Ben Price

News - 06/15/10...

2010-06-15T00:00:00.006-04:00

Shrek ends his box office reign

After three straight weekends on top, DreamWorks Animation’s Shrek Forever After has finally ended its box office reign, beaten by the larger than expected debut of the Jackie Chan Karate Kid remake. The animated comedy has grosssed $210 million against a $160 million budget, making it a pretty big hit for the studio. Meanwhile, on the international marketing front, a new Korean poster for the film with a World Cup theme has been revealed over at the Internet Movie Poster Awards

Skechers Promotes Zevo-3 with Shoebox DVD Preview

Skechers Entertainment is set to promote its new animated TV series Zevo-3 with promotional DVDs inserted in one million Skechers shoeboxes for the back to school season.

Zevo-3 is the debut TV show from Skechers Entertainment, and is set to premiere this fall on Nicktoons. The comedy-action series is about three teen heroes given powers to fight the villain Stankfoot. Twenty-six 22-minute episodes of the series are in the works, produced as 2D animation with 3D CGI effects.

“We will leverage the marketing and promotional power of the Skechers brand at retail to raise the visibility of Zevo-3 in a truly impactful way,” said Kristen Van Cott, VP of creative development for SKECHERS Entertainment. “We are confident this will result in enhanced viewership once the series takes to the airwaves.”

Zevo-3 is a Skechers Entertainment production in association with Moonscoop. Van Cott and Elizabeth Daro are co-executive producers. The show is based on characters created by John Masse.

(Thanks Animation Magazine)

Online Auction to help the Gulf

Venture Bros. artists Tom Bayne and Carly Monardo are having an auction of original animation production drawings, among other things, to raise money for the Gulf Cleanup. All proceeds go to The Colbert Nation's GULF OF AMERICA FUND. You can read about this charity here.

Check them out and help the cause:

Here's Tom's:
http://shop.ebay.com/ccwheeze/m.html?_nkw&_armrs=1&_from&_ipg&_trksid=p4340

Here's Carly's:
http://lasagnachildren.com/Gulf/

Carly and Tom are also accepting original art donations. They can be contacted via the links.

Creator of Thailand's 1st animated film remembered

Thailand's National Film Archive (Public Organisation) will host a memorial service Saturday afternoon for Payut Ngaokrachang, who drew the country's first animated film.

Members of the public are welcome at the service, to be held at the Film Archive compound in Salaya.

Frail and almost blind, Ngaokrachang died May 27 at 81.

Ngaokrachang premiered his 12-minute Hed Mahatsajan (The Amazing Incident) at Chalermthai Theatre in 1955. The hand-drawn cartoon centers on a man's encounters as he walks down Ratchadamnoen Avenue.

He also directed and wrote the 1979 animated film Sudsakorn, also known as Sudsakorn Adventure and The Adventure of Sudsakorn. The 82-minuted fantasy, based on the epic poem "Phra Aphai Mani" by Sunthon Phu, tells of how the son of a mermaid and a minstrel prince goes on a quest.

Born in 1929 in Prachuap Khiri Khan province, he studied art at Bangkok's Poh Chang College. In July 1955, he showed Thailand's first cartoon to the press before the screening of a feature-length Thai film.

Virtually alone in his field, Ngaokrachang was hired to draw cartoons for many Thai TV commercials. He drew his creations frame by frame.

In 1976, he and his daughter, 1970s actress Nantana Ngaokrachang, started drawing Sudsakorn, the first feature-length Thai animated film. It was completed two years later.

His daughter, a longtime United States resident, returned to Thailand for her father's funeral and will join the memorial Saturday.

Sudsakorn was the only feature-length Thai cartoon for almost 30 years until computer animators came on the scene. The little-seen Pang Pond was released in the early 2000s, and Kompin Khemkamnerd's Khan Kluay came out in 2006.

Ngaokrachang's eyes weakened over the years; he had nearly lost his eyesight from his intense labors on Sudsakorn.

The Thai Film Foundation named its annual animation contest the Payut Ngaokrachang Award in 1998. The man for whom it was named would show up at every year's ceremony to give the trophy to winners -- usually students.

During Saturday's memorial ceremony, poet Jiranan Pitpreecha will read a poem she composed for the occasion. After Ngaokrachang's students and relatives offer their memories of the animator, the archive will screen Hed Mahatsajan.

THIS FRIDAY IN NYC: The Twisted Animation of Patrick Smith

This Friday, June 18, NY indie Pat Smith will be presenting a screening of his short films including the world premiere of his latest film Masks. Also on the program: a behind-the-scenes mini-doc directed by Lizz Lyons. Pat, Lizz, and Karl von Kries, the composer of Masks, will be available for a Q&A session after the show. The screening begins at 8pm at the 92Y in Tribeca (200 Hudson St.). Tickets, which are $12, can be purchased ahead of time at the 92Y website. Also be sure to check out Scribble Junkies, the blog that Pat co-authors with Bill Plympton.

(Thanks Cartoon Brew)

MORE Looney Tunes character designs

The photo above is one I snapped of the wall of the Warner Bros. booth at the Licensing Expo in Las Vegas last week. The hype for the new Looney Tunes Show was there in full force, with Jessica Borutski’s character designs taking front and center in the promotion. Several Brew readers sent in the following scans (below), which were apparently given out to licensees. The more I see of these, the more I like.

(Thanks Cartoon Brew)

"Bolts & Blip" Joining Teletoon on June 27

Teletoon will add Bolts & Blip, a CG-animated action-comedy set in the year 2080, to its lineup, the network said today.

The title characters are misfit robots who are accidentally inducted into the Lunar League, a robotic sports circuit that winds up having to defend the Earth and Moon from evil forces. The network boasts that the series comes with an eco-friendly twist and conveys messages about teamwork.

Bolt & Blip will premiere on Monday, June 28, at 9:25am (ET/PT) and air on weekdays with an encore presentation on Saturdays at 7:00am. Episodes will also be available on Video on Demand and via the teletoon.com video player.

"SpongeBob: Clash of Triton" Premiering on July 5

The SpongeBob SquarePants episode "The Clash of Triton" will premiere on Nickelodeon on Monday, July 5, at 8:00pm (ET/PT), the network said today.

The half-hour special drags SpongeBob into a royal family quarrel as he tries to repair the frayed relationship between King Neptune and his son. Celebrity guest stars include John O'Hurley as King Neptune, Sebastian Bach of Skid Row as Triton, and Victoria Beckham as Queen Amphitrite.

The premiere and encores will be simulcast on Nickelodeon Mobile, and it will be available on download-to-own platforms following its premiere. It will be released to DVD on July 13.

Nickelodeon also says it will air all-new SpongeBob episodes during the rest of the week at 8:00pm (ET/PT).

Michel Ocelot Turns Two Dimensions Into Three With DRAGONS AND PRINCESSES

Oh, now this is intriguing.

French animator Michel Ocelot burst on to the international scene with his Kirikou And The Sorceress several years back, that feature being a traditionally animated foray into the world of African folklore. And while Kirikou was rightly hailed as a masterwork it only hinted at the diversity of Ocelot's style, the animator having previously worked extensively with paper cutouts and silhouettes. Some of this work is now available on DVD but audiences are soon going to get the chance to see it on the big screen.

Ocelot's next project has just been announced and it's a big one. Initially launched with the intent of getting back to the simplicity of his roots, the upcoming Dragons and Princesses is now pretty comfortably the largest project of his career, one which will exist in both television and feature incarnations with the feature screening in 3D. Using the silhouette style he developed with his earlier Princess and Princesses, the television series will feature five short films based on international fairy tales. One of these segments is due to screen at the Annecy Festival this week. For the feature, the existing five stories will be joined by a sixth, with the feature screening in 3D.

This, of course, begs the question of how you make a silhouette movie 3D, and I can only assume that they're going to use the technology to really separate the layers and create true depth of field. And this, to me, is a perfect use of the technology.

(Thanks Twitch)

If Anybody Ever Makes An Animated HP Lovecraft Feature, It Should Be Tom Werber.

Not only should Werber be given the chance to do it, I hereby submit that we should bully him into submission until he does. Don't make me come over there and smack you, Tom....

(Thanks Twitch)

New Teaser From Studio Ghibli's ARRIETTY!

Anything new from famed animation house Studio Ghibli is a cause for celebration, even more so when the new material is a new feature marking the directorial debut of one of Miyazaki's key animators based on an award winning and much loved book.

The film is Karigurashi No Arrietty - The Borrower Arrietty in English - directed by Hiromasa Yonebayashi, the key animator on Hayao Miyazaki's Howl's Moving Castle, Spirited Away and Ponyo. Based on Mary Norton's The Borrowers the story revolves around a family of tiny, but otherwise normal, people who live hidden in the house of normal sized people, surviving by 'borrowing' lost and discarded items that they can use themselves.

Slated for a late summer release a new teaser for this has just arrived. So what do you think? Is it another classic or another Cat Returns for Ghibli?

(Thanks Twitch)

(Ed. note: Personally, I thought The Cat Returns was great.)

First Teaser for Stephen Chow Produced CJ7: THE CARTOON

A few weeks ago, our first look at Stephen Chow-produced/Toe Yuen-directed CJ7: The Cartoon comes in the form of some screenshot images but now we get a chance to see these images put into animated form with the debut of the teaser trailer. Just like the first installment, more wacky situation ensues and there's even a funny nod to Shaolin Soccer.

The animated sequel opens in mainland China theaters on July 6th. You'll find the teaser trailer embedded below.

(Thanks Twitch)

PepperMelon Kicks Off World Cup With Gola Mondo

PepperMelon animated this new spot that promotes the coverage of the World Cup in the UK newspaper The Guardian. The ad is titled Gola Mondo, and PepperMelon’s Tomas Garcia directed, while Martin Dasnoy, Julio Velazquez and Franco Carlesimo animated. The agency on the job was Wieden + Kennedy, London. A peek into the character design process is cataloged at the PepperMelon site.

Two More Annecy Signal Films – Junk Space and Red River Bay

The 2010 Annecy Festival has released two more signal films from the students at Gobelins. The first, Red River Bay, takes us to a beast-filled swamp, and the second, Junk Space, fuses baseball, junk and some metaphysical energy cloud thing. Not sure what it all means, but damn is it beautiful.

Red River Bay – directed by De Rémi Bastie, Nicolas Dehghani, Rachid Guendouze, Maxime Mary and Jeremy Pires

Junk Space – directed by De Marion Delannoy, Jonathan Djob Nkondo, Paul Lacolley, Kevin Manach and Nicolas Pegon

More Student Shorts From The Animation Workshop

Strong work continues to emerge from The Animation Workshop in Denmark. Here’s two more shorts:

Alpha – directed by Nicolai Slothuus, Matthías Æ. Bjarnasson and Christian Munk Sørensen

Leit Motif – directed by Jeanett Nørgaard, Marie M. T. Tørslev, Marie Jørgensen and Mette Ilene Holmriis

Watch 90 Seconds of the Rebirth of Futurama

Like Family Guy, Futurama has risen from the dead. Starting on June 24th, 26 new episodes will begin airing on Comedy Central. The series has been dead longer than I’d recalled. Family Guy was dead for only a couple years, but Futurama was put to rest 2003. Then in 2008, four made-for-DVD projects were split into episodes and aired on Comedy Central. Here’s 90 seconds from the new episode, Rebirth, which airs at 10pm/9c on Thursday, June 24th.

This sequence was actually teased at Supercon in animatic form last year:

New Trailer for Adult Swim’s Frankenhole

Some footage has emerged from Dino Stamatopoulos’ (Moral Orel) new series Mary Shelley’s Frankenhole. The stop-motion project is set to begin on Adult Swim on June 27th, and it will be hosted by both Stamatopoulos and Andy Dick. Whu?

Here’s more proof that Dick has penetrated the Adult Swim force field:

'The Dark Knight' Director Is 'Not A Huge Fan of 3-D'

Earlier this year, it was officially announced that Christopher Nolan will return to direct a third "Batman" film. And while there has been speculation that the follow-up to "The Dark Knight" would be filmed in 3-D, Nolan recently made his feelings on the subject crystal clear.

"I'm not a huge fan of 3-D," said Nolan during an appearance at the Los Angeles Times Hero Complex Film Festival. "There are a lot of problems with [shooting in 3-D]. The idea of shooting a whole film through a massive beam-splitter and so forth — there are enormous compromises. Post-conversion technologies probably, for me, are definitely the future, but really it is up to the audiences what they want to see and how they want to watch their films."

However, Nolan also added "There is no question if audiences want to watch films in stereoscopic imaging, that's what the studios will be doing, and that's what I'll be doing."

The report also indicated that Nolan's third "Batman" movie will begin filming early next year. The film is scheduled to be released on July 20, 2012.

Back in March, Nolan indicated that his next "Batman" will wrap up the storyline he started with "Batman Begins" and "The Dark Knight."

"I’m very excited about the end of the film, the conclusion, and what we’ve done with the characters,” said Nolan. "Unlike the comics, these things don’t go on forever in film and viewing it as a story with an end is useful. Viewing it as an ending, that sets you very much on the right track about the appropriate conclusion and the essence of what tale we’re telling."

Nolan also recently confirmed that The Joker would not be recast or used in his third "Batman" movie.

More 'Thor' Revealed: First Look At Jaimie Alexander As Sif

Back in March, actress Jaimie Alexander posted an update on Twitter about her role in "Thor," saying she had to "get even more fit" to play the Asgardian warrior Sif.

Now it looks like we have our first look at Alexander in costume, courtesy of Entertainment Tonight's recent "Thor" set visit. Over at SuperHeroHype, they've posted a trio of low-res screenshots from the broadcast featuring Alexander in the midst of some wire-work on the set.

The images don't seem to indicate much correlation between the live-action Sif's costume and that of her comics counterpart, with the character's winged helmet (a recurring element in her costume over the years) being the most notable omission.

However, it looks like Sif will indeed be dressed to kill — literally — which certainly stays true to the character.

In comics history, Sif is an Asgardian warrior with a longstanding love for Thor, who frequently accompanies him into battle. alexander was announced in the role back in September 2009, and has commented publicly on several occasions about her intense "Thor" training regimen.

Men In Black III Big Willie Style Teaser Clip

Announced at last year's ShoWest, Men in Black III will be the latest chapter of alien fighting agents Will Smith and Tommy Lee Jones.

At the Sony 3D TV launch event, they showed a clip of Will dressed in his MIB gear, talking about how awesome he is. What a shock. More from Sonyinsider.com:

While Smith has officially signed on to return as Agent Jay, Jones is in advanced negotiations to return as Agent Kay. Josh Brolin is also in talks to play the younger (1969) version of Kay. Others rumored to have parts in the film include Sacha Baron Cohen and Jemaine Clement. It was later confirmed that Clement had landed the role of Boris (formerly named “Yaz”). Production of the sequel is tentatively set to begin during the 2010 Fall season and will welcome back producers Walter F. Parkes and Laurie MacDonald. Steven Spielberg is also set to return as executive producer.

Check out the clip below.

(Thanks Latino Review)

Warners hires writers for 'Green Lantern 2' and 'Flash' (exclusive)

“Green Lantern” is a year away from release, but Warner Bros. already is starting development on a sequel.

The studio has hired Greg Berlanti, Michael Green and Marc Guggenheim, all of whom worked on the “Lantern” screenplay, to write a treatment for the second installment.

The trio has also been tapped to pen the treatment for the silver-screen incarnation of “The Flash.”

Under the deal, they would then go on to write the screenplay for one of the two projects, though which one has not been determined.

“Lantern” is shooting in New Orleans under the direction of Martin Campbell with Ryan Reynolds starring as the emerald ring-wielding DC Comics superhero who is part of an intergalactic police force known as the Green Lantern Corps.

Development on a second installment this far out from a movie’s release date is rare, signaling the studio’s confidence in what it sees so far.

It also appears to be the first moves the studio is making under its newly configured relationship with DC.

In September, DC was reorganized to bring it closer to Warners, with Diane Nelson named president of newly created DC Entertainment. In February, artist Jim Lee and executive editor Dan DiDio were named publishers of DC Comics. Star writer Geoff Johns was appointed chief creative officer of DCE, with the aim of bridging the comics and filmed entertainment sides.

With new Batman and Superman films in the writing stages and “Lantern” filming, the team thought “Flash” was the next logical hero to tackle.

Development on a feature version of the scarlet speedster has gone through several false starts over the years, but the character is close to Johns’ heart. The writer recently brought back to prominence one version of the character not seen since the mid-1980s and is working on a relaunch of the series.

The “Flash” film will take inspiration from Johns’ recent work and will feature the Barry Allen incarnation of the character. (In comics lore, several names have wielded the Flash mantle, though Allen, created in 1956, remains by far the most popular.)

Berlanti, creator of “Everwood,” recently directed the feature “Life as We Know it,” starring Katherine Heigl, and is an exec producer on ABC’s “Brothers and Sisters.” He co-created “Eli Stone” with Guggenheim, who is exec producing ABC’s upcoming superhero drama “No Ordinary Family.” Berlanti co-created "Family," which stars Michael Chiklis.

Green worked with Berlanti on “Everwood” and created NBC’s “Kings.”

(Thanks Heat Vision)

News - 06/14/10...

2010-06-14T00:06:00.006-04:00

Sylvain Chomet interview

Sylvain Chomet, director of Belleville Rendez-Vous and now The Illusionist. Photograph: Paul Cooper

Sylvain Chomet talks about his new film "The Illusionist" HERE -

The biggest problem [in making the film] was finding the animators. Like the music-hall acts in the film, animators had become convinced by Hollywood that their time had passed.

"A lot of animators, basically people who can draw, got scared by these wankers from Disney saying that 2D animation is dead, that it was only going to be 3D and Pixar from now on. It is just typical shit by people in ties who don't know what they are talking about. Are they saying that Aardman is dead, too, then? I mean how stupid are these people? Saying 2D is dead is like saying that a car race is the future of the Tour de France."

"We had trouble because the fantastic animators we found had got really stressed because they thought after our film there was not going to be any 2D any more. Some were driving buses or retraining. People really had been made to believe that the end had come. The truth is that animation is always mixing things up: pen and paper, stop motion, puppets, 3D. Suddenly this bizarre competition has been created. What it is, one more time, is this American reflex to kill off the competition, to say that you can only do it one way and destroy everything else that went before. The whole society is like that. They destroy what they have to build something new. They end up with no roots to draw on, nothing to compare their work with to see if it is good or not. American culture is in real danger of starving itself to dead. You just have to see what Hollywood is producing to see how narrow it is getting."

(Thanks David Nethery)

Upcoming in North America (and Other English Speaking Territories)

Following news of a Voltron anime TV series producers Richard Suckle and Ted Koplar told MTV Splashpage a live action movie is still in the works

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Johnny Sokko And His Flying Robot, the localized, live action Giant Robo is being offered by MGM DVD on Demand

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An animated Batman: Year One might be in the pipeline

Bandai Entertainment

Upcoming in Japan

Summer anime previews, via AnimeNation
part one
part two

Promos

Seitokai Yakuindomo
Utawarerumono OVA 3
Welcome to the Space Show
Panty and Stocking
Shiki
Gothic & Lolita Psycho
Kimi ni Todoke live action adaptation
My Mean Sempai - the live action work directed by Yutaka Yamamoto (The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya, Lucky Star, Kannagi)

The new Anne of Green Gables compilation

Anime
summer preview

Nausicaa.net reports
Studio Ghibli blogger Nishioka announced that painting and filming work on Ghibli's Arrietty: The Borrower were completed on May 29. Voice recording has already completed and sound production is scheduled for completion by the end of June.

The movie will hit Japanese theatres July 17.

Tatsuya Fujiwara (Death Note's Light) has been added to the Arrietty cast.

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The Japanese site for Warner Brothers' live action show Super Natural will feature an animated "special project."

Madhouse will be producing it with Shigeyuki Miya (Lupin III: Green vs Red, Aoi Bungaku Series, Buzzer Beater) and Atsuko Ishizuka (Aoi Bungaku Series) co-directing.

Warner Home Video will release Supernatural the Animation on Blu-ray and DVD in Japan on January 12, 2011.

The anime will be a 22-episode season that will cover the storyline of the live-action version's first two seasons.

Naoya Takayama (Night Head, Liar Game) is supervising the series' scripts, and Takahiro Yoshimatsu (Trigun) is designing the characters.

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In an interview with ANN, Gainax anime studio co-founder and acting president Hiroyuki Yamaga revealed Gainax's next project (beyond Panty & Stocking) will be based on a novel set in 1920s England and revolves around a boy and a girl who collect magical books.

Yamaga noted that he was having difficulty pinning down the setting for the book, which requires both a '20s feel and cars.

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Aniplex and Bones are launching a new mecha anime called Star Driver Kagayaki no Takuto (Star Driver: Radiant Takuto) with Takuya Igarashi (Soul Eater, Ouran High School Host Club) directing, written by Yoji Enokido (Revolutionary Girl Utena, Aim for the Top! Gunbuster 2) is writing the scripts. Misa and Hiroka Mizuya are collaborating on the original character designs, and Yoshiyuki Ito (Fullmetal Alchemist, Soul Eater) is adapting the designs for animation and overseeing the animation. Satoru Kousaki (The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya, Bakemonogatari) is scoring the music.

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A third StiTch! anime (based on Lilo and Stitch) called Stitch! ~Zutto Saiko no Tomodachi~ (Stitch! Always the Best of Friends) is scheduled to premiere on Japanese TV in July

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Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood will end with episode 64, scheduled to Air in Japan on July 4th. The manga ended in the July issue of Square Enix's Monthly Shonen Gangan. Sengoku Basara will takes in time slot on July 11

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The first episode of the Black Lagoon: Roberta's Blood OVA will air on various Japanese television stations between June 26 and 29. Osaka's MBS station will air a long "TV Edit" version of the episode on June 26, while seven other stations will show a short "TV Edit."

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Monthly Shonen Magazine have confirmed that the anime adaptation of Alive - The Final Evolution, released in North America by Del Rey, is a dead project. The anime fell through after Gonzo was delisted from the Tokyo Stock Exchange.

The Anime Business

FUNimation parent company Navarre report its fourth quarter and fiscal year 2010 financial results.

