News - 02/20/08...

Spectacular Spider-Man Animated Series Trailer

Get your first look at Marvel's next animated series, the Spectacular Spider-Man, premiering on March 8, 2008 on Kids' WB on The CW!







First Look at the Big Screen Smurfs

A first look at Paramount Pictures' 3D CG-animated The Smurfs feature is now online. "The Smurfs" originated in 1958 as a Belgian comic strip from Peyo (Pierre) Culliford. NBC launched "The Smurfs" in 1981, spawning 256 episodes and multiple Emmy awards.

First up, you can check out the last 10 seconds of a video talking about "The Smurfs" during which they give you a brief glimpse at the animation process. You can check it out in Windows Media format by clicking the link here:

Then, there are also these displays from the Happy Smurfday Euro Tour.

"The Brave And The Bold" - DC's Next Animated Series?

The classic team-up comic book The Brave And The Bold could be the next DC Comics-inspired animated series from Warner Bros. Animation.

While nothing is confirmed at this time, the The Brave And The Bold animated series will apparently center around Batman teaming up with a different DC superhero in each episode. The series will also apparently have no ties to any previous animated incarnations. The Brave And The Bold is rumored to premiere next fall though, once again, nothing is confirmed at this time.

This seems a little strange to us, since 'The Batman' is kind of doing that already. However, the report indicates that this new series will have no ties to previous animated incarnations of the Dark Knight Detective. Reportedly, the show would start airing in the fall.

No word is given as to the source of the report.

We have to wonder if Warner should be worried about brand identity with Batman? This year there will be at least three distinct animated versions on DVD ('The Batman', 'Justice League: The New Frontier' and 'Gotham Knight') and the live action version ('The Dark Knight'). With this rumored version and a possible new live-action version in the 'Justice League' movie, that would make five Bat-men outside the comics.

News on the next DC-inspired animated series should start trickling out soon. Stay tuned for further developments.





Marvel develops 'Planet Hulk' and 'Super Hero Squad' for animation

Marvel has publicly posted their quarterly earnings report. As is always the case, the report has several Easter Eggs for Comics2Film fans.

Most interesting is the revelation of a 'Planet Hulk' direct-to-video animated feature, targeted for a February 2010 release from Lionsgate (Marvel's home video animation partner).

If you think this would replace the previously announced 'Hulk Smash' animated feature, you'd be mistaken. However, Marvel now lists that movie as 'Hulk Vs.', and it finds its way home next January.

There's nothing unexpected in Marvel's in-house movie lineup, except that 'Thor' is listed as "writer engaged". Last we heard, there was a writer and a director engaged, one Matthew Vaughn. Is this merely an oversight by the author of the report? Or has Vaughn ankled the project?

These are the movies listed

Iron Man - May 2, 2008
The Incredible Hulk - June 13, 2008
Ant-Man
Captain America
Thor
The Avengers

Likewise, the line-up of characters licensed to other studios has no surprises:

'Punisher: War Zone' - September 12, 2008
'X-Men Origins: Wolverine' - May 1, 2009 release

As far as animated TV Fare, the one new project is something called 'Super Hero Squad'. If you're over the age of eight, you may not know that the Super Hero Squad is a collection of Marvel's character presented in cartoony, fun (think super-deformed) shapes for the very young Marvel Zombies out there.

Fantastic Four: World’s Greatest Heroes
Spectacular Spider-Man
Wolverine and the X-Men
Iron Man: The Animated Series
Hulk: The Animated Series
Super Hero Squad

And then the listing of Direct-to-DVD animated features:

Next Avengers: Heroes of Tomorrow - August 2008
Hulk Vs. - January 2009
Thor: Son of Asgard - September 2009
Planet Hulk - February 2010





Temporary Artwork for "Justice League: The New Frontier" Soundtrack

The temporary artwork for the upcoming Justice League: The New Frontier soundtrack has been revealed.

Keep in note that the final artwork will be forthcoming, but for early advertising and ordering purposes, a quick mock-up was created. Again, the final artwork and track list will be available very shortly.





IMAGI Job Fair Posters





















































Digimon To Return to Toy Aisle

A unique line of Digimon toys will be released this fall, adding to the empire of one of the longest-running action series in the world.

