese animation distributor Manga Entertainment has just entered into an agreement with Starz for thirteen of Manga’s anime films. The films will be featured on Starz’s Action Channel.
Among ...
Pokémon Heroes, Stargate Warp to Home Vid
January 20, 2004 – Among the many DVD releases coming to a video store near you this week are the fifth chapter in a successful kids’ anime franchise and the fifth season of a hit sci-fi TV series. Poké...
Video Game Games Put Prize Money Online
January 20, 2004 – Thirty-year old gamer geeks still living at home now have the perfect rejoinder when Mom wants them to stop playing on the computer: "I can make money at this!"
Thousands of dollars of prize mon...
Teacher’s Pet Weak, Godfathers Anime anemic
January 19, 2004 – While Return of the King continued its mind-blowing box office romp and Ben Stiller’s latest farce survived critical barbs to be number one, this weekend’s animated fare had a roug...
Lord Award Juggernaut Rolls On
January 19, 2004 – If there’s such a thing as the big ‘mo in the Oscar race, Lord of the Rings certainly seems to have it. The latest kudo comes from the Producers Guild of America which named The...
DIC, UAV Drag Heathcliff out on DVD
January 19, 2004 – Fans of the sarcastic cat Heathcliff, fear not. DVD iterations of classic episodes of the 1970’s cartoon creation are on the way as part of a new deal just signed between UAV Corp. and DIC Ent...
NVIDIA Lends Helping Hand to NASA
January 19, 2004 – The company whose graphics cards power many of the world’s PCs and Macs is now on the Martian surface. Sort of.
NVIDIA Corp. has announced that NASA is using its technology to transform dat...
Pet Gets Leg Up on Godfathers
January 16, 2004 – In an ironic end to a tumultuous week that saw the Walt Disney Co. all but abandon 2D animation, the studio’s 2D-animated feature Teacher’s Pet goes into wide release today on 2,000-plu...
Popular Cloth F/X Package Re-named, Re-worked
January 16, 2004 – Turbo Squid is releasing an updated version of the popular cloth f/x plug-in Stitch under the new moniker clothfx.
The new package provides users with a multitude of advanced tools...
Game Developers 2004 Confab To See Doom, Matrix
January 16, 2004 – The 18th annual Game Developers Conference has named the creator of Doom, the Matrix films’ visual effects supervisor and The Lord of the Rings game developer as its 2004 ...
Marvel Spins Vid Game Group
January 16, 2004 – Following its huge success with the Spider-Man video game, comic empire Marvel Enterprises is forming its own stand-alone video game group. While many content providers once just licensed th...
Matrix Revolves on VES Nom List
January 15, 2004 – Last month, The Matrix Revolutions failed to appear on the Academy Awards Visual Effects branch shortlist, but the movie's impressive visual effects have not gone unnoticed by the Visual Eff...
Warner Bros. Got Game
January 15, 2004 – In the better-late-than-never category, Hollywood studios seem to be finally waking up and smelling the profits when it comes to video games. For over five years now, revenues from games have surpa...
Apple Unveils New Digi Sound Tech at NAMM
January 15, 2004 – It’s not just Moby who can produce winning beats from his Manhattan apartment. In search of the perfect (and low-cost) score, more and more one-man bands are looking to off-the-shelf software ...
DigiCel Debuts New Iteration of FlipBook
January 15, 2004 – FlipBook, a low-cost animation solution that has a lot of high-end users, has just gotten better. DigiCel Inc. has released FlipBook 4.0 promising more speed, power, ease-of-use and affordability. ...
House of Weinstein Adds Toons to DVD Wing
January 14, 2004 – In a move sure to continue the Weinstein Bros. building of a studio within a studio, Miramax Home Entertainment has announced the acquisition of a new CG animated film from Tundra Prods. and Colorl...
Pixar Honcho Gets Early Award-Season Prize
January 14, 2004 – The man the Walt Disney Co. definitely doesn’t want to let get away is reportedly kicking off what could be a very rewarding award season with a kudo from the Art Director’s Guild.
Pix...
Can You Play Me Now? More Vid Games Phone Home
January 14, 2004 – Adding to the growing list of entertainment producers climbing on the mobile phone bandwagon, Universal Studios has inked a deal with wireless content company Mforma Group. Under the terms of the p...