Net sales were $138.3 million, as compared to net sales of $147.1 million for the same period last year, a reduction of $8.8 million or 6%.

Operating income during the fourth quarter was $3.8 million, as compared to operating income of $2.3 million in the prior fiscal year, an increase of 68%.

Net income increased to $9.2 million, or $0.25 per diluted share, versus net income of $3.2 million, or $0.09 per diluted share in the prior year. This year's fourth quarter includes the impact of a $6.4 million, or $0.18 per diluted share, non-cash income tax benefit arising out of the partial reversal of a valuation allowance recorded against deferred tax assets.

EBITDA before share-based compensation expense was $5.4 million, as compared to EBITDA before share-based compensation expense of $4.3 million and adjusted EBITDA of $7.4 million in the prior year's fourth quarter. Adjusted EBITDA does not include the impact of impairment and
restructuring charges.

Debt at March 31, 2010 was $6.6 million; as compared to debt of $24.1 million on March 31, 2009, a reduction of $17.5 million or 73%.

The company also spoke to its intention to sell Funimation

"Our recent announcement regarding the Company's engagement of Houlihan Lokey to evaluate strategic alternatives for FUNimation Entertainment is an important element in our strategy. Although we believe that FUNimation has a bright future, its growth initiatives include original co-productions, social networks and digital broadcasting. Those projects have limited synergies with our other businesses and we believe are best executed with ownership that has assets or expertise in those areas," continued Deacon.

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Rumors filtering around concerns problems for Gainax

Two prominent members of GAINAX who manage the Evangelion movie copyrights have left and formed a new company called Ground Works to manage those rights. GAINAX's name has been left off of a huge portion of new Eva materials and merchandise, replaced by Ground Works. Thus, GAINAX and the recent Evangelion films may be splitting up. It's not like Hideki Anno's anger helped, either.

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Anime News Network reports Production IG parent IG Port plans to acquire an 11.2% of Tatsunoko Productions (Gatchaman, Karas, Spped Racer) In addition, I.G President and CEO Mitsuhisa Ishikawa will serve as a part-time director for Tatsunoko.

Anime on North American TV

Syfy will hold off on the final episodes six of Monster until August while it airs Requiem from the Darkness

The Pokémon Company International announced the newest Pokémon animated series -- Pokémon: DP Sinnoh League Victors is now running on Cartoon Network

Worth Checking Out...

Media

May animation retrospective

First Teaser for Stephen Chow Produced CJ7: THE CARTOON

Akira/Speed Racer homage in Shorties Watching Shorties
here - here

Judd Winick Talks Writing The "Batman: Under The Red Hood" Animated Feature

Warner Home Video has released a new studio-conducted interview with Judd Winick, writer of the upcoming direct-to-video Batman: Under the Red Hood animated feature.

The World's Finest presents the latest in a series of studio-conducted interviews, provided by Warner Home Video, for the Batman: Under the Red Hood direct-to-video animated feature. Continue reading below for the latest installment featuring writer Judd Winick.

WRITER JUDD WINICK BRINGS CHARACTERS FROM PAGE TO SCREEN IN BATMAN: UNDER THE RED HOOD, THE NEXT DC UNIVERSE ANIMATED ORIGINAL FILM COMING TO DVD JULY 27, 2010

Judd Winick has returned to Gotham City with a vengeance. The award-winning cartoonist has successfully transitioned one of his benchmark storylines from comic book pages to animated film with the upcoming release of Batman: Under the Red Hood, the latest entry in the popular series of DC Universe Animated Original Movies.

Born and raised on Long Island, New York, the University of Michigan graduate gained national fame as a cast member of MTV’s The Real World, San Francisco in 1994. In the wake of the death of his Real World roommate and friend, AIDS activist Pedro Zamora, Winick embarked on a national AIDS education lecture tour. Later, the lecture and his friendship with Zamora was documented in his award-winning graphic novel Pedro And Me.

Winick next created his original comic book series, Adventures of Barry Ween, Boy Genius, and then began a long running stint as one of the top writers on mainstream super hero comics. Winick has scripted such titles as Batman, Superman, Green Lantern, Trials Shazam, Green Arrow and Outsiders (for DC Comics), Exiles (for Marvel) and Star Wars (for Dark Horse). He also was the creator and executive producer of Cartoon Network’s animated series The Life and Times of Juniper Lee.

He is currently developing live action television and animation, writing the new bi-weekly comic title for DC Comics Justice League: Generation Lost, as well as the monthly Power Girl.

In 2005, Winick presented his Red Hood storyline in the Batman comics and it was met with tremendous sales alongside powerful waves of controversy. He has evolved that story into the script for the all-new DC Universe film, Batman: Under the Red Hood. In celebration of the film’s July 27 street date, DC Comics will distribute a six-issue mini-series, Red Hood: The Lost Days. Written by Winick and drawn by Pablo Raimondi, the mini-series offers greater insight into the back story of the title character.

From the producing triumvirate of Warner Premiere, DC Entertainment and Warner Bros. Animation, Batman: Under the Red Hood will be distributed by Warner Home Video as a Special Edition version on Blu-Ray™ and 2-disc DVD, as well as being available on single disc DVD, On Demand and for Download.

Winick is thrilled with the way his words have transitioned from comic/graphic novel to screenplay to animated film in the form of Batman: Under the Red Hood, and is only too happy to talk about the end result. Here are some of his thoughts …

QUESTION: What was the greatest challenge in taking your graphic novel to script format?

JUDD WINICK: I had to take two years of story and boil it down to 75 minutes of film, and that’s a challenge and liberating at the same time. It forces one to cut out all the fat and get to the heart of it. It’s about making a movie. And for those who know anything about movies, it’s about putting one foot in front of the other, building from one scene to the next to the next and so on. There are no cul-de-sacs or crossovers – it’s all about getting the story to its essence.

QUESTION: Were you disappointed with what you needed to cut out?

JUDD WINICK: Actually, I was thrilled about what went in. I’m really, really happy that the emotional core of the story is still there. We don’t really get to tell stories like this in animation. The opera of it all is usually reserved for live action. This story is about characters actually emoting and dealing with horrible situations. Animation usually gets just the action and the visualization, and not the characters actually feeling anything. So it was nice we got to do that.

QUESTION: Can you describe the gratification of watching your words come to animated life?

JUDD WINICK: It’s great. And I don’t mean to take anything away from writing for comics, as this is just a different form of story telling. One of the fun parts of writing for film is that it allows you the freedom for your characters to just shut up and fight. We can’t do that in comics – there always has to be some banter or internal monologue. More importantly, it’s gratifying to see the words and action come to life in all the ways film affords – through incredibly talented actors giving the words all that emotional impact; and to see the characters actually fight and run and yell and shout and cry. They become living, breathing beings. That’s a very exhilarating experience for a writer.

QUESTION: Do the voices of Bruce Greenwood, Jensen Ackles, Neil Patrick Harris and John DiMaggio match what you had in your head while writing the dialogue?

JUDD WINICK: I’ve been writing these characters for years, and it’s remarkable the job those actors did. Greenwood is about as Batman as you can get – which is exactly what you want. You don’t want to be surprised – as soon as he speaks, you want to say to yourself, “That’s Batman.” Nightwing is exactly as I’ve had him in my head – Neil Patrick Harris couldn’t possibly do it better. I’d like to do an entire feature with Bruce Greenwood as Batman and Neil Patrick Harris as Nightwing.

Red Hood is funny for me because I thought I’d written this character in this incarnation more than anyone else, but I had no clue what he’d really sound like. And yet, when Jensen speaks, that’s the right tone and timbre. As far as Joker, that is one of the truly great characters that I think needs to be left up to interpretation. There’s only been a handful of people who have created Joker – Mark Hamill set the standard for animation, then you’ve got Jack (Nicholson) and Heath Ledger. But John (DiMaggio) has such versatility, he could go anywhere with it, and he made it totally his own. He really gives a very big and gruff and masculine performance, so deep and throaty and bass. He’s wonderfully scary and really gets the job done.

Wade Williams as Black Mask absolutely cracks me up. He’s like a lion. Honestly, what came out in the animation came directly out of his performance. Wade made him into a caged animal who might go off at any second. He’s constantly roaring, which is an entirely different take than I anticipated and that’s awesome. That’s an actor making decisions and making it his own and really hitting the mark.

QUESTION: Executive Producer Bruce Timm says your pitch was unorthodox in that it was over the phone and yet was absolutely perfect and completely sold him. How’d you pull that off?

JUDD WINICK: I’d given a rougher pitch to Gregory Noveck (DC Comics’s Senior Vice President of Creative Affairs) and he loved it, but we had to pitch it to the gang. The schedule worked out that I had to be in San Francisco, and they had to be in Burbank. That’s not the ideal way to pitch, especially for me – I like to jump around a lot, shout a lot, wave my hands and be theatrical. That’s especially true for this pitch because it’s a very emotional script. I kind of sold the idea in the first five minutes of the pitch, which was essentially describing the first five minutes of the movie.

I thought this would be a cool animated feature, but to really tell this story, we had to find a way to show Robin dying. We had to get the history in quickly to start the movie with that emotional smack. So I’m on my head set, going through this scene, talking about Batman barreling down the street of Sarajevo, the Joker beating Robin to death,. I’m banging my hands on the desk, yelling as loud as I can, and by the time I said “Fade to black, cue to opening credits,” it was just dead quiet on the other end of the line. I said, “Is everybody still there?” And they said, “Yeah, that was awesome.” Done. Sold.

QUESTION: How did you first enter the Batcave as a fan?

JUDD WINICK: Like many people of my age, I’m sure I was reading the comics but I remember watching the TV series more – and not really liking it. It didn’t quite feel right. I know I enjoyed it more like watching Super Friends, but I really gravitated toward the comics more than anything. The series wasn’t dark enough. It didn’t have the edge I wanted in my Batman. Ultimately, the TV show gave me a sense of what I didn’t want Batman to be, even back then.

QUESTION: For The Real World fans out there … do you have any inclination to do another reality show?

JUDD WINICK: I would say NEVER. (Laughs) Doing reality was like elective surgery. I got the nose job, it worked out just fine. I don’t need a touch up, and I don’t need another one. When they started to do the follow-ups, we just kept saying “No” until they stopped asking us. We have jobs and responsibilities and really don’t need the money or the humiliation. And most importantly, we had a fairly extraordinary and terrible experience during the show and still came out positively. We are very lucky in that way, and I would not assume to tempt fate and do anything like it again.

QUESTION: Do you feel Batman: Under the Red Hood fits into Batman’s current live-action film tone?

JUDD WINICK: I’d say Christopher Nolan’s The Dark Knight was sort of the catalyst. After seeing that film, it got my juices going thinking that we could do something like that with a Red Hood arc. At the time, I didn’t even know what Warner Premiere was working on. It all started with a quick email to Gregory (Noveck) asking if they were looking for any more Batman features. Comics and film present very specific camps for the characters and the stories. Animation should be its own genre that straddles between the two that can give comic fans the product their hoping to see, and provide a new vision for the fans who only know these characters in the most mainstream way.

QUESTION: Do you like presenting your stories in animated form?

JUDD WINICK: I really do. I’m a cartoonist. I don’t draw for money, and mostly what I do is the writing. But that’s how I view myself more than anything else – as a cartoonist. I grew up on animation, and I always loved knowing that the cartoons on the page could actually come to life. I worshipped at the alter of Chuck Jones, and realized at a very young age that one guy did all the things I love best. I love it as a medium and I love how it’s evolved. Animation features have exploded – there is more high-end animation being produced now than ever before, and I think that’s great.

Glee Star To Voice Dorothy of Oz In New Animated Film

Variety reports Glee actress Lea Michele will star in Summertime Entertainment's CG animated musical Dorothy of OZ as the lead character, Dorothy. Other actors attached to the project include Jim Belushi as the Lion, Dan Aykroyd as the Scarecrow and Kelsey Grammer as the Tin Man.

The songs are being written by Bryan Adams, who also wrote the songs to Dreamworks' Spirit: Stallion of the Cimarron, and Jim Vallance, who had teamed up with Adams previously on hits like "Heaven" and "Summer of '69".

Summertime plans on completing the film by the end of next year, although distribution is not set.

The Animation of the Brothers Warner

Part of the morning of Your Faithful Servant was spent at the Warner Bros. Animation facility on the picturesque Warner (formerly Columbia) Ranch, located in the San Fernando Valley hamlet of Burbank ...

A WBA staffer told me:

"Other studios are doing lots of CGI shows. We're doing Green Lantern, and we'll probably be doing more CG series in the next few years. But we'll also keep doing hand-drawn shows. I don't think hand-drawn series on television are going to go out of style. Hand-drawn is beautiful ..."

Would that more executives felt this way.

My thinking is that every studio doing t.v. animation will be wading deeper into CGI episodics as the decade goes on. It just seems to be the trend now, after the false start back at the turn of the century. (Remember Starship Troopers? I didn't suppose you did.)

The conundrum for the conglomerates: CGI isn't cheap, and if higher ratings don't result from the CG rendering, then the extra money spent might have been pointless.

Meanwhile, the production board crew for Looney Tunes is settled in and moving briskly along. And delighted to be working. "May this show last multiple seasons ..."

(Thanks Animation Guild Blog)

Back at Starz

A large part of my later afternoon was spent at the Starz Media building, where there are now multiple studios residing within ....

The Hasbro Studio has moved in its administration but as yet no artists. Hasbro execs inform me they come over from Beverly Hills (where they have temporary digs) at the end of the month.

Marvel is working on super hero shows in another part of the building ...

In yet another area story development on Dan Vs. is going on. (Board artists, directors and designers busily working away.) And the [deleted to be on the safe side] ...

And of course The Simpsons takes up a major chunk of square footage, where many have come back from hiatus and a highly placed person today told me:

"I don't see how this show [Simpsons] doesn't go several more seasons. Fox wants to keep its Sunday night Animation Domination block together. [The Yellow Family] might be as potent as it used to be, but their still an anchor to the whole thing ..."

I pointed out (as I generally do), that if Fox stops making original Simpsons episodes, the whole franchise (merchandise, syndication deals, DVDs, foreign markets, etc.) being winding down. And Fox is unlikely to want that to happen.

(Thanks Animation Guild Blog)

Cleveland Times Three

Fox Animation over on Wilshire is going to have its full complement of shows in production during the coming year:

... On Thursday, the Fox network said that it had ordered a third season of “The Cleveland Show,” the cartoon comedy spun off from its animated hit “Family Guy.” ...

For Season 3, [actor and producer Mike] Henry said, the goal is to “take things to the next level. Now that we’ve established our form, we want to break the form. More guest stars, more music, more high energy. We just want to pack more into our shows.” ...

This leads me to believe that Fox wants to keep its Animation Domination Sunday night block together. Which means that the other two MacFarlane shows, along with The Simpsons, will keep on trucking into new seasons.

(Thanks Animation Guild Blog)

Magnolia

Not the boulevard in the San Fernando Valley, but an award in the Middle Kingdom.

... [A]t the closing night of the 16th Shanghai Television Festival ... the Magnolia Award for Best Animation went to Toonmax Media for its popular "Pleasant Goat and Big Big Wolf," a series whose characters are widely known and merchandized around China and one that runs on Nickelodeon's dedicated regional channel for Chinese animation.

I keep hearing about "Pleasant Goat" but haven't ever seen it. I'm starting to think I live a cloistered life.

I wasn't even up on the Magnolia Awards. If you'd have asked me, I would've guessed they took place somewhere in Van Nuys.

(Thanks Animation Guild Blog)

The Fox

It might not have done much at the box office, but Mr. Anderson's stop motion opus has done splendidly in the critical hosannas and awards departments.

Wes Anderson's "Fantastic Mr. Fox" outfoxed the competition at the 50th Annecy International Animation Film Festival with the film taking top prizes the Cristal for best feature and the Audience Award as the festival ended its six-day run on Saturday night.

The French, God love them, always march to their own drummer.

(Thanks Animation Guild Blog)

It's the Conglomerates' World ...

... we just live in it (wherever we are):

Big Films Cost [New Zealand] Millions

Attempts to woo Hollywood film-makers have lost New Zealand tens of millions of dollars, confidential ministerial briefings say.

Now, critics are accusing Government ministers of having stars in their eyes.

A Cabinet paper prepared by Treasury in February and released to the Herald on Sunday under the Official Information Act, said subsidies for films such as Avatar and King Kong could not be economically justified. ...

"It's a transfer of wealth from the average New Zealander to the rich beggars of Hollywood," [Act finance spokesman Sir Roger Douglas] said. ...

Gee. This "Transfer of Wealth" thing, it sure is going around. Would Hank Paulson, Tim Geithner and Larry Summers be moonlighting with the New Zealand guvmint, do you think?

And thanks to the visual effects guy for e-mailing a link to the article.

(Thanks Animation Guild Blog)

Dutch Team Readies Pecker For Theaters

Pecker is an upcoming stop-motion short set to releaes in 70 Dutch theaters in July of this year. The trailer below gives you just a momentary glance at the production, which looks like a helluva lotta fun. It was animated by Patrick Raats and Erik van Schaaik, who was also the writer and director.

Variety IDs 10 Animators on the Rise

Variety released a story today titled Tomorrow’s Toon Talent, which lists “10 animators poised to become household names.” Here’s who they list – anyone you think they left out?

David O’Reilly
Chris Butler
Arthur De Pins
Headless Prods
Patrick Jean
Michael Langan
Stephen Neary
Teddy Newton
Mamoru Hosoda
Pendleton Ward

Oh, Hello Animation Greets SIFF Attendees

For this year’s Seattle International Film Festival (SIFF), which is running through ’til June 13th, the production company known as Oh, Hello produced this bumper. It’s an ambitious piece of animation, zooming through space and time at a breakneck pace.

HBO Ends "Life & Times of Tim"

HBO has cancelled The Life and Times of Tim, Deadline Hollywood reports.

The website says that producer MRC is trying to interest Comedy Central, Adult Swim, or TBS in picking up the show, but negotiations are being complicated by the need to fashion a package that would include the current 20 episodes plus new seasons.

Cool Stuff: Leiji Matsumoto's Bohemian Rhapsody AMV

This fantastic and strange music video was produced by the famed anime & manga creator Leiji Matsumoto (Galaxy Express 999, Captain Harlock, Space Battlship Yamato) and released in Japan to commemorate the 18th anniversary of Freddie Mercury's death. The footage apparently uses some characters and concepts from Out of Galaxy Koshika, a digitally-distributed manga by Matsumoto about a young boy that joins the crew of a dimension-traveling spaceship on a quest to save the Earth--naturally!

Turner to Take Arab Programming International

Turner Broadcasting and Rubicon Group will partner to develop, co-produce, and broadcast worldwide kids' programs from Middle Eastern producers, The National reports.

The agreement covers three series, Ben & Izzy, Tareq wa Shireen and Pink Panther & Pals, and includes merchandising programs related to the former pair.

Ben & Izzy and Tareq wa Shireen will be rolled into European, Asian, and North American territories over the next nine to twelve months. Pink Panther & Pals is already broadcast internationally.

Rubicon is based in Jordan.

PlayStation Network Adds Marvel Toons to Lineup

The PlayStation Network has added seven new animated Marvel series to its lineup, including The Super Hero Squad Show; X-Men: Evolution; Wolverine and the X-Men; Fantastic Four: World’s Greatest Heroes; Iron Man: Extremis Motion Comic; Spider-Woman: Agent of SWORD Motion Comic; and Astonishing X-Men: Gifted Motion Comic.

The Network also says that those who buy the “Director’s Edition” of the Iron Man: Extremis series in comic book shops will be able to download the corresponding episode free from PlayStation Network when it is released.

Shows are available in SD or HD by navigating TV Shows> Networks> Marvel within the PlayStation Store.

Scurfield Exits Disney for Coolabi

U.K.-based animation production company Coolabi has hired former Disney executive Zoe Scurfield as is head of development and production.

Scurfield will be in charge of development and expansion of Coolabi’s TV production in both animation and live action. She will be the company’s executive producer on all projects and serve as the main liaison with broadcasters and production partners.

Coolabi has in the past year become a major independent production house in the United Kingdom. Its projects include the animated series The Large Family, airing on CBeebies and TF1 in France, and live-action series Dead Gorgeous, showing on CBBC and ABC Australia. Its next project is the animated series Poppy Cat for Nick Jr.

Scurfield previously worked for the Walt Disney Co. for 13 years. Her most recent position was executive director of programming for Disney Channels U.K., Scandinavia and Emerging Markets.

“Coolabi is a fast-growing and dynamic company with a fantastic portfolio of exciting and diverse properties,” says Scurfield. “This new role puts me in a great position to make full use of my experience to help drive Coolabi’s rapid expansion as content producers, and I am looking forward to working with key broadcasters in the development of existing properties, while discovering and nurturing new ones. I’m delighted to be joining such a talented and strategic team at this exciting time.”

(Thanks Animation Magazine)

Xeth Feinberg Joins Pitch Party Judges’ Panel

Animator Xeth Feinberg, the director and founder of Mishmash Media, has joined the panel of judges for Animation Magazine’s ninth annual Pitch Party!

Feinberg founded Mishmash in 1997 as a boutique studio in New York. His credits include the animated series Queer Duck, 24: Day Zero, Blue Sky Studios, Vanity Fair.com and Classic Media.

The annual Pitch Party opens up a section of Animation Magazine to anyone who wants to pitch an idea for the next great animated series. The winner gets the chance to pitch their idea to the judge/animation executive of their choice.

Deadline for entry is June 7, so get cracking! To enter, contact our sales staff by phone at (818) 991-2884, Ext. 104, or email at sales@animationmagazine.net. Entry fee is $375

So who else is judging the event? Read on:

• Brian Jones - Manager, Action Adventure Series, Cartoon Network
• Kim Manning - Director of Programming and Acquisitions, Adult Swim
• Alan Gregg - Director of Original Content, Teletoon
• Michael J. Vogel – Head of Boys Animation, Hasbro Studios.
• Kevin Gamble - Vice President, Development, Disney Television Animation
• Sharon Levy - Executive VP, original series and animation, Spike TV
• Barbara Uecker - Head of Programming and Acquisitions for ABC Children’s TV, Australia
• Scott Landsman - VP, Development, Comedy Central
• Ellen Goldsmith-Vein - President and Founder, Gotham Group

The winner of the Pitch Party also gets additional editorial coverage and the cost of your entry reimbursed. The second and third place winners get editorial coverage. The winners of our staff pick and online readers poll also will get editorial coverage as well as copies of Toon Boom's Storyboard Pro software.