The action-packed adventures of DIGIMON DATA SQUAD, the new fifth season from Toei Animation Inc. currently airing on Toon Disney's Jetix block, live on with Bandai America Inc.'s successful lineup of action figures and role-play toys for boys ages 4-8.

The redesigned Digivice Data Link, fashioned after the same device used by Marcus in the series, is a dynamic, action-packed electronic role-play toy that allows young boys to feed and train their own digital monsters.

Exciting features include the infrared technology enabling two Digimon owners to battle one another and a scanner function that collects DNA skills from an included DNA metal chip to strengthen characters, unlock special, secret items and DNA powers for their digital monster.

Kids can also play the seven mini-games to coach their monsters in battle skills and strength training.

Additionally, kids can collect 1.5-inch collectible Digimon character figures, 3.5-inch lightning Digivolving figures and 5-inch ultra-Digivolving characters.

All characters come with a DNA metal chip, which can be scanned with the Digivice Data Link.





Adult Swim orders up a little 'Drinky (Crow)'

Comics2Film has learned that Adult Swim on Cartoon Network has placed an initial order for 10 episodes of 'Drinky Crow', based on Tony Millionaire's acclaimed comic.

A pilot episode of the proposed series was developed by Millionaire and animation producer Eric Kaplan last year. It aired as part of a competition which pitted dozens of pilots against each other, with the fans voting on their favorites.

We've been told that reaction to the pilot has been strong and pre-production has commenced on the series, which could begin airing later this year.

We'll have further details as they become available. For now, enjoy Drinky's berserker attack in drunken defense of a perceived crypto-critter in this clip from last summer's pilot...








Harry Martin, 81, was Sacramento's "Captain Sacto"

Sacramento, California personality Harry Martin, who screened Bugs Bunny cartoons as part of his title role on the 1950s and 1960s Captain Sacto kids show, died Sunday morning at 81.

Martin died after suffering from cancer, said Mark Greczmiel, who was his producer at KCRA in the 1980s.

He succeeded Harry Wade, the original space pilot host of Captain Sacto on KCRA-TV 3, from 1956 to 1963.

He broadcast live in a secret airfield somewhere west of town in a mysterious underground laboratory run by Dr. Xavier. As Sacto, he would "arrive" at the start of the show on an Air Force jet before launching Bugs Bunny toons.

For over 30 years, Martin worked for KCRA. He was also a news anchor who hosted the evening magazine show Weeknight and specialized as a show business reporter. He interviewed such celebrities as John Wayne, Bob Hope and Clint Eastwood.

"I like to say that I've interviewed 2,000 stars -- and 23 actors!" he told the Sacramento Bee upon his retirement in 1988.

Born Harry Martin Uhlenberg, he graduated from College of the Pacific in Stockton, California in 1951. He then was a director and announcer at Sacramento's first television station, KCCC Channel 40. He moved to KCRA after KCCC shut down in 1957.

Beyond his Sacto guise, Martin became popular with adults as a reporter, hosting KCRA's noon news for many years. He was also the station's entertainment reporter. In 1973, he became co-host of KCRA's new evening newsmagazine The 7:30 Show. Featuring Martin's interviews with many Hollywood stars, it was renamed Weeknight in 1976.

Following his retirement, he and his wife Polly divided their time between their homes in Sacramento and on Maine's Lake Cobbosseecontee. Polly Martin died of cancer last August.

Greczmiel remembers that Martin had a unique way of interviewing. Rather than asking the usual questions, he would focus on trivia about the celebrity he was speaking with. That opened them up, Greczmiel said: "He would always get revealing interviews with people."

Harry Martin is survived by daughter Dayna, son Steven and five grandchildren. Funeral arrangements were pending.





French novelist Alain Robbe-Grillet dead at 85

Alain Robbe-Grillet, the French writer who pioneered the "new novel" genre in the 1950s, died Monday at 85, the Academie Francaise (French Academy) announced.

Robbe-Grillet had been admitted to hospital over the weekend in the Normandy city of Caen after suffering a heart ailment.