Sony Game Gets Chatty
January 14, 2004 – Massively multiplayer online gaming just got huger. Sony Online Entertainment has announced that Champions of Norrath will support USB headset voice-chat functionality during online play whe...
Anime Network Extends Reach
January 14, 2004 – The Anime Network, the first channel in the nation dedicated to Japanese anime, is expanding its U.S.-market coverage with the help of Comcast ON DEMAND, the cabler’s video-on-demand service. ...
Roy Disney Reacts to Florida Closure
January 13, 2004 – As the Walt Disney Co. approaches the celebration of the 50th anniversary of Disneyland, the anticipation of the party continues to be overshadowed by an increasingly bitter split betwee...
Danger, Will Robinson! Lost in Space Found on DVD
January 13, 2004 – If you like your sci-fi old school, help is on the way. Adding to the plethora of DVD iterations of old TV product, Fox is releasing Lost in Space today. No, not the egregiously bad 1998 Mat...
Fish Cries Wolf, King Rules
January 13, 2004 – As predicted by execs at New Line and other major studios on Monday, Sony Pictures’ claim on Sunday that Big Fish was the big kahuna at the weekend box office was quickly debunked when ...
Lucy Liu, Jackie Chan Team for Toon
January 13, 2004 – Spicing up its toon hit Jackie Chan Adventures, both Lucy Liu (Charlie’s Angels) and Michael Rosenbaum (Smallville) will be making guest voice appearances on the series...
Phantom Materializes on Web
January 12, 2004 – Infinium Labs Inc. has announced the launch of phantom.net, a new web site for its next-generation Phantom Gaming Service. The feature-rich site offers consumers a preview of what lies in store whe...
Nemo Dethrones King, Disney Fights Current with Pixar Deal
August 25, 2003 – Whatever game face they might be putting on over at the Walt Disney Company this morning, inside there’ll be more than a little concern. True, they’ve topped their own record, but at what cost?
...
Bollywood Animation Industry Gets One More Boost
August 25, 2003 – Though it’s not an earth shattering deal, the animation biz of the Indian sub-continent got a boost over the weekend with a new deal for New Zealand television. New Delhi-based Digikore Studio...
Everquest Package Offers Sunscreen for Gamers
August 25, 2003 – Just in time for the retail-doldrums of late August, Sony Online Entertainment is releasing an all-inclusive package of EverQuest software guaranteed to keep all the game geeks off the beach...
In Post-Modern Post World, Two CG Giants Cooperate
August 25, 2003 – In a post-production world now ruled by low-cost solutions, two formerly high-flying, high-end CG powerhouses and are getting together to boldly go where they never thought they would. Discreet and...
ADV Says "Anime Toys R Us."
August 25, 2003 – The company that likes all things Anime has formally announced that it is opening a new division to conquer the multi-billion dollar international toy business.
First mentioned at this summer...
Rings Trilogy to Lord Over December
August 22, 2003 – Look for a serious decline in worker productivity among the J.R.R. Tolkien set this December. According to the marketing plans of New Line Cinema, Lord of the Rings films are going to be wal...
Geek to Chic. New Book on Rise of the Gamer
August 22, 2003 – Even if you’ve been a participant in the phenomenon, you might want to check out (or buy) a new legerdemainic book on the history of the video game from two of the industry’s long-time ob...
Toon Experts to Peer Into Future in NYC
August 22, 2003 – In the leaving-no-stone-unturned category, a group of animation experts are scheduled to converge on Gotham in September to take a deep look at the future of animation.
The confab is part of the...
Kodak Digi Arm Adds New Exec To Roster
August 22, 2003 – Months after it shuttered its digital EFX operations, Kodak’s Los Angeles branch of subsidiary Cinesite continues to re-invent itself.
Focusing attention on its core business of digital film sca...
Esoteric Fest Trolls For Animators
August 22, 2003 – Machinima, or the art of filmmaking using real-time 3D virtual environments, may sound out there, but the second annual Machinima Film Festival has a very down-to-earth need.
The Academy of Mach...
Moo Series Debuting On Noggin
August 21, 2003 – If you want to know just how internationally-oriented the animation business has become, consider Noggin’s soon-to-debut series Connie The Cow. The series is produced by a Spanish anima...