Winners will be announced in our August issue, which hits stands around July 1. Winners also will be hyped on our website during the week of Comic-Con International: San Diego, July 22-25.

For more information, go to www.animationmagazine.net/pitch_party_2010.html.

(Thanks Animation Magazine)

Has 'Captain America' Found Its Dum Dum Dugan?

Joe Johnston's "Captain America: The First Avenger" movie could be classing up its cast with Neal McDonough as Dum Dum Dugan if rumored talks produce a job offer for the "Desperate Housewives" actor.

McDonough would join an already impressive roster that recently added Tommy Lee Jones in a mystery role.

McDonough's conversations with Marvel Studios have not been officially acknowledged, according to Deadline.com, but he may be the leading candidate right now to pick up a bowler hat, mustache and cigar for one of Nick Fury's most dedicated S.H.I.E.L.D. troops.

In a list of credits that includes Chris Evans as Steve Rogers, Hugo Weaving as Red Skull, Hayley Atwell as Peggy Carter, Sebastian Stan as Bucky and Toby Jones as Arnim Zola, McDonough would be in good company.

Assuming Marvel sticks to Dugan's classic look, he would at the very least be one of best dressed. Captain America got a sleeker, wingless, movie-friendly update, but my best guess would be that they'll leave Dugan's core costume elements alone for the most part, save augmenting his S.H.I.E.L.D. uniform.

Jeremy Renner To Join 'The Avengers' As Hawkeye?

Reports pegging Jeremy Renner as a contender to play Hawkeye in "The Avengers" were apparently right on target, as "The Hurt Locker" actor is nearly set to make his Marvel.

According to Heat Vision, Renner is in final negotiations to join "The Avengers" as Clint Barton, the bow-and-arrow wielding hero better known as Hawkeye. Renner would be joining an impressive cast consisting of Robert Downey Jr. as Iron Man, Chris Hemsworth as Thor, Chris Evans as Captain America and Samuel L. Jackson as Nick Fury.

Renner's possible involvement in "The Avengers" dates back to November of last year when the actor suggested that he might make a cameo appearance as Hawkeye in "Thor," with an extended role in "The Avengers."

"If I was a betting man, I would bet that Hawkeye would probably show up in Thor, and then be in The Avengers," he said at the time. "But do I know for sure? I can't say. But I'd love for that to happen. It'd be fun."

Renner later spoke to MTV News about the possible casting, saying that he thinks Hawkeye is a cool character because he lacks superpowers.

"I liked it because he wasn't a superhero," he said. "He's not a guy in tights doing his thing, he's actually just a regular dude with a highly trained set of skills. I think I can actually connect to that. Not just flying around with a codpiece on or something."

CONFIRMED! First Promotional Art of the Green Lantern Movie Costume and Ring Revealed!

The call is going out once again to our ComicBookMovie freelance investigators: Is this recycled comic book art or have we finally gotten our first look at Hal Jordan's movie duds?

If this image below, which was released last night at Variety.com, looks familiar to you, you're very right. It appears to be a variant of a comic book cover created by Simone Bianchi for Geoff Johns' Revenge of the Green Lanterns mini-series.

Upon closer inspection, the differences are fairly obvious: Angle of the mask, transparency over the eyes, the ring design, glove texture and the CGI-esque green "flames."

[Green Lantern movie logo from the film's set]

After browsing over every Green Lantern comic book cover from 1998 to present, including variant covers included in trade paperback collections, I have yet to see this image duplicated or in larger format. Why would be this be a hint at the movie costume or ring? The context of the Variety piece was to promote Green Lantern movie merchandise, which will premiere at next week's Licensing International Expo in Las Vegas, NV.

Since we've had more false positives on possible Green Lantern concept art than Britney Spears has had on pregnancy tests, the call is being put out to all our resident CBM sleuths to hunt down any previous trace of this artwork.

Confirmation should be made sometime next week with the unveiling of all the Green Lantern movie goodies at the Expo; but us fanboys and girls aren't well known for our patience.

Many thanks to CBM member InterestingJohn for bringing this to our attention this morning!

CONFIRMED! Variety Senior Editor Marc Graser was kind enough to respond to my information request about this image, considering his article was where it first appeared:

This is artwork that Warner Bros. Consumer Products had exclusively reproduced by DC Comics, and was given to him directly from Warner Bros. It’s inspired by Green Lantern #10, Volume 4. Warner Bros. Consumer Products is working in conjunction with Mattel to create Green Lantern movie-based merchandise; some of which will be displayed at next week's Licensing International Expo.

And there you have it. This image is our first look at part of Hal Jordan's attire for Green Lantern, as well as the ring design for both the film and merchandise.

(Thanks Comic Book Movie)

Video of that awesome 1979 Alien toy that got banned

We have no idea whose bright idea it was to make a kid's toy as a tie-in for an R-rated movie, but whoever it was was a genius!

Not everybody agreed, though.

When Kenner came out with its 18-inch-tall Alien figure in 1979, parents' groups were outraged, and the toothy toy was yanked from the market. The kids in the commercial below don't seem to mind, though.

Thanks to that retail censorship, the toy became fairly rare. Too bad ... 'cause we WANT one!

(via Hero Complex)

7 screen grabs from the 1st Thor footage (Odin revealed!)

ET visited the set of Thor and just released a four-minute video taking us behind the scenes with them. Check out some of our favorite moments below!

Here's Anthony Hopkins in costume as the Thunder God's father, looking all Odin-ish.

Not sure what Chris Hemworth's battle in a tube will turn out to be once the FX guys get their hands on it, but we're hoping for the Rainbow Bridge.

Man, that Chris Hemsworth is frakkin' HUGE!

We assume this must be Asgard ... unless it's that Vegas casino where we lost a couple of weeks' pay!

Did we say he was huge?

Here's a good look at Hemsworth sporting the contemporary Thor's chin fuzz.

And here he is in full Thor regalia!

To check out the complete video for yourself, click below.

Gandalf insists: The Hobbit WILL begin filming later this year

If all the recent depressing Hobbit news has you fearing we'll never get a return visit to Middle-earth, it turns out we have nothing to worry about—not if Sir Ian McKellen is to be believed.

During an appearance on the Fitzy, Claire and Jules radio show in Adelaide to promote his appearance in "Waiting for Godot"—which recently caused him to be mistaken for a tramp, remember?—the actor behind Gandalf expressed confidence that Hobbit filming would begin soon.

Said Sir Ian:

It's in production. The sets are ready, the script's ready and the movie is going to be cast this month. Fans are not to get worried. The films will get made and I suspect we'll start shooting the end of this year.

Of course, McKellen also made public statements back in March about when filming would start, and he first said it would all begin this month, which he later changed to July. So maybe this wizard's prognostications shouldn't be trusted. But still, we can hope, can't we?

As for who would win in a battle between Gandalf and Magneto, on that Sir Ian can be trusted—it's Gandalf!

"Of course!" said McKellen.

(via gordonandthewhale)

Del Toro left The Hobbit to direct ... Van Helsing 2?

With The Hobbit now firmly behind him, director Guillermo del Toro has a stack of backlogged projects he can dive into. And one of the projects the acclaimed filmmaker is developing is a new Van Helsing movie, according to pajiba.

Now before we all scream, "He left The Hobbit for this?", let's take a closer look. The project is apparently NOT a sequel to the (let's just say it) wretched Van Helsing movie from 2004 that starred/embarrassed Hugh Jackman and Kate Beckinsale. Instead, Universal Pictures wants to take an entirely different approach to the famous vampire hunter and archenemy of Dracula, and has enlisted del Toro to write a treatment for what is described as "an action horror story."

Del Toro is also named as a producer on the movie, but there's no word yet on whether he'll write the full screenplay or sit in the director's chair. He certainly has experience with vampires, having directed Blade 2 and having co-written the epic bloodsucker novel The Strain (with two more volumes on the way). Plus his feel for the Gothic might bring some credibility back to the character.

So just like anything else the workaholic del Toro attaches himself to, this one has grabbed our interest even though it's a long way off from actually hitting the screen. The problem is that he has so much on his plate, including adaptations of Frankenstein, Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, Dan Simmons' Drood, H.P. Lovecraft's At the Mountains of Madness and possibly a new spin on The Wizard of Oz. And that's just the movies he may direct! He's also producing and/or writing a pile of other pictures, including the spy thriller Champions and the apocalyptic horror story Hater.

What would you like to see del Toro make next? Does a Van Helsing reboot sound good?

Michael Bay plans to KILL some of the Transformers

Okay, he didn't EXACTLY say that, but it seems like director Michael Bay and producer Lorenzo di Bonaventura are really, truly going to off some of our beloved Autobots, based on what we learned from a new Transformers 3 article in USA Today.

Here's what the piece had to say:

While Optimus Prime, Megatron and even Sam all have died and been resurrected, di Bonaventura says this film will have no do-overs: Die,and that's it.

Bay hints that there may be a lot of that. "As a trilogy, it really ends," he says. "It could be rebooted again, but I think it has a really killer ending."

There are other changes afoot for the third Transformers flick, which is filming now for a summer 2011 release. Bay and di Bonaventura acknowledge that there were problems with last year's Transformers 2: Revenge of the Fallen, which was blasted by critics and even some fans despite earning $836 million worldwide—second last year only to Avatar.

Bay says it was "very hard" to put the second movie together quickly after the Hollywood writers' strike of late 2007 and early 2008, with di Bonaventura adding, "We tried to do too many things in the second movie, which didn't give enough time in any one of them. We were constantly jumping to the next piece of information, the next place."

So what's different? Well, for one thing, Bay reveals that they're getting rid of "the dorky comedy," meaning that Fallen's tacky and racially insensitive twin robots are "basically gone." Even better, there's a new villain in town: Shockwave, the laser-cannon-wielding Transformer from the original series who is obsessed with overthrowing Megatron and leading the Decepticons in a takeover of the universe.

Perhaps the movie's most spectacular new special effect will be model Rosie Huntington-Whiteley, who will play a new love interest for human hero Sam Witwicky (Shia LaBeouf) following the departure of Megan Fox from the series.

As for the plot, USA Today says it has something to do with the space race between the United States and the Soviet Union, and how the Transformers may have played a secret and dangerous part in it. Bay: "The movie is more of a mystery. It ties in what we know as history growing up as kids with what really happened."

Finally, and perhaps not surprisingly, Transformers 3 will be in 3-D, although it's likely that the movie will be converted in post-production and is not being filmed that way.

Will all these changes make for a better movie? Does this make you psyched for Transformers 3? Let the debate start now!

News - 06/04/10...

2010-06-04T20:53:00.006-04:00

The Secret of Kells coming to DVD/BD in October

New Video has announced that they have acquired U.S. television, digital, VOD and home video distribution rights to the Oscar nominated animated film The Secret of Kells and will be bringing it to most of those platforms (including DVD and Blu-ray) on October 5th, 2010.

Newman gets star on Walk of Fame

Composer Randy Newman received a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame Wednesday, according to AFP. Newman spent a highly successful 35 years in the business before scoring his first animated film — 1995’s Toy Story. Since then he’s become one of the most popular and honored animated film composers around. Ten of Newman’s nineteen Oscar nominations have been for his work in animated films, with his sole win coming in 2002 for the song If I Didn’t Have You from Monsters, Inc.

New Toy Story 3 images

A new batch of images from the upcoming Toy Story 3 have just been revealed at Box Office Mojo. The anticipated Pixar sequel comes to theaters just two weeks from tomorrow.

Droga5 Adds Brock Lee Into the Recipe For Blur

Meet Brock Lee (brocc-oli? get it?), a video game drive who isn’t satisfied with his lot in life. He stars in this new spot for Activision’s Blur driving game. The effort was led by Droga5 and directed by Darren Walsh.

Jacquet Puts Hamsters in New Kia Soul Spot

For this new Kia Soul TV spot, I think they used humans in mouse suites, keyed out the actor’s heads and added in CG hamster faces. What’s your guess? The ad is titled A New Way To Roll and Antoine Bardou Jacquet at Partizan directed.

Animated Ad For Disney’s World of Color

Starting on June 11th, Disney’s World of Color will be open to the public at Disney’s California Adventure at Disneyland (did I mention that it’s a Disney production?) It’s primarily a water show, but there’s lasers, fire, music and lots of animation memories thrown in. Here’s a recent TV spot that features some Mickey Mouse character animation.

The New ThunderCats and the Retro Revival

Yesterday's unexpected news about the development of Warner Bros' new ThunderCats cartoon for a 2011 premiere is welcome and interesting for a few reasons worth noting. First of all, I think it's fair to say that assorted animation news in the past nine months has introduced a fad of retro revival. What young adults grew up with in the 1980s are being reintroduced to a new generation by multiple networks to a degree that, I think, we haven't seen before. Sure, in the preceding 00s decade, we did have our throwbacks to 80s cartoons. There was 2002's update of He-Man and the Masters of the Universe that sadly met a premature end, and of course there was the 2003 series for Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles from 4Kids and Mirage Studios that only recently ended. G.I. Joe made a mild comeback with G.I. Joe: Sigma Six and the much better received G.I. Joe: Resolute miniseries. The Transformers franchise has pretty much persisted with little rest since Beast Wars came along in the mid-1990s.

However, the examples from the prior decade are dwarfed by the developments that we are now seeing. As we learned late last year, after a short break the TMNT will be back in 2012 for their third animated series courtesy of Nickelodeon. In the short term, a brand new Voltron cartoon will be premiering on Nicktoons this fall. Meanwhile, the imminent arrival of The Hub cable network will deliver a block of old school Hasbro cartoons and a fresh lineup spearheaded by original series for Transformers (Transformers Prime) and a "year one" reboot for G.I. Joe (G.I. Joe: Renegades) along with a return to Pound Puppies, My Little Pony and Strawberry Shortcake. And now we have ThunderCats, which is arguably the most welcome revival yet as a fantasy action series that, unlike the TMNT or the Transformers or G.I. Joe, has gotten no animated love at all since the original series ended more than twenty years ago.

In sum, in the next two years we will have more renewed properties from the 1980s than what we had throughout the entire 00s decade. The 80s are back again--again. This time the revival is bigger; time will tell if it will be better.

The skeptic in me does wonder whether this trend is ideal when, in theory, the resources and creative talent going toward these reboots would be devoted toward something fresh otherwise. Also, while I'm happy to witness this in general, I grew up on most of these properties in the 80s and so I do have the benefit of nostalgia. Those issues notwithstanding though, ultimately I do honestly view all this as positive. Just for starters, history clearly demonstrates that returning to the past doesn't preclude innovation at all. Ask any Transformers fan and you'll probably be told that 2007's Transformers Animated was not a "normal" Transformers series, whatever that fan happens to think of it. Likewise, I doubt many fans of the TMNT are complaining about the differences between the 2003 series and the original 80s series today. Japan's Mobile Suit Gundam franchise has a robust history of over thirty years that is now as much occupied by original, standalone innovations as it is by the original story that it had to tell. One could easily go on, especially if we examine the issue beyond animation. It's very possible to do significantly different--even radically different--things with similar basic concepts or iconic characters.

More to the point, perhaps, it isn't as if we are exactly lacking in fresh new ideas amidst these developments. For Cartoon Network, ThunderCats will eventually be airing along with plenty of original programming. Ben 10, Generator Rex, Chowder, Sym-Bionic Titan, Young Justice, Metajets, and on and on. Nick has its own Nicktoons, of course, and a fresh Avatar-related project that its many fans breathlessly await. For all of its embracing of nostalgia, among other things The Hub has Cosmic Quantum Ray, Deltora Quest, and The 99, the latter of which I'm especially anticipating.

Besides, as far as I'm concerned ThunderCats offers something that's far too rare today--a simple, straightforward fantasy action adventure. Sure, there's technology there too, but fundamentally it's got catlike heroes fighting evil in an exotic setting where magic is a force to be reckoned with. Superheroics, comedy, science fiction, straightforward action: animation has plenty to offer for those who want any of these things, but for the fantasy fan it seems to me that one's options are depressingly few in comparison. Between the return of the Thundercats and the coming of Deltora Quest to The Hub, however, some welcome diversity will be added to animation programming on television for awhile. Bring it on.

(Thanks Toon Zone)

New Futurama Episodes Begin June 26 on Comedy Central

Futurama’s return with all-new episodes is set for June 26 at 10 p.m. on Comedy Central.

More than six years since the last original episode of the animated series aired on Fox, the first of 12 all-new episodes will debut with back-to-back episodes.

The series’ sixth season will include the show’s 100th episode, set to air Sept. 2.

Created by Matt Groening and David X. Cohen, the series ran 72 episodes in four seasons on Fox from 1999 to 2003. It returned in 2008 with the first of four direct-to-video features that were later broken up into a 16-episode fifth season.

The 26 new episodes will feature returning original cast members Billy West, Katey Sagal, John DiMaggio and Maurice LaMarche. Guest stars in the new season include Chris Elliot, Craig Ferguson, George Takei, Sergio Aragones, Matt Groening, David X. Cohen, Katee Sackhoff and Mark Mothersbaugh.

(Thanks Animation Magazine)

13th Season of Pokémon Set for Cartoon Network

Pokémon is back!

The new animated series Pokémon: DP Sinnoh League Victors — the 13th season of the show — will debut in the United States on June 5 at 7 a.m. ET/PT on Cartoon Network.

The new series is the final chapter in the long-running series’ Diamond & Pearl storyline.

"Pokémon is a truly global brand with legions of fans spanning the television, film, trading card game, and video game markets," said J.C. Smith, The Pokémon Company International's director of consumer marketing. "This is an amazing year for the Pokémon franchise and we're excited to work with Cartoon Network to bring Pokémon fans the newest adventures in the animated series."

Pokémon is aired every day of the week on Cartoon Network, with original episodes airing on Saturday mornings and repeat episodes on Sundays. The show also appears Monday through Friday, on Boomerang at 8 a.m. EST/PST.

Pokémon animation appears around the world in more than 30 different languages. In addition to Pokémon's partnership with Cartoon Network in the U.S., other major broadcast partners include YTV in Canada, RedeTV in Brazil, Cartoon Network Latin America, Gulli in France, RTL2 in Germany, K2 in Italy, CITV in the United Kingdom, and Disney XD across much of Europe.

(Thanks Animation Magazine)

Brooklyn Festival Hosts U.S. Premiere of Hasan Everywhere

Kavaleer Productions’ award winning short film Hasan Everywhere will have its United States premiere at the Brooklyn Film Festival, set for June 4-13.

The short film about the friendship between an Israeli writer and a Palestinian artist has won four awards in the last five months, including two Digital Media Awards.

Directed by Kavaleer CEO Andrew Kavanagh, Hasan Everywhere is set to screen at the festival on June 6 at the Indie Screen in Brooklyn, with a second screening set for June 8.

“It is exciting and such an honor to receive international recognition for this touching story,” says Kavanagh. “For Hasan Everywhere to have its U.S. premiere in New York is the perfect tribute to Hasan Hourani, who studied at the Art Students League of New York.”

Hasan Everywhere also will screen at the Palm Springs International ShortFest & Film Market at the end of June.

(Thanks Animation Magazine)

Toy Story Tix On Facebook

Disney has created a first of its kind ticket sales app to leverage it's Facebook presence on the social network. Called Disney Tickets Together, could transform how Hollywood sells movie tickets by combining ticket sales with the networking of friends on the social sites. When you buy a ticket through Disney’s application, it alerts your Facebook friends and prompts you to invite them to buy tickets of their own.

Currently only available for the June 18th release of Toy Story 3, but should the app prove a success, Disney will surely roll this app out for it's other theatrical releases.

"The whole idea is that no friend gets left behind," said Oliver Luckett, senior vice president and general manager of DigiSynd, the Disney social networking subsidiary.

Luckett went on to say that Disney Tickets Together, which has been in development for months, works with ticket-buying sites like Fandango.com and covers the majority of the movie theaters in North America.

Facebook receives no percentage of the ticket sales but does, in theory, get more visitors on its site.

Rue McClanahan, Golden Girls' Blanche, dead at 76

Emmy Award-winning actress Rue McClanahan, best known for portraying man-hungry Blanche Devereaux on the NBC sitcom Golden Girls, died early Thursday at 76.

"She passed away at 1 a.m. this morning," manager Barbara Lawrence told People. "She had a massive stroke."

Lawrence said that at the time of her death, McClanahan "had her family with her. She went in peace."

Earlier this year, she had a minor stroke while recovering from bypass surgery.

The voice of Scarlett on the 1997 Fox Christmas special Annabelle's Wish, she was Grandma on the Blue's Clues video Blue's Big Treasure Hunt (1999).

In the 1994 Spider-Man: The Animated Series episode Doctor Octopus: Armed And Dangerous, she was Anastasia Hardy. The 2007 King of the Hill episode Hair Today, Gone Today cast her as Bunny.

Golden Girls first aired from 1985 to 1992 and remains in syndication. She won the Emmy for Outstanding Lead Actress in a Comedy Series in 1987.

One of McClanahan's co-stars, Estelle Getty, died in 2008; Beatrice Arthur died from cancer last year. The last of the Golden Girls, 88-year-old Betty White, has made a remarkable career comeback and recently hosted Saturday Night Live.

She was born Eddi Rue McClanahan in Healdton, Oklahoma on February 21, 1934. Her father, a road builder, moved between various projects, and she lived in six towns by the time she was 8.

After four years at the University of Tulsa, McClanahan moved to New York, working part-time as a part-time file clerk while seeking theatrical jobs.

Finding her first professional theatrical work off-Broadway in 1957, she reached Broadway in 1969.

McClanahan appeared on TV soap operas until she was seen on CBS's Maude, starring Arthur, in 1972. She was Maude's best friend Vivian.

She had six husbands, including actor Morrow Wilson, whom she married in 1997. She is survived by Wilson as well as by a son, Mark Bish, from her first marriage.

"I've always been lucky enough to marry good cooks," McClanahan told People in 1986.

"One cooked Greek. One cooked Tex-Mex -- chili and stuff." She added with a laugh, "True, one needed a recipe to make a peanut butter sandwich..."

