The MoonScoop Group's Taffy Ent. has secured deals for two of its newest animated TV series on key broadcasters across Spain. Cartoon Network Spain has picked up all three seasons of TITEUF and TV Catalunya also snapped up broadcast rights to the new preschool series AVA RIKO TEO.
Independent animation company Calon TV has teamed up with Merrill Osmond, lead singer of the 1970s family music group The Osmonds, to develop an animated movie for TV.
The Welsh independent TV production company, known for the BAFTA-winning preschool animated series HANA'S Helpline, is working to turn Osmond's idea of a mythical horse called SHILOH into a feature-length film. Osmond will perform the film's soundtrack.
Street-smart feline Heathcliff is about to make a comeback as media property development company Fitzroy Media (FRM) has tapped Renegade Animation to produce a series of new projects featuring the mischievous cat.
This month, Renegade will begin production of 50 two-minute animated interstitials. Animation director Darrell Van Citters, who leads Renegade's creative team, will develop an updated look for the new animation. Targeting an adult and tween audience, the new Heathcliff will focus on comedy set against a hip, club-music sound.
Disney will launch Disney XD, a boy-focused, girl inclusive entertainment brand for kids age 6-14, with a 24-hour, ad-supported basic cable network as its centerpiece, on Friday, February 13 (12 midnight, ET/PT).
Producers Tim Burton and Timur Bekmambetov and director Shane Acker's upcoming animated feature 9 has a newly-released trailer. Based on the 2005 Oscar-nominated animated short, the feature has the voice talents of Jennifer Connelly, John C. Reilly and Elijah Wood and is due September 9, 2009 (9/9/09) from Focus Features.
In it, a rag doll must face a monster that is hunting his brethren and stealing their souls. Acker wrote the story, with a screenplay by Pamela Pettler.
See it at Apple.com.
Music mogul Lou Adler has licensed the animated movie rights to the library of Cheech and Chong comedy recordings to Big Vision Ent., an independent licensee, producer and DVD label for special interest programming and Chambers Bros. Ent., a television and animation production company.
The New York Film Critics Online awards have chosen WALL-E as the year's Best Animated Feature, and also picked the film as one of the year's best pictures, per VARIETY.
The organization is made up of 27 Web-based reviewers and two print critics with a strong online presence.
MarVista Ent. is set to deliver a broad portfolio of programming including animated features and animated educational children's series to NATPE 2009 (Booth #1017).
MarVista will bring two animated features and an animated, educational children's program. Join the Zula Patrollers on their ecological adventures in the animated feature THE ZULA PATROL: ANIMAL ADVENTURES IN SPACE: THE MOVIE, or embark on an adventure recovering ancient glowing stone with Twig, the littlest Wompkee and her band of brave friends, in THE HIDDEN TREASURE OF WOMPKEE WOOD.
From Rick's Flicks Picks
Based on the animated short film A BUCK’S WORTH, this ambitious stop-motion animated feature takes on the not-so-bargain-bin topic of the meaning of life. Various lives intersect in an apartment complex. A Dear John loser. An unemployed, master cook do-gooder. A lonely old man. A young boy saving for a toy. A hallucinating man-boy. A ladies-man repo man. A supermodel. A suicidal homeless angel. You know the typical characters in an animated feature.
The New York Film Critics Circle have chosen WALL-E as the year's Best Animated Film.
MILK was picked as the circle's Best Film of the year.
The Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art in Rijeka has been organizing the International Exhibition of Drawings since 1968. Forty years after the first exhibition, drawing returns to Rijeka, this year accompanied by animated films.
Stuttgart received several requests whether applications for the categories Animated Series and AniMovie (animated feature-length films) will still be accepted after December 1. Since some of the pre-selection committees will start their work only in January, they decided to extend the deadline for these two categories to December 31, 2008.
Based on the short stories of Etgar Keret, $9.99 is a stop-motion animated feature that offers slightly less than $10 worth about the meaning of life. Opening December 12 in select U.S. cities from Regent Ent., the film's new website is now active: www.9dollars99movie.com. $9.99 has been submitted for consideration for the Oscar in Animated Feature Film as well as the Annie nomination for Best Animated Feature.
