This week’s biggest home video releases are both based on classic pop lit, one a time-honored children’s book and the other a comic book series that has become increasingly adult-oriented. Dr. Seuss’s Horton Hears a Who! From Twentieth Century Fox and Bluesky Animation and The Dark Knight are sure to rake in the dough hand over fist diring this first week of availability on DVD and Blu-ray.Directed by Jimmy Hayward and Steve Martino from a script by Cinco Paul and Ken Daurio (The Santa Clause 2), Horton Hears a Who! stars Jim Carrey as Horton, a loveable elephant who hears a cry for help coming from a tiny speck of dust floating through the air and suspects that it may support life. Steve Carell takes on the role of the Mayor of Who-Ville and Carol Burnett lends her voice to the always skeptical Kangaroo, who doesn't believe Horton's claims of a tiny community in trouble. The cast also includes Seth Rogen (Knocked Up), Will Arnett (Blades of Glory), Amy Poehler (Shrek the Third), Isla Fisher (Hot Rod), Dan Fogler (Balls of Fury), Dane Cook (Employee of the Month) Jaime Presley (My Name Is Earl) and Jonah Hill (Evan Almighty).
The two-disc special edition DVD lists for $34.98 and offers director commentary by Hayward, a veteran Pixar artist, and Martino, an Oscar-winning vfx director whose credits include Total Recall. The two met while working on the Fox/Bluesky toon feature Robots. Other DVD extras include commentary by Carrey and Carell, and the new Ice Age short Surviving Sid. A single-disc release is available for the suggested retail price of $29.98. The two-disc Blu-ray set lists for $39.99.
The Dark Knight stars Christian Bale as Bruce Wayne/Batman, who teams with future police commissioner James Gordon (Gary Oldman) and Gotham's new District Attorney, Harvey Dent (Aaron Eckhart), to take on a psychotic bank robber known as The Joker, played by the late Heath Ledger. The film has made nearly a billion dollars at the box office worldwide and will be re-released in theaters next month.
The special edition DVD offers two segments of Gotham Uncovered: Creation of a Scene—“The Evolution of the Knight” and “The Sound of Anarchy,” a look at the scenes director Christopher Nolan shot in the IMAX format and Gotham Tonight, a Gotham Cable News premier investigative news program presenting hard-hitting stories about Gotham and the influential people that make the headlines. The Blu-ray version adds Gotham Uncovered: Creation of a Scene, in which Nolan and visual effects and stunt artists offer a rare look at the detail and planning that went into creating in-camera stunts and effects for the film. There are also special Warner Bros. BD-Live features including exclusive content from the media center, and Batman Tech, a behind-the-scenes featurette that delves deep inside the Batcave to examine the gadgets and tools used by Batman that were inspired by state-of-the-art advances in military technology. Fans can also examine the mindset of Batman with Batman Unmasked: The Psychology of The Dark Knight. The Blu-ray set lists for $34.99 and the special edition DVD can be had for $34.98 or less.
Fanboys Director On Vanguard’s Emo Boy
Vanguard Films has attached Fanboys director Kyle Newman to adapt the cult-favorite comic book series Emo Boy. Created by Stephen Emond and published by indie label SLG Comics, Emo Boy follows the travails of the most self-dramatizing young man in the history of the world. Known only as Emo Boy at his high school, this brooding, whining, sensitive, dramatic and intense young man even has special emo powers. Vanguard CEO John H. Williams describes the movie as “part Juno, part Zoolander, part Napoleon Dynamite and part Harold And Maude.”Emo Boy enjoyed a succesful a two-year run and was reprinted as a series of graphic novels. Rob Moreland, long-time head of development at Vanguard Films, discovered the property at Comic-Con and has been overseeing its development as a live-action, feature-length comedy.
Moreland comments, “Part of what makes this project so great is the way Steve takes the most negative aspects and emotions of adolescence and spins them into greatness, while satirizing high school life from a really fresh point of view.”
“Emo boy is a one-of-a-kind character, and the story Steve has crafted is such a unique blend of heart and hilarity,” adds Newman. “It was hard not to fall in love with it.”
Emond, who adapted his own comic as a screenplay, also wrote the upcoming young adult novel Happyface for Little, Brown & Co. This novel with illustrations tells the story of a social experiment gone too far and a teenager learning to face the world with a permanent smile after a family tragedy.