Radio jock, toon voice Robert O. Smith dies at 67

Zany Northwest radio personality Robert O. Smith, a voice actor on numerous anime and other cartoon series, died early Tuesday of pancreatic and liver cancer, children Justine Wintersmith and Zach Monroe announced on the blog of "Thorndike Pickledish," one of Smith's many alter egos. He was 67.

Heard on many Seattle and Vancouver-area stations, Smith was also known on the air and on novelty recordings as The Masked Avocado, Dr. Zingrr, and Walter Wart the Freaky Frog. A number of his discs (such as "Sinister Lunchmeat") were played -- sometimes several times -- on The Dr. Demento Show.

Smith's regular voice roles in TV series included Bernie, Buck, Cuddles and The Doctor in The Adventures of T-Rex (1992), Manx and Sanctifur in Billy The Cat (1994), Sagat in Street Fighter: The Animated Series (1997), Sparkle in Pocket Dragon Adventures (1998), and Soundwave in Transformers: Cybertron (2005). He was in the voice casts of several episodes of Mary-Kate and Ashley in Action! (2002) and Gadget and the Gadgetinis (2003).

He guested in Madeline (1990) as Alfred Hamhock in "Madeline's Tea Party" and Sabrina the Animated Series (1999) as Dr. Mixer in "Witchery Science Theater."

He portrayed Dr. Sevenbrains and the Taxidermy Representative in the 1997 animated film The Fearless Four. He was Yorick in Monster Mash, a 1999 direct-to-video animated special.

Among his roles in anime series were Kyoko's Father in Mezon Ikkoku (1986); Genma Saotome, Sasuke Sarugakure and the Scroll Owner in Ranma 1/2 (1993); the Old Man in Green Legend Ran (1994); and Gravity Man in MegaMan: NT Warrior (2001) and MegaMan: NT Warrior AXESS (2003).

His anime feature films included Dragon Ball: Curse of the Blood Rubies (1986), Ranma ½: The Movie, Big Trouble in Nekonron, China and Ranma ½: Nihao My Concubine (both 1992), and Fatal Fury: The Motion Picture and Ranma ½: One Grew Over the Kuno's Nest (1994). In addition, he had many voice roles in English-language dubs of original video animations.

Smith made several of what he called "bizarre, zany and outrageous" animations using only a mouse and software, ad libbing a voice track. He sold two, "Like a Wormhole" and "Coffee Fi Fi," to the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation's ZeD TV show, which airs weird videos. They aired under his nom de comedy Thorndike Pickledish.

Although he had been in physical pain lately, he had made it through recent voice sessions on Vancouver station CKNW. He had also worked at KJR, KOL, KVI, KIXI-FM in Seattle, Tacoma's KTAC, CFMI-FM Vancouver and CISL Richmond, British Columbia, and CKMA in Abbotsford, British Columbia.

Famed for his ability to do hundreds of different voices, he once created 20 of them for a single radio spot. After living in the Seattle area, he settled in Vancouver.

Smith held numerous records in the masters division of weightlifting competitions, calling himself "Bench Bozo." A bench-presser until shortly before his death, he had a 578.5-pound official lift.

What did his middle "O" stand for? Smith kept his full middle name a secret to all but close family members; apparently, it was a peculiar family name, said his daughter, who knows what it was. However, he once claimed in a Vancouver newspaper interview that he was just plain Robert Smith, and that he added the "O" just to differentiate himself from all the other Robert Smiths.

"His wishes were simple -- no public memorial, no digital gold-plated turbo-casket with fine cordovan leather interior and motion-activated whirling Mercedes-Benz hood ornament," his children said. "He requested cremation and a celebration of life among his closest friends."

They added: "If you would honor him, keep on doing what you do -- bench with the best of your ability and passion, striving ever toward bigger and better lifts, or create art and sound, inspired by his memory. We will keep that memory alive and continue to update Bench Bozo and All Hail Thorndike Pickledish, sharing images and his original drawings from a lifetime dedicated to lifting and creativity. Our thanks to all who knew, loved, and shared that dedication with him. We will love and miss him always."

His son is a Seattle resident and freelance voice and visual artist.

Extra Virgin Olive Oyl

First Popeye was selected to front a sex shop in Tokyo. Now, who better to represent a line of products using Extra Virgin Olive Oil than… the extra virginal Olive Oyl.

Reader John Hall sent in this new character merchandising find:

I was traveling through the Nashville, Tennessee area yesterday and found a bag of Olive Oyl Popped Corn at a local grocery store. The bag has 3 nice drawings of Olive on the bag that look like artwork from the early ’40s Fleisher cartoons. Also on the back is a nice trademark showing the whole Popeye clan with a 2009 King Features copyright. Here are some photos of the used bag (click thumbnails below to enlarge). Oh, and the popcorn is pretty good.

(Thanks Cartoon Brew)

A Lost Fleischer Cartoon

I have friends in the stock footage business. They buy large libraries of old 16mm movies by the ton (usually home movies, travelogues and educational films) and every once in a while, while digitizing and archiving their latest acquisitions, they come across an animated film they cannot quite identify. When that happens they usually send it to me to examine.

This past weekend I screened one of those films and it’s a real mystery. It’s not a particularly great cartoon, but its quite an exciting find. Watching it conjured more questions than answers. But one thing’s for sure: It’s an undocumented product of the Miami Fleischer studio. I’m posting it in hopes that others may have more clues to explain its existence - and its 70 year absence from any animation reference.

The Vacationer’s Paradise is apparently part of a proposed series called Traveltoons. It’s sort of an animated travelogue - not unlike what Famous Studios would base their later 1940s series of Screen Songs (like The Sunshine State or The Golden State).

First off, notice the title lettering done by that mysterious Fleischer/Famous studio calligrapher, whom I’m a big fan of. Next note “Mrs. Doe” - a character design that answers the burning question of what happened to Betty Boop after she retired and moved to Miami.

Could this have been a pilot for a new series of Fleischer cartoons? Was material created for this series later recycled in the Famous Screen Songs? Could this possibly be the first Famous Studios cartoon? A “blackout” reference certainly places it in either late 1941 or 1942. Note it’s really more of a film about Florida etiquette than Florida tourism. Perhaps it was created for a Miami Visitor’s Bureau?

Was the film perhaps a contractual obligation of the studio, produced for the Miami Chamber of Commerce, as part of Fleischer’s deal to re-locate to Miami? Why does the film feel so cheap? Why the absence of music in the main body of the film? Why are their no credits whatsoever? Note the voice of Jack Mercer among the background voices. Note the narrator may be Charles Irving, who voiced many of the later travelogue Screen Songs.

Bob Jaques believes that the man in the live action footage to be animator Tom Johnson. Did Johnson direct the film? Was this done by a group of ex-Fleischer artists as a sample film, perhaps to start their own Miami studio after Paramount took over Fleischers? And yet, there is a fair amount of live action and animation material, which leads me to believe this was done under Max or Dave Fleischer’s watch.

Lots of questions, no answers… but we have the film.

What do you think?

(Thanks Cartoon Brew)

Salesman Pete Trailer

French animation students—yes, students—continue to push the envelope for cel-shaded CG animation more than anybody else within the industry. This trailer for Salesman Pete is the latest example (and among the finest) that I’ve seen from a technique standpoint. It also puts to shame the bland indistinguishable visual styling that dominates all mainstream computer animated features nowadays.

The film’s directors Anthony Vivien, Marc Bouyer, and Max Loubaresse point out emphatically on their Vimeo page that “WE ARE NOT from Supinfocom, in fact we left our school before our last year in order to make this short our own way.” Now this is the kind of dropping-out that I can get behind, but I’m really curious to learn the full story about why such a production wasn’t possible at their school Supinfocom. The have a Salesman Pete production blog with pre-production artwork from their film.

(Thanks, Dan Pinto and via Drawn)

(Thanks Cartoon Brew)

Andrea Romano on "Batman: Under the Red Hood"

Warner Bros. Animation has released a new interview linked to the upcoming direct-to-DVD feature Batman: Under the Red Hood. This time, fans can hear from long-time Batman voice director Andrea Romano.

The full press release interview follows. Click any image to enlarge.

Andrea Romano Finds the Perfect Blend of Voice and Character for Batman: Under the Red Hood

Bruce Greenwood (Star Trek) provides the voice of Batman, under the dialogue direction of Andrea Romano for Batman: Under the Red Hood, The film will be distributed July 27, 2010 by Warner Home Video. (Photo courtesy of Gary Miereanu)

Few individuals understand the intricacies of the voice of Batman better than Andrea Romano.

Arguably the top animation voiceover director in the business today, Romano has been instrumental in orchestrating the vocal tones behind the character’s non-live appearances for more than two decades. From Kevin Conroy and Rino Romano to Jeremy Sisto and William Baldwin, Romano knows precisely what voice will best fit the tones of a particular story or series.

Enter Batman: Under the Red Hood and all of its deep, emotional undertones. Romano has outdone herself once again, balancing the veteran acting chops of Bruce Greenwood as Batman with the youthful, pained intonations of Jensen Ackles as Red Hood, and tossing in Neil Patrick Harris as Nightwing for humorous resonance.

All in a days work for Romano, who recruits the best in the business – winners of Oscars, Emmys and Tonys alike – to provide the voices behind some of the world’s best known super heroes for the DC Universe Animated Original Movies.

Romano’s voiceover casting/direction resume spans more than a quarter century, covering the genre gamut from action (Batman: The Animated Series) to humor (Animaniacs) and contemporary (The Boondocks) to timeless (Smurfs). The eight-time Emmy Award winner (along with more than 30 nominations) is a star in her own right, earning the respect of her peers and the adoration of legions of animation fans. One need only witness the reaction to her introduction at a Con to understand that voiceover work is no longer an anonymous profession.

Batman: Under the Red Hood is the next entry in the popular ongoing series of DC Universe Animated Original PG-13 Movies from Warner Premiere, DC Entertainment and Warner Bros. Animation. The full-length film will be distributed by Warner Home Video on July 27, 2010 as a Special Edition version on Blu-Ray™ and 2-disc DVD, as well as being available on single disc DVD, On Demand and for Download.

Romano took a few minutes to offer her perspective on the voices of Batman: Under the Red Hood. Here’s what she had to say:

Bruce Greenwood provides the voice of Batman in Batman: Under the Red Hood.

QUESTION: Let’s take the cast one member at a time. What made Bruce Greenwood right for the role of Batman in this particular film?

ANDREA ROMANO: One of the coolest finds of this past year for me was Bruce. I’ve seen so much of his work over the years, and he can do so many things so convincingly. I knew I’d have to offer him a big role. Something with meat. And I knew he would really sink his teeth into the material and make it his own. I don’t need to tell you what a wonderful actor he is – but for this film, he gives a terrific, sensitive performance. This is the most tortured we’ve ever seen of Batman and, without overplaying it, Bruce really showed us a lot of the guilt and issues Batman has in his luggage. It’s an exhaustive, emotional piece, and he carried it perfectly.

QUESTION: How did Jensen Ackles perform in his maiden voyage in animation?

ANDREA ROMANO: When you get a first-timer in the booth, there are often risks involved, particularly in understanding the techniques involved in working with the microphone. Jensen picked it up so quickly and was so effective in this very difficult role. Red Hood is written as such an embittered, angry, verging-on-insane character, and it can so easily be overplayed. But Jensen found just the right level of energy and flair. I loved his acting. His quality was dead-on, and he really offers a perfect balance with Bruce (Greenwood).

As a director, you live the emotions with the actor. There’s one scene where Jensen has to let his emotions completely bubble to the surface. I had to work really hard to see my script through the tears that I was crying with him as he let his emotions come through.

QUESTION: Who better than Neil Patrick Harris to break up all the emotional drama of this film?

ANDREA ROMANO: Who doesn’t love Neil Patrick Harris? He’s charming, talented, friendly, and remembers everyone he works with. He can sing and dance, not that I need that talent for Red Hood (she laughs). And in this instance, he did the unthinkable – he came to record for us on his way to the airport as he was going to New York to host the Tony Awards. Nightwing really does give a comic balance to this intense story, and Neil brought that spunky, funny instinct to the character with his usual effortless performance. He’s completely believable whether he’s doing drama or comedy, and he really added to this film. If I could, I would use Neil on every single project I do.

QUESTION: Jason Isaacs is such a nice guy. Why’d you have to make him play a villain again?

Wade Williams (Prison Break) provides the voice of Black Mask in Batman: Under the Red Hood.

ANDREA ROMANO: Jason Isaacs is a delight. And you’re right (she laughs) – nice guys sometimes make the best villains. I’ve worked with Jason several times, and he’s absolutely fantastic. For Ra’s, I needed something slightly exotic. He’s a great, unusual character, but we had to fight against him getting too cartoony – and I knew Jason had the chops. He’s also a wonderfully intelligent actor – during the recording session, he had so many ideas, and would so respectfully suggest them to Bruce (Timm) and I – and I honestly don’t know that there was one we didn’t use. He helped edit the copy, he added beats where we didn’t even see them, and really nuanced the performance.

QUESTION: The Joker has had some very memorable live-action and animated performances from some notable performers. How did John DiMaggio fit into that legacy?

ANDREA ROMANO: If I weren’t in love with my husband, it would be John. He’s such a versatile, talented voiceover actor. The Joker is such an intense character, and I knew I needed somebody with great range – and John was delighted to come in and play, and he gave it some beautiful new twists. Because he has such a deep gravely voice, and he’s good at comedy, and he’s a good actor, I knew John already had covered most of the points of the Joker. But I didn’t want a light, thin reedy voice, I wanted a voice with some mass to it. That’s John.

QUESTION: You’ve placed Vincent and Alex Martella as the Young and Younger Robin voices. Had you ever cast brothers in the same film?

ANDREA ROMANO: This is the first time I’ve ever cast brothers in the same film. I was familiar with Vincent’s work and had been looking for something for him, and this was a great, interesting opportunity because I needed to cast the younger version of this character at two different ages. Vincent has a younger brother named Alex, who has only just begun in the industry, but because siblings tend to have very similar qualities to their voices, it was kind of a no-brainer to cast his younger brother as his younger self. And they were terrific – Vincent was pure dynamite in his performance, and I actually think Alex learned from watching his older brother record before him.

What really surprised me was in their attention to detail. They had to set up this character’s life for another actor that they weren’t even going to act in the same room with, and I thought the transitions were seamless.

Jensen Ackles (Supernatural) provides the voice of Red Hood in Batman: Under the Red Hood.

QUESTION: What set this cast apart from the first seven DC Universe films?

ANDREA ROMANO: Each one of these actors had something to bring to the party above and beyond what was required of them. They had questions, they had input, they had ideas and, because the piece is so adult, complex, intense and dark, they knew they weren’t coming in to play The Smurfs. In order to make sure they were in the right head space and had the right tone, they asked a lot of questions. And that’s always a good sign. When the actors are that involved with their characters and the story, that challenges Bruce (Timm) and I to truly think through everything even more thoroughly, and then it becomes a much more collaborative effort. I’m not above telling an actor how to read a line. But I’d prefer that the actor comes up with the idea himself and I’m able to just tweak things here and there. We all need a challenge, something that keeps us on our toes, and recording this film was one of those experiences. A very, very positive experience.

For more information, images and updates, please visit the film’s official website at www.BatmanRedHood.com

(Thanks Toon Zone)

The Hub/ Hasbro

I trucked over to the fabled Starz Media building next to Bob Hope Non-International Airport this p.m., and I'm happy to report that The Hub and Hasbro have now (finally) moved in.

And who the hey are Hasbro and The Hub? As the L.A. Times reported five months ago:

Cable programming giant Discovery Communications and Hasbro Inc., ...are teaming up to launch a kids channel ... calling the network "The Hub." ...

The Hub will target primarily the 6-12 age demographic ... taking over the channel space that was occupied by Discovery Kids and will launch in roughly 60-million homes in the fall. There has been concern from children's advocacy groups that the connection with Hasbro will mean the channel will be focused more on selling toys than in enlightening children ...

Selling TOYS?! Who would have thought?

But the part of the building formerly occupied by King of the Hill has had a big-time makeover. Where once there was a large, dark, meandering space with musty cubicles, there is now a reception area with leather couches. Nice, glassed-in conference room. And off through double glass doors, a whole bunch of new animation cubes with lights and desks that haven't (for the most part) been occupied yet.

Upstairs, The Simpsons studio is quiet, with lots of artists out on hiatus, other artists just back from hiatus. One returnee told me that one of the leads who's been with the show almost from Day One has decamped for another studio.

"Blank decided the writing was on the wall and went off to Disney. He thinks the show's on its last legs and it's better to get out now than wait around for the end ..."

I replied that I think the Yellow Family has another 2-3 seasons in it because the ratings still hold up and if Fox pulls the plug the money machine will slow down faster. I also predicted that there are at least two more Simpsons features in our movie-going future, as Fox isn't going to abandon any profit centers if it can help it.

As my predictive powers are strong and flawless, I'm sure that all these things will come to pass.

(Thanks Animation Guild Blog)

The Permanence of Three Dee -- Part XVIII

The Wall Street Journal speaks:

Katzenberg Says 3-D Is Great -- Except When It's Not

Yeah, it's a smart-ass headline, but the video at the link is interesting. Jeffrey reiterates what he's said before, but he's still more right than wrong.

3-D is going to be marching on to greater acceptance and glory. The conglomerates smell big bucks. And Sony, Samsung and the rest know a pricey, profitable new viewing platform when they see it.

So get used to the brave new multi-dimensional world of movies and teevee.

(Thanks Animation Guild Blog)

Exclusive 'Scott Pilgrim' And 'The Last Airbender' Clips To Air During MTV Movie Awards Pre-Show!

The 2010 MTV Movie Awards kick off this Sunday, June 6, at 9 PM EST — but you should tune in an hour early if you want to catch some new footage from "Scott Pilgrim Vs. The World" and "The Last Airbender."

Yes, you heard it here first, folks: MTV will bring you some exclusive, new footage from the two upcoming films by directors Edgar Wright and M. Night Shyamalan during the Movie Awards Pre-Show, which begins at 8 PM EST.

If you've been following along at home, you know that Wright's "Pilgrim" movie is based on the celebrated Oni Press series by Bryan Lee O'Malley, and stars Michael Cera as a slacker musician who must battle his new girlfriend's seven evil-exes to win her heart.

Shyamalan's "Airbender" is a live-action take on the wildly popular Nickelodeon animated series, and follows a hero's quest to save the world from warring tribes that wield the elements in a battle for supremacy.

Remember: Tune in at 8 PM EST for exclusive sneak peeks at "Scott Pilgrim Vs. The World" and "The Last Airbender" on MTV!

First 'Thor' Costume Images?

Yesterday, we got a look at some images that might be Captain America's costume in the upcoming Marvel Studios movie, and now it looks like some images of Thor's costume — Mjolnir and all — might have also found their way online.

While this isn't our first peek at Chris Hemsworth as Thor, the art (which is entirely unofficial and unconfirmed at this point, so keep that in mind) does offer a cool, full-body shot of Marvel's god of thunder. The image also features a nice look at Mjolnir — though it might be old news for anyone who's been paying close attention to the more spoilery corners of the Marvel movie universe lately.

If nothing else, the images (which should probably be considered "fan art" until we hear otherwise) continue to present a look clearly influenced by the recent mainstream "Thor" comics by J. Michael Straczynski and Olivier Coipel

Here's one of the images, and you can find a pair of them over at Collider, where they first surfaced:

What sci-fi films would be like with their original casts

Kurt Russell in Star Wars? O.J. Simpson in The Terminator? George Clooney in Hancock? Coulda happened. We've only been able to imagine what some of these movies would have been like if they'd been filmed with their original casts—until now.

wildammo mocked up 17 movie posters reflecting that original casting—and since we know you don't really care whether Jim Carrey might have appeared in Meet the Parents, we're plucked out our sci-fi favorites.

And it turns out that great minds think alike—as moviefone showed us when it did something similar last month.

Christopher Nolan Talks Batman 3 And Superman

In the latest issue of Empire Magazine, Nolan talks a bit about what inspired him to get involved with the latest incarnation of Superman, as well as his thought process on moving on to Batman 3 after TDK..

In this months issue of Empire, Christopher Nolan talks about his latest movie Inception. But he also briefly mentions his much discussed but rarely quoted involvement with the Superman reboot as well as a chat he had with David Goyer when they were trying to figure out where to go after The Dark Knight.

He doesn't go into too much detail, and no plot details are revealed, but its nice to hear the notoriously tight lipped director talk about these much anticipated projects...

"..What it is, while David Goyer and myself were putting together the story for another Batman film a few years ago, you know thrashing out where we might move on from the Dark Knight, we got stuck. We were just sitting there idly chatting and he said ”by the way, I think I know how you should approach Superman".. and he told me his take on it. I thought it was really tremendous. It was the first time I’ve been able to conceive of how you’d address Superman in a modern context I thought it was a really exciting idea. What you have to remember about Batman and Superman is that what makes them the best superhero characters there are, the most beloved after all this time, is the essence of who they were when they were created, when they were first developed. You can’t move too far away from that."

Nice to hear that Nolan thinks the characters should remain mostly true to their origins. Does that mean we will have to see Supes' exodus from Krypton again? Maybe. But hey, I can live with that as long as we have another villain instead or as well as Lex this time around. Also, the fact that he is so heavily involved in Superman and directing the next Batman really gives hope to an eventual cross over I think.

(Thanks Comic Book Movie)

News - 06/03/10...

2010-06-03T00:00:00.005-04:00

Warner Bros. Animation Announces New "ThunderCats" Series for CN in 2011

Warner Bros. Animation has announced that it has begun production on ThunderCats, a new animated series based on the original 1980's cartoon about a tribe of fierce feline warriors battling against evil forces over the fabled Stones of Power. The series will be a creative collaboration between Warner Bros. Animation and Japan's Studio4°C, which has worked on The Animatrix, Batman Gotham Knight, and Halo Legends, and the series promises that its iconic characters Lion-O, Mumm-Ra, Panthro, and others will "spring off the screen with realistic cat-like characteristics."