He was a screenwriter for Raoul Servais' partly computer-animated French feature film Taxandria (1994), which won awards at fantasy film festivals around the world. In the film, a young prince learns of a secret world ruled by the dictatorship of the "eternal present," where all machines, progress and time have been banned. Meanwhile, a naive but creative printing clerk unwittingly causes a revolution and falls in love with a palace princess.

Associated with the "New Wave" of French filmmaking, he wrote for Alain Resnais' L'Annee Derniere a Marienbad (Last Year at Marienbad); with Renais, he won the Golden Lion in Venice in 1961 for the controversial art film. He also made several films under his own name; the first, L'immortelle, won him the Louis Delluc Prize in 1963.

Also in 1963, a series of essays was published in which Robbe-Grillet developed the theory of the "new novel," designed to turn conventional wisdom about fiction-writing on its axis. He believed that impersonal descriptions of physical things are more important than such traditional ideas as plot and character. He was a member of the Cannes Film Festival jury in 1965.

His best-selling books included Les Gommes (The Erasers), Le Voyeur (The Voyeur) and La Jalousie (Jealousy).

Born in Brest (in Brittany) on August 18, 1922, Robbe-Grillet first studied mathematics and biology. In 1945, he graduated from the Paris-based Institut National Agronomique (National Institute of Agronomy). Following the Second World War, he worked as a statistician, then as a research agronomist on the Caribbean island of Martinique.

At age 30, he decided to change careers in favor of literature.

Les Gommes, his first published book, made him effectively the leader of a new generation of writers who included Samuel Beckett, Claude Simon and Natalie Serrault.

He wrote over 10 novels, the last, Un Roman Sentimental (A sentimental novel), published last year. Its depictions of incest and pedophilia created a minor scandal in France. Robbe-Grillet called the book a "fairy-tale for adults" and said that it was not a serious part of his "oeuvre."

The term "new novel," he once said, was aimed at "all those seeking new forms for the novel... and all those who have determined to invent the novel, in other words, to invent man."

Starting in 1970, he taught at the University of New York for over 20 years.

He was elected in 2004 to the Academie Francaise, the 40-member group that tries to protect the French language, but he would not take his seat. He claimed that it was because he refused to wear the elite body's fancy green uniform.

Alain Robbe-Grillet is survived by his wife since 1957, the former Catherine Rstakian, who is also a novelist.





2nd Year, Twice as Big, the Elan Awards Delivers the Winners

Family Guy Big Winner in More Ways Than One

Saturday night the Video Game, Animation Industry and Digital Art Students turned out in full force to celebrate Canadian supremacy in the fastest growing entertainment industry in the world. Canadian video game developers and publishers, animators and studio heads and the brightest students and top academia gathered at 2nd Annual Elan Awards held at The Centre in Vancouver for the Performing Arts in eager anticipation to learn the winning names behind some of the biggest games and shows in North America .

This year’s show also saw the Elan Awards open up to include International Award Categories attracting companies such as Microsoft, DreamWorks SKG, Insomniac Games, EA USA, VIZ Media and, of course, Fuzzy Door Productions that is the brain child of this year’s Host, Seth MacFarlane. MacFarlane lived up to his enormous reputation as one of the Industry’s top talents and rewarded the room full of top Video Game and Animation Talent/Execs with a hilarious “classic Seth” performance including a singing “Stewie” final act to close the show. The night went on to see MacFarlane win his first Elan in the category of “Best International Animated Television Production” for FAMILY GUY.

Nick Fletcher, Producer of DreamWork’s the BEE MOVIE flew in from Los Angeles to accept the “Producer’s Choice for the Inaugural Best Animated Feature” and Don Mattrick, recipient of this year’s “Video Game Hall of Fame” sent a message of acceptance to the evening’s attendees: “I wanted to send a very sincere thank you for this Video Game Hall of Fame Award. I am truly honored to be selected, and sorry that I can’t be there to accept in person. Congratulations to all the other winners at the Canadian Awards for Electronic Arts & Animation! Thanks should also go to Holly Carinci and Jack Weatherell for putting all this together. Hope you all enjoy the evening”.

