Monica Breen and Alison Schapker, former showrunners of BROTHERS & SISTERS, have joined J.J. Abrams’ FRINGE as co-exec producers, according to THE HOLLYWOOD REPORTER.
Paramount has snatched the rights to Image's comic EXISTENCE 2.0, reports HEAT VISION.
Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures has hired former Mandate exec Tendo Nagenda as vp of production, according to THE HOLLYWOOD REPORTER.
Summit Ent. has announced that it will release the spy thriller RED on Oct. 22, 2010, reports VARIETY.
Zenescope's comic THE PIPER is set for a big screen adaptation from Persistent Entertainment, Pantry Films and Zenescope Entertainment, according to THE HOLLYWOOD REPORTER.
SCREENDAILY.COM reports that Walt Disney Motion Pictures Group president Mark Zoradi has left his position.
Fox has started development on two new animated properties, according to VARIETY.
Comedian and actor Brad Garrett is developing a half-hour animated comedy for Sony Pictures TV called DUMB BUNNY AND JACKASS, per THE HOLLYWOOD REPORTER.
The project is adults-only and is targeted for cable, based on the characters created by Bill Kopp (EEK! THE CAT and TOONSYLVANIA). The story follows the most popular cartoon duo in history after their fall from stardom.
Garrett is attached to voice one of the two leads and exec produce via his banner, Mope Productions. Glenn Robbins and Doug Wald are also set to exec produce with Kopp as a co-exec producer.
ABC has picked up 13 episodes of Fox TV Studios' adventure drama GRAVITY, starring Ron Livingston, per THE HOLLYWOOD REPORTER.
The internationally-produced series takes place in the near future and is about eight astronauts from five countries who go on a mysterious six-year mission through the solar system.
Nickelodeon has greenlit two new animated series and order pilots for three other toons, VARIETY reports.
Writer Jeff Bell, who is showrunning ABC's new V series, has inked an overall deal with Warner Bros. TV, reports VARIETY. The two-year seven-figure deal will also see Bell developing shows in the future. Bell's main focus will be planning the future for V over several seasons. ABC hopes to run the series like LOST with a start, middle and ending all worked out from the start. The show will deal with topics such as government, devotion, race and faith.
Disney is prepping a remake of their 23-year-old sci-fi adventure movie FLIGHT OF THE NAVIGATOR, per THE HOLLYWOOD REPORTER, with Brad Copeland set to write the script.
Mandeville partners David Hoberman and Todd Lieberman will produce. John Hyde, an exec producer on the 1986 original, will reprise that role for the new film. Mandeville SVP Albert Page will oversee development and exec produce with Disney's Kristin Burr overseeing for the studio.
HBO has hired THE VISITOR director Tom McCarthy to helm its fantasy pilot GAME OF THRONES, based on George R.R. Martin's bestselling SONGS OF FIRE AND ICE series, according to THE HOLLYWOOD REPORTER. The project will reunite McCarthy with his STATION AGENT star Peter Dinklage. In the fantasy world Dinklage will play Tyrion, the mistreated brother of the Queen.
Spin Master Ent., the new entertainment division of Spin Master Ltd., has appointed Jennifer Picherack in the role of exec producer for BAKUGAN BATTLE BRAWLERS.
Based out of Spin Master's Toronto headquarters, Picherack will work with EP Matt Wexler to develop and produce original content for the division. The pair are charged with the company's television and feature film development, production and acquisition activities.
Walt Disney Pictures has announced the U.S. release date of Hayao Miyazaki's latest film, PONYO, a story inspired by Hans Christian Andersen's fairy tale THE LITTLE MERMAID. Fans of the animation master will only have to wait until Aug. 14th to see what is already a hit in Japan.
The story of a young and overeager goldfish named Ponyo (voiced by Noah Cyrus) and her quest to become human. The voice cast includes Cate Blanchett, Matt Damon, Tina Fey, Cloris Leachman, Liam Neeson, Lily Tomlin, Betty White and Frankie Jonas as Sosuke, a young boy who befriends Ponyo.
Warner Bros. has set up DC Comics' SUICIDE SQUAD for Dan Lin to produce as a potential franchise, according to VARIETY. The series is about a group of jailed supervillians and started life as a DC Comic in 1959 and got its own series in 1987.