The series will air on Cartoon Network in 2011. Sam Register (Teen Titans, Ben 10, Batman: The Brave and the Bold) is executive producer, with Michael Jelenic (Batman: The Brave and the Bold, Wonder Woman) and Ethan Spaulding (Avatar: The Last Airbender) producing.

The full press release follows, along with the first promotional image from the series:

THUNDERCATS, HO!

WARNER BROS. ANIMATION ANSWERS THE CALL WITH A NEW TAKE ON THE CLASSIC ANIMATED SERIES “THUNDERCATS,” TO AIR ON CARTOON NETWORK

(June 3, 2010 – Burbank, CA) – Warner Bros. Animation (WBA) has begun production on “ThunderCats,” an all-new animated series for Cartoon Network, based upon the iconic 1980s action classic. “ThunderCats” is the newest series from WBA, joining “Batman: The Brave and the Bold,” which was recently renewed for a third season, and the following forthcoming programs: “The Looney Tunes Show,” “MAD,” “Scooby-Doo! Mystery Incorporated” and “Young Justice.” The announcement was made today by Sam Register, Executive Vice President, Creative Affairs, Warner Bros. Animation.

“In addition to being Warner Bros. Animation’s first anime series, ‘ThunderCats’ marks our most ambitious foray yet into fantasy,” said Register. “The realism and dynamic visual style we’ve achieved are sure to thrill viewers, and the cool weapons, vehicles and technology should help the show appeal to a diverse audience.”

The 21st century reimagining of the series marks a creative collaboration between WBA and Studio4°C, one of the most vibrant animation studios in Japan, with credits including “The Animatrix,” “Gotham Knights” and “Halo Legends.” WBA is working closely with Studio4°C, utilizing the latter’s expertise to give the “ThunderCats” characters a new cutting-edge look while remaining true to the compelling storylines and mythology of the original series.

(Click to see a larger version)

“We at Studio4°C are excited to be in this creative partnership with Warner Bros. Animation to bring ‘ThunderCats’ to life,” said Eiko Tanaka, President and CEO, Studio4°C. “This collaboration combines the strengths of our two companies – high production values and great storytelling – toward reintroducing this classic fan-favorite to a new audience.”

Roaring to life through WBA and Studio4°C’s use of the Japanese animated artistry of anime, “ThunderCats” characters Lion-O, Mumm-Ra, Panthro, Cheetara and others will spring off the screen with realistic cat-like characteristics inconceivable in previous incarnations.

The new “ThunderCats” will appeal to viewers who have loved the characters all their lives as well as young newcomers to the franchise. A sweeping tale combining swords and science and boasting ferocious battles with the highest of stakes, the grand origin story of Prince Lion-O’s ascension to the throne – and of those who would thwart his destiny at any cost – takes on epic dimensions in this sharp new telling. As the forces of good and evil battle each other in the quest for the fabled Stones of Power, Lion-O and his champions learn valuable lessons of loyalty, honor and mortality in every episode.

“ThunderCats” is executive produced by Sam Register (“Teen Titans,” “Ben 10,” “Batman: The Brave and the Bold”). Michael Jelenic (“Batman: The Brave and the Bold,” “Wonder Woman”) and Ethan Spaulding (“Avatar: The Last Airbender”) are the producers.

About Warner Bros. Animation
Warner Bros. Animation (WBA) has been producing award-winning original animation since 1930, when it released its first cartoon, Sinkin’ in the Bathtub. Since then, WBA’s characters have set the standard for innovative, quality animation. Producing for network and cable television, online, home entertainment and feature films both domestically and internationally, WBA is highly respected for its creative and technical excellence, as well as maintaining the studio’s rich cartoon heritage. WBA also oversees the creative use of, and production of animated programming based on, classic animated characters from the Hanna-Barbera and DC Comics libraries. WBA is one of the most honored animation studios in history, garnering a grand total of six Academy Awards®, 36 Emmy® Awards, the George Foster Peabody Award, an Environmental Media Award, a Parents’ Choice Award, a Humanitas Award, five Prism Awards and 20 Annie Awards.

About Studio4°C
Studio4°C is Japan’s leading animation studio. Led by producer Eiko Tanaka, Studio4°C is renowned for its ultra-energetic, cutting-edge feature films, progressive music videos, radical short films and numerous outstanding television commercials, promotional materials, video/computer games and TV series. Studio4°C was an early adopter of digital technology and is now a brand name with global recognition for its progressive hybrid visuals and funky crossover creations. In 2003, through a joint production with Warner Bros. Studios, Studio4°C created the revolutionary “The Animatrix.” Studio4°C’s crazily innovative feature film “Tekkonkinkreet” was a 2007 Oscar® nominee in the Animated Feature Film category. Taking its name from the fact that water is at its densest at four degrees Celsius, Studio4°C represents the creative manifesto to “create only works that are dense with substance and extreme quality.”

(Ed. note: For those who've forgotten, here's arguably one of the best openings for an American animated series - ever.)

New Pooh title?

In a recent discussion promoting Disney’s Princess And The Frog, posted at Animated Views here, co-director John Musker might have let slipped the title of the new Winnie The Pooh feature currently on animator’s boards. When asked about the Studio’s next film, he replied it would be “another hand drawn animated feature. It is the further adventures of Winnie the Pooh”. As a companion to the original 1977 feature The Many Adventures Of Winnie The Pooh, could The Further Adventures Of Winnie The Pooh be the new film’s perfect-fit title?

Alice in Wonderland, ’70s Peanuts Come Home

Disney’s billion-dollar baby, Alice in Wonderland, is coming out of the rabbit hole and onto home video.

The Tim Burton film, which was released in stereoscopic 3-D and stars Johnny Depp, recently crossed the billion-dollar milestone at the box office. Alice is being released in multiple formats: a single-disc DVD for $29.99; a single-disc Blu-ray for $39.99; and a three-disc combo pack that includes the film on DVD, Blu-ray and a digital copy for $44.99.

DVD bonus features include the featurettes “Finding Alice,” “The Mad Hatter” and “Effecting Wonderland.” Additional Blu-ray bonus features include “The Futterwacken Dance,” “Time-Lapse: Sculpting the Red Queen,” “Making the Proper Size,” “Cakes of Wonderland” and “Tea Party Props.”

Also out this week is Peanuts 1970s Collection, Vol. 2 (Warner Bros, $29.98), a two-disc set collecting a half-dozen of the decade’s Charlie Brown specials all with remastered sound and picture. The release includes the bonus feature “You’re Groovy, Charlie Brown: A Look at Peanuts in the ’70s.”

Adult Swim fans will surely be looking for the latest taste of New Jersey’s strangest residents in Aqua Teen Hunger Force Vol. 7 (Warner Bros., $29.98), while anime fans have Naruto: Shippuden, Vol. 10 (VIZ Media, $24.92) and Digimon: Journey to Ice Ridge (Well Go USA, $8.98) to pick from.

In the kids aisle, new releases include Sesame Street: Firefly Fun & Buggy Buddy (Warner Bros., $14.98), Shaun the Sheep: One Giant Leap for Lambkind (HIT Entertainment, $14.98) and Thomas & Friends: The Greatest Stories (HIT Entertainment, $16.98)

Also out this week is the unrated director’s cut of Joe Johnston’s The Wolfman (Universal, $29.98 DVD, $39.98 Blu-ray).

(Thanks Animation Magazine)

What’s New with Our Pitch Party Winners

As the deadline for this year’s Pitch Party contest approaches, we thought it would be a good idea to check in with a couple of winners from last year’s edition to see what they’ve been up to over the past 12 months:

Last year’s top-prize winner Chelsea Gordon-Ratzlaff wrote to tell us that she’s recently graduated from Capilano University’s commercial animation program and is drawing everyday and considering going back to school to brush up on her 3D skills. She notes, “The best thing that came out of winning the Pitch Party was getting a chance to talk with Eric Coleman [senior VP of original series at Disney Animation], who gave me lots of awesome advice on pitching my ideas. It just really made me feel better about where I am right now and where I'm headed in the industry.” She also incorporated her Pitch Party character Clerence in an animation project. “Our task was to create a station bumper that had to be exactly 15 seconds long and focus on character animation,”she explains. "I was having trouble coming up with an idea on what to do and someone in my class suggested I do Clerence. I had a lot of fun with it.”
You can see her work at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UUPA9fc3qPQ

Animation artist, author and teacher Stephen Silver placed second with his fun children’s pitch Jolly & Roger’s Misguided Adventures. He tells us that his concept generated interest, but unfortunately, the major studios had other pirate-themed projects in development. He is now developing a new intellectual property where he and his partners will be having creator-owned merchandise at the San Diego Zoo this summer. He adds,“I have personally been freelancing, developing my own art and teaching full time at schoolism.com, an online art school I have been associated with from its beginning.” Silver, whose two volumes of illustrations The Art of Silver and Passion for Life can be ordered on amazon.com, says he has been working from his home studio and loving it.

Among other news about previous years’ winners: magician extraordinaire Nicholas Night, the winner of our first Pitch Party contest with his TV concept The Hair-Rising Adventures of Aaron & Ned, is now working on an upcoming CG-animated feature titled Pavlov’s Dog with the team at Exodus Film Group (Igor) and Melwood Pictures. The movie follows the adventures of an uptight flea from out of town that learns to adjust to a new, chaotic life with a big-city dog.

Animation artist and creator Chris Leathers, who won the 2004 Pitch Party with his clever pitch My Annoying Little Brother, also wrote to let us know that he’s developing a new animated series based on the life of a dolphin activist (and inspiration for the Oscar-winning documentary The Cove). Leathers pitched his Pitch Party show to Nelvana and he says they were really helpful, but the idea wasn’t ready for TV. Since then, he has worked on various Nickelodeon shows, as well as Kappa Mikey and Speed Racer: The Next Generation.

By the way, one of this year’s amazing Pitch Party judges, Kevin Gamble, VP of development at Disney, actually entered our contest seven years ago. “It was a series concept called Crashed that I ended up selling to Cartoon Network—I pitched it to Tramm Wigzel a year later and he put it into development,” he says. Although a regime change ended up putting the show on the back-burner, it just goes to show that you never know what will happen to your pitch once you enter our contest and send it out into the universe!

Best of luck to all of the talented, creative people who entered our Pitch Party over the past eight years. As we’ve said here before, just making an impression on the decision-makers is half the battle. If you’d like to find out more about this year’s contest and top-notch judges, visit www.animationmagazine.net/pitch_party_2010.html

(Thanks Animation Magazine)

Homer Tops EW’s 100 Greatest Characters

Homer Simpson has achieved something no other lazy, slow-witted, donut-munching, beer-swilling, irresponsible parent could ever dream of: He’s been named the greatest film or TV character of the past 20 years by Entertainment Weekly magazine.

The animated patron of Fox’s long-running cartoon sitcom beat out Harry Potter and Buffy the Vampire Slayer for the top spot in the survey, announced by the publication this week in a special anniversary issue.

Also cracking the list was SpongeBob SquarePants at No. 10, Shrek at No. 15, video game adventuress Lara Croft at No. 17, South Park’s Eric Cartman at No. 22, Toy Story’s Woody at No. 25, Beavis and Butt-head at No. 32, Gollum from The Lord of the Rings at No. 36; Stewie Griffin of Family Guy at No. 45, Halo’s Master Chief at No. 59 and toon rockers Gorillaz at No. 80.

(Thanks Animation Magazine)

Cartoon Network Unveils New Look

Cartoon Network has tweaked the familiar look of its brand as it attempts to broaden its appeal to a wider audience.

The company has streamlined its chessboard logo and added the new tag line “Check it.”

The network also has redecorated its offices and, according to Variety, given its staff black and white checkered Vans shoes in honor of the revamp.

The company says the new logo was intended to connect the company’s traditional animated content with its growing slate of live-action.

The changes became visible on the channel itself over the Memorial Day weekend.

(Thanks Animation Magazine)

Cuppa Coffee’s Shaheen Launches Saucer Sound

Cuppa Coffee Studios president Adam Shaheen is launching Saucer Sound, a new audio production facility that will service both Cuppa Coffee’s projects and the film and TV communities in Toronto.

The facility includes a high quality 5:1 mix studio as well as a second studio with a multivoice booth and control room. There are also edit suites, a Foley stage and integrated layback and machine room facilities capable of handling SD and HD workflows. The studio offers full audio staffing and production as well as sound design and music creative for short form, long form and advertising projects, but can also be booked on a per room basis.

Saucer Sound

"My desire to have sound in-house at Cuppa was one born of wanting the best control and quality,” says Shaheen. “We have always done our post-audio out of house, and it now makes sense to build a quality facility to not only serve our own needs but also to be a new alternative for the TV and film community here in Toronto.”

(Thanks Animation Magazine)

Owners Put FUNimation On the Block

Navarre Corp. has announced it is seeking offers to acquire its anime subsidiary FUNimation.

The company has retained Houlihan Lokey to assist in the transaction.

In a press release, the company stated that FUNimation’s business results have “generally met expectations,” but has decided to focus more on its core business of computer software, home entertainment media and related products.

To grow, FUNimation needs to co-produce original anime content and exploit social networks and digital broadcasting — tasks better suited to owners experienced in those areas, the company stated.

(Thanks Animation Magazine)

Classical, UPA composer Benjamin Lees dies at 86

Renowned American classical composer Benjamin Lees, who scored two Oscar-nominated UPA cartoons, died Monday of heart failure at North Shore Long Island Jewish Hospital in Glen Cove, New York. He was 86.

Lees, nominated for a Grammy Award in 2004, composed the music for Man Alive! (1952), a UPA co-production with the American Cancer Society. Depicting the need for regular medical checkups from your doctor for symptoms that could lead up to cancer, Man Alive! was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Documentary, Short Subjects.

Pink And Blue Blues, a 1952 Mr. Magoo cartoon that he composed for, was an Academy Award nominee for Best Short Subject (Cartoon).

Also for UPA, his works included the Jolly Frolic The Emperor's New Clothes (1953) and Bringing Up Mother (1954).

Born to Russian parents in Harbin, China on January 8, 1924, he arrived in the United States in 1925. He and his parents settled in San Francisco, where he began his piano studies at age five.

After military service in the Second World War, he attended the University of Southern California to study composition, harmony, and theory. Shortly after completing his studies, he was introduced to the legendary American composer George Antheil, and thus began almost five years of intense study in advanced composition and orchestration, during which the two formed a close and lasting friendship.

Throughout his distinguished career, Lees composed in a wide variety of genres. His works were commissioned and performed by ensembles and soloists throughout the United States and Europe, including the New York Philharmonic, Boston Symphony Orchestra, Cleveland Orchestra, Chicago Symphony Orchestra, Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra, St. Louis Symphony, Royal Philharmonic Orchestra and l'Orchestre Philharmonique de Monte Carlo.

The United States Holocaust Memorial Museum commissioned two of his works, Piano Trio No. 2 "Silent Voices" and "Night Spectres" for unaccompanied cello.

As a composer, Lees was especially renowned for his orchestral works, which are represented by five symphonies and numerous concertante works that feature soloist or small instrumental groups with orchestra. Writing in the August 2007 issue of The Strad, Robert Markow called Lees' Concerto for String Quartet and Orchestra "an outstanding model of the form." Other concertante works for small ensembles include concertos for woodwind quintet, brass choir, percussion ensemble, all with orchestra.

His many awards included a Fromm Foundation Award (1953), two Guggenheim Fellowships (1954, 1966), a Fulbright Fellowship (1956), a UNESCO Award for String Quartet No. 2 (1958), and the Sir Arnold Bax Society Medal, the first awarded to a non-British composer (1958). He also received a Grammy nomination in 2004 for his Symphony No. 5.

Lees' music was published exclusively by Boosey & Hawkes.

Asked about his approach to composition, he was quoted as saying, "There are two kinds of composers. One is the intellectual and the other is visceral. I fall into the latter category. If my stomach doesn't tighten at an idea, then it's not the right idea."

Commissioned to write pieces through his early 80s, he continued writing until his death.

Benjamin Lees is survived by his wife Leatrice, as well as by his daughter, Jan Rexon.

"Coonskin" cinematographer William A. Fraker dies

Cinematographer William A. Fraker, nominated six times for an Academy Award, died Monday at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles after a battle with cancer. He was 86.

Fraker was the cinematographer for Ralph Bakshi's notorious 1975 movie flop Coonskin, which combined live action with animation. Also known as Street Fight and Bustin' Out, the allegorical tale about the status of blacks in America was accused of being racist and was withdrawn by its distributor within a week of its release.

By and large, Fraker was a success, however. He received Academy Award nominations in cinematography for Looking for Mr. Goodbar (1977), Heaven Can Wait (1978), 1941 (1980), WarGames (1983) and Murphy's Romance (1985), in addition to a visual effects nod for 1941.

President of the American Society of Cinematographers for three terms (1979-80, 1984-85 and 1991-92), he received the ASC Lifetime Achievement Award in 2000.

Born in Hollywood on September 29, 1923, he was raised there as well. During the Second World War, he served in the United States Navy.

Aided by the G.I. Bill of Rights, he enrolled in film school at the University of Southern California, graduating from the USC School of Cinema-Television in 1950. In recent years, he taught at the school as well.

In 1981, Franker was made an honorary nember of the Society of Operating Cameramen, of which he was a founding supporter.

During the 1960s, Fraker became well-known in his craft, working on such films as the features Bullitt and Rosemary's Baby (both 1968) and Paint Your Wagon (1969).

"William A. Fraker, ASC, BSC (British Society of Cinematographers), embodied not only the consummate artistry that was necessary to become a legend in his craft but also the romance and glamour of making movies," ASC president Michael Goi said.

"His presence was a reminder that we in the motion picture industry exist in a world of privilege, a world where one's ability to visually depict the world as we would like it to be had value to an audience. His tireless devotion to informing and educating the next generations of cinematographers spoke to his desire that the industry never forget that we are dreamers, and that those dreams have significance. He will be missed but never forgotten."

"Billy Fraker was the epitome of a Hollywood cinematographer," ASC past president Richard Crudo observed. "He was immensely talented, handsome and charismatic, and he has a body of work that was the envy of us all. We are always going to miss him."

William A. Fraker is survived by his wife Denise. He was predeceased in 1992 by son William A. Fraker Jr., an assistant cameraman.

Disney background artist Daniel Read dead at 60

Daniel "Dan" Read, a background and visual development artist on several Disney Animation films, died May 25 following an 18-month battle with melanoma, Steve Hulett, business representative of The Animation Guild (Local 839 of IATSE), said Tuesday.

Read had just turned 60, and was surrounded by friends and family at the time of his death, Hulett added.

His most recent work for Disney was as a background artist on 2009's The Princess And The Frog. He was also a background artist on the feature films Hercules (1997), Fantasia 2000 (1999), The Emperor's New Groove (2000), Treasure Planet (2002) and Home On The Range (2004).

A visual development artist on Chicken Little (2005) and Bolt (2008), Read was a background artist on the 2007 Goofy short How To Hook Up Your Home Theater, which was nominated for two Annie Awards.

Read, a resident of the Los Angeles area, had been a lighter/compositor at Walt Disney Animation Studios as well.

Read worked for over 20 years in the United States and Italy as a painter and teacher of painting and figure drawing before joining Disney's Paris studio as a background painter on the 1995 Mickey Mouse short Runaway Brain.

He earned the Master's Degree from the University of California, Berkeley, where he studied under Elmer Bischoff and Joan Brown. He also attended the University of California, Davis, where he studied under Wayne Thiebaud.

His fine art has been exhibited in the United States, Scotland and Italy, and is in numerous private collections in the U.S., Great Britain, Switzerland and Italy.

"Dan was a fine artist, way beyond his Disney work," Hulett recalled. "He lived for some years in Florence, Italy refining his art and earning his living with big and small canvases.

"At some point, he decided it would be good to become one with a large American corporation and called me asking how he could get into Disney. I knew from mutual friends that he was a crackerjack artist."

Hulett remembered that Read thrived at Disney Animation, lasting through many management changes at the House of Mouse "because he was damn good at what he did, and the conglomerate knew it."

Jesus Christ, this animated TV series is offensive

Repent and broadcast no more, says a group of TV religious watchdogs preparing a preemptive strike against a possible Comedy Central cartoon series about Jesus Christ.

Although it doesn't have a script yet, JC may be green-lighted as a series. The concept revolves around Jesus trying to live an ordinary life in the Big Apple and trying to get out from under the thumb of his "powerful but apathetic father."

To protest the idea, a new group, the Coalition Against Religious Bigotry, is being formed by Media Research Centre president Brent Bozell, Family Research Council president Tony Perkins, Catholic League president Bill Donohue and Parents Television Council president Tim Winter, along with Rabbi Daniel Lapin of the American Alliance of Jews and Christians and talk radio host Michael Medved.

On Thursday, CARB will hold its first news conference to urge advertisers not to back JC if it hits the airwaves.

Some Christian leaders are offended by what they view as a double standard. Recently, Comedy Central censored the cartoon sitcom South Park for depicting the Prophet Muhammad.

"After we reveal the vile and offensive nature of Comedy Central's previous characterizations of Jesus Christ and God the Father, we expect these advertisers to agree wholeheartedly to end their advertising on Comedy Central and discontinue their support for unabashed, anti-Christian discrimination," Bozell said in a statement. "Why should they be supporting a business that makes a habit of attacking Christianity and yet has a formal policy to censor anything considered offensive to followers of Islam? This double standard is pure bigotry, one from which advertisers should quickly shy away."

And Comedy Central said unto the press: Nothing. It had no comment.

Upcoming in Japan
Promos

Gundam Unicorn episode 2

Anime
A look at the upcoming Nausicaa blu-ray

AnimeNews.biz notes Marvel Entertainment and Animax announced an October 1 premiere for the Madhouse animated Iron Man anime.

Catsuka reports Studio 4°C has developed a short adaptation of Masamune Shirow's battle of religions, Orion to be shown at the Short Shorts Film Festival in Tokyo this June. Batman: Gotham Knight's Yasuhiro Aoki directed the 3D work

a 3D Doraemon short is also being unveiled

Nausicaa.net reports that Ghibli is working on shirts
Yomiuri Online reports that Studio Ghibli is working on two new shorts titled "Pandane to Tamagohime" and "Takarasagashi" for the Ghibli museam

A secon season of Baka Test will air on Japanese TV next year

Keiichi Arawi's Nichijou gag comedy manga will be adapted by Kyoto Animation

Azure Konno's manga about voice actress in adult anime Koe de Oshigoto! will be adapted into adapted into anime

via Anime News Network
Hiroyuki Yamaga confirmed that Gainax has another series in the work beyond the very stylized Panty & Stocking with Garterbelt. the other will be "more refined" work set in Great Britain during the 20th century.

