PBS KIDS Announces New Animated Series ‘Lyla in the Loop’
The kids' show from Mighty Picnic and Pipeline Studios, premiering early 2024, aims to boost problem-solving skills and showcase benefits of working collaboratively.
‘Dead End: Paranormal Park’ Cancelled at Netflix
In a cost cutting move, the streaming giant has cancelled the spooky series after two seasons, though it could catch on with another network for a third season.
China Bridge Content Announces New Animated Series ‘Buffalo Nanny’
The preschool comedy follows baby girl Bebop as she unintentionally causes mischief, and her water buffalo caregiver who tries to keep her out of trouble.
Stage 03 VFX Releases Online VFX101 Class Sampler
Featuring 6 hours of curated training material covering VFX filmmaking, Compositing, Modeling, and After Effects Animation, the VFX Sampler is a superb introduction to the global education program’s comprehensive, degreed, and accredited visual effects instruction.
Deep Sky Shares ‘It’s The Little Things’ 1st Installment
The 2D animation, which began as the studio’s 2022 holiday short, is inspired by the production team’s ‘coziest memories of winters spent at home.’
Podcast EP 192: Liam Gilbey & the Struggles of Creating an Animation Studio - 3 Years In
Cut the Mustard Animation’s studio director reflects on where the studio started, where it’s at and where it’s going – and how he and the other studio founders found their footing and managed to stay afloat.
Visual Effects Society Announces 2023 Board of Directors Officers
Newly appointed officers include Lisa Cooke as Chair; Susan O’Neal as First Vice Chair; David H. Tanaka as Second Vice Chair; Rita Cahill as VES Secretary; and Jeffrey A. Okun as VES Treasurer.
Film Adaptation of George R.R. Martin’s ‘Hunter's Run’ in Development
Exile Content Studio secures film rights to the sci-fi novel, which follows Latino lead Ramón Espejo, a day laborer on a distant planet on the run for his survival.
Butters Learns Houses Also Have Back Doors in ‘South Park’ Season 26 Teaser
Don’t say you weren’t warned; Trey Parker and Matt Stone’s iconic animated series returns February 8 with all-new episodes on Comedy Central.
China Lifts Longstanding Ban on Marvel Films
While no specific reason for the official policy change was revealed, China’s ban is over, for the time being, allowing both ‘Black Panther: Wakanda Forever’ and ‘Ant-Man and The Wasp: Quantumania’ to premiere in February now they’ve been approved by the China Film Administration.
DNEG Releases Open-Source xSTUDIO Playback and Review Application
Now available on the Academy Software Foundation GitHub, the flexible, feature rich program is designed to meet the diverse needs of a broad range of review scenarios across teams of connected users, whether on set, in office, or remote.
Submissions Now Open: 2023 LXiA Spark Animation Grant
Supported by Netflix, the community outreach program awards 3 emerging independent Latinx animation filmmakers with money, mentorship, and support for production of an animated short film; the submission deadline is February 3.
‘Alien’ Series in Pre-Production at FX
Filming for the prequel, set on Earth 70 years from now, sans franchise heroine Ripley, will commence later this year.
Jared Leto to Lead Disney’s ‘Tron: Ares’ Sequel
The upcoming film in the decades-spanning sci-fi franchise is being penned by Jesse Wigutow, with ‘Maleficent: Mistress of Evil’ director Joachim Rønning in talks to helm the project.
Voice Cast Revealed for ‘Hogwarts Legacy’ and Reception is Mixed
While some ‘Harry Potter’ fans anxiously await the upcoming game, others are trepidatious given author J.K. Rowling’s loud and divisive opinions pertaining to the trans community, and lead Simon Pegg is caught in the crosshairs.
Stephen Colbert Boards ‘The Chronicles of Amber’ Series Adaptation
The late-night host will serve as executive producer for the show, based on prolific sci-fi and fantasy author Roger Zelazny's 10 book series about a royal family with the ability to travel through different dimensions of reality, who rule over the one true world: Amber.
A Studio Digital’s ‘BurgerWorld’ to Debut at Sundance 2023
Maddie Brewer's 2D animated short, from Bento Box and FOX Digital, tells the story of two fast-food workers who accidentally discover a portal to another realm… a ‘burger’ world where big meat oppresses the vegetable populace.
‘Velma’ Debuts to Disappointing Audience Scores
The adult animated comedy series focusing on the origin story of ‘Scooby-Doo’s Velma Dinkley and the formation of ‘the greatest team of mystery solvers ever’ has garnered the worst audience score on IMDB as well as a 6% Rotten Tomatoes audience score.
Nominations Announced for 2023 BAFTA Awards
‘Guillermo deo Toro’s Pinocchio,’ ‘Marcel the Shell with Shoes On,’ ‘Puss in Boots: The Last Wish,’ and ‘Turning Red’ get nods for Animated Film, while ‘All Quiet on the Western Front,’ ‘Avatar: The Way of Water,’ ‘The Batman,’ ‘Everything Everywhere All at Once,’ and ‘Top Gun: Maverick’ garner noms for Special Visual Effects.
Genius Brands Consolidates Consumer Platforms Under Newly Created ‘Genius Networks’
Veteran Media and Entertainment executive Todd Steinman named President, Genius Networks, Uniting Kartoon Channel!, Ameba TV, and Frederator Network.
Maxon Announces Integration of Redshift in ZBrush
Key updates for Maxon One line expand Forger capabilities with modeling toolset, including subdivision surfaces and symmetry; performance upgrades in Red Giant Trapcode’s improve particle simulation creation in Adobe After Effects.
MARZ Announces Breakthrough ‘Vanity AI’ De-aging VFX System
New technology is 300 times faster than traditional pipelines, cost-effective, and without capacity constraints; currently in beta, the solution is available as a service, with licensing expected to be available later this year.
Alkemy X Expands to Canada
The award-winning entertainment company launches a new Vancouver office led by Emmy-nominated head of 2D Michael Porterfield, who joined the company last summer.
The-Artery Adds Nick Haynes to NYC Studio
Recent Carbon NY and former MPC executive producer brings 20+ years of industry experience, having held various production and managerial positions at companies including Absolute Post and the Mill.
Autodesk Releases RV Open Source Version
Now available on the Academy Software Foundation GitHub, Open RV, the open source version of the tech giant’s Sci-Tech award-winning media review and playback software, will benefit from continued vendor development as well as community-driven updates.
