Multiple Unions Issue Solidarity Statement Ahead of TAG-AMPTP Negotiations
Members urged to attend ‘Stand with Animation’ rally August 10 and support The Animation Guild ahead of next week’s negotiations with Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers.
YES App Introducing ‘HexClad Presents Bronx Buds’ Animated Series
The baseball-centric app featuring NY Yankees and Brooklyn Nets telecasts, content, live stats, play-along games, and watch-party functions launches kids’ animated series that aims to instill a love of baseball and promote team spirit and values; first episode kicks off August 17.
FLAMIN Animations Announces Artist Selections
Award-winning animation studio Blinkink partners with Film London and Arts Council England’s program supporting black-identifying artists within the art, film, and animation; artists receive £3,000 each to create 1–3-minute animations, along with mentoring opportunities, development support, and advice.
Sony’s Bungie Game Studio to Cut 17% of Workforce
Like most recent layoffs, the restructuring has been blamed on the current economic downturn; 12% of employees will be integrated into Sony Interactive to spare additional talent from the axe.
Mark Hamill Joins Cast of ‘The SpongeBob Movie: Search for SquarePants’
Nickelodeon and Paramount Pictures announced the prolific voice actor will play The Flying Dutchman in the upcoming film during the 25th anniversary panel at Comic-Con.
Cloud Computing Is Stifling Creativity in VFX Studios - Here’s How to Fix It
CoreWeave’s Mac Moore shares how more cloud provider choices give studios leverage to negotiate better, more flexible deals that don’t penalize for multi-cloud usage and enable, not inhibit speed, flexibility, and efficiency.
Tech Trio Reveals 4D Facial Performance Capture Service
At SIGGRAPH 2024, Clear Angle Studios, DI4D, and TexturingXYZ announced collaboration on new standard of performance-driven digital human faces; video offers a glimpse into the ‘future of interactive entertainment.’
Hannah Waddingham to Narrate ‘Tiddler’ Animated Christmas Special
The underwater adventure from BBC and Magic Light Pictures about the power of imagination and finding confidence in yourself airs this Christmas on BBC iPlayer and BBC One.
Scholastic Unveils Trailer for ‘Unico: Awakening’ Manga by Gurihiru and Samuel Sattin
The publishing giant’s first manga publication reimagines a beloved story from Osamu Tezuka, releasing in bookstores August 6.
MAKE Originals Shines Light on ‘Alone in the Darkness’ Music Video
South American indie band SIAMÉS animated short for new album ‘Melodramatic’ brings darkness to life in minimalist and stark compositions with hand-drawn 2D animation.
Paramount+ Sets ‘Dora’ Season 2 Premiere
New episodes follow Dora and Boot on grand adventures overcoming obstacles and helping others; new season streams September 13 then heads to Nickelodeon and Nick Jr. September 16.
Disney Jr. Shares ‘Kindergarten: The Musical’ Trailer
The new animated series features big theatrical songs and dance numbers while following 5-year-old Berti and her friends as they encounter their first school experiences; coming to Disney platforms in September.
Autodesk Reveals GenAI Advances at SIGGRAPH 2024
Tech giant showcased new features that boost cloud-enabled workflows focusing on empowering teams and artists to work more efficiently; also teased, new AI capabilities coming to Maya and Flame following company’s acquisition of Wonder Dynamics.
Boomerang Streaming Service to Close, Merge with Max
The Boomerang app and website sunset on September 30, 2024, wherein current subscribers will be moved to the Max ad-free tier at their current price discount for six months.
Adult Swim Reveals Teaser, Release Date of ‘Uzumaki’ Animated Series
The adaptation of Junji Ito’s supernational horror manga will premiere September 28 at 12:30am during the Toonami block, and stream the next day on Max.
Animated ‘Evil Dead’ Project in Development
Franchise star Bruce Campbell explains, ‘We are developing an animated version, like a series, that will center on, innocent people being tortured by a malicious entity, and it’s people who have no skills to stop it.’
A Long Time Coming: ‘Saving Bikini Bottom: The Sandy Cheeks Movie’
For star Carolyn Lawrence, who has voiced the spunky sea-dwelling squirrel since 1999, along with director Liza Johnson and ‘SpongeBob SquarePants’ showrunners Marc Ceccarelli and Vincent Waller, talks over countless years of giving SpongeBob’s spunky friend her own film never bore fruit… until they finally did; debuts August 2 on Netflix.
Game Changer: iClone LIVE LINK and Control Rig for Unreal
Mozambique-based FX Animation Studios owner Nildo Essá discusses how his 2-person team’s feature film production pipeline featuring iClone, Character Creator 4, LIVE LINK and CC Control Rig enables seamless transfer of data to and from Unreal Engine, enabling real-time animation editing, character control, and synchronized camera movements.
Prime Video Releases ‘Mighty Nein’ Animatic Clip
The upcoming adult animated series based on Critical Role’s highly successful second campaign – yes, about a group of criminals and misfits on a quest - has begun production and will stream on Prime Video.
FMX YouTube Channel Launches with 2024 Talks, 2025 Event Dates Set
Save the date - FMX 2025 will run May 6-9, 2025; free content from this year’s conference is now available to stream, kicking off with ‘AI is now at the Gates of VFX and Animation’ panel.
Wonderstorm Launches ‘The Dragon Prince: Xadia’ RPG
Creative team and voice talent celebrated the game launch and Emmy-Award winning ‘The Dragon Prince’ Season 6 premiere at SDCC 2024.
Netflix Teases ‘Sakamoto Days’ Anime Series
Based on the manga by Yuto Suzuki, the action-packed show follows a legendary hitman and the chaos that ensues when he falls in love; streaming worldwide in January 2025.
Netflix Drops Official ‘Terminator Zero’ Trailer
The first anime installment in the popular sci-fi franchise, produced by Skydance Animation and Production I.G Studios, streams August 29.
The Animation Guild Announces Stand with Animation
Ahead of August 12 negotiation kickoff with AMPTP, the union outlines critical issues and invites the animation community to come together and rally support on August 10.
Paramount+ Debuts ‘Star Trek: Lower Decks’ Season 5 Trailer
San Diego Comic-Con fans got a peek at the fifth and final season of the animated series that celebrates the underdog crew that is dangerously close to being promoted out of the lower decks and into strange new Starfleet roles; the 10-episode season kicks off October 24.