Britain's Got Talent's Susan Boyle has sung the theme song for Welcome to THE SPACE SHOW, the movie from the team behind Read or Die

Mobile Suit Gundam 00 the Movie: Awakening of the Trailblazer is scheduled to hit Japanese theatres on September 18th.

Flash animator FROGMAN (Eagle Talon) will produce a trailer for the Japanese release of Jackie Chan's Spy Next Door, to be released under the title Double Mission

Also, involved with Eagle Talon, DLE, will be animating a TV tie-in to Monster Hunter.

A limited edition XXXHOLiC OVA will be offered to readers who send in cards from the 25th issue of Weekly Shonen Magazine, sixth issue of Magazine Special, and July issue of Bessatsu Shonen Magazine

Tsutomu Mizushima is directing a second Production I.G produced adaptation of demonic comedy Yondemasuyo, Azazel-san

Upcoming in North America (and other English Speaking Territories)

The story of a live action adaptation of Mai the Psychic Girl has gone from legend to news again. Latino Review reports Tim Burton has re-acquired and re-started his film adaptation of MAI THE PSYCHIC GIRL, based on the manga by Kazuya Kudo and Ryoichi Ikegami. He first started this one in the late eighties

MAI had been bought 8 years ago by Sony Family Films. Then the Prez of Sony, Amy Pascal, killed it. Sony has been having serious money problems since October and didn’t want to make the film so they gave it all back to Burton. If it ends up making a BILLION dolares como Alice in Wonderland then Sony will not be seen as all that smart, eh?

*

The Hub will be broadcasting fantasy anime Deltora Quest, which was going to be released in North America by Geneon before its North American operations were shut down.

*
A Green Lantern animated series is slated for Fall 2011

4Kids
4Kids has acquired to Ann Gutman & Georg Hallensleben’s Pénélope, including Nippon Animation's adaptation

AnimEigo
Famous English dubbed edit of the first two Lone Wolf and Cub movies, Shogun Assassin, will be released on Blu-ray by AnimEigo July 30th

Directed by Academy Award-winner Robert Houston, the English dubbed SHOGUN ASSASSIN was created by editing together footage from the first two Lone Wolf and Cub (Kozure Ookami) films, SWORD OF VENGEANCE (Kozure Okami: Kowokashi Udekashi Tsukamatsuru, 1972) and BABY CART ON THE RIVER STYX (Kozure Okami: Sanzu no Kawa no Ubaguruma, 1972). It uses about 11 minutes of footage from the first film and 70 minutes of footage from the second. The Lone Wolf and Cub films are based on the original manga (story by Koike Kazuo, illustrations by Kojima Goseki), a 142-episode epic, which ran in Manga Action between September 10, 1970, and April 1, 1976.

In 2006, AnimEigo’s first official release of SHOGUN ASSASSIN set the bar for high quality with its crystal-clear DVD picture. This time around, they once again reconstructed the film, this time using uncompressed 1080p 24p source materials.

But that’s not all! For this special edition of samurai slaughter, they’ve compiled some incredible exclusive extras, only available on this disc. For starters, there’s a must-see 10+ minute interview with Samuel L. Jackson about his fondness of SHOGUN ASSASSIN and other samurai films, shot exclusively for this release in 2009. And to top it all off, AnimEigo gathered three of the original American cast and crew for a brand new, highly-informative, feature-length audio commentary. This new commentary features never-before-heard insider perspectives of the 1980 film’s creation from some of the key players who made it all happen: producer David Weisman, poster illustrator Jim Evans, and Gibran Evans, who provided the epic voice narration of Daigoro!

Beez Entertainment
Upcoming UK releases include urban mystery Durarara (streaming on Crunchyroll), Mobile Suit Gundam 00 Season 2, and the Mobile Suit Zeta Gundam: A New Translation movie compilation trilogy

Worth Checking Out...
Insight

Black Sun on Toei Doga's first color anime, Legend of the White Serpent and father of TV tokusatsu, Gekko Kamen

getting into Anno's head for Evangelion

Sci-Fi Japan on the well regarded Zeta Gundam

The Man Who Stole Evangelion 2.22?!

Mike Toole on black and white anime and The Dubs That Time Forgot

Japan's content regular laws aren't just about you

Japanese words of anime fans, by anime fans, for anime fans - heisa kuukan - " There is often an old saying; otakus have their own universe and stuck there all alone"

Any 5-Year-Old Can Tell You Why Summer Wars is Great

Production I.G has posted an English translation of a 2008 La Rebubblica interview with Oshii

Nihon review on Violence Jack, The Disappearance of Haruhi Suzumiya and Cobra: The Animation

Buying Anime and Manga Art

Media

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A Meeting About "On Call"

I spent the afternoon in a studio conference room, meeting with television board artists and others where a Labor Relations exec (who I happen to like) discussed the nuances of "On Call."

(For those who don't know, On Call is a kind of modified salaried position in the TAG contract. If you're at least 10% above union scale and exempt from overtime law, you can negotiate an On Call deal where you work Monday through Friday without additional overtime after eight hours -- such a deal. If you work an authorized 6th or 7th day -- usually Saturday or Sunday -- you receive additional "premium pay.")

The exec did most of the talking, with an occasional chime-in from me ...

The exec explained how:

1) Everybody gets credited with 56 hours in the Motion Picture Industry Pension Plan every week, whether they work 30 hours or 70 hours Monday through Friday.

2) TAG's On Call provisions are similar to other O.C. provisions in other IA contracts.

3) The On Call deals have been in the contracts 20-30 years.

There were complaints about the tight schedules and work loads. The exec allowed how it's pretty much the same on the live action and corporate sides of the business, where smaller staffs are doing more work. ("Take our office. I'm getting more work with less staff and the quality's dropped ....")

It was pointed out by the L.R. guy that everyone must have known they were doing an On Call deal, since they had to agree to it. (I countered that for most artists, agreeing to On Call is a requirement for getting hired.)

I made the suggestion (not for the first time) that artists should negotiate a wage under 110% of scale, thereby rendering themselves ineligible for On Call. (Stony silence. Then a background artist said the wage minimums were too low. In my experience, the wage minimums have always been too low.)

After the meeting, the L.R. exec and I lingered to talk to various people. The exec said the number of live-action pilots the studio is making per season has dropped from 20 to 12, (a 40% drop.) A short time later, one of the studio staffers under our jurisdiction, somebody who doesn't do uncompensated overtime, said to me:

"We've got some artists who just aren't fast, and they complain to me all the time. They just can't keep up with the pace, and they don't want to get laid off. And they're good artists, just slow."

And therein lies the rub. The fear. The uncertainty. The desire not to be unemployed because a deadline gets missed, therefore the all-nighters that wipe out health and higher brain function.

If I had a clear, simple solution to make these difficulties go away, I would bottle it and sell it at cost. The L.R. executive offered one of his own:

"Look, it gets to the point where you're going to crack under the workload, you've got to talk to supervisors, other management or me. Because if you don't communicate about the problem, it's not going to change or get better."

Just because he works on the corporate side of the tracks, doesn't mean he's wrong.

(Thanks Animation Guild Blog)

"They Stole My Idea"

The Hollywood Reporter tells of a martial arts guy who claims he was ripped off by a large animation studio.

... Terence Dunn, who describes himself as a writer-producer-teacher-philosopher and says he "pioneered the practice of tai chi, kung fu and qigong in modern medicine," claims in a lawsuit filed Tuesday in Los Angeles Superior Court that he originated the idea for a movie about a "spiritual kung-fu fighting panda bear" and met with the studio months before it decided to make "Kung Fu Panda" without him. ...

The way this works is, somebody has a hot idea that may or may not be close to a hit movie that is later produced. The somebody pitches the idea to a studio functionary, and we go on from there.

In most cases, the studio insists that the story pitcher go through an agent or sign a release-from-liability waiver or something. Usually this kind of thing doesn't get done over the phone.

If Mr. Dunn has some verifiable evidence that he laid out all the magic elements to studio execs who later hosed him, then maybe Mr. Dunn will see some cash money out of this. And if not, not.

Me, I heard early development tales about KFP way before the feature saw the light of day. When a DreamWorker told me about a martial arts panda I recall thinking: "What a lame idea...".

Which shows you how brilliantly prescient I am.

Meantime, "Shrek IV" only had a 19% drop weekend to weekend, and now stands at $147 million domestic. Smells like a hit to me ...

(Thanks Animation Guild Blog)

Buck Builds Buzz With Second Sherwin-Williams Spot

Buck is back with the second installment in their series of Sherwin-Williams spots that make gorgeous worlds out of color swatches. This one is titled Bees, and it was lead by Creative Director Orion Tait, Lead Art Director Ben Langsfeld and Art Director Joshua Harvey.

Midsummer Night Toons 2 Exclusive Trailer

For the second year in a row my good friend, Matt Lee, has out done himself again by organizing a night amongst friends, half priced drinks and animation. Here’s what Matt had to say about this years festival and it’s film makers:

As an avid watcher of animation fests, I thought it was a great idea to bring in some new blood for “Midsummer Night Toons 2,” names that you don’t usually see. The independent animators contributing have busted their asses and crafted hilarious and entertaining films. I hope this screening, much like the first one did, inspires others to make that film that’s been in the back of their minds.

Check out the trailer of films that will be screened at this years Midsummer Night Toons!

Varanese Realizes Stop Motion 8-bit Vision

San Francisco-based artist/animator Alex Varanese had a vision for a Lego-based 8-bit video game recreation, so he made it. The result is ” pretty much exactly what I envisioned when the idea first hit me,” according to Varanese, who titled the piece My Desk is 8-bit.

Frank Miller Unveils '300' Prequel, 'Xerxes'

Last year, Frank Miller revealed that he was working on "Xerxes," a prequel to "300" that may be used as a follow-up film to the hit movie by director Zack Snyder.

And while the project won't be released until next year, Miller has already begun to reveal more about the story itself and how "Xerxes" will differ from "300."

"The story will be the same heft as '300' but it covers a much, much greater span of time," Miller told the Los Angeles Times. "It's 10 years, not three days. This is a more complex story. The story is so much larger."

"The Spartans in '300' were being enclosed by the page as the world got smaller," continued Miller. "This story has truly vast subjects. The Athenian naval fleet, for instance, is a massive artistic undertaking and it [is] dwarfed by the Persian fleet, which is also shown in this story. The story has elements of espionage, too, and it's a sweeping tale with gods and warriors."

Miller also disclosed that "Xerxes" would be published as a six-issue miniseries by Dark Horse Comics in 2011. He also indicated that "Xerxes" will feature a more in-depth portrayal of the lead character than he received in "300."

"To me [Xerxes] is such a pivotal character and in this story I get to explain him so much more fully," explained Miller. "I do my best to crawl inside his head rather than have him be this iconic force that simply commands this huge army. There are many scenes with him alone or just with his people. There's an extended scene set in Persepolis, for instance, where he takes power and there are several scenes where he is going through his transitions and he's shown speaking to his mother and his wife and with all of that he becomes that much more interesting as a character."

"The story is very different than '300' in that it involves Xerxes search for godhood," continued Miller. "The existence of gods are presupposed in this story and the idea is that he well on his way to godhood by the end of the story."

According to Miller, two additional characters from "300" will return for cameo appearances: the misformed Spartan traitor, Ephialtes and King Leonidis. The story will also feature the Greek warlord Themistocles as the protagonist. Themistocles played a large role in the creation of the Athenian navy which will be seen in the climactic sea battle at the end of "Xerxes."

"There is an aftermath that is like an extension of '300' because '300' ended so abruptly with all of them getting mowed down by arrows," said Miller. "I do get into what happened after that and what the entire thing means to Xerxes. Xerxes is a megalomaniac and takes everything as a sign of his godhood. I've known people like that."

Captain America's Costume Revealed?

Earlier this week, a report hit the 'Net claiming to reveal details of Captain America's costume in director Joe Johnston's upcoming live-action movie based on the Marvel hero.

That report was followed by a batch of images arriving online (at an entirely different outlet) that offered a very interesting take on how soldier-turned-superhero Steve Rogers might look when he dons the red, white and blue suit.

Now, it appears that those images might actually be very real concept art from 2011's "Captain America: The First Avenger."

While nothing's official at this point, the author of the initial report has stated that the new art is indeed the imagery he was describing when he described the film's take on Cap's iconic suit.

Here's one of the images that were posted on AICN, as well as the initial report on JoBlo regarding the suit:

So, now the question becomes: if this is indeed Cap's costume, what do you think about it?

New Japanese trailer for Shyamalan's Airbender made of WIN

A new Japanese trailer for The Last Airbender has just been released, and you know what? It's making us think M. Night Shyamalan might have pulled this thing off after all. We won't know for sure until the film opens July 2, but there's enough martial-arts mayhem and eye-popping special effects to make us hopeful.

Check it out below!

The Last Airbender, written and directed by Shyamalan, stars Noah Ringer, Jackson Rathbone, Nicola Peltz and Jessica Jade Andres.

News - 06/02/10...

2010-06-02T00:00:00.005-04:00

Fears and fantasies animation on the roof

Rooftop Films have posted their “fun, frantic program of films about losing your grip on reality…and loving it” for a screening of Fears And Fantasies themed animation in New York this Saturday, June 5. Blurring the lines of reality and fantasy, full details can be found here.

The Princess And The Frog’s Directors John Musker and Ron Clements take us to “the other side” of animation!

Celebrating the beginning of the international home video roll-out for Disney’s return to hand-drawn animation The Princess And The Frog, Jeremie Noyer joins a roundtable interview directors John Musker and Ron Clements about how they went about bringing the magic back to the Mouse House!

Born in Chicago, Illinois, John Musker first began drawing while in grammar school and knew by the age of 8 that he wanted to become an animator. Inspired by such Disney classics as Sleeping Beauty and Pinocchio, as well as Bob Thomas’ primer The Art of Animation, he developed a thorough understanding of the animation process. His fascination with comics, cartoons and Mad Magazine further stimulated his desire to draw.

At Loyola Academy, a Jesuit high school in Wilmette, Illinois, Musker became a cartoonist for the school paper. His special brand of caricature, which included outrageous sketches of teachers and school celebrities, quickly caught on. This preoccupation with caricature and cartooning continued throughout his college years at Northwestern University, where he majored in English and drew cartoons for The Daily Northwestern.

Following graduation from college in 1974, Musker put together a portfolio and set out for California to pursue a career as an animator. Initially rejected by Disney, he enrolled at the California Institute of the Arts the following year to master his craft. After completing his first year, which included a summer internship at the Disney studio, he was offered a full-time job as an animator. This time Musker turned it down, opting instead to complete the second year of his training.

In 1977, Musker started work at Disney, where his two training tests were enthusiastically received and he began as an assistant animator on The Small One. He also animated on The Fox and the Hound and did story work on The Black Cauldron.

Born and raised in Sioux City, Iowa, Ron Clements traces his interest in animation to his first viewing of Pinocchio at the age of 10. As a teenager, he began making super-8 animated films, including Shades of Sherlock Holmes, a 15-minute featurette he animated single-handedly. Shades won critical acclaim and led to a part-time job as an artist at a television station, where he animated commercials for the local market. Several years later, Shades helped Clements get a job at Disney and also served as the inspiration for The Great Mouse Detective, which he wrote and directed with Musker.

After graduating from high school, Clements came to California to try his luck at animation. Because there were no openings at Disney, he worked for several months at Hanna-Barbera while studying life drawing in the evening at Art Center. With persistence and determination, Clements was finally accepted into Disney’s Talent Development Program, a training ground for young animators. His self-taught experience and ambition made up for his lack of formal training.

After successfully completing the training program, Clements served a two-year apprenticeship under Disney legend Frank Thomas. He quickly progressed through the ranks from inbetweener to assistant to animator-storyman. His credits include Winnie the Pooh and Tigger, Too, The Rescuers, Pete’s Dragon, The Fox and the Hound and The Black Cauldron.

Ron Clements made his writing-directing debut with John Musker on the 1986 Disney animated feature The Great Mouse Detective. Following that, he successfully pitched an animated version of the classic Hans Christian Andersen fairy tale The Little Mermaid, which reteamed Clements and Musker as co-writers and co-directors and became one of the studio’s greatest artistic and commercial achievements. Musker and Clements went on to write and direct two of the funniest and most memorable animated features ever – Aladdin and Hercules. Clements and Musker’s next project was Treasure Planet, the swashbuckling intergalactic adventure based on the classic novel Treasure Island by Robert Louis Stevenson.

Of his successful partnership with Ron Clements, Musker says, “We’re both relatively agreeable Midwestern types, and we each have slightly different strengths and approaches. Ron is more structure-oriented and makes sure that the overall story doesn’t disintegrate during the course of too many rewrites. I tend to be more concerned with specific details and gags. We constantly go over each other’s scenes and drafts and add new ideas and suggestions in the process.”

Roundtable Interviewer: What is the reason you picked New Orleans as the setting for the story? Does ‘Katrina’ have anything to do with it?

Ron Clements: It was actually John Lasseter’s idea to set this story in New Orleans. And he wanted to do this several years before Katrina. The reason was he loves that city and thought it would be a great location to set an animated movie. When John became head of Disney animation in February of 2006, he asked John Musker and myself to consider the idea of setting the fairy tale The Frog Prince in New Orleans. We pitched him the story that became the basis of the movie. This was about eight months after Katrina. John Musker and I visited New Orleans for the first time shortly after that and we saw the terrible aftermath of Katrina first hand. We definitely wanted to do whatever possible to help the city recover.

RI: Why did you chose the story of The Frog Prince and twist it the way you did?

RC: We liked the idea of doing an American fairy tale and the setting suggested using elements of Voodoo, having an African American heroine and the approach to the music. The big twist of having our heroine turn into a frog once she kissed the frog, came from a children’s book called The Frog Princess by E.D. Baker, which Disney bought the rights to in 2003. Many of the characters in our version including Mama Odie, Tiana, and Ray the Cajun firefly were inspired by actual people we met in our research trips to New Orleans. Other twists came from the basic desire to use iconic fairy tale and Disney archetypes but do a spin on them to make the movie fresh.

RI: How important is John Lasseter for the world of animated pictures, and for yourself? Is he already up there with Walt Disney?

RC: Everybody’s different, but John Lasseter is inspiring, gives great story notes, and has a huge passion and enthusiasm for animation. It’s hard for me to imagine anyone better to work for.

RI: How much time does it take to complete a movie like this? From the initial sketches and ideas to the final version?

RC: We pitched the story of this movie to John Lasseter in March of 2006. We started working on our first draft of the script that summer. Visual development started soon after that and songs, voice casting and storyboarding began in the fall. Experimental animation began early in 2007 with layout and production animation beginning in the spring. Color soon after that. All in all, about three and a half years from beginning to completion, which is actually pretty fast for this kind of film.

RI: I was told by Mark Henn that the design and personality of the different characters were set during a weekend at a hotel resort. How and why did you choose that way of processing to create the characters?

John Musker: Sometimes when we are developing these films, sequestering ourselves in a different environment can provide a focus away from other distractions. There’s no “right” way to do it but this one was very collaborative and helpful I believe. And then you stroll out of doors in this beautiful setting of Ojai and wish you were playing golf there.

RI: Given the in-depth story development process Disney animated features go through how different is the film from what was first pitched?

JM: This film is fairly similar to the first outline we pitched to John Lasseter four years ago. In terms of differences, the character of Tiana’s father assumed a bigger role as we made the film and we tied her passion for her restaurant more into her father’s dream. Our earlier version had Louis as a gator who was actually a human, an accountant who dreamed of becoming a great jazz player. Facilier gave him the ability but double crossed him and turned him into a gator. A few of the names changed. Dr. Facilier was originally Dr. Duvalier but we didn’t want to confuse him with the ruler of Haiti with that same name. A few of the song ideas evolved as well. Louis’s song originally was about how much he loved jazz. We eventually thought it would be fun to have all three characters sing and highlight the differences in their characters and their aspirations.

RI: How many endings did you have planned out for The Princess and the Frog and can you share some ideas that you had for other possible endings if possible?

JM: The ending of the film is the one we originally planned. The idea that they got married as frogs, and then kissed and transformed back was in an earlier script for the movie that Greg Erb and Jason Oremland wrote. We liked that twist and always intended to use that. Musically we thought there would be a final reprise in her restaurant, but we discussed a number of different ideas. It was John Lasseter’s thought to reprise Down in New Orleans and have Tiana sing a very powerful version of it. We liked his idea. It put her back at the center and showed how she had been changed by the Prince to publicly sing such an emotive number. We did consider having a wizard’s duel in the climax between Mama Odie and Facilier that we didn’t do because the main characters were too far outside of it. We also had an ending where Facilier’s magic backfired on him and he was turned into a fly which was gobbled up by a frog. Also we had a plan for a “plague of frogs” to descend on Mardi Gras, an outgrowth of a story idea in which Facilier proposed to Big Daddy a contest for the best frog dish, in an attempt to get his wayward frogs rounded up from the bayou.

RI: How much did Cinderella impact on the making and storyline of The Princess and the Frog.

JM: Certainly Cinderella was one of our influences both in the broadest sense in that this is a “Cinderella” story, an underdog tale, a story of a girl who gets to trade her working clothes for a beautiful ball gown, and in some of the more specific imagery when we had our Mardi Gras masquerade Ball a la Cinderella’s ball. We thought of Mama Odie as our bayou fairy godmother. Our designers like Ian Gooding, and particularly Lorelay Bove, are big fans of Mary Blair the brilliant designer who had such an impact on the Disney animated films of the Fifties. I saw Cinderella a number of times when I was preparing to attend CalAts to study animation and I marveled at how entertaining it was and still is.

RI: Films like Shrek appealed to many different cultural references. Princess and the Frog appealed to so many references taken from Disney history, but in its own way. How did you use references?