Screamers Sequel Gets Disc Date
Sony Pictures Home Entertainment is bringing a cult sci-fi favorite back with Screamers: The Hunting. A sequel to 1995’s Screamers, an adaptation of the Phillip K. Dick shot story Second Variety, this latest futuristic thriller stars genre favorite Lance Henriksen (The Terminator, Aliens), as well as up-and-comers Gina Holden (Final Destination 3, Alien vs Predator: Requiem) and Jana Pallaske (Speed Racer). Sci-fi fans can look for it at retail on Feb. 17.Thirteen years after the robotic killing machines known as Screamers destroyed the human population of mining planet Sirius 6B, a distress signal brings a team of rescuers to the supposedly abandoned planet. The unit doesn’t know what to expect when they land. They may have been contacted by a long-lost colony of human survivors, or by Screamers that have evolved into something even more sinister that needs to escape Sirius 6B to finish its mission of wiping out the human race.
Screamers: The Hunting was directed by Sheldon Wilson, who previously helmed the 2007 Sci-Fi Channel original movie Kaw. The screenplay was written by Miguel Tejada-Flores, who co-wrote the original Screamers with Dan O’Bannon (Alien). The flick runs 95 minutes and has been rated R for sci-fi creature violence and gore. Listing for $24.96, the disc will include a behind-the scenes featurette.
Widely regarded as an overlooked sci-fi classic, the original Screamers stars Peter Weller (Robocop) and features nasty, blade-wielding mechanical monsters animated with stop-motion by the Chiodo Bros. The new film presumably employs CG animation to bring the mechanized menaces to life. Watch the trailer below.
Bob and Doug’s “12 Days” is Animated
You don’t have to be a fan of the 1980s Canadian sketch comedy series SCTV to know the 12 Days of Christmas song as performed by the characters Bob and Doug McKenzie. Comedians Dave Thomas and Rick Moranis recorded the tune for their 1981 album, Bob and Doug McKenzie: Great White North, and it has remained a holiday staple that gets a lot of airplay around Christmas. Now the bit is animated thanks to Animax, a Los Angeles-based animation studio founded by Thomas. Watch it below.Animax is producing The Animated Adventures of Bob & Doug McKenzie, an animated series that is getting some development support from the FOX network. The show is set in the fictitious Canadian town of Maple Lake, where the title duo mix it up with their addled mom, their cousin Rupert and his girl
friend Mary Beth, their arch enemies the LeDoux brothers and other wacky neighbors.Thomas is reprising the role of Doug, but Bob will be voiced by Dave Coulier of Full House fame. Moranis is involved as an exec producer but isn’t interested in taking part in the recording sessions. The cast also includes fellow Canadians Colin Mochrie (Whose Line is it Anyway?), Pat McKenna (Best Ed), Derek McGrath (Grossology), Ron Pardo (World of Quest), Jayne Eastwood (Ricky Sprocket, Showbiz Boy) and Ho Chow.
Animation Director Piotr Karwas Joins Asylum
Award-winning animation director Piotr Karwas has joined Los Angeles-based VFX and design company Asylum. Karwas previously worked for vfx shop Digital Domain, where he played an integral part in such high-profile feature films as Peter Jackson’s The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring, Alex Proyas’ I, Robot and Tim Burton's Charlie and the Chocolate Factory.“Piotr has an amazing resume, filled with distinct, visceral work," says Asylum exec producer Mike Pardee. “His dedication to creating innovative effects is in perfect sync with our goal of keeping Asylum at the leading edge of the vfx and design community.”
While at Digital Domain, Karwas also worked in the commercial division, collaborating with Michael Bay, David Fincher, Joe Pytka and other leading filmmakers. His stint at the company allowed him to build a portfolio of spots for Budweiser, Walt Disney, Mountain Dew, Adidas and Gatorade.
Karwas made his directorial debut with the digitally animated short film Masks, which earned the Golden Berlin Bear at the Berlin International Film Festival, a win that led to directing PSAs for MTV and Greenpeace. His Digital Domain-produced Do Robots Dream of Bunnies? debuted at the 2006 SIGGRAPH convention, and he is currently in post on his most recent directing effort, Rapline.
Asylum created the visual effects for such films as Master and Commander: The Far Side of the World, Moulin Rouge, Minority Report, Phantom of the Opera0, the last two Pirates of the Caribbean films, Apocalypto, Déjà Vu, Man on Fire, Domino and Black Hawk Down. The studio has also done spot work for brands such as Nike, Sony Playstation, Coke, BMW, Gatorade and Visa.
Disney Acquiring Jetix Europe
The Walt Disney Co. announced that it has entered into agreements to acquire outstanding shares of pan-European kids entertainment company Jetix Europe N.V. The move will give the mouse house a 96% stake, allowing it to expand its kids and family media business in Europe. Completion of the transaction is expected to take place before the end of the year, after which time Disney plans to pick up all remaining shares.The sale price is set at €11 ($14.15) per share. Disney says the acquisition will position it to better serve its large and growing Jetix audience and distribution partners through improved programming, more targeted branding, more integrated management and the implementation of company-wide synergies.