And on that note, the winners from last night’s 2nd Annual Elan Awards are:


ANIMATION CATEGORIES

1. BEST FEATURE LENGTH ANIMATED PRODUCTION
Barbie as the Island Princess Rainmaker Animation Jennifer Twiner Mccarron

2. THE SEVEN GROUP AWARD FOR BEST ANIMATED PRODUCTION (Television Series)
Edgar & Ellen Bardel Entertainment Delna Bhesania, Barry Ward, Trish Lindsay, Barbara Ferro

3. BEST ANIMATED SHORT SUBJECT
Yellow Sticky Notes Jeff Chiba Stearns

4. BEST DIRECTION in a FEATURE LENGTH ANIMATED PRODUCTION
Barbie as the Island Princess Rainmaker Animation Greg Richardson

5. BEST DIRECTION in an ANIMATED TELEVISION SERIES
Ruby Gloom: Venus de Gloomsville Nelvana LTD Robin Budd

6. BEST MALE VOICE OVER IN AN ANIMATED FEATURE OR TELEVISION PRODUCTION
Lee Tockar George of the Jungle Studio B

7. BEST FEMALE VOICE OVER IN AN ANIMATED FEATURE OR TELEVISION PRODUCTION
Marÿke Hendrikse Johnny Test Cookie Jar Entertainment

8. BEST ORIGINAL MUSICAL SCORE
Bruno and the Banana Bunch Cuppa Coffee Studios Adam Goddard



9. BEST STORYBOARDING
George of the Jungle: Naked Ape Man Studio B Dennis Crawford / Lyn Hart

10. BEST PRODUCTION DESIGN OR ART DIRECTION
Edgar & Ellen: Crushed Bardel Entertainment Greg Huculak and Zoe Evamy

11. BEST WRITING IN AN ANIMATED PRODUCTION
Storm Hawks Nerd Corps Entertainment Rob Hoegee

12. THE ELECTRONIC ART’S AWARD FOR BEST INTERNATIONAL ANIMATED PRODUCTION (Television Series)
Family Guy Fuzzy Door Productions Seth MacFarlane, David A. Goodman, Chris Sheridan, Danny Smith

13.THE INAUGURAL AWARD FOR BEST INTERNATIONAL ANIMATED PRODUCTION (Feature)
Bee Movie: Dreamworks Animation SKG

14. LIFETIME ACHIEVEMENT AWARD IN ANIMATION
Kai Pindal



ELECTRONIC GAME CATEGORIES

1. THE AUTODESK GAME OF THE YEAR
Mass Effect Bioware/Microsoft Games BioWare

2. BEST CONSOLE GAME
Assassin’s Creed Ubisoft Assassin's Creed Development Team

3. BEST PC GAME
Company of Heroes Relic Entertainment Ian Thomson

4. BEST NEW VIDEO GAME COMPANY
We are honouring two companies this year:
Blue Castle Games Rob Barrett for The Bigs
Slant Six Games Brian Thalken for their Socom U.S. Navy Seals: Tactical Strike

5. BEST SOUND DESIGN IN VIDEO GAMING
Skate Electronic Arts: Audio Director: Lance Brown Sound Designers: Francois Lafleur, Bryan Rennie, Sean Webster, Terry Fairfield

6. BEST ORIGINAL MUSICAL SCORE IN VIDEO GAMING
Assasins Creed Ubisoft Jesper Kyd

7. BEST CHARACTER IN VIDEO GAMING
Commander Shepard (Mass Effect) BioWare/Microsoft Games Drew Karpyshyn

8. BEST ART DIRECTION IN VIDEO GAMING
Mass Effect BioWare/Microsoft Games Derek Watts

9. BEST HANDHELD GAME OF THE YEAR (psp, ds, etc...)
Socom U.S. Navy Seals: Tactical Strike Slant Six Games Brian Thalken

10. BEST GAME DESIGN OF THE YEAR
Mass Effect BioWare/Microsoft Games Preston Watamaniuk

11. BEST MOBILE/CASUAL/ARCADE GAME OF THE YEAR
Skate Electronic Arts David Manriquez

12. BEST WRITING FOR A GAME PRODUCTION
Mass Effect BioWare/ Microsoft Games Drew Karpyshyn

13. THE NOKIA AWARD FOR OUTSTANDING INNOVATION IN GAMING
Company of Heroes: Opposing Fronts Relic Entertainment Josh Mosqueira