RC: I love Shrek, but in this movie we were deliberately trying to stay true to the period and avoided many modern cultural references. As you say, we did have a number of “callbacks” to earlier Disney films, not so much for comedy, but as a way of acknowledging the Disney legacy and comment on this movie places in it from a slightly new perspective.

RI: There are a number of ‘in house’ jokes in the film – streetcar A113, Firefly Five Plus Lou – do you each throw these in, or is one of you the chief pun artist? And which is your favorite joke?

JM: I attended Cal arts with John Lasseter and Brad Bird among my many talented classmates. We studied animation in room A113, so I always wanted to put a reference in one of my projects to acknowledge my kinship with them. The Firehouse Five reference came from both I think. Although, I can’t remember if it was Eric Goldberg who thought of the “plus Lou” variation a la “plus Two”. We both saw Frank Thomas play piano and wanted to do a shout out to him. I wanted to do caricatures of some of our coworkers as characters, so the prince’s group of female admirers are actually based on Ali Norman, Jen Kilger, Shanda WIlliamson, Elissa Sussman, and Lorry Shea, all ladies who worked hard and well on this production.

RI: It is the first time that one of your films is being released on Blu-ray? What are for you the benefits of this support compared to a standard DVD

RC: The picture quality is impeccable. Better than most people will see in a theater. And the extras are a lot of fun. John and I were particularly excited that the Blu-ray contains the entire movie in rough pencil test form as well as color. For animation buffs, this is a great opportunity to see the process in a way few get a chance to.

RI: Blu-ray is sometimes described as TOO high res, actually detracting from the quality of some films. Are you happy with the Blu-ray version? Which do you prefer?

JM: I like the Blu-ray version and the earlier ones they did of Pinocchio and Sleeping Beauty are stunning and I would recommend the Blu-ray versions to anyone looking for the premium version of the film. The Blu-ray also has a feature where you can watch the entire film in rough animation pencil drawings so for students and fans of animation it’s a unique opportunity to see the film as it was before completion.

RC: In the case of modern animated films, all the final color work we do is in a very high definition digital format. This is the way the film is projected in digital theaters and is the ideal way we intend the film to be seen. Film resolution is actually not capable of producing all the subtleties of color that digital can. In that respect, Blu-ray is the closest thing possible to seeing the film as intended.

RI: Was this movie a reaction to the new 3D CGI hype of making movies?

JM: Not really. We love hand drawn and we have enjoyed the CG films as well. We just thought this story with its organic setting was ideal for the warmth and expressiveness of hand drawn animation.

RI: Do you find a difference in the way people identify with this style of animation, as opposed to the newer, digital process? Do you think, with the advent of 3D technology hand-drawn animation will still have a place?

RC: I certainly hope hand drawn animation has a place. The Academy Award nominations for best animated feature were interesting this year in that they contained two stop motion films, (Coraline and The Fantastic Mr. Fox), one digital film, (Up), and two hand drawn films, (The Secret of Kells and our movie). It’s nice to see this kind of diversity. Really, they’re all just different kinds of paint brushes and I don’t think it’s necessary for the same paintbrush to be used all the time on every movie.

RI: Given its inherent 2D starting point, do you think hand drawn animation is at a disadvantage in the looming 3D world?

JM: Interesting question. They have actually taken Beauty and the Beast and converted it to 3D and we’ll see how that is received. I don’t believe all of live action is going to go the 3D route. It remains to be seen also if audiences will feel that 3D is a passing fancy or a change to stay.

RI: Why was The Princess And The Frog another hand drawn animated movie and not a computer animated movie?

RC: All the movies John Musker and I have directed were hand drawn films. We love this medium and were very sorry to see Disney abandon it a few years ago. Fortunately, even though John Lasseter has achieved so much success with computer animated films, he loves hand drawn animation just as much as we do. When he was put in charge of Disney animation four years ago, he very much wanted to bring back hand drawn animation. This story seemed an ideal vehicle for that as a classical musical fairytale and the lushness, romance, warmth and magic of the setting.

RI: How did you feel being the directors of a movie that would bring hand drawn animation back in the spotlight?

RC: We love hand drawn animation and were very excited to see it return to Disney. And it was great working with an all star team of artists and animators and creating a venue where they could showcase their amazing talents. The skills involved with this particular art form are rare and take a long time to learn how to do well. They’ve tended to be passed on through mentor/student relationships where veterans pass on their knowledge to younger apprentices. That was true on this film as well and it was exciting to see a new generation fresh out of art school develop and contribute strong work for the movie.

RI: The Princess and the Frog was a mixture of veterans of hand-drawn animation and newcomers. How did that affect team chemistry?

JM: It was a good mix. The veterans were able to mentor the younger animators and those younger ones and their great skills bode well for the future. We ourselves were trained by the “Nine Old Men” the Disney veteran animators. Ron worked with Frank Thomas who had animated the Dwarves and Bambi and Captain Hook among others. I had worked with Eric Larson who animated the cat Figaro in Pinocchio and Peg in Lady and the Tramp. One of the best ways to learn animation is in this type of arrangement of master and apprentice passing on the craft. The youthful enthusiasm of the newcomers was a reminder of the joys of bringing drawings to life, a special skill that few have mastered but one of the most rewarding combinations of sleight of hand, draftsmanship, acting and entertaining.

RI: What changed in terms of techniques or way of working on a 2D movie since The Little Mermaid or Aladdin?

JM: The essential techniques are quite similar. Mermaid was the last feature to use cells and have the characters painted with real, rather than digital, paint. On this film we did the character animation on paper as we did on Mermaid and Aladdin. But for the first time we did our effects animation, namely the ripples of water, the magic, the shadows, paperlessly. They were drawn with a stylus on a pressure sensitive tablet.

RC: There are several new innovations. In terms of layout, (the staging, lighting and cinematography of the movie), we did something new on this film where we did “layout animatics” of each sequence with all the camera moves, lighting, and basic blocking of characters, before any animation was done. This was something John Lasseter brought over from Pixar and was a great tool in helping us pre-visualize the film more specifically than ever before. We also had new color processes which allowed us to view scenes in final color while still being able to make significant changes much more easily. We experimented with paperless animation on this movie, with animators drawing on a digital tablet, but found glitches in the process we couldn’t overcome. But we did actually do our effects animation (water, smoke, magic, etc.) with paperless animation.

RI: Which scene are you most proud of ?

JM: The song Friends on the other Side was very very complex in terms of the effects animation, all that magic, and the tarot card animation, the Voodoo doll chorus and the choreography of all. We are happy with the way it turned out and the fine work Facilier animator Bruce Smith did, our choreographer Betsy Baytos and dancer Dominique Kelly did, and the amazing effects work of Marlon West and the color of Ian Gooding.

RI: What defines a great animation movie in your opinion?

RC: Great characters, a great story with a satisfying ending, and an interesting world where you can really enjoy spending an hour and a half. And finally, you want all of this presented in as fun and entertaining way as possible.

RI: What is the most difficult aspect of creating a character?

RC: Good characters are the heart and soul of these movies. It’s important that the characters become real to the audience, that the audience relates to them identifies with them, that the characters feel like real people that they know. This is true whether the characters are humans or alligators and fireflies. We want the characters to have depth and dimension and we work very hard to achieve that. A lot of this happens in the scripting and storyboarding process. But casting the right voice actors is extremely important. And finally, casting the right animators, who are really good actors in their own right, is essential in pulling this off.

RI: What inspired you to create the characters?

RC: Many of the characters were inspired by actual people we met in our research trips to New Orleans. Tiana was greatly inspired by Leigh Chase a legendary New Orleans restaurateur who started as a waitress and opened the famed Dookie Chase restaurant. Mama Odie was partly inspired by Ava Kay Jones, a Voodoo priestess who has a snake she dances with, and Colleen Salley, an irascible New Orleans storyteller. Dr. Facilier is based on the New Orleans “Bokur”. These are loners who’ve broken away from the Voodoo religion, made pacts with dark Voodoo spirits and sell magic for money. As Ava Kay told us “these spells almost always backfire, as easy answers are really no answers at all.”

JM: When we began the film we read a number of treatments that had been written over the years when the studio was considering doing an animated version of The Frog Prince. One of them by Dean Welins and Chris Ure, two story artists, who had the idea of a firefly who fell in love with the Evening Star. We love that idea and thought it fit the theme of love conquering even the most impossible obstacles. We thought he should be a Cajun. While we were down in New Orleans researching the movie, we went on a tour of the bayou and had a gap toothed Cajun tour guide who fed alligators over the side of the boat. His name was Reggie and when we later wrote the script we had him in mind. We also thought he could sing a wistful Cajun waltz to his star. The name Evangeline came from a Nathanial Hawthorne poem about a Cajun woman named Evangeline who wandered in search of her lost love.

RI: How much impact do the people you cast as voice actors have on the characters and the story?

JM: They have great impact. We often hire actors who can improvise in character and certainly Jim Cummings and Anika and Bruno could all do that. Tiana got her dimples and her left handedness from Anika. Bruno has a big handsome toothy smile that got grafted onto Naveen and the space in Facilier’s teeth came from Keith David.

RI: Were there any complaints from the subjects about how their caricatures looked?

JM: Lorry Shea the feisty redhead occasionally complained that I made her look too short, but she is short and that’s part of her dynamic appeal. At least that’s my story and I’m sticking to it.

RI: The Princess And The Frog sees the creation of the first African American Disney princess, did you think it was about time?

RC: In retrospect, it was certainly about time. But we didn’t approach this movie with that as any kind of agenda. John Lasseter suggested taking the fairy tale The Frog Prince and setting it in New Orleans. The idea of making our heroine African American simply grew out of the setting and that was an integral part of the story we pitched to John in March of 2006. We all thought it was a great idea. But it wasn’t until later that we fully realized the importance of this in the African American community.

RI: What impacts have you seen?

RC: We have been thanked personally by a large number of African American Moms who have been thrilled to see a Princess that looks like them and their daughters up on the big screen. At times these have even been tearful and it’s been very rewarding.

RI: It’s been reported that there were some changes to the title and character names as a result of Tiana being the first African-American Disney Princess. How much truth is there to that? And did that lead to new pressures?

RC: The original title of the movie was The Frog Princess which was the title of a children’s book by E.D. Baker which Disney bought the rights to in 2003. After a bit, we decided to change the title to The Princess and the Frog. This is not unusual. Many of our films have undergone title changes along the way. Also, Tiana was originally named Madelyn (nicknamed Maddy), in our original treatment. But we changed it to Tiana, which means “Princess” in Greek. Once again, name changes happen a lot as stories develop. But we did feel this film was under an unusual microscope as it developed and that did create a certain kind of pressure. Our goal was always to try and be as sensitive as possible while always staying true to the story we wanted to tell.

RI: Breaking with the oft-criticized tradition of the damsel in distress being rescued by the shining hero, did you set out to turn Tiana into an empowerment figure for young females of today?

RC: We always liked the idea of Tiana being a different kind of Disney Princess. She’s the first one to have a job and a career goal. We created the character of Charlotte to poke fun at some of the Princess stereotypes and to contrast with Tiana. We thought of Tiana as being a kind of modern Princess.

RI: I love the character of Mama Odie. She seems to be the opposite of Facilier, a kind of a “light” fairy opposed to the “dark” lord. Did you ever think of a more direct confrontation between the two of them?

JM: We did consider a battle between the two in the climax of the film, where light overcomes darkness. We couldn’t find a way to make it work. We were even considering “musicalizing” it. It would have been fun.

RI: How did you come to the idea of giving life to Facilier’s shadow?

RC: We referred to Dr. Facilier as “The Shadow Man” from the very beginning. But it was an early visual development drawing by Sue Nichols that inspired us to give his shadow a life of its own.

JM: Early on in our script Ron called Facilier the Shadow Man, based on some of the bokkurs of New Orleans, fortune tellers and voodoo practitioners who would sell you charms to help your love life or curse your enemies. Sue Nichols Maciorowski, a wonderful visual development artist, came up with the idea of the shadow having a life of its own. She did drawings that showed the shadow reacting independently of the villain. She also did a drawing of Facilier dancing a duet with his shadow. Both of these ideas seemed very visual and fun to do in animation.

RI: How did you make the villain Dr. Facilier different from other Disney villains?

JM: He didn’t want to rule the world like some villains. He was a bit more down on his luck. His interaction with his own shadow was different than others. He is very charismatic and a showman and that made him fun to animate.

RI: How is it possible for Tiana to be Charlotte’s best friend as their characters are completely different?

JM: I think it’s possible for best friends to be different. Although Tiana is repelled by kissing a frog, she is still intrigued by fairy tales. As you see in the opening, they are both interested in the story Eudora is telling. They both wear princess crowns. Tiana’s harder life leads her to lose some of the fun she had in her life as a child. Tiana enjoys Charlotte’s exuberance even though she is by nature more reserved. Sometimes people find in friends or partners people who are very different and who do things they are might like to do but are too inhibited to pursue.

RI: The film really takes off once the animals become the stars, were you aiming for that?

JM: That wasn’t the intention, but the “entertainment value” does seem to expand once Tiana becomes a frog. There is a greater possibility for visual humor, caricature and fun when we have the comedy inherent in people transformed into the unfamiliar. Our challenge with the opening was to attempt to get you involved enough in Tiana’s plight, and in Naveen as a character that you root for them in the remainder of the story.

RI: How did you come up with the musician alligator? What inspired you to create him?

JM: Alligators are native to Louisiana and we saw some in the bayou when we visited on a research trip. The big scale seemed a fun contrast to the smaller scale frogs. His musical inspiration is the great trumpeter and New Orleans native Louis Armstrong. The original concept was that the gator was a human who came to Dr. Facilier wanting to be the greatest jazz player of all (he couldn’t play a note). Facilier made him a great jazz player but also changed him to a gator in the process. This was later simplified when the film got too long.

RI: There’s the influence of Louis Armstrong in Jungle Book (which he was once intended to be part of), in Aristocats (Scat Cat), and then you created Louis, the alligator. How do you explain that success of the famous trumpet genius in animation?

JM: He is one of the greatest entertainers in American entertainment. He was so emotive. And he created an indelible impression with both his soulful trumpet playing and his jazz voicing and phrasing, with his singing, equally distinctive in that powerful sweet growl, and in his look as well, with the sweat, the handkerchief, the smile and the squint. He was an icon both aurally and visually.

RI: When did Randy Newman became part of the project?

JM: Very early in the process. We suggested using Randy because of his feel for Americana and New Orleans. John Lasseter liked the idea. The script hadn’t been written yet but we showed randy a visual outline and pitched him the story and explained how we thought music would work in the film.

RI: How important was it for you to put great songs – that really stick in people’s minds – in the movie?

JM: We love musicals and find that songs are a great way to show the characters’ emotions as well as be fun for the audience to see performed in a bigger than life way. Music is an important part of New Orleans and the fabric of that city and felt natural. We attended the yearly jazz festival when we were doing research for the movie and thought we wanted to capture the different musical styles we heard there: Gospel, Dixieland, Swing, Zydeco, etc. Randy Newman spent boyhood summers in New Orleans and he seemed ideal to bring that to life.

RI: A good part of the movie are Jazz songs, sort of logical considering that the story takes place in the birthplace of Jazz itself. What do you think of other animated movies from other studios, like the recent How To Train Your Dragon, where the characters don’t sing a single song and yet happen to have such a great audience at the cinemas?

RC: I enjoyed How To Train Your Dragon very much and certainly don’t think an animated film needs to have songs in order to be good. But musicals are a lot of fun to do and I think songs and animation work together very nicely.

RI: I know you’ve made several more films together but how difficult is it to direct a movie with someone else?

JM: It helps that Ron and I co-write the script together. There we have a chance to literally ‘get on the same page’ and make sure we are trying to tell the same story. We have different strengths that we try and bring to bear. Ron is more structure oriented and is good with emotion. I lean towards the comic and action set pieces.

RI: What was your most memorable experience working on The Princess and the Frog and what was the most difficult part for you in creating this film?

JM: Our trips to New Orleans were very memorable and meeting great people down there like Coleen Salley, a salty septuagenarian (white woman) a raconteur and full fledged “character” who influenced our writing of Mama Odie. We also met Leah Chase, a great lady who runs the Dooky Chase restaurant with her husband. She is in her eighties I believe, still works, started as a waitress, and is an amazing combination of warmth, gentility, and grit. She inspired some of our approach to Tiana. We also recorded Dr. John down there and got to ride on a float in Mardi Gras. The toughest hurdle was when Ron Clements, my partner, discovered he had to have open heart surgery because of blockages in his arteries. He recovered amazingly well but at the time we had no idea how debilitated he would be.

RI: Just like in Miyazaki’s films, food seems to have special importance in your movies – crab soup, Silver’s stew, Tiana’s father and her gumbo. Is it a way of inviting all our senses to the feast when enjoying a good animated film, with great visuals, great music, etc? Do you taste specialties when you go on research trips to prepare your movies?!

RC: Not always. In fact, we tended to avoid seafood while we were working on The Little Mermaid! But one of the great perks of working on Princess and the Frog was getting to spend quite a bit of time in New Orleans and enjoying some of the most delicious food I have ever tasted. People are obsessed with both music and food in that city and we knew we wanted both of those things to play a big part in our movie.

RI: The sequence in the restaurant has a distinctly different animated style, what was your thinking behind that?

JM: Because it is her fantasy, it seemed like it gave us the opportunity to style it different from the rest of the film. Sue Nichols Maciorowski, a wonderful visual development artist, brought the work of Aaron Douglas to our attention. He was African American and a member of the Harlem Renaissance and he produced amazing drawings and murals in a Deco style. We thought having an illustration in that style, which was her starting point for her restaurant come to life, would be graphically exciting. At the film’s climax, when Facilier offers to make that dream real, we could then take those stylized images and make them more dimensional, which might make them seem that much more enticing to her.

RI: You show a great passion for the comic book world. What do you think of the recent big screen adaptations, like 300 or heroes of the Marvel and DC Universe or the Batman saga remake?

RC: Both John Musker and I are big comic book fans, especially DC and Marvel comics from the sixties, the silver age, when we grew up. I loved Richard Donner’s Superman movie, Sam Raimi’s first two Spider-Man movies, as well as many others. I was blown away by Christopher Nolan’s recent Dark Knight movie and felt it reached a whole new level. I liked 300 and am a big fan of Watchmen the graphic novel. The closest we’ve ever come to a comic book movie was Hercules who we thought of as one of the first superheroes.

RI: Are there more movies coming up using these old techniques?

JM: The studio is currently doing another hand drawn animated feature. It is the further adventures of Winnie the Pooh. We are not involved with that. We are however hoping to do another hand drawn feature. We are in the very early planning stages and hope to get it moving forward.

RI: Do you already have an opinion on Disney’s next movie Tangled? Have you seen anything about it yet?

JM: It will be spectacular. It features songs by Alan Menken and Glenn Slater. Glen Keane (as executive producer) is striving to push the boundaries of CG to more looseness and expressiveness in the characters. You will enjoy it.

RI: What can you tell us about your next project?

JM: It is “in development” as they say. We are exploring a number of ideas, all of which we envision as hand drawn. The studio does have Tangled coming in November in the States, an adventure based on a fairytale with songs by Alan Menken, and directed by Byron Howard and Nathan Greno that is being done in CG. Glen Keane the exec producer is trying to get more of the looseness and expressiveness of his 2D animation into the CG animation. It is looking really promising.

RI: You started working for Disney from lowest to the highest levels of the organization. What does that experience feels like?

JM: It had been a fun thirty three years. I got excited about animation 37 years ago when I heard the great Warner Brothers director Chuck Jones talk about animation as a field in which you were always learning no matter your age. That made it sound appealing to me and he was right. You always feel like there’s so much to learn still.

RC: I’ve been at Disney thirty six years now and the time has gone by amazingly fast. But before that, I was a huge Disney fan and dreamed of working at the studio from the time I saw Pinocchio at the age of nine. Early on at the studio, I got to work as an apprentice animator under Frank Thomas one of Disney’s legendary nine old men. Since then, I’ve seen many many changes at the studio and in my own career as well. But I was originally inspired by the obvious passion, creativity and artistic integrity Walt put into his movies. He cared very deeply and wanted his films to be of the absolute highest quality possible. I’ve carried that with me and always wanted to do the same. I’ve always felt very lucky to work at Disney. For me it’s always been a dream comes true.

RI: Speaking from personal experience, how does it feel to have shaped so many people’s childhoods with your movies?

JM: It is amusing to us to, for example, be introduced to young girls who have the name Ariel or Jasmine. Certainly as we promoted this film many people of both genders mentioned how much they liked Little Mermaid and how much a part of their childhood it was. Certainly with the advent of home video and the opportunity to see these films multiple times, and with the nature of children being such that they enjoy repeating those experiences, the films have been watched endlessly, the way we as children sometimes played records. I feel very lucky to have been able to work on something that has lasted this long and hopefully will continue to find audiences. The wonderful music of these films is a big part of their staying power and Howard Ashman, were he alive today, would be thrilled I think to see his work make such an impression on people.

RI: You have created some terrific and beloved characters, do either of you have a favorite?

RC: It’s tough to pick favorites. It’s like ranking your children. But I’ve always been particularly fond of Sebastian the crab from The Little Mermaid. And I also have a soft spot for Ray the firefly in The Princess and the Frog.

RI: Do you ever reach a point where you can’t watch one of your films again?

JM: I usually don’t go out of my way to see our films after they are released. We see them so many times during production that we see them in our sleep. I still see the mistakes and things I would have liked to change or now see as improvable and it can make a neurotic person like me even a little more cuckoo if that’s possible.

RI: You said “We see them in our sleep”. That must make for some pretty impressive dreams!

JM: And occasional cold sweats.

RI: After a lifetime of animation, are you able to walk into a room WITHOUT identifying which object would be the best to suddenly spring to life and start singing?

JM: We try not to be too overwhelmed by the props around us but I do carry a sketchbook around at times and even people sometimes unbeknownst to them find their way into these films. And oh yeah, that coffee maker over there…!

The Princess And The Frog Blu-ray Disc is available to order now from Amazon.com

(Thanks Animated Views)

Cartoon short a "Runaway" success at Yorkton fest

Cordell Barker's "Runaway," about the passengers on a driverless train thundering recklessly over bumpy tracks, won the Golden Sheaf for animation Saturday at the Yorkton Film Festival.