ASIFA-Hollywood has announced the nominations for its 36th Annual Annie Awards, recognizing the year's best animated features, television productions, commercials, videogames and short subjects. DreamWorks Animation's KUNG FU PANDA leads the field with 17 nominations out of 27 overall for the studio, including Best Animated Feature, and individual nominations for character animation, character design, directing, music, production design, storyboarding, voice acting and writing.
Endemol has partnered with Kuwait-based publishing group Teshkeel Media to bring to life a new animated series based on its popular superhero comic books, THE 99.
THE 99 comic book series launched in 2006 and is illustrated and scripted by former and current Marvel and DC Comics writers and artists whose credits include X-MEN, SPIDER-MAN, SUPERMAN, IRON MAN, BATMAN and POWER RANGERS.
Marvel Animation is expanding its slate of offerings with 26 action-packed half-hour episodes of an all-new animated television series based on THOR. The THOR series will be self-produced by Marvel and is scheduled to launch fall 2010 following Marvel's live-action THOR feature film in summer of 2010.
VARIETY has an in-depth article on this year's Best Animated Feature Oscar race.
Read it at VARIETY.com.
Now in pre-production, a CG-animated adaptation of THE WONDERFUL WIZARD OF OZ will be directed by John Boorman, per VARIETY.
The $25 million film will be adapted from L. Frank Baum's original novel and will be Boorman's first animated film. Laurent Rodon and Claude Gorvsky at France's Films Actions are producing with Boorman's longtime associate Kieran Corrigan. OZ was written by Boorman, Ron Mita and Jim McClain (ROBOTS) and should come out in summer 2010.
The International Leipzig Festival for Documentary and Animated Film - DOK Leipzig – is the largest German and one of the leading international festivals for artistic documentary and animated films.
It was founded in 1955. Since the fall of the Berlin Wall, the Leipzig Festival has developed into one of the most dynamic festivals for documentary and animated film, providing a high-quality programme and – since 2004 – additional industry offers.
October 28 is World Animation Day -- and Canada is getting animated. The National Film Board is celebrating this special day with a 13-city tour of Get Animated!, a series of free public screenings from the NFB's Oscar-winning animation studios.
Get Animated! will showcase new creations from Canada's public producer, for young and old, from October 22 to November 9, 2008. The NFB Web site provides complete details on this event, along with free streaming video of NFB animated shorts, at nfb.ca/getanimated.
The best of Canadian Lifestyle, Children's and Youth television were awarded Tuesday at the second of three Gemini Industry Awards galas. A total of 21 categories were awarded at the Liberty Grand Entertainment Complex in Toronto. This week's award shows will conclude with the Drama, Variety and Comedy Gala on Wednesday, October 22. The 23 Annual Gemini Awards will culminate with the Broadcast Gala Awards November 28 at the Metro Toronto Convention Centre, which will be simulcast on E! network and Showcase at 9 p.m. ET/PT
Best Animated Program or Series
AniFest 2009Trebon and Teplice, Czech RepublicMay 1-10, 2009Deadline: December 16, 2008
The call for entries has begun for the eighth edition of the International Festival of Animated Films. AniFest 2009 will be held in two different locations, Trebon from May 1-4, 2009 and Teplice from May 7-10, 2009.
A written application and a copy of the film on DVD or VHS needs to be delivered to the organizer's registered office no later than December 16, 2008.
Celebrating the artistry of animated feature films, the Waterloo Festival showcase is one of the most comprehensive public exhibitions for animated feature films in the world. More ambitious than ever, the first titles revealed in the 2008 program span the gamut of animation and storytelling styles.
Attention animators! San Diego Asian Film Festival 2008 will once again be showcasing animated short films produced by animators of Asian ethnicities in a 90-minute all-animation program. All forms of animation (traditional, claymation, stop-motion, flash, CGI, etc) will be accepted for consideration into this competitive festival. Films by all animators pertaining to Asian issues and themes will also be considered. Only VHS and DVD (preferred) formats are accepted for consideration. A Best Animated Short Film Award will be awarded with prizes to be determined.
October 28 is World Animation Day -- and Canada is getting animated. The National Film Board is celebrating this special day with a 13-city tour of Get Animated!, a series of free public screenings from the NFB's Oscar-winning animation studios.
Get Animated! will showcase new creations from Canada's public producer, for young and old, from October 22 to November 9, 2008. The NFB Web site provides complete details on this event, along with free streaming video of NFB animated shorts, at nfb.ca/getanimated.