Lin (SHERLOCK HOLMES) will produce with Stephen Gilchrist at Lin Pictures. Justin Marks, working now on 20,000 LEAGUES UNDER THE SEA, will write the script.
The CW and Warner Bros. TV have dropped the idea to do THE GRAYSONS, an origins story on Batman sidekick Robin, per VARIETY.
News came out in early October that the DC Comics character was to be given a SMALLVILLE-like treatment, but Warner Bros. Pictures Group President Jeff Robinov changed his mind and pulled the plug on the project.
THE GRAYSONS was to have followed a teenage Dick "DJ" Grayson before he took up the Robin crime fighting identity. "Warner Bros. TV never had 100 percent clearance," said one exec familiar with the situation to VARIETY.
Mike Judge has teamed with Media Rights Capital to produce 13 episodes of a new animated series, titled THE GOODE FAMILY, for ABC, VARIETY reports. The show will follow a family of do-goers. KING OF THE HILL exec producers John Altschuler and Dave Krinsky will be exec producing GOODE as well.
The indie studio is funding its projects via a combination of private equity and other investments, including dollars from Goldman Sachs. The company has also inked an interim deal with the WGA, giving it a head start on all its new film and TV projects.
TV producer Greg Berlanti is set to direct the live-action big-screen adaptation of GREEN LANTERN for Warner Bros., report the trades. Berlanti, along with Marc Guggenheim and Michael Green, will also pen the script. Donald De Line is the produce with Andrew Haas exec producing.
Launched in 1940, the GREEN LANTERN comic series followed test pilot Hal Jordan as he is given superpowers and the mission to protect a sector of the universe.
Emmys for Outstanding Individual Achievement in Animation were handed out Saturday night (Sept. 8) at the Creative Arts Primetime Emmys as part of the 59th Emmy Awards presentation at the Shrine Auditorium in L.A. The winners were:
OUTSTANDING ANIMATED PROGRAM (FOR PROGRAMMING ONE HOUR OR MORE) (Area Award: Possibility of one, more than one or, if none has a majority approval, no award.)
WHERE'S LAZLO? (CAMP LAZLO, Cartoon Network)
* Joe Murray, Exec Producer/Story by/Writer/Director * Brian A. Miller, Exec Producer
Rick Wiener and Kenny Schwartz, the exec producers of AMERICAN DAD, have signed a two-year overall deal with 20th Century Fox TV Studio, reports the trades.
As part of the seven-figure deal that contains an option for a third year, the duo will continue as DAD exec producers with Seth MacFarlane, Mike Barker, Matt Weitzman and David Zuckerman. Additionally, they will develop new live-action projects for the studio.
Dream Works Animation has hired former Nickelodeon Movies development vp Damon Ross as a senior development exec. Ross's main duty will be acquiring and developing literary properties as well as original projects. He will work on the day-to-day development of features at the studio with Chris Kuser.
The new DreamWorks exec will report to the studio's head of creative development and production Bill Damaschke and head of development Kristine Belson.
The winners in the animation categories of the 34th Annual Creative Arts and Entertainment Emmy Awards were announced June 14, 2007, at a black tie gala at Hollywood & Highland ballroom in Hollywood. More than 1,100 producers, performers and craftspeople came together for the event. The gala's sponsors included American Airlines, Kmart, Purpose and Soapnet.com. The National Academy of Television Arts & Sciences introduced new categories this year for Outstanding Broadband Program in comedy, drama, variety and childrens.
NBC announced its new 2007-08 primetime lineup today (May 14, 2007) at New York's Radio City Music Hall, and sci-fi is the prevalent theme among the new dramas.
SCI FI has ordered a script for PHENOMENON, a two-hour pilot exec produced by Kiefer Sutherland (24) and Maggie Murphy, president of Sutherland's production company, East Side Ent., who also serves as exec producer. Phenomenon follows a crack team of experts, lead by a mysterious young female prodigy, as they investigate bizarre and supernatural anomalies of nature.
SCI FI consistently pushes the envelope on the limits of human imagination with provocative and thought-provoking stories that explore the supernatural within the world around us.
