George Lucas has donated $1.5 million, while Steven Spielberg has donated $500,000 to the USC School of Cinema-Television to help fund the new, yet-to-be-built Robert Zemeckis Center for Digital Arts. The Lucas money will help build a sound stage which will be named for Akira Kurosawa.
SPIDER-MAN TO SWING WITHOUT CAMERON. Whatever expectations were created in 1990 when Stan Lee (Spider-Man's co-creator with Steve Ditko and possibly Jack Kirby) announced that James Cameron would be directing a Spider-Man film, ended for the director of TITANIC and THE TERMINATOR on Monday when THE HOLLYWOOD REPORTER reported that Cameron will not be directing this long dreamed of project. This announcement comes soon after the resolution of legal disputes between most of the involved companies over rights to the Spider-Man character and related properties.
The Learning Channel's program SLICE OF LIFE, which features a day in the life of women in various careers, has profiled independent animator Cynthia Wells. The episode will air on April 5 at 12:30 p.m. (ET), and will repeat on June 2. The SLICE OF LIFE crew filmed a day in the making of SHADOW OF DOUBT, a theatrical short film currently being produced by Wells' The Digital Theater Group. The film stars Wells' Talullah Le Roux character who was in one of her earlier films, INTERVIEW WITH TALULLAH, QUEEN OF THE UNIVERSE.
Hibbert Ralph Entertainment's half hour film "The First Snow of Winter" haswon the award for Best Children's Entertainment given by The RoyalTelevision Society. The film tells the story of a little Irish duck whogets left behind when his friends and family fly south for the winter.Director Graham Ralph accepted the award.
The Chicago International Children's Film Festival is now accepting entiresfor the 16th annual Festival, October 14-24, 1999. The CICFF is the largestcompetitive festival of children's films and videos in North America,programming over 150 of the world's best live action and animated featuresand shorts, created for children ages 6-13. Entries must have a productioncopyright date of 1997 or later, and be dubbed in English. Deadline forsubmission of entry forms and preview tapes on NTSC or PAL cassettes is
Netherlands based Magus Entertainment will hold a press conference andpresent the first episode of their animated TV series, "SimsallaGrimm," atMIP TV 99 on April 12th. MIP TV 99, the International Television ProgrammeMarket, will be held April 12-17 at the Palais des Festivals in Cannes,France. For more information contact the MIP TV Public RelationsDepartment: Margot Gardett - Tel: (33-1) 41 90 45 59 or Keith Daly - Tel:(33-1) 41 90 45 60; Fax: (33-1) 41 90 46 24.
The Matrix, a new futuristic, action movie that stars Keanu Reeves andfeatures state of the art visual effects, took first place at the theweekend box office, grossing $27.6 million for the biggest opening weekendthis year, industry estimates showed Sunday.
Doug's 1st Movie, the Disney released animated feature based on the hit TVshow, finished eighth, grossing $3.1 million during its first week inrelease. The movie was based on a TV show, formerly of Nickelodeon, now
The following three programs will be presented at this year's James RiverFestival: Tuesday April 6th, 7:30pm. Bill Plympton will host "Animation byPlympton" and show I Married a Strange Person, "Your Face," "How to Kiss,""25 Ways to Quit Smoking," "and his latest shorts. Sunday April 11, 3pm."Brief History of the Animated TV Commercial" will feature over 50commercials from 1948-1993. Janet Scagnelli will introduce the program.Sunday April 11, 5pm. "Pre-1950 American Animation" will feature several
Animator and performance artist Kathy Rose will be performing April 8, 1999in Paris at the Fondation Cartier pour l'art contemporain. In her uniqueshow Ms. Rose performs her own dances in front of projections of her filmsShe will present an excerpt from "Oriental Interplay," "Syncopations," apiece called "Precious Metals," and three scenes from her new performance,"Kleopat'Ra," which begins its world tour this summer. TEL: (1) 42 18 5650; Address: 261 boulevard Raspail; Paris, France. More information:www.krose.com
THE INK TANK has produced "Hockey Monkey," a mixed-media music video forNickelodeon's KA-BLAM!, which will air this spring. The 1-minute, 30-secondpiece follows a group of live-action adults who are in search of a monkey.Unbeknownst to them, the animated monkey is in an ice hockey match with agroup of cut-out animated kids. For The Ink Tank, R.O. Blechman wascreative director; Brian O'Connell, executive producer/co-director; JesseGordon, live-action director/cameraman; Maciek Albrecht, cut-out
San Francisco-based RADIUM has animated more than a half-dozen 3Dcomputer-generated building block characters for "Toys," a nationaltelevision spot promoting Wrigley's Juicy Fruit Gum. Conceived by BBDO(Chicago, IL), the 30-second spot revolves around a group of toy figuresthat spring to life in pursuit of the sweet taste of Juicy Fruit. Thecommercial blends 3D animation, 2D effects, live-action and cel animation.Radium created the tiny plastic blok characters as 3D elements. Afterwards,
Marketing and communication company Pittard Sullivan (Culver City, CA)engaged SIMEX (Santa Monica, CA) to help create a new full-motion, computeranimated logo to accompany all of King World's programs. The animated logofeatures a star burst animated in Alias|Wavefront PowerAnimator. FromPittard Sullivan, Reid Thompson directed, and Jim Capp and Debra Kaufmanproduced. Nick Bates was the visual effects supervisor and George Mendozawas the executive producer at SimEx Digital Studios.