14. THE ERNST & YOUNG AWARD FOR INTERNATIONAL VIDEO GAME OF THE YEAR
Crysis Crytek/Electronic Arts USA Cevat Yerli CEO, Crytek

15. VIDEO GAME HALL OF FAME
Don Mattrick



STUDENT ANIMATION AND ELECTRONIC GAME CATEGORIES

1. THE GOVERNMENT OF BRITISH COLUMBIA ’S AWARD FOR STUDENT ANIMATED OR MOTION GRAPHIC PRODUCTION OF THE YEAR
Legend of Boruta Emily Carr Institute Bartosz Nowakowski

2. STUDENT GAME OF THE YEAR
Bloom Vancouver Film School Boring Games; Project Manager: Adrian Audet TEAM: Brennan Massicotte, Guilherme Ramos, Mike Wilson, Brian Vidovic

3. BEST ORIGINAL SOUND DESIGN/MUSICAL SCORE FOR AN ANIMATED PRODUCTION OR GAME
Le Building Vancouver Film School Doug Woods

4. BEST STUDENT ART DIRECTION - GAME PRODUCTION
Seas of Europa Vancouver Film School Todd Agnello, David Bowring, Diego Rodriguez Pons,Ryan Stancl

5. BEST STUDENT ART DIRECTION - ANIMATED PRODUCTION
Mano Sinistra Emily Carr Institute Kate Lee

6. BEST STUDENT WRITING FOR AN ANIMATED OR GAME PRODUCTION
Documentary Vancouver Film School Lawrence Chung

7. READY TO ROCKET
Bartosz Nowakowski Emily Carr Institute




From aintitcoolnews..

Miscweant Wants You To See KUNG-FU PANDA!

Hey, everyone. ”Moriarty” here.

And I’ve gotta tell you... I’m sold.

The new trailer for this movie showed up at my house today on DVD, and it’s great. Based on how many times a day Toshi wants to watch the original trailer for this film, I’d say this is the second most-anticipated film in my house at the moment. My son’s 2 ½ now, and he does his best to say “Kung Fu Panda” every time he sees the trailer. The fact that half the time it comes out “F@#k You Panda” is just icing on the cake. My wife’s reaction is solid freakin’ gold.

I’ve been hearing from filmmakers who have nothing to do with this movie since last year that something special was going on with it. This is starting to shape up as one of those special little animated movies that sort of blindsides everyone, like IRON GIANT or LILO & STITCH, something with real personality and character, something that stands out.

One friend of mine called this “a gateway drug into Shaw Brothers movies for kids.” Sounds freakin’ awesome.

Our spy today took a look at a chunk of footage from the film, something I’m hoping to do myself very soon. When I do, I’ll be sure to let you know what I think. For now, Miscweant’s got me excited:

Harry -

My first reaction to Kung Fu Panda was (bored, Droopy voice), whoopee, here we go again: hopeless slob (Jack Black, who else?) makes good in spite of himself, done with that trademark DreamWorks unattractive angular character design.

Mea culpa, friends. I just saw a lengthy promo reel for the film hosted by Ol’ Bullet-head himself, Jeffrey (nyah-nyah Michael, I’m still a player, what are you doing these days?) Katzenberg – and I am blown away. This is going to turn into an Anton Ego review (end of Ratatouille Anton that is), but here we go.

This is the most gorgeous cgi film I’ve seen to date in terms of the world it’s created for itself, surpassing Pixar’s best. There are some backgrounds so otherworldly they look as if they came out of a sci-fi film, while at the same time obviously inspired by Chinese landscape art.

