News Bytes: MPC Vancouver Logs Off, ‘Thrones’ Creators Tackling ‘Lovecraft’, New ‘Short Treks’ Blast Off & More

Boy, A Lot of People Searched Pornhub for Animated TV Characters in 2019
We hope you’re all proud of yourselves … Especially whoever was searching for Big Mouth. Not to yuck anyone’s yum but, y’know. We worry.

Studio Ghibli Fest Continues with ‘Princess Kaguya’
Isao Takahata’s Oscar-nominated The Tale of the Princess Kaguya returns to the big screen across the U.S. and Canada through the GKIDS/Fathom Events year-long program. The film will screen in an English dub Monday, Dec. 16 at 7 p.m. local time (starring Chloë Grace Moretz, James Caan, Mary Steenburgen, Darren Criss, Lucy Liu, John Cho and James Marsden), and with English subtitles on Wednesday, Dec. 18 at 7 p.m. local time. The screenings will feature a special introduction from producer Yoshiaki Nishimura.

Nominees for the 70th Annual ACE Eddie Awards
Final ballots open Dec. 16 and close Jan. 6; the awards will be presented by the American Cinema Editors on Jan. 17 at the Beverly Hilton Hotel. The nominees for best edited animated feature film: Frozen 2 (Jeff Draheim, ACE), I Lost My Body (Benjamin Massoubre), Toy Story 4 (Axel Geddes, ACE).

Star Trek Is Returning to Animation in New ‘Short Treks’
Debuting Thursday, December 12 on streamer CBS All Access, the latest round of Star Trek animated shorts consists of The Girl Who Made the Stars, written by Brandon Schultz and directed by series EP Olatunde Osunsanmi (Star Trek Discovery, Falling Skies), and Ephraim and Dot, the tale of a humble tardigrade on a bewildering adventure, written by Chris Silvestri & Anthony Maranville and directed by Oscar-winning composer Michael Giacchino (modern Star Trek film trilogy).

’Game of Thrones’ Duo David Benioff & D.B. Weiss Set HP Lovecraft Thriller Film at Warner Bros.
The duo will helm an adaptation of the graphic novel Lovecraft (Hans Rodionoff, Enrique Breccia & Keith Giffen), which explores the troubled horror writer’s life and mind. Set in the 1920s, the flick will pose the troubling question: What if the monsters Lovecraft wrote about were real? Phil Hay & Matt Manfredi (Aeon Flux) are scripting; Karyn Kusama (dir., The Invitation) will executive produce.

One of Vancouver’s Biggest Players in Film Animation Shutters
Moving Picture Company (MPC), which tackled the critical Sonic the Hedgehog redesign as well as helping bring groundbreaking visual feats to the big screen in The Lion King, Watchmen and Life of Pi (for which it won a VFX Oscar), is closing down its BC shop just weeks before Christmas. CBC News obtained an email sent to staff which cited “increasing external market pressures” in Vancouver; the studio hasn’t responded to requests for comment. MPC Vancouver opened in 2007 and employed more than 800 artists at its height in 2013. The company operates facilities in Montreal, London, Los Angeles and Bangalore.