Berenstain Bears Head Off to Scandinavia
August 21, 2003 – Corus Entertainment’s Nelvana has opened a TV sales pipeline to Europe for Stan and Jan Berenstain’s long-running series featuring the eponymous Berenstain Bears. Nelvana has sold ...
Global League Gets Game On in Cleveland
August 21, 2003 – Following its big Hollywood launch party in mid-August, the Global Gaming League is holding live auditions in Cleveland, Ohio this weekend for gamers looking for a shot at instant celebrity. Winner...
Disney Kin Sells Big Chunk Of Mouse?
August 21, 2003 – On the face of it, it looks like part of the Disney clan is abandoning the ship. Roy Disney, the nephew of the late Walt Disney, has sold 43% of his family’s holdings in the Walt Disney Co. to Cred...
Bauhaus Announces New GFX and EFX Software
August 21, 2003 – Bauhaus Software has announced the launch of its flagship product, Mirage. Described by the company as "a unified environment for creating animated graphics and special effects,"
Spike TV Turns to Spike & Mike for Late Night Bite
August 20, 2003 – Now that Spike Lee’s out of the way, Spike TV is aggressively programming its male-targeted channel, most recently striking a deal with the duo behind the Spike & Mike Sick & Twisted Festival of An...
Sony Online Fills Creative Void
August 20, 2003 – Finally filling a two-year job vacancy, Sony Online Ent. has promoted Raph Koster to the position of chief creative officer. Previously, Koster had been the creative director of Star Wars Galaxi...
X2 DVD Just in Time For The Holidays
August 20, 2003 – It may not be able to match X2: X-Men United’s $404 million in worldwide box office, but Twentieth Century Fox has high hopes for the X2 DVD release nonetheless. Just as the box ...
Nokia SEGA Techno Transfer is a Snap
August 20, 2003 – In a move intended to solidify Nokia’s presence in the game world, the phone giant is acquiring assets of Sega.com Inc., a subsidiary of SEGA. The integration of Sega.com's multi-player techno...
New PC Gateway for Game Players
August 20, 2003 – Looking to put some heat into the slow PC market, Gateway has a new computer specifically juiced-up and aimed at the game-playing market.
Among other things, the Gateway 700X Gaming PC features ...
Voice of The Simpsons' Moe Wins Another Round
August 19, 2003 – Actor Hank Azaria, who started as a stand-up and made the transition to sit-com star and award-winning dramatic actor, has added another other notch to his belt.
The Academy of Television Arts &...
Mouse House, DreamWorks Back Off Box Office Brawl
August 19, 2003 – One way that studio execs get their jollies is to play chicken with release dates of their films. In their version of High Noon, the biz school grads stake out a weekend, sometimes a year in advanc...
Sinbad Hopes to Sail Away from Box Office Losses
August 19, 2003 – With DVD sales often matching or exceeding box office take, Hollywood studios are increasingly looking to revenues from DVD/VHS sales to reach profitability. DreamWorks; execs are certainly hoping ...
Maybe-Governor Arnold's T3 to Be Released on Vet Day
August 19, 2003 – Whether or not Arnold Schwarzenegger becomes the governor of California on October 7, Terminator 3: Rise of the Machines will be released on DVD November 11. Sales of the disc should be hig...
U.K.'s Channel 4 Commits £1.6 Million to Toons
August 19, 2003 – Britian's Channel 4 made a lot of animation industry professionals happy yesterday when it announced a further three-year funding commitment to animation commissioning. A total investment of £1.6 ...
Wireless Game Leaders Head to Austin Confab
August 19, 2003 – Matching the vid game industry’s increasing focus on wireless platforms, this year’s Austin Game Conference is offering a comprehensive side-bar on the subject. The confab’s Mobile T...
Mouse House Teams With Tyro Animators To Score New Hits
August 18, 2003 – Ever on the lookout to find the next Pixar, Disney is teaming with a brand new animation house stocked with recent grads from a top design college to develop hoped-for future hits.
Pasadena-base...
Comics Go Digital
August 18, 2003 – Hoping to reach their existing audience in a whole new way, and capture new fans, comic books are going interactive. So-called interactive digital comics (IDCs) put the traditional comic book on a ...