But (as someone once said) you don’t leave a movie humming the scenery. Turns out KFP’s characters are quite pleasing to the eye – nowhere as angular as I first thought – and have more than a bit of emotional depth as well. First off, JBlack’s panda Po isn’t a deluded fool who believes himself a kung-fu master, he’s Kung-fu Guy: a fanboy who knows the intricacies of the art; he might fantasize being a master –

(SPOILER: in what looks to be a way cool opening sequence done in 2D to distinguish it from the rest of the movie – another straw in the wind re the return of 2D)

– but he’s totally aware of his lack of talent to actually participate. It’s a bit of self-awareness that instantly made me twice as sympathetic towards him. The characters were a beautiful blend of human and animal features, as furry – excuse me, ‘anthropomorphic’ characters should be. (Although there’s not much you can do to anthropomorphize a mantis). Dustin Hoffman’s red panda Shifu and Ian McShane’s snow leopard villain Tai Lung blend personality and species perfectly. (And Tigress Angelina Jolie’s ever-so-subtly glowing eyes – way cool…) Tai Lung transcends his stock-villain role via a brief moment of vulnerability and regret, while Shifu and Po enjoy character arcs that take them away from stock-character status as well. (Typecast Jackie Chan as Monkey didn’t have much to say in the promo reel).

The kung-fu battles are incredibly high-energy and amazingly choreographed – and in the cartoon world, the physically impossible feats are far more believable than they could ever seem in a live-action film. (As long as you can accept a universe of upright, clothes-wearing talking animals that is; then again if you can’t you have no business going to see this movie in the first place.)





Batman, Justice League Updates

If the "Justice League" movie is going to happen, its now a lot longer off than before.

Moviehole reports that rather than mid-2008, a 2010 start date is being targeted. With the cast booked out for much of 2008 and the studio not ready with the project, such a delay is not unexpected.

The news comes as reports late last week revealed that both the Batman and Superman characters had effectively been written out of the story (the former expelled, the later killed by Doomsday) so as not to conflict with those two stand-alone franchises.

Things are more rosy on "The Dark Knight" front though as the next trailer for the film, this one featuring more Bruce Wayne (Christian Bale) and Harvey Dent (Aaron Eckhart) is rumored to be premiering with "10,000 B.C." on March 7th. Meanwhile, MTV News has video of the toy version of a flash car that Batman uses in the film.

Ant-Man script finished, says Wright

Another day, Another comic-book-movie news story.

Edgar Wright ("Shaun of the Dead") tells ComicBookMovie.com that he's finished the script for Marvel's "Ant-Man", which he'll direct, and it's possible that it may be his next film.

"I finished the script and I'm having a meeting about it next week, but it depends which comes first in the queue basically. I've been working on two at once, and I'm also about to start developing two more scripts, one of which is with Simon (Pegg). It could be Scott Pilgrim [Scott Pilgrim’s Precious Little Life] is next or it could be Ant Man, we shall see."






Kingpin Vs. Lana Lang

That gentle giant- who, since "The Green Mile" has lost a truck of weight - of the silver screen, Michael Clarke Duncan, will join "Smallville" babe Kristein Kruek, "American Pie" star Chris Klein and one-time Bond baddie Rick Yune ("Die Another Day") for "Street Fighter", based on the classic - fuck, I used to live that game! - video game of the same name.

According to Variety, Kreuk, who plays Lana Lang on the Superboy series, will star as martial artist Chun-Li. Duncan will play Balrog, while Klein is stepping into the role of Nash. Yune is taking on the mystical Gen.

Rounding out the cast are Moon Bloodgood (of the now-defunct TV series "Journeyman"), Taboo from the Black Eyed Peas, Singapore's Edmund Chen and Hong Kong film star Cheng Pei Pei.

Apparently the producers are still looking for an actor to fill the villain Bison's shoes. That role, you'll recall, was played by the late Raul Julia in the previous "Street Fighter" movie.

Andrzej Bartkowiak ("Romeo Must Die," "Exit Wounds") is directing from a script penned by "Voltron" scribe Justin Marks. Hong Kong fight choreographer Dion Lam ("The Matrix") is handling the extreme fight sequences. It all kicks off in March.

My level-of-excitement meter is hovering around the 'cold' mark.






TV producer and voice actor Jim Begg dies at 69

Made-for-TV movie producer Jim Begg, a voice actor in several cartoon series as well, died Friday at 69.

Begg was the voice of Scoots in the 1969 Hanna-Barbera series Cattanooga Cats. In addition, he provided additional voices in 1979's Scooby-Doo and Scrappy-Doo. He was also Wheelie in several 1973 episodes of Bailey's Comets.