Produced by Michael Scott and Derek Mazur for the National Film Board of Canada, the nine-minute cartoon had won this year's Genie -- the Canadian equivalent of the Oscar -- for Best Animated Film.

Also at the festival in the east-central Saskatchewan city, Inés Sedan's The Man Who Slept, produced by Sacrebleu Productions, Unité Centrale and the NFB, won the Emerging Filmmaker Award. It had been nominated in the Animation category, along with The Spine (Chris Landreth, NFB/Copperheart Entertainment), Vive la Rose (Bruce Alcock, Global Mechanics/NFB) and How People Got Fire (Daniel Janke, NFB).

In the Children's and Youth Production category, the winner was Trevor Cameron's "Hardest Lesson," an episode of Trevor Cameron's animated First Nations TV series Wapos Bay. It was made by Wapos Bay Productions Inc. Another Wapos Bay episode, It Came From Out There, was among the nominees as well.

The Yorkton Film Festival honors Canadian productions that are no longer than 60 minutes.

Ken Grooves in New Toy Story 3 Promo

Poor Ken. He’s an accessory – a girl’s play thing. In this new promo piece titled Groovin’ with Ken!, which is cut like a 1950’s government film, we learn more about this injection-molded boy toy, and peer into his plastic psyche. Just 2 1/2 weeks to go until Toy Story 3 is in theaters!

Hellish Television Cartoon

Neighbors from Hell premieres on your home screen in slightly less than a week.

... "Seem normal, fit in." This is the mantra that the demon family in TBS's new animated comedy "Neighbors From Hell" (premieres 10 p.m. Monday, June 7) keeps repeating, but it could just as well be the goal of any eccentric family uncomfortably ensconced in the suburbs. Shocked and disturbed by what they find in their new home "topside" (as Satan calls Earth), Balthazor Hellman (Will Sasso) and his family can't go home to hell until Balthazor infiltrates a company called Petromundo ...

I mention the fact here not because it's receiving favorable notices or because its pre-production work is being done here in L.A., but for other reasons ...

It's the first show from new production house Bento Box; it's being produced by DreamWorks Animation (with several DWA staffers working on it) and Fox. And the Animation Guild recently signed a contract to cover its second season.

(There's always the question of whether any new television show will receive a second season, but it appears as though this one might. Which would be good for the artists working on it, and good for TAG.)

(Thanks Animation Guild Blog)

Mark Hamill Retiring as the Joker

Mark Hamill says he is retiring from playing the Joker after recording the character for the videogame Arkham Asylum 2, IGN reports.

This is not the first time the actor, who first essayed the Clown Prince of Crime for Batman: The Animated Series (and Batman: Mask of the Phantasm, Batman Beyond: Return of the Joker, Batman: Vengeance, Static Shock, The New Batman Adventures, Justice League and Batman: New Times), has said he is quitting the part, but he is emphatic: "This will be my last, there's no question about that. But it's the last hurrah."

Hamill told of his decision in an interview conducted by IGN at the Cannes Film Festival, and spoke about his possessiveness toward the role and the differences between recording for animation and recording for video games.

Telluride Film Festival Poster by Ralph Eggleston

The talented Ralph Eggleston designed this year’s poster for the Telluride Film Festival. As far as I know, the only other animation artists who have ever designed the Telluride poster are John Canemaker and Chuck Jones. The festival’s sole requirement for poster artists, which have included Ed Ruscha, Jim Dine, Laurie Anderson, Julian Schnabel and Seymour Chwast, is to incorporate the word “Show” somewhere in the design. Eggleston said on the Telluride website, “I’ve always loved simple, graphic, attention grabbing imagery and that was the basis for my design…I was given complete creative license by the festival in this process and was further inspired by the famous hitch-hiking scene from It Happened One Night. However, this time by way of a trip to the Telluride Film Festival.”

(Thanks Cartoon Brew)

Toon Tuesday: The Wow Factor

Disney Legend Floyd Norman returns via JHM, with a column where he talks about how he’d overhaul today's animation industry if given the chance

I’ve often been asked this goofy question. “How would you run an animation studio if you were in charge?” Questions like this come from young people who assume I have answers. The truth is, I’m not in that position, and I don’t expect to be. However, I once ran my own business many years ago, and I learned a few things from that experience.

When you run your own business, I do not joke when I say you gain the equivalent of a Stanford business degree. Those who have taken this wild ride know what I mean, and those who have never tried it - don’t. There are a few successes out there, but they are few. More often than not, businesses fail - and there are a number of reasons why. Among them are, lack of business savvy, being under-capitalized, along with producing and marketing a less-than-stellar product. However, this experience taught me a few things about the road to success, and I’ll share one of them with you.

Many years ago, before studios had security guards and electronic gates, we animation artists often visited each other. In those days animation art was not hidden away, but proudly displayed on the studio walls for all to see. Every now and then we would come across storyboards and development art that would cause everyone in our little group to say, “Wow! Look at that!” I’m talking about concepts that caused our jaws to hit the floor. I’m talking about art work that inspired awe and inspiration. This is the movie you wanted to work on. This was the movie you had to work on. I’m talking about the “Wow Factor.”

In the old days, studio visits would often blow us away. While not always reaching production, the development art by the various studios was impressive

Some years ago, I received a call from a producer friend of mine. He was a hard-as-nails Hollywood-type who spent most of his day barking orders on the phone. “You’re in animation, right?” he began. “I want you to find me some animation artists! I want you to find the baddest dudes in town, because I want stuff that will (his words, not mine) kick ass!” This guy knew what he wanted, and was willing to pay whatever was necessary. His message may have been coarse, but it was clear. He wanted to see some “bad-ass” development art up on the walls, and he wanted stuff that would, as he put it, blow people away. Once again, we’re talking about the “Wow Factor.”

These are the lessons I’ve learned in my many years in the business. And, should the unlikely opportunity be laid at my feet, I know exactly what I would do. First of all, I would scour the studios and schools for the finest talent available. Young or old. Veteran or novice, I would be on the lookout for the boldest and the baddest talent I could find. I would be like the obessive computer boss who called in his finest hardware and software designers and gave them a task. A task that could be stated in two words.

“Astound me.”

Much like the crazed computer boss I would tell them, don’t look to the past for inspiration. What’s been done has been done, so move on. Don’t look to your competitors and try to duplicate what they’re doing. Imitation is not the sincerest form of flattery. Imitation is - pathetic. And, most important, don’t listen to your public to tell you what they want to see. Because by the time you finish your movie, they will have moved on and will probably want to see something else.

Stories in development for decades. Why are you paying these people?

So, how do you achieve the “Wow Factor?” It’s very simple - and very scary, but here goes anyway. When there’s a choice of following the safe and well tread path or the dangerous road, choose the dangerous road. When your director is the old, reliable veteran or the studio “crazy man” - choose the “crazy man.” When you’re faced with following or breaking the rules - break them. Sure, these choices can land you on your butt if you fail. But, what the heck. You were probably going to fail anyway. However, should you succeed - Wow!

There was a guy who exemplified this kind of leadership. He didn’t look to others to see what they were doing, and he didn’t need focus groups to tell him what would work. Finally, he was willing to commit incredible resources to accomplish his goals even when his financial advisors didn’t agree. They all said he was nuts, but he proved that a creative vision was something worth fighting for. So, each time he did something bold and amazing, his audience said, Wow!

Not an easy job being a leader, is it? Because in order to achieve the “Wow Factor” a leader must be creative, innovative and most of all - fearless. A man I once worked for had those qualities. But sadly, he passed away in 1966.

Creating and Innovating? Nah. Now, I guess it’s easier to shop

Maybe I’m nuts, but I think the “Wow Factor” is still obtainable. We’ve no shortage of talented young kids eager to show their stuff. Hell, there’s no shortage of talented old veterans. All we need is a bold dynamic innovator who’s ready to lead.

Any takers?

EXCLUSIVE: Could This be the Official Captain America Movie Logo?

Yesterday we saw what might be the first logo for Marvel Studios' THOR, and today another image emerges that could be a teaser for Captain America: The First Avenger

The Captain America movie officially begins filming this month in London, England and Manhattan Beach, CA, with an already confirmed cast of Chris Evans (Steve Rogers/Captain America), Sebastian Stan (Bucky Barnes), Hayley Atwell (Peggy Carter), Hugo Weaving (Johann Schmidt/Red Skull) and Samuel L. Jackson (Nick Fury). Today, courtesy of another reliable source that goes by the name RealIrOnMaN, we have what may possibly be the official logo for the film, which is slated to hit theaters July 22nd, 2011:

As opposed to the tentative THOR movie logo we saw yesterday, there isn't anything stellar about this teaser as it fits the Captain America theme fans expect.

As stated previously, a representative of Marvel Studios can hopefully either confirm or deny the validity of this image so eager fans won't have to wait until San Diego Comic Con this July for an answer.

(Thanks Comic Book Movie)

FAN ART: Artist Renderings Of Captain America's Movie Costume

Check out these pics of Captain America's movie costume.

Mike Sampson from JoBlo.com who was lucky enough to get a glimpse of the film costume for the upcoming Captain America: The First Avenger posted his description last week and created quite a buzz around the net. Some very artistic readers from the site have submitted art based on his descriptions and he has posted the most accurate for us to see.

This From JoBlo.com....

They're all pretty close to what I saw though everyone seems to have the straps a little off. The helmet on the first sketch below is actually shockingly accurate with the only difference being that you can't see Cap's ear in the film's costume.

(Thanks Comic Book Movie)

The Crow Reboot To Start Production This Year

The producer of the Crow films says that the screenplay is finished and that the production will begin this year!

The last we heard from The Crow, was that it was getting the standard reboot. And speaking with MTV , producer Edward Pressman, gave some updates for the new installment.

It was previously reported that Stephen Norrington (Blade) is set to write and direct the new Crow film and apparently everything is looking good for the next chapter. Pressman said that "Norrington's screenplay is finished and, terrific."

He also talked about the illustrations for the film, which are being made by Avatar production designer Rob Stromberg. He said that the illustrations are "quite different from Alex Proyas' approach with the original Crow."

Even though there is still no actors attached to the project, Pressman confirmed that "the offer is out to a major actor and things are moving ahead very aggressively, with the aim of doing the film this year."

One more thing he talked about are the locations and where will the film take place:

"The setting is the southwest — the Mexico/Arizona area, and an urban setting.There are two locations that the film is set. Its initial platform is in the southwest and then it moves to the big city in the north, middle or eastern America, and then back."

(Thanks Comic Book Movie)

News - 06/01/10...

2010-06-01T00:00:00.004-04:00

Sign Up for the John K. School of Animation

Ren & Stimpy creator John Kricfalusi is starting an animation class in the LA area. The six-week course will include two classes a week for a total of twelve lessons. The cost will be $1200. Students must have basic drawing skills. This post on his blog has information on how to apply.

John is a natural when it comes to teaching, and having taught artists at his studio for decades, he knows how to put across concepts with clarity. I’ve suggested to John before that he should consider imparting his knowledge to artists beyond the studio setting, and now that he’s doing it, I’m delighted to recommend him. I don’t think there’s been a private animation class in LA this exciting since Chuck Jones unit animator Ben Washam held animation classes in his home back in the 1970s.

(Thanks Cartoon Brew)

Penelope’s Pitstop Sexual Health Clinic

After you visit Popeye’s sex shop in Tokyo, you might consider checking into Penelope’s Pitstop Sexual Health Clinic in London. It’s just that kind of a weekend, folks.

(Thanks, Jonathan Sloman)

(Thanks Cartoon Brew)

Day and Night clip

Here’s a 15 second clip from Teddy Newton’s Pixar short Day and Night which will be released with Toy Story 3 on June 18th. The short is essentially hand drawn, being Pixar’s second film to be animated in 2D animation (Your Friend the Rat was the first). The insides of the characters are CG. Man, this looks good.

(via /Film)

(Thanks Cartoon Brew)

4Kids Shares Delisted from NYSE

4Kids Entertainment will have its shares delisted from the New York Stock Exchange as of Tuesday, June 1, the company says. 4Kids elected not to challenge an NYSE decision to delist the shares after 4Kids market capitalization fell below $15 million over a 30-day trading period.

Trading in 4Kids stock will move to the OTC Bulletin Board market under the symbol KIDE.

Former ThunderCats writer was murdered, say police

Police in Zephyrhills, Florida announced Thursday that Stephen "Steve" Perry, the 56-year-old writer for the mid-1980s Rankin-Bass series ThunderCats and SilverHawks, was murdered.

He died of an "apparent homicide," the Zephyrhills Police Department said.

Perry had been missing for nearly two weeks. His van was found abandoned May 16 at a Tampa hotel May 16, and deputies found a severed body part nearby.

Lab results still have not been obtained from evidence, including the unnamed body part, sent to the Florida Department of Law Enforcement, said Capt. Robert McKinney of the Zephyrhills Police Department.

Since May 16, the department has described Perry as missing, but also as the possible victim of a homicide.

His rundown home in Zephyrhills -- a community outside Tampa with a population of less than 12,000 -- had been ransacked and his two roommates were declared missing. They were later found and arrested on unrelated charges.

James Davis, 45, was held at the Pasco County jail on drug charges and failing to appear in court. His wife, Roxanne Davis, 49, has been charged with violating her felony probation for burglary and grand theft.

Perry, who had terminal bladder cancer, went missing May 9. Friends and family stopped receiving e-mails and phone calls from the divorced writer.

Born in Maine, Perry moved to Vermont in the early 1970s to attend Johnson State College. He was a Vermont resident when he wrote several Thundercats episodes, as well as several issues for Marvel Comics.

Although Thundercats was a major hit -- leading to such spin-offs as toys and comics -- Perry didn't receive royalties, as his writing was work-for-hire.

According to Stephen R. Bissette, a Windsor, Vermont resident and comics creator, Perry had to buy Thundercats toys from a store for his young son.

"Freelance work is a meager living. You wait for paychecks to come in and try to land as many jobs as you can," said Bissette, a friend and former writing colleague of Perry who now teaches at White River Junction's Center for Cartoon Studies.

Perry's writing work disappeared in the late 1980s, and editors no longer returned his calls. There also were no checks, and Perry never recovered from the letdown, Bissette said.

"When he was let go from Thundercats, the light went out of his eyes. Even when life was good for him, life was still bad."

McKinney, the Zephryhills police captain, admitted that the public has been frustrated with the lack of new information on the case. Before he announced that the case is now considered a homicide, he said that investigators were "dotting our I's and crossing our T's."

"This isn't CSI: Miami," McKinney said. "We're waiting on lab results. The crime can't get solved in the last half hour like they do on TV."

"Batman: The Brave And The Bold" June 2010 Episode Schedule For Cartoon Network

Cartoon Network has released the complete June 2010 schedule for Batman: The Brave and The Bold episodes slated to air on the network.

Made available by the network, Cartoon Network has released schedule details for Batman: The Brave and The Bold episodes slated to air on the network this month, June 2010. The network will air repeats for the month, leading up to the premiere of new Batman: The Brave and The Bold episodes coming July 2010. Schedule details for Batman: The Brave and The Bold installments slated to air in June 2010, provided by the network, are available below.

Friday, June 4th, 2010 at 7:30pm (ET) - "The Last Bat on Earth!"
Gorilla Grodd travels to the future where intelligent animals rule humans -- Batman follows him and teams with Kamandi (the last boy on Earth) to bring him down.

Friday, June 11th, 2010 at 7:30pm (ET) - "Night of the Huntress!"
Blue Beetle develops a crush on the slightly older and far-more-dangerous femme fatale Huntress, but there is little time for love with Baby Face busting his gang out of prison for a major heist! Watch the crowd closely during the jailbreak sequence to see some of your favorite villains including Pharaoh, Skeleton Keyes, Polecat Perkins and more! This week’s teaser features Solomon Grundy and Black Canary.

Friday, June 25th, 2010 at 7:30pm (ET) - "The Super-Batman of Planet X!"
Batman lands on this distant planet Zurr En Arrh and finds a doppelganger Batman, but more surprisingly, on this planet the Caped Crusader has super powers! Together they battle the mad genius Rhotul, who soon learns Batman's super weakness.

Friday, July 2nd, 2010 at 7:30pm (ET) - "The Power of Shazam!"
Batman teams with Captain Marvel, the superhero alter ego of the young Billy Batson, to battle Dr. Sivana and Black Adam, who wish to usurp the magic of Shazam that gives Billy his power.

Please note schedule details are subject to change without notice. Batman: The Brave and The Bold airs every Friday at 7:30pm (ET) on Cartoon Network. Continue to the Batman: The Brave and The Bold here at The World's Finest for details on the animated series.

A Ray of Sunshine

As I've said, I've watched the visuals for Tangled on different computer screens 'round and about the hat building, and been knocked out. So here's an early squib from somebody who claims to have seen a cut of the feature:

... They maintain the Disney classics (Cinderella, Snow White) look and feel but transition it into the computer generated era. The characters look more like human beings, and less like exaggerated cartoon characters. Rapunzel’s facial expressions are always changing and connected to the actions that she is partaking in. Disney is clearly focused on mirroring Snow White, taking the painting like look, and surrounding it with warm, soothing colors. The watercolor style gives the film a storybook like visual that impresses, but does not dominate the film.

Zachary Levi steals the show as the cocky thief Flynn Rider ...

The consensus of the folks I've talked to is: "They're going for a classically-structured Disney feature with songs, and the songs are pretty good." Everybody is working hard to get the film done under a tight schedule, but they always jam everything through the pipeline in time to hit the deadline. I have faith they will hit the deadline yet again.

Tangled has gone through multiple permutations over its years in development: traditional fairy tale, then comedic spoof (a la Shrek), then back to fairy tale.

I'll be there to see it opening weekend.

(Thanks Animation Guild Blog)

Sandro Cleuzo's blog

The brilliant animator Sandro Cleuzo has a great animation blog which you should definitely bookmark and check frequently.

Sandro is generously sharing his collection of Milt Kahl drawings , with a weekly "Milt Kahl Day" on his blog.

Some samples (click images to view larger) -

*as Sandro says about the above drawing:

"This particular drawing is just full of great things to study. Composition, staging, silhouette, design, appeal, you name it, it's there."

(And we could say that about almost any Milt Kahl drawing)

Wow, be sure to click on this Wart pose sheet from 'The Sword in the Stone' to view it larger. This is the stuff to print out and study . Put it on the walls around your drawing board to inspire you.

There is so much great stuff over on Sandro's blog. Check it out.

(Thanks David T. Nethery)

Peter Jackson Will Direct The Hobbit...If He Has to!

Speaking to a New Zealand newspaper, the director of the original LOTR trilogy said that he would step in as director if there was no other option...

Its not a very optimistic stance, but further to yesterdays news(see main story) that Guillermo Del Toro would be stepping down as director of The Hobbit, Peter Jackson had this to say to The Dominion Post...

If [directing the films is] what I have to do to protect Warner Bros’ investment, then obviously that’s one angle which I’ll explore…The other studios may not let me out of the contracts.

Jackson's manager had this to say only yesterday..

[Peter Jackson can't consider directing] at this time because he has and has had other commitments and obligations to other projects. That said, he and Fran will stop at nothing to protect this franchise and the investment made by New Line, Warners and MGM.

So it seems as if Jackson would step ion only as a last resort to save the studio's interests. I'm not sure that makes him the best man for the job! That may sound crazy considering the great job he did with the trilogy, but if he really doesn't want to do it and isn't passionate about it, I fear it would show in the finished film. Said commitments are primarily Tintin, and then in 2011, Tintin 2! He certainly has his work cut out for him. Jackson is confident however that the project will go ahead, he's just not sure when...

“I just don’t know now until we get a new director. The key thing is that we don’t intend to shut the project down…We don’t intend to let this affect the progress. Everybody, including the studio, wants to see things carry on as per normal. The idea is to make it as smooth a transition as we can.”

(Thanks Comic Book Movie)

Original 'King Kong' coming to Blu-ray

"King Kong," the master of all movie beasts and one of the more important movies of the 20th century, will make its Blu-ray debut Sept. 28, 2010.

Warner Home Video is behind the Blu-ray iteration of the 1933 RKO classic, which will have all of the extras from the highly rated two-disc DVD special edition released in 2005 coinciding with the Peter Jackson remake.

The Blu-ray will come with a 32-page booklet featuring rare photographs and trivia and is written by film historian Rudy Behlmer, who apparently personally interviewed "Kong" creator Merian C. Cooper back in the day.

(Thanks Heat Vision)

J.J. Abrams and ABC want to reboot Alias

It looks like one J.J. Abrams spy series—NBC's Undercovers—might not be enough for him on TV this fall. Apparently, ABC is in talks with Abrams about rebooting his earlier TV spy venture, Alias, according to eonline.com's Kristin Dos Santos.

The new series would have some elements of the original that propelled Jennifer Garner to stardom. However, they'd skip the intricate mythology involving the Rambaldi prophecy.

While the discussion is only in its very initial stages, according to Dos Santos's ABC insider source, they believe that ABC is looking to hold onto its Lost audience, especially now that that series ended and FlashForward was cancelled.

Spies are an especially hot genre right now. Beyond NBC's Chuck and USA's Burn Notice, there are two new series, NBC's Undercovers and the CW's Nikita.

Alias premiered on ABC in 2001 and ran for five years, averaging about 8 to 10 million viewers, except in its final year when it captured just under 7 million viewers.

EXCLUSIVE: Official Thor Movie Logo Possibly Revealed

A reliable source has just sent me what appears to be the logo for Marvel Studios' highly anticipated comic adaptation Thor, follow the jump to check it out...

Just like the teaser says, I received this image today from a source who has been consistently reliable in providing valid updates on Marvel Studios projects. It appears to be the logo for the Thor movie, starring Chris Hemsworth and Anthony Hopkins, which is due out in theaters May 6th, 2011:

The design for this logo has a heavy spacial influence, as opposed to the Nordic style lettering usually associated with Thor comics. But what really caught my eye was the resemblance of the lettering's texture to the texture of Thor's Uru-metal hammer, Mjolnir, which was seen at the end of Iron Man 2.

Hopefully someone at Marvel Studios can either confirm or deny the validity of this image, and eager fans won't have to wait until San Diego Comic Con this July for an answer.

(Thanks Comic Book Movie)