DVD Sales to Get Boost From Old Fashioned Coupons
August 18, 2003 – They might be called on-line coupons but at the end of the day they're pretty much the same thing your mother clips from the newspaper. Be that as it may, the major film studios are looking to prin...
Cat Girl Unleashed On World By ADV
August 18, 2003 – Adding to the crush of Halloween releases, ADV Films is contributing five late October titles to the DVD kitty.
Among others hitting the streets on October 28 is the release of All-Purpose C...
Hollywood Player Robert Evans Still in the Picture on Comedy Central
August 15, 2003 – Legendary Hollywood producer Robert Evans, who seems to have had almost as many showbiz lives as Madonna, can add one more chapter to his wild career.
Comedy Central has announced that it is pro...
Cartoon Network Promoting Truancy?
August 15, 2003 – With tongue firmly in cheek, Cartoon Network is urging its young viewers to skip a day of school in September. On Labor Day.
Don’t Go back to School Day will feature CN fare highligh...
Digimation Sees Forest for the Trees
August 15, 2003 – Bit-by-bit and byte-by-byte, animated 3D photo-reality is getting closer to the real thing all the time. And New Orleans-based Digimation added to the progress toward that goal, announcing the late...
Wizard of Menlo Park Hits Big Screen Again
August 15, 2003 – For the first time since 1940 (when two Thomas Edison-centered movies were produced), the inventor of the light bulb is going to be the hero of a new feature film. In this case, an animated one.
...
O'Brien, Harryhausen Favs Coming to DVD
August 15, 2003 – Three classic films, featuring the work of pre-CGI EFX gurus Willis O’Brien and protége Ray Harryhausen, are being released by Warner Home Video just in time for Halloween. The Beast...
Recent War Sparks War Games
August 15, 2003 – The war in Iraq may still be raging in one form or another, but that hasn’t stopped a video game company from developing a title using footage and scenarios from the latest Gulf conflict.
K...
Producer's Guild Goes Into Effects
August 15, 2003 – The PGA New Media Council will delve into the world of visual effects for the third in a series of informative industry networking events scheduled for Thursday, Aug. 21 at Sony Imageworks in Culve...
Eisner Shows Tykes Wonderful World of Animation
August 15, 2003 – Disney is looking for the next generation of animators in a group of hopefuls that have just graduated from stick figures. Mouse House topper Michael Eisner and six of Disney's top animation pros m...
Windy City is For Tyro Filmmakers, Too
August 14, 2003 – Though it may not have been on the radar as much as its East Coast and West Coast counterparts, Chicago’s iteration of the Independent Film Project has been helping mid-west filmmakers for som...
New Software Takes Jitters Out of Videography
August 14, 2003 – Doing some rotoscoping and want to clean up the shaky camera work in your source video? If your shooting style was so jittery that even your camera’s image stabilization technology didn’t...
Guide to That Big Break Now Available
August 14, 2003 – Wanna get plugged into the game? Or, to be more precise, the game developer world? Just in time, Game Developer's 2003 Game Career Guide is now available at most major newsstands and booksto...
Gamer’s Day in City by the Bay
August 14, 2003 – San Francisco gamers who can’t wait to get their hands on the newest Sony product will get a pre-holiday shot this weekend.
Sony Online Entertainment, a worldwide leader in massively multip...
DIC Launching Kid's Block As FCC Solution
August 13, 2003 – For TV stations around the country that need help meeting FCC requirements for educational content in their kid's programming, Burbank-based DIC Ent. has a solution. Launching September 1, 2003, th...
Processor Giant on Global Search for a Few Good Animators
August 13, 2003 – To highlight the debut of its newest processor technology in late September, chipmaker AMD is on a fast worldwide search for the best non-commercial animated and CGI work it can find.
Eligible p...
Cartoon Net Gets Another Prime Kid's Win
August 13, 2003 – The dog days of summer got off to a good start for Cartoon Network. In the first week of August, the net was in first place in all ad-supported cable in both total day and prime time delivery of ki...
Final Fantasy to Street By Late October
August 13, 2003 – If you can't get enough of Final Fantasy: Unlimited on TV or as a game, there will soon be two DVD versions of the popular anime franchise available for purchase. ADV Films is releasing F...