“Television continues to be a strong brand builder for Disney around the world and this investment enhances our efforts to reach kids and families,” says Anne Sweeney, co-chair of Disney Media Networks and president of Disney-ABC Television Group. “By achieving operating efficiencies, we will have additional opportunities to create more family-friendly programming and locally-produced content across Europe.”
Disney acquired its original interest in Jetix Europe (formerly Fox Kids Europe) when it purchased Fox Family Worldwide from News Corp. in 2001. Jetix Europe is comprised of television channels, program distribution and consumer products businesses. Its programming, geared toward kids6-14, currently reaches a combined 137 million television households in 58 countries. Disney operates other Jetix channels and programming blocks in Latin America, India, Japan and the U.S. Toon Disney in the U.S. airs 90 hours of Jetix-branded programming each week.
ABC Bringing DC Fables to TV
Iconic fairytale characters are exiled to New York City in Fables, a popular DC Comics series being brought to the small screen by Warner Bros. TV for the ABC Network. According to The Hollywood Reporter, the network has given the property a put pilot commitment with Six Degrees creators/exec producers Stu Zicherman and Raven Metzner writing the hour-long script.Created by Bill Willingham and published by DC's Vertigo imprint, Fables is a grown-up fantasy comic that plays out like a soap opera involving such characters as Snow White, The Big Bad Wolf and Prince Charming. When a savage creature known only as “The Adversary” conquered the fabled lands of legends and fairytales, all of the inhabitants were forced into exile. Disguised among the normal citizens of modern-day New York, these magical folklore characters have created their own secret society within an exclusive luxury apartment building called Fabletown. Their peaceful existence is disrupted when Rose Red, Snow White's party-girl sister, is apparently murdered and Fabletown's sheriff, Big Bad Wolf, has to determine if the killer is Bluebeard, Rose's ex-lover and notorious wife killer, or Jack, her current live-in boyfriend and former beanstalk-climber.
Veteran TV director David Semel (My Own Worst Enemy, Heroes, Life) is directing the pilot, which will apparently adhere fairly closely to the comic. The property comes to ABC after development efforts fell apart at NBC.
Fake Simpsons cartoon 'is porn'
An appeal judge in Australia has ruled that an animation depicting well-known cartoon characters engaging in sexual acts is child pornography.
The internet cartoon featured characters from the Simpsons TV series.
The central issue in the case was whether a cartoon character could depict a real person.
Judge Michael Adams decided that it could, and found a man from Sydney guilty of possessing child pornography on his computer.
The defense had argued that the fictional, animated characters were not real people, and clearly departed from the human form.
They therefore contested that the conviction for the possession of child pornography should be overturned.
Justice Michael Adams said the purpose of anti-child pornography legislation was to stop sexual exploitation and child abuse where images of "real" children were depicted.
But in a landmark ruling he decided that the mere fact that they were not realistic representations of human beings did not mean that they could not be considered people.
He ruled that the animated cartoon could "fuel demand for material that does involve the abuse of children," and therefore upheld the conviction for child pornography.
Rather than jail the man, however, he fined him Aus$3,000 (US$2,000).
Date for Fullmetal Alchemist
The new Fullmetal Alchemist will commence on Japanese TV on April 2009.
The original 51 episodes, BONES produced anime adapted Hiromu Arakawa's shonen manga concerning a teen who lost an arm and legs and while brother's soul was bound to a hulking suit on armor during a failed attempt to resurrect their mother. Because the anime progressed faster than its source, an original story was invented for the later part of the series.
Whether the new anime will continue the first series, adapt the manga or again create something new is unclear.
First Squad Media
Twitch has posted stills of the Studio4C (TekkonKinkreet, MindGame) production First Squad here.
It is 1942. The Red Army is putting up a violent and effective resistance against the German invaders. 14 year-old Nadya is a medium. In a deadly air raid the girl is shell-shocked. Recovering from her concussion, Nadya discovers her new gift – the ability to foresee the “Moments of Truth” - the most critical moments of future combat encounters, in which one person’s actions will decide the outcome one way or the other.
Nadya’s ability is indispensable for the classified 6th Division of the Russian Military Intelligence, which is waging a secret war against the “Ahnenerbe” – an occult order within the SS. The Ahnenerbe summons from the realm of the dead the powerful prince of darkness, Baron von Wolff. With him on their side they hope to change the course of history and achieve world domination. To oppose the Baron Nadya decides to enlist the support of her old friends from the beyond – the Pioneers of the First Squad.
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