Born William James Begg in Battle Creek, Michigan on March 2, 1938, he began his career as an actor in New York before moving to Los Angeles, where he became a successful actor and producer.

He produced the 1983 TV-movie The Kid with the 200 I.Q., starring Gary Coleman. Other made-for-TV movies included The Kid with the Broken Halo (1982), The Fantastic World of D.C. Collins and Her Life as a Man (both 1984), and Thompson's Last Run and Johnnie Mae Gibson: FBI (both 1986).

He had guest roles in several live-action 1960s TV series, including I Dream of Jeannie and Bewitched.

One of his odder acting roles was as Fatso in the 1965 cult horror film Village of the Giants (whose cast included Tommy Kirk, Beau Bridges and a young Ron Howard).

Begg's film career as an actor included several beach films, such as Catalina Caper (in which he co-starred with Kirk again). Later, he was cast in the Howard-directed Grand Theft Auto.

He gave up acting in the early 1980s to become a producer. His last work was the 2005 film Into the Sun.

Jim Begg is survived by wife Judith and son Andrew James.

Services will be held at 11 a.m. today (Tuesday, February 19) at St. Francis de Sales Church, 13360 Valleyheart Drive, Sherman Oaks, California, with interment following at Forest Lawn Hollywood Hills.

In lieu of flowers, a remembrance in Begg's name is suggested to The Motion Picture and Television Fund or Big Brothers Big Sisters of Greater Los Angeles and the Inland Empire.





"Storm Hawks" Toys and Clothes Set to Roll Out This Year

Storm Hawks–branded toys and apparel are set to begin hitting store shelves later this year, AWN reports.

A trading card game, a toy line, backpacks, bedding, t-shirts, and caps are among the items that licensees will be selling. Carl's Jr. and Hardees will feature Storm Hawks toys in their Cool Kids Combos.




"Madea" Getting Animated

Tyler Perry will create, write, and executive produce a new animated series based on his Madea character, Variety reports.

The project will be produced by Exodus Film Group. No distribution or broadcast arrangements have yet been made, and producers do not rule out the possibility of distributing it directly to DVD.





Newsarama Interviews "Best Animated Short" Nominee Jerry Levitan

Newsarama's Animated Shorts has interviewed Jerry Levitan, producer of the animated short film "I Met the Walrus" which was one of the nominees for this year's "Best Animated Short Film" Academy Award. The film was produced from a 40-minute tape interview with John Lennon recorded by Levitan in 1969, and Levitan discusses how he managed to interview the soon-to-be ex-Beatle, the reason for the long gap between the recording and this short film, what will happen (if anything) to the remaining 35 minutes of the interview, and what it's like to be nominated for an Academy Award.





First Episode of "Pedro and Frankensheep" Available On-Line

Animation historian and scholar Jerry Beck has posted the first short from the Brothers McLeod's Pedro and Frankensheep, a new short film series that will debut on Children's BBC starting next week. The 5-minute shorts will air every day at 4:30 PM for two weeks.

Here's a sneak peek...









New "Bob the Builder" DVDs Due in March, June

Bob the Builder will star in new adventures with new members of his machine team beginning this March with the DVD release of Building Bobland Bay, producer HIT Entertainment said today.

That first DVD will be followed in June with Let's Build the Beach! and new episodes of Bob the Builder on PBS Kids in September.




"Eliot Kid" Joins Cartoon Network's Mediterranean Lineup

Eliot Kid is joining Cartoon Network's European, African, and Middle Eastern schedules, thanks to a deal between the network and Cake Distribution, C21 Media reports. The comedy-action series is about a boy who spends his time living imagined adventures involving monsters, knights and aliens.

"Magi-Nation" Online Game Enters Open Beta Testing Phase

Magi-Nation: Battle for the Moonlands, the online role-playing game based on the KidsWB series, has begun open beta testing, producer Cookie Jar Entertainment said today. In addition, the company said it will release a trading card game based on the property later this year.

Cookie Jar has also signed deals giving NCirlce Entertainment home video distribution rights to the animated series, and making Germany's Tele München its exclusive agent in Germany, Switzerland, Austria and Benelux.