Ninja Turtles Never Say Die
August 13, 2003 – Proving that it's a franchise still to be reckoned with, The Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles are back with three new titles. 4Kids Entertainment Home Video, Inc., in association with FUNimation, is re...
Casper to Finally Haunt DVD
August 13, 2003 – Parents who've worn out multiple VHS copies of the kid-fav feature Casper have been waiting for this for a long time. The Amblin Ent. title will finally be available on DVD September 23.
...
Rings Trio Makes Big, Hairy Deal
August 12, 2003 – After writing and directing the only trilogy to give the Star Wars franchise a run for its money, the Lord of the Rings’ team of director Peter Jackson and writers Fran Walsh and...
Farscape Fans DVD Fix Getting Nearer
August 12, 2003 – The second season of the Sci Fi channel’s hit series Farscape will be available on DVD four days before Halloween 2003. The set from ADV Films will include all 22 episodes.
Since its...
Chess King Takes On Computer in Gotham
August 12, 2003 – One of the greatest chess players ever, Gary Kasparov, is set to take on a computer rival in New York City for one week in November.
X3D Technologies today announced the ultimate "X3D Man vs. Ma...
Chess King Takes On Computer in Gotham
August 12, 2003 – One of the greatest chess players ever, Gary Kasparov, is set to take on a computer rival in New York City for one week in November.
X3D Technologies today announced the ultimate "X3D Man vs. Ma...
EA to AOL: Pay to Play, Please
August 12, 2003 – In a sign of how far AOL has fallen in the eyes of just about everybody, video game publishing giant Electronic Arts is asking AOL to pay them to keep EA games a part of AOL’s service.
When...
Four Weddings Helmer Wild About Harry
August 11, 2003 – With a billion-dollar franchise to protect, who are you gonna call? In the case of the Harry Potter series, Warner Bros. Pictures has dialed up the director of the most successful British fi...
PC Widescreen Signs On With Nvidia
August 11, 2003 – Looking to steal some thunder from Apple’s popular widescreen PowerBook, computer-maker Hewlett-Packard has chosen to power the graphics on its new 17-inch notebook with a Nvidia graphics card...
Cartoon Network’s Adult Fare Swims To DVD
August 11, 2003 – Looking to continue its ratings and revenue success with adult-targeted content, Cartoon Network is releasing its Adult Swim block on DVD this fall.
CN’s top-rated series, Space G...
Final Fantasy Opens Windows For Gamers
August 11, 2003 – Final Fantasy XI for Windows will begin shipping to North American users just in time for Halloween 2003.
The first online title in the world-renowned series, Fantasy is a cross-pl...
Pixar Profits Hardens Bottom Line, Toughens Disney Talks
August 08, 2003 – Journalists may be running out of fish jokes or aquatic puns but Pixar Animation Studio’s mega-hit Finding Nemo hasn’t run out of steam. In fact, its performance has been so stellar tha...
The Princess Blade Hacks Into Theaters
August 08, 2003 – Fresh from an extended run on the int'l festival circuit, The Princess Blade opens today in New York and Los Angeles, with additional openings in top markets through the month of August. Ani...
DIC Consumer Products Bulks Up Int'l Team
August 08, 2003 – With the worldwide consumer products business now generating nearly $100 billion annually, it’s no wonder that entertainment companies large and small are spending more and more time on efforts to ...
RESFEST Starts Worldwide Travels In September
August 08, 2003 – The seventh annual RESFEST, the darling of the multi-media set, is kicking off its latest tour in San Francisco in mid September, eventually traveling to 15 cities in nine countries.
Among other...
American Cinematheque Celebrates King Kong, Others
August 08, 2003 – If you want to avoid the worst air-quality and summer heat in years in Los Angeles, you might consider heading indoors at the Egyptian Theatre in Hollywood. Home to American Cinematheque, organizer...
Lilo & Stitch Get Game On
August 08, 2003 – When Buena Vista Home Entertainment releases the VHS/DVD version of Stitch The Movie later this month, it’ll do so with a multi-million dollar marketing push leading up to the November ...