Matt Groening's new animated series, "Futurama," was watched by more thannineteen million viewers when it premiered on Sunday, March 28. It was theeleventh most watched TV show in the USA as it received a 11.2 rating and a17 share, better overall ratings than both "The Simpsons" (9.3/15) thatpreceded it, and "The X-Files" (10.1/15) that followed it.
The Ottawa International Animation Festival and Canadian Film Institutehave acquired the North American video rights to all Estonian animationfilms produced by the studios,Tallinnfilm, Eesti Joonisfilm, and Nukufilm.The collection includes award winning films by Priit Parn, ("Hotel E,""Breakfast on the Grass," and "The Night of the Carrots"); Rao Heidmets("Hell"); Mati Kutt ("Underground," "Smoked Spout Baked in the Sun"); JannoPoldma ("Birthday"); Rein Raamat ("Hell"); and many more.
The half-hour comedy series HOME MOVIES [AF 12/22/98] premieres Monday,April 26, at 8:30 p.m. ET/PT. The show, featuring a "SquiggleVision"technique, is being produced by Tom Snyder Productions, makers of ComedyCentral's DR. KATZ: PROFESSIONAL THERAPIST and ABC's Saturday morningseries, SQUIGGLEVISION. The show centers around a single mom (PaulaPoundstone) raising a precocious tot and an eight-year-old son who aspiresto be the next Steven Spielberg.
The San Francisco office of CURIOUS PICTURES has created a pool of fivespots for Round Table Pizza through Wieden & Kennedy (Portland, OR). Thereare four 15-second spots - "Steam Dance," "Rooster," "Full," and "Freedomof Speech" - along with a 30-second spot, "Tornado." The commercials weredirected by Michael Bade and designed by Seattle-based alternativecartoonist Peter Bagge (HATE), marking his first foray into both animationand television. Featuring various characters, the commercials guarantee the
Eighties rock singer Billy Idol is providing the lead voice in Sceneries Entertainment's upcoming animated feature HEAVY METAL: F.A.K.K. 2, to be released by Columbia TriStar in fall 1999. The film is based on a graphic novel by TEENAGE MUTANT NINJA TURTLES creator Kevin Eastman, along with Simon Bisley and Eric Talbot. Idol will play the role of Tyler, a genocidal villain, who will ultimately be conquered by F.A.K.K., an immortal female warrior. The film's soundtrack also features music by Axel Rose, Sammy Hagar and the Stone Temple Pilots.
Lacey Entertainment has sold the hit show POKEMON to the following European broadcasters: RTL 2 (Germany), Sky TV (UK) and MediaSet (Italy). Sky TV began broadcasting the show the week of March 29, while RTL 2 and MediaSet will begin airing the series in September. All three networks will air the series as a five-day-a-week strip. In a related announcement, EM TV & Merchandising of Germany has secured POKEMON merchandise and promotion licensing representation in that territory.
George Pal's first feature film, THE GREAT RUPERT (1950), is being released on DVD by Image Entertainment. The film, which has never been released on home video before, is an Arnold Leibovit Entertainment Presentation, and will be released on May 7 for a retal price of $24.99. It stars the legendary Jimmy Durante, Tom Drake and Terry Moore (Jill from the 1949 film MIGHTY JOE YOUNG); as well as Rupert, a dancing squirrel brought to life using Pal's trademark Puppetoon animation technique. The rarely seen film was transferred from one of the few 35mm nitrate prints in existence.
* Wednesday, March 31. Burbank, California, U.S.A.
Tueday, April 13. Glendale, California, U.S.A.
As part of ASIFA-Hollywood's Third Annual Lecture Series, Corey Hels willspeak at the Glendale Community College auditorium about what it takes tobe a technical director. Hels has worked as a technical director or CGIanimator for various studios including Metrolight, Dream Quest Images,Turner Feature Animation, and Warner Bros. Feature and Classical Animation.His film credits include CATS DON'T DANCE, IRON GIANT, THE MASK, CRIMSON
After a long struggle, Fantôme, one of Europe's premier producers of 3D animation, was put into receivership. Founded in 1985, Fantôme was a pioneer of completely computer-generated animation TV series. In addition to an Emmy, Fantôme has garnered more than 40 international prizes, and their 3D television series INSEKTORS (26 13-minute segments) has sold in 160 countries.
Fred Seibert, former President of Hanna-Barbera and MTV's original creative director, has been named President of MTV Networks Online, reporting directly to Tom Freston, Chairman and CEO, MTV Networks. MTV Networks Online will be based in New York along with a satellite office in San Mateo, California.
Film Roman/Level 13 Entertainment and the prestigious Rico Gallery are holding the first ever Film Roman Fine Arts Competition. Entries are welcome from artists/animators of all ages in any medium including drawings, sculptures, paintings and ceramics. A panel of judges from the television, film and art communities will select the 40 most creative and original works to be showcased at the Rico Gallery for two months starting in June 1999.
Manila-based ImagineAsia is the Asian studio chosen to do the production work for HEAVY METAL F.A.K.K. 2, the $15-million sequel to 1981's HEAVY METAL. The film is being co-produced by Canada's Cine-Groupe and Germany's Helkon Media for a U.S. Columbia TriStar release during the second half of 1999. The film is directed by Michael Coldeway, and stars Julie Strain and Billy Idol. This marks the feature debut of ImagineAsia, as well as one of the few times an Asian animation facility has been called upon to fully animate a feature film for a major U.S. studio.