Journey Publishing, Digital Video Team Is Academic
August 08, 2003 – Journey Publishing Inc., a subsidiary of Journey Education Marketing Inc., has teamed up with Digital Video, creators of Toonz animation tools, to offer TAB 2.0, a new paperless animation so...
Magix Cuts Price, Complexity of PC Editing
August 07, 2003 – Where only a few years ago digital editing software was well beyond the resources of the average consumer, now consumer-versions of pro packages are not only inexpensive, they’re as good as fr...
Gamers Game For Late-Summer Blighty Binge
August 07, 2003 – On a hot late-summer day, nothing is quite as enervating (or pungent) as the Earl’s Court Road subway station in London. This August, however, there’ll be at least three days when the wes...
Sony Offers Freebees to Qwest DSL Users
August 07, 2003 – Qwest Communications Int'l Inc. and Sony Pictures Digital Networks have forged an agreement to provide some of today's most popular Sony entertainment and gaming services to Qwest customers for fre...
Popular Anime Titles Transition to Print
August 07, 2003 – Put down those joysticks. ADV Manga has announced street dates for the label's first two comic book releases, Full Metal Panic! Mission 01 and Azumanga Daioh Vol. 1. Both titles will ...
NBC Hosts Christmas in August
August 07, 2003 – And you thought Christmas retail displays in October were ridiculous. The annual Toy Test in Seattle running for the rest of the month is sure to get a lot of kids drawing up their Xmas and Hanukah...
Game Giant to Become Big Playa In LA
August 06, 2003 – When the world’s biggest video game maker opens a state-of-the-art studio in Los Angeles that will be the modern day equivalent of what the brothers Warner did in Burbank in the 1930s, you know vid...
Int'l Ani Fest Bigger Than Ever
August 06, 2003 – Fifteen years ago, animation was the backwater of most film school programs. Becoming the next live-action tyro Spielberg, Lucas or Coppola was the name of the game. But not anymore. At least if wh...
Cartoon Network Hot in Chile
August 06, 2003 – Cartoon Network continues to conquer new territories, large and small. The worldwide company is now the highest rated cable network in Chile during prime time among kids 4-11, according to Time IBO...
Dancing Diva Groovin’ to Playstation
August 06, 2003 – A new video game from the mind of Sega game creator Tetsuya Mizuguchi is heading for a North American PlayStation 2 release later this fall.
AGETEC Inc. has announced delivery of Space Channe...
3Com Gigabit Ethernet Technology Goes Hollywood
August 06, 2003 – Just as ever-cheaper storage space and chip-speed made it possible for boutique EFX houses to compete with the big guys in the 1990s, now economical high-speed data transfer technologies are helpin...
Realnetworks Listens In Rhapsody
August 05, 2003 – The company that brought you the software to play video on your home computer is getting into the music business.
RealNetworks Inc. has announced the completion of its acquisition of Listen.com,...
Cartoon Net Redraws Consumer Products Division
August 05, 2003 – As part of its continuing growth as a global presence in the animation world, Cartoon Network is re-organizing the various parts of its consumer products business into one big division.
Headed b...
Hold The Phone, Sony Pics On Line One
August 05, 2003 – While the attraction of watching video on a tiny screen still escapes the logic of many cell phone and mobile device users, entertainment companies are chasing the new platform as if it were the ho...
Big Blue Joins Food Fight With Threshhold
August 05, 2003 – Convergence may have been over-hyped as a consumer concept a few years back, but as a corporate business model in a digital age it’s hotter than ever. TVs still make lousy computers and computers a...
VIA Helps Quakecon Get Game On
August 05, 2003 – Talk about your global economy. Taipei? Dallas? It’s just a click away. Demonstrating continued support for the gaming community, Taiwan-based VIA Technologies Inc. is again a key sponsor of t...
Ben/Jen Can't Beat Ten Week-Old Fish
August 04, 2003 – Proving once again that marketing isn’t a science, all the magazine covers, network interviews, millions of marketing dollars and Nancy O’Dell Access Hollywood "exclusives" couldn&...
Graphics Card Maker on The Make
August 04, 2003 – The competition between computer graphics card makers to be ubiquitous in the PC world has jumped outside the box and into your cell phone. Or it soon will.
Santa Clara-based nVidia Corp. announ...
Kodak Continues Digital Shift
August 04, 2003 –